Forty Favorite Albums of 1981

(Any year is a great year for music if you explore widely enough. If I had to restrict my listening to one year’s albums, though, I would choose 1981, when many of the landmarks of post-punk, new wave, synth pop, and new romantic music were released and when pop music was taking a turn toward the weird. Here, then, are my forty favorite albums from forty years ago, in order of preference. I was too young to have listened to most of this music at the time, with the exception of the stuff that made its way into the high reaches of the American Top Forty or the tape decks of my parents’ cars. I’ve marked those few albums with an asterisk.)

 

  1. Tin Drum by Japan

  2. Architecture and Morality by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

  3. Sleep No More by The Comsat Angels

  4. The Bureau by The Bureau

  5. LC by The Durutti Column

  6. Klaus Nomi by Klaus Nomi

  7. I Am Sitting in a Room by Alvin Lucier

  8. Juju by Siouxsie and the Banshees

  9. From the Lions Mouth by The Sound

  10. Working Class Dog by Rick Springfield *

  11. The Iowa Waltz by Greg Brown

  12. Prince Charming by Adam and the Ants

  13. Wild Things by The Creatures

  14. Look Out! by 20/20

  15. Multiple Choice by Metronomes

  16. Liquid Liquid by Liquid Liquid

  17. Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret by Soft Cell

  18. Nightclubbing by Grace Jones

  19. Controversy by Prince

  20. Faith by The Cure

  21. Hard Light by David Mallett

  22. Too Fast for Love by Mötley Crüe

  23. Beauty and the Beat by The Go-Go’s *

  24. Feels So Right by Alabama *

  25. The Garden by John Foxx

  26. Dare by The Human League *

  27. La voce del padrone by Franco Battiato

  28. Private Eyes by Daryl Hall and John Oates *

  29. Author! Author! by Scars

  30. Duran Duran by Duran Duran

  31. Ghost in the Machine by The Police

  32. Speak & Spell by Depeche Mode

  33. Business as Usual by Men at Work *

  34. You’re the Guy I Want to Share My Money With by Laurie Anderson, William S. Burroughs, and Jean Giorno

  35. See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy! by Bow Wow Wow

  36. I Love Rock ‘n Roll by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts *

  37. Magnets by The Vapors

  38. Physical by Olivia Newton-John *

  39. In the Garden by Eurythmics

  40. Anthem by Toyah

— June 9, 2021


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