May 20, 2025

#231 The Best Album of 1989: The Seeds! + Prediction Brackets!

Hey folks!

Last night on Bluesky, I revealed the seeding for the upcoming Best Album of 1989. Below are those seeds, starting from #128 all the way to #1. Enjoy!

Before heading down there, though, two things. First, you have until Sunday to fill out a prediction bracket. The winner of the Prediction Bracket Contest gets to add a qualifying album of their choice to the next tournament, which will likely cover 2001. It’s free to do, and if it sounds like fun (it is), then go here, think of a funny name for your bracket, and pick all the winners. PLEASE NOTE: after choosing all the winners, including the final winner, you must go to the bottom and choose it again from a menu. I don’t know why Challonge does this, but your bracket will not be officially entered until you do so. So be sure to do it!

Second, the 1989 tournament starts on May 26th at 9am. If you’re interested in writing a Designated Cheerleader — a bit of writing in support or defense of one of the competing albums — I like to run those the day of the match. Towards that, next week we’ll be running matches featuring the albums of Aerosmith, After Dinner, Beat Happening, Elvis Costello, The D.O.C., Galaxie 500, Mötley Crüe, Pixies, Screaming Trees, and Throwing Muses. If you’ve got something to say about any of those, write it down, and send it to kentmbeeson@hey.com, or reply to this newsletter, or you could even attach it as a .jpg to a post on Bluesky if you like. I publish the Designated Cheerleaders here on the newsletter, and on the Bluesky account.

Without further ado, here are the albums in the Best Album of 1989 Tournament, from lowest seed to highest seed, complete with a link for your listening pleasure, as well as the number of seed votes it received, the number of nomination votes it got in the nomination round, and its approximate seed if the nomination votes were used to determine seeds.

128. After Dinner, PARADISE OF REPLICA

127. Cardiacs, ON LAND AND IN THE SEA

126. Hoodoo Gurus, MAGNUM CUM LOUDER

125. Cher, HEART OF STONE

124. Dog Faced Hermans, EVERYDAY TIMEBOMB

123. The Rolling Stones, STEEL WHEELS

122. Lounge Lizards, VOICE OF CHUNK

121. Inner City, PARADISE

120. Negativland, HELTER STUPID

119. The Ocean Blue, THE OCEAN BLUE

118. Paul McCartney, FLOWERS IN THE DIRT

117. Billy Joel, STORM FRONT

116. King’s X, GRETCHEN GOES TO NEBRASKA

115. Kitchens of Distinction, LOVE IS HELL

114. Peter Murphy, DEEP

113. Aerosmith, PUMP

112. Voivod, NOTHINGFACE

111. The Wonder Stuff, HUP

110. Don Henley, THE END OF THE INNOCENCE

109. Eleventh Dream Day, BEET

108. Tone Lōc, LŌC-ED AFTER DARK

107. Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dempster, Panaiotis, DEEP LISTENING

106. Jesus Jones, LIQUIDIZER

105. Tin Machine, TIN MACHINE

104. The Durutti Column, VINI REILLY

103. Skinny Puppy, RABIES

102. Godflesh, STREETCLEANER

101. Prefab Sprout, PROTEST SONGS

100. Pizzicato Five, BY HER MAJESTY'S REQUEST

99. Ice-T, THE ICEBERG/FREEDOM OF SPEECH …JUST WATCH WHAT YOU SAY

98. Sepultura, BENEATH THE REMAINS

97. The D.O.C., NO ONE CAN DO IT BETTER

96. Screaming Trees, BUZZ FACTORY

95. The Field Mice, SNOWBALL

94. Michael Penn, MARCH

93. Lenny Kravitz, LET LOVE RULE

92. Emmylou Harris, BLUEBIRD

91. The Tragically Hip, UP TO HERE

90. Roy Orbison, MYSTERY GIRL

89. Technotronic, PUMP UP THE JAM

88. Slint, TWEEZ

87. Bad Religion, NO CONTROL

86. Pere Ubu, CLOUDLAND

85. Skid Row, SKID ROW

84. Keith Jarrett, CHANGELESS

83. Concrete Blonde, FREE

82. Gang Starr, NO MORE MR. NICE GUY

81. The Smithereens, 11

80. LL Cool J, WALKING WITH A PANTHER

79. EPMD, UNFINISHED BUSINESS

78. 3rd Bass, THE CACTUS ALBUM

77. Wire, IT’S BEGINNING TO AND BACK AGAIN

76. Ciccone Youth, THE WHITEY ALBUM

75. Nomeansno, WRONG

74. The The, MIND BOMB

73. Peter Gabriel, PASSION

72. Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians, QUEEN ELVIS

71. Young MC, STONE COLD RHYMIN’

70. Red Hot Chili Peppers, MOTHERS MILK

69. Love and Rockets, LOVE AND ROCKETS

68. Soul II Soul, CLUB CLASSICS VOL. 1

67. Queen Latifah, ALL HAIL THE QUEEN

66. Bob Dylan, OH MERCY

65. Beat Happening, BLACK CANDY

64. Mötley Crüe, DR. FEELGOOD

63. The Primitives, PURE

62. Violent Femmes, 3

61. The Blue Nile, HATS

60. Biz Markie, THE BIZ NEVER SLEEPS

59. Blake Babies, EARWIG

58. Boogie Down Productions, GHETTO MUSIC: THE BLUEPRINT OF HIP HOP

57. Mudhoney, MUDHONEY

56. The Vaselines, DUM-DUM

55. Pop Will Eat Itself, THIS IS THE DAY... THIS IS THE HOUR... THIS IS THIS!

54. The Pogues, PEACE AND LOVE

53. Operation Ivy, ENERGY

52. Laurie Anderson, STRANGE ANGELS

51. The Sugarcubes, HERE TODAY, TOMORROW NEXT WEEK!

50. Lyle Lovett, LYLE LOVETT AND HIS LARGE BAND

49. 808 State, 90

48. "Weird Al" Yankovic, UHF - ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK AND OTHER STUFF

47. Kirsty MacColl, KITE

46. Steve Reich, DIFFERENT TRAINS/ELECTRIC COUNTERPOINT

45. The Beautiful South, WELCOME TO THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH

44. Soundgarden, LOUDER THAN LOVE

43. Spacemen 3, PLAYING WITH FIRE

42. The Wedding Present, BIZARRO

41. Mekons, THE MEKONS ROCK 'N' ROLL

40. Chris Isaak, HEART SHAPED WORLD

39. Jungle Brothers, DONE BY THE FORCES OF NATURE

38. Tears for Fears, THE SEEDS OF LOVE

37. Tracy Chapman, CROSSROADS

36. The Cult, SONIC TEMPLE

35. 10,000 Maniacs, BLIND MAN'S ZOO

34. Bonnie Raitt, NICK OF TIME

33. Elvis Costello, SPIKE

32. Throwing Muses, HUNKPAPA

31. Ministry, THE MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO TASTE

30. Camper Van Beethoven, KEY LIME PIE

29. XTC, ORANGES AND LEMONS

28. Yo La Tengo, PRESIDENT YO LA TENGO

27. Fine Young Cannibals, THE RAW & THE COOKED

26. Bob Mould, WORKBOOK

25. Prince, BATMAN

24. The Replacements, DON’T TELL A SOUL

23. Indigo Girls, INDIGO GIRLS

22. Neil Young, FREEDOM

21. Lou Reed, NEW YORK

20. Julee Cruise, FLOATING INTO THE NIGHT

19. Neneh Cherry, RAW LIKE SUSHI

18. Kate Bush, THE SENSUAL WORLD

17. Faith No More, THE REAL THING

16. Galaxie 500, ON FIRE

15. Madonna, LIKE A PRAYER

14. The Jesus and Mary Chain, AUTOMATIC

13. Janet Jackson, JANET JACKSON'S RHYTHM NATION 1814

12. New Order, TECHNIQUE

11. Fugazi, 13 SONGS

10. The B-52’s, COSMIC THING

9. Tom Petty, FULL MOON FEVER

8. N.W.A, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON

7. The Stone Roses, THE STONE ROSES

6. Nirvana, BLEACH

5. Nine Inch Nails, PRETTY HATE MACHINE

4. The Cure, DISINTEGRATION

3. De La Soul, 3 FEET HIGH AND RISING

2. Beastie Boys, PAUL'S BOUTIQUE

1. Pixies, DOOLITTLE