1988 Survey Mix

This is the second in my series of 1980s survey mixes, which are designed to give more context to the music of that decade. Most versions of ‘80s history focus on specific niches and canons, but mostly ignore or write off parallel and overlapping cultural trends. My goal in doing this project is to highlight all the different things going on from year to year, to better understand the original context of familiar songs and to highlight a lot of the music that has faded from cultural memory.

There’s a lot going on in 1988, but the thing that really hit me was how much of what was going on at that moment was in some way transgressive or deliberately abrasive. I think that’s all a very obvious reaction against the ultra-glossy music of the mid-‘80s and the hyper-conservative politics of the Reagan era. A lot of that vibe is still going strong in ’88, but if you listen to this set, you can feel the overall mood shifting towards the aesthetics of the early ‘90s, particularly in terms of alt-rock and hip-hop.

A word about chronology: I am trying to stick to the things that were actually released for the first time in each year, but am allowing some major records that were promoted over a few years to be represented in both. That’s why George Michael, INXS, Guns N’ Roses, Belinda Carlisle, and Michael Jackson are featured in this set. UB40’s “Red Red Wine” was originally released in 1983, but the mix included here was issued in 1988 and became a #1 hit in the United States.

Thanks to Sean T. Collins, Chris Conroy, Chris Ott, and especially Paul Cox for their assistance in putting this set together. The 1987 set should be ready to go sometime in November before Thanksgiving. You can find the 1989 survey mix here.

DOWNLOAD DISC 1

Sonic Youth “Teen Age Riot” / Public Enemy “Bring the Noise” / Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock “It Takes Two” / Salt-n-Pepa “Push It” / L’Trimm “Cars with the Boom” / Lita Ford “Kiss Me Deadly” / R.E.M. “Orange Crush” / Guns N’ Roses “Paradise City” / Erasure “A Little Respect” / Wire “Kidney Bingos” / Sugarcubes “Birthday” / Bobby Brown “Every Little Step” / Marley Marl featuring Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, and Big Daddy Kane “The Symphony” / Tracy Chapman “Fast Car” / Lucinda Williams “I Just Wanted To See You So Bad” / Dwight Yoakam “I Sang Dixie” / Metallica “One”

DOWNLOAD DISC 2

N.W.A. “Straight Outta Compton” / Eric B and Rakim “Lyrics of Fury” / Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song” / Slayer “South of Heaven” / EPMD “You Gots to Chill” / Ultramagnetic MCs “Ease Back” / Front 242 “Welcome to Paradise” / The Fall “Big New Prinz” / Morrissey “Every Day Is Like Sunday” / Anthrax “Antisocial” / Samantha Fox “Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)” / Paula Abdul “Straight Up” / Red Dragon “Duck Dance” / Slick Rick “Children’s Story” / The Dead Milkmen “Punk Rock Girl” / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Deanna” / The Bangles “In Your Room” / Belinda Carlisle “I Get Weak” / Brenda Russell “Piano in the Dark” / U2 “All I Want Is You”

DOWNLOAD DISC 3

Enya “Orinoco Flow” / Cocteau Twins “Carolyn’s Fingers” / When In Rome “The Promise” / George Michael “Father Figure” / Boogie Down Productions “My Philosophy” / D.J. Magic Mike and The Royal Posse “Magic Mike Cuts the Record” / Talking Heads “(Nothing But) Flowers” / KMFDM “Don’t Blow Your Top” / Teddy Pendergass “Joy” / MC Lyte “Paper Thin” / Matthew Shipp & Rob Brown “Sonic Explorations (Section 4)” / Glenn Branca “Symphony No. 5 – Second Movement” / My Bloody Valentine “Lose My Breath” / Pixies “Where Is My Mind?” / Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians “What I Am” / Michelle Shocked “Anchorage” / Kip Hanrahan “Gender” / Kronos Quartet “Four, for Tango”

