Top 99 Music Albums of 1981 by 
Repo 
EPs
===================
1. Tall Dwarves - Three Songs
Movies (1981)
================
1. Dragonslayer
- Chart updated: 03/16/2024 06:15
- (Created: 02/01/2018 17:38).
- Chart size: 99 albums.
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'81:2 He’s Leaving. He waited for so long.
Every day a new start, and she prefers the sudden truth
We'll never learn to guide our heart, we'll never find what we deserve
She's leaving, she waited for so long
She pretends that he cares, invents some tale just to get his heart
With no more dreams she didn't have
She washed her hands of this whole affair
She's leaving, she waited for so long
But as she left, she gave her all, abandoned hope, she took for home - She's Leaving
The Cure. New Order. Depeche Mode. We can all agree they’re the big three of 80s DARK synth pop. Crushing songs. Deep songs. Songs that made us feel understood in the crazy storm called junior high. Songs that could get us through. As an awkward 80s kid, I was a massive fan of all three. But, for some reason (I'm blaming Pretty In Pink!), OMD were relegated to a "best of" in my growing vinyl collection. An LP that I would break out merely for 80s dance parties. I (& most my friends back then) considered them lightweight. Fluff.
So what a surprise when I started revisiting the early 80s due to Mercury’s request to make an 80s chart to find this stunning, deeply touching album. As my Genni would say, “It’s deep, Dad". Deep indeed, I reply in return. My Genni loves things that are deep. And dark. A turn in events from just a few years ago. Things change I guess. I remember hanging out with her in the lobbies of movie theaters to let the scary scenes pass. Watching her jump & twist on the lobbies makeshift attempts at comfortable seating. So happy that we were just there together. Waiting out the scary parts. Waiting for the storm to pass. Waiting for our Tilly, the daredevil oldest, to burst out the exit doors like a tempest gabbing a mile a minute to catch us up on all we had missed.
We had missed nothing though. Because we had each other.
To weathering the storm. And finding those who are willing to wait with us through it. No matter how uncomfortable the seating.
Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 03/26/2020]
Every day a new start, and she prefers the sudden truth
We'll never learn to guide our heart, we'll never find what we deserve
She's leaving, she waited for so long
She pretends that he cares, invents some tale just to get his heart
With no more dreams she didn't have
She washed her hands of this whole affair
She's leaving, she waited for so long
But as she left, she gave her all, abandoned hope, she took for home - She's Leaving
The Cure. New Order. Depeche Mode. We can all agree they’re the big three of 80s DARK synth pop. Crushing songs. Deep songs. Songs that made us feel understood in the crazy storm called junior high. Songs that could get us through. As an awkward 80s kid, I was a massive fan of all three. But, for some reason (I'm blaming Pretty In Pink!), OMD were relegated to a "best of" in my growing vinyl collection. An LP that I would break out merely for 80s dance parties. I (& most my friends back then) considered them lightweight. Fluff.
So what a surprise when I started revisiting the early 80s due to Mercury’s request to make an 80s chart to find this stunning, deeply touching album. As my Genni would say, “It’s deep, Dad". Deep indeed, I reply in return. My Genni loves things that are deep. And dark. A turn in events from just a few years ago. Things change I guess. I remember hanging out with her in the lobbies of movie theaters to let the scary scenes pass. Watching her jump & twist on the lobbies makeshift attempts at comfortable seating. So happy that we were just there together. Waiting out the scary parts. Waiting for the storm to pass. Waiting for our Tilly, the daredevil oldest, to burst out the exit doors like a tempest gabbing a mile a minute to catch us up on all we had missed.
We had missed nothing though. Because we had each other.
To weathering the storm. And finding those who are willing to wait with us through it. No matter how uncomfortable the seating.
Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 03/26/2020]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,117
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
16
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Art Rock
HOF [First added to this chart: 10/20/2021]
HOF [First added to this chart: 10/20/2021]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
837
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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'81:3G Raph Paper
I need organization. Without it my life falls into chaos. a messy abode. BUT, give me a model. A template. Give me some rules. Give me a fricken’ map. And I. am. set.
Human League’s Dare knows & respects my boundaries. My limitations. It’s an English Synth Pop band understanding my need for a GPS system installed right into my friken steering wheel. Right there where I can see it without taking my eyes off the road. Telling me to go East. Right now! But politely, mind you. Um.... It's an exit one too early. No matter. that's EVEN better honestly. As I get to explore a few shops. Grab a tea or coffee. And get back on the road. "And turn off the lights." [First added to this chart: 01/17/2022]
I need organization. Without it my life falls into chaos. a messy abode. BUT, give me a model. A template. Give me some rules. Give me a fricken’ map. And I. am. set.
Human League’s Dare knows & respects my boundaries. My limitations. It’s an English Synth Pop band understanding my need for a GPS system installed right into my friken steering wheel. Right there where I can see it without taking my eyes off the road. Telling me to go East. Right now! But politely, mind you. Um.... It's an exit one too early. No matter. that's EVEN better honestly. As I get to explore a few shops. Grab a tea or coffee. And get back on the road. "And turn off the lights." [First added to this chart: 01/17/2022]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,203
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Punk 1/Hardcore
HOF [First added to this chart: 07/06/2019]
HOF [First added to this chart: 07/06/2019]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,072
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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'81:5 The Bathroom
Aka Rectangles Don’t Roll
Fire Of Love by The Gun Club
As a matter of fact, when we cut the tracks they sucked. was stiff. I thought, “Oh my God… disaster.” I went out and bought him a big bottle of champagne, that’s all I could afford. I said, “Drink all that and then we’ll cut it, ‘cause I’m not touching the record button until you’re drunk.” Recollected by Tito Larriva [vocalist & guitarist for The Plugz]
The Setting: It smells. Puddles of piss every which way. The toilet bowl doesn’t even have a lid. You pretty much have to squat just to take a shit. And then, to add insult to injury, good luck wiping it up. Because the toilet paper dispenser is almost always impossible to turn. Yielding nothing but one useless dainty sheet at a time. Just a matter of physics really, as the TP is wedged onto a rectangular wooden block that's been nailed into the wall. So it's NOT on an actual rotating cylinder. Just a rectangle cube nailed into the wall. And rectangles don’t roll!
BUT, us misfits of Reagan’s America wouldn’t have had it any other way. Trust me - those bathrooms kept the Biffs & Heathers FAR away. So for us, it became home. It was a place where people got our jokes. Our sensibilities. Our values. And, not unimportantly, it was a place where you could get $1 dollar PBRs and hear a decent song playing on the jukebox after a long ass day at work.
You see, Jeffrey Lee Pierce – chief resident genius of The Gun Club - didn’t come from the swamps. No. Jeffrey was born from the American Underground and its swamp-ass bathrooms. THIS was a place where even he and his suicidal, self-destructive tendencies could flourish. At least for a day.
The Listen: It sounds like it's all about to come undone. Jeffrey staggers, one hand on the mic and one with a death grip on his Boone's and careens & stumbles into drum kit. The drummer's not fazed though. Never even misses a beat. He and the rest of the band have seen, nay endured, this all before. That’s just Jeffery, they collectively shrug. Unfettered. Unchained. And off his rails. You see this is an album of Jeffrey trying to escape. And not realizing that the person he needed to escape from was himself. It's an album of someone who needed music as much as the music needed him. This is the sound of someone killing himself – with alcohol, with drugs – in order to just feel alright. Jeffrey was so repressed, it took a bottle of cheap-ass, piss-poor champagne just to free himself from himself. We all, more or less, have an imprisoned Jeffrey lurking in our brains. Holding us back. Killing us.
Let YOUR Jeffrey free today!
The Verdict: One of the most important albums of the entire American Underground. Right up there with anything by Husker Du, The Minutemen, or even the almighty Black Flag. It is album about escape. And music as the source of that escape. And THAT is what the American Underground was always all about. And until Kurdt broke the code , it was a great place to be. Shitty, broke-ass, cum-shotted bathrooms and all.
The Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 11/19/2019]
Aka Rectangles Don’t Roll
Fire Of Love by The Gun Club
As a matter of fact, when we cut the tracks they sucked. was stiff. I thought, “Oh my God… disaster.” I went out and bought him a big bottle of champagne, that’s all I could afford. I said, “Drink all that and then we’ll cut it, ‘cause I’m not touching the record button until you’re drunk.” Recollected by Tito Larriva [vocalist & guitarist for The Plugz]
The Setting: It smells. Puddles of piss every which way. The toilet bowl doesn’t even have a lid. You pretty much have to squat just to take a shit. And then, to add insult to injury, good luck wiping it up. Because the toilet paper dispenser is almost always impossible to turn. Yielding nothing but one useless dainty sheet at a time. Just a matter of physics really, as the TP is wedged onto a rectangular wooden block that's been nailed into the wall. So it's NOT on an actual rotating cylinder. Just a rectangle cube nailed into the wall. And rectangles don’t roll!
