10 Albums Which Make the 80's the Best Decade for Music

I grew up with music in the house. It was a dysfunctional house at the best of times. The arrival of the all-in-one Radiogram was a welcome relief. It was a long teak cabinet with a radio and a turntable. It began my love affair with vinyl and introduced me to the legends of music, who were to change my life forever.

John Lennon, The Beatles, Elton John, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Rocky Music and of course, ABBA, drifted through the house on any given day.

Music became an escape route from the chaos of a family imploding

It was the end of the 70's and the optimism of the 80's came bleeding through my teenage years. It was a fragile yet expansive time for all of us. Luckily, music created a wonderful soundtrack to my life.

I feel blessed to be touched by music. So many just don't get it. My best friend of 40 years had a Carpenters album. We would drive in his light blue Triumph Herald listening to it. That was the only album he ever had. He simply wasn't interested in exploring the rich cacophony of sounds the 80's brought us. He still has the same cassette to this day. 

Meanwhile, it was a new dawn. It was 1980. Roland, Yamaha and other synthesizers and drum-machines added new-found depth, sophistication and ambience to the vinyl in my collection.

Music became everything

With the extra cash from DJing, I began collecting second-hand vinyl. What started off as a way to relax, became a cherished collection which has travelled with me to this day. 

Every 7-inch single has a story and every album, a moment of stillness to absorb the brilliance of the artist. 

Post punk and glam rock made way to the new wave, new romantic and goth era of music. It was cool for men to wear makeup. Big hair, smart suits and big shoulder pads all fused together in a golden era of fashion and music, never to be repeated again. 

The 80's went four ways for me - the rockers who hung out at Tiffany's night club with their petunia oil and long hair, who dined out on AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath, the goths who worshipped Cocteau Twins, Bauhaus, Siouxsie Sioux and Southern Death Cult and the new wave new romantics with their asymmetric hair cuts, costume jewellery, cool make-up and their leader, Steve Strange.

Lastly, came the sickly sweet bubblegum pop music which was made for the masses. For me, this was throw-away rubbish with no soul and no substance, and sadly never left us. The Lion Sleeps Tonight was a low-light, not forgetting the even more tragic Joe Dolce's Shaddap You Face, which denied Ultravox's Vienna it's finest hour. 

But, it didn't matter, I was being swept away

I know everyone had their own take on the sounds of the 80's. I side-stepped Wham, Duran Duran and Spandau et- al and gave Morrissey and The Smiths a wide berth too.

Instead, the influences of John Foxx, Gary Numan, Brian Eno, Bono, Jim Kerr, Robert Smith and David Byrne have etched musical tattoos onto my mind. It's difficult to isolate one album for each year, as the brave new world of synth pop and rock of the 80's formed the foundation of my musical life, but here goes…

1979 Pleasure Principle – Gary Numan 

Pleasure Principle (1979) was my first album ever. The wizardry of Gary Numan built the foundation to a broad mind with an eclectic palette. Yes, of course, the album gave us the iconic song Cars, but track 5, M.E, still holds up to this day. 

I was captured by the massive ambient synth sound, flooding the heavy bass lines and the ricochet of the drum machine. Closing my eyes with headphones on, I became part of an expansive sci-fi movie, in galactic outer space with a sound bigger than I could ever have imagined.

I painted the Telecon Album (1980) cover on the back of my bedroom door. I was for now, a Numanoid in my  double breasted suit, trilby and eyeliner, all procured from the Oxfam Shop and made to fit by a tailor friend of my uncle's.

1980 Faith – The Cure 

The echo chambers and vocal delays of The Cure's Faith album were haunting and brilliant. The simple, rasping sharpness of an electronic snare drum complimented Robert Smith's languid cockney voice perfectly. I admired the confidence it took to have long musical intros,which gave The Cure an empathetic edge to those around them.

Robert Smith, with his smudged eyeliner and wonky red lipstick, took over from Mr Numan. Back combed hair with an Elnett lacquer and a long white shirt under a black jacket, was my new look.

"The further we go and older we grow / the more we know, the less we show" 

Jim Allen for the Diffuser says, if Smith's lyrics aren't "evocative of the struggle between a freshly minted grown-up and his inner adolescent, what is?"

