Era:  A distinct period of history with a particular feature or characteristic. 

I attended the University of Virginia from the fall of 1981 until the spring of 1986.  During that time, as with most anyone, I had my ups & downs and I grew up a lot.  Rock and roll, just as it did in high school, always got me through.  UVA had a great alternative radio station called WTJU and a killer record store called Plan 9 Records.  Charlottesville also got its share of “left of the dial” bands touring through town.  I wouldn’t trade a minute of it and, for me, it was kind of a golden age in music.  What follows, in no particular order other than chronological by year, are ten songs that define an era for me.  I would imagine many of you have heard at least a couple of these, but maybe not all of them.

One important disclaimer up front:  The Replacements released “Hootenanny,” “Let it Be” and “Tim” in 1983, 1984 and 1985, respectively.  The Neighborhoods released “Fire is Coming” and “The High Hard One” in 1984 and 1986, respectively.  And The Outlets released “Whole New World” in 1985. They are by far my favorite bands of the era but I elected not to include them because everyone knows The Replacements, or at least I hope they do!  And I have written previously about my adoration of those two venerable Boston bands, probably more than once. Rest assured they are all critical in helping define the same era for me. 

1.     Dream Syndicate – “Tell Me When It’s Over” / 1982.  This is my favorite song from the fairly well-known record called The Days of Wine and Roses.  The band was led by Steve Wynn and they released several more albums before disbanding, however they became active again in 2012 and remain so today.  I don’t believe I ever saw this band live. 

2.     Green on Red – “5 Easy Pieces” / 1983.  This song is from the Slash Records release called Gravity Talks which is the bands’ first full-length LP.  It’s an excellent record but this song stands out for me.  I saw them play once at a place called The C&O in Charlottesville, VA and they were absolutely excellent. 

3.     Naked Prey – “Freezin’ Steel” / 1984.  This song comes from the self-titled first record by the band.  I always found it to be a particularly angry sounding song.  I give it a spin every now and then and I’m never disappointed.  I am confident I saw this band, but my memory as to where is sketchy at best.

 4.     The Screaming Tribesmen – “Ice” / 1985.  I discovered The Screaming Tribesmen while house-sitting for a good friend who had a killer record collection.  I instantly loved all eight songs on their two 4-song ep’s, but “Ice” is a highlight for sure.  I saw the band at the old 9:30 Club in D.C. 

5.     Dancing Hoods – “Pleasure” / 1985.  My good Charlottesville friend Randy from local band 98 Colours had played bass in the original Dancing Hoods lineup.  They later moved to New York (sans Randy) and made a record for the Relativity label called 12 Jealous Roses.  What an absolute classic.  They made another killer record in 1988 (Hallelujah Anyway) and got some love on MTV, but not much.  They should have been huge.  Really.  I saw the band several times in Charlottesville at Trax Nightclub and once in D.C. 

6.     The Del Fuegos – “Don’t Run Wild” / 1985.  I didn’t love this band, but I like this song.  It was their “hit” I guess.  I saw them play in Charlottesville at the aforementioned Trax Nightclub, and the song fits the era well.   

7.     The Cult – “She Sells Sanctuary” / 1985.  I was big skateboarder back in those days.  There were some weird concrete structures in the Arizona desert that were in Thrasher Skateboard Magazine that were called The Love Bowls.  I read that they were named after the Cult record Love because that’s what skaters were loving to listen to while skating there.  Anyway, I bought it and loved it from day one.  “Rain” and “Hollow Man” are both amazing tracks as well.  I saw The Cult only once, opening for Billy Idol at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA. 

8.     The Pandoras – “I Didn’t Cry” / 1986.  This is my favorite track from a pretty fun record, called Stop Pretending.  The Pandoras were all female, and this record can only be described as garage-rock.  I like the 1988 release called Rock Hard even better, it was more metal-y.  Front woman Paula Pierce was both beautiful and talented.  Paula sadly died in 1991 from a brain aneurysm.  Kim Shattuck went on to front a great band called The Muffs.  She also passed, in 2019.  I saw the band at the old 9:30 Club in D.C.  

9.     54-40 – “Baby Ran” / 1986.  This Canadian band has apparently been quite successful in Canada.  In fact, they have continued to record and release records, one as recently as 2018.  That’s funny to me, because I always considered this song to be of the one-hit wonder variety.  I don’t recall seeing these guys, but if I did, it would have been at Trax in Charlottesville. 

10. Walk the West – “Precious Times” / 1986.  Like 54-40, I really only know about this one record and mostly only listen to this one song.  It’s a hell of a song, though.  I find it to be aggressive and very cool.  It reminds me a whole lot of a song called “(That’s Why I Always) Dress in Black” by The Blackjacks, another great Boston band.  I dig this one.  Like 54-40, I also don’t recall seeing these guys, but if I did, it would have been at Trax.

There you go—ten great songs from an era that I think produced some killer music.  I learned about some of these songs and bands listening to WTJU very late at night (or very early in the morning, technically) when the hippest DJ’s were on the air.  Others were introduced to me from friends’ record collections.  The Cult’s Love album was my own discovery as I said above.

I am not going to load up all ten videos on Pencilstorm for this piece, but each & every song is easily found on YouTube if you want to check them out.  I picked some of the more obscure ones to link below.  They make a great playlist, and in fact all of them are part of a playlist that I made which I call Left of the Dial.  Very special times for me.  Enjoy.

JCE, or John to his friends, was born in 1963 in the Nation’s Capital.  He grew up in the VA suburbs of D.C.  His earliest musical memories are tied to a transistor radio with a single earphone that he carried everywhere listening to AM radio.  At this point he still listens to a steady diet of punk, power-pop, metal (Faster Pussycat=Yes, Megadeath=No), alt-country and anything that has plenty of good guitar and drums.  Oh, and he has an ever-growing collection of about 150 vintage skateboards.

  The Dancing Hoods – “Pleasure”

  Walk the West – “Precious Times”

  Naked Prey – “Freezin’ Steel”

  Green On Red – “5 Easy Pieces”