To be honest this thread rather reminds me of Pseuds Corner column in Private Eye....
I can see how if you don't know what any of the records are this thread might look like a wilfully obscure list of albums, but most of what has been posted so far is a classic or significant album in their own scenes. Since the internet all those albums that were once hard to find or hear or know about are just a few clicks away, and people have spent the last 20 years re-discovering scenes that were once limited to those who were there. Some albums that probably only a handful of people knew about at the time have become much loved classics since. There was loads going on in music in 1981 around the world and this thread reflects that.
Just boys listing things innit
That's a fair criticism of the thread, so let's put this random jumble of albums into some context:
Synthpop was moving away from its moody experimental roots and hitting the pop charts (Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Soft Cell).
The moody experimental synthpop/industrial scene was continuing (Cabaret Voltaire, Severed Heads, Fad Gadget).
The euro/german new wave scene (Neue Deutsche Welle) was kicking off. Like UK post-punk it look influences from all over the place and like synthpop and industrial it made maximum use of new technology. (Einstürzende Neubauten, DAF, Liaison Dangereuse). DAF & LD in particular had a massive influence on all subsequent electronic dance music, both in Europe and in Chicago where their music was played by the Hot Mix 5 and heard by the original house music producers.
Disco's commercial bubble had burst in the US, but nobody told Europe where it carried on. Being out of the commercial limelight meant it could get back to developing: there's a lot of smooth stuff in the US as bands wanted to be taken as serious musicians while others kept on putting out party tunes. In Italy electronic italo-disco was becoming a thing (another sound picked up by the Hot Mix 5).
In the UK there was a brit-funk scene that partly soundtracked the mixed race warehouse parties that were a precursor to the rave scene later in the decade.
70s punk gave way to various scenes: post-punk, anarcho-punk, streetpunk; hardcore in the US.
Factory Records in Manchester were doing their thing.
Reggae was developing deejay/dancehall sounds, dub was increasingly using new technology for effects, lovers rock was big in the UK.
70s hard rock was becoming what we think of as heavy metal today.
Ambient and new age music was a thing.
There was loads of incredible music in different scenes around Africa that was soon to be bought together under the marketing term of 'world music'.
I'm sure there's plenty I haven't mentioned and each scene deserves a book, but I'm bored typing now and I have to hang the washing out, so I'm gonna hit post and go and do that. But the thing I love about these threads is the chance to dig into a specific year and have a look at what was going on.
www.discogs.com
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www.discogs.com
