1981

Mission Of Burma – Signals Calls And Marches (American post-punk)

Devo – New Traditionalists (American new wave)

Black Sabbath – Mob Rules (British heavy metal, second album with Ronnie James Dio on lead vocals)

Squeeze – East Side Story (British new wave, first album with keyboardist/vocalist Paul Carrack, co-produced by Elvis Costello)

The Human League – Dare (British synth-pop)

Iron Maiden – Killers (British heavy metal, second and final album with Paul Di’anno on vocals and first with Adrian Smith on guitar)

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman (second solo album for British heavy metal vocalist and his last to feature late guitarist Randy Rhoads)

Wipers – Youth Of America (American punk rock)

King Crimson – Discipline (British progressive rock)

Men At Work – Business As Usual (Australian new wave, debut)

Kiss – Music from “The Elder” (Progressive rock concept album by American hard rock group)

Brian Eno and David Byrne – My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts (Electronic avant-funk by British record producer and ex-Roxy Music member and American Talking Heads member)

Rush – Moving Pictures (Canadian progressive rock)

Depeche Mode – Speak & Spell (British synth pop, only album with Vince Clarke, later of Erasure and Yaz)

Rick James – Street Songs (American funk)

Gang Of Four – Solid Gold (British post-punk)

Phil Collins – Face Value (British art rock, solo debut for Genesis singer/drummer)

Tom Tom Club – Tom Tom Club (American new wave, debut for project featuring Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz of Talking Heads)

Black Flag – Damaged (American hardcore punk, first full-length album and first release with vocalist Henry Rollins)

Venom – Welcome To Hell (British speed metal, debut)

Van Halen – Fair Warning (American heavy metal/hard rock)

Motorhead – No Sleep Till Hammersmith (British heavy metal, live album)

AC/DC – For Those about to Rock, We Salute You (Australian hard rock/heavy metal)

Soft Cell – Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (English synth pop, debut)

Various – Heavy Metal (Soundtrack to the Canadian-American animated sci-fi/fantasy film, featuring Black Sabbath, Cheap Trick, Devo, and others)

Prince – Controversy (American new wave/funk)

Echo And The Bunnymen – Heaven Up Here (british post-punk)

The Cure – Faith (British post-punk/gothic rock)

New Order – Movement (British post-punk, debut)

The Gun Club – Fire Of Love (American blues punk, debut)

Agent Orange – Living In Darkness (American punk rock, debut)

The Replacements – Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash (American punk rock, debut)

Exploited – Punk’s Not Dead (British hardcore punk)

DOA – Hardcore ‘81 (Canadian hardcore punk)

Hanoi Rocks – Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks (Finnish glam punk, debut)

The Cramps – Psychedelic Jungle (American psychobilly)

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – I Love Rock & Roll (American hard rock, first album recorded with The Blackhearts)

Madness – 7 (British ska)

The Police – Ghost In The Machine (British-American new wave)

Elvis Costello And The Attractions – Trust (British new wave)

This one was not randomly chosen at all - I had decided that as soon as December rolled around, I would listen to music from 1981 because December is my birth month and 1981 my birth year. 

Amazon Playlist: this includes tracks from almost every album I listened to, plus a few notable songs from the year I didn't get to. It's loosely organized by genre: The first 13 tracks are some of the best-remembered hits of the year, then it goes into new wave and post-punk, then punk rock, and finally heavy metal, hard rock and arena rock. 

Top 10 list to come.