The Greatest Debut Albums of the 1980s

Last month, we ranked the 100 greatest debut albums of the 21st century. Now, we’re setting our sights on the rest of modern music. For the remainder of 2023, the Paste music team will be traversing a half-century of history. Each Saturday, we will be ranking the best debut albums from every decade between the 1960s and 1990s—culminating in a full 20th Century list and then, dare I say it, a greatest debut albums of all time ranking that spans from the 1950s until now. Today, we are looking at the greatest debut albums of the 1980s.

Last week, we tackled the 1970s—a list infinitely harder to rank than its predecessor, the 1960s. The music team went back and forth on what to include in our 1980s chapter, and some really great records were, unfortunately, left behind. Given that so many genres found reverence in this decade—from synth-pop to hair metal to post punk to hip-hop—some brilliant projects were always going to be on the outside looking in. But you can’t go wrong with any of the Top 30 that we picked. Don’t miss what happens with the calm before the storm of Y2K next week, when we turn the 1990s into a listicle. Until then, may we present you with our picks for the 40 greatest debut albums of the 1980s—featuring Ozzy Osbourne, Pet Shop Boys, Bad Brains, Madonna, Tracy Chapman and many more. —Matt Mitchell, Paste Music Editor


On the Outside Looking In: Public Enemy, Yo! Bum Rush the Show; Talk Talk, The Party’s Over; Soft Cell, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret; Echo and the Bunnymen, Crocodiles; Motley Crüe, Too Fast For Love; Tears For Fears, The Hurting; Heaven 17, Penthouse and Pavement

40. Ozzy Osbourne: Blizzard of Oz (1980)

39. U2: Boy (1980)

38. a-ha: Hunting High and Low (1985)

37. Sugarhill Gang: Sugarhill Gang (1980)

36. The Replacements: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981)

35. New Order: Movement (1981)

34. Yazoo: Upstairs at Eric’s (1982)

Best Synth Pop AlbumsYou might know them as simply Yaz, but English duo Yazoo made some of the most primitive electronic music in the early-1980s. Formed by Depeche Mode and Erasure co-founder Vince Clarke and vocalist Alison Moyet, Yazoo—despite only making two albums together—became one of the most important and formative synth-pop bands in the sub-genre’s history. Their debut record, Upstairs at Eric’s, is a brilliant, 11-track collection of accessible, proto-techno gems. Songs like “Don’t Go” and “Only You” are, maybe, the most clear-eyed formulations of experimental pop. Equally as accessible as they are eclectic, Yazoo formed an enigmatic and unparalleled chemistry—and it’s a shame we didn’t get more from them, though Clarke continues to tour with Erasure and Moyet has her own active solo career. Upstairs at Eric’s is a truly sharp, genius effort made at Blackwing, the same studio space where Clarke had made Depeche Mode’s debut album Speak & Spell the year prior. —MM

33. Metallica: Kill ‘Em All (1983)

best albums of 1983 - kill 'em all

32. Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine (1989)

31. Cyndi Lauper: She’s So Unusual (1983)

30. my bloody valentine: Isn’t Anything (1988)

29. David Sylvian: Brilliant Trees (1984)

28. Depeche Mode: Speak & Spell (1981)

27. Nirvana: Bleach (1989)

26. The Feelies: Crazy Rhythms (1980)

25. ABC: The Lexicon of Love (1982)

Best Synth Pop AlbumsThe debut album from English sextet ABC is a project that sees the potential of synth-pop transcend to heights that obliterate the sub-genre altogether. Lead vocalist Martin Fry employs a cabaret singer-like bravado, as he transports listeners in and out of every song like a grand curator of divine grooviness. At many points a prime example of sophisti-pop, The Lexicon of Love takes rich synthesizers and applies them to a full ecosystem of swooning, unforgettable soundscapes. Tap into the album and you’ll be awestruck by how brilliantly it touches every fabric of the DNA that flooded the pop charts at the time. A song like “The Look of Love, Pt. 1” is dazzling and hypnotic. ABC spent all of their magic on the first go, and the result is a masterpiece. —MM

