February 29, 2024 by A.S. Van Dorston

A fresh listen to Albums That Are 40 Years Old.

Any year in music you experience when you’re 14-15 is going to be significant. But 1984 was definitely a mixed bag. Some believe it was a peak year for pop (see Can’t Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop’s Blockbuster Year by Michaelangelo Matos). My teen self would tell those people to fuck themselves, as I felt incarcerated by corporate radio which was less entertainment and more an instrument of torture, bludgeoning us with the same small batch of songs that included Huey Lewis, Phil Collins and motherfucking “Footloose.” I had glimpses of what else was out there via Creem and Trouser Press magazine, but the record clubs didn’t have them, and for the most part nor did my local record stores. It took me years to hear everything I wanted, though I at least had a public radio station that sampled some of it and a tape deck. 40 years later, my rage and emotional scars from being force-fed “Infactuation,” “Hard Habit to Break,” “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” “Hello,” “Say, Say, Say,” “Break My Stride,” “Uptown Girl,” “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before,” and motherfucking “Footloose,” are finally just about healed.

Like the last two years, I followed along with Sea of Tranquility’s Albums that are 50, 40 and 30 years old morning countdowns with my own choices.

1. Hüsker Dü – Zen Arcade (SST)

My introduction to Hüsker Dü was hearing their cover of The Byrds’ “Eight Miles High” on KUNI, a public radio station with some cool nighttime music programming. They took one of my favorite early psych songs and dismantled it, destroying any kind of sublety and turning it into screams into the void, echoing my 14 year-old inner voice. That was just the warm-up for their double length concept album about a teen runaway. While a chunk of the first record, from “Chartered Trips” (why does Mould sound like Rick the Hormone Monster on that one?) through “Masochism World” is scorching hardcore punk, there’s lots of diversity, with the acoustic “Never Talking to You Again,” the instrumental psychedelic fever dream of “Dreams Reoccurring,” and the transcendent ennui of “Standing by the Sea.” And more powerful songs are to come on the second set, with “Somewhere,” “Pink Turns to Blue,” “Whatever” and “Turn on the News,” topped off with the epic 14 minute “Reoccurring Dreams.” Of all the bands exploring noise, both ugly and beautiful (Sonic Youth, Swans, Big Black), Hüsker Dü nailed it by being both the most cathartic and devastating.

2. Metallica – Ride The Lightning (Megaforce/Elektra)

I clearly remember the day in late November before Thanksgiving, being at the mall. After dying consecutive quick deaths at Dig Dug at the arcade, stopping by Waldenbooks to browse the latest issues of Creem or Circus, I was at Musicland. Just browsing because as usual I didn’t have the funds to buy an album. A long-haired hesher camed in and asked the clerk, dude, do you have any METALLICA? They did not. They shoulda, because after it’s July 27 release on metal indie Megaforce, their second album was burning up the underground scene. Elektra signed them and re-issued the album on November 19. They weren’t storming the charts yet, but people were quickly getting turned on to this brilliant album. Some were calling this fresh style thrash metal, others speed metal, though the speed wasn’t that extreme, just a bit more on average than the quickest of the Judas Priest and Iron Maiden songs. But that thick guitar sound and the chugs. Oh god the CHUGS! It would probably be another year and a half before I bought the tape, because I taped most of it from the radio when a local metal show played the whole damn thing. You’d think Metallica would approve, given the tape trading culture they came out of, but by Napster they were no longer those pimply kids. I wasn’t that pimply but I was skinny and starved for heads down, no bullshit metal. There was an entire underground of great bands I wasn’t yet aware of, but at the time, Metallica ruled them all.

3. Echo & the Bunnymen – Ocean Rain (Sire)

While all of the class of ’79-80 post-punk bands had evolved a lot in four years (U2, The Cure, Simple Minds, Siouxsie & the Banshees), the Bunnymen best retained their dark, shimmering vibe. Yes, there are now strings and somewhat bombastic romance in the sweeping “Seven Seas” and “The Killing Moon,” and despite their referencing Jaques Brel and Scott Walker, they’re also the most successful in avoiding any real cringeworthy moments that their peers suffered. At least for the moment, Echo & the Bunnymen were able to expand their scope without selling out and losing what made them special in the first place.

4. Minutemen – Double Nickels on the Dime (SST)

Once upon a time, a band didn’t have to make the best selling charts to matter. Minutemen’s art punk, jazz-funk and poetry synthesized Beefheartian experimentation with post-punk influences like Wire, Gang of Four, The Pop Group and the Urinals. By far the most challenging album on Village Voice’s Pazz and Jop top 20 that year, an album that barely sold 20,000 the first year gradually climbed all-time best album lists. 46 songs in 81 minutes, it’s an engrossing listen if your mind is ready for it. Watch the We Jam Econo (2005) documentary and fall in love with this trio just as audiences lucky enough to see them live did.

5. Rush – Grace Under Pressure (Mercury)

The cold war dread of nuclear war was strong in 1984, a feeling that unfortunately we’re getting acquainted with again. Iron Maiden’s “2 Minutes to Midnight” addressed it, as did Rush with “Distant Early Warning,” with the video referencing Dr. Strangelove. In “Red Sector A,” Peart was inspired by Geddy’s parents’ ordeal in the holocaust. The bookend of my favorite Rush era, this album is often misunderstood and misrepresented. Yes, Signals (1982) went all in with the synths, but the follow-up has a ton of great guitar parts. It’s their darkest and heaviest album, both in musical density and lyrically. A truly profound, intense album that deserves more acclaim.

