STACK #225 July 2023

MUSIC COVER FEATURE

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Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet (1986) There are few albums more quintessentially glam-rock-'80s than Bon Jovi's massive third record. Of course You Give Love a Bad Name and Wanted Dead or Alive are cracking classics, but Livin' On a Prayer ? It's the band's signature song, and contains possibly the most famous use of a talkbox in music history. Thank the Rock Gods that guitarist Richie Sambora managed to convince Jon Bon Jovi the song was good enough to be included on this number-one-around-the-world album. Def Leppard Hysteria (1987) Though the title of English rock band Def Leppard's second album reportedly refers to drummer Rick Allen's impressions of the media hype surrounding the emergency amputation of his arm (which occurred during the album's recording), it's also something of a premonition about the record's reception. Spawning a ridiculous seven hit singles (including perennial corker Pour Some Sugar on Me ), Hysteria remains one of the great hair metal albums ever created. Elton John Diamonds (2017) Diamonds is a massive, sparkling celebration of over 50 years of the Elton John/Bernie Taupin songwriting partnership. The calibre of hits across this two-disc tracklist is mind-boggling, from Tiny Dancer to Bennie and the Jets , and I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues to the gorgeous duet with the late George Michael, Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me. Dire Straits Brothers in Arms (1985) The image of Mark Knopfler's 1937 14-fret “O” Resonator guitar drifting down from a serenely clouded sky is an apt cover visual for the way pop-rock fans responded to the release of Dire Straits' fifth album: with ecstatic worship. In 1985, music labels across the world could not get their bands' albums pressed, as the entire global manufacturing network for CDs had been captured by fans' rabid demand for one title: Brothers in Arms. “I want my MTV,” indeed. Cementing John Mellencamp's status as an American treasure and man of the people, Scarecrow arrived in the same year that the artist co-founded Farm Aid, a charity organisation focusing on food sovereignty and supporting small family farms (which is still going strong to this day, by the way). Full of candid, rock-souled and rugged commentary, Scarecrow invited the blue-collar everyman to a seat at the campfire – and earned Mellencamp international respect and top-of-the-charts sales. John Mellencamp Scarecrow (1985)

Yank on the leg warmers and shake that can of max-hold hairspray as if your life depends on pouring James Bond's perfect martini, as we're flinging ourselves back in time to pick out the very best of that debaucherous decade, the '80s! Words Zoe Radas

AC/DC Back in Black (1980) Electric by name and almighty by nature, Sydney rockers AC/DC could have let the hard-won success of breakout album Highway to Hell (1979) melt away following the death of beloved vocalist Bon Scott. Instead, they mustered that uncrushable heavy rock spirit, recruited new singer Brian Johnson, and crafted a record which blew through the musical zeitgeist like an asteroid through chiffon. Midnight Oil Diesel and Dust (1987) Having spent much of 1986 touring the remote outback with Indigenous acts Warumpi Band and Gondwanaland, Midnight Oil realised that the core of their musical mission was completely intertwined with their passion for social justice for Indigenous Australians. The result was Diesel and Dust , an album of brilliantly propulsive rock that puts its unflinching focus on the need for white Australia to recognise and address its injustices towards its First Nations people. Whitney Houston Whitney Houston (1985) Radiating elegance, graceful maturity, and utterly undeniable talent, 22-year old Whitney Houston's debut

album was largely ignored for three months after its release... and then the floodgates of gobsmacked praise burst open. Now one of the best-selling albums of all time, Whitney Houston showcases how the artist's immense insight and charisma twists what could be slightly-above-average pop into transfixing, unforgettable gold. Michael Jackson Thriller (1982) Going into the recording of his fifth album, Michael Jackson was looking down the barrel of a huge public backlash against disco – the very genre in which he'd made his name with 1979's Off the Wall. Hurling a sonic lasso around the necks of pop, rock, funk, and R'n'B elements, Jackson and producer Quincy Jones managed to plait these influences together into a collection of earworms so irresistable that Thriller won eight Grammy Awards, sold 70 million copies, and is officially the highest selling album of all time. Queen Greatest Hits (1981) If you keep an eye on JB's vinyl chart, you'll know that a week without spying Queen's Greatest Hits somewhere within the top ten is rarer than the tooth of a hen. And that's because, of course, you can drop the needle anywhere at all on this connsumate collection and find yourself in sonic bliss. Last year, Greatest Hits spent its 1000th week on the UK albums chart – long may Freddie reign! The Cure Greatest Hits (2001) Behind that magical cover art of Robert Smith wielding fallen stars lies the English goth-new wave act's most superb songs, from across albums Japanese Whispers ('83), Disintegration ('89), The Head on the Door ('85), and more. Dropping in 2001, the record was released to fulfil the band's contract with longtime label Fiction Records, though Smith insisted on one condition to its release: that he choose the tracklisting himself.

30 JULY 2023

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