Thursday, June 23, 2022

My Top 50 Albums of 1983






Here's the Spotify playlist

1. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
2. REM – Murmur
3. Tears For Fears - The Hurting
4. Paul Simon - Hearts And Bones
5. Maze – We Are One
6. Minor Threat – Out Of Step
7. U2 – War
8. David Bowie - Let's Dance
9. Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual
10. Sonic Youth - Confusion Is Sex
11. Madonna – Madonna
12. Talking Heads - Speaking In Tongues
13. Eurythmics – Touch
14. The Police - Synchronicity
15. The Isley Brothers – Between The Sheets
16. Bob Dylan - Infidels
17. The Minutemen - What Makes A Man Start Fires?
18. Def Leppard - Pyromania
19. Cheap Trick - Next Position Please
20. Midnight Star – No Parking On The Dance Floor
21. Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones
22. Dio - Holy Diver
23. ZZ Top – Eliminator
24. Huey Lewis And The News – Sports
25. Whodini – Whodini
26. Rick James – Cold Blooded
27. Anita Baker - The Songstress
28. Big Country - The Crossing
29. The Golden Palominos - The Golden Palominos
30. Metallica - Kill 'Em All
31. Yes - 90125
32. Genesis - Genesis
33. John Mellencamp - Uh-Huh
34. Kix - Cool Kids
35. Lionel Richie - Can't Slow Down
36. Bryan Adams – Cuts Like A Knife
37. Sparks – In Outer Space
38. Malcolm McLaren - Duck Rock
39. The B-52s - Whammy!
40. The Replacements – Hootenanny
41. Split Enz - Conflicting Emotions
42. The Waterboys - The Waterboys
43. Peter Gabriel - Plays Live
44. Pulp - It
45. Social Distortion - Mommy's Little Monster
46. Chic – Believer
47. Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Punch The Clock
48. The Minutemen - Buzz Or Howl Under The Influence Of Heat EP
49. Sonic Youth – Kill Yr Idols EP
50. Duran Duran - Seven And The Ragged Tiger

What struck me as I was putting together this list was that 1983 was one of the best years for new artists ever. The 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 10, 11, 22, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 42, 44, and 45 entries on here are all debut albums, and while some of these records were tentative first steps, and Big Country and maybe a couple others peaked in '83, they're mostly bold entrances from artists who'd continue making great music for a long time. A lot of new bands were coming out of new wave/punk/alternative scenes, but there's also hip-hop, metal, R&B, an incredible amount of new sounds and personalities that would quickly shape the decade. I think the only other year I've done a top 10 albums for that had 6 debut albums was 1990

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