For me, the hardest year of all - this was the year I turned 14, and the year I got heavily into “underground”/college rock, so, with the exception of the Tina Turner album (which I found bland), I’ve been listening to all these albums for 30 years now, and the number of them I consider classics is staggering. How can you vote against Purple Rain? Luckily, I’ll have more chances to vote for Prince, but it pains me to pass this one by. Similarly, you’ve got groundbreaking double albums from Hüsker Dü and the Minutemen that should be at the top of every music fan’s must-listen list, a great pop-oriented Lou Reed option, another classic from R.E.M. (luckily, I voted for them last time), the first rap album to make the list, and the pinnacle of '80s roots rock in the #1 and #3 positions. But since I’ll also have another chance to vote for Hüsker Dü, this year I have to go with the Replacements, if only for sentimental reasons. It pains me not to give the Minutemen some love, but this whole list pains me, really. A superb year.
Run DMC, for its historical impact over anything else.
Much as I like - REALLY like - Let It Be, Reckoning, How Will the Wolf Survive?, She’s So Unusual, and Double Nickles on the Dime, they all are monochromatic when compared to the full on Technicolor 3-D funhouse that is Prince and the Revolution’s Purple Rain.
I must be the only person on the planet who doesn’t like Prince. I’m going with Springsteen; ever single song on that album is memorable and still plays well. How The Bangles ever made the list is a mystery to me.
That first Bangles album is great - updated '60s pop before they started aiming for a more top 40 sound. “Going Down To Liverpool” and “Hero Takes A Fall” are some of their best work.
You made my mind up for me. I voted REM - Reckoning 
*Reckoning *for me. My #2 pick would be All Over The Place. I played both of them to death when they first came out.
Yeesh. Tough one. I’m pretty much were woodstockbirdybird is ( other than being a couple of years older ) - I’m halfway inclined to go for the Minutemen or Hüsker Dü just because they will probably never get ranking again. But in the end I have to go The Replacements.
Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen of course.
Elvis Costello does not appear enough on these lists.
Purple Rain, while not matching 1999, is still spectacular.
The Replacements this year, though Prince is inches behind, and run DMC was also under close consideration for me.
It was Replacements, Minutemen, or Hüsker Dü for me, but “Let It Be” such a remarkable album that I had to vote for it. Also, I’m hoping that Hüsker Dü’s “Warehouse:” album shows up later.
Because of the instrumentals on it, this week, I’m gonna pick Zen Arcade. If it was any other week, I might have picked The Minutemen, Lou Reed, R.E.M., or The Replacements. The only record that I wish was on that list is The Cocteau Twins’ Treasure, but I’d still pick Zen Arcade even if it was.
Tough choice between REM and The Replacements, two of my all-time favorite bands. I’ll go with Let It Be. I Will Dare, Androgynous, Unsatisfied, Seen Your Video, Sixteen Blue and Answering Machine are all just fantastic songs.
That really got on your nerves did it not? Should I be flattered? Jeez.
After a couple of stellar years in a row, this is a list with albums that I don’t own and don’t need.
I voted for Springsteen, but as usual, I can think of many 1984 albums I liked better than any of these!
U2’s The Unforgettable Fire
The Cars’ Heartbeat City
The Scorpions’ Love at First Sting
Ratt’s Out of the Cellar
Deep Purple’s Perfect Strangers
Don Henley’s Building the Perfect Beast
This would also have been on my list. I probably listened to that album thousands of times in high school.
The Unforgettable Fire does seem like a *very *conspicuous omission. The Pazz & Jop critics ranked it #29.
Well, it’s possible “4th of July” and the absolutely awful “Elvis Presley and America” caused critics to rank it a bit lower.