The Best Rock Albums of 1982

Today's post in 50 Years of Music, a section of my blog devoted to the best rock albums of the past fifty years, will include the best albums of 1982. I have covered 26 years of music in other posts (1965-81), which can be found by typing the year into the search bar at the top of my blog. Each post in 50 Years of Music is updated frequently, with new albums recommended by readers added to the posts. What's your favorite?

• Van Halen- Diver Down
• Led Zeppelin- Coda
• The Clash- Combat Rock
• Ted Nugent- Nugent
• Iron Maiden- The Number of the Beast
• Rush- Signals
• Utopia- Utopia; Swing to the Right
• Duran Duran- Rio
• Judas Priest- Screaming for Vengeance
• Paul McCartney- Tug of War
• Scorpions- Blackout
• George Harrison- Gone Troppo
• Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers- Long After Dark
• Sammy Hagar- Three Lock Box
• George Thorogood & the Destroyers- Bad to the Bone
• The B-52's- Mesopotamia (EP)
• Foghat- Zig-Zag Walk
• Todd Rundgren- The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect 
• Don Henley- I Can't Stand Still

Michael Jackson- Thriller

Thriller is the sixth studio album by the American recording artist Michael Jackson released on November 30, 1982. The album has been certified 29x Platinum in the United States, 16x Platinum in Australia, 11x Platinum in the United Kingdom, and Diamond in Canada. The album was a worldwide success and charted at #1 in many countries, including: Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Of the nine songs on Thriller, seven were released as singles-- "The Girl Is Mine," "Billie Jean," "Beat It," "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," "Human Nature," "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," and "Thriller." The album was produced by Quincy Jones and includes a number of famous musicians on various tracks on the record.

Notable of the album is that it is estimated to be the highest selling album in music history with somewhere between 51 million to 65 million units sold worldwide since its release. Also, the first single to be released with the album-- "The Girl is Mine" -- features former Beatles member Paul McCartney and charted at #2 on the U.S. Billboard Top 100. Most notable of the album Thriller for rock purposes is the song "Beat It," which features both Jeff Porcaro (drums) and Steve Lukather (guitar, excluding solo) from the rock group Toto and a guitar solo played by Eddie Van Halen. Van Halen had already been in the studio earlier in the year recording Van Halen's fifth studio album Diver Down when he received a phone call from producer Quincy Jones, asking to add a guitar solo. Eddie recorded the guitar solo free of charge, even at the discouragement of the band and management. Eddie Van Halen has stated that he was doing it was a favor and knew exactly what he was doing- and he was right. Fitting a shredding guitar solo into a pop song classic gains some serious popularity for most rock artists.

Alexander Schwartz - JPageFan71
The Antagonists

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