DOWNLOAD DISC 4

Information Society “What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy)” / Johnny Kemp “Just Got Paid” / Pet Shop Boys “Always On My Mind” / Prince “Alphabet Street” / Natalie Cole “Pink Cadillac” / Ornette Coleman “Bourgeois Boogie” / Prefab Sprout “The King of Rock and Roll” / Highway 101 “(Do You Love Me) Just Say Yes” / Throwing Muses “Mexican Women” / Pere Ubu “George Had A Hat” / Butthole Surfers “Ricky” / Bongwater “David Bowie Wants Ideas” / Jungle Brothers “Straight Out the Jungle” / Billy Ocean “Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car” / George Harrison “Got My Mind Set On You” / Patti Smith “People Have the Power” / Unrest “Christina” / The Church “Under the Milky Way” / Cowboy Junkies “Sweet Jane”

DOWNLOAD DISC 5

Fugazi “Waiting Room” / Dinosaur Jr “Freak Scene” / Big Daddy Kane “Ain’t No Half-Steppin’” / S’Express “Theme from S’Express” / 2 Men A Drum Machine and a Trumpet “Tired of Getting Pushed Around” / Ministry “Stigmata” / Inner City “Good Life” / Duran Duran “Good Life” / Robert Palmer “Simply Irresistible” / They Might Be Giants “Ana Ng” / 2 Live Crew “Move Somethin’” / Kid N Play “Gittin’ Funky” / Siouxsie and the Banshees “Peek A Boo” / Sly & Robbie “All Aboard” / Scritti Politti “Boom! There She Was” / Michael Jackson “Man in the Mirror” / George Strait “Baby Blue” / Poison “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” / Neil Young and The Bluenotes “This Note’s For You”

DOWNLOAD DISC 6

Living Colour “Cult of Personality” / New Kids on the Block “Hangin’ Tough” / Eazy-E “Boyz N The Hood (Remix)” / Bomb the Bass “Beat Dis” / My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult “…And This is What The Devil Does!” / Run-D.M.C. “Run’s House” / UB40 “Red Red Wine” / Admiral Bailey “Jump Up” / Kylie Minogue “The Loco-Motion” / Leonard Cohen “First We Take Manhattan” / Elton John “I Don’t Wanna Go On with You Like That” / A.R. Kane “Crazy Blue” / James “What For” / The Travelling Wilburys “Handle with Care” / The Go-Betweens “Streets Of Your Town” / The Mighty Lemon Drops “Inside Out” / A Guy Called Gerald “Voodoo Ray” / Womack & Womack “Teardrops” / INXS “Never Tear Us Apart”

DOWNLOAD DISC 7

Mudhoney “Touch Me I’m Sick” / Danzig “Mother” / Ciccone Youth “Into the Groove(y)” / Joan Jett and the Blackhearts “I Hate Myself for Loving You” / Game Theory “Room For One More, Honey” / Let’s Active “Bad Machinery” / Julian Cope “Charlotte Anne” / Sam Phillips “I Don’t Want To Fall In Love” / Kathy Mattea “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses” / Megadeth “Liar” / Napalm Death “From Enslavement to Obliteration” / Halo of Flies “Drunk (In Detroit)” / Royal Trux “Zero Dok” / Pussy Galore “Adolescent Wet Dream” / Soul Asylum “Down On Up To Me” / The Timelords “Doctorin’ the Tardis” / Ice-T “High Rollers” / King Tee “Act A Fool” / Sir Mix-A-Lot “Posse On Broadway” / Sade “Paradise” / The Beach Boys “Kokomo” / Y Kant Tori Read “Cool On Your Island” / k.d. lang “Sugar Moon”

DOWNLOAD DISC 8

Daniel Johnston “Walking the Cow” / Beat Happening “Indian Summer” / Galaxie 500 “Tugboat” / Doug E Fresh “Keep Risin’ to the Top” / Stetsasonic “Talkin’ All That Jazz” / DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince “Parents Just Don’t Understand” / Pretty Poison “Catch Me (I’m Falling)” / Trevor Sparks “Bye Bye Love” / Fishbone “Ma and Pa” / Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 “Mr. Tuna’s Big Old Place” / The Primitives “Crash” / Caifanes “Te Estoy Mirando” / Camper Van Beethoven “Eye of Fatima (Pt. 1)” / Felt “Apple Boutique” / Pantera “Down Below” / Ultra Vivid Scene “Mercy Seat” / Spacemen 3 “Walking with Jesus” / The Smithereens “Only A Memory” / MC Hammer “Turn This Mutha Out” / Diamanda Galas “Double-Barrel Prayer” / GG Allin “Anti Social Masterbator” / Bobby McFerrin “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”