Wow, lots of good stuff, much of which I didn't discover until a lot later. But between Def Lappard, Quiet Riot, Ozzy, and Dio, this was really the year that I discovered hard rock and decided that that was the music for me. In hindsight, I only wish I had branched out more at that time and not waited to discover some of these great albums.
1. Def Leppard - Pyromania: This was the one that did it. This is the one that made Def Lep my favorite band and made this type of music my favorite music. The hits were massive and even the deep cuts were songs that demanded repeat listens.
2. Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind: I didn't truly discover this album until 2010 when I really began my Iron Maiden exploration, although I knew of it at the time and had heard several songs from it through the years. This is a true Maiden classic.s
3. Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon: I LOVED this album back at the time.
4. Queensryche - Queensryche: Tough to rank, being an EP as well as something I didn't really even know existed at the time. But 3 of the 4 songs are fantastic, and I can excuse Nightrider for it being 1983. The first version I eventually got also had Prophecy on it, so fair or not, that also elevates it.
5. Y&T - Meanstreak: Despite my Y&T fandom, this one does not rank a high. The good songs are REALLY good. But there is a lot that just feels like filler. And Midnight in Tokyo always just felt like an attempt to write another Forever that clearly was not as good.
6. Journey - Frontiers: I loved this era of Journey. Just about every song on this album was great.
7. Quiet Riot - Metal Health: I had fun with this band's first two albums before losing interest.
8. Hall & Oates - Rock 'n Soul Part 1: These guys were short-lived in my collection, but this was one of two really good albums.
9. U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky: Wish we could have gotten an entire live set instead of 8 cherry-picked songs, but the ones that were picked were picked for a reason.
10. Dokken - Breaking the Chains: Didn't really get into them until the late '80s, but this isn't a bad effort from them.
11. Stevie Nicks - The Wild Heart: I still remember getting this one for Christmas.
12. Dio - Holy Diver: Like Y&T farther up the list, this had a small number of really good songs, and a bunch of forgettable stuff.
13. The Police - Synchronicity: Wasn't a huge Police fan outside of the hits. But this album had a lot of said hits.
14. Bill Joel - An Innocent Man: A different direction from the previous album, but I liked it.
15. Siouxsie & the Banshees - Noctourne: I didn't connect with a lot of the older tunes on this one, but still a great live collection.
16. U2 - War: The best songs from this appear on Under a Blood Red Sky and are performed better there, IMO.
Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
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