1980 - A Unforgetable Year!

OK, I'm conceding a battle to my brother - but not the war! He claims the music we've always enjoyed is pretty much dead. I, on the other hand, believe the music's out there and that we are going though a revival of sorts, music-wise. He can cite the bands and the albums from back then, and I can counter with more recent stuff.

I will give him this, though, there has never been a year, musically, like 1980. Before or since.

Let's start with January 1, 1980. The #1 record that day? Pink Floyd's The Wall.
OK, it wasn't released in 1980, but the year started with arguably the greatest album ever made at #1. So what was released in 1980? Perhaps you remember these.

AC/DC's Back in Black

Iron Maiden's self-titled debut album.


Def Leppard's debut album, On Through The Night.

Van Halen's Women And Children First (probably my favorite of 1980).

Black Sabbath's Heaven And Hell.


Judas Priest's British Steel.

Motorhead's Ace Of Spades.

Rush's Permanent Waves.


The Ramones' End Of The Century.


The Pretenders' self-titled debut album.


UFO's No Place To RunThe Scorp's Animal Magnetism

Ted Nugent's Scream Dream (c'mon Terminus still rocks even today).


Ozzy's Blizzard of Oz.


Cheap Trick's All Shook Up (I know the rest of you probably hate this one, but I still dig it).


And some of these I may not have listened to, but I know maybe some of the rest of you have, like...Thin Lizzy's Chinatown, The Clash's London Calling, Molly Hatchet's Beating the Odds (aka Molly Fatshit's Beating Off), Springsteen's The River, Saxon's Wheels Of Steel, Genesis' Duke, and Elvis Costello's Get Happy.

No doubt about it - there was never a year like 1980!