Top 55 Music Albums of the 1980s by 
Repo 
- Chart updated: 06/07/2023 10:15
- (Created: 04/22/2017 02:03).
- Chart size: 55 albums.
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[First added to this chart: 06/07/2023]
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'80:10 This Is The Way. Step Inside.
[Martin] made it sound like somebody strangling a cat, and to my mind, absolutely killed the song. I was so annoyed with him and went in and gave him a piece of my mind but he just turned around and told me to fuck off. – Peter Hook, bassist for Joy Division on Martin Hammet’s production on "Atrocity Exhibition"
The Setting: Unfathomable pain. Ian was dead. Hung in his kitchen on the eve of their American tour. Bernard, Peter & Stephan are left bereft wondering how they could have missed the signs. Searching for answers that would never arrive. Two months later the album Closer is released.
The Listen: And somehow it was captured. All that inner pain. I do not know how it was captured. Like some kind of ghost. But it was. The Beatles may have a sang a great tune about weeping guitars, but, by God, Bernard’s guitar wept and wailed to the high heavens. Like a strangled cat. Like barbwire. The drums haunt & stalk. Circling around the procession like a slow brooding tempest threatening rain. Meanwhile Ian had no more tears to shed. His tears and blood had long since drained away. Pooled at his feet and reflecting back at him until he saw no way forward.
The Verdict. More a crypt than an album, Ian continues to live in its epically darkened grooves. Providing comfort that he also knows and shares our pain. Forever.
Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 06/05/2021]
[Martin] made it sound like somebody strangling a cat, and to my mind, absolutely killed the song. I was so annoyed with him and went in and gave him a piece of my mind but he just turned around and told me to fuck off. – Peter Hook, bassist for Joy Division on Martin Hammet’s production on "Atrocity Exhibition"
The Setting: Unfathomable pain. Ian was dead. Hung in his kitchen on the eve of their American tour. Bernard, Peter & Stephan are left bereft wondering how they could have missed the signs. Searching for answers that would never arrive. Two months later the album Closer is released.
The Listen: And somehow it was captured. All that inner pain. I do not know how it was captured. Like some kind of ghost. But it was. The Beatles may have a sang a great tune about weeping guitars, but, by God, Bernard’s guitar wept and wailed to the high heavens. Like a strangled cat. Like barbwire. The drums haunt & stalk. Circling around the procession like a slow brooding tempest threatening rain. Meanwhile Ian had no more tears to shed. His tears and blood had long since drained away. Pooled at his feet and reflecting back at him until he saw no way forward.
The Verdict. More a crypt than an album, Ian continues to live in its epically darkened grooves. Providing comfort that he also knows and shares our pain. Forever.
Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 06/05/2021]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
16,492
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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'80:6 The Beat Goes On
aka Play that Funky Music White Boys & Girl
The Setting: After More Songs... and Fear of Music, The Talking Heads were the leaders of the Art Punk school in the States (sorry, Pere Ubu). Questioned by know one. Respected by everyone. Perhaps most surprising was how funky and groovy this bunch of seemingly over-caffeinated, over-educated nice white kids could be. So good that they won the highly prized Eno treatment regimen a third time running.
The Listen: It’s just hard not to be floored. It’s tight. Funky. A fine metal being coiled and compressed. Tightened. Tension rising as you dance at the building’s edge. So close you feel you’re going fall. But, everything is measured just so. You know you’re safe. They went to architecture school after all. They know a thing or two about crafting their buildings from songs. And Eno was never one to completely lose control. He loved bolting down a cracking fail safe.
Verdict: Even better than my beloved Seventeen Seconds, Remains In Light deserves what it got - the highly coveted Critic’s Pet Award of 1980. Fresh and vibrant and meticulous and funky. Fripp’s guitar exploding in Fripponacci loops of color. Eno melting everything in the deep fryer he calls a production board. A Masterpiece.
Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 05/10/2021]
aka Play that Funky Music White Boys & Girl
The Setting: After More Songs... and Fear of Music, The Talking Heads were the leaders of the Art Punk school in the States (sorry, Pere Ubu). Questioned by know one. Respected by everyone. Perhaps most surprising was how funky and groovy this bunch of seemingly over-caffeinated, over-educated nice white kids could be. So good that they won the highly prized Eno treatment regimen a third time running.
