Nineteen-eighty-four was the year that such as Bruce Springsteen and Prince released the albums that made them superstars, punk acts R.E.M. and The Replacements came of age and, in the UK, The Smiths arrived on the scene fully formed with their self-titled debut album.
Here’s our pick of the greatest albums of a landmark year in music.
The best albums of 1984
15. Echo & The Bunnymen, Ocean Rain
Ian McCulloch never lacked confidence. On its May 1984 release, the Echo & The Bunnymen singer loudly declared to anybody who’d listen that their fourth album was the greatest ever made. While we’ll leave that up to you, Ocean Rain is certainly a stellar, career-peak of an album.
This was a large-scale expansion of the indie heroes’ sound, with a 35-piece orchestra deployed to stunning effect – providing wild, windswept drama on ‘Nocturnal Me’, lifting ‘Seven Seas’ skyward and adding a swashbuckling, cinematic dimension to the all-time classic ‘The Killing Moon’.
Key track: 'The Killing Moon'
14. Depeche Mode, Some Great Reward
As they worked on their fourth album, Basildon synthpop princes Depeche Mode felt a pressure to prove their mettle. "A lot of people still think we’re like teeny wimps," keyboardist Andy Fletcher told Melody Maker. "Wimps on synths… We’re really trying to toughen up the sound."
Lead single ‘People Are People’ set out their stall, with pounding beats, clattering samples and a message for universal tolerance. The industrial-disco ‘Master And Servant’ followed its lead, all sampled pulsing beats and provocative, industrial-themed lyrics, and the Kraftwerk-like ‘Lie To Me’ and gothic terror of ‘Blasphemous Rumours’ followed suit. The wimps on synths had grown hulking muscles.
Key track: 'Master And Servant'
13. Metallica, Ride The Lightning
The first 30 seconds of Metallica’s second album, Ride The Lightning, might’ve raised a few eyebrows among those who’d loved the thrash metal pioneers’ debut album, Kill ’Em All.
Lilting acoustic guitars dance around one another in a chamber-folk fashion – it feels as if there’s a strong possibility that a jester may appear from stage left – but suddenly, a wave of distortion looms on the horizon and normal service is resumed with a brutal, lightning-fast riff and pummelling drums.
From that point on, Ride The Lightning barely pauses for breath – the title track finds singer James Hetfield pondering death by electric chair while soundtracked by crushing riffs, the Hemingway-referencing monolith ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’ provided a template for the following decades of metal, and while ‘Fade To Black’ is a ballad, it still rocks like several avalanches in close proximity at once.
Key track: 'For Whom The Bell Tolls'
12. XTC, The Big Express
XTC’s seventh LP, The Big Express – a concept album inspired by the then-impending closure of Swindon’s railway workshop, obviously – represented a gear-shift from the pastoral psych of 1983’s Mummer.
‘All You Pretty Girls’ and ‘Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her’ are typically off-kilter guitar pop. Meanwhile, industry is evoked by the stinging guitars and powerhouse drums of ‘Wake Up’, ‘Reign Of Blows’ and ‘Train Low On Soul Coal’.
Elsewhere, ‘Shake You Donkey Up’ – a brilliantly odd, whirling dervish of a song – is typical of the sense of adventure at play throughout.
Key track: 'All You Pretty Girls'
11. The Style Council, Café Bleu
The debut album by Paul Weller’s post-Jam group showed how far the songwriter had already travelled from his punk roots.
Weller and new sidekick, keyboardist Mick Talbot, bonded over their love of Blue Note, northern soul and funk, and Café Bleu shows it, with gorgeous, languid jazz ballads such as ‘The Whole Point Of No Return’ and ‘The Paris Match’, alongside the quiet storm classic ‘You’re The Best Thing’ and the ecstatic ‘Headstart For Happiness’.
And that’s not to mention the wildcard dalliances with bossa nova (‘Me Ship Came In’) and hard bop (‘Dropping Bombs On The White House’).
