1st Album-1st Song-Great Debut

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XTC-Radios In Motion (1978)

Britain's Andy Partridge (songwriter/guitarist/vocalist) & Colin Moulding (songwriter/bassist/vocalist) partnered in the early 1970s. They formed a band that went through some name and membership changes until settling for the acronym XTC in 1975. In 1978, the first album was released , White Music, a post-punk new wave production. But XTC never stayed with one trend and continued to morph through various forms of pop music.

Their early hits included "Making Plans For Nigel" (1979), "Senses Working Overtime' (1982) and "Generals And Majors" (1980) . Later they were known for "Dear God" (1986), " Mayor Of Simpleton" (1989) and "The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead" (1992). 14 original studio albums were released in total until the band called it quits in 2000.

It started with this debut cut

 
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The Wondermints- Proto Pretty (1995)

A Los Angeles Power-Pop group, The Wondermints released their self-titled premier LP in 1995. A favorite of mine that year, The Wondermints have gone on to record 4 more albums since then. They have also been backing Brian Wilson on his tours and various studio albums since the late 1990's.

 
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The Velvet Underground- Sunday Morning (1967)

Has there ever been another album that sold so dismally poor when released and rose to prominence as one of the most influential albums ever recorded? When The Velvet Underground & Nico was released in March 1967 it contained themes of prostitution, drug dealing, BDSM, heroin use and other street culture samples of the underbelly of America. No commercil AM radio station would touch it and FM underground rock stations were barely in existence at that time.

But as time passed it was recognized as a landmark album. Andy Warhol produced the LP and provided it's iconic cover image. The world was introduced to Lou Reed who wrote all the songs. John Cale provided the musical direction with assistance from guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker. Nico lent a hand on 3 lead vocal tracks.

The album helped lay the groundwork for Punk, Shoegaze, Art-Rock and Psychedelic Rock. "I'm Just Waiting For My Man", "Venus In Furs", "All Tomorrow's Parties" & "Heroin" are among it's standout tracks.

Rolling Stone ranks it #13 as the Greatest Alltime Album. It's been added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. Spin Magazine has it among the 15 Most Influential Albums.NPR includes it among The 100 Greatest American Works Of The 20th Century.

The Velvet Underground recorded 3 more albums before it's members went their separate ways. The first cut, "Sunday Morning' is a lovely piece similar to later dream-pop and hardly prepares you for the darkness to come

 
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UFO-Unidentified Flying Object (1970)

UFO formed in 1969 from London,England. Lead singer Phil Moog is the only founding member to remain affiliated with the band to present date. He, along with guitarist Mick Bolton, bassist Pete Way and drummer Andy Parker performed hard rock and space rock music in their original incarnation. By 1973 when Michael Schenker took over guitar, they became less spacey and more hard edged rock.

From their first album, titled UFO I:

 
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Tina Turner- Bayou Song (1974)

Tina Turner was still married and officially part of the Ike & Tina Turner Review when her first solo album was released in 1974. I have never read her autobiography (But have seen the movie) so I'm not sure of the circumstances/difficulties that led to her maiden album. It did come out under the same record label as her husband's group (United Artists) and it had a funky country feel to it, with cover songs of writers such as Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton and James Taylor.

A year earlier, Ike And Tina Turner had their last major charting single, 1973's "Nutbush City Limits". In 1975, Tina Turner played the role of The Acid Queen in the movie version of Tommy and her version of that song got major acclaim and air play. From then on she recorded more rock oriented material. 1976 saw Tina finally file for divorce from Ike and become a star in her own right

Tina Turner got a Grammy nomination for her debut 1974 album, Tina Turns The Country On! However the album sales were quite disappointing and it took 3 more albums and 10 years before super stardom with the 5-Times platinum 1984 hit Private Dancer


Tina_Turner_-_Tina_Turns_The_Country_On.jpg
 
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Spooky Tooth- Society's Child (1968)

One Of the classic "Heavy" rock bands of the late 60's, Spooky Tooth included Mike Harrison on vocals & keyboards, Gary Wright also on vocals and keyboards, Luther Grosvenor on guitar, Greg Ridley on bass and drummer Mike Kellie.

