Top 60 Music Albums of 1988 by 
Mercury 
I’m doing a tear down and rebuild, a deep dive and dissection, of all I can take for 1988… these 10 are my base, I feel like I am solid enough on these 10s and where I rank them. I will now get to work on the many relistens to albums I love/quite like from 1988, the many many relistens to those I don’t honestly recall much about from same year, and the MANY, MANY, MANY new listens and exploration of those albums and EPs of 1988.
This album will be fleshed out with comments and albums as I go. Peace.
- Chart updated: 08/07/2023 13:45
- (Created: 12/02/2013 07:01).
- Chart size: 60 albums.
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Following note taken from music diary entry in forums, 4 December 2021:
Okay, so I lied. I have heard this. A couple times actually. But... I have never listened to this absolutely ICONIC Ep in isolation. I bought on day of release (like a good little music snob) that release a "few" years back of all the MBV EPs on CD and I listened to it. But in that format I would be lying iof I could tell ever when one release ended and another began. So, listening to this EP and this release AS its own thing in isolation is important I think and I am glad I listened to this newly in such a way.
Okay, so another thing, this EP, its so famous. Like I think maybe if we did some big poll or game amongst BEAers and got top 10-20 EPs ever from them and scored it I am pretty sure this would be number 1. When I personally think of classic EPs a few come to mind: This, Jar of Flies (Alice In Chains), Chronic Town (REM), Kindred EP (Burial) and maybe Fugazi's first EP. Actually, the first thing I think of is the greatest EP ever made Sometimes The Blues Is A Passing Bird by The Tallest Man On Earth, but that a ME thing methinks. Anyway, just a thought I had as I heard this massively influential and cool piece of music.
As for my thoughts on the EP... its fantastic. This is coming from someone who generally does not vibe with Dream Pop, Noise Pop or Shoegaze. It took a dozen listens to earn a well-deserved grudging respect for Loveless for chrissake. That said, this EP ain't Loveless. Like the bones of Loveless are here, and this for sure seems like a bridge between Isn't Anything and Loveless in the MBV discog, but yeah this release has parts that rock in a near-traditional way, with discernible riffs and clear and up-front vocals and melodies. Everything isn't utterly swamped in OCEANS of layered guitars to even a 10th the degree every song on Loveless is. The first song, the title track, for example... HOLY SHIT! At first I was thinking maybe I wasn't digging it. Then second time through this 17 minute release I was blown away and the melody and the explosive noisy burst which sounds like pink and pruple glass shards raining down from the heavens above, absolutely overtook me. An easy all time song in the genre (based off the admittedly small amount of this genre I have heard.). It is stellar.
"slow" has that very Loveless-reminiscent back and forth, rocking from sidfe to side, guitar riff that stays the whole way through... but whereas on Loveless this same sound would be overlayed with 57 other sounds and the vocals would be 19 feet beneath sea level coming through in vaguely intelligible, smoky wafts, here the vocals and the melody they carry are right there.
"thorn" has a bubblegummy melody and a free-ing vibe,and for some reason it sounds like some kind of lost theme-song to my mostly forgotten first true love, I can almost see her face and I can almost pronounce her name, but never quite and yet this song is just a (noisy) breeze. That is another thing about these songs... they are noisy and they are jagged and they are rough in many ways and yet never does the noise sound bad and never does the static convey the emotions i usually associate with staticy noisy music - namely, seething hate, death, death , decay, more death etc - instead they work for these pristine pop songs and I don't know exactly why they work so well.
"cigarette in your bed" is a sweet song, the most lowkey and least noisy or rocking here. I think it will grow on me more but for now this is ONLY very good and a nice vibe. But the EP ends with the fabulous "Drive It All Over Me". fuck this song kicks ass! The female vocals (I think they are, not the same vocalist as the first few songs) is mesmerizing and the whole groove and melody of the track kills and that damn explosive eargasmic pay off is stellar.
OVERALL I am floored and won over. One of the great things about EPs especially great and consistent and challenging ones such as this, they are a small dose of greatness, with no filler and yet lots to chew on emotionally and mentally. I am now listening to this for a 3rd time, and yeah it just gets better. Perhaps I will "penalize" this a little in the rankings due to it being an EP, but I'm thinking I won't punish it much. Is it my genre of choice? Well, before pushing play a little under an hour ago I would have said no. But at some point and at times there are releases that are just so damn transcendent as to basically make you forget about scenes and music genre descriptions. This is one of those times. Fucking classic.
Looking forward to FINALLY giving Isn't Anything the time and consideration it deserves. Certainly one of the first LPs I think of first when I think of 1988. [First added to this chart: 01/04/2016]
Okay, so I lied. I have heard this. A couple times actually. But... I have never listened to this absolutely ICONIC Ep in isolation. I bought on day of release (like a good little music snob) that release a "few" years back of all the MBV EPs on CD and I listened to it. But in that format I would be lying iof I could tell ever when one release ended and another began. So, listening to this EP and this release AS its own thing in isolation is important I think and I am glad I listened to this newly in such a way.
Okay, so another thing, this EP, its so famous. Like I think maybe if we did some big poll or game amongst BEAers and got top 10-20 EPs ever from them and scored it I am pretty sure this would be number 1. When I personally think of classic EPs a few come to mind: This, Jar of Flies (Alice In Chains), Chronic Town (REM), Kindred EP (Burial) and maybe Fugazi's first EP. Actually, the first thing I think of is the greatest EP ever made Sometimes The Blues Is A Passing Bird by The Tallest Man On Earth, but that a ME thing methinks. Anyway, just a thought I had as I heard this massively influential and cool piece of music.
