45 REVELATIONS
Swift kicks in the year-end (1986 in review): 1986 may have been the year I finally, after 26 years of devoted listening, started to sour on Top 40 radio. I’m sure it’s temporary—I still had plenty of CHR faves last year, and ’86s’ roster of hits is far superior to the entire decade of the 70s.
45 REVELATIONS
BY KEN BARNES
Swift kicks in the year-end (1986 in review):
1986 may have been the year I finally, after 26 years of devoted listening, started to sour on Top 40 radio. I’m sure it’s temporary—I still had plenty of CHR faves last year, and ’86s’ roster of hits is far superior to the entire decade of the 70s. But when I looked for inspiring music, I went to black/urban or country radio instead.
Not that B/U was without irritating traits and trends: increasingly tedious raps, slushy ballads, and dance records constructed from a kit (some assembly required). But the best records were probably the class of ’86. For me, although RunDMC’s “Walk This Way” was sociologically significant (putting the commercial seal of approval on the rap/metal fusion), Timex Social Club’s “Rumors” was musicologically significant (a melodic escape route for raps in a rut), and both were industrially significant (actual Top 10 CHR hits from independent labels), there were four standouts.