# Best 80s records by 60s-70s rock bands? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 30, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068 "2017-08-30T00:43:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2017, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/61 "2017-09-03T01:13:35Z")
> **[Robyn Hitchcock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_Hitchcock)** > > Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the influential Underwater Moonlight, Hitchcock launched a prolific solo career. His musical and lyrical styles have been influenced by Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Syd Barrett, Captain Beefheart, Martin Carthy, Lou Reed, Roger McGuinn and Bryan Ferry. > Hitchcock... As long as we stretched it to the 70s I think it’s right to include Robyn Hitchcock, a world treasure who is the pablo picasso of great rock, with over 40 years spanned between great world class work. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2017, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/62 "2017-09-03T01:39:04Z")
Robbie Robertson obviously had the bulk of his success with The Band in the late 1960s, but made a powerhouse comeback with his 1987 self-titled solo album. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2017, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/63 "2017-09-03T11:23:53Z")
Albert, I was going to mention Van Morrison – I swear! – but I decided that, while his 80s stuff like _No Guru…_ is good, creative, reflective, important music, it didn’t quite measure up to his early 70s output overall, so he just missed the cut (IMHO) for this particular thread. ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2017, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/64 "2017-09-03T12:42:51Z")
The J Geils band formed in 1968 and had a few minor hits in the 70s (Give It to Me, Must’ve Got Lost, Come Back, Love Stinks), but never had a Top 10 song until they released the album Freeze Frame in 1982. Peter Wolf left to go solo and the band broke up soon after finally hitting the big time. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2017, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/65 "2017-09-04T14:47:32Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > Jethro Tull’s Crest of a Knave is well-known as being better than Metallica. 🙂 However, if you’re not aware of Broadsword and the Beast as the best Tull album of the 80’s, and IMHO, of all of Tulls album, then change this. It’s the one I’d hold up as an 80’s triumph. Different style from early Tull, but still wonderful. Rock Island is also a superb album, which would be known more, except Broadsword was so good. I always thought that was the one which stole the Grammy from Metallica… Crest of a Knave, while ok, is them pretending to be Dire Straits. Ironic, really that is was the least deserving (well, apart from Under Wraps) is the one which wins the award. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2017, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/66 "2017-09-04T20:33:02Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Aerosmith had _Permanent Vacation_ in 1987 and\* Pump\* in 1989. Two albums which I think are the best work. Really? More so than _Toys in the Attic_? > [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > …1982’s _Combat Rock_ remains the 2nd greatest rock album yet recorded (also IMO). Gosh. And the first being? > [@Oly](#): > > Cher I might have to double-secret-gosh this. Elaborate? > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Lou Reed’s “New York“ from 1989 is widely considered his strongest solo album, including by me. Regardless of the critics, I think _The Blue Mask_ was his best, more so than _Transformer_, even.:eek: agree with: > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Paul Simon - _Graceland_ (1986) > [@ZonexandScout](#): > > I was a big Yes fan in the 70s, but could never generate any affection for their 80s efforts. _ **90125** _ was just not my cup of tea. > [@GESancMan](#): > > King Crimson put out three good albums in the 80s. Not as good as their previous output, but still good. (I’ll say excellent albums, and agree they weren’t as good as their earlier stuff.) > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Genesis: Duke, Abacab > [@SykoSkotty](#): > > 1981 = Moving Pictures, the best of the bunch. (for the 80’s, yeah) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/67 "2017-09-04T21:25:59Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > Regardless of the critics, I think _The Blue Mask_ was his best, more so than _Transformer_, even.:eek: The _Blue Mask_ is a great album, no doubt one of his best, but rather introspective (and of course also _Transformers_, but that’s very much a product of its time), but what made \*New York \*so strong was its in-the-face clutter-less production combined with the topical, but also prophetical lyrics: “Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I’ll piss on 'em that’s what the Statue of Bigotry says Your poor huddled masses, let’s club 'em to death and get it over with and just dump 'em on the boulevard” from [Dirty Boulevard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA4-4ifhixg) or “Well Americans don’t care for much of anything land and water the least And animal life is low on the totem pole with human life not worth much more than infected yeast Americans don’t care too much for beauty They’ll shit in a river, dump battery acid in a stream They’ll watch dead rats wash up on the beach and complain if they can’t swim” from [Last Great American Whale.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTlsSXNT2bg) Couldn’t be more topical now with the current president, who also got dissed on the album when he was merely a shady business tycoon. ---