The Listen: It’s just hard not to be floored. It’s tight. Funky. A fine metal being coiled and compressed. Tightened. Tension rising as you dance at the building’s edge. So close you feel you’re going fall. But, everything is measured just so. You know you’re safe. They went to architecture school after all. They know a thing or two about crafting their buildings from songs. And Eno was never one to completely lose control. He loved bolting down a cracking fail safe.
Verdict: Even better than my beloved Seventeen Seconds, Remains In Light deserves what it got - the highly coveted Critic’s Pet Award of 1980. Fresh and vibrant and meticulous and funky. Fripp’s guitar exploding in Fripponacci loops of color. Eno melting everything in the deep fryer he calls a production board. A Masterpiece.
Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 05/10/2021]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
29,820
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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'80:1 I’m Running to What’s Nothing!
Again & Again & AGAIN! (What’s wrong with me! Brick wall Laughing )
Setting: There was no way to expect this. Not in 1980. Three Imaginary Boys was a brilliant and massively creative album in the realm of punk. Not only that, but clearly they could write songs. Boys Don’t Cry, Killing an Arab and 10:15 Saturday Night are all massive punk singles. So if you were paying attention, you knew they had the potential to be players. Robert Smith had other ideas. And ripped up yesterday and started anew. He conjured an atmosphere that at the time was only rivaled by Joy Division (who just may get a shout out here soon. What do you think? Think )
The Listen: This album still blows my mind this many years later. The minor keys. The world building. One of those albums that brings me to literal tears because it's so brilliant. The Cure would make other great albums. But, this was the initial unveiling of Robert Smith's Extended Universe. And I'd say it's better than Iron Man! Twisted Evil
Verdict: There is no way in hell that this isn't making the cut! A no brainer.
Grade: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil (Stealing this from Mercury! Because I like it! That's how art works, people! lol) [First added to this chart: 05/03/2021]
Again & Again & AGAIN! (What’s wrong with me! Brick wall Laughing )
Setting: There was no way to expect this. Not in 1980. Three Imaginary Boys was a brilliant and massively creative album in the realm of punk. Not only that, but clearly they could write songs. Boys Don’t Cry, Killing an Arab and 10:15 Saturday Night are all massive punk singles. So if you were paying attention, you knew they had the potential to be players. Robert Smith had other ideas. And ripped up yesterday and started anew. He conjured an atmosphere that at the time was only rivaled by Joy Division (who just may get a shout out here soon. What do you think? Think )
The Listen: This album still blows my mind this many years later. The minor keys. The world building. One of those albums that brings me to literal tears because it's so brilliant. The Cure would make other great albums. But, this was the initial unveiling of Robert Smith's Extended Universe. And I'd say it's better than Iron Man! Twisted Evil
Verdict: There is no way in hell that this isn't making the cut! A no brainer.
Grade: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil (Stealing this from Mercury! Because I like it! That's how art works, people! lol) [First added to this chart: 05/03/2021]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,831
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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'80:16 Waka Waka Waka (Amen Amen Amen)
Through Jesus Christ our Lord
By the grace of Almighty Lord
Through Jesus Christ our Lord
By the grace of Almighty Lord
In Spiritus Christus…
Allah Wakubar Mohammed Salamalekum...
Waka, waka, waka! (Coffin for Head of State)
The Setting: Fed up with Fela pointing a bright light on their hypocrisy and corruption, Nigeria’s military government was hell bent on teaching Fela a lesson. A thousand soldiers descended. Left right. Left right. They marched. Raping women as they went. Left right. Left right. They attacked. Left right. Left right. His mother was thown from a window out onto the street below. Left right. Left right. “Them killed my Momma!” That’s my Momma that you killed! She’s the only mother of Nigeria!” Fela cried on his 1979 heartbreaking and epic single “Unknown Soldier.” Few songs made you feel a man’s (and a country’s!) pain more thoroughly. And Fela was just getting started.
Listen: Wake up! This is a man who’s been wronged. A man who lost his mother. Due to the very state that was supposed to protect him. Sound familiar? What we have here in the United States is not unique. The powerful hurt the powerless. How do we fix this? More police? Less police? It does not matter, brothers & sisters. Those are human answers. And human answers will not fix this problem. The last four years have proved that. But, there is a way. Fela knows this. A path to peace. The spiritual path. Through Jesus. Through Mohammed. Amen.
Verdict: A psalm as much as it is a song, Fela’s eulogy to his mother ascends beyond the human world to the spiritual world beyond. And that’s where all true answers lie. As moving an EP as you will ever hear, it deserves to be known as one of Fela’s essential works.
Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 07/05/2021]
Through Jesus Christ our Lord
By the grace of Almighty Lord
Through Jesus Christ our Lord
By the grace of Almighty Lord
In Spiritus Christus…
Allah Wakubar Mohammed Salamalekum...
Waka, waka, waka! (Coffin for Head of State)
The Setting: Fed up with Fela pointing a bright light on their hypocrisy and corruption, Nigeria’s military government was hell bent on teaching Fela a lesson. A thousand soldiers descended. Left right. Left right. They marched. Raping women as they went. Left right. Left right. They attacked. Left right. Left right. His mother was thown from a window out onto the street below. Left right. Left right. “Them killed my Momma!” That’s my Momma that you killed! She’s the only mother of Nigeria!” Fela cried on his 1979 heartbreaking and epic single “Unknown Soldier.” Few songs made you feel a man’s (and a country’s!) pain more thoroughly. And Fela was just getting started.
Listen: Wake up! This is a man who’s been wronged. A man who lost his mother. Due to the very state that was supposed to protect him. Sound familiar? What we have here in the United States is not unique. The powerful hurt the powerless. How do we fix this? More police? Less police? It does not matter, brothers & sisters. Those are human answers. And human answers will not fix this problem. The last four years have proved that. But, there is a way. Fela knows this. A path to peace. The spiritual path. Through Jesus. Through Mohammed. Amen.
Verdict: A psalm as much as it is a song, Fela’s eulogy to his mother ascends beyond the human world to the spiritual world beyond. And that’s where all true answers lie. As moving an EP as you will ever hear, it deserves to be known as one of Fela’s essential works.
Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 07/05/2021]
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('80: 7) 15 Minutes
Aka Transitions
So after Michael and Erica left, I’d take off the Joni Mitchell and put on Uriah Heap and Deep Purple, ya know, just anything loud and abrasive. Gregg actually didn’t have any choice because I was the guy behind the counter– but I liked Greg. I liked talking to him. You know, it was cool hanging out with him … so that’s how we came together. That’s where the seeds of Black Flag were planted, in that record store in Hermosa Beach. - Keith Morris on forming Black Flag
The Setting: Hermosa Beach 1978. Greg Ginn waiting for his sister to come back from a quick cop & feel. Keith Morris and him bond over their mutual hatred of California Rock and love of Uriah Heap at a record store. And Black Flag is born. Their first EP Nervous Breakdown essentially creates Hardcore Punk. Can we all agree that’s the most logical ground zero of consequence? (If you have an alternative staring point, LET ME KNOW!) Keith & Ginn, being total opposites, lasted a year or so together before “creative differences” started to be thrown about. So Keith bolted, with ample amounts of coke and grass to get some "fresh air," and formed Circle Jerks with Greg Hetson of later Bad Religion fame.
The Listen: 15 minutes. That’s all it took. 14 songs in 15 minutes. And Orange County Hardcore had its first classic album.
Verdict: Duh. R u even paying attention? All these years later. And STILL all those seamless transitions between songs kill me. And it wasn't by accident as later rehearsal tapes proved. Professional Hardcore Savants!
Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 05/21/2021]
Aka Transitions
So after Michael and Erica left, I’d take off the Joni Mitchell and put on Uriah Heap and Deep Purple, ya know, just anything loud and abrasive. Gregg actually didn’t have any choice because I was the guy behind the counter– but I liked Greg. I liked talking to him. You know, it was cool hanging out with him … so that’s how we came together. That’s where the seeds of Black Flag were planted, in that record store in Hermosa Beach. - Keith Morris on forming Black Flag
The Setting: Hermosa Beach 1978. Greg Ginn waiting for his sister to come back from a quick cop & feel. Keith Morris and him bond over their mutual hatred of California Rock and love of Uriah Heap at a record store. And Black Flag is born. Their first EP Nervous Breakdown essentially creates Hardcore Punk. Can we all agree that’s the most logical ground zero of consequence? (If you have an alternative staring point, LET ME KNOW!) Keith & Ginn, being total opposites, lasted a year or so together before “creative differences” started to be thrown about. So Keith bolted, with ample amounts of coke and grass to get some "fresh air," and formed Circle Jerks with Greg Hetson of later Bad Religion fame.
The Listen: 15 minutes. That’s all it took. 14 songs in 15 minutes. And Orange County Hardcore had its first classic album.
