What about the 1980s for music? It’s another great decade with a broad mix of styles and genres. Electro, synth, and techno all came to the fore. New wave helped us with the gradual transition from punk. And of course, R&B, soul, and Rock and Roll were all heavily in the mix.
There were massive selling albums from established artists. Michael Jackson sold over 100 million copies in total of his Thriller and Bad albums. AC/DC hit the heights then too with Back in Black, their first album after the death of lead singer Bon Scott. And that hot hit movie from 1987 Dirty Dancing, had its soundtrack album spend 18 weeks at number one on the US Billboard 200.
The decade also saw many great acts emerge. The fabulous Eurythmics, The Beastie Boys, Whitney Houston and Madonna to name just a few. Some acts new in the 1980s are still going strong today.
Fantastic debut albums from the 1980s
U2, for example, released their debut album Boy in 1980 in the UK and followed it with their first tour of Europe and the US. Who'd have thought that some 40-plus years later they'd be coming towards the last weeks of a five-month residency with their phenomenal show at the Sphere, the stunning new immersive venue in Las Vegas?
Other artists came and went, but left very impressive music catalogues behind them after their excellent debut albums. Let’s take a look at six very remarkable and memorable debut albums from that decade.
Sade - Diamond Life
How about some cool R&B with a touch of jazz to kick off the list of six albums? Diamond Life by Sade is exactly that and more. First off though, did you know that Sade is a band, not a solo artist? Sure, the lead singer is Sade Adu, but having been a backing singer in the UK group Pride, she and three of that band left. They added a drummer and formed Sade.
That band then released Diamond Life in July 1984 as an astonishingly successful and brilliant-sounding debut album. It hit number five on the US album charts and hit second place in the UK. Total sales of over seven million worldwide make it one of the top debut albums.
You don't get that sort of commercial, success from an average album, especially not for a debut band. Diamond Life is nowhere near average. It's full of great songs in that cool, chilled, sophisticated style the band developed. Two singles from the album brought chart success. “Smooth Operator” and “Your Love Is King” exemplify the album and band superbly. Another two, “When Am I Going To Make A Living” and “Hang On To Your Love” were also released to more limited success.
Adu has joint writing credits on all but one of the album tracks, primarily with fellow band member Stuart Matthewman. The only track she didn't write on is the closing number. A cover of “Why Can’t We Live Together” a 1972 hit for Timmy Thomas. Combined with her terrific voice it’s a great contribution from Adu to this stunning and successful debut album.
Yazoo - Upstairs At Eric’s
Here’s a slight anomaly in terms of debut albums, but let's not get hung up on it. The pairing of Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke known as Yazoo, or Yaz in the US, released their debut album. Upstairs At Eric’s came out in August 1982.
It was Clarke’s second involvement in a debut album. He was in Depeche Mode when they released their debut album, Speak & Spell, in October 1981. Clarke was the main songwriter for that album before leaving to join up with Moyet and form Yazoo.
Upstairs At Eric’s is a good album overall though often underrated. The mix of Moyet’s vocals and Clarke’s synths and electronic keyboards blended extremely well. It’s worth noting that while Clarke had the Depeche Mode experience behind him, Moyet was just 20, with hardly any studio or recording behind her. She was still learning her craft but had written several of the album songs as a teenager.
The main two hits from the album both came from Clarke’s pen. The lovely soaring ballad “Only You” and the dancefloor classic “Don't Go” both reached number three in the UK. The b side of the latter song, “Situation, was a jointly written chart single in the US and Canada.
The album Upstairs At Eric's achieved platinum status after reaching the second position in the UK charts and making it to number 92 on the Billboard 200. This record deserves recognition as it marked the introduction of the wonderful voice of Moyet to the public. Although Yazoo, the band, is no longer together, Moyet continues to tour. Meanwhile, Clarke moved on to form Erasure with Andy Bell and has collaborated with other musicians in recent years.
The Pretenders - Pretenders
The Pretenders are one of those bands that are still very much going. Their latest album Relentless came out in September last year following a surprise set at Glastonbury in the summer with Dave Grohl and Johnny Marr making guest appearances. Tour dates in the UK for February and March have just been put back to October 2024 to allow lead band member Chrissie Hynde to recover from a recent knee injury.
This means it's hard to believe it was all the way back in January 1980, right at the start of the decade and forty-four years ago, that the band's debut album Pretenders was released. Hynde of course is integral to the band. She’s the only consistent member throughout as others have come and gone.
Her punk rock roots will have helped influence the band, and this debut album significantly. Previous punk bands, jobs in the music media, and working in Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s shop kept her very close to that new scene. Did you know she almost married both Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols in an attempt to secure a UK work permit?
The debut album Pretenders is a classic, not just of its time. It's up there in the lists of top debut albums. It's crammed with great songs, lively guitars, punk, and new wave.
There are hints of Blondie, The Police, and others in there. But Hynde and the band established their own rock style too. Top singles “Stop Your Sobbing” and “Brass In Pockets” haven't dated and still sound fresh and alive.
The album was a commercial success with a UK number one and gold disc. Back home in the US it went platinum and up to ninth place in the US charts. Another enduring and very impressive debut album.
The Smiths - The Smiths
Talking of Johnny Marrs guesting at Glastonbury, here’s where his brilliant guitar skills started to make his name. Marrs’ songwriting and guitar work made an excellent partnership with singer Morrissey and his lyrical skills in The Smiths. The band were one of several truly influential bands from the 1980s and were early greats on the Manchester music scene.
Self-titled album The Smiths was released in February 1984. Unlike a lot of early 1980s new wave music, the band didn’t follow the synth-pop approach. The focus was on Marrs’ bright guitar work, Morrissey’s vocal style and lyrics, and bass and drums in support. Occasional keyboards on the album came from Paul Carrack, much better known afterward as a singer with many top bands.
This though wasn’t an uplifting album, it was somewhat dark and could be bleak. Morrissey wrote and sang of his angst, celibacy, and painful emotions of abuse. Two major tracks “This Charming Man” and “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” will be the better-known songs from the album to non-Smiths fans.
Despite that darkness, the album was a big success. The Smiths went straight in at number two on the UK charts and gold status. The album was a lesser success in the US reaching 150 in the charts. The album set the band on the way to even more success and to inspire many new indie bands who would follow on.
Cyndi Lauper - She’s So Unusual
She’s So Unusual, the debut album by Cyndi Lauper, was released in October 1983. This bright-sounding album mixed in new wave and a touch of punk with a synth sound fronted by Lauper and her great voice and quirky style.
The album had several singles released from it, six in total. What a great tally for her debut record. Four of those singles were chart hits, the biggest being “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”. That was a huge hit around the world, multiple platinum, and made Lauper into a top star. She followed up with “Time After Time” not bad at all to have such a powerful song ready as a second single. It too soared high and was also a massive success everywhere.
Lauper brought fun to her music, along with energy and great songs, she had a co-writer credit on several of the album tracks, including “Time After Time”. Her style was ideal for the MTV era and she was a regular there with her videos backing the singles from the album.
Lauper hit the big time with She’s So Unusual. Number four on Billboard 200, up to the sixth slot in the UK, and very successful elsewhere too. It sold over 25 million copies worldwide. The songs and album helped Lauper win a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1985. She went on to even more success afterwards too with more terrific songs and albums and a stage hit through Kinky Boots for which she wrote the music and lyrics, winning her a second Grammy award. An amazing artist and first album for sure.
Guns N’ Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Let's end the list with a biggie. Another massive success commercially. This album is up at the very top end when it comes to the best-ever-selling debut albums.
Perhaps surprisingly, Appetite For Destruction was a slow starter. Released in July 1987 it didn't have much impact initially. The band had to dig in, work hard on tours and gigs, and generate interest and airplay for early singles. But it sure did pay off in terms of the album and of course a huge success over the years.
Guns N’ Roses have sold over 30 million copies of their debut album, it was a number one album chart hit in the US, number five in the UK, and a top ten hit in many other countries. The album introduced us to classic tracks such as “Sweet Child o’ Mine”, “Paradise City” and “Welcome to The Jungle”. Those and several others from the album all feature in their live setlist.
The whole album is a blast of rock, Axel Rose spits out the lyrics with real anger at times. Slash and Izzy Stradlin trade off riffs and solos and the rest of the band hit top form throughout. The album blazes away with its illicit tales and explicit lyrics touching on punk, glam, and some bluesy tones in there too. Whatever your view on this one, you can’t knock the huge sales and the band still gigging songs from it as signs of success.