My vote would be 1982 first, 1981 second, and 1980 third. 1982 had a double album by Prince (1999), the Time (What Time is It?) and Vanity 6 debut album.

[Edited 5/17/18 14:30pm]

1981

Slave - "Showtime"

Earth Wind & Fire - "Raise"

The Police - "Ghost In THe Machine"

Rick James - "Street Songs"

Motley Crue - "Too Fast For Love"

Prince - "Controversy"

Chaka Khan - "Whatcha Gonna Do For Me"

Cameo - "Knights Of The sound Table"

Chic - "Take It Off"

1981

I tried to think reasonably about which year stood out for me, but I just couldn't. Seemed like it was a wonderful three years in music. Bands and genres were transitioning from the brilliant eclecticism and progression of the 70s boom into slicker, more subversive subcultures where one could really define an identity, new wave, post-punk, heavy metal, electro-funk, synthpop, goth rock, ebm, industrial, neo-psychadelica, ethereal wave, dream pop...fortunate is the manwomanchild who lived through those moments, like tears in the rain.

Don't forget The Police, with Zenyatta Mondatta in 1980 and (as RJOrion said earler) Ghost In The Machine in 1981. Big albums.

I take 1982 simply because '80 and '81 didn't have the one-two punch of 1999 and Thriller. Plus you had


Lexicon of Love - ABC
Kissing To Be Clever _ Culture Club
The Nightfly - Donald Fagen
Forever, For Always, For Love - Luther Vandross

And so many others across the spectrum from soul to pop to alt to new wave to metal that made an impact.

[Edited 5/18/18 11:04am]

To me 1982 was a pivotal year musically, not just in the States/UK, but in my home as well.

Many of the albums I love are already mention:

Kid Creole & The Coconuts - Tropical Gangsters

Don Blackman - self titled

Aretha Franklin - Jump To It

Gwen Guthrie - self titled

Zapp & Roger - Zapp II

000000 said:

My vote would be 1982 first, 1981 second, and 1980 third. 1982 had a double album by Prince (1999), the Time (What Time is It?) and Vanity 6 debut album.

[Edited 5/17/18 14:30pm]

I second that! All great years, love my 80's!

1982 also had "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash, "Planet Rock" Afrika Bambaataa, Duran Duran "Rio" CD, groundbreaking stuff ... I could go on & on... 1982 hands down

Summer of 1981 was ON FIRE in terms of music. I wish I could re-live it over and over again.

The Clash - Magnificent Dance

Evelyn King - I'm In Love

Change - Paradise

Teena Marie - Square Biz

Luther Vandross - Never Too Much

Gap Band -Yearning for Your Love

Kim Carnes - Betty Davis Eyes

Denroy Morgan - I'll do Anything for You

Grace Jones - Pull up to the Bumper

Kraftwerk - Numbers

Empress -Dying to be Dancing

Rick James - Give it to Me Baby

Billy Ocean - Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)

Bohannon - Let's Start to Dance

etc,. etc,,,,,,

[Edited 5/21/18 7:26am]

I'd have to vote for 1982.

Let's see. Albums that matter to me (to some degree) in each year:

1980

U2 -- Boy

Lennon -- Double Fantasy

Prince -- Dirty Mind

Bob Marley -- Uprising

Police -- Zenyatta Mondatta

Stevie -- Hotter Than July

1981

Police -- Ghost in the Machine

U2 -- October

1982

Springsteen -- Nebraska

Prince -- 1999

Yazoo -- Upstairs at Eric's

There are really not a lot of full LPs I would listen to from these years. The Clash's masterpiece (London Calling) also gets part-credit for 1980 (released in US), so there's that one, too.

I dunno, I guess 1980 wins it, even though the Lennon and Stevie Wonder albums are not really their best.

The US and UK music scenes were really remarkably far apart in these years.

ThePanther said:

MotownSubdivision said:

ThePanther said:

The US and UK music scenes were really remarkably far apart in these years.

In what sense?

I am also curious; I may agree depending on what the answer is.

MotownSubdivision said:

In what sense?

Hm. Well, they were already far apart starting with the punk-thing c.1976 while the US was more infatuated with air-guitar stadium fillers and then disco. But as regards the very-early 1980s, there was the whole synthesizer thing in the UK, which never hit the US except as the odd novelty hit. Then there was the 'new romantic' thing in the UK, which didn't exist Stateside (again, except as the odd novelty hit). There was also a less-discussed but very substantial sort-of "political new wave" thing going on in the British Isles then, which never gained the slightest traction in the US.

One of the effects of early MTV was to thrust British pop-stars into American homes, creating the brief "2nd British Invasion" of c.1983 to 1985. I swear there were more British pop-hits on the US charts in those two-and-a-half-years than in the subsequent twenty. By the late 80s, the two scenes had moved far, far apart again.