Verdict: Duh. R u even paying attention? All these years later. And STILL all those seamless transitions between songs kill me. And it wasn't by accident as later rehearsal tapes proved. Professional Hardcore Savants!
Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 05/21/2021]
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’80:2 Tears For Remembrance. Tears for Joy.
Setting: It didn’t take very long. Maiden were just that much better than everybody else. And it was bloody obvious right from the beginning, my friends. 1980 was the year that the New Wave Of British Metal (NWOBHM) took the metal world by storm. It boasted seminal releases from Angel Witch, Diamond Head, Saxon (x2!), Judas Priest and Motorhead. (That's a shitload of important albums! I almost feel that one of these SIX ( Twisted Evil ) albums just has to make the list too. Don’t you?! Think ) But the best of them all, even at this stage, was Maiden with this almost unbelievably confident and assured debut.
The Listen: Again, the most startling aspect on hearing this again is their maturity and confidence. Almost impossible to believe that this is their debut. Like The Cure, they create an atmosphere that is unrivaled. “Remember Tomorrow” and “Strange World” being the most obvious examples.
Verdict: This is bloody simple ain’t it! Throw it on the pyre, boys and be down with it. We got ourselves another keeper!
Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 05/03/2021]
Setting: It didn’t take very long. Maiden were just that much better than everybody else. And it was bloody obvious right from the beginning, my friends. 1980 was the year that the New Wave Of British Metal (NWOBHM) took the metal world by storm. It boasted seminal releases from Angel Witch, Diamond Head, Saxon (x2!), Judas Priest and Motorhead. (That's a shitload of important albums! I almost feel that one of these SIX ( Twisted Evil ) albums just has to make the list too. Don’t you?! Think ) But the best of them all, even at this stage, was Maiden with this almost unbelievably confident and assured debut.
The Listen: Again, the most startling aspect on hearing this again is their maturity and confidence. Almost impossible to believe that this is their debut. Like The Cure, they create an atmosphere that is unrivaled. “Remember Tomorrow” and “Strange World” being the most obvious examples.
Verdict: This is bloody simple ain’t it! Throw it on the pyre, boys and be down with it. We got ourselves another keeper!
Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 05/03/2021]
Year of Release:
1980
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,830
Rank in 1980:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 55. Page 1 of 6
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Top 55 Music Albums of the 1980s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1980 | 21 | 38% | |
| 1981 | 8 | 15% | |
| 1982 | 4 | 7% | |
| 1983 | 5 | 9% | |
| 1984 | 6 | 11% | |
| 1985 | 2 | 4% | |
| 1986 | 2 | 4% | |
| 1987 | 4 | 7% | |
| 1988 | 1 | 2% | |
| 1989 | 2 | 4% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| Cocteau Twins | 2 | 4% | |
| The Durutti Column | 2 | 4% | |
| Circle Jerks | 1 | 2% | |
| Brian Eno | 1 | 2% | |
| Paul McCartney | 1 | 2% | |
| Woo | 1 | 2% | |
| Eric B. & Rakim | 1 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 55 Music Albums of the 1980s chart changes
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 1st to 2nd Ragin', Full-On by fIREHOSE |
| Down 1 from 2nd to 3rd Guilty As Charged by Culprit |
| Down 1 from 3rd to 4th Ample Destruction by Jag Panzer |
| New entries |
|---|
 Sarah's Crimeby 日向敏文 [Toshifumi Hinata] |
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| Top 50 Music Albums of 1980 | mlgprounicorn | 1980 year chart | 2020 | |
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Other decade charts by Repo
| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 13 Music Albums of the 2020s | Repo | 2020s decade chart | 2023 | |
| Top 30 Music Albums of the 2010s | Repo | 2010s decade chart | 2024 | |
| Top 14 Music Albums of the 2000s | Repo | 2000s decade chart | 2022 | |
| Top 22 Music Albums of the 1990s | Repo | 1990s decade chart | 2024 | |
| Top 55 Music Albums of the 1980s | Repo | 1980s decade chart | 2023 | |
| Top 34 Music Albums of the 1970s | Repo | 1970s decade chart | 2020 | |
| Top 16 Music Albums of the 1960s | Repo | 1960s decade chart | 2022 | |
| Top 10 Music Albums of the 1950s | Repo | 1950s decade chart | 2022 | |
| Top 3 Music Albums of the 1940s | Repo | 1940s decade chart | 2023 | |
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| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 100/100  | 05/03/2021 21:02 | DJENNY | | 100/100 |
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