Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s by 
Romanelli 
- Chart updated: 5 days ago
- (Created: 12/04/2011 20:38).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 15 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s has an average rating of 84 out of 100 (from 29 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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This chart is currently filtered to only show albums from Steve Earle. (Remove this filter)
- #Sponsored
Produced By EMORY GORDY JR & TONY BROWN
1. Guitar Town
2. Goodbye's All We've Got Left
3. Hillbilly Highway
4. Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' Tough)
5. My Old Friend The Blues
6. Someday
7. Think It Over
8. Fearless Heart
9. Little Rock 'N' Roller
10. Down The Road
From the opening track of his debut album on, it was clear that Steve Earle was not going to be your typical country artist. And he's been proving that ever since. Earle has more twang than the most Southern of rock bands, and enough rock and roll to make his contemporaries in the country community cringe. Earle's songs are about real life, and his songs cut deep.
"My Old Friend The Blues" "Think It Over", "Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' tough)" and the title track are what made, and have always made him since, simply great. Guitar Town is a fine debut album, and a good starting point for a career that only got better and better. [First added to this chart: 12/06/2011]
10
- #Sponsored
Produced By STEVE EARLE & TONY BROWN
1. Copperhead Road
2. Snake Oil
3. Back To The Wall
4. The Devil's Right Hand
5. Johnny Come Lately
6. Even When I'm Blue
7. You Belong To Me
8. Waiting On You
9. Once You Love
10. Nothing But A Child
Country, meet rock. Only not in some paying homage to the Eagles way, but meet what you would sound like if you really rocked. The title track from Copperhead Road is everything that a perfect mix of country and rock could dream of. It's heavy, reckless, redneck, and a great story all rolled into one. The rest of the album isn't too bad, either. Earle was not yet seeing his career be destroyed by his heroin use, but you could hear it in his voice on this album. Which gives him a rough, sandpaper sound that suits the material well.
"The Devil's Right Hand", "Johnny Come Lately", "Snake Oil"...all highlights. This was Earle's first truly great album, and there would be more to come...after he cleaned himself up. But this is more than worthwhile if only for the power of the title track. Turn it up, boy! Feel the power of Steve Earle! [First added to this chart: 12/12/2011]
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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| 1980 | 14 | 14% | |
| 1981 | 7 | 7% | |
| 1982 | 11 | 11% | |
| 1983 | 7 | 7% | |
| 1984 | 8 | 8% | |
| 1985 | 5 | 5% | |
| 1986 | 10 | 10% | |
| 1987 | 11 | 11% | |
| 1988 | 13 | 13% | |
| 1989 | 14 | 14% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
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| U2 | 3 | 3% | |
| R.E.M. | 3 | 3% | |
| Bruce Springsteen | 3 | 3% | |
| X (US) | 3 | 3% | |
| The Jesus And Mary Chain | 2 | 2% | |
| Hüsker Dü | 2 | 2% | |
| Warren Zevon | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s chart changes
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 22nd to 23rd Violent Femmes by Violent Femmes |
| Down 1 from 23rd to 24th So by Peter Gabriel |
| Down 1 from 24th to 25th Guitar Town by Steve Earle |
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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s ratings
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Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 29 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 80/100  | 02/06/2025 15:30 | BorderFreeAndrew | | 80/100 |
| 85/100 | 01/31/2025 14:12 | SomethingSpecial | | 85/100 |
| 70/100 | 01/23/2022 16:11 |  IlMala | | 95/100 |
| 80/100 | 10/22/2020 01:13 | leniad | | 85/100 |
| 85/100 | 09/05/2020 14:13 | MasterOfPuppets | | 91/100 |
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Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
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This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 83.9/100, a mean average of 81.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 83.2/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 13.4.
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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s comments
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Nice to see Adam Ant's "Friend or Foe" so high (a seriously underrated album), along with several other forgotten classics that tend to be ignored when most people make an 80's chart.
Respect
some solid picks m8.
Liedzeit 11/24/2018 10:49
It is nice to see an 80s chart as chart of the day for a change. And what a pathetic decade it was if even someone like you who obviously knows a lot of stuff cannot come up with better records than these. TW are okay but as no. 1? The first decent LP enters at place 23, in my opinion.
ForegroundNoise 11/24/2018 09:24
Really like your notes!!
buzzdainer 07/16/2016 15:13
I love your take on the eighties! I really appreciate your #1 pick, as supergroups tend to be written off as inferior to the works of their individual members--an assumption that the Traveling Wilburys blew out of the water. Full Moon Fever, Disintegration, Doolittle, and The River are all great albums, too. Also really nice to see Blue Earth in your top ten, as I've been a huge fan of the Jayhawks for many years and love that album. Excellent work overall, especially on your notes!
Great albums I guess some I wouldn't play so much. We have quite a few similar choices
tgarritsen 01/13/2014 15:59
Interesting number one pick.
Nice chart!
Good choice at #1.
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