Top 25 Albums of 1981
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- In this episode, Al continues the Albums of the Year series as he lists his Top 25 albums of 1981.
Modern English Albums Ranked: • Modern English Albums ...
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Excellent video and some great stuff here. I have 5 of your 25 and liked quite a few more both then and retrospectively.
My top 10:
1 The Human League - Dare
2 The Cure - Faith
3 OMD - Architecture and Morality
4 Kraftwerk - Computer World
5 Depeche Mode - Speak and Spell
6 Ultravox - Rage in Eden
7 Soft Cell - Non stop Erotic Cabaret
8 VA - Some Bizzare album
9 New Order - Movement
10 Gary Numan - Dance.
Cool vid, man. I'll throw my hat in the ring with 10 - not ranked. English Settlement would be included, but I think it dropped in '82
U2 - October
Van Halen - Fair Warning
The Police - Ghost In The Machine
Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Trust
Squeeze - East Side Story
Rolling Stones - Tattoo You
X - Wild Gift
King Crimson - Discipline
Pretenders II
Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk
That's a great list! Yeah.. I was 4 months off on English Settlement... thought it was 11/81... in fact, it was 3/82... ugh!!
@@deadendstreetchannel your list has me curious. I'm gonna dig deeper and give them some spins. Looking forward to future videos - Kevin
Great list, phenomenal year. You have included some of my favourite albums of all time, Heaven up here, Mask, The Garden, From The Lions Mouth, Sleep No More…wow!
Did we just become best friends? 😂🤣😂
1981 was a tremendously solid year for rock/metal/pop/jazz/r&b music! I was 12 and loved every minute of it! MTV was on the horizon...
I was a huge fan of the Psychedelic Furs debut album. They did an in-store at the record store I worked in at the time and I got to meet them, ask about their influences since they seemed so unique. In 1981 I was hopeful lightning would strike twice. It almost did. It wasn’t a let down but as you I think you indicate, they rounded rough edges, a bit more conventional sound, but still great songs. I filmed/ not video,footage of a bit of Flowers of Romance live. I enjoyed Juju live, very powerful. Loved the New Order and the concurrent singles. That’s my overlap with your list. Great job.
Thank you! And thanks for sharing your Furs experience!
Another fascinating and insightful video. Love the stories that show your personal connection to the music. Thanks!
Thank you very much!!
Interesting list. Here's my top 10:
1 In the Garden - Eurythmics (criminally underrated)
2 Computer World - Kraftwerk (their finest hour)
3 Tin Drum - Japan (absolute stellar album)
4 Architecture & Morality - OMD (one of their best albums)
5 Faith - The Cure (in the middle of the gothic triptych)
6 The Visitors - ABBA (a somber final album and a flirtation with the genre of the musical)
7 Juju - Siouxsie & the Banshees (possibly their best offering)
8 Dare! - The Human League (very influential to what came the following years)
9 Nightclubbing - Grace Jones (art and fashion merges with post-punk and reggae)
10 Tom Tom Club - Tom Tom Club (so ahead of the curve)
Great list! I'll have to try out the ABBA record.
Great list. A few other great postpunk records from that year: Teardrop Explodes-Wilder (hugely underrated), Pete Shelley- Homosapien, Josef K - The Only Fun in Town, Tom Verlaine- Dreamtime, Simple Minds - Sons and Fascination / Sister Feelings Call
I like all of those records! Great picks
DIARY OF A MADMAN/FAIR WARNING/WARNING/MOVING PICTURES/KILLERS/MOB RULES
The definitive "I know every obscure band who've ever existed." video.
There’s nothing obscure here
Amazing list as always, partly because you may be the closest person on YT to my own tastes for this era. It's worth mentioning that Cherry Red put out a deluxe double CD reissue of the Modern Eon album last year with all the singles and B-sides, with liner notes by Andrew Keeling, who published a listener's guide, and also did one for Comsat Angels. Essential! Not sure of any plans for vinyl reissue. I pretty much predicted your top five, but there's always surprises, like Hanoi Rocks and both Stranglers albums. Since English Settlement was '82, you have on more pick left! Beyond your bubbling under mentions, here's a few others to choose from:
The Raincoats - Odyshape
The Method Actors - Little Figures
Iron Maiden - Killers
The Suburbs - Credit In Heaven
The Au Pairs - Playing With A Different Sex
Simple Minds - Sons And Fascination/Sister Feelings Call
Martha & The Muffins - This Is The Ice Age
King Crimson - Discipline
X - Wild Gift
The Gun Club - Fire Of Love
Wipers - Youth Of America
Opposition - Breaking The Silence
Kraftwerk - Computer World
Ultravox - Rage In Eden
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Technodelic
Black Sabbath - Mob Rules
The Teardrop Explodes - Wilder
Scientist - Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires
This Heat - Deceit
The Undertones - Positive Touch
Tom Verlaine - Dreamtime
Pretenders - Pretenders II
Wall Of Voodoo - Dark Continent
TV21 - A Thin Red Line
Holly And The Italians - The Right To Be Italian
I of course had many of your picks in my list but figured it would be interesting to list what you didn't.
Ditto. And it is fun re-living the era and considering some of these for the first time in decades (for me anyway).
Ooohhh... TV21! Great pick. Yeah... I'm totally eating it on that XTC flub! 😂 TomTom Club is a good contender to take its spot... Almost Blue by Elvis also.
From the Lions Mouth - not only one of the greatest albums of '81, but of the entire 80's. Superb stuff. Wonderful also that you rated The Comsat Angels so highly. The Sound, The Comsats, The Chameleons and The Church - the soundtrack of my 80's.
Agree wholeheartedly!
With From the Lion's mouth from The Sound you passed the litmus test for me.
The other albums I know from your list, I also agree are of high quality.
So the new (and the forgotten...) ones on your list I'll certainly check out and up front I thank you for expanding the music I'll enjoy.
Thank YOU!
Cool t-shirt you're wearing. That excellent album was from 1978, so I would like it if you made a list of that year too (and 1977 ..., 1982 ...
Rush is the definite outlier in your list...gotta admit, I'm unfamiliar with 2/3 of your list and I consider myself an avid well-rounded music aficionado. I'm rooted in rock/hard rock, 70's prog, funk/r&b and jazz/funk fusion...drawn into most music by drums/bass, arrangements and melody. Looking forward to your next rankings!
Thank you!
My Top 10 of 1981!:
10. Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
9. Genesis - Abacab
8. Van Halen - Fair Warning
7. U2 - October
6. Billy Squier - Don't Say No
5. AC/DC - For Those About to Rock
4. Journey - Escape
3. Riot - Fire Down Under
2. Rush - Moving Pictures
1. Judas Priest - Point of Entry
Point of Entry... underrated Priest record. Fire Down Under ... very good hard rock record.
This channel rocks.
Thank you!!!
Great list but I remember that i bought "English Settlement" in 1982, two years after "Black Sea" (1980).......
Ugh. I had it down as December 81... it was, in fact, Feb 82. 😬
I haven't heard of most of these albums, but I wouldn't mind investigating some of them. These are the albums that I own from 1981:
1. Black Sabbath - Mob Rules
2. Rush - Moving Pictures
3. Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
4. Iron Maiden - Killers
5. Blue Oyster Cult - Fire of Unknown Origin
6. Van Halen - Fair Warning
7. Blue Oyster Cult - Forbidden Delights (1981/2014)
8. Thin Lizzy - Renegade
9. Riot - Fire Down Under
10. Saxon - Denim and Leather
11. Rush - Exit Stage Left
12. Judas Priest - Point of Entry
13. KISS - Music from the Elder
14. Heavy Metal - Music from the Motion Picture
15. AC/DC - For Those About to Rock
16. Y&T - Earthshaker
17. Accept - Breaker
18. King Crimson - Discipline
19. UFO - The Wild The Willing and The Innocent
20. Rainbow - Difficult to Cure
21. The Police - Ghost In The Machine
22. April Wine - The Nature of The Beast
23. Tygers of Pan Tang - Spellbound
24. Tygers of Pan Tang - Hellbound Spellbound Live 1981 (1981/2019)
25. The Cars - Shake It Up
26. The Kinks - Give the People what They Want
27. Genesis - Abacab
Comsat angels... was listening to it earlier..
Goat of the west
Eye dance
Be brave
Great choices.
Sooooo good.
From the lions mouth.
Phenomenal long player.
that's why I got it signed!
C
Discipline by King Crimson beats them all.
I do like that record. Adrian!!
King Crimson's Discipline would have been in my top 10, perhaps number 1.
A lot to check out, the production of many of those records may be a problem for people like me who mostly listen modern ere releases these days but overall I am as old school as anybody.
Christian Death's "Only Theatre Of Pain" easily my #1.
I listened to that record to... ummm... death.... lol. I really like Catastrophe Ballet even more.
There's definitely no bias here... towards a single genre of music... at all. Really. LOL
😆 I know. There's a lot of metal and Classic rock channels (both types of music I know very well and raised on) but just giving a kinda alt point of view on these years... though some CR and HM do rear their heads from time to time. 😉
great overview
Love the shirt.
Moving Pictures...best sounding record in history of music...ok, some hyperbole here since I'm a huge Rush fan. But on headphones it seriously may be the perfect sounding record!
Between Heaven Up Here and What's This For for me, though Ju Ju is very good as well.
10000% omd stole the show at darker waves. It was freakin great. Singer was really into it.
I would add Ramones Pleasant Dreams!
English Settlement is 1982.
Magazine... cool band.. influenced many.. including Manic street preachers
Yes indeed!
no punk, hardcore or reggae???? Oh well......I was hoping.
I love ju ju!!!!
Rush should be a lot higher sir.
You don’t look that old.
I was born 10 years late. 😆
What is the fucking point of making a list of top 25 albums and not playing a sample from each one? Sincere ignorance, or conscientious stupidity? Or both
Copyright issues.... youtube policy.
@@deadendstreetchannel Copyright sucks bro!