Top few IMO:

Sonic Youth - Sister
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Pixies - Surfer Rosa
Pixies - Doolittle
Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Prince - Sign O The Times
Smiths - Queen is Dead

Roughly chronoligical list.

The Clash- London Calling (79-80?)
Elvis Costello- Get Happy
U2- Boy
Elvis Costello- Imperial Bedroom
Bruce Springsteen- Nebraska
Meat Puppets- MPII
REM- Murmur
U2- The Unforgettable Fire
Meat Puppets- Up on the Sun
REM- Reckoning
REM- Life's Rich Pagaent
Dinosaur Jr.- You're Living All Over Me
Pixies- Come on Pilgrim
U2- The Joshua Tree
Pixies- Surfer Rosa
Sonic Youth- Daydream Nation
They Might be Giants- Lincoln
Camper Van Beethoven- Key Lime Pie
Bob Dylan- Oh Mercy
Pixies- Doolittle (easily my favorite album of the decade)

1. Replacements - Let It Be
2. Fugazi - Repeater
3. Go-Betweens - Liberty Belle & The Black Diamond Express
4. Minutemen - Double Nickels On The Dime
5. The Smiths - Queen Is Dead
6. Pixies - Doolittle
7. Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
8. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
9. Black Flag - Damaged
10. XTC - Skylarking

I'll just add ones I haven't seen yet:

teardrop explodes - kilmanjaro/julian cope - world shut your mouth

xtc - black sea (I love both kinds of xtc - the spazzy early stuff and the poppy later stuff. Black sea is a happy medium for me).

jon hassell/brian eno - dream theory in malaya (experimental/electronic, beats my life in the bush of ghosts InMyEverSoHumbleOpinion).

the fall - hex enduction hour
boredoms - soul discharge
minutemen - double nickels on the dime
the cure - the head on the door
dexy's midnight runners - searching for the young soul rebels
soft boys - underwater moonlight
the dbs - it's a tossup. I really like both stands for decibels and repercussion. The thing is that I just picked up repercussion on the advice of someone in the power pop thread so I haven't decided which one I like better yet.

I was born in 1988, so I wasn't around at the time a lot of the 80's music was big. It's hard choosing, because a lot of the time, you have to be caught up in the hype and the cult following of certain bands to appreciate their music, or understand what the fuss was about. A lot of music is a social thing I think, we can look back at music now and say it was really cheesy or bad, but back when it was released it was cutting edge, every would play it in their cars, everyone knew the words and dressed like teh genre. Like punk or grunge, some music you needed to be tehre to understand it. The Sex Pistols and Nirvana are two bands, you cannot understand the reviews for unless you were caught up in their music when it was big. But these are the albums I own now, that I appreciate from the 80's era, even if theyre out of their setting and place.

Dead Kenneddy's- Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegtables- This album my dad gave me, and it was the first real punk record I owned except of course Billy Idol and the Sex Pistols who don't count really as true punk. This album lead me onto apprecitaing punk and I now own quite a large collection of punk Cd's.

Iron Maiden- Killers (1981)- This album like Fresh fruit for rotting vegtables showed me what punk was, this showed me what metal was all about. Again my Dad gave me this on tape! After I was impressed by that album I went out and I bought Piece of Mind and Powerslave, another two great metal albums. Now I own everything iron Maiden ever did, they really were the band that changed my music tastes and perspective.

Adam and the Ants- Prince Charming- I've always had a thing for Adam and the Ants, i don't know why either! It's the whole 'Pirate' thing I think! There music was really good, and enjoyable however even if they were very weird. It's like theyre a bit unclassifiable and I kind of like that. They kind of created theyre own image and theyre own sort of music that was neither here nor there. And this album has some real gems on it- Prince Charming and Stand and Deliver..Even if antrap was very bad!

U2- I couldn't choose one album! So i choose 2- War and the Joshua Tree. There's not much to say. two amazing albums!

The Smiths- The Queen Is Dead- The Smiths have been one my loves of my life, since I first discovered them after hearing You Are the Quarrey by Morrissey..Morrissesy solo albumw as so appealing I tracked down The Smiths stuff and this album made me fall in love with their music.

Constrictor- Alice Cooper (1986)- While I wouldn't say it one of the 80's best album, it is teh album that relaunched Coopers career. It has a few gems on it like Man behind the mask and Teenage Frankenstain...

Eric Clapton- Journeyman- Like Constrictor it's not an album tahts goign to be hailed as the best album of all time or of teh 80's, but itw as teh album that put Clapton back on track with songs liek Before youa ccuse me on it..I think albums like this arn't amazing, but in etrms of importance they are so important. They ar epivotal albums in an artists career...

Ive got to go out now..will add more later..

Hmmm.... In No Particular Order
Tom Waits- Rain Dogs
Jesus and Mary Chain- Pyschocandy
Pixies- Doolittle
Sonic Youth- Daydream Nation
Talking Heads- Remain in Light
The Smiths- Meat is Murder
The Smiths- Hatful of Hollow
Talking Heads- Speaking in Tongues
Bob Marley- Legend: If it counts!!!
Dammit I can't think of anymore...

Gotta admit I'm not much of an 80's music fan. A few great ones, however:

Gordon Lightfoot - Shadows
Gordon Lightfoot - Dream Street Rose
Paul Simon - Graceland

1. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
2. REM - Green
3. Guns n’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction
4. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
5. Paul Kelly and the Messengers - So Much Water, So Close to Home
6. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Tender Prey
7. The Cure - Disintegration
8. Pixies - Doolittle
9. Stone Roses – Stone Roses
10. Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy

nice list stocky...have you been raiding my record collection?

Thanks.