6. Iron Maiden – Powerslave (Capitol)

1984 was a good year to be fifteen and a fan of Iron Maiden. From the beautifully elaborate Derek Riggs cover to the Egyptian concept to the epic music, Powerslave was an album for a teen superfan to get lost in, study, and play repeatedly. I got the album on release day on September 3, of course, but I remember on Halloween, before heading out to a party, our local FM rock station played “2 Minutes to Midnight.” They almost never played heavy metal, so I figured that was the sign that Maiden were going to rule the world. Yes and no. Like the next two albums, it nearly made the top 10 in the U.S. and went platinum. But they wouldn’t truly become global juggernauts until after Bruce and Adrian left and returned to the band sixteen years later.

7. King Sunny Adé and His African Beats – Aura (Mango)

The third and final album of the trilogy on Island Chris Blackwell’s world music label Mango, at the time it was criticized as over-produced and too compromised from Ade’s more traditional juju arrangements, and failed to make him a global star like Bob Marley. I loved it from the beginning, and it was incredibly patronizing to presume King Sunny was not responsible for the experimentation. Of course he was — the man has recorded over 40 albums since the 60s. He wasn’t some naive bumpkin, he was in control of his art, and more than ready to evolve and progress. Stevie Wonder collaborated on “Ase,” as well as Fela Kuti’s musical director and drummer Tony Allen. Given how both of them influenced Talking Heads and Brian Eno’s Remain in Light (1980), how cool would it have been if he collaborated with Eno? At least we have this, what would eventually become a massively influential electro Afro Pop classic.

8. The Replacements – Let It Be (Twin/Tone)

1984 was a good year for music for teens, if they had access to good record stores stocked with indie music. Despite and because of their drunken antics, The Replacements had a growing live following. But the audience Westerberg’s lyrics really connected with were too young to go to shows yet. It’s the perfect balance of juvenile humor (“Gary’s Got a Boner,” “Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out,” the surprisingly poignant KISS cover “Black Diamond”) to more tumultuous feelings of unrest, yearning, unrequited love (“Unsatisfied,” “Answering Machine,” “Sixteen Blue.”)

9. The Smiths – Hatful Of Hollow (Rough Trade/Sire)

As far as I was concerned, this collection of BBC sessions, singles and b-sides was The Smith’s debut album. My version was a fifth to tenth generation tape of murky origins (someone’s college sibling possibly) with Meat is Murder (1985) on the other side, this made it’s rounds between high school friends along with other holy grails of teen angst, anxiety and ennui — Joy Division, Bauhaus, the Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen. Morrissey’s self-indulgent whingeing was easy to ridicule, but secretly we all identified with the lyrics, taking miserabalism head on. Johnny Marr’s brilliant fusion of post-punk and jangle pop made it so cool, and beautiful, it hurt.

10. R.E.M. – Reckoning (IRS)

There’s been many a band that peaked with their first album (Television, Sex Pistols, Gang Of Four) and never recovered. Then there’s R.E.M., the best band to ever decline with each subsequent album, yet also get more popular. They couldn’t possibly repeat the mystique of Murmur (1983), so they just evolved. It’s impossible to think of Reckoning being disappointing with songs as great as opener “Harborcoat,” “So. Central Rain,” “Pretty Persuasion,” “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville” and “Little America.”

11. Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Rattlesnakes (Sire)

After hearing “Perfect Skin” on college radio when it came out, I somehow ended up with a tape with this on one side, and the less satisfying Easy Pieces (1985) on the other. I have no recollection of who I got it from, but it got a lot of plays in my dorm room in college as kind of relaxing background music for studying. I only knew one other fan at the time, probably because there were no Brits at my liberal arts college in the frozen tundra of Minnesota. Cole merged jangle pop and Velvets/Modern Lovers/Television influences (he covered “Glory” on a B-side) with a more polished, cosmopolitan vibe that would later be labeled “sophisti-pop.” I later learned that the album was pretty huge in the UK, peaking at #13 in the charts there and going gold. It’s since shown up in various best of lists, most recently #20 on the Uncut 500 Greatest Albums Of The 1980’s, their #3 album from ’84 after Hatful of Hollow and Purple Rain. I can get behind this updated canon.

12. Prince – Purple Rain (WB)

I was a reluctant Prince fan mainly because I was a teenager and my mom discovered him first. She bought his records for herself, and I tolerated him just as she tolerated my Iron Maiden and Rush, but liked Queen. This was his peak of creating not just his original sound, but an entire world where everything operated just a bit differently according to Prince’s own colorful imagination. The studio and all the instruments were part of his painter’s palate, and while only a few songs were guitar driven, the world learned from his live performances that the man could shred.

13. U2 – The Unforgettable Fire (Island)

After being knocked sideways by U2’s War and Live at Red Rocks (1983), the excitement of anticipation for the October 1 release date escalated through the year, as I was teased by previews of the lush, moody cover art, the stories about the band recording at Slane Castle with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, and the first single “Pride (In the Name of Love).” My favorite tracks are “Wire,” which taps into their post-punk roots, and the title track, that every time triggers a boiling over of emotions and memories, good and bad, because 15 was a potent age for a growing brain perpetually teetering on the edge of madness unfocused passion and anxiety. It was also a good age to buy in to U2’s balance of mystique and shamanistic appeal, before they swaggered too far into self-importance and parody a few years later.

