 | No Line On The Horizon by U2
Buy new: $9.99 / Used from: $4.10 U2) No, this isn't 1980s rock, it's 2009 rock -- but you know if you're listening to U2 you're going to want to hear their great 1980s songs!
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 | The Best of 1980-1990 by U2
Buy new: $10.97 / Used from: $2.00 U2) U2 in their prime when they were charged with idealism and passion to change the world -- I saw them in Chicago in 1986 and Bono pointed to our anti-war banner before the guards tore it down!
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 | The Singles (Eco-Friendly Packaging) by The Clash
Buy used from: $0.45 THE CLASH) The latest package of Clash music for those who have not yet heard it!
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 | Live at Shea Stadium by The Clash
Buy new: $9.98 / Used from: $3.99 THE CLASH) the complete show from the 1982 U.S. tour -- I saw them at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago
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 | The Future Is Unwritten
Buy new: $13.49 / Used from: $9.00 THE CLASH) new documentary about Strummer, voice of the Clash
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 | Essential Clash by The Clash
Buy new: $15.98 / Used from: $4.97 THE CLASH) one disc from the late 70s, and one from the 80s
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 | 20,000 Watts R.S.L.: Greatest Hits by Midnight Oil
Buy new: $7.98 / Used from: $1.74 MIDNIGHT OIL) for those who want a 1-disc overview
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 | Scream in Blue Live by Midnight Oil
Buy used from: $0.01 1980s) Fantastic live recording with material from the early and late 1980s.
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 | Blue Sky Mining by Midnight Oil
Buy used from: $0.01 1990) Warne Livesay produces (as on Diesel & Dust) -- a few weak tracks, but a personal favorite for us '80s protesters, "Forgotten Years," and "One Country/Antarctica" is a powerful closing.
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 | Diesel and Dust by Midnight Oil
Buy new: $7.98 / Used from: $0.07 1988) My favorite Oils album -- the best tracks are Dream World, Warakurna, Sell My Soul & Sometimes. I saw the Oils on the D&D tour at the Chicago Metro, a club -- awesome show!
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 | The Mekons Rock 'n' Roll by The Mekons
Buy used from: $54.48 1989) a brilliant, caustic anti-capitalist tour de force
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 | Joshua Tree (Remastered / Expanded) (Deluxe Edition) (2CD) by U2
Buy new: $26.99 / Used from: $10.72 1987) U2's sorrowful masterpiece, expanded with a bonus disc and controversially remastered
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 | Major Malfunction by Keith LeBlanc
Buy used from: $21.99 1986) from the drummer of Tackhead, earlier the Sugarhill house band (Grandmaster Flash's "The Message")
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 | Cut the Crap by The Clash
Buy used from: $4.00 1985) This was widely denounced after Joe fired Mick, but it's got several great tracks on it. I saw this version of the band in Chicago in April 1984, met Joe on the street, and he later called on the audience in the Quad Cities to support our June 4th SHUT DOWN THE ARSENAL protest!
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 | Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends by George Clinton
Buy used from: $6.99 1985) "Bullet Proof," a song against nuclear weapons and war plans
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 | Species Deceases by Midnight Oil
Buy used from: $2.69 1985) worth picking up cheap for the lead track "Progress"
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 | The Unforgettable Fire by U2
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $0.01 1984) "In the Name of Love!" At a U2 concert in Chicago in 1986 some of my comrades held up a banner behind Bono that said PREVENT WORLD WAR 3, NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES!" and he pointed to it encouragingly.
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 | Red Sails in the Sunset by Midnight Oil
Buy used from: $3.24 1984) This was the first Oils album I heard -- it was played on WXRT in Chicago. I saw the Oils live in '85 and got to meet Peter Garrett backstage at Poplar Creek.
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 | Stealing Fire by Bruce Cockburn
Buy used from: $14.44 1984) "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" Bruce does not advocate violence, but he wrote the song to express his anger seeing the conditions of the Guatemalan refugees across the border in Mexico.
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 | Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen
1984) Right-wing knuckleheads thought it was a patriotic anthem, and chanted "USA #1" while Reagan tried to coopt Bruce by calling him the "Rambo of rock and roll," but Bruce was donating some of his concert proceeds to food banks and union funds -- he was and is no pro-war greedhead!
