1982

The Cure – Pornography (English gothic rock/post-punk)

A Flock Of Seagulls – A Flock Of Seagulls (English new wave/ synth pop, debut album)

R.E.M. – Chronic Town (American college rock, debut EP)

Fear – The Record (American punk rock/ hardcore punk, debut album)

Michael Jackson – Thriller (American pop/ r and b)

Devo – Oh, No! It’s Devo (American new wave/synth pop)

The Fall – Hex Enduction Hour (English post-punk)

The Fall – Room To Live (English post-punk)

The B-52s – Mesopotamia (American new wave, produced by David Byrne of Talking Heads)

Duran Duran – Rio (English new wave)

Dead Kennedys – Plastic Surgery Disasters (American punk rock)

Thomas Dolby – The Golden Age Of Wireless (English new wave)

Fang – Landshark (American punk rock)

The Clash – Combat Rock (English punk rock/new wave)

Wall Of Voodoo – Call Of The West (American new wave/post punk)

XTC – English Settlement (English new wave)

Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five – The Message (American hip hop, debut)

Judas Priest – Screaming For Vengeance (English heavy metal)

Elvis Costello – Imperial Bedroom (English new wave/baroque pop)

The Who – It’s Hard (English rock, their last album to feature John Entwistle in the lineup)

Yazoo – Upstairs at Eric’s (English synth pop, debut)

Wendy Carlos – Tron: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (electronic and symphonic score to the science fiction film, also featuring two songs by Journey)

Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast (English heavy metal, their first album with Bruce Dickinson on vocals)

Bad Brains – Bad Brains (American hardcore punk/reggae, debut album)

Led Zeppelin – Coda (English hard rock/blues rock, collection of outtakes recorded between 1970 and 1978, with some overdubs added in 1982)

The Go-Gos – Vacation (American power pop/ new wave)

Black Flag – Six Pack (American hardcore punk)

Modern English – After The Snow (English post-punk)

Descendents – Milo Goes To College (American hardcore punk, debut album)

Misfits – Walk Among Us (American hardcore punk, debut album)

The Residents – The Tunes Of Two Cities (Experimental electronic music, concept album presenting music supposedly made by the two fictional cultures portrayed in their previous album Mark Of The Mole)

Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska (American folk rock / heartland rock, all instruments played by Springsteen himself)

Siouxsie & The Banshees – A Kiss In The Dreamhouse (English gothic rock)

Roxy Music – Avalon (English art-pop, their last studio album)

Bad Religion – How Could Hell Be Any Worse? (American hardcore punk, debut album)

Meat Puppets – Meat Puppets (American hardcore punk/country punk, debut album)

Kate Bush – The Dreaming (English art-pop)

Prince – 1999 (American r and b/funk)

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers  - Long After Dark (American heartland rock)

Dire Straits – Love Over Gold (American heartland rock)

The Replacements – Stink (American punk rock)

Donald Fagen – The Nightfly (American jazz-rock, solo debut by Steely Dan vocalist/keyboardist)

Black Sabbath – Live Evil (English heavy metal, live album featuring the Ronnie James Dio-fronted lineup of the band performing a mix of songs from both Dio albums and Ozzy Osbourne-era material)

Toto – Toto IV (American arena rock)

The dB’s – Repercussion (American power pop/ jangle pop)

Men Without Hats – Rhythm Of Youth (Canadian synth pop/ new wave)

Frank Zappa – Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch (American avant garde rock)

Laurie Anderson – Big Science (American art pop, debut album)

Flipper – Album Generic Flipper (American punk rock/hardcore punk, debut album)

King Crimson – Beat (English progressive rock/ new wave, loose concept album about the beat generation)

Rush – Signals (Canadian progressive rock/ new wave)

Genesis – Genesis (English art rock/progressive rock)

Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel (aka Security) (English art rock)

Venom – Black Metal (English thrash metal)

Van Halen – Diver Down (American hard rock)

Dexys Midnight Runners – Too Rye Aye (Irish blue eyed soul/Celtic folk)

Missing Persons – Spring Session M (American synth pop/new wave, debut)

Romeo Void – Benefactor (American new wave/ post-punk)

Notes:

I probably could have listened to nothing but hardcore punk for this year if I let myself get away with it - many of the greats were in operation at the time, and the albums are so short that once you listen to a good one, you immediately want more.

The Playlist

I somewhat broke down my playlist into mini-sets again: Starting with a "dance party" section, then going into some mainstream rock and AOR, followed by new wave/post punk, college rock, punk, metal, and experimental/other.