The 1980s were (and still are) one of my favorite decades of music in my life. The conservative Reagan Era ushered in a sense of rebellion in pop culture, complete with wacky haircuts, bean bags, and kids walking around with Walkmans in their pockets wearing leg warmers. Everything from Post-Punk to New Wave dominated the charts, and synthesizers were the main instrument of choice for many hit songs and artists (new and old). With the advent of MTV and the new phenomenon of music videos, big hair metal bands such as Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Poison, Twisted Sister, Guns N’ Roses, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, and Motley Crue faced off against new pop superstars such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Paula Abdul, New Kids on the Block, George Michael, and Prince for best music video of the week. Meanwhile new American rappers Run-DMC inspired three Jewish boys from New York City to create their own hardcore band which soon led to them becoming the first white rappers in the world: The Beastie Boys. Along with Grandmaster Flash, N.W.A, Africa Bambaata, LL Cool J, and Public Enemy, the USA was leading the way with innovative and fresh new music never before heard on Planet Earth. In terms of Alternative Rock, some absolutely fantastic American bands emerged in the 1980s including R.E.M., The Replacements, The Feelies, Dinosaur Jr., Pixies, Sonic Youth, Hüsker Dü, Violent Femmes, and Galaxie 500. Across the pond in the UK, Alternative Rock found its home in U2, The Smiths, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Stone Roses, My Bloody Valentine, and Talk Talk. Meanwhile, down in Australia and New Zealand, popular acts included INXS, Split Enz, Men at Work, Crowded House, Midnight Oil, The Go-Betweens, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, and The Church. One of my favorite genres of music, Synthpop (and/or Alternative Dance), also emerged in the early 1980s from British bands such as Depeche Mode, OMD, The Human League, Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys and New Order. A few of these aforementioned artists participated in huge charity events such as Band Aid, Farm Aid, and Hands Across America, bringing awareness to many diverse causes, from AIDS, to poverty, to famine in Ethiopia.
I hadn’t fully appreciated the music of the ’80s until I was well into my mid to late 30s. When I was a child living in the 1980s, my half-uncle used to create mix tapes for me, dubbing one cassette to another. I also remember going to his house and playing video games on his Commodore 64, eating PB&J sandwiches, and trying out his various Rubik’s Cubes. I was thrilled whenever he gave me a bunch of these mix tapes. I distinctly remember hearing a lot of Prog Rock and Classic Rock from the 1970s on those tapes (such as “Hotel California” by The Eagles, “Roundabout” by Yes, “American Pie” by Don McLean, Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” and “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, “The Spirit of Radio” by Rush, “Yesterday” by The Beatles, “Ruby Tuesday” by the Stones, Alphaville’s “Forever Young”, etc.). It’s amazing to this day how much I can remember just by his quickly scrawled titles of songs on the empty back covers of the cassette jewel boxes. In many ways, those old cassette tapes I obtained in the late 1980s (maybe 1988 or 1989?) were my very first introduction to the rebellious world of Rock n’ Roll. The only other music I was listening to at the time were soundtracks and Jewish pop music (I grew up in a religious household and my parents were strict about what I could be exposed to as a child). Another vivid memory during that decade was listening to 80s synth music when I was 8 years old attending a Summer day camp at Chatham University (in 1986 or 1987). I distinctly recall a workshop where the campers voted on their favorite songs. To this day all I can remember is “Maniac” by Michael Sembello, Irene Cara’s “Flashdance…What a Feeling”, and “Glory of Love” by Peter Cetera.
