HERC's Favorite Albums Of 1983

This post was inspired by this Martin's View post.

How was your 1983?  
HERC's was awesome!  Thanks for asking.

HERC in 1983

• He turned seventeen
• He finally got his driver's license
• He had his braces removed in time for yearbook photos
• (Or did he?  Looks like he may be wearing braces in the pic)
• He landed his first job
• He met the woman he would eventually marry

And when his Junior Year yearbook was returned to him after being passed around for signings during the last two days of school in 1983 (do kids still do that?), he opened it from the back to find this:

Out of respect for her privacy, HERC has obscured her personal info including her name.  (She used HERC's real name, so he obscured those instances as well.)  She got her requested hug and they went on their first date within 48 hours of HERC reading the above.  They had written a lot of letters and notes to each other as friends as she mentioned and during their Senior Year, they started passing those fat five subject spiral bound notebooks back and forth, so that they were in constant communication.  The relationship lasted eight or nine months, including two concerts (below) and one sobering pregnancy scare. HERC cowardly bailed on her in early 1984. (He didn't check but he's pretty sure she didn't sign his Senior Year yearbook.) 

Fortunately, as regular readers of The Hideaway know, HERC's mind is a jumble of music and memories and while most of the albums below should probably remind him of the girl who admitted her secret crush in the back pages of his yearbook in the Summer of 1983, they do not.  Instead, they ALL remind him of a beautiful brown-eyed co-worker at that first job, where a radio was constantly on in the back room and then moved out front with the volume turned up after closing.  That co-worker was the smiling, curvy girl in the brown polyester uniform who handed him the application that fateful day he walked in to apply; that girl is now the woman asleep in the next room as HERC stands here typing.  These albums are imprinted upon his memory along with her smiling eyes and those oh so dangerous curves.

  click on album title to listen on Spotify - not all albums available

HERC's ranking	album title	artist	Top 200 peak
100	Faster Than the Speed of Night	Bonnie Tyler	4
99	"Weird Al" Yankovic	"Weird Al" Yankovic	139
98	Points On The Curve	Wang Chung	30
97	The Politics of Dancing	Re-Flex	53
96	Good as Gold	Red Rockers	71
95	The Closer You Get...	Alabama	10
94	Candy Girl	New Edition	90
93	Quick Step & Side Kick	Thompson Twins	34
92	Lost In Space	Jonzun Crew	66
91	Cold Blooded	Rick James	16
90	Come Away With ESG	ESG
89	Chart Action '83 [K-tel]	various artists
88	Little Robbers	The Motels	22
87	Modern Romans	The Call	84
86	With Sympathy	Ministry	96
85	The Principle of Moments	Robert Plant	8
84	Now That's What I Call Music [UK]	various artists
83	Naked Eyes	Naked Eyes	32
82	Outside Inside	The Tubes	18
81	Under a Blood Red Sky [EP]	U2	28
80	Branigan 2	Laura Branigan	29
79	The Big Chill	(soundtrack)	17
78	Texas Flood	Stevie Ray Vaughan	38
77	Midnight Madness	Night Ranger	15
76	No Parking on the Dance Floor	Midnight Star	27
75	Whammy!	The B-52's	29
74	Take Another Picture	Quarterflash	34
73	Bark at the Moon	Ozzy Osbourne	19
72	Fastway	Fastway	31
71	Listen	A Flock Of Seagulls	16
70	Keep It Up	Loverboy	7
69	Never Surrender	Triumph	26
68	National Lampoon’s Vacation	(soundtrack)
67	90125	Yes	5
66	When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going	Bow Wow Wow	82
65	Strip	Adam Ant	65
64	Genesis	Genesis	9
63	The Look	Shalamar	38
62	Rant N' Rave With the Stray Cats	Stray Cats	14
61	The Hurting	Tears For Fears	73
60	Punch the Clock	Elvis Costello	24
59	Introducing the Style Council	The Style Council	172
58	Kilroy Was Here	Styx	3
57	Body Wishes	Rod Stewart	30
56	Seven and the Ragged Tiger	Duran Duran	8
55	You Broke My Heart In Seventeen Places	Tracey Ullman	34
54	The Wild Heart	Stevie Nicks	5
53	Lawyers In Love	Jackson Browne	8
52	Can't Slow Down	Lionel Richie	1
51	Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)	Eurythmics	15
50	She’s So Unusual	Cyndi Lauper	4
49	Flick of the Switch	AC/DC	15
48	Somewhere in Afrika	Manfred Mann's Earth Band	40
47	Survivin' in the 80's	André Cymone	185
46	If You Leave Me Now	Chicago
45	Holy Diver	Dio	56
44	Future Shock	Herbie Hancock	43
43	Reach the Beach	The Fixx	8
42	Living in Oz	Rick Springfield	12
41	Cargo	Men At Work	3
40	Frontiers	Journey	2
39	Sports	Huey Lewis & the New	1
38	Neruda	Red Rider	66
37	An Innocent Man	Billy Joel	4
36	Break Out	Pointer Sisters	8
35	Cuts Like a Knife	Bryan Adams	8
34	You And Me Both	Yaz	69
33	Risky Business	(soundtrack)
32	Breaking the Chains	Dokken	136
31	Dreamboy (EP)	Dreamboy
30	The Crossing	Big Country	18
29	Stay With Me Tonight	Jeffrey Osborne	25
28	What A Feelin'	Irene Cara	77
27	Planet P	Planet P	42
26	Too Low for Zero	Elton John	25
25	Touch	Eurythmics	7
24	The Final Cut	Pink Floyd	6
23	Metal Health	Quiet Riot	1
22	Fantastic	Wham! U.K.	83
21	Duck Rock	Malcolm McLaren
20	Eddie and the Cruisers	(soundtrack)	47
19	Shout at the Devil	Mötley Crüe	17
18	Uh-Huh!	John Cougar Mellencamp	9
17	Nona	Nona Hendryx	83
16	Into Battle with the Art of Noise	Art Of Noise
15	Madonna	Madonna	8
14	Undercover	The Rolling Stones	4
13	Blinded By Science	Thomas Dolby	20
12	Eliminator	ZZ Top	9
11	Rebel Yell	Billy Idol	6
10	Colour by Numbers	Culture Club	2
9	War	U2	12
8	Album	Joan Jett and the Blackhearts	20
7	Let's Dance	David Bowie	4
6	The Luxury Gap	Heaven 17	72
5	Flashdance (soundtrack)	(soundtrack)	1
4	Power, Corruption & Lies	New Order
3	Speaking in Tongues	Talking Heads	15
2	Synchronicity	The Police	1
1	Pyromania	Def Leppard	2