BUT, us misfits of Reagan’s America wouldn’t have had it any other way. Trust me - those bathrooms kept the Biffs & Heathers FAR away. So for us, it became home. It was a place where people got our jokes. Our sensibilities. Our values. And, not unimportantly, it was a place where you could get $1 dollar PBRs and hear a decent song playing on the jukebox after a long ass day at work.
You see, Jeffrey Lee Pierce – chief resident genius of The Gun Club - didn’t come from the swamps. No. Jeffrey was born from the American Underground and its swamp-ass bathrooms. THIS was a place where even he and his suicidal, self-destructive tendencies could flourish. At least for a day.
The Listen: It sounds like it's all about to come undone. Jeffrey staggers, one hand on the mic and one with a death grip on his Boone's and careens & stumbles into drum kit. The drummer's not fazed though. Never even misses a beat. He and the rest of the band have seen, nay endured, this all before. That’s just Jeffery, they collectively shrug. Unfettered. Unchained. And off his rails. You see this is an album of Jeffrey trying to escape. And not realizing that the person he needed to escape from was himself. It's an album of someone who needed music as much as the music needed him. This is the sound of someone killing himself – with alcohol, with drugs – in order to just feel alright. Jeffrey was so repressed, it took a bottle of cheap-ass, piss-poor champagne just to free himself from himself. We all, more or less, have an imprisoned Jeffrey lurking in our brains. Holding us back. Killing us.
Let YOUR Jeffrey free today!
The Verdict: One of the most important albums of the entire American Underground. Right up there with anything by Husker Du, The Minutemen, or even the almighty Black Flag. It is album about escape. And music as the source of that escape. And THAT is what the American Underground was always all about. And until Kurdt broke the code , it was a great place to be. Shitty, broke-ass, cum-shotted bathrooms and all.
The Rating: Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil Twisted Evil [First added to this chart: 11/19/2019]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,883
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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[First added to this chart: 09/28/2021]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,233
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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[First added to this chart: 10/15/2021]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,229
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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The platonic ideal of Hard Rock, NWOBHM and AOR. Arguably the best hair metal album of all time. Inarguably one of the best party albums of the early 80s. And Def Leppard's best!
[First added to this chart: 11/19/2019]
Year of Release:
1981
Appears in:
Rank Score:
608
Rank in 1981:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Ambient
[First added to this chart: 12/17/2023]
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Dead
Essential
Live '80 (Acoustic set.) [First added to this chart: 07/03/2018]
Essential
Live '80 (Acoustic set.) [First added to this chart: 07/03/2018]
Total albums: 99. Page 1 of 10
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Top 99 Music Albums of 1981 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| Elvis Costello And The Attractions | 2 | 2% | |
| Scientist | 2 | 2% | |
| Journey | 2 | 2% | |
| Willie Nelson | 2 | 2% | |
| Thin Lizzy | 1 | 1% | |
| The Human League | 1 | 1% | |
| U2 | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
43 | 43% | |
| |
40 | 40% | |
 |
5 | 5% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 99 Music Albums of 1981 chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
 Up 1 from 100th to 99thFourth Drawer Down by The Associates |
| Up 1 from 99th to 98th Playing With A Different Sex by Au Pairs |
| Up 1 from 98th to 97th Paradise Theater by Styx |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 1 from 18th to 19th Twangin'... by Dave Edmunds |
| Down 1 from 19th to 20th Eddie, Old Bob, Dick And Gary by Tenpole Tudor |
| Down 1 from 20th to 21st Punk's Not Dead by Exploited |
| New entries |
|---|
 The South Coast Of Texasby Guy Clark |
| Leavers |
|---|
 Hit And Runby Girlschool |
| Earthshaker by Y&T |
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Other year charts (from the 1980s) by Repo
Top 100 Music Albums of 1989 by Repo (2024)Top 69 Music Albums of 1988 by
Repo (2024)Top 100 Music Albums of 1987 by
Repo (2023)Top 89 Music Albums of 1986 by
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Repo (2024)Top 67 Music Albums of 1984 by
Repo (2024)Top 95 Music Albums of 1983 by
Repo (2024)Top 88 Music Albums of 1982 by
Repo (2024)Top 100 Music Albums of 1980 by
Repo (2023)Top 99 Music Albums of 1981 ratings
87/100 (from 1 vote)
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| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 100/100  | 03/13/2020 13:55 | DJENNY | | 100/100 |
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We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.