# The Eighties Thirteen records, ten of our rankings, ten years. The decade cheap machines and cheap pressings reached people with no access to a record industry, told through the labels they had to start instead. - **Picks:** 13 - **Drawn from:** 10 rankings - **Years:** 1980–1989 - **Curator:** The Waxonia Desk - **Updated:** 2026-08-29 - **Curator's page:** https://waxonia.com/artist/the-desk/ - **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/theme/the-eighties/ ## What gets in, and what does not Released between 1980 and 1989, and made outside the industry that was selling the decade — the label has to be the makers' own or their scene's. A great eighties record made on a major's budget does not qualify, however much the decade is remembered for it. Every record here is already in one of our rankings — a theme re-cuts what the site has vouched for, and vouches for nothing new. Drawn from: [Bleep Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/), [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [Dancehall](https://waxonia.com/genre/dancehall/), [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [Dream Pop](https://waxonia.com/genre/dream-pop/), [Grunge](https://waxonia.com/genre/grunge/), [Hardcore Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/hardcore-punk/), [Italo Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/italo-disco/), [Miami Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/), [Post-Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/). ## The records Selected, not ranked — the order carries no claim about which is best. ### [Joy Division](https://waxonia.com/artist/joy-division/) — [Love Will Tear Us Apart](https://waxonia.com/track/joy-division--love-will-tear-us-apart/) *1980 · Factory* Factory gave its bands the copyrights and had no contracts to speak of, which was ruinous as a business and is the reason this record sounds like nobody was consulted. The decade's most covered song, released by a Manchester club with a design habit. Also on: [Post-Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/post-punk/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Joy%20Division%20Love%20Will%20Tear%20Us%20Apart) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zuuObGsB0No) ### [Black Flag](https://waxonia.com/artist/black-flag/) — [Rise Above](https://waxonia.com/track/black-flag--rise-above/) *1981 · SST* Greg Ginn ran SST out of his own electronics business and put out the records nobody would touch. American hardcore did not get signed; it built a distribution network out of vans and mail order, and this is the record at the front of it. Also on: [Hardcore Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/hardcore-punk/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Black%20Flag%20Rise%20Above) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wDUYCyajDcs) ### [Minor Threat](https://waxonia.com/artist/minor-threat/) — [Straight Edge](https://waxonia.com/track/minor-threat--straight-edge/) *1981 · Dischord* Forty-six seconds, on a label the band started to release it, which still caps its record prices four decades later. The clearest case here of the economics and the content being the same argument. Also on: [Hardcore Punk](https://waxonia.com/genre/hardcore-punk/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Minor%20Threat%20Straight%20Edge) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gsAu-nOg3Tw) ### [Klein + M.B.O.](https://waxonia.com/artist/klein-m-b-o/) — [Dirty Talk](https://waxonia.com/track/klein-m-b-o--dirty-talk/) *1982 · Zanza* Milan working out what to do with a drum machine two years before anyone called it Italo. Made cheaply for clubs, exported by accident, and played in New York and Chicago by DJs who had no idea where it came from. Also on: [Italo Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/italo-disco/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Klein%20%2B%20M.B.O.%20Dirty%20Talk) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Klein%20%2B%20M.B.O.%20Dirty%20Talk) ### [Alexander Robotnick](https://waxonia.com/artist/alexander-robotnick/) — [Problèmes d'Amour](https://waxonia.com/track/alexander-robotnick--problemes-damour/) *1983 · Fuzz Dance* A one-man record on a tiny Florentine imprint that outlasted most of the decade's budgets. Italo is the purest example of the criterion: no industry behind it at all, and it ended up under half of house music. Also on: [Italo Disco](https://waxonia.com/genre/italo-disco/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Alexander%20Robotnick%20Probl%C3%A8mes%20d'Amour) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oX1Vge8zAjw) ### [Cocteau Twins](https://waxonia.com/artist/cocteau-twins/) — [Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops](https://waxonia.com/track/cocteau-twins--pearly-dewdrops-drops/) *1984 · 4AD* 4AD was Ivo Watts-Russell's shop-front operation and it let a band invent a vocabulary — no lyrics anyone can transcribe, a guitar treated as weather. No A&R department in 1984 would have commissioned this and none had to. Also on: [Dream Pop](https://waxonia.com/genre/dream-pop/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Cocteau%20Twins%20Pearly-Dewdrops'%20Drops) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=s-5Xgw6d3h0) ### [Model 500](https://waxonia.com/artist/model-500/) — [No UFO's](https://waxonia.com/track/model-500--no-ufos/) *1985 · Metroplex* Juan Atkins pressed it himself on his own label, in a city whose record industry had left for Los Angeles fifteen years earlier. Techno starts as a self-released twelve-inch, which is a fact about Detroit as much as about the music. Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Model%20500%20No%20UFO's) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Model%20500%20No%20UFO's) ### [Tenor Saw](https://waxonia.com/artist/tenor-saw/) — [Ring the Alarm](https://waxonia.com/track/tenor-saw--ring-the-alarm/) *1985 · Techniques* Winston Riley's own Kingston label, a rhythm reused for the next thirty years, and no multinational anywhere near it. Jamaica had been running the model this whole list describes since long before the decade started. Also on: [Dancehall](https://waxonia.com/genre/dancehall/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Tenor%20Saw%20Ring%20the%20Alarm) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=UpjLLw-cVzU) ### [2 Live Crew](https://waxonia.com/artist/2-live-crew/) — [Throw the D](https://waxonia.com/track/2-live-crew--throw-the-d/) *1986 · Luke Skyywalker* Luke Campbell named the label after himself because there was no other way to release it, and later took its obscenity case to a federal appeals court. The most literal instance here of a scene having to build its own way out. Also on: [Miami Bass](https://waxonia.com/genre/miami-bass/), [Miami](https://waxonia.com/theme/miami/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/2%20Live%20Crew%20Throw%20the%20D) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=IMicDDXU-9c) ### [Mr. Fingers](https://waxonia.com/artist/mr-fingers/) — [Can You Feel It](https://waxonia.com/track/mr-fingers--can-you-feel-it/) *1986 · Trax* Trax pressed on recycled vinyl and paid almost nobody, which is a real part of the story and not a footnote. It also put out the record that defines house, made by one man in an apartment on borrowed equipment. Also on: [Chicago House](https://waxonia.com/genre/chicago-house/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — In the Room](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-in-the-room/), [The Waxonia Desk — Looped and Filtered](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-chicago-looped-and-filtered/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mr.%20Fingers%20Can%20You%20Feel%20It) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=p2XxyBViBog) ### [Rhythim Is Rhythim](https://waxonia.com/artist/rhythim-is-rhythim/) — [Strings of Life](https://waxonia.com/track/rhythim-is-rhythim--strings-of-life/) *1987 · Transmat* Derrick May's own label again, and the record the rest of the decade gets measured against. No chorus, no bassline for most of it, and no committee anywhere that would have let it out at that length. Also on: [Detroit Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/detroit-techno/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — Detroit, Heard in Europe](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-detroit-in-europe/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Rhythim%20Is%20Rhythim%20Strings%20of%20Life) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=vGFw2qeUp0s) ### [Mudhoney](https://waxonia.com/artist/mudhoney/) — [Touch Me I'm Sick](https://waxonia.com/track/mudhoney--touch-me-im-sick/) *1988 · Sub Pop* Sub Pop was two men, a loan and a singles club, and this is the record that made the subscription worth having. Everything the next decade sold by the million was worked out here for the price of a session. Also on: [Grunge](https://waxonia.com/genre/grunge/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Mudhoney%20Touch%20Me%20I'm%20Sick) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=_nGsT_qFMBs) ### [Forgemasters](https://waxonia.com/artist/forgemasters/) — [Track With No Name](https://waxonia.com/track/forgemasters--track-with-no-name/) *1989 · Warp* Funded by an enterprise grant, named after a steelworks, released by a Sheffield record shop. The decade ends with a public body accidentally paying for the first Warp single, which is as good a summary of the whole argument as exists. Also on: [Bleep Techno](https://waxonia.com/genre/bleep-techno/), [Warp](https://waxonia.com/theme/warp/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Forgemasters%20Track%20With%20No%20Name) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ys9e2m0LTs) ## Who made this The people who write the rankings on this site. We keep the lists honest, we argue about the order, and we get asked the same question more than any other: where should someone actually start. These are our answers. Elsewhere: https://waxonia.com/ --- Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.