Twenty-five top albums of the decade to test out your system

The best of a decade

The 1980s is a decade remembered for perms and shoulder pads, Walkmans and Rubik’s Cubes. Perhaps not, on the surface, our finest period – but look at some of the records released and it’s not difficult to see the cultural significance of that ten years.

From a golden era for hip-hop to records that would shape alternative rock for the next 30 years, these albums are as pivotal as they are prodigious. And what’s more, they will provide a smashing test for your speakers. So turn your amp up to 11 and let them spin.

90

808 State (1989)

It feels crass to pigeonhole any genre with one definitive album, but 90 is surely it for acid house. Certainly it is an album to which British electronic music owes a huge debt, helping pave the way for many artists to reinterpret US house and techno. It is equal parts atmospheric and aggressive, blending beats and infectious melodies at tempos that refuse to allow you to remain sedentary.

Tango In The Night Fleetwood Mac (1987)

Beginning life as a Lindsey Buckingham solo album, and destined to be his last with Fleetwood Mac, Tango In The Night was anything but a breeze to produce. “That was when everybody in the band was personally at their worst,” he says. Despite a fractured group – Stevie Nicks spent only two difficult weeks with the band during recording – it turned out to be a sparkling swansong for Fleetwood Mac’s classic line-up, and one of the finest pop records ever written.

World of Echo Arthur Russell (1986)

Arthur Russell’s World Of Echo – his only solo studio album during his lifetime – is a spontaneous collection of songs where his delicate tenor flirts with a cello treated with reverb, delay and distortion. The experimental, percussive playing is a superb workout for your speakers, but should let you drift along as it ripples, rather than rock you out of the boat.

The Poet

Bobby Womack (1981)

No one is smoother than Bobby Womack, and none of his records is more accomplished than The Poet. Romping into action with opener So Many Sides Of You, before the infectious melody of Secrets and stand-out single If You Think You’re Lonely Now, this album witnessed Womack shedding his orchestral accompaniments of the 1970s in favour of a slicker, fresher soul sound.

Paid in Full

Eric B. & Rakim (1987)

Eric B. & Rakim’s debut – one of the most influential hip-hop albums of all time – was recorded in only a week. “Listen to the lyrics and how short they are,” says Eric B. “That’s because Rakim wrote it right there.” That impulsive writing makes for an energetic delivery that perfectly suits the record’s profundity.

Echoes

Frank Harris & Maria Marquez (1985)

Though written and recorded in the 1980s, this album wasn’t officially released until more than 30 years later, but its impact decades on is testament to the beauty of this ethno-wave gem. A collaboration between Venezuelan vocalist Maria Marquez and US multiinstrumentalist Frank Harris, Echoes feels the warmth of South American sun on its smooth melodies and sun-kissed synthesizer accompaniments.

13 Songs Fugazi (1989)

Released in September 1989, 13 Songs is effectively a compilation formed of Fugazi’s first two EPS – Fugazi and Margin Walker – that has proved to be a huge influence on alternative rock music. Its post-hardcore arrangements are sometimes eerily sparse, which only accentuates their brutality, and begs a sharp performance from your speakers.

Nightclubbing Grace Jones (1981)

This collection of original songs and creatively rearranged covers – including the Iggy Pop track from which the record takes its name – Nightclubbing witnesses Grace Jones at her most powerful and inventive, and has enough dub-like bass lines to keep your bass drivers honest.

Philharmony Haruomi Hosono (1982)

An icon in his native Japan at least, even if he is woefully underappreciated outside of it, Haruomi Hosono had a huge hand in influencing pop and electronic music in his homeland over a number of decades. Philharmony is an abstract pop masterpiece that showcases Hosono’s playful artistry as well as his ear for a melody.

Grace & Danger John Martyn (1980)

Grace & Danger’s release was delayed by a year because Island Records owner Chris Blackwell found the album – written and recorded during John Martyn’s divorce – too depressing. Certainly it is not a jolly record – we’d call it sad rather than depressing – but in Sweet Little Mystery and Hurt in Your Heart it holds two of the most stunning songs Martyn ever wrote.

Hounds Of Love Kate Bush (1985)

Kate Bush’s fifth studio album wasn’t the first time she had used complex electronics and musical computers to guide her compositions, but Hounds Of Love most comfortably inhabits the spaces in between the electronic and the human, the earthy and ethereal. And that’s not to mention the songwriting of Bush at the top of her craft.

Computer World Kraftwerk (1981)

Released in both German, Computerwelt, and English language versions, Kraftwerk’s eighth studio album has been reimagined by countless artists, in a sprawling array of genres since its release. Yet, despite all that sampling making it one of the group’s most familiar records, it has that magical Kraftwerk quality of still sounding futuristic almost 40 years later.

