Sunday, August 2, 2009

The Monday Quiz LXXXIII

Rock: the 1980s

Here we have the covers from some popular and/or critically acclaimed albums of the 1980s, with identifying information removed through my awe-inspiring Microsoft Paint-fu. Your mission, whether or not you choose to accept it, is to identify the artist and title of each album. There are six items this week, because I was having fun.

1.

2.


3.



4.


5. Those of you who are itching to say who painted this cover, and to mention the other 1980s album cover also painted by him, may certainly do so. I'd be itching too.


6.



Submit your answers in the comments accompanied by what will, in retrospect, seem like a too-enthusiastic use of newly-available sythesizers and electronic percussion.

31 comments:

Elaine said...

Wow, this topic is absolutely, positively inaccessible, obscure, and revelatory of my bottomless ignorance in certain areas of popular culture.
I have ONE guess (emphasis on "guess")-- Number 1 might be Prince (or the Artist formerly known as Prince) and the album might be Purple Rain. Because, actually, that is the only album name I know.
End of submission.
(Oh, and #5?-- Ewwww)

Rebel said...

In the 80s I was more of a radio gal than an album gal. In fact I still am.

1. Prince - Purple Rain, after Thriller, this is the second album I ever owned.

2. U2 for sures... Rattle & Hum? Gah!!! I listen to it all the time, I just don't know what the cover looks like!

3. No idea... Duran Duran?

4. Areosmith?

5. Completely clueless

6. That's an album cover?

Rebel said...

Gah!!! Always trust the gut. I kept thinking of the right answer for #2 but second guessed myself. Oh well... still clueless on the rest of them.

Cartophiliac said...

1. Prince - Purple Rain
2. U2 - Joshua Tree?
3. Duran Duran - Rio
4. Van Halen?
5. Talking Heads - Little Creatures - Finster (also did an REM cover?)
6. dunno

Wait till La Gringissima wakes up. She will ace it.

d said...

1 prince / purple rain
2 u2 / joshua tree
3 duran duran / can't remember the name of the album
4 van halen / 1984
5 talking heads / little creatures - I JUST SAW THIS GUY'S STUFF AT THE CHICAGO ART MUSEUM AND CAN'T REMEMBER HIS NAME. argh.
6 no clue.

Christine M. said...

1. Prince, Purple Rain
2. U2, The Joshua Tree
3. Duran Duran, Rio (i think)
4. Van Halen, 1984
5. Talking Heads, Little Creatures (by the Rev. Howard Finster, who also painted R.E.M. Reckoning cover)
6. Hmmm. Beastie Boys, Paul's Boutique (?)

Melissa said...

1. Michael Jackson - Thriller?
2. U2 - hmm, the Joshua Tree?
3. No idea but it reminds me of the artwork in my old optometrist's office.
4. Again, no idea. Cute little scamp.
5. No idea on the album, but is the artist Daniel Johnston?
6. No clue.

Anonymous said...

In collaboration with my spouse and our visiting record nerd friend, we were able to get all of these except the name of the Talking Heads album, which, after checking allmusic, was revealed to be an album considered far enough down the grade to badness as to be embarrassing to recognize. I didn't know it. For the record, because I know that that's what this is really about (your keeping track of us and what we do and do not know), here's the ones I knew by myself.

1. Prince - Purple Rain
2. U2 - Joshua Tree
3. Duran Duran - Rio
4. Van Halen - ?
5. ?
6. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

Also for the record, the only one of these I ever owned was 2, on cassette and vinyl.

Cartophiliac said...

nichim: Allmusic has its head up its you know where. Little Creatures was a delightful TH album.

Dug said...

1. Prince - Purple Rain
2. U2 - The Joshua Tree?
3. Duran Duran - Rio
4. Van Halen - 1984
5. Talking Heads - Little Creatures
Howard Finster - he also did "Reckoning" by REM
6. Beastie Boys - Paulie's Boutique?
I could be wrong about a lot of this

Now that was music, man! Kids these days just listen to noise - it hurts my ears! Now you take a song like "Panama". Now that had real meaning! Not like that Decembrist/Lil' Wayne racket.

Dug said...

"word" on Little Creatures. Delightful-yes, allmusic-not so delightful.

The Calico Cat said...

1. Prince Purple Rain
2. U2 Joshua Tree (I wore that concert T-shirt OUT!)
3. D2 (AKA Duran Duran) RIO!
4. Van Halen - 1984
5. No idea, but I will guess that Frank Zappa painted it.
6. Beastie Boy's - Paul's Boutique

d said...

little creatures was awesome.com. tell allmusic to shove it.

paul's boutique! of course.

i need to stop doing these before i've had any coffee.

Kritkrat said...

I totally looked, so I'm out, but I can't believe how many people have question marks after PURPLE RAIN and JOSHUA TREE. What is wrong with you people?

Purple rain, purple rain....
I only wanted to see you bathing in the PURPLE RAIN.

And I was 4 when that shit came out. Come ON, people!

mrs.5000 said...

1 Prince, Purple Rain
2 U2, Joshua Tree
3 This looks familiar, as if I once saw it around a lot and couldn't have cared less. For some reason I want to say Duran Duran.
4 No idea. Kids 4 Cigs' Angel album.
5 Yeah, it's Talking Heads, painted by Howard Finster, but the album name escapes me. No big deal since I'm clearing bombing this anyway.
6 Must be the blockbuster Men Boys & Ladies by Lee's Sportswear.

mhwitt said...

