Vandenberg - Vandenberg

In 1981, the Dutch rock band Vandenberg was formed. The group was made up of lead singer Bert Heerink, guitarist/keyboardist Adrian Vandenberg, bassist Dick Kemper and drummer Jos Zoomer.

In early 1982, they went to Jimmy Page's Sol Studios to record their debut album. The self-titled Vandenberg was released near the end of 1982 and climbed the US Billboard Hot 200 charts to number 65. Today, we will take a look at this record as part of its thirtieth anniversary.

Wall of Voodoo - Call of the West

Call of the West, the second studio album from the Los Angeles based Wall of Voodoo, was released in the later part of 1982. It climbed the US Billboard Hot 200 charts all the way to number 45 in early 1983, thanks to a popular single and corresponding music video on MTV. Today, we will take a look at the album in celebration of its thirtieth anniversary.

The line-up of the band at the time of this album was Stan Ridgway (lead vocals, harmonica, and keyboards), Marc Moreland (guitars), Joe Nanini (drums, percussion, and spoken word) and Chas T. Gray (synthesizer, bass, backing vocals).

Kenny G - Kenny G

Kenneth Bruce Gorelick came on to the American adult contemporary and smooth jazz scene in the early 1980's under his stage name of Kenny G. In the early 1970’s, while still in high school, he worked with Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra.

On August 1st of 1982, he released his first album. The self-titled Kenny G went to number 10 on the US Jazz charts and eventually went Gold. Today we will look at this record as part of its thirtieth anniversary celebration.

Kansas - Vinyl Confessions

In the early 1980's, the American rock band Kansas was going through changes in direction. Kerry Livgren (guitars and keyboards) and Dave Hope (bass) both had converted to Christianity which was reflected in the lyrics of tracks that Livgren wrote. Lead singer Steve Walsh was not on-board with the new direction and left the band. After an audition process, John Elefante joined the group on vocals and keyboards.

The band released Vinyl Confessions, its eighth studio album, in June of 1982. It did well on the US Billboard Hot 200 chart, climbing all the way to number 16. Part of that was due to a handful of singles that were popular on the Mainstream Rock charts.

The Jam - Dig the New Breed

Today (December 10th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Dig the New Breed, a collection of live performances from the English rock band the Jam. Spanning the years from 1977 to 1982, this compilation album reached number 2 in the UK and number 131 on the US Billboard Hot 200.

It was also the final release of “new” material by the band before they broke up that same month.

George Clinton - Computer Games

On November 5th of 1982, funk-master extraordinaire George Clinton released Computer Games, his first solo album away from Parliament and Funkadelic (the bands were both formally disbanded by Clinton a year prior). Today we will take a look at the record as part of its thirtieth anniversary celebration.

Computer Games climbed to number 40 on the US Billboard Hot 200 and number 3 on the US Billboard R&B charts. Slant Magazine ranked it at number 97 on its list of the Best Albums of the 1980’s.

Cher - I Paralyze

On May 28th of 1982, Cher released I Paralyze, her eighteenth studio album and only one on the Columbia label. John Farrar, who worked for many years with Olivia Newton-John, was one of the two producers of the record; the other was David Wolfert. Some of the musicians who also worked on the album include guitarist Steve Lukather (of Toto), guitarist Sid McGinnis (who would later go on to be part of the band for the Late Show with David Letterman, and jazz bassist and keyboardist Nathan East.

I Paralyze was only promoted on shows like American Bandstand and Solid Gold. It failed to make any major chart impacts though, leading to a five-year recording hiatus for the singer/actress.