40 Best Albums of the 80s, according to Q magazine:

1. U2 - The Joshua Tree

Key Track: "Where The Streets Have No Name"

2. Michael Jackson - Thriller

Key Track: "Billie Jean"

3. The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead

Key Track: "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"

4. Kate Bush- Hounds Of Love

Key Track: "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)"

5. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

Key Track: "I Am The Resurrection"

6. R.E.M. - Murmur

Key Track: "Radio Free Europe"

7. Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Key Track: "Rebel Without A Pause"

8. Joy Division - Closer

Key Track: "Isolation"

9. AC/DC - Back In Black

Key Track: "You Shook Me All Night Long"

10. Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction

Key Track: "Sweet Child O' Mine"

11. Pixies - Doolittle

Key Track: "Debaser"

12. Prince - Sign O' The Times

Key Track: "Sign O' The Times"

13. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska

Key Track: "Atlantic City"

14. Madonna - Like A Prayer

Key Track: "Like A Prayer"

15. The Jam - Sound Affects

Key Track: "That's Entertainment"

16. Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill

Key Track: "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)"

17. The Cure - Disintegration

Key Track: "Pictures Of You"

18. Happy Mondays - Bummed

Key Track: "Wrote For Luck"

19. The Human League - Dare

Key Track: "Don't You Want Me"

20. De La Soul - 3 Feet High And Rising

Key Track: "The Magic Number"

21. New Order - Technique

Key Track: "Fine Time"

22. Pet Shop Boys - Actually

Key Track: "It's A Sin"

23. The Jesus And Mary Chain - Psychocandy

Key Track: "Never Understand"

24. George Michael - "Faith"

Key Track: "I Want Your Sex"

25. The Police - Synchronicity

Key Track: "Every Breath You Take"

26. Lou Reed - New York

Key Track: "Dirty Blvd."

27. Talking Heads - Remain In Light

Key Track: "Once In A Lifetime"

28. Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain

Key Track: "The Killing Moon"

29. Peter Gabriel - 3

Key Track: "Games Without Frontiers"

30. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

Key Track: "Teen Age Riot"

31. Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden

Key Track: "Desire"

32. Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking

Key Track: "Jane Says"

33. Bob Dylan - Oh Mercy

Key Track: "Most Of The Time"

34. Soul II Soul- Club Classics Vol. One

Key Track: "Keep On Movin'"

35. Def Leppard - Pyromania

Key Track: "Photograph"

36. Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones

Key Track: "In The Neighborhood"

37. The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God

Key Track: "Fairytale Of New York"

38. The Blue Nile - Hats

Key Track: "Headlights On The Parade"

39. Paul Simon - Graceland

Key Track: "Homeless"

40. Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast

Key Track: "The Number Of The Beast"

Very surprised and happy to see the Happy Mondays included in this list.

This is from the new issue of Q.

i have a hard time putting thriller that high, not neccesarily because it doesnt deserve it, but because its the blueprint he and every other mainstream pop artist has copied to a t ever since he put it out. thanks for 20 years of bad music, jackass. i dont care if hes not really to blame, i just want to scapegoat somebody, and hes as good as anyone.

Respectable list, though having U2 at #1 despite it being a good album is absolutely unforgivable.

Soul II Soul?

srsly


conspicuously light on hip hop. No nwa, bdp, erik b and rakim? licensed to ill is the second best hip hop album of the 80s?

also, leaving of burma is blasphemy

no husker du, minutemen, replacements, bad brains, minor threat, x? You'd think at least one of those wouldve gotten a nod.

murmur instead of reckoning? is that the general consensus?


janes addiction? are we still taking them seriously?

no loveless?

wow another list

British

Yes, not Top 50 though, but only because I saw them live.

1991

some of the album choices were suprising. it's all a matter of opinion though. well obviously.

Where's Manowar?

list sucks. no reign in blood.

Also: How is Liscenced to Ill on there but not Paul's Boutique? Or Master of Puppets? or Raising Hell?

Not a terrible list though.

I'm confused to that London Calling is listed on allmusic as a 1979 release, but is included in some publication's (Rolling Stone for instance) Best of the 1980's lists as a 1980 release.

Did it come out in '79 in the UK and 1980 over here?

My version (bought in US) says '79 on the copyright.

This list: pretty standard stuff (critical consensus on 80s albums says 'Murmur') with some UK bias.

