Alternative rock is a bit of a difficult genre to define, since looking at the different definitions does show different things, or different views on what the genre is, and how long it lasted, during what time, all of that. So, it’s hard to settle on that, and that’s before going ahead and trying to label a handful of alternative rock albums as being the best of a certain era, which’ll be divisive for more obvious reasons.
If something is rock, and it’s also at least a little alternative in its sound, it might show up here. Oh, and it has to be really good, and it had to be released during the 1980s. Grunge and Britpop (the latter does count as rock, despite the “pop” being there) were 1990s things, and probably ensured that decade was the one where alternative rock music was most dominant, but these great 1980s alternative rock albums walked (sometimes very fast) perhaps so those later albums could run (honestly not all that much faster, in most cases).
10
‘Zen Arcade’ (1984)
Hüsker Dü
If you like any alternative or indie rock albums made post-1984, there’s a good chance it was inspired by Hüsker Dü, or technically, maybe some of those albums were inspired by albums that were inspired by Hüsker Dü. There’s a whole chain to these things. Anyway, Hüsker Dü wasn’t ever a household name, and the band was only active for a few years, but some of the music was very much classic, including most of what can be found on the fairly epic-length Zen Arcade.
This one’s a concept album, potentially scratching the same itch as introspective concept albums from the 1970s like Quadrophenia and The Wall, though here, that look at alienation and just generally struggling through life feels a bit grittier and more chaotic. Zen Arcade has a very raw and oftentimes punk sort of sound, which adds to how intense it can be… but there is still a certain beauty here buried under the noise, and plenty of songs – even if loud and intense – are quite immediate. A few might even be earworms, to be honest (like “Chartered Trips” and “Pink Turns to Blue”).
9
‘Murmur’ (1983)
The most popular R.E.M. album is Automatic for the People, and that one didn’t come out until the 1990s. It’s honestly a good starting point, and maybe the second-best overall if you only know a handful of R.E.M. songs without having listened to any albums (it helps that those few R.E.M. songs you might well know are largely found on Automatic for the People… see “Man on the Moon,” “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite,” and “Everybody Hurts,” and “Nightswimming”).
The best starting point overall, though, is Murmur, partly because it’s a pretty easy album to appreciate, partly because it’s extremely consistent, and also partly because it’s the first studio album in R.E.M.’s discography. It’s also got value as an early/defining alternative rock album, being important for similar reasons that Zen Arcade is important, though the albums sound very different otherwise, it should be noted.
8
‘The Stone Roses’ (1989)
The Stone Roses
On the topic of great debut albums, here’s The Stone Roses, as in the self-titled album. But also, The Stone Roses is the only truly essential album by The Stone Roses, making The Stone Roses more or less be The Stone Roses. You can start and end your Stone Roses journey here, which might sound kind of sad, but the fact that this album’s incredible makes that okay.
It’s an easy one to return to again and again, and one of several albums that are going to be mentioned in this ranking that felt groundbreaking in the 1980s, going on to influence various artists in the 1990s. You can really see it with this album, because The Stone Roses pre-dated the whole rise of Britpop in the 1990s, and you can see this album’s DNA in most of the big Britpop releases (in one way or another) that came in the years following this album’s release.
7
‘Violent Femmes’ (1983)
Violent Femmes
Oops, one more debut. And this one is also self-titled. But Violent Femmes kept on going for a little longer than The Stone Roses, with a discography more comparable in size to R.E.M., albeit without quite as many essential albums. Hallowed Ground is good, for what that’s worth, albeit a very strange (and not for everyone) follow-up to the self-titled, even if it’s the self-titled that’s getting the shout-out here.
Simply labeling Violent Femmes (1983) as an alternative rock album and leaving it at that would be doing it a disservice, and might also be misleading people, since there are some unusual folk/punk stylistic elements here (not quite to the same extent as you might hear on a Pogues album, but still). Somehow, it works. This is an alienating and very anxiety-inducing album, but it’s lyrically strong and the music does grow on you, even if that music can be unsettling and you might not exactly want it to grow on you.
6
‘Closer’ (1980)
Joy Division
Partly because it’s the earliest album here, and it might’ve been a few more years before “alternative rock” really had a sound, Closer could be a slightly questionable pick, yet Joy Division was still a rock band of sorts. Post-punk is the better genre descriptor, even if that isn’t super well-known (think punk but with the anger turned inward, rather than outward, and maybe that anger feels a little sadder and less rousing, too).
This is also moodier than most of the other albums here, because Closer gets even darker than Joy Division’s 1979 debut, Unknown Pleasures, and that one was already rather bleak. It’s hard to discuss some of the history around Joy Division and Closer with just a couple of paragraphs, too, but knowing about it does serve to make Closer an even more harrowing and solemn listen.
5
‘Tim’ (1985)
The Replacements
1985 was a time when maybe classic rock was still a thing to some extent, while Tim is a bit more of an alternative rock thing, and then parts of it are kind of poppy as well. It’s its own thing, in other words, and that can be said about most of the good music by The Replacements; a band that remains one of the most underrated of their era, though their cult following is such that if you have heard of them you’re probably a fan.
Alongside the poppier songs, there are some tracks on Tim with a bit of edge to them, and it’s also a deeply sad album when it wants to be, especially when you get to that closing track, “Here Comes a Regular.” Also, a couple of other albums are worth giving honorable mentions, like Let It Be, which The Replacements released a year before Tim, and Pleased to Meet Me, which came out a couple of years post-Tim.
4
‘The Queen Is Dead’ (1986)
The Smiths
The Queen Is Dead might be more indie rock/pop than it is alternative rock, or it at least paved the way for a good many indie bands before “indie” was really a label. And if indie rock is kind of adjacent to alternative rock, eh, why not include The Queen Is Dead? It’s a great album, is the main thing. And all the albums by The Smiths (only four, though there are plenty of songs the band recorded that didn’t end up on studio albums) are great.
It’s just that The Queen Is Dead is the greatest, and having the band’s best song (“There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”) helps, sure, but the rest of the album’s also immense. Everything good about The Smiths is condensed into about 37 minutes here, with a great range of songs that also sound so right together, placed in such a way. It’s top-tier stuff and then some, in all honesty.
3
‘Daydream Nation’ (1988)
Sonic Youth
It’s worth stressing how Daydream Nation feels like it helped shape alternative rock to come in the 1990s, probably being more in line with that decade than the 1980s, just energy-wise. That being said, Sonic Youth was active throughout much of the 1980s, and then their whole hot streak did more than creep in the 1990s. Maybe, then, it makes sense that Daydream Nation is Sonic Youth’s peak, coming right in the middle of that pretty great streak.
It is singular rock music that’s also kind of effortless in its sound, with the balance here between scrappy/loose and disciplined/purposeful being just about perfect.
Some of the songs here are long, and then the overall album is also a bit of an epic, being a little over 70 minutes in length. You don’t really feel the length of the songs in a bad way, nor does it feel like it takes more than an hour to get through as an album. It is singular rock music that’s also kind of effortless in its sound, with the balance here between scrappy/loose and disciplined/purposeful being just about perfect for this sort of rock.
2
‘Doolittle’ (1989)
Pixies are one of the defining alternative rock bands, and that reputation comes from just two main albums, but those two albums are Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, so that’s more than enough legacy-wise, in all honesty. Also, while Sonic Youth was highlighted for being influential, Pixies might well have been even more so, and the closeness of these albums to the 1990s probably adds to all that, to some extent (definitely no secret that Nirvana was inspired by Pixies).
Of the two albums, Doolittle is a hair better than Surfer Rosa, with that album being very good, and then Doolittle hitting most of the same beats, or scratching the same itch, but hitting/scratching ever so slightly more, if that makes sense. It’s one of the most well-paced and consistent albums of the 1980s, rock or otherwise, and trying to highlight all the best tracks would ultimately just be listing most of the songs on the entire album; a track listing, rather than commentary. So, this much can be said: all the songs are great. The whole album is great. Don’t forget it, Jake. It’s Doolittle.
1
‘Disintegration’ (1989)
The Cure
The Cure is a band, but it’s one of those “the one guy is the band, basically” kind of bands. Robert Smith is The Cure, but since he’s The Cure. It’s The Cure. And here’s The Cure’s Disintegration, which is the “band’s” best-ever album, albeit one that drifts away from the rock genre a little more than some of the other albums by The Cure from the same decade.
No one is going to mix up any of the band’s music with classic rock, but some songs by The Cure are immediate, especially two heavy-hitters on Disintegration: “Lovesong” and “Lullaby.” If longer song runtimes don’t frighten you away, then “Pictures of You” and the title track are also incredible. As are the eight other songs here not being mentioned by name, but they’re all differing levels of great, not to mention sequenced in such a way that makes for a continually engrossing, atmospheric, oftentimes moving, and also pretty much perfect listen.
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