The Expanding Universe Laurie Spiegel (1980)

In 1977, Laurie Spiegel’s Harmony Of The Worlds was chosen by astronomer Carl Sagan to be included on Voyager 1 and 2’s Golden Record, which would travel to outer space. Three years later, she released her cosmic yet somehow intimate synthesizer opus The Expanding Universe. Composed on computers the size of studio flats, it is a playful and intelligent exploration of a new world.

Steve Mcqueen Prefab Sprout (1985)

Released as Two Wheels Good in the USA, due to a threat of legal action from Steve Mcqueen’s estate, Prefab Sprout’s second studio album is a sophisticated example of great British indie songwriting. Backed by clean, reverberant guitars, and held aloft by Thomas Dolby’s sparkling production, Paddy Mcaloon’s smooth vocal guides us through 11 tracks like a cool breeze, begging us to do lap after lap in order to take in every last detail.

Straight Outta Compton N.W.A (1988)

N.W.A’S debut album had already gone platinum by the time it celebrated its first birthday, despite heavy censorship and limited radio play. The infamy of its aggressive social commentary no doubt helped the group’s notoriety, but that would have soon died down were it not for Straight Outta Compton’s brutal beats and thorny lyricism.

Power, Corruption & Lies New Order (1983)

Despite Movement having been released two years previously, Power, Corruption & Lies was arguably the record that defined New Order as being a band apart from Joy Division. Its use of synthesizers is far broader than on the band’s debut, but still intelligently intertwined with guitars and acoustic percussion for a sound that is at once texturally dense and refreshingly spacious.

Africa

Pharoah Sanders (1987)

Though his late mentor penned only one of this album’s tracks, Pharoah Sanders’ Africa is heavily laced with the spirit of John Coltrane. From the trademark overblowing that sparks the album into life with You’ve Got To Have Freedom, to the soulful balladry of Coltrane’s own Naima, the nods are plentiful without ever sounding like a mere tribute act.

Doolittle Pixies (1989)

Producer Gil Norton cleaned up Pixies’ sound somewhat for their second album Doolittle, accentuating the shifts from loud to soft and making one of the band’s most popular sets of songs more accessible for worldwide consumption. Hugely influential on the landscape of alternative rock, Doolittle has been regularly imitated but never surpassed.

Sign O’ The Times Prince (1987)

Originally destined to be a triple album named Crystal Ball, before Warner Bros. reduced it to a double LP, Sign O’ The Times was Prince’s first release following the disbanding of The Revolution band. It allowed him to bring back previously shelved songs, as well as those written for the record, and work heavily with drum machines and samplers. It also features the introduction of Camille, his androgynous alter ego, to cap Prince’s most creative and accomplished work.

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Public Enemy (1988)

“Our mission was to really address some situations,” Chuck D said of Public Enemy’s second record. Setting out to record the hip-hop equivalent of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, the group combined thoughtful social commentary with imaginative musicianship and stinging heavy rhythms.

Murmur R.E.M (1983)

R.E.M’S debut album, Murmur, showcased a more subdued version of the garage rock sound of the Chronic Town EP. Helping elevate Michael Stipe’s cryptic lyricism and iconic vocal, and majoring on Peter Buck’s melodic guitar lines, it is a lesson in timbre and tonality matching the strength of the songs.

Seven Waves Suzanne Ciani (1982)

Suzanne Ciani’s debut is a gorgeously mellow and romantic example of new age electronic music, recorded over two years on equipment that leaves it sounding timeless. Gentle, undulating synths and pads bob on the sea over each wave, taking the listener out with them.

Speaking In Tongues Talking Heads (1983)

Speaking In Tongues’ focus on melody and rhythm brought Talking Heads their commercial breakthrough – including the band’s only top-ten single in Burning Down The House. Still, its eclectic art rock style makes it the Talking Heads album most able to unite fans across genres, proving accessibility needn’t necessarily come at the expense of individuality.

Hats

The Blue Nile (1989)

The five-year gestation period between The Blue Nile’s debut, A Walk Across The Rooftops, and this follow-up was long enough to create a near-perfect pop album, where the space between the lines, and a refusal to settle for pedestrian melodies or instrumentation, invite our ears for deeper listening.

Disintegration The Cure (1989)

With Lullaby, Lovesong and Pictures Of You as its singles, this is a glorious reflection on British music. Despite moving away from the pop sounds that garnered The Cure their mainstream appeal, this album’s dense, thoughtful textures and its psychedelic gothic bent is far from the clean production you might expect to do well in the charts.

“From a golden era for hip-hop to records that shaped alternative rock for 30 years, these albums are as pivotal as they are prodigious”