24. Pylon: Gyrate (1980)

23. Pet Shop Boys: Please (1986)

22. Dexy’s Midnight Runners: Searching For the Young Soul Rebels (1980)

21. Run-D.M.C.: Run-D.M.C. (1984)

20. Pixies: Surfer Rosa (1988)

19. Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes (1983)

18. Daniel Johnston: Songs of Pain (1981)

17. The Go-Go’s: Beauty and the Beat (1981)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

16. The Beastie Boys: License to Ill (1986)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

15. X: Los Angeles (1980)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

14. Whitney Houston: Whitney Houston (1985)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

13. George Michael: Faith (1987)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

12. Bad Brains: Bad Brains (1982)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

11. Eric B. & Rakim: Paid In Full (1987)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

10. N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton (1988)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

9. Tracy Chapman: Tracy Chapman (1988)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

The record was a beautiful rendition of folk music that splintered a mainstream that was buoyed by synth-pop and hair metal. Chapman’s presence was a balm, as was her music. She was called a protest singer at Tufts University, and she made a record firmly placing her in the company of the most compassionate and revered songwriters of all time—not just of her era. “Baby Can I Hold You” and “Across the Lines” were great fulcrums of pop and roots, while “Fast Car” is a song that knows nothing about the boundaries of generational lines—it’s a song that will outlive us all, with an instantly recognizable melody and the greatest opening lyric on this list: “You got a fast car, I want a ticket to anywhere. Maybe we make a deal, maybe together we can get somewhere. Any place is better.” —MM

8. The Stone Roses: The Stone Roses (1989)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

7. The Jesus and Mary Chain: Psychocandy (1985)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

6. Guns N’ Roses: Appetite for Destruction (1987)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

5. Sade: Diamond Life (1984)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

4. De La Soul: 3 Feet High & Rising (1989)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

3. The Smiths: The Smiths (1984)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

There is something I always find funny when bands write lyrics that are so torturous but, then, pair them with the most danceable rhythm. Like on “Pretty Girls Make Graves,” with the chorus being “I’m not the man you think I am / And sorrow’s native son / He will not smile for anyone,” played over Marr’s groovy riffs. “Miserable Lie” proved that this was a band, not just a singer with background musicians. With the beginning of the track keeping the soft rhythm of the aesthetics of many The Smiths songs, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce burst through with a high-tempo rhythm that is uncharacteristically punk. “This Charming Man” (which was only available on the cassette printing of the record in the UK) is about young Morrissey grappling with his sexuality in overt sexual encounters: “Will nature make a man of me yet? / When in this charming car / This charming man,” he sings about the act of cruising, which was a common yet unspoken activity during the time. That’s the thing I love about The Smiths—the unapologetic expressions of sexuality and asexuality that even endure now with lines like “Does the body rule the mind, or does the mind rule the body? I don’t know.” —OA

2. Madonna: Madonna (1983)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

1. R.E.M.: Murmur (1983)

Greatest Debut Albums 1980s

Michael Stipe put his stamp on this already singular sound, crooning mumbled, enigmatic phrases like, “They called the clip a two-headed cow / Your hate clipped and distant, your luck, pilgrimage,” and it sounded like the most important sentiment uttered on record since Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde. Even the album’s now-iconic cover art, a railroad trestle covered in leafy green kudzu, seemed exotically Southern, though it looked to locals like every other railroad trestle or abandoned shack or shrubbed hillside drowning in the imported Japanese weed. There was nothing mystical about the four musicians who meshed together on Murmur, but their sound emerged so fully formed that it’s still arguably their best. And those albums that might contest the honor—Reckoning and Lifes Rich Pageant—rely so heavily on the Murmur template as to make the argument moot. —JJ

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