Key track: 'You're The Best Thing'
10. Hüsker Dü, Zen Arcade
According to the sleevenotes, Minnesota punks Hüsker Dü’s second studio album "took about 85 hours, the last 40 hours straight for mixing."
This might not sound unusual for a road-hardened hardcore band, but Zen Arcade was an ambitious leap forward – a 23-track, double concept album that broadened the band’s sound considerably.
Unsurprisingly, a feeling of raw spontaneity abides, whether in the furious blasts of punk energy (‘Something I Learned Today’, ‘Chartered Trips’, ‘Pride’), rare acoustic interludes (‘Never Talking To You Again’), distortion-fuelled power-pop (Pink Turns To Blue’) or wonky piano doodles (‘Monday Will Never Be The Same’).
As for the concept, it’s the story of a boy escaping an abusive domestic situation, joining the military, finding religion and love, losing said love and – spoiler alert – waking up to find it was all just a dream.
Key track: 'Pink Turns To Blue'
9. The Smiths, The Smiths
It’s time the tale was told, of how The Smiths made a classic album at the first time of asking.
Their greatness is apparent within seconds of opening track, ‘Reel Around The Fountain’ – where most bands might come haring out of the traps, The Smiths sway gently, with Johnny Marr’s gentle, sun-dappled guitar weaving around Andy Rourke’s nimble basslines.
Then there’s Morrissey, crooning ambiguous, affecting lines with an eyebrow raised before touching asides ("People see no worth in you, but I do") that made a nation of sensitive teens feel as if somebody finally understood.
‘Still Ill’, ‘Hand In Glove’ and ‘What Difference Does It Make?’ are every bit as good – outsider anthems destined to be sung in sticky-floored indie discos for as long as they remain in business.
Key track: 'Hand In Glove'
8. The Minutemen, Double Nickels On The Dime
Nothing can prepare you for Double Nickels On The Dime. The Minutemen came up as a hardcore band but – spurred on by labelmates Hüsker Dü releasing a double-album – these 45, mostly minute-long songs pay no heed to genre limitations.
It’s all here: funk jams with wild, stream of conscious-sounding vocals (‘Theatre Is The Life Of You’); Bert Jansch-ish instrumental folk (‘Cohesion’); deranged surf music (‘Nature Without Man’); hillbilly punk (‘Corona’) and so much more. "Our band could be your life," wrote Mike Watt. You believe him.
Key track: 'History Lesson – Part II'
7. Sade, Diamond Life
From the release of their first single, the UK Top 10 ‘Your Love Is King’, Sade stood apart from their pop contemporaries. This was sophisticated and subtle, organic-sounding R&B at a time when crashing drum machines and chintzy synths were in vogue.
Add the smoky, defiantly British vocals of lead singer Sade Adu and a clutch of timeless singles (including the endlessly slinky ‘Smooth Operator’) and it’s no wonder that it went on to sell 10 million copies globally, influencing generations of musicians, from D’Angelo to Sault.
Key track: 'Smooth Operator'
6. David Sylvian, Brilliant Trees
When icy synth minimalists Japan split in December 1982, frontman David Sylvian assembled a dream team of musicians to help him bring his first solo album, the sublime Brilliant Trees to life, including Ryuichi Sakamoto (Yellow Magic Orchestra), Holger Czukay (Can), Jon Hassell (fresh from working with Brian Eno on Ambient 4: On Land) and bassist Danny Thompson (John Martyn, Nick Drake).
Sylvian’s writing showed a marked progression from Japan, as emphasised by the muscular art-funk of ‘Pulling Punches’ and the spellbinding jazz-folk of ‘The Ink In The Well’ and ‘Red Guitar’. Brilliant Trees is a deeply intelligent, emotionally resonant and innovative pop album that prepared listeners for the sonic adventures that Sylvian would soon embark upon.