Whenever I post a list on one of these forums I inevitably include some of my favourite Australian bands - who I think are as good as overseas groups - and I wonder whether people from, say, Michigan have heard of them. Like, do Americans know who Paul Kelly is? And then there are people who probably know who Nick Cave is, but don't know that he's from Melbourne (not that it matters much, I'm just curious).

quote:

Originally posted by Stocky:
1. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
2. REM - Green
3. Guns n’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction
4. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
5. Paul Kelly and the Messengers - So Much Water, So Close to Home
6. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Tender Prey
7. The Cure - Disintegration
8. Pixies - Doolittle
9. Stone Roses – Stone Roses
10. Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy

I didn't think anyone would choose Pyschocandy but at least someone agree's with me! Yay!!!

I own and love all of Paul Kelly's albums, but from the '80s, I'd pick the Australian double disc of Gossip, but of course, I like your choice too.

P.S. I'll be seeing Paul Kelly and World Party (together) in concert in about two weeks.

Tim - The Replacements
Doolittle - The Pixies
Milo Goes To College - The Descendents
Suffer - Bad Religion
Energy - Operation Ivy (released in 1990, essentially a collection of songs that they had already been playing for a while)

There are so many great 80's records....here are a few of my favorites:

The Cure - Pornography, Disintegration, Seventeen Seconds, Faith
The Smiths - The Smiths, The Queen is Dead, Strangeways Here We Come, Meat is Murder
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation, Sister, EVOL, Bad Moon Rising, Confusion is Sex, Sonic Youth
My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything
Husker DuLandspeed Record, Zen Arcade
Black Flag - Damaged
This Heat - Deceit
Pixies - Surfer Rosa, Doolittle
Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Descendents - Milo Goes to College
Rites of Spring - Rites of Spring
Minor Threat - Out of Step
Misfits - Walk Among Us
Swans - Filth, Cop, Greed, Holy Money, Children of God
Glenn Branca - Lesson 1, The Ascension
Madonna - Like A Virgin yeah I said it.....
Prince - Purple Rain
Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me
Stone Roses - Stone Roses
Brian Eno - Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror, Ambient 4: On Land, Thursday Afternoon

I'm sure there are plenty of others, these were just off the top of my head.

Oh man, I totally forgot Dinosaur Jr. and Husker Du...

I'm only 15, so everything from the 1980s that I listen to is second hand research. Thankfully I can just click play on an album (W/Yahoo Music Unlimited), so I can find new stuff everyday.

so far:
1. Remain in Light ~ Talking Heads
2. The Queen is Dead ~ the Smiths
3. Daydream Nation ~ Sonic Youth
4. Doolittle ~ Pixies
5. Closer ~ Joy Division
6. It Takes a Nation of Millions...~ Public Enemy
7. Let It Be ~ Replacements
8. Joshua Tree ~ U2
9. Stone Roses ~ Stone Roses
10. Psychocandy ~ Jesus and Mary Chain

I'm still Listening to (or have yet to hear): Tom Waits, Dinosaur Jr, Husker Du, REM, XTC, Kraftwerk, Prince, Brian Eno, Talk Talk, Paul Simon...

This one was a fave of mine, but I never had it on CD until recently. I rarely pull out LPs to play (mainly because I can't get to many of them!) so this one always slips my mind.

The Triffids: Born Sandy Devotional.

I recall a recent review that likens this record to Joy Division raised in the barrens of West Australia. It's a stunningly good record, sad and bleak, from a greatly under-appreciated band. It is now back in print in the US, as a deluxe edition (with bonus tracks and special packaging), thanks to Domino.

This one would get consideration for my "best of 1986-2006" list, too.

Talking Heads - Remain In Light
Brian Eno & David Byrne – My Life In the Bush of Ghosts
Pretenders - Pretenders
Patti Smith - Dream of Life
Richard & Linda Thompson - Shoot Out the Lights
Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
X - Los Angeles
The Clash - Sandinista!
Camper Van Beethoven - Telephone Free Landslide Victory
Captain Beefheart - Doc at the Radar Station
Professor Longhair - Crawfish Fiesta
Pete Townshend - Empty Glass

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Blossom Friend,

Best of the U2 in the 80s-

New Year's Day
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Pride
Where The Streets Have No Name

- couldn't get into any of the full albums. Pop is one of they're best albums. Zoopora of whatever its called was rubbish.

Best 80s songs-

New Order- True Faith/ Blue Monday
Huey Lewis and The News- Hip To Be Square/ Walking On A Thin Line
Queen- Who Wants To Live Forever
Michael Jackson- Thriller/Beat it/ Billie Jean/ Smooth Criminal
Madness- House Of Fun
Stone Roses- I want To Be Adored
The Pixies- Where Is My Mind
Frankie Goes To Hollywood- Relax/ When Two Tribes Go To War
Shanon- Let The Music Play
The Power Of Love
Kylie Minogue- I Should Be So Lucky
Billy Idiol- Rebel Yell
Prince Scadeleous
Lady In Red

New list:

1. Replacements – Let it Be
2. Pixies – Doolittle
3. R.E.M. – Life’s Rich Pageant
4. Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
5. Prince – Purple Rain
6. Tom Waits- Rain Dogs
7. R.E.M. – Reckoning
8. U2 – The Joshua Tree
9. Guns N’ Roses – Appetite For Destruction
10. Replacements – Tim
11. The Stone Roses – S/T
12. Pixies – Surfer Rosa
13. The Cure – The Head on the Door
14. The Cure – Disintegration
15. R.E.M. – Green
16. Replacements – Pleased to Meet Me
17. Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
18. Tom Waits – Frank’s Wild Years
19. Tom Petty – Full Moon Fever
20. INXS – Kick
21. Peter Gabriel – So
22. Camper Van Beethoven – Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
23. Devo – Freedom of Choice
24. The Cult – Sonic Temple
25. Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet