Fox Reviews Rock

What Rock Album Defines The 80s?

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Bon Jovi… That is all.

No in all seriousness for me the album that defines the 80s is Slippery When Wet.

Bon Jovi – You Give Love A Bad Name (All Rights Are Retained By Bon Jovi)

Obviously you have the excellent songs in “Livin’ On A Prayer, You Give Love A Bad Name & Wanted Dead Or Alive”. But in general the entire album has a real catchy edge to it. Also lets face it your mum loves this album too!

Bon Jovi – Wanted Dead Or Alive (All Rights Are Retained By Bon Jovi)

What Bon Jovi managed to do with this album was to bridge the gap between rock and pop in spectacular fashion. You can pretty much ask anyone world over and ask them if they know Livin’ On A Prayer and I reckon minimum of 60% of people would know the song. Incredible.

Bon Jovi – Livin’ On A Prayer (All Rights Are Retained By Bon Jovi)

Think there is a better album from the 80s? Let me know in the comments!

All rights to the songs in this post are retained by Bon Jovi. This site claims no rights.

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48 responses to “What Rock Album Defines The 80s?”

  1. RasmaSandra avatar
    RasmaSandra

    My favorite Bruce Springsteen Born in the USA

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Nice choice! What about it makes it so great ? 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. RasmaSandra avatar
        RasmaSandra

        I love most of the songs on this album

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
        1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
          Fox Reviews Rock

          Always a solid thing to have 🙂

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
  2. missparker0106 avatar
    missparker0106

    Short-lived (one album), criminally underrated, and comprised of established/successful musician from across the spectrum, Armoury Show: Richard Jobson (The Skids), John McGeoch (Magazine, Siouxsie & The Banshees), Russell Webb (The Skids, Public Image LTD), and John Doyle (The Skids, Magazine).

    If you can find/listen to their sole album “Waiting for the Floods,” you’ll see what I mean.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Armoury_Show

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      I shall make it my goal to find this full album ! 🙂 Thanks for the tip 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  3. michael raven avatar
    michael raven

    More of a personal “defined the 80s” was probably 1979s “Unknown Pleasures” by Joy Division. It always seems to go back to that for me, although I didn’t personally own a copy until 1983 or so. I bought it based on whim and a bit of a dare — no one I knew had a copy and a couple of friends had heard that it was maybe edgier than I might be allowed to listen to (this is around the Satanic Panic period). It was nothing quite so fearsome, of course, but young teens in my peer group thought otherwise until I assured them otherwise. When I think about other albums that marked my 80s, many of them were influenced by Unknown Pleasures — overtly or covertly.

    More mainstream might be Prince’s “1999” album, which really defined popular music after the 1980s. It may have been the album that normalized funk (with pop and rock elements) and made it widely acceptable to a larger population to listen to such things. I’d hazard to say that much of modern music’s flavor would be markedly different without that album in the early 80s (not to mention that no one really knows just how many pseudonyms Prince wrote songs under that other people recorded).

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      The fact that you did not own it till the 80s makes it count in my eyes 😉

      I like that your musical journey was defined by this album too 🙂

      There has been some real Prince love in here recently and im all for it! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. michael raven avatar
        michael raven

        I’m not sure Unknown Pleasures was even readily available on this side of the pond until ’81-’82 except in boutique and import shops. The rules back then about record imports were like jailbreaking an iPhone. 🤣

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
        1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
          Fox Reviews Rock

          Haha if only Limewire had existed 😉

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
  4. Ahzio avatar
    Ahzio

    Poison Idea “Kings of Punk” Zounds “Curse of the Zounds” The Mob “Let The Tribe Increase” Public Enemy “Yo Bum Rush the Show” I could go on for weeks.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Sounds like you had a few favourites around that period 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  5. Radio Faux Show avatar
    Radio Faux Show

    Impossible question to answer!
    Perhaps the rock album that defines the 80s is the one that kicked off the 80s and is perhaps the greatest rock album ever. It is definitely the best selling rock album of all time.
    AC/DC Back in Black

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      No arguments from me! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  6. Danny*Fantod avatar
    Danny*Fantod

    I think the album that marked the end of the eighties was GnR’s “Appetite for Destruction”. When MTV broadcast their concert at the Ritz everybody was like WTF? and rushing to buy the album. Things were changing and everybody felt it.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      I do love that album! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  7. AV Raj avatar
    AV Raj

    Do you or have you covered the 70s also?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      We cover absolutely everything on this site 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  8. Valerie Writes avatar
    Valerie Writes

    Yes, even I have heard of Livin’ on a Prayer. I couldn’t have told you who the artist was though.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Ah well the artist is irrelevant as long as you enjoyed it 😉

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  9. Kit Nichols avatar
    Kit Nichols

    Wanted ‘Dead or alive’ is my go to Karaoke song and I can nail it on Rock Band or Guitar Hero, which ever it is on.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Love that song much! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  10. richardbist avatar
    richardbist

    Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms epitomizes the 80s. I mean, “Money for Nothings” is peak 80s, in my opinion.

    Although, I see a lot of other great suggestions from others here.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      This is also a great suggestion! 🙂 Dire Straits are great! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  11. Hazel avatar
    Hazel

    Livin’ in a prayer is popular here, too.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      It’s a quality song 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  12. NAE avatar
    NAE

    I have to go with Def Leppard’s Hysteria. The songs Pour Some Sugar on Me-Armageddon It-Love Bites were the BOMB but nothing beats Rocket! Man did I wear that CD out. It was in 1987 but now thinking back Def Leppard is what I think of first.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      I’ve never got into Def Lep , but I need to try again I think 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  13. ibarynt avatar
    ibarynt

    My daughter belts out Livin On A Prayer like nobody’s business 😁. She says her favorite is Bon Jovi, changed from pop to classic rock.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      sounds to me like you did a cracking job on her musical tastes 😉

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. ibarynt avatar
        ibarynt

        Looks like, let’s see how long this lasts 😁

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
        1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
          Fox Reviews Rock

          Fingers crossed a long time 🙂

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply
          1. ibarynt avatar
            ibarynt

            Yeah, can’t let her go back to Pop 😱🤣

            Liked by 1 person

            Reply
            1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
              Fox Reviews Rock

              Yeah! 😛

              Liked by 1 person

              Reply
  14. rebuilding rob avatar
    rebuilding rob

    I think there could be an argument that this is more of a pop/top 40 thing, but for me, the album that defined the 1980s will always be the Purple Rain soundtrack by Prince and the Revolution.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      I’d class that as rock 🙂 great choice too!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  15. Debbie D. avatar
    Debbie D.

    Purple Rain was my first thought as well, but I also didn’t think it fit into the “rock” category. For that, I choose AC/DC’s Back in Black. SO many memorable rock anthems there!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      It might blend other genres into it but i’d say its still rock 🙂

      That is a cracking album though! One I have listened to again thanks to this comment!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  16. Living a great life at 61 … Minimalist style avatar
    Living a great life at 61 … Minimalist style

    Great album!

    Like

    Reply
  17. Spiral Bound avatar
    Spiral Bound

    You nailed it with “Slippery When Wet”!
    That album really did define the ’80s because it perfectly captured what the decade was about – big, catchy, and accessible to everyone. The fact that both rock fans and their parents loved it shows how well Bon Jovi hit that sweet spot.
    “Livin’ on a Prayer” alone is probably one of the most recognizable songs ever recorded. You’re right that most people worldwide would know it instantly.
    Hard to argue with that choice. Maybe “Back in Black” could compete, but “Slippery When Wet” just screams ’80s in the best possible way.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      I’m glad you agree! But back in black is a great shout too! 🙂 Not as appreciated widespread out the rock community though I think

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Spiral Bound avatar
        Spiral Bound

        You’re absolutely right – “Back in Black” by AC/DC is a fantastic shout-out as an alternative. That album had massive sonic impact and really influenced hard rock throughout the entire decade. It’s got that raw, powerful sound that defined a whole side of ’80s rock.😜

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
        1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
          Fox Reviews Rock

          That raw powerful sound is a firm favourite of mine 🙂

          Like

          Reply
  18. Greg Dennison avatar
    Greg Dennison

    Tough call. I think one thing that made the 80s different from subsequent decades was that popular music seemed more unified. You didn’t have as much of a sharp divide between people who listened to pop and people who listened to rock. Part of this may have been because of MTV, playing both pop and rock and not yet having surrendered to shows that weren’t music. So in light of that, if you remove the word rock from the question, the album that defined the 80s for me was Michael Jackson’s Thriller. It was just such a huge influence on pop culture, and although I would definitely call it a pop album, there were clearly influences of rock (Eddie Van Halen’s solo on Beat It, for example) as well as a lot of subgenres of pop involved.

    For a pure rock album, though, Slippery When Wet is definitely up there for me, as well as Hysteria, and I’d probably have to put Van Halen’s 1984 in there too. I had all three on cassette, but back then, as a kid, I would often just listen to the popular songs, maybe find one or two more that I liked, and skip the deeper album cuts. I hadn’t learned to appreciate full albums yet. I still have my CD collection, and it is still growing thanks to used music stores and thrift stores, but I don’t have any of those three full albums in my collection, only greatest hits albums by those three artists. (Maybe those three should be the next ones I look for, now that I think about it…)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      I think you should totally go out and get those albums in particular 😉 but yeah I totally get your MJ reference. I particularly liked the MTV providing rock and pop and even go at it too. Really fantastic points!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  19. How Has Your Taste In Rock Music Evolved Over Time? – Fox Reviews Rock avatar
    How Has Your Taste In Rock Music Evolved Over Time? – Fox Reviews Rock

    […] earliest memories of rock music are likely in the back of my dad’s car when he would stick on Bon Jovi or Iron Maiden on, during pretty much every single trip. Both solid bands, and a foundation to go […]

    Like

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  20. HerHighness avatar
    HerHighness

    Def leopard hysteria

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Fox Reviews Rock avatar
      Fox Reviews Rock

      Hard to argue with such a solid selection!

      Like

      Reply

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