GMD Poll: Top Years of the 80's

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Since we completed the GMD Polls of all the years in the 80's it would be interesting to see how the years rank up with each other. This is NOT a thread for the top albums of the 80s, but rather the YEARS themselves. The top albums of the decade can be made into a separate thread later.

Scoring:
- first place in your rankings gets 10 points, 2nd gets 9, etcetc, 10th gets 1.
- feel free to post less than 10, the same scoring will apply.
- feel free not to rank your picks, in which case all ten picks will get 5.5 points.


Deadline: January 31st - this type of poll should be much easier than a regular album poll since I imagine most of us would simply pit our top 10's from each year against each other.

 

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1) 1986
2) 1987
3) 1985
4) 1984
5) 1983
6) 1988
7) 1989
8) 1980
9) 1982
10) 1981

 

[CiG]

1. 1987
2. 1986
3. 1989
4. 1984
5. 1985
6. 1983
7. 1980
8. 1982
9. 1988
10. 1981

So tough to choose between 1986 and 1987 for my top spot. Not 100% satisfied so it might change, the way I ordered this is by adding up all the 9/10's and 10/10's for each year from my RYM.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

1. 1984
2. 1986
3. 1988
4. 1989
5. 1985
6. 1983
7. 1987
8. 1982
9. 1981
10. 1980

84-89 were all amazing years. 87 had tons of great stuff but my favorite from it (Hall of the Mountain King or Release From Agony depending on mood) would probably rank below the top 2 of any other 84-89 year. 85 had the best top 3 albums probably but the overall quantity of great albums is quite a bit lower. 84 and 86 edge out 88 and 89 just cherry-picking the very greatest, which easier than trying to sort out the many dozen near-perfect albums from those years. As much as I love Endless War and No More Color, they're not Ride the Lightning or Epicus Doomicus Metallicus.

EDIT: Actually, swapped 83 and 87. 83 is not nearly as great on the whole as 87, but cherry-picking again, Piece of Mind is tied with Killers as my favorite album from my favorite band, and Melissa is the best-written heavy metal album in existence.

 

[CiG]

Don't think I knew until now that Iron Maiden is your favourite band.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

It has generally been Maiden, though for a reasonably long period (I think from about 2010 until a few years ago, the period I was most active on this forum) I gave Fates Warning a slight edge because The Spectre Within is still my favorite album, and because their discography is overall more consistent than Maiden's. But in a head-to-head match up of, say, each band's top 5-7-ish albums, Maiden would overall run away with it. Plus, extra nostalgia.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

werent you one of the dudes who said Priest was better than Maiden? But thinking about it now i think you said they had better individual songs but Maiden had better albums or something like that.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Pretty sure what I said was that Priest have certain qualities that are superior to Maiden: Halford is a technically better singer with greater range than Dickinson, Tipton is probably a more technical and diverse guitarist than either Maiden guitarist (though Smith is up there) while Downing's whammy bar-abuse was probably more influential due to Hanneman and King taking influence, Priest had a broader range of songwriting overall while Maiden's songs vary more in length than in form, Priest's bad albums have some respectable ideas while Virtual XI is a total abortion, etc. But there's too much that I love personally about Maiden's first five albums, so they've always had the overall edge for me vs Priest, as far as I can remember anyways.

EDIT: I said this last year, which I stand by:

But I think the variety in Priest's songwriting is pretty overlooked in general. As much as I love Maiden and prefer peak Maiden to peak Priest, Harris doesn't have half the musical creativity of Tipton/Downing/Halford. A Priest filler song can still be memorable or notably different from others while many bands [e.g. Iron Maiden] will literally self-plagiarize.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

yea but im also pretty sure that at one point you said they have better songs but Maiden have better albums.

 

[Bloopy]

1. 1988
2. 1983
3. 1986
4. 1980
5. 1981
6. 1989
7. 1982
8. 1984
9. 1985
10. 1987

 

[no country for old wainds]

1. 1984
2. 1985
3. 1986
4. 1983
5. 1987
6. 1988
7. 1989
8. 1982
9. 1980
10. 1981

 

[Slammed]

1. 1988
2. 1989
3. 1987
4. 1985
5. 1986
6. 1983
7. 1982
8. 1984
9. 1981
10. 1980

 

[no country for old wainds]

'86 is the only year to make everybody's top 5 so far. '82 is the only one to make everyone's bottom 5.

 

[zerostatic]

1) 1986
2) 1987
3) 1989
4) 1988
5) 1985
6) 1984
7) 1980
8) 1983
9) 1982
10)1981

 

[Slayed Necros]

1. 1987
2. 1989
3. 1986
4. 1988
5. 1985
6. 1983
7. 1984
8. 1981
9. 1980
10. 1982

 

[Baroque]

1. 1986
2. 1988
3. 1989
4. 1984
5. 1987
6. 1980
7. 1983
8. 1985
9. 1982
10. 1981

 

[Allfader]

Pretty sure what I said was that Priest have certain qualities that are superior to Maiden: Halford is a technically better singer with greater range than Dickinson, Tipton is probably a more technical and diverse guitarist than either Maiden guitarist (though Smith is up there) while Downing's whammy bar-abuse was probably more influential due to Hanneman and King taking influence, Priest had a broader range of songwriting overall while Maiden's songs vary more in length than in form, Priest's bad albums have some respectable ideas while Virtual XI is a total abortion, etc. But there's too much that I love personally about Maiden's first five albums, so they've always had the overall edge for me vs Priest, as far as I can remember anyways.

EDIT: I said this last year, which I stand by:

The amount of filler on Priest albums tho...

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

overall Maiden are a way better band. They have the better song and the better albums .... and its not even close if you ask me.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

The amount of filler on Priest albums tho...

Sad Wings - none (aside from Prelude)
Sin - none
Stained - none
Hell Bent - Running Wild, I guess
British Steel - not really any
Screaming - none
Defenders - Eat Me Alive
Painkiller - All Guns Blazing

Not really that much on their most acclaimed albums.

 

[Sedition and Pockets]

I have kind of similar listening habits with Priest and Maiden. With Priest it's basically Sad Wings of Destiny, Stained Class, and Killing Machine, and occasionally Screaming for Vengeance or Painkiller. With Maiden it's Killers, Number of the Beast, and Piece of Mind, with Powerslave and Somewhere in Time getting played from time to time. I kinda prefer peak Priest to peak Maiden, but Maiden is certainly a lot more consistent in their output.