Really strong year by my tastes. Here is what my top 10 would probably look like:
1. Y&T - In Rock We Trust: Bummer it took the band this long to get a real "hit" and any sort of widespread acclaim. It is hard for me to pick songs from this album that rise to the level of some of their real classics like Forever, Mean Streak, or Rescue Me, but this is easily their most consistent album to date. Not a bad track on this entire album.
2. Scorpions - Love At First Sting: Blackout and LAFS were where the band really hit full stride in terms of perfectly blending that hard rock edge with commercial accessibility. Rock You Like A Hurricane's guitar solo is one that I still consider top 10 all time.
3. Queensryche - The Warning: I was not into Queensryche at the time. It was not until late in the Mindcrime era that I discovered them. Even then, it took me a long time to get into The Warning. But there is undoubtedly a lot of quality music on this album.
4. Iron Maiden - Power Slave: I was not into Maiden at the time, but have recently discovered them. I actually find this album weak as a whole, due to the filler in the middle. But on the strength of the first two songs and the last two alone, it deserves high marks.
5. Whitesnake - Slide It In: I wouldn't rank it nearly so high if not for the nostalgia and how much I played it back in the day. Yeah, the songs were juvenile, but I just loved their sound. And seeing them on this tour sandwiched between Kick Axe and Quiet Riot with Sykes on guitar cemented it.
6. Kick Axe - Vices: A little known gem that I played the heck out of.
7. Quiet Riot - Condition Critical: This was a surprisingly fun album. The songs translated well to a live setting, which I think took it up a few notches for me.
8. Dio - Last In Line: Last In Line and We Rock make this album. I didn't really care for the rest. ...other than Egypt. Was that on the original release? I don't remember it from that era and remember being really surprised when I heard it MANY years later. Was it an extra track on a re-release or something, or did I just somehow overlook it at the time? Not sure.
9. Ratt - Out of the Cellar: A few good songs, and some filler. But the good songs were really good.
10. Bon Jovi - s/t: Yeah, I liked it. Shut up.
Just missed the cut (in no particular order):
-Stryper: Some good songs, but I prefer live versions from much later years. The songwriting and playing chops were there. But the vocals dragged some of their early songs down just a bit by making the songs overall sound softer. Michael Sweet has even recently acknowledged that he much prefers his current voice to how he used his voice back then because he still has most of his range, but has been able to add more grit and edge, whereas his voice sounded more soft and feminine back then. I agree.
-Van Halen: Yeah, 1984 was such a classic, iconic album. But I am just SO tired of Van Halen and have been for years. Plus, I think the Sammy era saw a marked jump up in quality overall.
-Dokken: These guys always seemed to consistently crank out a few really good songs every album. This one is no exception.
-Warlock: I only just got into the band when Triumph and Agony was released, so this one wasn't even on my radar at the time. But it has some gems.