1983 – The Greatest Year in Music?

Last year, I explored the year 1987 as the greatest year in music.  It was a great year and had some huge top selling albums.  Now , I am going to argue for 1983 as the greatest year in music.  The greatest year in music is very subjective and each person will have a different year.  Probably your high school years and/or the year you really started digging music.  1983 was the year that I started becoming massively obsessed with music.

The year had some of the biggest selling albums and a ton of music that influenced me, but what makes the year even better were the debut albums that came out in 1983. Some of the biggest names in music.  Here are the albums and/or events that make 1983 the greatest year in music:

Michael Jackson:

michael_jackson_-_thrillerWe will start off with one of the biggest reasons 1983 might be the greatest year in music.  That reason is Michael Jackson.  His album, ‘Thriller’, actually came out on November 30, 1982.  However, the impact of that album was truly felt in 1983.  Believe it or not, ‘Thriller’, did not reach #1 until almost 3 months after its release.  On February, 26, 1983, ‘Thriller’ was the #1 album in the country.  It was the first of 37 weeks at #1.  The album is the top selling album of all time at over 65 million copies.  A number that is unheard of and might never be topped.

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The Top 20 Songs of Weird Al Yankovic

Weird Al Yankovic has been doing song parodies for over 30 years.  If you are an artist in the music business, you haven’t really made it until Weird Al does a parody of one of your songs.  His songs are hilarious and so creative, most of the time, that I always look forward to each of his releases.

But what made Weird Al totally amazing were his videos of the songs he parodied.  Some were complete remakes of the original artists video and others were completely original to go with the song.  Either way, they were always worth watching.

After going through his albums and listening to loads of songs, it turns out I really like the stuff he has done since 2000.  Although his 80’s/90’s stuff is classic, some of it did not hold up well over time for me.

The Top 20 below are what I believe to be his best songs.  I am sure people will disagree as everyone has their own personal favorites.  Okay, my wife doesn’t. She doesn’t appreciate his genius. Go through the list and let me know what you think and what I might have missed.  A couple songs that just missed the cut were “Ricky” and “Alimony”.

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