The Best Album by 11 Legendary ’80s Rock Bands

What were best 1980s rock albums by the best 1980s rock bands? Let’s take a closer look.

While the 1980s were known as the “me” decade, the bands of that era certainly gave plenty of themselves to you — the rock listeners of the day. It was an era that saw glam metal grow from the occasional breakout band, such as Motley Crue‘s early ’80s emergence, through to the full on domination of the hair metal era that kicked into full throttle with acts such as Bon Jovi and Poison.

In retrospect, the decade is also often celebrated for some of the alternative acts that emerged from the college rock underground to eventually stake their own claim to commercial success. The evolution of The Cure, U2 and R.E.M. from their modest ’80s starts to leading the ’90s alt rock takeover is certainly inspiring.

In most cases, the bands included in this list kept giving us great music well into the ’90s and most have been rewarded with either induction or consideration for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame..

So what were the best albums of these ’80s best rock bands? Let’s take a deeper dive into some of the most iconic albums that ’80s rock had to offer. And after checking out our list of the Best Album from 11 Legendary ’80s Rock Bands, stick around and ready through Loudwire’s 80 Best Rock + Metal Albums of the 1980s.