Now this is how it started: THE ILX 1980s ALBUM POLL RESULTS!!

96. Associates - Sulk (79 points, 6 votes)

http://whathappnednext.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/associates-sulk2.jpg

I'd go against the grain of the good Doctor - I find the first two CDs much harder going than "Sulk" - rewarding to be sure but still tough ("White Car In Germany" though is tremendous with no equivocation). "Sulk" though sparkles - I love the 'glacial' production and the hysteria of it all. And "Party Fears Two" is one of those handful of singles I occasionally get worked up about and pronounce "THIS IS THE GREATEST SINGLE OF ALL TIME" which means in that instant it least, it is.

― Tom, 3. tammikuuta 2001 3:00

I was 18 in the summer of 1982. "Party Fears Two" was part of the soundtrack of that summer. And I was living it in DUNDEE. I've had some unhappy times since then, but I'll remember that wonderful year and the part that the music of the Associates played in it forever. Whenever I listen to Sulk I'm 18 again and the world is full of opportunities that I never eventually took up

The Associates WILL be remembered long after some of today's POPSTARS are long forgotten.

― Big Al, 1. huhtikuuta 2001 3:00

i pulled out sulk yesterday after reading the scotland chapter in sr's p-punk book, and good god i can't believe this EVER charted, however briefly. the whole album is on overload.

It's absolutely astounding. Björk being a massive fan of Mackenzie's makes sense but in the Sugarcubes or solo I've never sensed her work to be quite as...*searches for the word*...careening, shall we say.

It's also a case where all the stories about the recording and the run up to it, what went into it, what they tried, etc. all make sense. You read PR guff all the time about how some band's third album (which Sulk sorta was if you count Fourth Drawer Down's singles comp as the second) is going to be the Experimental Shift in Style What Is Different or soundbites about 'there were no rules in the studio, we decided to come in fresh' or whatever and they create something with a boring drum loop and keyboard part. Then there's this.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), 25. huhtikuuta 2005 2:08

it does kind of shit the thread up for anyone on an out-of-date computer

Associates are one of those bands that I didn't find out about until 15 years or so after the fact, so I didn't feel right about including them on my list. Great album, though.

This thread is mapping out an alternate history of 80s music that I was mostly unaware of.

And I mean that in a good way. Thanks for this list.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTyb9Jl8y1k
yes, one of the greatest singles of all time. sometimes i can agree to what tom says. are there others who have problems with the loading of the clips? i'll stop immediatley posting them if you wish.

95. Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking (79 points, 7 votes)

http://www.ugo.com/music/top-11-rock-album-covers/images/entries/Nothings-shocking.jpg

Nothing's Shocking, however, upon re-appraisal is -- to my ears -- a virutally flawless record! There is literally not a duff track herein. I remember buying the LP based solely on the bizarre-o cover art and buzz that surrounded the band, and in a rare fluke, ended up loving every nanosecond of it....forcing it into constant rotation on the collectively-commandeered stereo of my off-campus hovel in my senior year of college. Paring a massive, Zeppelinesque sound while deftly retaining to credibly Punk edge, Jane's Addiction seemed like the perfect band. My mookish metal pals enjoyed Navarro's thick guitar crunch, while the waifish Bauhausfraus dug Perry's junkie-Raggedy-Andy aesthetic and singularly cryptic lyrical fixations. They were at once heavy, funky, weird, austere, funny, scary, melodic, loud, sensual, spooky....I mean, what's not to love?

For "Ocean Size" and "Ted, Just Admit It" alone, this band should be cannonized into the pantheon of untouchable coolness, and if you disagree with me on that point, you're just wallowing in a viscous mudslick of WRONG! I'd completely forgotten about the rude, horn-driven punch of "Idiots Rule" and the trippy gentility of "Summertime Rolls" (not, as it turned out, an ode to seasonal baked goods). The lilting, use-frienly, acoustic & steel drum "Jane Says" being the track that made the girls actually appreciate the record (my friend Sara bought it based on this song alone, only to be scared by the rest of the album's electric tsunami). "Pigs In Zen" being a big, fat, chunky fuck-you of a track, despite Perry's oddballish off-the-cuff commentary in the bridge (no David Lee Roth, he). Once again, not a single bad track. Everyone wins.

Eric A's bass playing is masterfully restrained (in sharp contrast to Dave's flashy, effect-laden guitar antics, Stephen Perkins busy battery and Perry's pipey screech). The cover art (flanked mysteriously by cowhide?) is strange enough to be completely compelling. It's a mastepiece from end to end.

What sayeth ye?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), 4. elokuuta 2003 19:08

halfway through the album, haven't listened to it in years. It IS flawless, thank god I had this album when I was fifteen or sixteen or whatever, what else could I have listened to that would have matched all the awfulness and rage that was in me at that time?

I can't decide what is best, the great basswork, the beer-keg drumming, perry's yowl? Fuckin' Navarro just makes me laugh now, what a character, the guitar on this album is five inches away from cheese but it works so well; listening back to this it strikes me as such a completely radio-friendly album, Navarro borrows so many little motifs and progressions from metal.

god it's serious as serious can be.

― teeny (teeny), 19. kesäkuuta 2004 17:00

Just post them judiciously. Even though I generally don't have trouble with threads that are youtube embed heavy, a constant stream of them will tax anyone's cpu. xp

How many ballots did you get, Tuomas?

Sorry, this was my request screwing things up. I sometimes have problems with the youtubes but the Clash thread has been working fine so I assumed whatever the problem is had been cleared up. I know most about these things though - I just remember it spicing the end-of-2008 lists.

Sulk was my number three. Party Fears two is still my favourite song of all time but there's so many great moments on there.

I considered casting for Nothing's Shocking, but I got into Ritual first and it massively overshadows it for me.

I probably didn't vote for it, but I'm glad it's here. Nothing's Shocking blaring out of a boombox and me standing around while my friends skated a half-pipe = my 1988.

I have this on cassette somewhere.

Def Leppard - Pyromania (80 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote)

http://www.rocknrollhell.com/defleppard/pyromania.jpg

The only Def Leppard album I still listen to consistently, this album sizzles with poetic darkness in a rock and roll pop sensibility. Call it a metal record if you must, but its carries a lot less heaviness and a lot more depth than meets the eye. Disregard "Photograph" because its the odd one out on this record. But look at some of the excellent tracks like "Too Late for Love", the ever-famous "Foolin", "Comin'Under Fire", "Billy's Got a Gun", and my personal favorite "Die Hard the Hunted" which has very interesting lyrics. The whole record also carries the quintessential element of a large chorus. So am I right, or am I just full of shit in my early 80s metal nostalgia?

― Luptune Pitman, 13. lokakuuta 2001 3:00

Luptune can I call you Chuck? My French friend was into Def Leppard, she did a gymnastics routine to "Pour Some Sugar On Me." She had a badge of Def Leppard on her army bag. She had Das Kapital in her house. And in late breaking news, today I saw some 18 year olds in a late model Ford Escort unfitted with a big bass speaker listening to Def Leppard quite loudly.

― maryann, 15. lokakuuta 2001 3:00

Hysteria was the betrayal album. Pyromania was hybrid. Pyromania was where the Leps managed to take the screaming Gibsons and football terrance chants and deftly fuse them with honest-to-goodness pop songs, forging a guilded ladder from the barbed-wire dungeon of the N.W.O.B.H.M. to :::gasp::: radio/video airplay. Hysteria was the Leps after they'd been uprooted, de-fanged, neutered and hollowed out, leaving only their sickly candy shell....their metal meat extracted and discarded. Pyromania had them scoring hits without sacrificing their bite. Hysteria had them jettisoning bite in search of further hits (which, unfortunatley, worked). Pyromania is Def Lppard's Night Time. Hysteria is their Brighter Than a Thousand Suns.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), 11. kesäkuuta 2005 10:38

Whoops, sorry, that should read:

94. Def Leppard - Pyromania (80 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote)

Assuming this is #94?

okay.

I feel the lack of autogoon involvement is going to severely hurt this poll. Also who are the people in the first picture Tuomas? I don't get 80s sitcom references.

What's an autogoon?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092339/

In Finland this series was called "Crazy College".

Crazy College? lol

Better than the U.S. title.

I'm also curious about whether the #1 vote for Pyromania was sincere or tactical. I wonder which record, among those that got a #1 vote, had the lowest total score?

Pyromania could conceivably be someone's favorite 80s record. I buy it.

There's one album that got one #1 vote and no other votes. So the lowest score is 40.

yay tuomas! a god among finns.

am super proud of myself (not unusual no) cuz 3 of the bottom 4 placed high in my list - they are my heroes and i have now saved them from obscurity and perpetual darkness. hope the 2-way foetus didn't split the vote too bad, cuz i put all my money on nail probably just for throne of agony which is so worth it but hole has sickman and water torture so gah.

and i expected big plack to place higher for some reason. an aura of almost holy dread was attached to themselves in indie crit/college rock circles back in those days, even in the uk what with blast first an all, but maybe it's faded a bit? more than a bit? i guess they weren't ever out to make friends...

Disregard "Photograph" because its the odd one out on this record. But look at some of the excellent tracks like "Too Late for Love", the ever-famous "Foolin", "Comin'Under Fire", "Billy's Got a Gun", and my personal favorite "Die Hard the Hunted" which has very interesting lyrics. The whole record also carries the quintessential element of a large chorus. So am I right, or am I just full of shit in my early 80s metal nostalgia?

Totally true, except there's no reason to exclude Photograph, which was one of the album's best examples of that "quintessential . . . large chorus" the poster (correctly) mentioned. I also think Alex is right about Hysteria being a "betrayal" album. The melodies were strong, but the production sucked all the emotion and raw energy out of the disc. It's still a very good album, but a tremendous missed opportunity that Def Leppard would never get back.

I still wanna know how many ballots!

About 100, I think.

93. Thomas Dolby - The Golden Age of Wireless (80 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote)

http://www.destroyrockandroll.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/the_golden_age_of_wireless.jpg

Funny, just last night my housemate played (my copy of) Akufen's "One of Our Submarines" remix... I'm surprised that this record -- including mixes from Ricardo Villalobos and Hardfloor (!) -- isn't discussed more often.

I will also rate as a classic The Flat Earth, though I may be alone in my assessments there... The production -- veering dangerously close to overproduction -- on this record never fails to make the hairs on my neck stand up, and despite the damn near cheesy "jazziness" of some of the tracks, there's something really compelling about them. I still play out "I Scare Myself" (mixed with Metro Area's "Piña") pretty frequently... it's a lovely tune to close out a night.

― philip sherburne (philip sherburne), 19. elokuuta 2003 14:31

Age of Wireless is like a more innocent John Foxx. I think it's a great shame Dolby didn't continue down the path of this record, as it's a fertile one. Unfinished business - no-one has dared make music like this since about 1983.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), 19. elokuuta 2003 23:44

Mad downloading in progress. The deep blue sea of "Submarines" haunts me to this very moment. I saw the "Aliens" tour and am glad that I picked up a stranger and got laid so that I can look back fondly at something. Back-flips and berets. Woof. But God, the depth of "...we'll be the pirate twins, again." I'm going to wake up my girlfriend for some pot smoking and a little costume party. I want to play her back like a violin.

― Speedy Gonzalas (Speedy Gonzalas), 22. elokuuta 2003 8:08

a thread for the video clips

For some reason I was a huge detractor of "She Blinded Me With Science" when I was in 6th grade. Given what else I liked (Dungeons and Dragons, the Tubes) I don't really see what I could have had against it. Anyway, I've come around. Didn't realize the big hit wasn't on the original release of this record.

Growing up a church kid, shielded from any kind of secular popular music until I was in middle school, I remember having a friend stay the night and listening to a tape he brought over full of things he'd recorded off the local AOR station. Since neither of us were experts, and his mental note-taking skills left something to be desired, when "She Blinded Me With Science" came on he told me it was by AC/DC.

Imagine my surprise not too long after when I finally did hear AC/DC.

92. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Dazzle Ships (80 points, 9 votes)

http://991.com/newGallery/OMD-Dazzle-Ships-427781.jpg

I don't understand how such a hodgepodge of an album stands up so well. It's definitely in my top 5 or 10 albums

is OTM, although I'd arguably say my top 1 albums. I have adored everything about this since I first heard it (which would have been summer of either 1989 or 1990, I'm guessing).

The Romance of the Telescope is my pick-without-even-having-to-think-about-it here; I really don't have the words for that song. But, really, there's not a second of the rest of it that doesn't move me in some way. Artistic failure? Maybe, but a glorious one. The sound of a band taking themselves way too fucking seriously has never been so sweet.

― a tiny, faltering megaphone (grimly fiendish), 19. maaliskuuta 2009 15:24

Have to agree with the praise for this record.

I find the whole timing aspect of this album quite freaky, it's well known that they were short of material which left them scrabbling about for songs, but it's so unapologetically uncommercial, even when they are exploring the more poppy end of things, the songwriting or sounds are all bent somehow.

I can't help but think that they were revisiting Kraftwerk's Radio Activity, even apart from the obvious time zones type stuff.

― MaresNest, 19. maaliskuuta 2009 15:37

I bought it last week and had been thinking of starting the very same thread. Absolutely loved it when it first came out (loved A&M and Junk Culture too) and still love it now. All the more fantastic for not having heard it for well over a decade. Genetic Engineering, This is Helena...energetic, naive, ahead of their time and great. Did anyone else nearly shit themselves the first time they heard the title track? You know, that bit where you're settling down with the radar blips and all of a sudden that massive industrial REEOORR!! jumps out at you like you're in a rowing boat and the Titanic's just appeared thirty yards away out of the fog?

― dan, 1. huhtikuuta 2002 3:00

contenderizer, i'm thinking that songs about fucking is going to place higher than atomizer, so not all is lost for big black. Also, im confident that nail is still to come (which is good because it is prob my favorite album of all time.)

pretty sure my high placed vote for nurse with wound isnt going to get them in tho ;_;

91. Run-D.M.C. - Raising Hell (80 points, 10 votes)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OYwl0HsJtPc/SrjSY5EC8MI/AAAAAAAAADc/__npQdaaMHo/s400/RUN+DMC+RAISING+HELL+Cover.jpg

All of Raising Hell ... the Exile on Main Street of pop rap. Rocks in the corny charming way.

― Chris O., 8. maaliskuuta 2006 6:40

I was listening to "Peter Piper" in the car the other day v loudly when a dude on a motorcycle rode by blasting it at the exact same moment in the song. It was sorta magical.

― ENBB, 28. huhtikuuta 2009 5:38

I voted for Reign In Blood, but now that I think about it I like Raising Hell a lot more.

― fritz, 5. syyskuuta 2007 19:57

(For some reason there doesn't seem to be too many good posts about that album on ILM.)

Isn't Dazzle Ships kind of an odds-and-ends collection?

I'm not sure if I have much time to do this tomorrow, so I think I'll post 90-86 tonight too.

(x-post)

Compilations were allowed in the poll.

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too low.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzuZtOvzoQ8 for gods sake

90. Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II (81 points, 9 votes)

http://i37.tinypic.com/1490efl.jpg

Search/Classic: Whichever album(s) have "Plateau" and "Lake of Fire." Worth it just for those songs. I'd remember the album name(s) and whether or not they're on the same album or not (I want to say they are, but that may be because Nirvana covers them both on Unplugged), but I'm on cold medication and it's all I can do to type this much with minimal interruptions of "meat puppets -- heheh, that would be funny," and then mentally assigning different kinds of meat to the various muppets.

Like Miss Piggy would have to be made of baloney, obviously. And Kermit wouldn't be meat at all, but rather those "sandwich stacker" pickles which are already sliced, neatly arranged and knitting-needled together into a more-or-less froggic shape.

So "Plateau" and "Lake of Fire," then.

― Tep (ktepi), 19. marraskuuta 2002 14:15

II is the best. "Lost" "Climbing" excellent. I talked to Curt Kirkwood a while ago, when that Eyes Adrift came out and he said that as far as he knows, II was the first record anyone made on MDMA, which would later be known as Ecstasy, for reasons still lost to me.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), 24. maaliskuuta 2003 17:53

89. Prince and the Revolution - Parade (83 points, 10 votes)

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/41/51/3589228348a088afa29d0110.L.jpg

"Mountains" was so stunning to hear on the radio back then - just utter majesty in the chorus rising up so naturally from the verses

however e'eybody otm on how Prince is mental about snow in April, when is there not at least a dusting of snow in the upper Midwest in April - April is like the month when you go "Jesus fuckin' Christ if these cold gusts don't stop frosting my nuts at the bus stop I am going to fucking kill myself" though admittedly that'd make for a much less singable chorus

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), 18. huhtikuuta 2006 16:45

that's why it's SOMETIMES it snows in april, not IT RARELY snows in april, or WOW AM I BUMMED OUT ABOUT THE FACT THAT IT snows in april. dude's just like all 'hey that's life, deal with it by painting all yr shit purple and lighting a million candles and doing kim basinger'.

― Haikunym (Haikunym), 18. huhtikuuta 2006 16:58

Guys, this is maybe the greatest album ever recorded. "Sometimes It Snows In April" is the only piece of music that has ever made me cry (lots of personal baggage attached to that) and even though I'm a massive "Alphabet St" booster, it's hard to maintain my controversial stance that "AS" is secretly the best Prince single when looking at "Kiss" and especially "Mountains".

"New Position" rocks the balls off the walls, too. Really this entire album is flawless from top to bottom, including the flaws.

― Dan (Haters Beware) Perry (Dan Perry), 18. huhtikuuta 2006 23:34

I was surprised to see Parade place so low, I though folks of ILX had lots of love for it. Personally I've always felt kinda confused by Parade: half of it is brilliant, half of it is just a bunch of undeveloped ideas. Also, I don't really like the dry sound of it, except on "Kiss", where it of course makes the song.

"Sometimes it Snows on April" is Prince's best ballad though; probably the only one of his songs that I've cried to.

'Alphabet Street' is the best Prince single!

I'm dying to know what's the album that got one #1 vote and no other votes.

Prince is going to be the Radiohead of this poll but with like 10 more albums and people being comfortable with admitting voting for him. So not Radiohead at all then. Anyway, I predict vote splitting stops Prince making the top 10.

"New Position"
"I Wonder U"
"Girls & Boys"
"Life Can Be So Nice"
"Mountains"
"Do U Lie?"
"Kiss"
"Anotherloverholenyohead"

are all jams imho.

88. Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel of Love (86 points, 7 votes)

http://images.coveralia.com/audio/b/Bruce_Springsteen-Tunnel_Of_Love-Frontal.jpg

This Springsteen album is an undeniable classic. If for no other reason than he canned the B.S., self-mythologizing and the bombast of Born in the USA and actually made some first- rate pop tunes. It's sorta the Springsteen equivalent to David Bowie's Station to Station (another after-cutting-the- crap classic).

Tunnel of Love and E-Street Shuffle are the only 2 Springsteen albums I can listen to all the way through.

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, 30. toukokuuta 2001 3:00

Apart from "Nebraska" and "....Tom Joad", "Tunnel Of Love" is the closest Bruce Springsteen ever came to a true dud.

From "Tunnel Of Love" onwards, he has sounded a bit old and tired, seemingly not any more willing to rock like he did on "Born In The USA".

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), 9. maaliskuuta 2003

I have actually changed my mind somewhat about this album. I still prefer Bruce Springsteen when he rocks, but at least some of the songs on this album are quite good. There are 2-3 exaggaratedly bluesy ones that I don't like at all, but tracks like "One Step Up" and "Where You're Alone" are really beautiful.

― Geir Hongro, 12. helmikuuta 2009 0:36

I played this album on the night before my wedding, much to the consternation of my groomsmen.

― Euler, 12. helmikuuta 2009 0:44

Yea, ILX for putting this album on the list.

I guess I was bound to find out the opening line of "Radio Free Europe"'s lyrics eventually.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/feature/best-albums-of-the-80s/308

Does anyone have any interest in doing a flip of this poll and determining the worst albums of the 1980s? There'd have to be a nomination process to develop some kind of pre-vote consensus, but oh the lively chatter that would ensue!

Actually, this is a pretty dumb idea. I should go to bed.

Also, no one reply to this thread anymore. I think this will be the 1,989th post.

Ahh here's the results. I hope you all join in the new slightly different version of the poll we're doing Pfunkboy, Viceroy & emil.y Productions presents : Nominations for an 80s Albums That Rock Poll(inc indie/Alt,punk,metal,heavy/glam etc) but with some exceptions..(ie no indiepop or U2 type)

Will have markedly different results but no point in just repeating this excellent poll.

For posterity and easy access ..

100. Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream of Trains [1984] (75 points, 5 votes)
98. (tie) Scraping Foetus off the Wheel - Hole [1984] (76 points, 5 votes)
98. (tie) Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription [1987] (76 points, 5 votes)
97. Big Black - Atomizer [1986] (77 points, 8 votes)
96. Associates - Sulk [1982] (79 points, 6 votes)
95. Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking [1988] (79 points, 7 votes)
94. Def Leppard - Pyromania [1983] (80 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote)
93. Thomas Dolby - The Golden Age of Wireless [1982] (80 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote)
92. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Dazzle Ships [1983] (80 points, 9 votes)
91. Run-D.M.C. - Raising Hell [1986] (80 points, 10 votes)
90. Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II [1984] (81 points, 9 votes)
89. Prince and the Revolution - Parade [1986] (83 points, 10 votes)
88. Bruce Springsteen - Tunnel of Love [1987] (86 points, 7 votes)
87. Pet Shop Boys - Actually [1987] (86 points, 8 votes)
86. Pet Shop Boys - Please [1986] (87 points, 8 votes)
84. (tie) Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine [1989] (87 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote)
84. (tie) Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues [1983] (87 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote)
83. David Bowie - Scary Monsters [1980] (89 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote)
82. Scraping Foetus off the Wheel - Nail [1985] (91 points, 5 votes, 1 first place vote)
81. The Beat (aka The English Beat) - I Just Can't Stop It [1980] (91 points, 13 votes)
80. Various - The Indestructible Beat of Soweto [1985] (93 points, 6 votes, 1 first place vote)
79. The The - Soul Mining [1983] (93 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote)
78. The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & the Lash [1985] (93 points, 16 votes)
77. Meat Puppets - Up on the Sun [1985] (94 points, 8 votes)
76. U2 - The Joshua Tree [1987] (95 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote)
75. Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual [1983] (95 points, 9 votes)
74. Galaxie 500 - On Fire [1989] (96 points, 10 votes)
73. X - Wild Gift [1981] (97 points, 9 votes)
72. The Chills - Kaleidoscope World [1986] (98 points, 7 votes, 1 first place vote)
71. Roxy Music - Avalon [1982] (99 points, 10 votes)
70. Laurie Anderson - Big Science [1982] (99 points, 11 votes)
69. Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche 85 [1985] (100 points, 7 votes)
68. New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies [1983] (100 points, 16 votes)
67. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes [1983] (101 points, 12 votes)
66. Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen [1985] (104 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote)
65. Donald Fagen - The Nightfly [1982] (105 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote)
63. (tie) Tom Waits - Rain Dogs [1985] (106 points, 12 votes)
63. (tie) Cocteau Twins - Treasure [1984] (106 points, 12 votes)
62. Grace Jones - Nightclubbing [1981] (106 points, 12 votes, 1 first place vote)
61. Arthur Russell - World of Echo [1986] (108 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote)
60. Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full [1987] (111 points, 8 votes, 1 first place vote)
59. Mekons - Fear and Whiskey [1985] (111 points, 8 votes, 2 first place votes)
58. The Cure - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me [1987] (112 points, 7 votes, 2 first place votes)
57. Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa [1984] (112 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote)
56. R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant [1986] (112 points, 12 votes)
55. Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me [1987] (115 points, 13 votes)
54. Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A. [1984] (118 points, 14 votes)
53. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska [1982] (120 points, 14 votes)
52. Brian Eno / David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts [1981] (120 points, 17 votes)
51. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man [1988] (121 points, 11 votes)
50. The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms [1980] (123 points, 13 votes)
49. The Go-Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane [1988] (125 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote)
48. XTC - Skylarking [1986] (127 points, 16 votes)
47. Steely Dan - Gaucho [1980] (128 points, 9 votes)
46. R.E.M. - Reckoning [1984] (131 points, 14 votes)
45. Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - Doc at the Radar Station [1980] (133 points, 11 votes)
44. The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace [1985] (136 points, 13 votes)
43. Sonic Youth - EVOL [1986] (143 points, 12 votes, 1 first place vote)
42. Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising [1985] (146 points, 14 votes)
41. The Cure - Pornography [1982] (148 points, 9 votes)
40. Dexy’s Midnight Runners - Searching for the Young Soul Rebels [1980] (148 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote)
39. Manuel Göttsching - E2-E4 [1984] (154 points, 12 votes, 2 first place votes)
38. New Order - Substance [1987] (156 points, 16 votes)
37. De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising [1989] (164 points, 23 votes)
36. The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour [1982] (166 points, 14 votes, 1 first place vote)
35. ABC - The Lexicon of Love [1982] (173 points, 11 votes, 1 first place vote)
34. The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow [1984] (173 points, 16 votes)
33. The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs [1987] (174 points, 20 votes)
32. Prince - 1999 [1982] (191 points, 17 votes, 1 first place vote)
31. Sonic Youth - Sister [1987] (199 points, 21 votes, 1 first place vote)
30. Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade [1984] (200 points, 13 votes)
29. Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth [1980] (200 points, 17 votes, 1 first place vote)
28. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses [1989] (201 points, 15 votes, 2 first place votes)
27. Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction [1987] (201 points, 18 votes)
26. Prince - Dirty Mind [1980] (210 points, 14 votes, 1 first place vote)
25. The Clash - Sandinista! [1980] (211 points, 11 votes, 3 first place votes)
24. The Cure - Disintegration [1989] (218 points, 19 votes, 1 first place vote)
23. The Human League - Dare [1981] (219 points, 17 votes, 2 first place votes)
22. My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything [1988] (229 points, 19 votes, 2 first place votes)
21. Paul Simon - Graceland [1986] (237 points, 17 votes, 1 first place vote)
20. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy [1985] (243 points, 23 votes, 1 first place vote)
19. The Replacements - Let It Be [1984] (252 points, 18 votes, 1 first place vote)
18. Joy Division - Closer [1980] (255 points, 24 votes)
17. Kate Bush - The Dreaming [1982] (269 points, 13 votes, 3 first place votes)
16. New Order - Technique [1989] (273 points, 15 votes, 2 first place votes)
15. Pixies - Surfer Rosa [1988] (273 points, 21 votes, 1 first place vote)
14. Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden [1988] (274 points, 18 votes, 2 first place votes)
13. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique [1989] (291 points, 25 votes, 1 first place vote)
12. Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime [1984] (300 points, 15 votes, 3 first place votes)
11. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead [1986] (307 points, 26 votes, 1 first place vote)
10. Pixies – Doolittle [1989] (323 points, 31 votes)
9. Michael Jackson - Thriller [1982] (331 points, 35 votes)
8. Kraftwerk - Computer World [1981] (338 points, 29 votes)
7. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation [1988] (356 points, 28 votes, 3 first place votes)
6. R.E.M. - Murmur [1983] (359 points, 30 votes, 2 first place votes)
5. Prince - Sign “O” the Times [1987] (381 points, 28 votes, 2 first place votes)
4. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love [1985] (422 points, 35 votes, 2 first place votes)
3. Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain [1984] (423 points, 35 votes, 2 first place votes)
2. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back [1988] (478 points, 39 votes, 2 first place votes)
1. Talking Heads - Remain in Light [1980] (568 points, 37 votes, 4 first place votes)

oh sorry jf, didn't read your last post

wtg jerk

I noticed that and asked the mods to lock it. They told me I'd have to get Tuomas's permission because it was his thread. I tried ilx messaging him, but who knows if that's still an email that he checks.

I love this type of ilx poll, but I really hate all the "list posts" that accompany them (both in the nom process and the results roll-out). It really gums up the ilx search function.

damn i forgot The Pretenders got shafted on this poll, makes me more pissed about Algerian un-nominating them from his poll

what? the pretenders got unnominated from the 1980s rock poll?

yes, a couple people nominated their albums and Algerian Goalpostmover nixed them

It's his poll, I guess.

oh yeah i know, i said the same thing myself in that thread, just griping that one of my fav albums of the 80s is in a weird middle ground where it's not adequately appreciated in either

I take it "London Calling" got nixed for the same reason?

London Calling got nixed because it was released in 1979 in the UK. I don't know how that works. Maybe it was time zones.

'in time for christmas 1979' yes. Guess they weren't expecting the "greatest album of the eighties, oh wait.." accolades.

The Prets were Jan 1980 though..

Nice poll, Tuomas.

Though I imagined De la Soul might have had more support.

(I only just realised such a poll had had a roll-out thread. I recall voting in the earlier equivalent that mysteriously wasn't tallied up, c.2005)

I'm still salty about Peter Gabriel III not making this poll. By all means, we must make room for both Hatful of Hollow AND Louder Than Bombs!

jf you could always rerun it