Random Woefully Underrated Albums From '80s (12 items)

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  (#1) Roxy Music - 'Avalon' (1982)

  The romantic and inventive Avalon was a genuine mainstream hit for Roxy Music, whose career prior to 1982 was closely linked to the glam rock and art rock movement spearheaded by David Bowie. When the British band emerged with Avalon, they displayed a mature, soundscape-heavy collection of uncharted musical territory.

  One review called the album "a cohesive triumph, new wave's Mona Lisa, a decadent yet intimate soundscape that advanced the art of album production."

  Avalon was critically praised at the time, but is often overlooked for just how ahead of its time it was in terms of production. The album arrived at a time when '80s production was still finding its way, and Avalon set the stage for what synth-pop became later in the decade.
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  (#2) The Seeds of Love

  • Tears for Fears

  Following Tears for Fears' classic, mega-successful Songs From the Big Chair, expectations were high for the British duo's next release. Luckily, 1989's The Seeds of Love was a win - though it doesn't get nearly enough recognition compared to its predecessor and is often overshadowed by songs like "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."

  The title track alone is indication that the album is another classic, but songs like "Swords and Knives" show the band's diverse abilities. Described by one reviewer as "just beauty all around," the album was the last to feature collaborations from Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith for several years.
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  (#3) Lifes Rich Pageant

  • R.E.M.

  R.E.M.'s 1986 album Lifes Rich Pageant was moderately successful and contains a number of songs often overlooked among the best in their catalog. The album also marked a new direction for singer Michael Stipe's vocal delivery, which was much more present and upfront than on previous albums.

  Lifes Rich Pageant paved the way for some of the band's overtly political work in the late '80s and '90s, thanks to songs like "Cuyahoga" and "Fall on Me," and found them going for a more energetic radio rock sound they continued to use up to the early '90s. 

  Bassist Mike Mills said at the time:

  We decided beforehand we wanted the album to rock. We wanted a really hard-driving record, but we also like to throw in a lot of things: pianos and organs and accordions and banjos and whatnot.
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  (#4) Peter Gabriel - 'Peter Gabriel' (1982)

  Peter Gabriel's self-titled fourth solo album was the blueprint for the world-music-influenced work that led to his commercial breakthrough in 1986. This album showed Gabriel's growing interest in African music and experimentation with rhythm.

  Gabriel said at the time:

  I think the rhythm is like the spine of the piece. If you change that, then the body that forms around it is changed as well. So, the style of writing which I was then attracted to put with it was very different from what I would have done with a normal rock rhythm.

  This path later opened wide for Gabriel, David Byrne, Paul Simon, and others.
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  (#5) Bleach

  • Nirvana

  Arguably the most overlooked album in Nirvana's unfortunately small catalog, Bleach was released in 1989 prior to their massive mainstream success. They recorded the entire album in producer Jack Endino's basement for only $600 and it did not sell well, despite being well-received by critics.

  Part of the album's charm is that the production is less slick than their 1991 breakthrough, Nevermind, though songs like "About a Girl" became beloved parts of the band's legacy. Released by Sub Pop Records, the album undeniably showed where a band like Nirvana would go in just a few short years. 
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  (#6) Argybargy

  • Squeeze

  Squeeze are best known for their hit "Tempted," but their 1980 new wave classic Argybargy remains painfully overlooked. The album was arguably ahead of its time in terms of '80s new wave, but it also sounds like nothing that came before or after it.

  Argybargy also featured one of singer Glenn Tilbrook's famous earworm guitar solos on the fan favorite "Another Nail in My Heart."
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  (#7) The Dreaming

  • Kate Bush

  Kate Bush's fourth album was a major undertaking for the singer, and plenty of pressure was on for her to deliver. The Dreaming is arguably the beginning of Bush's most creative and adventurous period of work. While it was her first entirely self-produced album, it was not nearly as successful as her previous album.

  Many reviewers initially saw The Dreaming as Bush's attempt to be "less commercial," pointing to the more experimental production techniques used to complement the songs.

  In hindsight, the album is an underrated collection that displayed the evolution of artistry in full force and set the stage for her groundbreaking 1985 album, Hounds of Love.
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  (#8) If I Should Fall From Grace With God

  • The Pogues

  Though it's hailed as The Pogues' greatest work by those in the know, If I Should Fall From Grace With God is just one album in a catalog that was bafflingly overlooked by mainstream music listeners.

  As arguably their most commercially viable album, Fall From Grace should have put The Pogues on the mainstream map. The album was even produced by superproducer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Morrissey) and is sonically their cleanest and most energetic release. One review said the album found the Irish folk-punk kings sounding "tighter and more precise than ever."

  It's an album that laid the groundwork for bands like the Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly and should have gotten much more attention than it did.
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  (#9) 3 Feet High and Rising

  • De La Soul

  De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising was a completely new direction for hip-hop at the time. In fact, De La Soul themselves were outsiders in the genre, as other rappers were harder-edged and they were more like hippies. 3 Feet was full of bright, poppy, often humorous lyrics and experimental backing tracks that played a major role in the fusing of jazz and hip-hop throughout the early '90s.

  De La Soul member Posdnuos later said of the album:

  It was playful, childlike, and fun. We'd rap about "Mr. Fish swimming in a bathroom sink." We'd dip into psychedelia or jazz. We'd slow down Eddie Murphy's voice and add a car screeching or us yodeling. At no point did we think what we were doing would end up being so revolutionary.
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  (#10) The English Beat - 'Wha'ppen?' (1981)

  The English Beat's '80s hit "Save It for Later" helped grow the group's audience, but they're not given their due for the album that preceded it. Wha'ppen? is a highly energetic, well-produced set of songs that fused ska, new wave, and punk, and cemented the band's legacy as a one-of-a-kind happening at the time.

  "The mature pacing of Wha'ppen? shows that the group is determined to discover a way of growing up without putting on fat," one glowing review stated.
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  (#11) Mystery Road

  • Drivin N Cryin

  Described by one reviewer as "the sound of a band that's blending traditional Southern rock with a bit of folk-rock and country that results in a unique stylistic amalgam that doesn't really sound like anything before it," the country rock classic Mystery Road from Atlanta's Drivin' N' Cryin' cemented their place as one of the most criminally underappreciated bands of the '80s and '90s.

  Fortunately, the band and the album might finally be getting their due: Darius Rucker released a cover version of the Mystery Road staple "Straight to Hell."
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  (#12) Straight Out the Jungle

  • Jungle Brothers

  A criminally underrated part of the Native Tongues collective that featured De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, among others, Jungle Brothers were among the first to fuse hip-hop and jazz. With their 1988 album, Straight Out the Jungle, the group used house music influences as well as jazz as the foundation for their unique brand of hip-hop.

  One writer noted the album was a turning point for the genre even in terms of themes and lyricism, as the band penned "some of the first rap songs with an overtly pro-Black message."

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