I had to find out, had this album matured like a good cheese, or would it turn out to be like a cup of hot chocolate left under the bed for several weeks, fuzzy but disgusting at the same time.
When this album was released I would have been more interested in playng dungeons and dragons and battling with my hormones. I do not remember much else about 1986, though a quick check on wikipedia shows it to be an eventful year and Highlander, Aliens, and Platoon are all in my favourite films list.
Look What The Cat Dragged In has the kind of cover that would confirm all your parents’ fears about rock music. To say to your dad “I want to look like these guys” would probably get you marched down to the army careers office faster than you could say “cross-dressing pansies”, but as I said, I was interested on other things at the time.
As before, I will asses the album using three criteria, today they are walking home in the rain, cooking, and pretending to be asleep while the little one goes to bed.
1. Walking home in the rain – I decided on this category because a, that’s what I was doing and b, I could not escape the album even if I wanted to. It was overall quite a pleasant experience, the music being bland enough to let my mind wander but not so flat or awful that I would just turn it off. 6/10.
2. Cooking – again the album just blended into the background without becoming irritating, not as good as some cooking music but acceptable so 5/10.
3. Pretending to be asleep while the little one goes to bed – my youngest son insists on somebody lying on his brother’s bed while he goes to sleep listening to cbeebies music. I have a habit of taking in an mp3 player turned down low when its my turn. Now this is a more difficult mark to give because I actually fell asleep. was I tired, relaxed or just bored? I do not know. So for this I will have to give 5/10 just to be fair.
Overall mark 5.3/10
Cheesy chocolate anyone?
Ps
This song includes the most romantic sounding phrase in the English language “cellar door”.
2 comments:
I've been thinking a bit about the whole thing with the American hair bands of the 80s.
I mean they were okay at the time cos there was more chance of pulling a decent looking bird if you were spinning something like "I Won't Forget You" rather than "Peace Sells But Who's Buying"... but 20 odd years later it all sounds so er.. insubstantial and lightweight doesn't it - whereas the heaver stuff listened to when by myself or out with me mates has aged so much better.
Just my thoughts!! Love the rating system by the way.
I think it’s less the heavier but more the darker the music that gives it longevity. My current listening is mostly British music from the same period as the American glam stuff and it seems to have aged better despite being less heavy. The Pogues, Dogs d’amour and Quireboys for example where all about drinking, drugs and debauchery but still stand up to time. Peace sells is again darker and I think it’s for this reason it stands up.
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