I was a teenager in 1989 and they say what you love in your teenage years defines you, it’s certainly true of music. For me though 1989 was a magical year as I started to regularly frequent clubs and Rock venues after dabbling with live music for the for years prior. 1989 was the year I went to gigs regularly – sometimes five days a week. Music was so strong and so alive in those days and even though a limited budget meant I didn’t always get to buy every record I wanted to there was always money to scrimp and save to see bands play live gigs. By 1989 I’d had a beer with members of Guns ‘n’ Roses, shook hands with Lemmy and UFO, and stood in awe in a small bar next to my musical hero Steve Marriott as he sipped a pint and smoked a fag. I remember those days so clearly, even though we were still years away from being able to document everything on a mobile phone.
First of all let me say I don’t expect anyone to agree with this list, but if it turns you on to even one album you’ve overlooked or missed, then my job is done…
A while ago I found a list I compiled back in the day of my albums of the year for 1989 (we’ll get to that later) and it got me thinking how that list might have changed thirty years on with the benefit of hindsight. So let’s take that journey. But as we’re doing this for The Rockpit I’ve taken out anything that might not loosely fall under the category of Hard Rock. Sure some bands released better albums in their careers, but 1989 when you look back had more than it’s fair share of magic.
1989 was a great year and it saw many newly formed Hard Rock bands: The Black Crowes; Damn Yankees; Doro; Slaughter; Stone Temple Pilots; Therapy?; The Wildhearts; Ugly Kid Joe; and Bruce Dickinson also started his solo career though he remained with Iron Maiden until 1993.
1989 also saw Dokken split, Mötley Crüe’s Dr. Feelgood reached number one on the Billboard Top 100. The Moscow music Festival also took place featuring:Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, Mötley Crüe, and Skid Row. The Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Grammy went to Jethro Tull for Crest of a Knave. Steve Vai left David Lee Roth’s band to join Whitesnake and in the UK with no Donington that year due to the tragedy the year before the biggest show was Bon Jovi at Milton Keynes with support from Europe, Skid Row and Vixen.
Let’s start with a selected month by month run-down of some of the major label releases…
January:
24 – Skid Row – Skid Row
31 – Warrant – DRFSR
31 – Rush – Snakes and Ladders
February:
1 – Great Radio Controversy – Tesla
28 – Force Majeure – Doro
March:
14 – Extreme – Extreme
20 – Shine (EP) – Mother Love Bone
April:
10 – The Cult – Sonic Temple
12 – Great White – Once Bitten
24 – Headless Cross – Black Sabbath
25 – Blue Murder – Blue Murder
28 – WASP – Headless Children
May:
11 – Badlands – Badlands
22 – Queen – The Miracle
28 – Uriah Heep – Raging Silence
29 – Bang Tango – Psycho Café
June:
20 – Mr Big – Mr Big
20 – Faith No More – The real Thing
26 – Bad English – Bad English
27 – Danger Danger – Danger Danger
July:
25 – Alice Cooper – Trash
August:
10 – White Lion – Big Game
11 – Lion – Trouble in Angel City
16 – Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Mothers Milk
21 – Jethro Tull – Rock Island
22- L.A. Guns – Cocked & Loaded
22 – Enuff Z’Nuff – Enuff Z’Nuff
29 – Giant – Last of the Runaways
29 – Rolling Stones – Steel Wheels
September:
1 – Motley Crue – Dr Feelgood
5 – Soundgarden – Louder Than Love
5 – Faster Pussycat – Wake Me Up When It’s Over
12 – Aerosmith – Pump
October:
10 – MSG – Save Yourself
13 – Ace Frehley – Trouble Walkin
13 – Lou Gramm – Log Hard Look
17 – Kiss – Hot in the Shade
30 – Satriani – Flying the Blue Dream
November:
7 – Pat Benatar – Best Shots
7 – Whitesnake – Slip of the Tongue
23 – Rush – Presto
December:
1 – Savatage – Gutter Ballet
So what else was out there?