Key track: 'Red Guitar'
5. R.E.M., Reckoning
Following the murky, enigmatic brilliance of 1983’s debut Murmur, R.E.M.’s second album saw them come out of their shell a little. Singer Michael Stipe’s lyrics were easier to decipher; on the exquisite ‘So Central Rain’, his vocals soared where once they seemed to shrink into the corner.
Meanwhile, guitarist Peter Buck’s deft jangle lifted the superior indie-pop of ‘Pretty Persuasion’ and ‘(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville’ to perfection. They’d go on to make many great albums, but Reckoning has a magic all of its own.
Key track: 'So Central Rain (I'm Sorry)'
4. Cocteau Twins, Treasure
The third album from Scottish three-piece Cocteau Twins could be their best.
Shimmering, ethereal textures from guitarist Robin Guthrie (who also produced the album) juxtapose beautifully with the rigid thump of the drum machine, and then there are Liz Fraser’s otherworldly vocals, swooping, yodelling and exalting in a language of her own making, a glossolalia (abstract, non-linguistic vocalisation) comprising stray syllables from strange languages, half-realised words and dreamy babble.
On previous albums, their sharp, post-punk edges were exposed, here they are draped in velvet and gossamer, but on occasion – such as the 1-2 of ‘Beatrix’ and ‘Persephone’ – they are still capable of summoning great storm clouds of sound.
Key track: 'Lorelei'
3. The Replacements, Let It Be
Minnesota rascals The Replacements had such a talent for self-sabotage that they even managed to bungle the destruction of the master tapes of their third album, Let It Be.
Fuelled by punk attitude and youthful recklessness, the band stole the tapes from their record label and threw them in the Mississippi River. Thing is, the masters were kept upstairs and the band had accidentally swiped a copy. "See? We were too drunk to go up a flight of stairs," quipped frontman Paul Westerberg in band biography Trouble Boys.
We can all be thankful for their overindulgence – Let It Be is the sound of the greatest rock’n’roll band of their time at their thrilling peak. ‘I Will Dare’ is still the most exciting invitation imaginable, ‘Unsatisfied’ and ‘16 Blue’ should be prescribed to lost adolescents and ‘Androgynous’ is an open-hearted plea for understanding.
Key track: 'Androgynous'
2. Bruce Springsteen, Born In The USA
By now, the story of how Bruce Springsteen arrived at the blockbusting Born In The USA is familiar, thanks to Warren Zanes’ book Deliver Me From Nowhere and its movie adaptation, but that doesn’t make the album less remarkable.
This was the point Springsteen became a superstar, thanks to the stadium-sized, uncover protest song of its title track, not to mention the swaggering ‘Dancing In The Dark’, the hot’n’heavy ‘I’m On Fire’ and the fist-pumping-through-the-tears anthem ‘Glory Days’.
But if we’re choosing one song, today it’s the glorious ‘Bobby Jean’, which is made all the more heartstopping once you hear that apparently, Springsteen isn’t singing to an old flame, but to his recently departed bandmate, Steven Van Vandt. "I miss you baby," Springsteen sings, "good luck and goodbye, Bobby Jean." Now excuse me, I seem to have something in my eye.
Key track: 'Bobby Jean'
1. Prince, Purple Rain
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, to say there’s only one winner when it comes to the greatest album of 1984. Prince’s sixth album – and first with backing band The Revolution – was a phenomenon, a rock-R&B fusion that made its composer the greatest pop star on the planet.
‘Let’s Go Crazy’ is the ultimate party-starter, swiftly followed by the ravishing ‘Take Me With U’ and the cosmic beauty of ‘Beautiful Ones’.
There isn’t a dull moment, but special mention to the impossibly chic, floating-funk of ‘When Doves Cry’ and that finale, the power ballad to end all power ballads. Whatever purple rain is, we’ll happily dance in it.
Key track: 'When Doves Cry'
All photos Getty Images
Top image Prince performs live on stage at Rosemont Horizon in Chicago on December 10 1984 during his Purple Rain tour