It wasn’t until the mid-2010s when I was collecting a lot of vinyl records, that I made my proper discovery of many 80s Synthpop and Post-Punk bands. Throughout the 1980s there were many amazing songs from bands that would later be (unfortunately) coined “One Hit Wonders”. With the massive expansion of the music industry, corporatization of music artists, and surging technologies (such as compact discs), record companies and labels were able to make huge profits off of one song from a single artist. With MTV as a television hit machine churning out new artists constantly, music had undergone a completely different mutation in this decade. Aside from browsing through vinyl at record stores, I discovered more and more obscure 80s artists from BitTorrent collections of MP3s via various blogs on the internet. Lost Synthpop and New Wave artists such as Roman Grey, Sideway Look, Strange Advance, Paradox, Animotion, Zerra One, Nine Ways to Win, Ignatius Jones, The Hollow Men, Bazooka Joe, The Game, Romeo Void, One to One, Moral Support, and Fiction Factory, were too obscure to become one hit wonders, but I enjoyed their music anyway. Not long afterwards, I fully explored Synthpop and discovered more known acts such as: Spandau Ballet, Berlin, Erasure, Soft Cell, Japan, a-ha, Blondie, Alphaville, Thomas Dolby, John Foxx, A Flock of Seagulls, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Eurythmics, and Heaven 17. I also discovered a few Depeche Mode “clone” bands, namely Cause & Effect, Red Flag, Cetu Javu, In Trance 95, Camouflage, and Anything Box. I was hooked.
In 2016 I bought tickets to see New Order for the very first time live in concert. On an unseasonably warm March evening, I found myself standing with a friend of mine outside Radio City Music Hall in New York City about to enter the legendary venue for the very first time and witness one of the greatest bands of all time. Two hours later, I was watching Bernard Sumner and his bandmates from New Order, while I stood 20 rows back from the stage on the orchestra level. I was enthralled by the music, and though bassist Peter Hook was no longer in the band, I still loved the new album. A few days later I went onto social media and got in touch with one of the DJs who opened up for New Order that night, Justin Strauss, after being inspired by some amazing beats he spun. I asked him if he had the track list for his set, and when he offered to share the names of a few songs with me, I discovered artists Section 25 and Blancmange. Less than a year later, I joined as a keyboardist in a New Order-inspired Synthpop band named: Take Me With You (no relation to Prince). I spent thousands of dollars, bought a vintage/used Yamaha DX7 synthesizer, an Ultimate Support column keyboard stand, and an $800 Spacestation V.3 amplifier. Amongst the dozen or so shows the band played, we had the honor of opening up on stage before 80’s legends Men Without Hats and Gene Loves Jezebel. After two years, my bandmates and I released an album, including four songs I co-wrote. The New Order concert in 2016 not only changed my life, but was the catalyst behind the creation of Take Me With You. Unbeknownst to me, one of my future bandmates, Jessie Farine (on the bass guitar), was also in attendance that very same night in New York City. Inspired by the show, he returned to Pittsburgh and founded the band with two others. One year later I joined after the same friend I went to see the show with in NYC recommended I respond to Jessie’s flyer (searching for a second keyboardist) posted in a local cafe. Call it serendipity, call it coincidence, I call it the power of music.
Assembling an all-inclusive, “definitive” list of the top 50 most influential albums from the 1980s (or any decade) is no easy task, so rather than compiling a list that includes artists and bands of all kinds and genres, I’ve focused only on the albums and artists that I love. I could only hope that some of you discovering these albums for the very first time will not only enjoy listening to them, but find the music to be life-changing as well. I’ve organized the albums chronologically by year (in no particular order). Though some years contain more albums than others, it is only because the albums I picked happened to be released in that specific year. I also set a 3 album maximum limit for one single artist (so I could include albums from artists that weren’t as popular). Below this, I’ve included “5 Honorable Mentions” as well as a separate list of “Notables” that didn’t make the cut. Though I was only a child growing up during this decade, I heard the music of the era on the radio, in people’s cars, in summer camps, on school lunch breaks, and from people’s boomboxes on the streets. Today you can hear this same music via Spotify playlists that I’ve provided below. As an adult today, I often felt that if I had only one decade of music to choose from, it would be the 1980s. Next week I will focus on the 1990s, the decade of music I grew up with as a teenager. If you missed last week’s albums of the 1970s, you can check them out here.

