I Love the Eighties: My Top 100 Albums of 1983

Does anybody out there remember the great comic strip Bloom County? It was an irreverent look at all things Eighties, political and pop culture. Creator Berkley Breathed had brilliantly and deftly built a world of anthropomorphic animals who interacted with the humans in this small community known as Bloom County. Throughout the life of this strip, the characters parodied, satirized and poked fun at the American sensibilities of the decade, all the while maintaining writing integrity throughout the lifespan of the strip. One particular week, the strip dedicated itself to a weekend-long musical festival in the California desert at the end of May called the “US Festival,” since the whole thing, according to the organizers led by Apple’s Steve Wozniak, was about us. The festival consisted of three days with different musical themes, New Wave, Heavy Metal and Rock, with the headliners being respectively The Clash, Van Halen and Men at Work.

Well, Bloom County nailed the cynicism of the era when, in the first day’s strip about their own “US Festival” when the characters were collectively asked why this musical festival was being called the “US Festival,” to which all the characters stopped what they were doing and answered the question by yelling in unison that “All the money is going to – US!!!” Besides my favorite comic strip of all-time, what I learned about the US Festival was that it showed the power of the latest genre that was reappearing at the time, heavy metal. Heavy Metal Day proved to be the most popular day according to attendance records. The festival also showed that New Wave and Classic Rock were waning in popularity. If organizers only had the vision to have totally bagged the other two days and turn them into “College Rock Day” and “Pop Music Day,” then those days would have been more successful as well. The bands that came out of the festival with the most commercial momentum were INXS and U2 from New Wave Day, Mötley Crüe and Van Halen from Metal Day and Stevie Nicks from Rock Day.

Still, 1983 was more than that lame first attempt to give Gen X its first “Woodstock.” 1983 was the year when the power of MTV was finally realized by everyone from radio programmers to record companies to Mom & Pop Record Stores. MTV was this country’s first national radio station, and it unified the 22-and-under crowd. In addition to all of that, the very same youth that was embracing metal and college rock were also embracing Michael Jackson and his 1982 album Thriller, one of the three biggest-selling albums of all-time, standing alongside the Eagles’ first Greatest Hits collection and Adele’s recent classic 21.

To me, the year 1983 represents one of the final years during which so many different genres of music are all listened to and purchased, from the reggae of UB40 to left-wing politics of The Clash to the universally loved music of a young black man, Michael Jackson to the rock ‘n’ soul of duo Hall & Oates to the loud yet still melodic pop metal of Def Leppard to the thrashing sounds of Metallica to new, jangling guitars of R.E.M. In other words, the musical planets of the universe had aligned in 1983, much to the delight of music lovers all around the world.

So, with that big, overblown introduction to the music of 1983, allow me to unveil my Top 100 Albums for that year since I have discovered that 40 just “isn’t enough!” Hold on people!

1. R.E.M. – Murmur
2. Talking Heads – Speaking in Tongues
3. The Police – Synchronicity
4. The Style Council – Introducing the Style Council
5. David Bowie – Let’s Dance
6. Culture Club – Colour by Numbers
7. Madonna – Madonna
8. Marshall Crenshaw – Field Day
9. New Order – Power, Corruption & Lies
10. U2 – War
11. Def Leppard – Pyromania
12. Tears for Fears – The Hurting
13. Elton John – Too Low for Zero
14. Elvis Costello & the Attractions – Punch the Clock
15. Eurythmics – Touch
16. John “Cougar” Mellencamp – Uh-Huh
17. Duran Duran – Seven and the Ragged Tiger
18. Wham! – Fantastic
19. Billy Idol – Rebel Yell
20. Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
21. X – More Fun in the New World
22. Metallica – Kill ‘Em All
23. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts – Album
24. Cyndi Lauper – She’s So Unusual
25. Tracey Ullman – You Broke My Heart in 17 Places
26. The The – Soul Mining
27. ZZ Top – Eliminator
28. Cheap Trick – Next Position Please
29. Todd Rundgren – The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect
30. Huey Lewis & the News – Sports
31. Iron Maiden – Piece of Mind
32. Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
33. Lionel Richie – Can’t Slow Down
34. Kiss – Lick It Up
35. Yes – 90125
36. Whodini – Whodini
37. UB40 – Labour of Love
38. Stevie Nicks – The Wild Heart
39. Randy Newman – Trouble in Paradise
40. Genesis – Genesis
41. Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones
42. New Edition – Candy Girl
43. Quiet Riot – Metal Health
44. Journey – Frontiers
45. Paul McCartney – Pipes of Peace
46. Donna Summer – She Works Hard for the Money
47. Robert Plant – The Principle of Moments
48. Echo & the Bunnymen – Porcupine
49. U2 – Under a Blood Red Sky
50. The Cure – Japanese Whispers
51. Billy Joel – An Innocence Man
52. The Kinks – State of Confusion
53. Big Country – The Crossing
54. Herbie Hancock – Future Shock
55. P-Funk All-Stars – Urban Dancefloor Guerillas
56. Various Artists – Flashdance OST
57. Bryan Adams – Cuts like a Knife
58. John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band – Eddie and the Cruisers OST
59. Various Artists – Valley Girl OST
60. Night Ranger – Midnight Madness
61. Martin Briley – One Night with a Stranger
62. The Fixx – Reach the Beach
63. The Waterboys – The Waterboys
64. Aztec Camera – High Land, Hard Rain
65. Bob Dylan – Infidels
66. Spandau Ballet – True
67. Let’s Active – Afoot
68. Pink Floyd – The Final Cut
69. Stray Cats – Rant ‘N’ Rave with the Stray Cats
70. The Rolling Stones – Undercover
71. Electric Light Orchestra – Secret Messages
72. Mötley Crüe – Shout Out the Devil
73. T-Bone Burnett – Proof Through the Night
74. Malcolm McLaren – Duck Rock
75. The Replacements – Hootenanny
76. Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band – The Distance
77. Pat Benatar – Live from Earth
78. Paul Young – No Parlez
79. Styx – Kilroy Was Here
80. The B-52’s – Whammy!
81. The Plimsouls – Everywhere at Once
82. Stevie Ray Vaughan – Texas Flood
83. Ozzy Osbourne – Bark at the Moon
84. Dio – Holy Diver
85. Heaven 17 – The Luxury Gap
86. Was (Not Was) – Born to Laugh at Tornadoes
87. Ramones – Subterranean Jungle
88. Paul Simon – Heart and Bones
89. Men at Work – Cargo
90. The Gap Band – The Gap Band V: Jammin’
91. Jackson Browne – Lawyers in Love
92. Slayer – Show No Mercy
93. Thompson Twins – Quick Step & Side Kick
94. The Pointer Sisters – Break Out
95. Depeche Mode – Construction Time Again
96. Cocteau Twins – Head over Heels
97. Peter Gabriel – Plays Live
98. Billy Bragg – Life’s a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy
99. Midnight Star – No Parking on the Dance Floor
100. Hüsker Dü – Metal Circus

And, there you have, my Top 100 albums of 1983. Start the discussions down below.

Author: ifmyalbumscouldtalk

I am just a long-time music fan who used to be a high school science teacher and a varsity coach of several high school athletic teams. Before that, I worked as a medical technologist at three hospitals in their labs, mainly as a microbiologist. I am retired/disabled (Failed Back Surgery Syndrome), and this is my attempt to remain a human. Additionally, I am a serious vinyl aficionado, with a CD addiction and a love of reading about rock history. Finally, I am a fan of Prince, Cheap Trick, Tom Petty, R.E.M., Hall & Oates, Springsteen, Paul Weller & his bands and Power Pop music. View all posts by ifmyalbumscouldtalk