XTC – The Big Express (Geffen)
This long-neglected period of XTC is finally starting to get the props it deserves. For a couple decades the albums after they stopped touring were disregarded even though Mummer (1983) was effectively evocative of a bucolic rural vibe, like the British flipside of R.E.M.’s Murmur. In contrast, The Big Express takes a steampunk approach to the harsher sounds of the city in the industrial age. It’s the hardest they’ve rocked in a while, and while it may be somewhat abrasive in places compared to Skylarking (1986), it’s a brilliantly original work that sounds like nothing before or since, and doesn’t fit easily into any one category (post-punk, new wave, pop rock, art pop, psych pop, prog pop).
Dio – The Last In Line (WB)
A year with a Dio album is always a good year for metal. Quickly following up from the blockbuster debut, a local rock radio station played the title track before the album’s July 2 release. “We. Are. Coming. HOOOOOOOOMMMMMME!” Yeah I was chuffed. At the time the only other metal album I’d bought that year was Judas Priest’s Defenders of the Faith in January. I wasn’t yet aware of Metallica, coming July 27, or Mercyful Fate, and Maiden’s next release date was still not announced. Dio scratched that metallic itch big time, and I still hadn’t even properly dug into his albums with Sabbath. I had a lot of listening and discovery ahead of me.
The Sound – Shock Of Daylight EP (Statik/Edsel)
Along with The Comsat Angels, The Sound were my favorite undersung post-punk band. Their albums deserved just as much acclaim as the likes of Echo & the Bunnymen and U2, with two killer classics in their first two albums in 1980-81. Their third album, All Fall Down (1982) was defiantly prickly and dark in a similar vein as The Cure’s Pornography, but their popularity somehow shrunk rather than grew. It’s too bad, because their more accessible follow-up EP was undeniably brilliant. Highlights include “Golden Soldiers,” “Counting the Days” and “New Way of Life,” but there’s not a dud track, which is why this six song EP is rated so highly.
The Gun Club – The Las Vegas Story (IRS)
I played the hell out of the first two albums on my post-punk radio show. The Gun Club’s punk blues/garage noir hybrid fits nicely between X, The Cramps, The Birthday Party, Scientists, Dream Syndicate and early Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. This beats out the more commonly acclaimed From Her to Eternity because Jeffrey Lee Pierce feels most genuinely like a soul in torment — half in ecstasy, drunk on blues and booze, the other half already burning in hellfire. It took a later reissue of their third full-lenght (and Mother Juno in 1987) for me to realize that the story didn’t end with Miami, as Pierce continued to rage convincingly with the help of his loyal mate Kid Congo Powers, fresh from a Cramps gig, and Patricia Morrison from underrated punkers Legal Weapon. It has more rough edges than Miami (1982), which works in it’s favor, particularly when the album peaks near the end with back to back ragers “Moonlight Motel” and “Give up the Sun.”
Meat Puppets – Meat Puppets II (SST)
After the noisy hardcore and atonal guitar noise on their first EP and album, Arizona’s Meat Puppets’ radical shift to a new hybrid of country punk was all the more impressive. Unlike any other band associated with blending indie and punk with cowpunk and roots rock of that era, the Puppets were complete originals, adding some desert-baked Grateful Dead style psych, which would become more prominent on their next album. Nirvana practically focused all the attention on them, including them as featured guests on MTV Unplugged. Among many bands influenced them, White Denim carried the torch of their eclectic experimentation the best.
The Jazz Butcher – A Scandal In Bohemia (Glass)
The Jazz Butcher’s Pat Fish started out promisingly on debut In Bath of Bacon (1983) as a two-man band with Max Eider, but things really took off when he assembled a four piece that included former Bauhaus guitarist David J. While their style is jangle pop adjacent, their peculiar variant of folk punk and proto-psychobilly is too chaotic to play nicely with anyone, the same with Fish’s witty, savagely funny lyrics. The album kicks off with a one-two slam of all-time classics “Southern Mark Smith (Big Return)” and “Real Men,” making this a candidate for their best album, along with their essential singles, finally compiled satisfyingly on the Dr Cholmondley Repents: A-Sides, B-Sides and Seasides (2021) box set. When commercial radio had reached a nadir of oppressive conservatism, it was a revelation hearing “Marnie” and the single “The Devil is My Friend.” Big love to Fire records for lovingly compiling the catalog in the three beautiful sets, making them in print for the first time in 35 years.
Julian Cope – Fried (Mercury/Fontana)
What happens if you merge the DNA of Syd Barrett and Iggy Pop? In this instance, you get a Julian Cope, leader of the psychedelic post-punk Liverpool band The Teardrop Explodes, or “bubblegum trance” as he called it. Many claim his 90s albums are his most accomplished, but I vastly prefer his second solo album featuring him naked, probably quivering from all the drugs, under a tortoise shell. World Shut Your Mouth (1984) from that year is good too, wrapping up songs originally started for the Teardrop’s stillborn third album. But Fried is satisfyingly unhinged but also accessible, leagues away from the preachiness of his later work. It kicks off with the epic guitar riff showcase “Reynard the Fox,” and lurches forward through jangle pop, tuba-fueled psych and prog punk decades ahead of its time, and catchy pop melodies. 1984 had plenty going on with heavy metal, hip hop, synthpop and big music, but it wasn’t ready for Julian Cope. He left the Fried truck to rust in his back garden as a tombstone for this neglected album.
The Blue Nile – A Walk Across The Rooftops (Linn)
The meticulously recorded debut was the first release on Linn Records, the Scottish high-end audio company, who ended up using this for speaker demonstrations. It makes sense, because despite the use of strings and horns, it brilliantly creates a moody atmosphere by ensuring the music has plenty of air and space to breathe. The result is vivid dynamics that can help show off good speakers. There’s not much in memorable hooks, but like the best work of Robert Wyatt, Joni Mitchell and John Cale, it’s subtly powerful once you leave more popist expectations behind. Word of mouth spread and it became a pioneering step from synthpop/new wave to ambient art pop and sophisti-pop.
The Raincoats – Moving (Rough Trade)
While Kurt Cobain talked his label DGC into licensing the first three Raincoats albums on CD for the first time in the U.S. in 1993, Moving still remained underappreciated, partly because three great songs were chopped — the delicate “Dreaming in the Past,” a buoyant nod to King Sunny Ade’s Juju music, “Honey Mad Woman” and the Caribbean rhythms of “Avidoso,” sung by drummer Richard Dudanski. But even pared down, the album is just as pioneering as their first two in how it leaves behind standard male rock and punk cliches by finding it’s own groove that undulates and oozes that resembles nothing on this planet at the time except possibly the also underrated Return of the Giant Slits (1981), and Robert Wyatt’s aqueous sonic explorations on Rock Bottom (1974). My usually trusty guides Trouser Press and the SPIN Alternative Record Guide had little to say about it, but eventually it’s influence would manifest 35 years later with the likes of Warpaint, Peluché, Body Type, Nightshift, Mere Women, Fassine, Goat Girl and Groupie. The track “The Body” is a great example, the piano led track sounding like Kate Bush’s art pop if it were melted in the sun. You can’t hear that track on streaming services anymore, because they use a 2010 Japanese reissue that dropped that song in favor of a very straightforward cover of Sly Stone’s “Running Away.” If ever an album was overdue for a proper reissue with all the tracks, it’s this one.
The Fall – The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall (Beggars Banquet)
How much Fall is too much Fall? Some superfans go all-in with all 31 albums plus dozens of EPs and collections, while for others, ten seconds of Mark E. Smith’s ranting is their limit. For the rest of us in between, this album and This Nation’s Saving Grace (1985) are great places to start, as they show the band at the peak of their powers, and even somewhat accessible at times, compared to cult fave Hex Enduction Hour (1982). Smith’s new American wife Brix contributes songwriting and melodicism to the band on Perverted by Language (1983) and their most stylistically diverse album so far on Wonderful and Frightening. Check out the reissue with a second disc of singles from that era. This could easily have been a great double album.
Naked Raygun – Throb Throb (Homestead)
Chicago’s Naked Raygun was my gateway to punk before I had a chance to hear Wire, Buzzcocks and Misfits, who were early influences on the band. The adrenaline rush of their piledriving guitars, Jeff Pezzati’s cutting vocals, and of course all the “whooaaaaooo’s,” what was not to love? Their first full-length continues some of the experimentation of their Basement Screams EP (1983), along with plenty of scorchers leading into their more straightforward post-hardcore style on subsequent albums. The two times I saw them in the 80s were all-time concert highlights. “What poor gods we do make,” perhaps, but they were a hell of a legendary band.
Tom Verlaine – Cover (Virgin)
On Tom Verlaine’s fourth solo album, he can no longer be mistaken for his old band Television like his first couple albums. While there were of course criticisms over his use of synths and that gated reverb drum sound, if it’s good enough for Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and XTC, it seems hypocritical not to allow it for him. Plus, he’s retained his guitar chops, even as it sounds like he’s collaborated with Gary Numan at times. Heck, Verlaine guesting in Tubeway Army back in the day would have been killer. The amorphous art rock that focuses on textures rather than hooks is something Robert Fripp would approve of, another guitar slinger willing to push boundaries and fan expectations.
And Also The Trees – And Also The Trees (Reflex)
While the majority of post-punk bands invoke the grim, grey industrial environments of cities, And Also The Trees, as their name suggests, focus on a more pastoral approach while still maintaining a dark intensity. Formed in Worcestershire in 1979, the band took a little longer to develop, releasing their self-titled debut in 1984. Despite touring with The Cure in 1981 and Lol Tolhurst producing their album and taking off from elements of Joy Division and The Chameleons, they remained unknown. Perhaps they were too gentle for the punkers and too post-punk for the goths, but to anyone who appreciates this style will find a mind-blowingly consistent body of work that spans four decades, including a new release, Mother-of-Pearl Moon on Feb. 16.
Cocteau Twins – Treasure (4AD)
This massively influential innovator of gothy dream pop and ethereal wave didn’t just poof out an album of this caliber with a wave of a wand and some faerie dust. They worked their gauzy, gothic asses off, having released no less than four EPs and three albums in just two years. The reward at the end was this Treasure, Elizabeth Frazer’s vocals sounding far more confident and emotive than they did on earlier releases.
The Moodists – Thirsty’s Calling (Red Flame)
Melbourne’s The Moodists formed in 1980, evolving from influences like The Jazz Butcher, Scottish jangly post-punkers Orange Juice and Josef K, and The Fall on singles and an EP, to their full-length debut, Thirsty’s Calling, where they developed their particular brand of garage noir punk blues fleshed out in its full, menacing glory. “That’s Frankie’s Negative,” “Do the Door, Friend,” “Runaway,” and “Machine, Machine” display singer Dave Graney’s distinctly unique style and perspective that couldn’t be found anywhere else. Long out of print and not streaming anywhere, it’s truly a lost classic.
The Dream Syndicate – Medicine Show (A&M)
After the perfection of the Velvets meets Crazy Horse of their debut The Days of Wine and Roses (1982) it took some adjustment to catch up with their change in sound, which drops the psychedelic fuzz and adopts a more Western Americana twang in the direction of Gun Club’s garage noir. Steve Wynn would go on to explore facets of this sound on his solo albums, but here we still have the combustible chemistry of a young band ready to slay audiences no matter how small the club.

Bubbling under:

David Sylvian – Brilliant Trees (Virgin)
Three years after releasing the magnificent Tin Drum (1981) with Japan, David Sylvian’s first solo album is a progression from that work of influential art/prog/ambient/sophisti-pop. He enlists help from some amazing luminaries like Holger Czukay from Can, Riuichi Sakamoto from Yellow Magic Orchestra, and ambient pioneer Jon Hassell. Having started out as a Bowie acolyte, it must have been gratifying to hear his own influence on Bowie on his final albums. #davidsylvian258 #bestalbums1984

Opposition – Promises (Charisma)
Opposition formed in London’s southern suburbs in 1978, their 1980 single “This Year” was influenced by ska/reggae through the lens of Two Tone and the Ruts. That lineup broke up and they re-formed as a trio with Marcus Bell, taking on a darker post-punk direction. Opposition could easily be credited for being the architects of the shimmering guitar sounds later employed by The Chameleons, had anyone actually noticed them. A listen to “Breaking The Silence” and “Very Little Glory” will leave no doubts that they were trailblazers, and the later cuts like “In My Eyes” display their angry power. Their greatness was recognized by at least one industry executive, as they were signed to Charisma records and released a string of consistently great albums — Intimacy (1983), Promises (1984) and Empire Days (1985). Unfortunately the label did no better than Breathless did in promotions, and all they had to show for their efforts was a strong cult following in France and the Netherlands.

