Marshall Crenshaw by Marshall Crenshaw

Marshall Crenshaw's self-titled debut arrived on Warner Bros. on April 28, 1982, and it's about as close to perfect guitar pop as the new decade had managed so far. The Detroit-born singer had been playing in the stage musical Beatlemania, started writing these songs while staying in New York, and cut them with his backing band and producer Richard Gottehrer, with Thom Panunzio engineering.

The Buddy Holly comparisons came thick and fast, and you can hear why in the ringing guitars and the aching, boyish melodies, but there's classic soul in the bones too, and the hooks are all his own. "Someday, Someway" was the hit, and "Cynical Girl", "Mary Anne" and "There She Goes Again" became some of the best-loved songs he ever wrote. The reviews were overwhelmingly glowing, and it reached number 50 in the States. Beyond it and the follow-up, Field Day, he never matched those sales again.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.