1. Purple Pain
2. The Joshua Spree
3. Brio
4. MCMLXXXIV
5. Little Steeple
6. Takin' It to the Sheets

Anonymous said...

Cartophiliac, d, dug: my information on Little Creatures being "past the prime" of Talking Heads came not from allmusic (which I would trust for discographies but probably not otherwise) but from my music nerd husband and his similarly inclined childhood friend, who greatly appreciated (but hardly needed)the opportunity to talk about records afforded by today's quiz. I'd never heard or heard of Little Creatures, although I like Talking Heads to the extent that I can even play several of their songs on the guitar. Maybe I will give it a try if I get the opportunity.

DrSchnell said...

1. Prince and the Revolution, Purple Rain
2. U2 - The Joshua Tree
3. Duran Duran - Rio
4. Van Halen - 1984
5. Talking Heads - Little Creatures
6. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

DrSchnell said...

Oh yes, and on #5 it's Howard Finster, who also painted the cover for REM's "Reckoning" album.

Ben said...

1. Prince's Purple Rain
2. U2's Joshua Tree
3. Duran Duran? I have no idea of the title, so I'll guess: Hungry Like the Wolf
4. I think it's Van Halen, but I don't know what it's called. I'll guess Running with the Devil.
5. I really don't know, but for some reason Talking Heads came to mind, so I'll go with it. Title? No idea.
6. I got nothin'.

Elaine said...

M5000, isn't there something to be done about Certain Persons who mention they were FOUR when Purple Rain was a new album?

Hey, SOME of us were busy raising very small children during the 1980's. We know all the verses to "Wheels on the Bus" and would totally know all of Raffi's album covers! Just not anything more mainstream.

sister jen said...

1. Prince, Purple Rain

2. U2, Joshua Tree (Side note: When will the Edge realize I am his soul mate?)

3. Not a clue. Annie Lennox? Eurythmics, I mean?

4. Not even a guess.

5. Talking Heads, um, um, oh which one? Drawing a blank. All those little babies, in the bed, naked babies, um---err---nope, can't remember.

6. No idea. Looks interesting!

You see, I was the '70s . . .

balaywho said...

1. Purple Rain by Prince and the Revolution
2. Joshua Tree by U2
3. Something very 80s by Pat Benetar?
4. Something else very 80s by Van Halen
5. Genius of Love by the Tom Tom Club (album cover by Davie Byrne?)
6. Lee's Sportswear by Somebody Obscure?

And I thought I really knew 80s music....

Michael5000 said...

gunther gleeben glauten gloeben....

{cow bell}

all right...

1. Prince's iconic "Purple Rain" album. "Great album, deeply flawed movie," as the X-Files' Agent Mulder would later observe, before being featured in a few deeply flawed movies of his own.

2. U2's "The Joshua Tree"

3. Duran Duran's "Rio" Adult michael5000 has a hard time understanding why adolescent michael5000 chose this particular album for endless bedroom tennis-racket air guitar.

4. Van Halen's "1984"

5. Talking Heads' "Little Creatures."

6. The Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique."

Michael5000 said...

Now, before we go on to prizes, let's just put down the pitchforks and torches and note that allmusic.com reflects the general critical consensus on "Little Creatures," giving it 4 1/2 stars and calling it "Talking Heads' most immediately accessible album." The review notes that it was the first TH album in several years to employ conventional song structures, and calls the overall result "ear candy. Little Creatures was a pop album, and an accomplished one, by a band that knew what it was doing." So let's all just calm down. Nichim, you probably confused it with "True Stories"; THAT was the one that kind of sucked.

Michael5000 said...

MQLXXXIII EPs going out to La Gringissima, who I knew would ace this one before I even started collecting the images; to Dug, DrSchnell, and to The Calico Cat.

Michael5000 said...

@Elaine: "Eww"?!? THAT'S HIGHLY RESPECTED AMERICAN FOLK ART, BABY!!!!

@Rebel: It isn't really a ~conventional~ album cover, is it.

@Dug: Twenty-five years later, "Panama" is still terrific. One man's humble opinion.

@Kadonk: Umm.... "bathing"?

@Elaine: Whatever our age or our creed, our native language or the color of our skin, whether we are "dog people" or "cat people" -- here at the Life & Times we are all just one big happy family of dorks. There is nothing "to be done" to or for Kadonkadonk, except to strip down to our swimming costumes and join her out there bathing in the purple rain.

@balaywho: Yeah, well, I'd totally flunk the funk quiz. Hey, that's fun to say! "Flunk the funk quiz!" The Gap Band coulda made a 15 minute dance number using that lyric alone! But I digress.

Elaine said...

Well (wiping eyes and sniffing audibly) I did not think Kadonk's "Come ON, people" was an example of big-happy-family dork solidarity. (The Purple Rain was the only one I got, too.)

Are you sure dorks have to like American folk art that features underwear?

Anonymous said...

I'd say that the allmusic.com review of Little Creatures features a variety of buzzwords consistent with an evaluation of "that's when they started to go downhill": accessible; conventional song structures; ear candy; pop. This especially holds when said characteristics follow albums considered to be relatively less listenable. I say this not as a music nerd myself but as a long time amateur ethnographer in the participant observational tradition.

Michael5000 said...

@Elaine: There, there. You don't have to admire Rev. Finster's rendering of David Byrne's tighty whities if you choose not to.

@nichim: Word.

Jenners said...

I knew all but the last one, dammit! Even at the "easy" ones I suck!