It wasn’t just a great year for the big players though, and some of the best music of the year either came from smaller labels, or larger labels who gave their releases next to no publicity. That was where magazines like Kerrang stepped in. Their Top albums of the year list for 1989 added:
Dan Reed Network – Slam
King’s X – Gretchen Goes To Nebraska
Michael Monroe – Not Fakin’ It
Vain – No Respect
Wolfsbane – Live Fast, Die Fast
Cats In Boots – Kicked & Klawed
Sea Hags – Sea Hags
Babylon AD – Babylon AD; and
FM – Tough It Out
But there was more, I also added the following releases to my collection in 1989:
Dangerous Toys – Dangerous Toys
Electric Boys – Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride
EZO – Fire Fire
Icon – Right Between the Eyes
Kingdom Come – In Your Face
Leatherwolf – Street Ready
Lizzy Borden – Master of Disguise
Loudness – Soldier of Fortune
Phantom Blue – Phantom Blue
Pretty Boy Floyd – Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz
Richie Kotzen – Richie Kotzen
Tokyo Blade – No Remorse
Uriah Heep – Raging Silence
Wrathchild America – Climbin’ the Walls; and
XYZ – XYZ
Let’s get to the lists
OK so I’ve missed a few I know, and indeed some of the bands I’d probably add today haven’t got a mention, but thats the whole point of this ‘step back in time’… I mean there were of course some great live albums too, but that’s another feature for another day… I think looking back you could say that 1989 was a mix of the chart dominance of Motley Crue, the rebirth of Alice Cooper and the emergence of the new kids on the block like Skid Row, but for me it was far more than that.
Let’s look at my Top 40 now and then let’s step back to 1989 for the list I put together at the end of that year. The more things change the more they stay the same…
TOP 40 albums of 1989 (now)
- Aerosmith – Pump
- Tesla – Great Radio Controversy
- Bang Tango – Psycho Café
- Vain – No Respect
- Babylon AD – Babylon AD
- Enuff Z’Nuff – Enuff Z’Nuff
- Skid Row – Skid Row
- Badlands – Badlands
- Electric Boys – Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride
- Danger Danger – Danger Danger
- L.A. Guns – Cocked & Loaded
- The Cult – Sonic Temple
- Lion – Trouble in Angel City
- Sea Hags – Sea Hags
- Faster Pussycat – Wake Me Up When It’s Over
- Blue Murder – Blue Murder
- WASP – Headless Children
- Alice Cooper – Trash
- Icon – Right Between the Eyes
- Michael Monroe – Not Fakin’ It
- Dan Reed Network – Slam
- Cats In Boots – Kicked & Klawed
- XYZ – XYZ
- Warrant – DRFSR
- Giant – Last of the Runaways
- Great White – Once Bitten
- White Lion – Big Game
- Whitesnake – Slip of the Tongue
- Motley Crue – Dr Feelgood
- Lizzy Borden – Master of Disguise
- Dangerous Toys – Dangerous Toys
- Loudness – Soldier of Fortune
- Leatherwolf – Street Ready
- Kingdom Come – In Your Face
- Queen – The Miracle
- Ace Frehley – Trouble Walkin
- EZO – Fire Fire
- Phantom Blue – Phantom Blue
- Wolfsbane – Live Fast, Die Fast
- FM – Tough It Out
TOP 20 albums of 1989 (then)
- Aerosmith – Pump
- Vain – No Respect
- Bang Tango – Psycho Café
- Babylon AD – Babylon AD
- Tesla – Great Radio Controversy
- Enuff Z’Nuff – Enuff Z’Nuff
- Skid Row – Skid Row
- Michael Monroe – Not Fakin’ It
- Electric Boys – Funk-O-Metal Carpet Ride
- L.A. Guns – Cocked & Loaded
- Faster Pussycat – Wake Me Up When It’s Over
- Icon – Right Between the Eyes
- Sea Hags – Sea Hags
- Cats In Boots – Kicked & Klawed
- Badlands – Badlands
- Danger Danger – Danger Danger
- The Cult – Sonic Temple
- Lion – Trouble in Angel City
- XYZ – XYZ
- Dan Reed Network – Slam