Unfortunately, my love affair with The Cure came to a premature split, when The Lovecats catapulted then into the mainstream. The Cure gave up coolness for money, but then who could blame them?

1981 Architecture and Morality – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 

I remember buying Souvenir, a 10 inch extended version, from Woolworths department store. It was a hot August summers day. Southport, my home town, was flooded with tourists. 

OMD were from Liverpool, which was 45 minutes down the road. It was as if we knew them. We had a deep allegiance with them. The album, Architecture and Morality, followed soon after the single, Souvenir. It was unique in texture and sound, compared to most of the music being released at that point.

"The whole album was really the result of exploring what the Mellotron could do… There isn't one song that isn't laden with it. Even the famous bagpipe sound on 'Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans)' is actually a violin sound treated through the Mellotron. It gives the record this dark, orchestral beauty all its own."

Music video and MTV launched in 1981, pushing the musical revolution faster then anyone could cope with. Men wore make-up and got away with it. Music transformed from a peaceful art form into a 3D attack on the senses. The early 80's felt like a giant musical experiment and we were the grateful guinea pigs.

1982 New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) - Simple Minds

I still love Simple Minds. Somehow they managed to connect brilliant orchestral, instrumental album journeys with stadium rock. 

It was a time when 12 inch versions of album tracks were collectable. The 12 inch intro to Someone Somewhere in Summertime is enormous. As is the intro to New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84) -  the soundtrack to the same named album. It is as beautiful, as it is imposing. 

The whole album is a lucid meandering piece of art. My limited knowledge of how they technically made such massive, atmospheric sounds has me in awe. 

Bizarrely, I randomly got a job as security for a Simple Mind's gig in Milton Keynes gig in the mid 80's. My job was to look after the stage and perimeter fence over night. I sat on Mel Gaynor's drum kit, read the playlist stuck to the floor and closed my eyes, trying to imagine 90,000 people going ballistic.

1983 Power, Corruption and Lies – New Order

New Order blitzed us with Blue Monday, an explosion within a revolution. I bought the album on the back of Blue Monday's success. Track 5, Your Silent Face, is etched like a postcard from a first holiday onto my heart. I used to imagine the world ending in a nuclear winter and this being played super loud to everyone.

"The band members produced it (the album) themselves, upgrading from home-built synthesizers and sequencers to state-of-the-art models in the process. 'We got the machines two weeks before we went into the studio, and we didn't really know how to work them,' Morris says."

The album's whimsical synth-like clarinet, pushed by the huge expansive surround-sound, hypnotised me. I was an Alternative DJ at the Mad Hatter club in Southport. I always chose Your Silent Face to be the last tune of the night, as the lights turned on and the bar cashed up.

Liverpool, at the time, was the heartbeat of all things cool in the music world. Probe Records, with a young Pete Burns working there, was a place to hang out. It was somewhere to feel safe as a goth/punk/new romantic hybrid. Saturday nights at The State were a feast of indie magic and a safe place to express myself. I felt part of something beautiful. 

A late night in Bunters nightclub in Liverpool after a self-aborted Divine gig heralded a super charged version of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Two Tribes. I felt the tribal solidarity of yet another sound from Liverpool's hungry and talented music scene. 

1984 Ocean Rain – Echo and The Bunnymen 

Reluctantly, I sat in front of the Donny Darko movie, not feeling the random selection from Blockbusters. Cue the opening scene and the background music of The Killing Moon. Everything changed. Suddenly, the movie could do no wrong. 

The Bunnymen had me with the Porcupine album, my love for them deepened with Crocodiles and would last for eternity with Ocean Rain. Their music was orchestral, poetic, haunting and flawless. 

"Considered by many critics and fans alike to be the Bunnymen's apotheosis, Ocean Rain was hailed (with typical bombast) by lead singer Ian McCulloch himself as "the greatest album ever made". The band decamped to Paris for the recording with an orchestra, soaking their lush melodies in sumptuous strings, while elsewhere there were contributions from xylophones, glockenspiels and congas."

1985 This is The Sea – Waterboys 

I wandered through the almost nice shopping centre in Reading, the early Saturday morning was yet to heave into busy crowds. I entered a small quirky interior design shop to the rasping voice of Mick Scott driving the vocals of This Is The Sea. It stopped me in my tracks. 

