 | New Day Rising by Hüsker Dü
Buy new: $16.98 / Used from: $8.64 One of the most influential albums of the 80's is also one of the very best. Hardcore plus pop equals heaven...for me anyway. The lyrics are barely audible, but the band is having so much fun with their instruments that it's hard to care. The best guitar album of the 80's.
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 | London Calling by The Clash
Buy new: $6.99 / Used from: $3.45 Just call this one "reggae punk". This is easily one of the ten best double albums ever made. "Jimmy Jazz", "Brand New Cadillac", "The Right Profile", "Wrong Em Boyo", "Death or Glory"...the album is just chock full of anthemic songs that gets the heart pumping and the mouth smiling.
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 | Music from the Motion Picture "Purple Rain" by Prince & the Revolution
Buy new: $10.99 / Used from: $2.65 Easily the greatest soundtrack of all time, Purple Rain is also arguably Prince's best album. "When Doves Cry" was the biggest single of 1984, "Let's Go Crazy" recalls Hendrix, and "Darling Nikki" is perhaps the greatest weird song ever recorded.
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 | It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy
Buy new: $8.99 / Used from: $3.74 The best old-school rap album of all time, bar none. "Bring the Noise", "Caught, Can We Get a Witness?" and "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" still have power that is seldom heard in modern rap.
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 | Master of Puppets by Metallica
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $4.75 Quite simply, the greatest heavy metal album of all time, and that is saying a LOT. "Battery", "Master of Puppets", and "Orion" are the highlights but there is not a weak song in sight. No other metal album blends thrash with progressive elements so effortlessly like this one does.
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 | Sign 'O' the Times by Prince
Buy new: $22.99 / Used from: $5.91 The best album of 1987 and that was a GREAT year for music. Some of Prince's best songs are found on here: "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker", "Slow Love", "U Got the Look", and "Adore" all shine. Prince keeps the indulgence to a minimum and the result is one of the most satisying musical experiences of the 80's.
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 | Paul's Boutique by Beastie Boys
Buy new: $13.99 / Used from: $0.04 Easily the best album of 1989, the Beastie Boys mix hard-hitting and humorous rhymes with the help of the Dust Brothers' greatest production. The result is the most surrealistic and sampleadelic exploration of the joys and terrors of New York City ever recorded.
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 | Double Nickels on the Dime by Minutemen
Buy new: $15.99 / Used from: $9.98 Maybe the most original album of the 80's, this album consists of snippets of songs backed by the coolest bass-playing you ever heard. It runs the gamut from political to satirical to personal to just plain insanity and the result is a bizarre manifesto of unswerving vision.
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 | Thriller by Michael Jackson
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $3.69 The most famous album of all time is also the best album of 1982. This is the kind of album that has something to offer to EVERYBODY. "Beat It" contains one of Eddie Van Halen's best guitar solos and "Billie Jean" is pure pop genius. Add all the other songs and you have pop candy heaven.
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 | Pyromania by Def Leppard
Buy new: $12.99 / Used from: $4.48 The first and best pop metal album. What makes Pyromania the best album of 1983 is the stellar combination of melodies, production, guitar solos, and the best harmonizing ever employed into hard rock. "Comin' Under Fire" is probably the most underrated rock song of the early 80's.
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