That list was compiled by people who learned about the '80s from watching MTV.

"Jane Says" was from their debut.

It was released on the 14th December 1979 in the UK and the 1st January 1980 in the US.

The 40 Best Tracks Of The 80s, according to Q magazine:

1. Michael Jackson - "Billie Jean"

Q calls it "unspeakably funky, from the bassline, courtesy of Louis Johnson (of '70s funkers The Brothers Johnson), to Jackson's own super-taut synthesizer arrangement."


2. New Order - "Blue Monday"

Q: "New Order's immaculate art-disco classic invented alternative dance music and prepared the world for acid house."

"True Faith" did better on the UK charts (it got to #4, "Blue Monday" to #9). I don't think that means it's better, but Q cites chart position a lot during their list, as though it's pretty good evidence. No quibble with "Blue Monday". New Order had several 80s singles that deserve a high place on the list. Hard to go wrong.

3. Prince - "Kiss"
4. Run DMC Feat. Aerosmith - "Walk This Way"
5. Guns N' Roses - "Sweet Child O' Mine"
6. The Clash - "Should I Stay Or Should I Go"
7. Bruce Springsteen - "Born In The USA"

8. Pet Shop Boys - "West End Girls"

Q: "Tennant and Lowe's melancholy tribute to sleazy '80s Soho and Gerrard Street's now sadly departed Dive Bar gave them a transatlantic Number 1, and established their blend of dance-pop joy and wistful social commentary."

9. Madonna - "Into The Groove"

Q: "Madge's first UK chart-topper, distilling the sound of mid-'80s New York clubland into something flirty and new. Featured in the film Desperately Seeking Susan, resistance was futile."

10. The Specials - "Ghost Town" (available on Ghost Town)

Q: "Released with prescience in '81 as riots roared across the inner cities of London, Birmingham and Liverpool, Ghost Town hit Number 1 while describing an apocalyptic Britain."

11. Frankie Goes To Hollywood - "Relax"

12. Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"

Q: "The title his epitaph, frontman Ian Curtis was inspired by anxiety about his epilepsy and marriage to pen this soaring, heartfelt rebuff to happy endings."

13. NWA - "Fuck Tha Police"
14. The Smiths - "How Soon Is Now"
15. The Jam - "Going Underground"
16. Soft Cell - "Tainted Love"
17. The La's - "There She Goes"
18. U2 - "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
19. Blondie - "Rapture"

20. Depeche Mode - "Personal Jesus"

Q: "The thumping beats could demolish walls, as slide guitar and stabbing bass accompany vocals that echo like the Devil stubbing his toe on the Grand Canyon."


21. David Bowie - "Let's Dance"
22. Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five - "The Message"

23. Dexys Midnight Runners - "Geno" (available on Searching for the Young Soul Rebels )

Q: "The look was On The Waterfront street tough but the sound was Stax soul as filtered through the passionate, barmy lens of ex-punk Kevin Rowland."

24. R.E.M. - "The One I Love"
25. Van Halen - "Jump"
26. Morrissey "Everyday Is Like Sunday"
27. Stevie Wonder - "Masterblaster (Jammin')"
28. The Stranglers - "Golden Brown"
29. M/A/R/S - "Pump Up The Volume"
30. Grace Jones - "Slave To The Rhythm"
31. Motorhead - "Ace Of Spades"
32. The Rolling Stones - "Start Me Up"
33. Neil Young - "Rockin' In The Free World"
34. Billy Bragg - "A New England"
35. Dinosour Jr. - "Freak Scene"
36. Madness - "Baggy Trousers"

37. Don Henley - "The Boys Of Summer" (available on Actual Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits )

Q: "Eagles drummer laments lost love and ideals on a peerless slice of Californian soft rock. The indelible image of "a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac" seals its classic status."


38. Bob Dylan - "Blind Willie McTell"
39. The Waterboys - "The Whole Of The Moon"

40. Culture Club - "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me"

Q: "The plaintive reggae-soul of their first Number 1 introduced the planet to Boy George, the cuddly gender-bender, who preferred a cup of tea to shagging - before becoming 1986's most high-profile smack addict, that is."


~ Reasoning for all the tracks and other 80s-related articles in the magazine ~

None of those seem too surprising actually, and then you see Grace Jones and Bob Dylan in the list.