It's All About was their 1968 debut album. The original lineup produced one more LP, the fantastic Spooky Two in 1969. Afterwards they went through various membership changes resulting in 5 more albums before calling it quits in 1974.

Their first song on their first album was a splendid cover of the Janis Ian hit.

A seriously underrated band

 
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The Radiators-Hardcore (1980)


New Orleans' legendary rock band, The Radiators formed in 1978. Amazingly the same line-up of musicians was kept intact all the way until their retirement in 2011. The 5 member group was headed by chief songwriter/vocalist/keyboardist Ed Volker. Party rock with swampy-gumbo overtones, they could lay down funky beats as well as jam.

After 3 years of playing local clubs, they recorded 2 albums for a small local record label (Croaker Records) starting with 1980's Work Done On Premises (another example of a debut album recorded live). Never picked up for national distribution, the next 6 years was spent concentrating on live performances, building a rabid fan base in New Orleans. Finally they got the attention of a major outfit- Epic Records. 1987's Law Of The Fish LP was the first released followed by 1989's Zig-Zaggin' Through Ghostland and 1990's Total Evaporation. Great albums all, critically admired, but all 3 never cracked into the Top 100 LP Charts

Epic Records dropped The Radiators who then went back to Croaker Records and other small outfits for 9 more albums, live and in the studio. Still, they constantly played the Swamp Circuit and remained a beloved Louisiana institution. Even after announcing their 2011 retirement, they play annually at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. They have also made 500 concert recording available for free on The Internet Archive

The first track on their 1980 album was "Hardcore"- an original composition recorded live from a club. I'm choosing to embed the studio version done on the 1989 Epic Records Zig-Zaggin' Through Ghostland LP due to better fidelity . Enjoy

 
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Quarterflash- Harden My Heart (1981)

Continuing my reverse alphabetical order, I stumble onto Quarterflash. A Portland, Oregon group named Seafood Mama was headed by the husband-wife team of Rindy Ross (lead vocals and saxophone) & Marv Ross (guitar). They released a single in 1980 on a local record label that became a Portland radio station hit as well as landing them a one-hour special on local TV. That caught the attention of Geffen Records who signed them and released their national debut album in 1981. With the new record label the band renamed themselves Quarterflash and re-recorded that local single to be the album's lead-off track

The song, Harden My Heart, became a #3 national single. A follow-up single from the album, Find Another Fool, did almost as well, peaking at # 16. The album itself reached #8. Harden My Heart's video got constant airplay on the just-born MTV and having a female sax player distinguished Quarterheart from all the other new bands

Subsequent albums yielded diminishing results and by 1985 with their 3rd album hardly getting on the charts, the band retired. That didn't last long.In 1991 they returned with an LP no one was interested in. In 2008 they tried again with an album that sold 5 copies. But they continue on performing in the local areas entertaining the fishermen

 
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The Presidents Of The United States- Kitty (1994)

Chris Ballew (Bass & Lead Vocals) and Dave Dederer (Guitar & Vocals) formed the band in Seattle in 1993 and enlisted drummer Jason Finn. They signed with a small Seattle label and produced their album in 1994. Columbia Records signed the band and re-released that LP nationwide in 1995.

The self-titled LP took off like a rocket and sold triple-platinum. Driven by singles such as "Lump" and "Peaches" POT USA (love that acronym) were critical darlings as well as fan faves. Their second album in 1996 didn't attain such heights but still became a gold record.

POT USA focused their time on relentless touring, TV appearances, side projects and sabbaticals for family reasons. They lost momentum popularity-wise and released just 4 albums between 1997-2016 when they finally were impeached.

The first cut on their debut was another popular single


And a first album bonus clip cuz I still love this song

 

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