Mercyful Fate – Don’t Break The Oath (Roadrunner)
It’s a credit to the arsenal of riffs from guitar duo Hank Shermann and Michael Denner that many consider this a perfect, and possibly the greatest heavy metal album ever. That’s a bold claim, when the vocals of King Diamond were borderline intolerable, like Judas Priest’s Rob Halford on helium with Satan’s you-know-what inside him. For that reason, the Danish band’s second album would end up a key influence on the development of black metal, where most bands took his shriek to further extremes, like demons being tortured. Also, his proto-death metal growls hilariously sound like Fozzy Bear. But their seamless integration of prog influences would also be a huge influence on all kinds of metal for subsequent decades. In the end, it’s decidedly imperfect, but too awesome to ignore.

Metal Underground

Beyond big names Metallica, Iron Maiden, Dio, Mercyful Fate, Motörhead and Slayer in the top six, there’s loads of great heavy metal albums bubbling under.

Slayer – Haunting The Chapel EP (Metal Blade) | USA
Cirith Ungol – King Of The Dead (Metal Blade) | USA | Bandcamp
Witch Cross – Fit for Fight (Roadrrunner) | Denmark
Waysted – Waysted EP (Music For Nations) | UK
Tokyo Blade – Night of the Blade (Bonzai) |
Metal Church – Metal Church (Elektra) | USA
Judas Priest – Defenders Of The Faith (Columbia) | UK
Avenger – Blood Sports (Neat) | UK
Loudness – Disillusion (Music For Nations) | Japan
Brainfever – Capture the Night (Earthshaker) | Germany
Killer – Shock Waves (Mausoleum) | Belgium
Chateaux – FirePower (Ebony ) | UK
Savatage – The Dungeons Are Calling EP (Metal Blade) | USA
Manowar – Hail To England (Music for Nations ) | USA
Axewitch – Visions of the Past (Neat) | Sweden
Ostrogoth – Ecstasy and Danger (Mausoleum) | Belgium
Tank – Honour & Blood (Music For Nations) | UK
Queensrÿche – The Warning (EMI) | USA
Spinal Tap – This Is Spinal Tap (Polydor) | USA
Scorpions – Love At First Sting (Polydor) | Germany
Warlord – And The Cannons Of Destruction Have Begun (Metal Blade) | USA
Venom – At War With Satan (Neat/Combat) | UK
Wolf – Edge of the World (Mausoleum) | UK
Warlock – Burning the Witches (Mercury) | Germany
Battleaxe – Power From the Universe (Music For Nations) | UK
Dark Heart – Shadows of the Night (Roadrunner) | UK
Saint Vitus – Saint Vitus (SST) | USA
Omen – Battle Cry (Metal Blade) | USA
Manowar – Sign Of The Hammer (Virgin) | USA
Exciter – Violence and Force (Music For Nations) | Canada
Stormwitch – Walpurgis Night (Scratch) | Germany
Faithful Breath – Gold ‘N’ Glory (Mausoleum/HR) | Germany
Cloven Hoof – Cloven Hoof (Neat/Castle) | UK
Twisted Sister – Stay Hungry (Atlantic) | USA
W.A.S.P. – W.A.S.P. (Capitol) | USA | Bandcamp
Grave Digger – Heavy Metal Breakdown (Noise) | Germany
Helstar – Burning Star (Combat) | USA
Overdrive – Swords and Axes (Planet) | Sweden
Pretty Maids – Red, Hot and Heavy (CBS) | Denmark
Warfare – Pure Filth (Neat) | UK
Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force – Rising Force (Polydor) | Sweden
Spartan Warrior – Spartan Warrior (Roadrunner) | UK
Shok Paris – Go for the Throat (Auburn) | USA
Celtic Frost – Morbid Tales (Metal Blade) | Switzerland
Running Wild – Gates To Purgatory (Noise) | Germany
Tyrant – Mean Machine (Mausoleum) | Germany
Bathory – Bathory (Black Mark) | Sweden
Nightmare – Waiting for the Twilight (Ebony) | France
Tysondog – Beware Of The Dog (Neat) | UK
Armored Saint – March Of The Saint (Chrysalis) | USA
Brocas Helm – Into Battle (Steamhammer) | USA
Thrust – Fist Held High (Metal Blade) | USA
Voivod – War & Pain (Noise/Metal Blade) | Canada
Paul Chain Violet Theatre – Detaching From Satan EP (Minotauro) | Italy | Bandcamp
Europe – Wings of Tomorrow (Epic) | Sweden
Dokken – Tooth And Nail (Elektra) | USA
Nightmare – Waiting for the Twilight (Ebony) | France
Jag Panzer – Ample Destruction (Metal Blade) | USA
Hexx – No Escape (Shrapnel) | USA
Cutty Sark – Die Tonight (Mausoleum) | Germany
Trauma – Scratch and Scream (Shrapnel) | USA
Kick Axe – Vices (Pasha) | Canada
Whitesnake – Slide It In (EMI) | UK
Torch – Electrikiss (Sword) | Sweden

Top 200

Hüsker Dü – Zen Arcade (SST) | USA | 10
Echo & the Bunnymen – Ocean Rain (Sire) | UK | 10
Metallica – Ride The Lightning (Elektra) | USA | 10
Iron Maiden – Powerslave (Capitol) | UK | 10
R.E.M. – Reckoning (I.R.S.) | USA | 10
Minutemen – Double Nickels on the Dime (SST) | USA | 10
Rush – Grace Under Pressure (Mercury) | Canada | 10
King Sunny Adé and His African Beats – Aura (Mango) | Nigeria | 10
Opposition – Promises (Charisma) | UK | Buy | 10
The Replacements – Let It Be (Twin/Tone) | USA | 10
The Smiths – Hatful Of Hollow (Rough Trade) | UK | 10
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Rattlesnakes (Sire) | UK | 10
The Sound – Shock Of Daylight EP (Statik) | UK | 10-
The Dream Syndicate – Medicine Show (A&M) | USA | 10-
U2 – The Unforgettable Fire (Island) | Ireland | 10-
XTC – The Big Express (Geffen) | UK | 10-
And Also The Trees – And Also The Trees (Reflex) | UK | Bandcamp | 10-
Wire Train – In A Chamber (415) | USA | 10-
Sad Lovers and Giants – In The Breeze (Cherry Red) | UK | 10-
Dio – The Last In Line (WB) | USA | 10-
The Fixx – Phantoms (MCA) | UK | 10-
The Gun Club – The Las Vegas Story (I.R.S.) | USA | 10-
Meat Puppets – Meat Puppets II (SST) | USA | Bandcamp | 10-
Ultravox – Lament (Chrysalis) | UK | Bandcamp | 10-
The Icicle Works – The Icicle Works (Beggars Banquet) | UK | 10-
The Jazz Butcher – A Scandal In Bohemia (Glass) | UK | Bandcamp | 10-
Trouble – Psalm 9 (Metal Blade) | USA | Bandcamp | 10-
Julian Cope – Fried (Mercury/Fontana) | UK | 10-
The Blue Nile – A Walk Across The Rooftops (Linn/Virgin) | UK | 10-
The Raincoats – Moving (Rough Trade) | UK | 10-
The Fall – The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall (Beggars Banquet) | UK | 10-
Naked Raygun – Throb Throb (Homestead) | USA | Bandcamp | 10-
Tom Verlaine – Cover (Virgin/Wounded Bird) | USA | 10-
Siouxsie & the Banshees – Hyaena (Geffen) | UK | 10-
The Go-Betweens – Spring Hill Fair (Beggars Banquet) | Australia | 10-
Cocteau Twins – Treasure (4AD ) | UK | 10-
The Moodists – Thirsty’s Calling (Red Flame) | Australia | 10-
David Sylvian – Brilliant Trees (Virgin) | UK | 10-
Big Country – Steeltown (Mercury) | UK | 10-
Rain Parade – Explosions In The Glass Palace EP (Enigma) | USA | Bandcamp | 10-
Mercyful Fate – Don’t Break The Oath (Roadrunner) | Denmark | Bandcamp | 10-
The Pogues – Red Roses For Me (WEA) | Ireland | 10-
Felt – The Strange Idols Pattern and Other Short Stories (Cherry Red) | UK | Bandcamp | 10-
Black Flag – My War (SST) | USA | 10-
Sade – Diamond Life (Epic) | UK | 10-
Pretenders – Learning To Crawl (Sire) | USA | 10-
Felt – The Splendour Of Fear (Cherry Red) | UK | Bandcamp | 10-
Hoodoo Gurus – Stoneage Romeos (A&M) | Australia | 10-
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble – Couldn’t Stand The Weather (Epic) | USA | 10-
Prince – Purple Rain (WB) | USA | 10-
Martin Dupont – Just Because (Facteurs d’Ambiance) | France | Bandcamp | 10-
This Mortal Coil – It’ll End in Tears (4AD) | UK | 10-
Scott Walker – Climate of Hunter (Virgin) | UK | 10-
Bruce Springsteen – Born In The U.S.A. (Columbia) | USA | 10-
Motörhead – No Remorse (Bronze) | UK | 10-
Laurie Anderson – United States Live (WB) | USA | 10-
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes – Travel With Love (Nighthawk) | Jamaica | 10-
The Smiths – The Smiths (Sire) | UK | 9+
Simple Minds – Sparkle In The Rain (Virgin) | UK | 9+
Slayer – Haunting The Chapel EP (Metal Blade) | USA | 9+
New Model Army – Vengeance (Abstract ) | UK | 9+
Talk Talk – It’s My Life (EMI) | UK | 9+
Bangles – All Over The Place (Columbia) | USA | 9+
Jane Siberry – No Borders Here (Duke Street) | Canada | Bandcamp | 9+
Tales Of Terror – Tales of Terror (CD Presents) | USA | Bandcamp | 9+
Plasticland – Color Appreciation (Lolita) | USA | 9+
The Deep Freeze Mice – I Love You Little Bo Bo With Your Delicate Golden Lions (Cordelia) | UK | Bandcamp | 9+
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – From Her To Eternity (Homestead) | Australia | 9+
The Pale Fountains – Pacific Street (Virgin) | UK | 9+
The Psychedelic Furs – Mirror Moves (Columbia) | UK | 9+
Hunters & Collectors – Jaws Of Life (Epic) | Australia | 9+
The Cars – Heartbeat City (Elektra) | USA | 9+
The Nomads – Outburst (What Goes On) | Sweden | 9+
Julian Cope – World Shut Your Mouth (Mercury/Fontana) | UK | 9+
Scratch Acid – Scratch Acid EP (Rabid Cat ) | USA | Bandcamp | 9+
Complot Brunswick – Maïakowski (Divine) | France | 9+
John Cale – Caribbean Sunset (Ze) | UK | 9+
Television Personalities – The Painted Word (Fire) | UK | Bandcamp | 9+
Laughing Clowns – Law Of Nature (Hot ) | Australia | 9+
Prefab Sprout – Swoon (Kitchenware/Epic) | UK | 9+
Ramones – Too Tough To Die (Sire) | USA | 9+
Paraf – Zastave (Hetidon) | Croatia | 9+
Cirith Ungol – King Of The Dead (Metal Blade) | USA | Bandcamp | 9+
Witch Cross – Fit for Fight (Roadrrunner) | Denmark | 9+
Lizzy Mercier Descloux – Zulu Rock (Ze) | USA | 9+
The Lords of the New Church – The Method to Our Madness (I.R.S.) | UK | 9+
Lyres – On Fyre (Ace Of Hearts) | USA | 9+
Hanoi Rocks – Two Steps From The Move (Epic) | Finland | 9+
Subhumans – From The Cradle To The Grave (Bluurg) | UK | Bandcamp | 9+
Modern English – Ricochet Days (Sire) | UK | Bandcamp | 9+
The Art Of Noise – (Who’s Afraid Of?) The Art Of Noise (ZTT) | UK | 9+
Black Flag – Slip It In (SST) | USA | 9+
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Junk Culture (A&M) | UK | 9+
The Primevals – Eternal Hotfire (New Rose) | UK | 9+
Waysted – Waysted EP (Music For Nations) | UK | 9+
Violent Femmes – Hallowed Ground (Slash) | USA | 9+
Articles Of Faith – Give Thanks (Reflex) | USA | 9+
The Cult – Dreamtime (Beggars Banquet) | UK | 9+
