The Bus

I eventually want to cover most of the past 50-60 years, and I guess the 80s is as good a place to start.

Formatting for the lazy:


1980 : AC/DC — Back in Black
1981 : Kraftwerk — Computer World
1982 : Bruce Springsteen — Nebraska
1983 : Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark — Dazzle Ships
1984 : Minutemen — Double Nickels on the Dime
1985 : a-ha — Hunting High and Low
1986 : The Smiths — The Queen is Dead
1987 : U2 — Joshua Tree
1988 : N.W.A. — Straight Outta Compton
1989 : Beastie Boys — Paul's Boutique

I have to admit, a lot of these are "filler" simply because I'm doing a best guess. I don't have clear, obvious answers for these. I don't know enough 80s albums (as a whole), so for some years it was a choice of 1 or 2 different ones. Hence, this thread.

cdollaz

1980: Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
1981: Van Halen - Fair Warning
1982: Rush - Signals
1983: Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At The Moon
1984: Husker Du - Zen Arcade
1985: Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
1986: Iron Maiden - Somewhere In Time
1987: The Cure - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
1988: Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
1989: Faith No More - The Real Thing

MrE

1989: Pixies - Doolittle

dick_grayson

1980 : Joy Division — Closer
1981 : Blue Öyster Cult — Fire of Unknown Origin
1982 : The Misfits — Walk Among Us
1983 : Bad Brains — Rock for Light
1984 : Metallica — Ride the Lightning
1985 : The Descendents — I Don't Want to Grow Up
1986 : The Smiths — The Queen Is Dead
1987 : Guns N' Roses — Appetite for Destruction
1988 : Slayer — South of Heaven
1989 : Pixies — Doolittle

wishbone

1980 : AC/DC — Back in Black *
1981 : Rush — Moving Pictures *
1982 : Michael Jackson — Thriller
1983 : The Police — Synchronicity
1984 : Van Halen — 1984
1985 : Phil Collins — No Jacket Required
1986 : Run-D.M.C. — Raising Hell
1987 : U2 — The Joshua Tree
1988 : Queensrÿche — Operation: mindcrime
1989 : Faith No More — The Real Thing

*appreciation in retrospect -- I did not listen to these albums at the time

johnbook

1980 - AC/DC - Back in Black
1981 - Def Leppard - High 'N' Dry
1982 - Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
1983 - Kiss - Lick it Up and Black Sabbath - Born Again "couldn't choose one'
1984 - Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry
1985 - Ratt - Invasion of your Privacy and -- Roger Daltrey Under a raging Moon
1986 - Journey - Raised on Radio
1987 - Def Leppard - Hysteria
1988 - Winger - Winger
1989 - Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood

Like my 1983 choices it was so hard to choose one for each year since this is the decade i grew up in and still love all the music i grew up with.

megashock5

1980 : Joy Division — Closer
1981 : Duran Duran — Duran Duran
1982 : Peter Gabriel — Security
1983 : New Order — Power, Corruption & Lies
1984 : Talking Heads — Stop Making Sense
1985 : New Order — Low-life
1986 : New Order — Brotherhood (close 2nd: The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead)
1987 : Depeche Mode — Music For The Masses
1988 : Public Enemy — It Take a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
1989 : New Order — Technique (Close 2nd: NIN - Pretty Hate Machine)

yojimbo44

1980 : Pete townshend — Empty Glass
1981 : The Who — Face Dances
1982 : Roxy Music — Avalon
1983 : Bob Dylan — Infidels
1984 : R.E.M. — Reckonning
1985 : Kate Bush — Hounds of Love
1986 : David + David — Boomtown
1987 : Bruce Springsteen — Tunnel of Love
1988 : Toni Childs — Union
1989 : The Replacemnts — Don't Tell a Soul

Rocketdog2000

Harder to remember some of these....

1980 : Van Halen — Women & Children First
1981 : Def Leppard — High N Dry
1982 : Kiss — Creatures Of The Night
1983 : Bryan Adams — Cuts Like A Knife
1984 : Prince — Purple Rain
1985 : The Alarm — Strength
1986 : Concrete Blonde — Concrete Blonde
1987 : It's a four way tie with INXS — Kick, Def Leppard — Hysteria, Whitesnake — Whitesnake (1987) and U2 — The Joshua Tree - Sorry, couldn't whittle it down to just one. This is one of my favorite years for music from any decade, period!
1988 : Cheap Trick — Lap Of Luxury
1989 : The Replacements — Don't Tell A Soul

islandclaws

This is going by my WMP at work which has most of my cd's, so my choices are a bit limited, plus I don't feel like thinking too hard...

1980 : KISS — Unmasked
1981 : KISS — Music From "The Elder"
1982 : The Misfits — Walk Among Us
1983 : Metallica — Kill 'Em All
1984 : Metallica — Ride The Lightning
1985 : Slayer — Hell Awaits
1986 : Metallica — Master Of Puppets
1987 : Anthrax — Among The Living
1988 : Danzig — Danzig
1989 : Faith No More — The Real Thing

7Keys

1980 : Iron Maiden — Iron Maiden
1981 : Iron Maiden — Killers
1982 : Iron Maiden — Number of the Beast
1983 : Iron Maiden — Piece of Mind
1984 : Iron Maiden — Powerslave
1985 : Anthrax — Spreading the Disease
1986 : Iron Maiden — Somewhere in Time
1987 : Helloween — Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt.1 & Anthrax — Among the Living
1988 : Helloween — 7 Keys Pt.2 & Queensryche — Operation: Mindcrime & Iron Maiden — 7th Son of a 7th Son & Metallica — ...And Justice For All
1989 : Faith No More — The Real Thing


1988 is the best year of music ever for me. I assume its okay to pick more than one album since the thread title is plural. If not, I'd go with the two Helloween albums.

