The Best Rock Albums of 1984

Selected by piero scaruffi
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TM, ®, Copyright © 1998 Piero Scaruffi
1984


    9/10
  1. Husker Du: Zen Arcade (SST)
  2. Minutemen: Double Nickels On The Dime (SST)
  3. Butthole Surfers: Psychic Powerless (TouchAndGo)
  4. Diamanda Galas: Diamanda Galas (Metalanguage)
    8.5/10
  5. Nick Cave: From Her To Eternity (Mute)
    8/10
  6. Replacement: Let It Be (Zippo)
  7. Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic: Magnetic Flip (AceOfHearts)
  8. Julian Cope: World Shut Your Mouth (Mercury)
  9. Foetus: Hole (SelfImmolation)
  10. Swans: Cop (KCC)
  11. Steve Roach: Structures From Silence (Fortuna)
    7.5/10
  12. Saccharine Trust: Surviving You (SST)
  13. Metallica: Ride The Lightning (Elektra)
  14. Eberhard Schoener: Sky Music - Mountain Music (Celestial Harmonies)
  15. Cocteau Twins: Treasure (4AD)
  16. Rhythm And Noise: Contents under notice (Ralph)
  17. Current 93: Nature Unveiled (Laylah)
  18. Dream Syndicate: Medicine Show (A&M)
  19. Julian Cope: Fried (Mercury)
  20. Stomu Yamash'ta: Sea And Sky (Victor)
    7/10
  21. Ambitious Lovers: Envy (Eg-Jem)
  22. Bruce Springsteen: Born In The USA (CBS)
  23. Pretenders: Learning to Crawl (A&M)
  24. Killdozer: Intellectuals Are The Shoeshine Boys Of The Ruling Elite (TouchAndGo)
  25. Zoogz Rift: Ipecac (Azra)
  26. Del-Lords: Frontier Days (Enigma)
  27. Die Kreuzen: Die Kreuzen (TouchAndGo)
  28. Plasticland: Plasticland (Pink Dust)
  29. Violent Femmes: Hallowed Ground (Slash)
  30. Young Fresh Fellows: The Fabulous Sounds Of The Pacific (Frontier)
  31. Chuck Vrtacek: Monkey On A Hard Roll (Leisure Time)
  32. Frightwig: Cat Farm Faboo (AlternativeTentacles)
  33. Lydia Lunch: In Limbo (DoubleVision)
  34. Penguin Cafe Orchestra: Broadcasting From Home (EGRecords)
  35. Gun Club: Las Vegas Story (Animal)
  36. News From Babel: Work Resumed On The Tower (Recommended)
  37. Univers Zero: Uzed (Recommended)
  38. Prince: Purple Rain (WB)
  39. Run-DMC: Run-DMC (Profile)
  40. Orthotonics: Wake Up You Must Remember (Generic)
  41. 23 Skidoo: Urban Gamelan (Illuminated)
  42. Cars: Heartbeat City (Elektra)
  43. Ry Cooder: Paris Texas (WB)
  44. Jane Siberry: The Speckless Spy (Duke Street)
  45. Echo & Bunnymen: Ocean Rain (Korova)
  46. Test Dept: Beating The Retreat (SomeBizarre)
  47. Throbbing Gristle: In The Shadow Of The Sun (Illuminated)
  48. Black Flag: Slip It In (SST)
  49. Dead Can Dance: Dead Can Dance (4AD)
  50. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers (Enigma)
  51. Art Of Noise: Who's Afraid Of (ZTT)
  52. Flipper: Gone Fishin' (Subterranean)
  53. Los Lobos: How Will The Wolf Survive (Slash)
  54. Del Fuegos: Longest Day (Slash)
  55. Beasts Of Bourbon: The Axeman's Jazz (Green)
  56. David Sylvian: Brilliant Trees (Virgin)
  57. New Model Army: Vengeance (Abstract)
  58. Raincoats: Moving (RoughTrade)
  59. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Ongakuzukan/Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia (Virgin)
  60. Frank Zappa: Perfect Stranger - Director: Pierre Boulez
  61. Harold Budd: Abandoned Cities (Cantil)
  62. Deuter: Nirvana Road (Kuckuck)
  63. Kevin Braheny: Perelandra (Hearts Of Space)
  64. Manuel Gottsching: E2-E4 (Deutsche Astrophon)
  65. Michael Hedges: Aerial Boundaries (Windham Hill)
  66. Paolo Conte: Paolo Conte (CGD)
  67. Fabrizio De André: Creuza De Ma
  68. Smiths: The Smiths (RoughTrade)
  69. Hoodoo Gurus: Stoneage Romeo (BigTime)
  70. Samhain: Initium (Plan 9)
    6.5/10
  71. Robert Quine & Fred Maher: Basic (EG)
  72. Christian Death: Catastrophe Ballett (InvitationAuSuicide)
  73. Scott Walker: Climate of Hunter (Virgin)
  74. Michael Hurley: Blue Navigator (Rounder)
  75. Billy Bragg: Brewing Up (Go Disc)
  76. Jonathan Richman: Sings (Sire)
  77. DB's: Like This (Bearsville)
  78. Scratch Acid: self-titled (RabidCat)
  79. 17 Pygmies: Jedda By The Sea (Resistance)
  80. Rising Force: self-titled (Polydor)
  81. True West: Drifters (PVC)
  82. Sun City Girls: self-titled (Placebo)
  83. Lyres: On Fyre (AceOfHeart)
  84. Half Japanese: Sing No Evil (iridescence)
  85. Coil: Scatology (Force & Form)
  86. Zoviet France: Eostre (Red Rhino)
  87. Honeymoon Killers: From Mars (Fur)
  88. Current 93: Maldoror Is Dead (Laylah)
  89. Hafler Trio: Bang-an Open Letter (DoubleVision)
  90. Tripod Jimmie: Long Walk Off A Short Pier (DoSpeak)
  91. Pandoras: It's About Time (Rhino)
  92. Ultravox: Lament (Chrysalis)
  93. Felt: The Strange Idols Pattern (Cherry Red)
  94. Hunters And Collectors: The Jaws Of Life (Slash)
  95. Minimal Man: Safari (CDPresents)
  96. Three Johns: Atom Drum Bop (Abstract)
  97. Long Ryders: Native Sons (Frontier)
  98. Voivod: War And Pain (Metal Blade)
  99. Cult: Dreamtime (BeggarsBanquet)
  100. Blood And The Saddle: self-titled (NewAlliance)
  101. Blue Aeroplanes: Bop Art (Abstract)
  102. Smiths: self-titled (RoughTrade)
  103. Tim Hodgkinson: Fluvial (Woof)
  104. Hoodoo Gurus: Stoneage Romeo (BigTime)
  105. G.B.H.: City Baby's Revenge (Relativity)
  106. No Means No: Mama (No Means No)
  107. Tina Turner: Private Dancer (Capitol)
  108. Celibate Rifles: self-titled (Hot)
  109. Little Steven: Voice Of America (EMI)
  110. Huey Lewis: Sports (Chrisalys)
  111. Everything But The Girl: Eden (BlancoYNegro)
  112. Steve Vai: Flex-able (Urantia)
  113. Joan Jett: Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth (1984)
  114. Alien Sex Fiend: Acid Bath (Epitaph)
  115. Playgroup: Epic Sound Battles Cpt. 2 (On-U)
  116. Prefab Sprout: Swoon (Kitchenware)
  117. Outta Place: We're Outta Place (Midnight)
  118. V-Effect: Stop Those Songs (RoughTRade)
  119. Twisted Sister: Stay Hungry (Atlantic)
  120. Pointer Sisters: Break Out (Planet)
  121. Plan 9: Dealing With The Dead (Midnight)
  122. Leaving Trains: Well Down Blue Highway (Bemisbrain)
  123. Home And Garden: History And Geography (Bizart)
  124. Don King (Doublevision)
  125. VanDyke Parks: Jump (WB)
  126. Steve Brown: Music For Solo Piano (Another Side)
  127. Lenny Kaye: I've Got A Right (Giorno)
  128. Trypes: Explorers Hold (Coyote)
  129. Bryan Adams: Reckless (A&M)
  130. Guadalcanal Diary: Walking In The Shadow (Elektra)
  131. Romeo Void: Istincts (415)
  132. Norman Salant: Sax Talk (CD)
  133. Effigies: Firever Grounded (Enigma)
  134. Madonna: Like A Virgin (Sire)
  135. Fat Boys: self-titled (Sutra)
  136. Depeche Mode: Some Great Reward (Mute)
  137. Youssou N'Dour: Immigres (Earthworks)
  138. Ratt: Out Of The Cellar (Atlantic)
  139. Sade: Diamond Life (Epic)
  140. Vipers: Outta The Nest (PVC)
  141. Reducers: self-titled (Rave On)
  142. Bangles: All Over The Place (Columbia)
  143. Style Council: Cafe` Bleu (Polydor)
  144. Carmel: The Drum Is Everything (WB)
  145. Samhain: Initium (Plan 9)
  146. Barrence Whitfield: And The Savages (Mamou)
  147. Wham: Make It Big (Epic)
  148. King Sunny Ade: Aura (Mango)
  149. New Edition: self-titled (MCA)
  150. Amy Grant: Age To Age (Myrrh)
  151. Don Henley: Building The Perfect Beast (Geffen)
  152. Cyndi Lauper: She's So Unusual (Portrait)
  153. Time: Ice Cream Castle (WB)
  154. Thompson Twins: Into The Gap (Arista)
EPs and minis:
  1. Tragic Mulatto: Judo For The Blind (Alternative Tentacles), 7.5/10
  2. Big Black: Bulldozer (Ruthless), 7/10
  3. Danielle Dax: Jesus Egg That Wept (Awesome), 7/10
  4. Dead Can Dance: Garden Of The Arcane Delights (4AD), 7/10
  5. Felt: Splendour Of Fear (Cherry Red), 7/10
  6. Flaming Lips: Flaming Lips (LSD), 7/10

Songs
  1. Nick Cave: From Her to Eternity
  2. Prince: Purple Rain
  3. U2: Pride (In the Name of Love)
  4. Bruce Springsteen: Cover Me
  5. Cars: Magic
  • A-ha: Take on Me (Single)
  • Agnostic Front: Victim in Pain (Victim in Pain)
  • Agnostic Front: Blind Justice (Victim in Pain)
  • Agnostic Front: Your Mistake (Victim in Pain)
  • Alien Sex Fiend: In God We Trust (Acid Bath)
  • Alphaville: Big in Japan (Single)
  • Anthrax: Metal Thrashing Mad (Fistful of Metal)
  • Anthrax: Panic (Fistful of Metal)
  • B.G.K.: Kids for Ca$h (White Male Dumbinance)
  • Big Black: Racer-X (Racer-X)
  • Billy Idol: Eyes Without a Face (Single)
  • Black Flag: Slip It In (Slip It In)
  • Bronski Beat: Smalltown Boy (The Age of Consent)
  • Bruce Springsteen: Born in the USA (Born in the USA)
  • Bruce Springsteen: Cover Me (Born in the USA)
  • Bruce Springsteen: Dancing in the Dark (Born in the USA)
  • Butthole Surfers: Dum Dum (Psychic Powerless)
  • Butthole Surfers: Lady Sniff (Psychic Powerless)
  • Butthole Surfers: Cherub (Psychic Powerless)
  • CCCP: Punk Islam (Ortodossia)
  • Celtic Frost: Return to the Eve (Morbid Tales)
  • Cocteau Twins: Ivo (Treasure)
  • Cocteau Twins: Lorelei (Treasure)
  • Cocteau Twins: Pandora (Treasure)
  • Coil: Panic (Scathology)
  • Cyndi Lauper: Time After Time (Single)
  • David Sylvian: The Ink in the Well (Brilliant Trees)
  • Dead Can Dance: In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated (Garden of the Arcane…)
  • Dead Can Dance: Ocean (Dead Can Dance)
  • Dead Can Dance: Frontier (Dead Can Dance)
  • Dead or Alive: You Spin Me Round (Single)
  • Depeche Mode: Master and Servant (Single)
  • D.R.I.: Violent Pacification (Single)
  • Duran Duran: The Reflex (Single)
  • Ex: Blueprints for a Blackout (Blueprints for a Blackout)
  • Exciter: Violence and Force (Violence and Force)
  • Fabrizio de André: Creuza de ma (Creuza de ma)
  • Fabrizio de André: Jamin A (Creuza de ma)
  • Fabrizio de André: Sidun (Creuza de ma)
  • Felt: Roman Litter (The Strange Idols)
  • Foetus: I’ll Meet You in Poland Baby (Hole)
  • Foetus: Sick Man (Hole)
  • Foetus: Cold Day in Hell (Hole)
  • Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Relax (Single)
  • Gun Club: My Dreams (The Las Vegas Story)
  • Howard Jones: What Is Love (Single)
  • Husker Du: Chartered Trip (Zen Arcade)
  • Husker Du: Pink Turns to Blue (Zen Arcade)
  • Husker Du: Turn on the News (Zen Arcade)
  • Iron Maiden: Aces High (Powerslave)
  • Iron Maiden: Two Minutes to Midnight (Powerslave)
  • Jane Siberry: The Waitress (No Borders Here)
  • Jane Siberry: Extra Executives (No Borders Here)
  • Jane Siberry: Symmetry (No Borders Here)
  • Judas Priest: Jawbreakers (Defenders of the Faith)
  • Julian Cope: Reynard the Fox (Fried)
  • Julian Cope: Sunspots (Fried)
  • Julian Cope: Quizmaster (World Shut Your Mouth)
  • Julian Cope: Sunshine Playroom (World Shut Your Mouth)
  • Kaaos: Sun Valinta (Ristiinnaulittu Kaaos)
  • Killdozer: Farmer Johnson (Intellectuals)
  • Madonna: Into the Groove (Like a Virgin)
  • Meat Puppets: Climbing (Meat Puppets II)
  • Meat Puppets: New Gods (Meat Puppets II)
  • Meat Puppets: Oh Me (Meat Puppets II)
  • Mercyful Fate: A Dangerous Meeting (Don’t Break the Oath)
  • Mercyful Fate: Gipsy (Don’t Break the Oath)
  • Metallica: Creeping Death (Ride the Lightning)
  • Metallica: Fade to Black (Ride the Lightning)
  • Metallica: For Whom the Bells Toll (Ride the Lightning)
  • Mike Oldfield: To France (Single)
  • Minutemen: Shit form an Old Notebook (Double Nickels on a Dime)
  • Minutemen: Corona (Double Nickels on a Dime)
  • Murray Head: One Night in Bangkok (Single)
  • Nick Cave: From Her to Eternity (From Her to Eternity)
  • Nik Kershaw: The Riddle (Single)
  • Paolo Conte: Sparring Partner (Paolo Conte)
  • Paolo Conte: Sotto le stelle del jazz (Paolo Conte)
  • Pet Shop Boys: West End Girls (Single)
  • Plasticland: Euphoric Trapdoor Shoes (Plasticland)
  • Prince: When Doves Cry (Single)
  • Prince: Purple Rain (Single)
  • Queen: Radio Ga Ga (Single)
  • Ratos de Porao: Crucificados pelo sistema (Crucificados pelo sistema)
  • REM: Little America (Reckoning)
  • REM: Pretty Persuasion (Reckoning)
  • REM: So Central Rain (Reckoning)
  • Replacements: I Will Dare (Let It Be)
  • Sade: Smooth Operator (Single)
  • Saint Vitus: Saint Vitus (Saint Vitus)
  • Samhain: All Murder All Guts All Fun (Initium)
  • Scorpions: Rock You Like a Hurricane (Love at First Sting)
  • Scorpions: Still Loving You (Love at First Sting)
  • Scratch Acid: Cannibal (Scratch Acid)
  • Scratch Acid: Greatest Gift (Scratch Acid)
  • Serge Gainsbourg: Sorry Angel (Love on the Beat)
  • Swans: Half Life (Cop)
  • Simple Minds: Up on the Catwalk (Sparkle in the Rain)
  • Smiths: This Charming Man (Single)
  • Talk Talk: It's My Life (Single)
  • Talk Talk: Such a Shame (Single)
  • Tears for Fears: Shout (Single)
  • Trouble: The Tempter (Psalm 9)
  • Twisted Sister: We’re Not Gonna Take It (Stay Hungry)
  • Twisted Sister: I Wanna Rock (Stay Hungry)
  • Twisted Sister: The Price (Stay Hungry)
  • U2: Pride - In the Name of Love (Single)
  • Ultravox: Dancing with Tears in My Eyes (Single)
  • Van Halen: Hot for Teacher (1984)
  • Van Halen: Jump (1984)
  • Van Halen: Panama (1984)
  • Voivod: Voivod (War and Pain)
  • WASP: Animal (Single)
  • WASP: I Wanna Be Somebody (WASP)
  • WASP: L.O.V.E. Machine (WASP)
  • Wham!: Last Christmas (Single)
  • Yngwie J. Malmsteen: Black Star (Rising Force)
Extended tracks
  1. Diamanda Galas: Panoptikon 15:22
  2. Husker Du: Reoccurring Dreams
  3. Rhythm & Noise: Monomenon 15:43
  4. Iron Maiden: Rime of the Ancient Mariner 13:45
  5. Metallica: The Call of Chtulu 8:55
  6. Dream Syndicate: John Coltrane Stereo Blues 8:48
  7. Coil: How to Destroy Angels 16:45
  8. Current 93: The Mystical Body of Christ in Chorazaim 19:30
  9. Saint Vitus: The Psychopath 9:27
  10. Nick Cave: A Box for Black Paul 9:44
  11. Venom: At War with Satan 19:55
  12. Art of Noise: Moments in Love 10:17

TM, ®, Copyright © 1998 Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved.