Best albums of the 80s
Add:
Tom Tom Club – Tom Tom Club
Whatcha gonna do when you get out of jail?
i’m gonna have some fun!
Doctor Lemonglow: Agree about Roxy Music, Avalon is actually an uneven album but had to include it on the strength of a few standout tracks.
There were some great early 80s synthpop groups here in the UK, but as the 80s wore on they were picked off one by one by the atrocious Stock, Aitken and Waterman producing team – which led directly to the sorry state of affairs mainstream pop is in nowadays under the control of antichrist Simon Cowell.
Mark: Agree re: UK synth pop, especially 1981 to early 1983. Gary Numan, Ultravox, Visage, Soft Cell, Human League, Depeche Mode and others were the middle transition from Neu! and Can (perhaps filtered through the Bowie Eno collaboration) and Kraftwerk onto the more Post Punk and Electronica music of New Order, Cabaret Voltaire, and sundry art school-Factory Records-industrial electronica.
The fact that much of the synth pop falls into New Romantic or similar categories never bothered me.
Coil covered Soft Cell, after all.
It was a mere two-year span from Flock of SEagulls playing the southern states to Cabaret Voltaire showing up at 688 in Atlanta and laying down the law.
The real distance could be measured in light years.
Just couldn’t get behind Duran Duran, though.
The Colour of Spring by TALK TALK
Volupte Noir has revealed much wisdom. Two tracks off this one are as good as anything you can ask for. Probably don’t need to point out which ones.
Yes, Doctor, Talk Talk was a brilliant, underappreciated band. Living in Anolther World is one of the great philosophical dance tracks of all time.
Talk Talk were superb.
Talk Talk were superb.
@Ruby
Yeah but I didn’t hear most of these until 3-4 years ago.
I didn’t listen to anything from before 1991 until about 2004, and I didn’t go beyond Beatles/Dylan/Stones/Who/Kinks for a few more years after that. :)
I think whether you’re a singles listener or an album listener depends when you were a teenager. When I was a teenager, it was the mid to late 90s, when I had the following choice: I could buy one song for $5 or one album for $13. Not a hard choice, much more value with the album.
Now you can buy a single for $1 and an album for $10, and most popular albums are a couple singles then filler. So, unless you’re deeply into certain subcultures, singles are the obvious choice.
Generic – Flipper
Racer-X – Big Black
Atomizer – Big Black
Executive Slacks – Executive Slacks
Double Bummer – Bongwater
@jirin —yeah i was being somewhat facetious :P
$5 for a single?? and they wonder why the music industry crashed
Good call on Shoot Out the Lights Ruby
Here are a few others that haven’t been mentioned yet (mostly of the more aggressive/metal/industrial variety, since those sort of tunes don’t seem to get much love round these parts :)
Jane’s Addiction – Nothing’s Shocking
Swans – Children of God
Skinny Puppy – Vivisect
Ministry – The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste
Sepultura – Beneath the Remains
Slayer – Reign in Blood
Morbid Angel – Altars of Madness
Godflesh – Streetcleaner
Celtic Frost – Morbid Tales/To Mega Therion
Bathory – Under the Sign of the Black Mark
and just for kicks, Christian Death – Theatre of Pain
also gotta mention the Belleville Three. Techno isn’t really set up for albums, but Detroit techno was fantastic
Kiss me, Kiss me, Kiss me
Pornography
- The Cure
REM—Murmer
Bruce Springsteen-Born in the USA
The Replacements—Tim
The Replacements—Pleased to Meet Me
Neil Young—Freedom
Warren Zevon—Sentimental Hygiene
The Pogues—Rum Sodomy & the Lash
Lou Reed—New York
Los Lobos—By the Light of the Moon
Tom Petty—Full Moon Fever
or
Minutemen—Double Nickels on the Dime
The Dead Kennedys—Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Gang of Four—Entertainment!
Mekons—Fear & Whiskey
Concrete Blonde—Free
Mission of Burma –Vs.
