With Record Store Day happening on April 12, 2025, it only seems fitting to talk about a new book coming out next month all based on the music of the 1980’s. Boy, that was a time, wasn’t it? Big hair, Spandex and neon-colored…everything. And as always, the music that we chose to listen to often reflected how we were feeling at the time.
“It was a unrelenting soundtrack that was with us every breath we’d take, whether we were riding in the danger zone or partying all night long, feeling hungry like a wolf or having a holiday – or experiencing a total eclipse of the heart,” says Gary Graff on the introductory pages of his upcoming book, 501 Essential Albums of the ‘80s: The Music Fan’s Definitive Guide, a follow up to his 501 Essential Albums of the ‘90s.
Children raised in the 2000’s are just starting to get an idea of the importance of the album cover as the once dead vinyl record has worked its way back into our lives. They weren’t just containers that protected our records from the sun. They were art. They gave a preview about what we were about to listen to once we took the plastic wrap off. And like all art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some albums were beautiful, others were strange. What one friend thought was cool, you might think was awful.
Children raised in the 2000’s are just starting to get an idea of the importance of the album cover as the once dead vinyl record has worked its way back into our lives. They weren’t just containers that protected our records from the sun. They were art. They gave a preview about what we were about to listen to once we took the plastic wrap off. And like all art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some albums were beautiful, others were strange. What one friend thought was cool, you might think was awful.
But Graff’s book isn’t just a picture book (although there are nearly 600 of them in the 448-page book), each of the 501 albums comes with a short history and trivia (material you can share at your next dinner party). Graff and a group of fellow music journalists offer details on the backstories of these releases, notable singles from each, how they influenced other artists and why they think they are the best of the decade.
Graff is an award-winning music journalist based in Detroit and you may have read his work on the pages of Billboard or other publications. In addition to writing about the ‘80s and ‘90s, he is the author of Alice Cooper at 75; co-author of Neil Young: Long May You Run, Rock ’n’ Roll Myths: The True Stories Behind the Most Famous Legends, and Travelin’ Man: On the Road and Behind the Scenes with Bob Seger. He is also the series editor of the MusicHound Essential Album Guides. Clearly he knows his stuff and isn’t afraid to put the work into a project.
“There was no shortage of albums to pick these 501 essentials, and what a challenging task that was,” says Graff. He and the contributors aimed to identify albums that they felt defined the decade. They selected “some that put a stamp on the time, others whose imprint has lasted beyond that to stand as essential works in their own right, regardless of when they were released.”
This isn’t just about rock music either. Just about every genre you can imagine is in here including pop, rock, hip-hop, R&B, metal, country, contemporary Christian and more. Prince, Michael, Dolly, CeCe, BeBe, Madonna…they’re all in here. The book is organized by year, but all of the music artist are listed in the index in the back if you prefer to pick and choose your reading.
“We’ve taken a long, hard look at the ‘80s and worked our way through the many hundreds – even thousands – of releases that caught our collective eardrums and took music in varying directions,” says Graff. “An argument can be made that a combination of expanding creative sensibilities and technological developments made the ‘80s music’s most impactful decade ever.”
501 Essential Albums of the ‘80s is publishing on May 20, 2025 by Motorbooks. The hardcover book retails for $40 US, $53 Canadian. ISBN: 9780760393369
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