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 | 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 by Midnight Oil
Buy used from: $1.94 1983) The first Oils release in the U.S., it didn't get any airplay on WXRT in Chicago. Critically, probably the best Oils album. (Their 3 earlier albums are not yet fully formed.)
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 | War by u2
Buy new: $9.99 / Used from: $7.17 1983) "New Year's Day" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
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 | Speaking in Tongues by Talking Heads
Buy new: $6.99 / Used from: $1.92 1983) "Burning Down the House" -- listen carefully to the lyrics, it's about nuclear war!
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 | Message From Beat Street: Best Of by Grandmaster Flash & Furious Five
Buy new: $11.98 / Used from: $3.95 1982) "The Message" -- It's like a jungle, sometimes it makes me wondah how I keep from goin' undah...
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 | Plastic Surgery Disasters/In God We Trust, Inc. by Dead Kennedys
Buy new: $16.98 / Used from: $13.99 1982) more brilliance from Jello Biafra & Co.
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 | From Here to Eternity: Live by The Clash
Buy used from: $1.42 1978 -- 1982) A motley collection of live Clash, spliced together from concerts between 1978 and 1982.
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 | Combat Rock by The Clash
Buy new: $7.98 / Used from: $3.13 1982) "Know Your Rights" -- more compact but similar to SANDINISTA -- I saw the Clash at the Aragon Ballrooom in Chicago on the COMBAT ROCK tour
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 | Security by Peter Gabriel
Buy used from: $17.88 1982) the cover was really the only thing that hinted at politics, but somehow the whole beautiful synth and rhythm-drenched thing spoke to the Movement for life and peace and against death and war
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 | Penthouse and Pavement by Heaven 17
Buy new: $12.98 / Used from: $3.77 1981) "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing"
was a great dance floor hit of 1981, targeting the rise of Thatcher and Reagan.
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 | Sandinista! by The Clash
Buy new: $15.98 / Used from: $7.95 1980) spread across three vinyl discs, an amazing collection with songs like "The Call-Up" against the draft, "Washington Bullets" against U.S. support for right-wing death squads and opposition to popular movements in Central America, and "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" against nuclear war
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 | Complete, Vol. 1: 1981-1983 by Articles of Faith
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $8.96 1981-1983) AOF were leaders of the hardcore movement in Chicago -- later in the 1980s I knew the drummer, Virus X as a fellow activist
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 | Complete Discography by Minor Threat
Buy new: $13.98 / Used from: $6.25 EARLY 1980s) pioneers of hardcore punk and the socially conscious straightedge movement
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 | Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys
Buy used from: $1.49 1980) "Kill the Poor," "Holiday in Cambodia," "California Uber Alles" -- Jello Biafra launched the U.S. hardcore movement, which took punk and sped it up. The hardcore movement was against Reagan, racism and war.
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 | Humans by Bruce Cockburn
Buy used from: $10.35 1980) "Grim Travellers" They see the beauty, and it makes them cry. It makes them angry and they don't know why...
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 | Peter Gabriel by Peter Gabriel
Buy used from: $15.28 1980) "Games Beyond Frontiers" and "Biko"
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 | Fear of Music by Talking Heads
Buy new: $6.99 / Used from: $2.96 1979) "Life During Wartime" Brilliant vignette of guerilla life underground as social polarization increased.
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 | Forces of Victory by Linton Kwesi Johnson
Buy new: $15.99 / Used from: $8.41 1979) Linton Kwesi Johnson emerged from Brixton (he was born in Kingston) with fierce political reggae that fed the growing Modement of the 80s.
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 | Armed Forces by Elvis Costello & the Attraction
Buy new: $13.98 / Used from: $9.12 1979) "What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?" Nick Lowe wrote it as a sarcastic put-down of hippies, but Elvis was deadly serious and it became an anti-war anthem.
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 | London Calling by The Clash
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $1.81 1979) "a nuclear error, but I have no fear, 'cause London is drowning and I ... I live by the river!" This one set the tone for the Thatcher/Reagan years.
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