As for my thoughts on the EP... its fantastic. This is coming from someone who generally does not vibe with Dream Pop, Noise Pop or Shoegaze. It took a dozen listens to earn a well-deserved grudging respect for Loveless for chrissake. That said, this EP ain't Loveless. Like the bones of Loveless are here, and this for sure seems like a bridge between Isn't Anything and Loveless in the MBV discog, but yeah this release has parts that rock in a near-traditional way, with discernible riffs and clear and up-front vocals and melodies. Everything isn't utterly swamped in OCEANS of layered guitars to even a 10th the degree every song on Loveless is. The first song, the title track, for example... HOLY SHIT! At first I was thinking maybe I wasn't digging it. Then second time through this 17 minute release I was blown away and the melody and the explosive noisy burst which sounds like pink and pruple glass shards raining down from the heavens above, absolutely overtook me. An easy all time song in the genre (based off the admittedly small amount of this genre I have heard.). It is stellar.
"slow" has that very Loveless-reminiscent back and forth, rocking from sidfe to side, guitar riff that stays the whole way through... but whereas on Loveless this same sound would be overlayed with 57 other sounds and the vocals would be 19 feet beneath sea level coming through in vaguely intelligible, smoky wafts, here the vocals and the melody they carry are right there.
"thorn" has a bubblegummy melody and a free-ing vibe,and for some reason it sounds like some kind of lost theme-song to my mostly forgotten first true love, I can almost see her face and I can almost pronounce her name, but never quite and yet this song is just a (noisy) breeze. That is another thing about these songs... they are noisy and they are jagged and they are rough in many ways and yet never does the noise sound bad and never does the static convey the emotions i usually associate with staticy noisy music - namely, seething hate, death, death , decay, more death etc - instead they work for these pristine pop songs and I don't know exactly why they work so well.
"cigarette in your bed" is a sweet song, the most lowkey and least noisy or rocking here. I think it will grow on me more but for now this is ONLY very good and a nice vibe. But the EP ends with the fabulous "Drive It All Over Me". fuck this song kicks ass! The female vocals (I think they are, not the same vocalist as the first few songs) is mesmerizing and the whole groove and melody of the track kills and that damn explosive eargasmic pay off is stellar.
OVERALL I am floored and won over. One of the great things about EPs especially great and consistent and challenging ones such as this, they are a small dose of greatness, with no filler and yet lots to chew on emotionally and mentally. I am now listening to this for a 3rd time, and yeah it just gets better. Perhaps I will "penalize" this a little in the rankings due to it being an EP, but I'm thinking I won't punish it much. Is it my genre of choice? Well, before pushing play a little under an hour ago I would have said no. But at some point and at times there are releases that are just so damn transcendent as to basically make you forget about scenes and music genre descriptions. This is one of those times. Fucking classic.
Looking forward to FINALLY giving Isn't Anything the time and consideration it deserves. Certainly one of the first LPs I think of first when I think of 1988. [First added to this chart: 01/04/2016]
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
959
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
27
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[First added to this chart: 02/15/2014]
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,827
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 2. Page 1 of 1
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Top 60 Music Albums of 1988 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| My Bloody Valentine | 2 | 3% | |
| R.E.M. | 1 | 2% | |
| Bob Dylan | 1 | 2% | |
| Voïvod | 1 | 2% | |
| Blood Spill | 1 | 2% | |
| The Pogues | 1 | 2% | |
| Mudhoney | 1 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
35 | 58% | |
 |
11 | 18% | |
 |
4 | 7% | |
 |
2 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 3% | |
 |
1 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 60 Music Albums of 1988 chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
 Up 2 from 8th to 6thFrom Enslavement To Obliteration by Napalm Death |
| Up 1 from 22nd to 21st Blood Fire Death by Bathory |
| Up 1 from 18th to 17th Surfer Rosa by Pixies |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 10 from 48th to 58th Down In The Groove by Bob Dylan |
| Down 10 from 49th to 59th You Walk Alone by Jandek |
| Down 10 from 50th to 60th Open Up And Say...Ahh!!! by Poison |
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Other year charts (from the 1980s) by Mercury
Top 50 Music Albums of 1989 by Mercury (2022)Top 41 Music Albums of 1987 by
Mercury (2022)Top 29 Music Albums of 1986 by
Mercury (2022)Top 34 Music Albums of 1985 by
Mercury (2023)Top 35 Music Albums of 1984 by
Mercury (2023)Top 86 Music Albums of 1983 by
Mercury (2023)Top 68 Music Albums of 1982 by
Mercury (2023)Top 45 Music Albums of 1981 by
Mercury (2023)Top 47 Music Albums of 1980 by
Mercury (2023)Top 60 Music Albums of 1988 ratings
86/100 (from 1 vote)
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Showing all 1 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 90/100  | 02/15/2014 20:07 | PauloPaz | | 89/100 |
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We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.
| Best Artists of 1989 | |
|---|---|
| 1. Pixies | |
| 2. The Cure | |
| 3. The Stone Roses | |
| 4. Beastie Boys | |
| 5. Galaxie 500 | |
| 6. De La Soul | |
| 7. Nirvana | |
| 8. Tom Petty | |
| 9. Nine Inch Nails | |
| 10. Lou Reed | |
| 11. New Order | |
| 12. Faith No More | |
| 13. Madonna | |
| 14. Kate Bush | |
| 15. Fugazi | |
| 16. The Blue Nile | |
| 17. Julee Cruise | |
| 18. Janet Jackson | |
| 19. Aerosmith | |
| 20. Bob Dylan |