The albums that defined
the 1980s.

The 1980s are when the studio takes over. Drum machines, synths, MIDI, digital reverb — the toolkit changes overnight, and the sound of pop changes with it. Some artists bend the new tools to their will (Prince, Kate Bush, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel) and some are bent by them (most '80s rock that hasn't aged). The decade's reputation as a glossy wasteland is unfair: underneath the synths, hip-hop is being invented, indie is being invented, electronic dance music is being invented, and post-punk is making some of the most adventurous records ever cut.

Hair metal sells stadiums; meanwhile R.E.M. plays college towns and accidentally drafts the indie blueprint. New York pumps out the first decade of hip-hop classics — Run-DMC, Public Enemy, Eric B. & Rakim — while Detroit and Chicago are wiring up techno and house. Pop got bigger (Thriller, Like a Virgin, Born in the U.S.A.) and weirder at the same time.

Where to start: Purple Rain for pop's most maximalist auteur statement, Remain in Light for the rhythmic grid that influenced everything after, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back for hip-hop's first masterpiece, Murmur for the band that taught a generation how to be cryptic, Hounds of Love for the sound of Kate Bush rewriting what producers were allowed to do. The '80s reward listeners who can hear past the production gloss.