10 Underrated Hard Rock Albums Of The 1980s
9. Rainbow - Bent Out Of Shape
By the time the 80s came around, the popularity of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow was just starting to dwindle. While still big, the band had arguably peaked in their infancy, with strong vocalists such as Dio (previously mentioned) and Graham Bonnet having moved on - their titular debut and 1979's 'Down To Earth' are generally considered the Rainbow albums to listen to.
Bent Out Of Shape was the band's seventh studio album, and is generally considered to be more of a commercial effort than what had come previously, with the band trying to replicate the success of their last single 'Stone Cold'.
As a result, it doesn't quite have the same metal edge as to what came before, but that doesn't make it any worse - the album contains some very melodic offerings that the softer vocal tones of Joe Lynn Turner work well with. 'Street Of Dreams' in particular remains a classic to this day, 'Desperate Heart' was reviewed as one of the year's finest songs, while in 1984, 'Anybody There' was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
It's also been widely reported 'Street Of Dreams' is one of Ritchie Blackmore's favourite Rainbow songs, and the guitarist actually covered it with his follow-up folk band, Blackmore's Night.