1981

Beginnings:
Billy Idol leaves the band Generation X to begin a solo career.
The Go-Go's sign to IRS Records.
MTV debuts on cable television in the United States, playing music videos 24 hours a day
Phil Collins releases his first solo album

The following bands started their illustrious careers:
10,000 Maniacs
Anthrax
The Bangles
Big Country
Beastie Boys
Butthole Surfers
Culture Club
Do-Re-Mi
Green Jellÿ
Hoodoo Gurus
Hunters & Collectors
Mercyful Fate
Metallica
Ministry
Mötley Crüe
Napalm Death
Pantera
Pet Shop Boys
Queensrÿche
Scream
Shonen Knife
Slayer
Sonic Youth
Spy vs Spy
Suicidal Tendencies
Talk Talk
Tears for Fears
The Dream Syndicate
Uncanny X-Men
Wham!
Yazoo

The following debut albums were released:
Prayers on Fire - The Birthday Party
Of Skins and Heart - The Church
Duran Duran - Duran Duran
Only a Lad - Oingo Boingo
Beauty and the Beat - The Go-Go's
Face  - Phil Collins
Was (Not Was) - Was (Not Was)
KooKoo - Debbie Harry
Dark Continent - Wall of Voodoo
Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash - The Replacements
Penthouse and Pavement - Heaven 17
Kollaps - Einstürzende Neubauten
Speak & Spell - Depeche Mode
In the Garden - Eurythmics
Journeys to Glory - Spandau Ballet
Business As Usual - Men At Work
Movement - New Order
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret - Soft Cell
Too Fast For Love - Mötley Crüe

It's certainly tough to pick just one of those debuts to showcase. The list certainly shows the increasing dominance of the synthesizer and the decline of guitar music (don't worry, it comes back). I was tempted to go with Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight just for that tremendous drum fill, but in the end I figured you'd already be familiar enough with the piece. There's some excellence on The Birthday Party's debut as well, but I think we'll intersect with Nick Cave at a later point in his career. The track I've chosen is one of those rare cases where the cover is so good it completely surpasses the original. Most people think that Soft Cell wrote Tainted Love, but they took an old soul track and completely reimagined it. The original (recorded by Gloria Jones) is well worth looking up, but this cover is a perfect example of the 'New Romantic' movement that was to sweep through England in the first half of the eighties. Over thirty years later this track will still fill the dance floor.

Middles:
The following albums were released in 1981:
Trust - Elvis Costello and the Attractions
Killers - Iron Maiden
Moving Pictures - Rush
Point of Entry - Judas Priest
Faith - The Cure
Slates - The Fall
Fair Warning - Van Halen
The Electric Spanking of War Babies - Funkadelic
Mistaken Identity - Kim Carnes
Waiata - Split Enz
Present Arms - UB40
Heaven Up Here - Echo & the Bunnymen
Computer World - Kraftwerk
Juju - Siouxsie and the Banshees
Talk Talk Talk - The Psychedelic Furs
The Baron - Johnny Cash
What's THIS For...! - Killing Joke
High 'n' Dry - Def Leppard
Pleasant Dreams - Ramones
Dreamtime - Tom Verlaine
Precious Time - Pat Benatar
Give the People What They Want - The Kinks
Pretenders II  - Pretenders
New Traditionalists - Devo
Denim and Leather - Saxon
Rage in Eden - Ultravox
Abacab - Genesis
Mark of the Mole - The Residents
Private Eyes - Hall & Oates
Special Forces - Alice Cooper
Ghost in the Machine - The Police
October - U2
Controversy - Prince
Underneath the Colours - INXS
Dare - The Human League
See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang, Yeah! City All Over, Go Ape Crazy! - Bow Wow Wow
7 - Madness
Mob Rules - Black Sabbath
Shake It Up - The Cars
Architecture & Morality - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
I Love Rock 'n' Roll - Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
La Folie - The Stranglers
For Those About to Rock We Salute You - AC/DC
Wilder - The Teardrop Explodes
Place Without a Postcard - Midnight Oil

Another bumper year for great albums. The 'new wave of British heavy metal' (NWOBHM) is still churning out great heavy albums (that seem tame by todays more sophisticated standards). Great artists of the '70s are still putting out some great stacks of wax. Bands are starting to mature and establish themselves. It would be another five years before John Hughes would get America to pay attention to this song, at which point they recorded a new lighter more palatable version. The pressure to follow it up with new material ended up breaking the band. The original, darker, version of the song is unsurprisingly far better.

Endings:
The following bands called it a day in 1981:
Yes
Bay City Rollers
The Buzzcocks
The Knack
Sam & Dave
Starland Vocal Band
Steely Dan
Throbbing Gristle
Toots & the Maytals
Paul McCartney & Wings

We lost the following artists:
Bill Haley
Bob Marley
Harry Chapin

Adam and The Ants released their final album, Prince Charming, in 1981. Adam was basically responsible for taking the style of glam and turning it in a pop direction. A legion of oddly dressed, extravagantly made up, androgynous pop acts would follow. After the band broke up Adam Ant would continue to record music, but never quite to the same level as that which he recorded with the band.

It occurs to me that I've chosen tracks from three British acts. I'm not sure if this is an indication of my rampant anglophilia, or a measure of the quality of the music that was being produced in the United Kingdom at the time.