Poll: What Was the Best Guitar Album of 1983?
If you were alive and rockin' in 1983, that meant one thing: You were staring down the horizon of a rock 'n' roll sub-genre that would dominate the airwaves for the next eight years: glam metal.
Quiet Riot's Metal Health, the first heavy metal album to reach No. 1 on the US album charts, would begin the trend. The rise of bands like Motley Crue, Def Leppard and a sleeker, makeup-free Kiss added to the growing prominence of what is now colloquially referred to as "hair metal."
At this point, however, if the thought of emerging Spandex sales seemed scary, you still had some variety to choose from.
Check out this list (below) of the great guitar albums of 1983 and vote for your favorite. These are classic records, regardless of the elasticity of the musicians' wardrobes.
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!

“Exactly the kind of thing the Instagram algorithm won’t be injecting into your eyeballs every time you log on”: February 2025 Guitar World Editors’ Picks

“It was like unraveling a mystery, trying to imagine what George might have meant”: Lost chords that George Harrison wrote down before his passing have been turned into a new song – and it was recorded using three of his famed Beatles guitars