Hollowgen

Awesome thread idea.

1980 : David Bowie — Scary Monsters [tied with] Peter Gabriel — Peter Gabriel (III)
1981 : Japan — Tin Drum
1982 : Duran Duran — Rio
1983 : U2 — War
1984 : Prince — Purple Rain
1985 : Tom Waits — Rain Dogs
1986 : Siouxsie & The Banshees — Tinderbox
1987 : U2 — The Joshua Tree
1988 : Pixies — Surfer Rosa
1989 : Depeche Mode — 101

TimJS

1980 The Pretenders Pretenders
1981 X Wild Gift
1982 Richard & Linda Thompson Shoot Out The Lights
1983 R.E.M. Murmur
1984 R.E.M. Reckoning
1985 Replacements Tim
1986 The Beastie Boys Licensed To Ill
1987 U2 The Joshua Tree
1988 Pixies Surfer Rosa
1989 The Stone Roses The Stone Roses

1/9/08 edit: All-music has The La's The La's as a 1989 release, but it was 1990.

B5Erik

1980: AC/DC - Back in Black/Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
1981: Van Halen - Fair Warning/Def Leppard - High 'N' Dry/Ozzy Osbourne & Randy Rhoads - Diary of a Madman (Tie)
1982: Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
1983: Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind/DIO - Holy Diver (Tie)
1984: Iron Maiden - Powerslave/DIO - The Last in Line (Tie)
1985: Anthrax - Spreading the Disease/Dokken - Under Lock and Key (Tie)
1986: Metallica - Master of Puppets/Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time (Tie)
1987: Black Sabbath - The Eternal Idol
1988: Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
1989: Badlands - Badlands

There are a lot of others that were close, but those are my favorites (and, for the most part, were my favorites then) by year. A lot of ties - there were a lot of great albums released in the 80's!

Ky-Fi

1980: The Clash---London Calling
1981: The Police---Ghost in the Machine
1982: Wall of Voodoo--Call of the West
1983: Big Country--The Crossing
1984: U2---The Unforgettable Fire
1985: REM---Document
1986: The Smiths---The Queen is Dead
1987: Killing Joke---Brighter than a Thousand Suns
1988: The Waterboys---Fisherman's Blues
1989: Bob Dylan---Oh Mercy

Triple S

1980 : Ozzy Osbourne — Blizzard of Ozz
1981 : Journey — Escape (shut up)
1982 : Prince — 1999
1983 : Metallica — Kill Em All
1984 : Prince & the Revolution — Purple Rain
1985 : Oingo Boingo — Dead Man's Party
1986 : Beastie Boys — Licensed to Ill
1987 : U2 — The Joshua Tree
1988 : Metallica — ...And Justice for All
1989 : Pixies — Doolittle

7Keys

Released in 1979.

Tscott

1980: Devo - Freedom of Choice
1981: Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju
1982: Pat Benatar - Get Nervous
1983: Brian Eno - Apollo Atmospheres & Soundtracks
1984: Cocteau Twins - Treasure
1985: Tears for Fears - Songs From the Big Chair
1986: Depeche Mode - Black Celebration
1987: Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra
1988: Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation / Lucinda Williams - Lucinda Williams / Y Kant Tori Read - Y Kant Tori Read (tie)
1989: Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine

Sorry for 88's three-way-tie, but I can't bear it to leave any of the three off the list.

cactusoly

1980 had to be one of the best years ever for hard rock...

Judas Priest British Steel
AC/DC Back in Black
Iron Maiden ST
Motorhead Ace of Spades
Black Sabbath Heaven and Hell

johnbook

Why do you say (shut up) for picking 1981's Journey Escape, it's a great album.

johnbook

Yes it was, i'll also include...

Def Leppard - On through the Night
Van Halen - Women and children First
Kiss - Unmasked
Scorpions - Animal Magnetism

B5Erik

1983 was incredible as well...

Dio - Holy Diver
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
KISS - Lick It Up
Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon
Black Sabbath - Born Again
AC/DC - Flick of the Switch
Ratt - Ratt (EP)
Krokus - Headhunter

...and that's just off the top of my head!

Ky-Fi

I was going by the US release date, which was 1/80---and hey, Rolling Stone used that same logic to name London Calling the best album of the 80's.

And yes, I see now that I put REM's Document as my album of 1985, even though that album was actually from 1987. All right, all right---to quote George Costanza: "you're smart, I'm dumb."

7Keys

I remember an interview with Joe Strummer when they asked him about Rolling Stone naming LC the best album of the 80's.

Strummer: "I thought it came out in '79."

johnbook

and..

Def Leppard - Pyromania

Maybe not hardrock but still great albums in a great year..

ZZ Top - Eliminator
Journey - Frontiers