25 of the best 1980s albums to test your speakers
The 1980s is a decade remembered for perms and shoulder pads, Walkmans and Rubik’s Cubes. Perhaps not, on the surface, our finest period – but look at some of the records released and it’s not difficult to see the cultural significance of that ten years.
From a golden era for hip-hop to records that would shape alternative rock for the next 30 years, these albums are as pivotal as they are prodigious. And what’s more, they will provide a smashing test for your speakers. So turn your amp up to 11 and let them spin.
90
808 State (1989)
It feels crass to pigeonhole any genre with one definitive album, but 90 is surely it for acid house. Certainly it is an album to which British electronic music owes a huge debt, helping pave the way for many artists to reinterpret US house and techno. It is equal parts atmospheric and aggressive, blending beats and infectious melodies at tempos that refuse to allow you