Ryuichi Sakamoto – Ongaku Zutan (School) | Japan | 9+
Tokyo Blade – Night of the Blade (Bonzai) | | 9+
Laurie Anderson – Mister Heartbreak (WB) | USA | 9+
Cabaret Voltaire – Micro-Phonies (Some Bizarre) | UK | Bandcamp | 9+
The dB’s – Like This (I.R.S.) | USA | 9+
The Ex – Blueprints For A Blackout (Ex) | Netherlands | Bandcamp | 9+
Metal Church – Metal Church (Elektra) | USA | 9+
Effigies – For Ever Grounded (Ruthless) | USA | 9+
The Call – Scene Beyond Dreams (Mercury) | USA | 9+
The Swimming Pool Q’s – The Swimming Pool Q’s (A&M) | USA | 9+
Red Guitars – Slow to Fade (Self Drive) | UK | 9+
Judas Priest – Defenders Of The Faith (Columbia) | UK | 9+
Avenger – Blood Sports (Neat) | UK | 9+
The Stranglers – Aural Sculpture (Epic) | UK | 9+
Loudness – Disillusion (Music For Nations) | Japan | 9+
The Special AKA – In The Studio (Two Tone/I.R.S. ) | UK | 9+
Die Kreuzen – Die Kreuzen (Touch And Go) | USA | Bandcamp | 9+
The Nomads – Temptation Pays Double EP (Closer) | Sweden | 9+
INXS – The Swing (Atco) | Australia | 9+
Brainfever – Capture the Night (Earthshaker) | Germany | 9+
Killer – Shock Waves (Mausoleum) | Belgium | 9+
Chateaux – FirePower (Ebony ) | UK | 9+
Savatage – The Dungeons Are Calling EP (Metal Blade) | USA | 9+
The Durutti Column – Without Mercy (Factory) | UK | Bandcamp | 9+
The Cure – The Top (Elektra) | UK | 9+
Conflict – Increase The Pressure (Motarhate ) | UK | Bandcamp | 9+
Beranek – Trigger (Snowflake) | Norway | 9+
Manowar – Hail To England (Music for Nations ) | USA | 9+
Depeche Mode – Some Great Reward (Sire) | UK | 9+
Redd Kross – Teen Babes From Monsanto [EP] (Enigma) | USA | Bandcamp | 9+
Axewitch – Visions of the Past (Neat) | Sweden | 9+
Newcleus – Jam On Revenge (Sunnyview) | USA | 9+
Ostrogoth – Ecstasy and Danger (Mausoleum) | Belgium | 9+
Thomas Dolby – The Flat Earth (Capitol) | USA | 9+
Danielle Dax – Jesus Egg That Wept (Aweseome) | UK | 9+
Junior Murvin – Muggers In The Street (Greensleeves) | Jamaica | 9+
Manuel Göttsching – E2-E4 (Inteam) | Germany | 9+
Half Japanese – Sing No Evil (Iridescence ) | USA | 9+
The Jazz Butcher – The Gift Of Music (Glass) | UK | 9+
Chris & Cosey – Songs of Love & Lust (Rough Trade) | UK | 9+
Robyn Hitchcock – I Often Dream Of Trains (Yep Roc) | UK | Bandcamp | 9+
Barracudas – Endeavour To Preserve (Closer/Lemon) | UK | 9+
Everything But The Girl – Eden (Blanco y Negro) | UK | 9+
The Alarm – Declaration (I.R.S.) | UK | 9+
Whodini – Escape (Jive) | USA | 9+
Tank – Honour & Blood (Music For Nations) | UK | 9+
Queensrÿche – The Warning (EMI) | USA | 9+
Spinal Tap – This Is Spinal Tap (Polydor) | USA | 9+
Scorpions – Love At First Sting (Polydor) | Germany | 9+
Spear Of Destiny – One Eyed Jacks (Epic) | UK | 9+
The Bluebells – Sisters (Sire/London) | UK | 9+
Government Issue – Joy Ride (Fountain Of Youth ) | USA | 9+
The Church – Remote Luxury (EMI) | Australia | 9+
Warlord – And The Cannons Of Destruction Have Begun (Metal Blade) | USA | 9+
Venom – At War With Satan (Neat/Combat) | UK | 9+
Midnight Oil – Red Sails In The Sunset (Columbia) | Australia | 9+
Butthole Surfers – Psychic . . . Powerless . . . Another Man’s Sac (Touch And Go) | USA | Bandcamp | 9+
The Room – In Evil Hour (Red Flame) | UK | 9+
Wolf – Edge of the World (Mausoleum) | UK | 9+
Warlock – Burning the Witches (Mercury) | Germany | 9+
Soft Cell – This Last Night In Sodom (Some Bizarre) | UK | 9+
Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel – Hole (Self Immolation ) | Australia | 9+
Battleaxe – Power From the Universe (Music For Nations) | UK | 9+
Dark Heart – Shadows of the Night (Roadrunner) | UK | 9+
Miracle Legion – The Backyard EP (Incas) | USA | Bandcamp | 9+
The March Violets – Natural History (Rebirth) | UK | 9+
The Go-Go’s – Talk Show (I.R.S.) | USA | 9+
Saint Vitus – Saint Vitus (SST) | USA | 9+
The Meteors – Stampede (Mad Pig) | UK | 9+
David Johansen – Sweet Revenge (Passport) | USA | 9+
King Crimson – Three Of A Perfect Pair (WB) | UK | 9+
7seconds – The Crew (BYO) | USA | Bandcamp | 9+
Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense (Sire) | USA | 9+
Dire Straits – Alchemy (Vertigo) | UK | 9+
Omen – Battle Cry (Metal Blade) | USA | 9+
The Phones – Blind Impulse (Twin/Tone) | USA | 9+
Manowar – Sign Of The Hammer (Virgin) | USA | 9+
Ratt – Out Of The Cellar (Atlantic) | USA | 9+
Microdisney – Everybody Is Fantastic (Rough Trade) | Ireland | Bandcamp | 9+
Exciter – Violence and Force (Music For Nations) | Canada | 9+
Anthony Moore – The Only Choice (Parlophone) | UK | 9+
The Saints – A Little Madness To Be Free (Mushroom) | Australia | 9+
Stormwitch – Walpurgis Night (Scratch) | Germany | 9+
The Fuzztones – Leave Your Mind At Home EP (Midnight) | USA | 9+
Faithful Breath – Gold ‘N’ Glory (Mausoleum/HR) | Germany | 9+
Dead Can Dance – Dead Can Dance (4AD) | UK | 9+
Sugar Minott – Wicked Ago Feel It (Wackie’s) | Jamaica | 9+
Run-D.M.C. – Run-D.M.C. (Profile) | USA | 9+
Sorry – Imaginary Friend (Radiobeat) | USA | 9+
Cloven Hoof – Cloven Hoof (Neat/Castle) | UK | 9+
Twisted Sister – Stay Hungry (Atlantic) | USA | 9+
Droogs – Stone Cold World (Making Waves) | USA | 9+
The Long Ryders – Native Sons (Frontier) | USA | 9+
Ozric Tentacles – Erpsongs (Dovetail) | UK | Bandcamp | 9+
Bam Bam – Villains (Also Wear White) EP (Bam Bam) | USA | Bandcamp | 9+
Howard Jones – Human’s Lib (Elektra) | UK | 9+
Linton Kwesi Johnson – Making History (Island/Mango) | Jamaica | 9+
W.A.S.P. – W.A.S.P. (Capitol) | USA | Bandcamp | 9+
High Rise – Psychedelic Speed Freaks (PSF) | Japan | 9+
Flipper – Gone Fishin’ (Subterranean) | USA | 9+
Tina Turner – Private Dancer (Capitol) | USA | 9+
Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Harold Budd – The Pearl (EG/Virgin) | UK | 9+

Books

Tom Robbins – Jitterbug Perfume
William Gibson – Neuromancer (Sprawl #1)
bell hooks – Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center
Milan Kundera – The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Robert A. Heinlein – Job: A Comedy of Justice
Douglas Adams – So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish (Hitchhiker’s Guide #4)
Iain Banks – The Wasp Factory
Jay McInerney – Bright Lights, Big City
David Eddings – Castle of Wizardry (The Belgariad #4)
Sandra Cisneros – The House on Mango Street
Frank Herbert – Heretics of Dune (Dune #5)
Marguerite Duras – The Lover
Clive Barker – Books of Blood

Movies

Repo Man (Alex Cox)
Sixteen Candles (John Hughes)
Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (W.D. Richter)
This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner)
The Dark Crystal (Jim Hensen)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Steven Spielberg)
Suburbia (Penelope Spheeris)
The NeverEnding Story (Wolfgang Peterson)
Polyester (John Waters)
Blood Simple (Coen Brothers)
Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders)
Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch)

Bubbling under: The Terminator, 1984, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, Beverly Hills Cop, The Bounty, Dune, Revenge of the Nerds, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, The Cotton Club, Amadeus.

Posted in: Features, Listicles, Reviews, Videos/Singles

Tagged: Albums That Are 40 Years Old, And Also The Trees, Cocteau Twins, Dio, Echo & the Bunnymen, Hüsker Dü, Iron Maiden, Julian Cope, King Sunny Adé and His African Beats, Lloyd Cole & the Commotions, Meat Puppets, Metallica, Minutemen, Naked Raygun, Prince, R.E.M., Raincoats, Rush, The Blue Nile, The Dream Syndicate, The Fall, The Gun Club, The Jazz Butcher, The Moodists, The Replacements, The Smiths, The Sound, Tom Verlaine, U2, XTC

Other

Stuff

April 2, 2026

Fester’s Lucky 13: 1986

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Fester’s Lucky 13: 1976

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Fester’s Lucky 13: 1966

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Best of 1984