1980.........I would add Never For Ever by Kate Bush to that list, because its quite simply sublime

ThePanther said:

I really like the sparse sound a lot of groups had in 1980, things that would get bigger as the 80's went on, think Prince or Kid Creole in 1980 vs. 1982. It's not that they are better in 1980 than in 1982 but I find that rawness appealing. Grace Jones doing Warm Leatherette vs. My Jamaican Guy, it's not that one is better than the other, I just feel in 1980 a lot of bands were stripping back their sound before spending the next few years building it up again.

ThePanther said:

Goddess4Real said:

ThePanther said:

Hm. Well, they were already far apart starting with the punk-thing c.1976 while the US was more infatuated with air-guitar stadium fillers and then disco. But as regards the very-early 1980s, there was the whole synthesizer thing in the UK, which never hit the US except as the odd novelty hit. Then there was the 'new romantic' thing in the UK, which didn't exist Stateside (again, except as the odd novelty hit). There was also a less-discussed but very substantial sort-of "political new wave" thing going on in the British Isles then, which never gained the slightest traction in the US.

Also in the US, during the late 1970s & early 1980s, there was some country crossover (Kenny Rogers, Eddie Rabbitt, Barbara Mandrell, Crystal Gayle, Glen Campbell, Oak Ridge Boys, Convoy, Devil Goes Down To Georgia, etc) and the big success of the movie Urban Cowboy which popularized mechanical bull riding for a little while. There was the popularity of light rock/West Coast (Ambrosia, Christopher Cross, Air Supply, Toto, Kenny Loggins) and adult contemporary (Feelings, You Light Up My Life, Music Box Dancer, The Carpenters, Olivia Newton John, John Denver). In the more recent era West Coast has been given the joke title "yacht rock". When MTV really hit around 1983 or 1984, it caused the country & some of the light rock groups to begin to lose popularity with the mainstream and started synth acts and glam metal bands (Def Leppard, Quiet Riot) to get Top 40 airplay. In the 70s/early 80s, several music acts had variety shows on TV (Captain & Tennille, Donny & Marie, The Jacksons, Melba Moore, Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell & The Mandrell Sisters, Sonny & Cher, etc.) or music specials.

ThePanther said:

MotownSubdivision said:

In what sense?

Hm. Well, they were already far apart starting with the punk-thing c.1976 while the US was more infatuated with air-guitar stadium fillers and then disco. But as regards the very-early 1980s, there was the whole synthesizer thing in the UK, which never hit the US except as the odd novelty hit. Then there was the 'new romantic' thing in the UK, which didn't exist Stateside (again, except as the odd novelty hit). There was also a less-discussed but very substantial sort-of "political new wave" thing going on in the British Isles then, which never gained the slightest traction in the US.

One of the effects of early MTV was to thrust British pop-stars into American homes, creating the brief "2nd British Invasion" of c.1983 to 1985. I swear there were more British pop-hits on the US charts in those two-and-a-half-years than in the subsequent twenty. By the late 80s, the two scenes had moved far, far apart again.

That's persuasive.

MotownSubdivision said:

All right, thanks for the informative analysis. One minor thing is that I'd say the Second British Invasion truly began in 1982 rather than '83 and symptoms of the incoming siege dated back to 1981, particularly with the launch of MTV.

I'm not sure MTV was really that much of an influence in 1981. I don't think most people even had cable TV at all in 1981, and from what I understand MTV wasn't available nationwide yet for people who did have cable. Small towns & rural areas didn't have cable service. I have relatives that lived in the country and in the mid 1980s they had to get a big satellite dish in the yard if they wanted cable channels.

NorthC said:

Kate Bush... Yeah, another example of someone who was more popular in Europe than in America.

Other than the duet video with Peter Gabriel that was shown on MTV, I've never heard her played anywhere. If I did, didn't know who it was. Don't Give Up wasn't played on the local radio stations, but I have Peter's album. To this day I've never heard her songs, but I've heard Big Boi from OutKast mention her.

MickyDolenz said:

NorthC said:

Kate Bush... Yeah, another example of someone who was more popular in Europe than in America.

Other than the duet video with Peter Gabriel that was shown on MTV, I've never heard her played anywhere. If I did, didn't know who it was. Don't Give Up wasn't played on the local radio stations, but I have Peter's album. To this day I've never heard her songs, but I've heard Big Boi from OutKast mention her.

Kate Bush's song "Running Up That Hill" was a minor hit in the US, and I remember hearing it on the radio. But yeah, she's not exactly a household name here.

MickyDolenz said: