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1985

New Order - Low-Life (English synth pop / post punk) 

The Cure - The Head On The Door (English alternative rock / post punk) 

Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun (American psychedelic rock / alternative rock) 

Descendents - I Don’t Want To Grow Up (American punk rock) 

Butthole Surfers - Cream Corn From The Socket Of Davis (American hardcore punk / psychedelic rock, EP) 

The Jesus and Mary Chain -  Psychocandy (Scottish noise pop / alternative rock, debut album) 

Cocteau Twins - Aikea-Guinea (Scottish dream pop / ethereal wave, the first of three EPs released in the same year) 

“Weird Al” Yankovic - Dare To Be Stupid (American song parody / comedy music) 

Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love (English art pop)

Cocteau Twins - Tiny Dynamine  (Scottish dream pop / ethereal wave, the second of  three EPs released in the same year) 

The Power Station - The Power Station (English/American funk rock, supergroup featuring Robert Palmer and members of Duran Duran and Chic) 

Arcadia - So Red The Rose (English pop / art rock, spinoff of Duran Duran featuring three-fifths of that group, guest appearances include Grace Jones, Sting, David Gimour and Herbie Hancock) 

Minor Threat - Salad Days (American hardcore punk, EP the band’s last release) 

Ministry - All Day / Every Day (Is Halloween) (American synth pop, 12” single) 

Camper Van Beethoven - Telephone Free Landslide Victory (American alternative rock, debut album) 

The Dead Milikmen - Big Lizard in My Backyard (American punk rock / comedy rock, debut album) 

Cocteau Twins - Echoes In A Shallow Bay  (Scottish dream pop / ethereal wave, the third of  three EPs released in the same year) 

The Fall - This Nation’s Saving Grace (English post punk)

Anthrax - Spreading the Disease (American thrash metal, their first album with vocalist Joey Belladonna) 

Sting - The Dream of the Blue Turtles (English jazz rock, debut solo album for Police frontman) 

Megadeth - Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good! (American thrash metal, debut album for band formed by former Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine) 

Stormtroopers of Death - Speak English Or Die (American crossover thrash, debut album for band featuring members of Anthrax) 

Corrosion Of Conformity - Animosity (American crossover thrash / hardcore punk) 

Motley Crue - Theatre of Pain (American glam metal) 

Slayer - Hell Awaits (American thrash metal) 

Possessed - Seven Churches (American thrash metal / death metal, debut album, arguably the first death metal album, featuring future Primus guitarist Larry Lalonde) 

Dead Can Dance - Spleen and Ideal (English neoclassical / goth rock) 

Gene Loves Jezebel - Desire (English goth rock / post punk, single) 

A-ha - Hunting High And Low (Norwegian synth pop, debut album) 

Peter Gabriel - Birdie (English ambient music, soundtrack to the film of the same name) 

R.E.M. - Fables of the Reconstruction (American alternative rock / folk rock) 

The Velvet Underground - VU (American proto-punk / art rock, outtake compilation / “lost album” recorded between 1968 and 1969)

Run-DMC - King of Rock (American hip hop)

LL Cool J - Radio (American hip hop, debut album) 

Mantronix - The Album (American electro / hip hop, debut album) 

Faith No More - We Care A Lot (American funk metal / post punk, debut album)
Killing Joke - Night Time (English post punk / gothic rock) 

The Damned - Phantasmagoria (English gothic rock) 

Tom Waits - Rain Dogs (American experimental rock / Americana) 

Black Flag - Loose Nut (American hardcore punk / heavy metal)

Black Flag - The Process of Weeding Out (American punk jazz / instrumental rock, EP)  

Misfits - Legacy of Brutality (American horror punk, compilation of non-album singles and previously unreleased early songs) 

The Replacements - Tim (American alternative rock / punk rock, first major label album and last album by the original lineup of the band) 

 Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising (American post-hardcore / alternative rock)

Hüsker Dü - Flip Your Wig (American power pop / punk rock) 

Black Flag - In My Head (American post-hardcore / heavy metal, their last album before breaking up in 1986) 

Dead Kennedys - Frankenchrist (American punk rock) 

John Fogerty - Centerfield (American rock and roll / heartland rock, solo album by Creedence Clearwater Revival vocalist where he played all instruments) 

The Cult - Love (English hard rock / gothic rock)

The Pogues - Rum Sodomy & The Lash (English celtic punk / folk punk, produced by Elvis Costello) 

The Highwaymen - Highwayman (American country music, debut album for supergroup of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson) 

Beat Happening - Beat Happening (American indie rock / jangle pop, debut, expanded 1990 reissue of a 1985 EP) 

AC/DC - Fly On The Wall (Australian hard rock / heavy metal)

Aerosmith - Done With Mirrors (American hard rock) 

Talking Heads - Little Creatures (American new wave / pop rock) 

The Residents - The Big Bubble (American art rock, concept album portraying the music of a fictional band within their “Mole Trilogy” albums) 

U2 - Wide Awake In America (Irish rock, half live and half studio EP, featuring two performances of songs from their 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire and two B-Sides from the era) 

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Southern Accents (American heartland rock / southern rock) 

They Might Be Giants - 1985 Demo (American alternative rock, demo tape mostly featuring songs that would be re-recorded or remixed for future albums) 

Simple Minds - Once Upon A Time (Scottish arena rock) 

Various Artists - The Breakfast Club Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Soundtrack to the 1985 dramedy film including Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”)

Brian Eno - Thursday Afternoon (English ambient music, album consisting of one 60 minute piece of music) 

Skinny Puppy - Bites (Canadian industrial, expanded 1993 reissue of their debut full length album)  

Rush - Power Windows (Canadian art pop / progressive rock) 

White Zombie - Gods On Voodoo Moon (American noise rock / horror punk, debut EP)

Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion (Swiss black metal / doom metal, first full length album) 

Dinosaur Jr - Dinosaur (American alternative rock / cowpunk, debut album, originally released when the band were known as Dinosaur) 

Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising (American noise rock / experimental rock) 

Tears For Fears - Songs from the Big Chair (English new wave / progressive pop)

Oingo Boingo - Dead Man’s Party (American new wave / ska) 

Frank Zappa - Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers of Prevention (American experimental rock / electronic music / sound collage, including a piece using excerpts from the PMRC hearings which Frank Zappa himself took part in)

Rites of Spring - Rites Of Spring (American post-hardcore/emo featuring future Fugazi members Guy Picciotto and Brendan Canty and produced by Ian MacKaye, their only full length album)

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Freaky Styley (American funk rock / funk punk, produced by Parliament-Funkadelic’s George Clinton)  

The Smiths - Meat Is Murder (English alternative rock)

Daniel Johnston - Continued Story (American indie rock / folk,, his first album to include songs recorded in a professional studio with a backing band (The Texas Instruments)) 

Todd Rundgren - A Cappella (American art rock / a cappella, recorded entirely with the artist’s own voice) 

DRI (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles) - Dealing With It! (American hardcore punk / crossover thrash) 

Mekons - Fear and Whiskey (English alternative rock / alternative country) 

The Clash - Cut The Crap (English punk rock / new wave, their final studio album, featuring a new lineup of the band with Joe Strummer as the sole founding member) 

The Chameleons - What Does Anything Mean? Basically (English post-punk / gothic rock)

Heart - Heart (American hard rock / pop rock) 

Prince and The Revolution - Around the World In A Day (American psychedelic funk / pop rock)

Half Man Half Biscuit - Back In The DHSS (English post-punk, debut album) 

Dexys Midnight Runners - Don’t Stand Me Down (English blue-eyed soul / new wave)

‘Til Tuesday - Voices Carry (American new wave / rock, debut album for band featuring Aimee Mann) 

Revolting Cocks - No Devotion (Belgian / American industrial dance, debut single for group featuring members of Ministry and Front 242) 

Exodus - Bonded By Blood (American thrash metal, debut album) 

Whiplash - Power and Pain (American thrash metal, debut album) 

Dio - Sacred Heart (American heavy metal) 

Clan of Xymox - Clan of Xymox (Dutch gothic rock / darkwave, debut album)

Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche 85 (English art pop / sophisti-pop)  

Fine Young Cannibals - Fine Young Cannibals (English pop-rock, debut album) 

Marillon - Misplaced Childhood (English progressive rock / neo-prog)


Top 10:

  1. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
  2. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
  3. The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
  4. The Pogues - Rum Sodomy And The Lash
  5. Camper Van Beethoven - Telephone Free Landslide Victory
  6. Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun
  7. REM - Fables of the Reconstruction
  8. The Replacements - Tim
  9. Husker Du - New Day Rising
  10. The Cure - The Head On The Door 

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