I was the only person in the shop. The sound quality was superb. I basked in the brilliance of this massive sound. It was another iconic example, for me, of the music of the 80's pushing on at pace. 

The reluctant goth shop assistant slung me the CD cover. The black and white photo of Mr Scott, tucking a feather into his top pocket, is still etched into my mind. I immediately purchased the album from HMV a few doors down. Excited like a child with a new puppy, I hurried home.

1986 Graceland - Paul Simon

I knew of Paul Simon but I was never a fan. Art Garfunkel and Simon, had often meandered through the house as a kid. 

"I'd rather be a hammer than a nail" 

This will forever be the stand out line of the Bridge Over Troubled Water album. But, all the same, I was not a fan. Paul Simon wasn't cool. He didn't have the atmospheric synthesises or the gut wrenching bass lines of my idols.

It was a summers day when my opinion changed. I remember sitting in a bar. For 50p I could choose five tunes. The Paul Simon song, Diamonds on The Soles of Her Shoes, features guest vocals from the South African male choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It filled the bar and my ears, with the most wonderful sound. It was my first understanding of Simon's brilliance and harmony. 

1987 Joshua Tree – U2 

Live at Red Rock in 1983 was broadcast by The Tube. It was touch and go because of torrential rain whether it went ahead. But, it did and the crazy lead singer high up on the scaffolding had me instantly. 

Bono is my Elvis. Two years later at Live Aid he did it again, spontaneously grabbing a woman from the crowd and pissing the rest of the band off. After much criticism, Bono fled to Ireland to be alone, sure he'd terminated U2's appeal and career. Little did he know, he'd catapulted them into superstars. 

In 1987, I pre-ordered The Joshua Tree. This was the first and only time I had ever pre-ordered an album. I was with my close friend Simon. We rushed back to his place - he had an epic sound system and nothing else in his flat. We boiled some eggs, drank cider and in a moment of pure theatre closed our eyes. Where The Streets Have No Name smashed through me.

That summer, I crammed into Elland Road in Leeds for the Joshua Tree tour. Two hours were over in a blink but I would forever be a U2 fan. The ambience and subtlety of the album, the stories behind the lyrics and the pace and momentum of it all, was and still is, perfect. 

Many years later, Howie B was my client when he got the call to produce Pop. I recall his reaction of total disbelief and elation.

"Can you believe it? Bono's on the phone"

That night, Bono, Adam Clayton and Naomi Campbell came to the hip Sunday night club at The Paradise bar in Kilburn Lane London. I didn't have the courage to thank my Elvis. It would not have been cool. 

1987 A Momentary Lapse of Reason (Part Two) – Pink Floyd 

I was late to the party which everyone will talk about for generations. It took a while for me to appreciate Pink Floyd. 

However, the release of Pink Floyd's 13th studio album was like an awakening. My love for huge ambient sounds connected deeply with the progressive rock of David Gilmour's guitar skills.

In 1988, I worked in the South of France. I took just two albums with me - they were back to back on one TDK SA 90 cassette. My chosen albums were A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Waterboy's This is The Sea. Suffice to say, every second of both albums was devoured, admired and etched into my subconscious. Track 5, The Turning Away, is a masterpiece. 

1989 Club Classics Vol 1 – Soul to Soul 

It was 1989. I had moved to London. House music was on it's way. The angst of my teenage years were firmly behind me. Working in the South of France and moving to London opened my eyes to a whole world of music. My new friends were all musicians and DJs at the cutting edge of this new dance music, which was bouncing it's way into my life. 

Repetitive beats, heavy sampled bass lines and knock-you-over loud kick drums were taking over. The Back to Life 12 inch single will always be an amazing track. The crystal-clear backing vocals of Caron Wheeler, Rose Windross and the late Do'Reen Waddell, along with the deep raspy cockney voice of Jazzy B, complimented the sampled thumping bass line perfectly.

"Q Magazine ranked Back to Life at number 534 in their list of the '1001 Best Songs Ever' in 2003"

Back to Life marked the end of a period of transformation and growth. The 80's was a tumultuous decade for me, beginning with family turmoil and ending gloriously with a broader perspective on the world, and a fresh excitement and hope for more. 

The 80's were over. It was time for the 90's. Bring on drum and bass, Britpop and Glastonbury. My musical journey just 'Keeps on Movin' and will always be the perfect antidote to an often hectic world.