10 Perfect Albums That Defined The '80s

It's virtually impossible to nail down what really made the '80s happen in just a few words. Hell, if you were to give a musical scholar the task of explaining the era of makeup, flashy neon outfits, and mile high hair, it would still be a pretty hard task. That doesn't mean that some of the best records of the day don't rise to the surface eventually. As the decade wore on, you started to see the genres that we know and love start to take shape, thanks in no small part to these albums.

Whether the artists in question knew it or not, these were the songs that were about to become the defining sounds of the decade, ranging from the electronic sounds of synth rock to the guitar crunch behind hair metal and thrash. That doesn't mean that other genres didn't get their fair share of highlights either, with the sounds of modern pop music and the seeds of the alternative movement also being planted around this exact same time.

After the '60s had kicked the music scene into high gear and the '70s making it even bigger, it was time to take pop music that one extra step. The groundwork had been laid already...now it was officially time for the party to start.

After the punk wave swept the rock scene, a lot of the newer acts weren't really sure where to go anymore. After the Clash had outgrown the punk label and the Sex Pistols collapsed in on themselves, that left only the new wave acts to push the way forward. Just because you have a back to basics approach though doesn't mean that you can't do some outlandish things as well.

Coming off of the nervy punk rock sounds of their debut album, Talking Heads stormed into the '80s with Remain in Light, taking influence from different forms of world music to create a strange musical stew. With the help of Brian Eno, this was the first time that David Byrne used the entire studio as an instrument, as the rest of the band followed suit on songs like Houses in Motion.

If we're going for the most essential parts of this album, it would have to be Once in a Lifetime, which seemed to work as a foreshadowing of the kind of culture that would dominate the decade going forward. From the stuttering beats to the emotionally confused melodies, David Byrne basically described the entire consumerist mentality, being so addicted to materialism that you start to forget who you really are. If only the rest of the rock scene realized just how true he was.