1976-1985: My Favorite Decade

Let's take a look at what was topping the various jazz album charts for the week of June 26, 1984.

	Billboard	Cash Box	Radio & Records
1	Think of One Wynton Marsalis	Rejoicing Pat Metheny	Modern Times Steps Ahead
2	Wishful Thinking Earl Klugh	Wishful Thinking Earl Klugh	Rejoicing Pat Metheny
3	Backstreet David Sanborn	Think of One Wynton Marsalis	88 Basie Street Count Basie
4	Ghetto Blaster The Crusaders	Domino Theory Weather Report	Dimensions McCoy Tyner
5	Domino Theory Weather Report	Ghetto Blaster The Crusaders	In Performance at The Playboy Jazz Festival Various Artists
6	G Force Kenny G	Modern Times Steps Ahead	Heavy Heart Carla Bley
7	December George Winston	Time Exposure Stanley Clarke	Wishful Thinking Earl Klugh
8	In the Heat of the Night Jeff Lorber	Backstreet David Sanborn	Steppin' Out George Howard
9	Future Shock Herbie Hancock	G Force Kenny G	Love Explosion Tania Maria
10	Imagine This Pieces of a Dream	In the Heat of the Night Jeff Lorber	Scenes in the City Branford Marsalis

Exclusive MFD meta-analysis of the above charts:

Wishful Thinking (22 pts)
Rejoicing (19 pts)
Think of One (18 pts)
Modern Times (15 pts)
(tie) Ghetto Blaster and Domino Theory (13 pts)
Backstreet (11 pts)
88 Basie Street (8 pts)
(tie) G Force and Dimensions (7 pts)
In Performance at The Playboy Festival (6 pts)
Heavy Heart (5 pts)
(tie) In the Heat of the Night, Time Exposure, and December (4 pts)
Steppin' Out (3 pts)
(tie) Future Shock and Love Explosion (2 pts)
(tie) Scenes in the City and Imagine This (1 pt)

Warning: the following is extremely self-indulgent and put together only for my own edification. Proceed at your own risk.

So why May 26, 1984? That's the weekend I graduated from high school, so it has a special place in my memories. On that date, I thought I was not only intelligent, indestructible, and immortal, I truly believed I was the jazz expert in our little city, which of course is completely ridiculous. But I had just won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award at school, so I must be the most knowledgeable guy in town, right? Not so fast, idiot teenager.

So how many of these 20 albums was I even remotely familiar with on May 26, 1984? Turns out only 25%: Think of One (which I owned on vinyl), Modern Times (which I had on a dubbed cassette), Backstreet (which I owned on prerecorded cassette), December (which my father had on vinyl), and Future Shock (because of the video for Rockit). I came to others later and others are still unknown to me. Here's a complete breakdown:

Wishful Thinking, later purchased on cassette then compact disc.
Rejoicing, recently purchased on compact disc
Think of One, owned on vinyl, discarded in early '90s, yet to be replaced.
Modern Times, dubbed cassette later replaced by vinyl purchase, later replaced by CD purchase.
Ghetto Blaster, never owned
Domino Theory, never owned
Backstreet, cassette later replaced by CD.
88 Basie Street, never owned
G Force, never owned
Dimensions, recently purchased on compact disc
In Performance at The Playboy Festival, currently own on vinyl and have posted vinyl rip to YouTube.
Heavy Heart, recently purchased on compact disc
In the Heat of the Night, currently own on vinyl
Time Exposure, never owned
December, later purchased on CD
Steppin' Out, never owned
Future Shock, have mp3 files
Love Explosion, never owned
Scenes in the City, never owned
Imagine This, have mp3 files

Not a fantastic batting average for a self-proclaimed jazz expert. The business folk would call this a "growth opportunity" and I'll be checking out some of the above in the near future.