Associate editor Bill Forman and contributing writer Tom Laskin survey the year in music. "The moody rap of Eric B & Rakim, sly soul of Was Not Was and righteous rock of Midnight Oil...took to the Top Ten like Ollie North to a presidential pardon," writes Forman. "Rap, meanwhile, got serious with provocative new recordings from Public Enemy, Ice T and KRS-One." Forman finds more to savor in Crowded House's Temple of Low Men, R.E.M.'s Green and the ascent of newcomer Tracy Chapman and "Iceland's wonderfully indulgent Sugarcubes." Laskin, meanwhile, lauds Guns n' Roses for the way "the admirably atavistic Appetite for Destruction" stood out during "a pretty wimpy year for the devil's music." Also luminous, in Laskin's estimation, was AC/DC's "Blow Up Your Video" tour with its "criminally orgasmic live shows all over Gorby's home-away-from-home this year, including an exceptionally loud one at the Dane County Coliseum." Tightening his focus on local bands, Laskin notes the success of European tours by both Killdozer and Tar Babies - adding that the latter's funky new album, No Contest, is "the first recording by a Madison band to be released on CD."
Ghost of music past
From the Isthmus archives, Jan. 6, 1989