Photo Gallery: The Top 10 Guitar Albums of the 1980s
A couple of weeks ago, GuitarWorld.com asked readers to vote for what they thought was the best guitar album of the 1980s, chosen from a list of 50 (OK, 51, since there was a tie) albums that created by the Guitar World editors in early 1990.
On Monday, we posted the editors' original ranking of these albums. While we take away nothing from the opinions of editors past, 21 years is a lot of time for an album to ebb and flow in popularity and regard. Perhaps the decade of big hair and pink Strats was too fresh, too relevant, for an accurate ranking. Or maybe there were some worthwhile gems that deserved to be in the top 10 but over time fell victim to obscurity. Or maybe the editors nailed it!
One thing is certain: The top 10 albums as voted by you, the readers, are all classic LPs that will continue to sit in the highest echelons of acclaim for another 21 years and beyond.
Thanks for voting! Check out the photo gallery below.
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