The Feelies-Crazy Rhythms
Meat Puppets—Meat Puppets II
Public Image Ltd.—Second Edition
Sonic Youth—EVOL
or
Chuck Berry—The Great Twenty-Eight
Prince—Sign O’ the Times
Eric B. & Rakim
De La Soul—Three Feet High and Rising
Prince—The Black Album
Prince—1999
Prince—Dirty Mind
Kool Moe Dee—How Ya Like Me Now?
Public Enemy—It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Kurtis Blow
@Ruby
Well, it wasn’t just the single. It had a remix or two on it and a B-side which probably wasn’t on the album.
But yeah, that’s why everyone bought albums. There were three or four songs off the album promoted and they could get the album more cheaply than each individually.
Matt: SECOND EDITION was a 1979 release, or it would have definitely been on my list. In fact, I had the original METAL BOX version (3 twelve-inch 45s in a brushed metal can).
Do you want to talk about unprecedented bass levels on vinyl? It could destroy small systems back then.
But the main thing is that the compositions were simply from another planet.
There was nothing like it at the time, and that Velano guitar just dropped sheets of sound.
No point of reference for those songs, but loaded with the most caustic lyric content imaginable.
Guess I’m technically cheating a bit there. Metal Box was Nov. of ‘79, then it was repackaged as Second Edition and re-released in Feb of ’80. At any rate, yeah, it’s a truly unique record. I’d love to have the original edition in the actual metal box—I didn’t beginning seriously collecting until around ‘84, so I missed out (I think the first PIL album I bought as a new release was Album . . . Second Edition I don’t think I had until it was released on CD a couple of years later).
in no particular order:
could go on but i won’t
Sandinista!- The Clash
Combat Rock- The Clash
It Takes a Nation to Hold Us Back- Public Enemy
Zen Arcade- Husker Du
13 Songs- Fugazi
Double Nickels on the Dime- The Minutemen
Power, Corruption & Lies- New Order
Out of Step- Minor Threat
Purple Rain- Prince
Nebraska- Bruce Springsteen
Appetite for Destruction- Guns N Roses
Raising Hell- Run-DMC
License to Ill- Beastie Boys
Paul’s Boutique- Beastie Boys
Violent Femmes- Violent Femmes
Closer- Joy Division
Damaged- Black Flag
Bad- Michael Jackson
Remains in Light- Talking Heads
Yo! Bum Rush the Show!- Public Enemy
jvc force doin damage
schooly d am i black enough
slick rick great adventures
special ed youngest in charge
biz markie goin off
whoodini escape
3 feet high and rising de la soul
Thriller
Graceland
Appetite for Destruction
So who can say ’80’s music sucked? So many great albums mention. Here are a few of mine:
Talking Heads – Remain in Light
Elvis Costello and the Attractions – Get Happy!!
David Bowie – Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
David Byrne / Brian Eno – My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska / Tunnel of Love
Metallica – Master of Puppets
The Replacements – Let It Be / Tim / Pleased to Meet Me
Husker Du – Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Prince – Purple Rain / Sign ‘O’ the Times
Neil Young – Freedom
man, I could go on…
Elvis Costello — Punch The Clock
Talking Heads — Remain in Light
Madonna — Like a Prayer
Violent Femmes — Violent Femmes
Eddie Murphy — How Could It Be
The Smiths — William, It Was Really Nothing
George Michael — Faith
Huey Lewis And The News — Sports
Doctor Lemonglow
Ruby: shame on me for overlooking 3 FEET HIGH AND RISING. I thought that was a 1990 release; live and learn.
I was a Smiths/Morrissey fan per song only, so I was scarfing up all the singles. “Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before” still thrills me.
Mark: certain tracks off MANIFESTO and FLESH AND BLOOD are top-notch Roxy Music work in my opinion.
Just couldn’t settle on an album, as usual.
I also was a huge fan of SPECIFIC songs by the popular New Wave and Brit Pop acts of the early 80s.
“Destination Unknown” by MIssing Persons; “Wishing: If I Had A Photograph of You” by A Flock of Seagulls; “Something About You” by Level 42
Those were rare instances, however. MTV was a wasteland. So was college radio.