**Author:** ![Miles\_Standoffish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/54ee81/32.png) [@Miles\_Standoffish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miles_Standoffish)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/68 "2017-09-06T12:43:41Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I have one more to add. Neil Young’s eighties albums were a string of erratic and strange affairs, culminating in being sued by his own label (David) Geffen for being uncommercial, but he returned to form with one of his classic albums “ Freedom“ in 1989, which also included the biggest hit of his later career, “Rockin’ In The Free World“. Well said. This was the last Neil Young record I really loved. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/69 "2017-09-06T14:04:27Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Richard and Linda Thompson’s final album together, _Shoot Out The Lights_. Absolutely. But I think it’s sort of a “special circumstance,” since RT went on to release several very powerful albums in the 80s as a solo act (though he continued to use many of the same backing musicians). His first solo album was in the 70s. Therefore I vote for BOTH RT/LT and RT (solo) as entries in this category. ---
**Author:** ![Lorne\_Armstrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lorne\_Armstrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorne_Armstrong)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/70 "2017-09-13T10:12:35Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Me too. _Duke, Abacab,_ and _3 Sides Live_ are great. As was the self-titled album from 1983. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/71 "2017-09-13T16:52:57Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > Gosh. > And the first being? As I’ve said many times, the greatest rock album yet made is **Refused** ’s _The Shape of Punk to Come_. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/72 "2017-09-13T18:23:23Z")
Let’s Dance has already been mentioned, and it’s certainly Bowie’s most commercially successful album, but it was preceded by 1980’s Scary Monsters…and Super Creeps, a better all-around album though not nearly as successful. The less said about the rest of his 1980s catalogue the better, though there are some outstanding individual songs (Loving the Alien, especially). ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/73 "2017-09-13T18:45:58Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Van Halen’s _1984_ was their biggest album yet and was simply inescapable on radio (and EmptyVision) for over a year. Can you really call Van Halen a “60s-70s rock band?” Yes, the band formed in '72 and release two albums in the 70s, but the bulk of their work came out of the 80s. According to [this site](http://www.statisticbrain.com/van-halen-band-career-statistics/), they only made $25 million in worldwide sales for those two albums, whereas they raked in $47 million for their 80s albums, and another $13 million for post-80s work. I graduated from high school in 1988 and I consider VH to be very much an 80s band. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2017, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068/74 "2017-09-13T18:54:17Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > Can you really call Van Halen a “60s-70s rock band?” > > Yes, the band formed in '72 and release two albums in the 70s, but the bulk of their work came out of the 80s. According to [this site](http://www.statisticbrain.com/van-halen-band-career-statistics/), they only made $25 million in worldwide sales for those two albums, whereas they raked in $47 million for their 80s albums, and another $13 million for post-80s work. > > I graduated from high school in 1988 and I consider VH to be very much an 80s band. Per the criteria given in the OP: > [@](#): > > The 80s are generally considered a time when many **rock bands who originated in the 1960s or 1970s** lost the plot and put out subpar material. > > **What are some 80s records by 60s/70s bands that actually live up to the band’s past work**? Van Halen is a rock band that originated in the 1970s. _1984_ is a record they put out in the '80s that is arguably their best record, thus not only living up to their past work but possibly exceeding it. Yes, I think they ft the criteria given in the OP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-80s-records-by-60s-70s-rock-bands/795068.md?page=3)