1980
Devo Freedom of Choice | |
Joy Division Closer | |
Talking Heads Remain in Light | |
Ultravox Vienna | |
The Soft Boys Underwater Moonlight |
1981
Brian Eno and David Byrne My Life in the Bush of Ghosts | |
Depeche Mode Speak & Spell | |
Kraftwerk Computer World | |
Rush Moving Pictures | |
The Human League Dare! | |
Siouxsie and the Banshees Juju | |
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Architecture & Morality |
1982
A Flock of Seagulls A Flock of Seagulls | |
Yazoo Upstairs at Eric’s | |
Roxy Music Avalon |
1983
Brian Eno Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks | |
David Bowie Let’s Dance | |
New Order Power, Corruption & Lies | |
The Police Synchronicity | |
R.E.M. Murmur |
1984
Bruce Springsteen Born in the U.S.A. | |
Leonard Cohen Various Positions | |
Alphaville Forever Young |
1985
Kate Bush Hounds of Love | |
a-ha Hunting High and Low | |
Tom Waits Rain Dogs | |
Tears for Fears Songs from the Big Chair | |
Simple Minds Once Upon a Time | |
The Jesus and Mary Chain Psychocandy |
1986
Depeche Mode Black Celebration | |
Talk Talk The Colour of Spring | |
The Smiths The Queen Is Dead | |
The Feelies The Good Earth |
1987
Depeche Mode Music for the Masses | |
Midnight Oil Diesel and Dust | |
The Jesus and Mary Chain Darklands | |
Spacemen 3 The Perfect Prescription | |
U2 The Joshua Tree | |
Pet Shop Boys Actually |
1988
Leonard Cohen I’m Your Man | |
Talk Talk Spirit of Eden | |
Sonic Youth Daydream Nation |
1989
Lou Reed New York | |
New Order Technique | |
Tom Petty Full Moon Fever | |
Pixies Doolittle | |
The Stone Roses The Stone Roses | |
The Cure Disintegration | |
The The Mind Bomb | |
Galaxie 500 On Fire |
5 Honorable Mentions
Men Without Hats Rhythm of Youth 1982 | |
Peter Gabriel Security 1982 | |
Metallica Ride the Lightning 1984 | |
INXS Kick 1987 | |
Enya Watermark 1988 |
Thanks for your great work, Jonathan! I really feel nostalgic about cassette tapes from the 80s and 90s. I remember spending afternoons recording songs from the radio on tape. It was so cool to get the perfect mix tape! I’m not an expert in music history though, so I just know about a handful of the albums you have mentioned. I’m probably more familiar with the earlier decades though 🙂
Thank you Sirinya! Yeah, wasn’t making mix tapes so much fun? And then you could share them with friends and hear their critiques. I was still using cassette tapes well into the mid 1990s too (before I fully switched to CDs – to which I shared mix CDs with friends). 😉
Firstly, I should ask, “what have I, what have I, what have I done to deserve this….top 50 albums from the 80’s?” 😉
Oh man, reading through it, my initial thoughts are – Job well done! LOTS of good stuff on there, but also a couple of things that I wouldn’t’ve necessarily chosen as well.
“My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” that amazing collaboration between 2 creative geniuses — well, what can be said about that. It blew me away the first time i listened to it, and it still blows me away (it’s one of those ‘best w/ headphones on” albums IMO).. I think it might’ve been one of the first EVER albums to use samples , pretty revolutionary considering what was to come, not only throughout that decade (think Vanilla Ice) and w/ the emergence of rap/hip-hop… Having said that, as brilliant as Brian Eno is – i’m not sure you’re use of a (coveted) 2nd slot for the decade should’ve been his Apollo album.. As nice as it is (and w/ another great collaboration w/ musical genius) I can think of LOADS of other albums in an amazing decade of music that eclipse that one.
I’ve also got to say the same about “Darklands” .. you are well in your rights to have (the revolutionary) “Psychocandy” on there, but I’m not sure about that 2nd one from them…
Having Talk Talk on a list of the 80’s is an absolute necessity as well, but I’m not sure my pick would’ve been “Sprit of Eden” — I’d maybe have gone w/ “It’s My Life” or “the Colour of Spring” (perhaps b/c those 2 have far more impact on me, in their time, than “Eden” does…).
I could say the same for Peter Gabriel as well.. I was surprised by your pick — given the massive amount of hits on “So” (and the way that those songs influenced the rest of the decade and beyond), or even his self-titled “Peter Gabriel”
Besides those minor differences, and the 4-5 altogether different albums I would’ve had on there (no Prince?!) really enjoyable list!
Thanks Marc! Well, I actually included two Talk Talk albums: “The Colour of Spring” (as you mentioned) and “Spirit of Eden” (that was a very late addition and I wasn’t going to choose that particular album). As for Peter Gabriel, “So” is by far his most commercially successful album of the decade (and career), but I recently rediscovered his back catalog and realized just how underrated “Security” is. There are several songs on there that are absolutely mindblowing (“I Have the Touch”, “San Jacinto”, and even “Shock the Monkey”). As you know, Depeche Mode is a big influence for me, and Peter Gabriel’s song “San Jacinto” has a lot of Depeche Mode-like song structure/sounds. I love “Darklands” as a J&MC album because of several songs, plus its an amazing followup to their legendary “Psychocandy”. The “Apollo” album by Eno is pretty powerful for the song “An Ending (Ascent)” and that song alone is enough to elevate that entire album to a legendary status for me (I remember seeing the movie “Traffic” by Steven Soderbergh and being moved by the inclusion of that song in the film). One other album I nearly included on my list was Duran Duran’s “Rio”, but I just wasn’t a huge fan of that band (however I totally respect other people who believe its an essential album for any 80s list). Thank you very much for commenting, bro, and its always amazing to see how our musical tastes differ but also remain similar. 🙂
Great list and clean looking website Jonathan. There’s a bunch of stuff I’ve heard of but never bothered to listen to. Since you have them available here I’m gonna have to give them a shot. I forgot how much I enjoyed “Darklands.” And really, no Prince??
I still think it’s hilarious we were at the same New Order show before we met.
I saved Prince’s Purple Rain for my top 50 soundtracks! Thanks for checking out my list and enjoy listening to the songs! Yes, so glad we both attended that concert in NYC, otherwise we probably would never have met a year later! Keep up the fine work with TMWY. 🙂
Fascinating
Great list J! I love Duran Duran, Flock of Seagulls, Cyndi Lauper, Tears for Fears, Naked Eyes (& I got into heart in 1985)… And yes, I wore those legwarmers, “Madonna bracelets” and tried and failed at rubix cube.
Thank you Marci. I forgot about Naked Eyes, but they were one amazing New Wave band too. I could totally have seen you dressed up in an 80s wardrobe! Also, those Rubik’s cubes were so infuriating, I tried to break one apart. Lol.
Ok, well you’ve done t once again, an impressive list of unforgettable 80s music, worthy of being immortally etched on a NASA space recording. However, once again I must point out a few things…I can see that every choice must have been preceded by a heart-rending process of elimination. But I simply cannot imagine the eighties without Men at Work’s “Down Under” and “Who Can it Be Now?”, “Kyrie” by Mr. Mister, Madonna’s “Borderline”, ZZ Top’s “Eliminator” album, and the Beastie Boys? (maybe you’re saving them for the 90s) But, you must have lost your head, for I see no Huey Lewis and the News here. You mentioned Peter Gabriel and Def Leppard in your introduction. This does not excuse you for omitting the entire “Pyromania”album, and “In Your Eyes” and others from “So”. So I realized that what you have done here, and why it is different from what I would do is this: you chose bands from the specific genres you favor, synth-pop and shoe gaze, and other obscure artists that are cool, and not so mainstream. But I would have chosen songs that for me magically captured the 80s, in unmistakable existential ways, songs that when you hear them, you are right back in the time and place when you first heard them. This goes for Rod Stewart’s “Heart and Soul”, a disturbing omission from your 70s list… But again, these are difficult choices that you’ve navigated in a troubled time, thanks!
Much thanks! Luckily I included the names of some of those groups up in my preamble, but if I had a top 100 list, no doubt I probably would have included Men at Work and ZZ Top on the list. Different strokes for different folks, remember!
Great List! You wrote a little about the influence of 80’s rap music in your prose, but omitted any rap albums from this list 🙁 This is my only criticism.
Rap/hip hop wasn’t really big in my life, but I did appreciate the history and creative talents of 80s (and 90s) rappers. I did have Beastie Boys’ “Paul’s Boutique” on my list but at the last minute replaced them with the INXS album. Thanks for commenting, Jake!
Glad to see, you make galaxie 500 on the list, never get tired listening this album, I love to listen at afternoon to enjoy my loneliness