Did 1986 Forget to Rock?

I've blathered on and on about how great 1985 was for music I love. But the following year, 1986, (duh!), seems to be the opposite. I can only think of a few records from that year that were even noteworthy. Husker Du's Candle Apple Grey is good, but laughable next to the double whammy they gave us in 1985. Soul Asylum's Made to Be Broken was pretty awesome. My personal favorite might be Life's Rich Pageant, by REM.  The Ramones put out Animal Boy, which had staggering highs, but mostly was filled with what would become their modus operandi: have a few great songs, then fill the rest of the album with whatever doesn't take more than three minutes to record, and then never play any of the songs live anyway.

1986 was also the culmination of a year spent eschewing the Top 40 radio of my youth, having simultaneously discovered an oldies station out of DC (Extra 104!) and been given the gift of knowing about the whole "Amerindie" thing going on in America, a la Twin/Tone and all the JMU bands I loved, along with bands like The Ramones etc.

Anyway. Interesting. I'm sure if I think really hard, I can think of other albums. But it doesn't feel like it was quite as much of a heavy hitter as 1985 had been.

Although this was a big radio hit in early 1986, so. (released in 1985, natch)