Pitchfork Details the Best Albums of the ’80s

Not mad at #1. GOAT

 

Great list. Personally I'd move Tango In The Night, Hats, Born In The USA, and Songs from the Big Chair a bit higher, but can't complain.

 

whats the number one? i dont have time to go through that many web pages god damn lol

 

interesting

 

the new list is better imo

 

Also: not enough R&B

 

I don’t trust any 80s list that doesn’t include any glam metal in the top 25

 

Way late but...
I combined the original list with the new one to see how things shook out, just out of interest. The list below, then some thoughts:

1 Talking Heads: Remain in Light (393 points)

2 Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation (392)

3 Prince: Purple Rain (387)

4 Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back (385)

5 The Pixies: Doolittle (382)

6 Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique (382)

7 The Smiths: The Queen is Dead (381)

8 Joy Division: Closer (378)

9 Michael Jackson: Thriller (371)

10 NWA: Straight Outta Compton (362)

11 De La Soul: 3 Feet High and Rising (361)

12 Pixies: Surfer Rosa (361)

13 REM: Murmur (356)

14 The Cure: Disintegration (353)

15 New Order: Power, Corruption and Lies (353)

16 Tom Waits: Rain Dogs (350)

17 Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden (342)

18 Black Flag: Damaged (339)

19 Prince: Sing o' the Times (338)

20 Kraftwerk: Computer World (338)

21 Eric B and Rakim: Paid in Full (337)

22 The Jesus and Mary Chain: Psychocandy (337)

23 The Replacements: Let it Be (336)

24 Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime (331)

25 Galaxie 500: On Fire (327)

26 U2: The Joshua Tree (327)

27 My Bloody Valentine: Isn't Anything (320)

28 Run D.M.C.: Raising Hell (319)

29 Bruce Springsteen: Nebraska (318)

30 Sonic Youth: Evol (318)

31 Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (315)

32 Dinosaur Jr: You're Living All Over Me (314)

33 The Replacements: Tim (309)

34 The Fall: This Nation's Saving Grace (308)

35 This Heat: Deceit (307)

36 Boogie Down Productions: Criminal Minded (305)

37 Kate Bush: Hounds of Love (304)

38 Husker Du: Zen Arcade (300)


How the scores work: 400 - (rank in 2018 list + rank in 2002 list).
If two albums have the same score: Whatever is higher on the 2018 list wins out.
Why stop at 38? No other albums scored 300 or more points. Plus I was worn out.
What if an album was only on one list? Disqualified, couldn't possibly reach 300 points.
Women/POC: The 2018 list was a lot more representative of women/POC. The 2002 list was so lacking in women particularly (two for the whole list) that combining the two drops Kate Bush back to 37 and leaves the rest out.

Aside from the obvious issue of the 2002 list being clearly made almost exclusively by white guys who love '80s indie rock, the 2002 and 2018 lists both reflect how music at that time had been influenced by the '80s.
2002: Emo was just starting to make big waves and P4k hated it. Thus Disintegration was underrated. Emo bands had obviously not started citing The Smiths yet.
2018: Rap and R'n'B dominate popular and underground music so it makes sense for more '80s albums from those genres to feature highly.
2002: Tom Waits was rated highly in part because bands like Modest Mouse were showing obvious Waits influences and were the biggest buzz bands in indie at the time. Same goes for all the garage and dance-punk bands owing a lot of post-punk. Accordingly, post-punk and Waits dominated the '02 list.
2018: Springsteen has become a more significant influence. From The Hold Steady to Titus Andronicus to The War on Drugs (Tunnel of Love is becoming increasingly revered) it's obvious. Accordingly Bruce now performs well in the poll compared with only one showing for Nebraska in 2002.
In this way, the combined list shows a cross-section of '80s influence in the past 15 years or so. There are a million other takeaways of course, would love to hear from others.