80's albums worth reconsidering

You know all those critcs' lists of essential albums? Sure ya do--they're almost always topped with Sgt. Pepper's, followed closely by various and sundry Stones albums, some Zep, and so forth. I read those lists religiously as a youth, and can say unequivocally they influenced my musical tastes. I'd never have discovered Astral Weeks otherwise, nor likely even know a damn thing about Moby Grape or Gram Parson's Byrds output.

But those lists omit a crucial link of how the current musical environment got to where it is today. So to that end I give you two of the missing links to better assess today's schlocky pop/rock pablum. Bear witness:

Def Leppard, Hysteria (1987) Mercury
It's hard to know where to begin on this disc, so rife is it with Mutt Lange's edited insanity and untasteful rococo production. Is that a drum track, or yet another guitar overdub? Is that even a guitar under all those compressors and Eventide Harmonizers? Clearly, DL had something to prove after drummer Rik Allen lost an arm in a car accident and undoubtedly they proved it: you can make everything sound like Simmons drums if you throw enough compression on it and overdub it a gazillion times. Their reward? Not only one of the biggest hooky tracks ever made by humans ("Pour Some Sugar on Me") but a couple of equally radical production examples that prophecize the digital manipulation of everything from GarageBand to Gorillaz. Oh, and every single tune has Joe Elliot's voice quintupled. Amazing stuff. Seriously, it is. [number of possible ringtones: the whole album]

2 Live Crew, As Nasty as They Wanna Be (1989) Luke Records
What we have here is arguably one of the most offensive yet influential hip hop albums ever produced, delivered by dudes who are (at best) marginal rappers with minimal flow skills and dubious handles. I doubt they even have all of their teeth. But with titles like "Me So Horny" and "The Fuck Shop", as well as my fave deep bass cut, "Get the Fuck Out of My House," do they need them? Not at all: from an innovative and superb double sample of both "Full Metal Jacket" and "These Boots (Are Made for Walkin')" as well as a barely camoflagued Van Halen I rip, this album gets it all going on. I heard this about 17,548 times between 89-91, mostly at parties and it always got things going. I still wouldn't want my mom to catch me listening to it, as the lyrical content is straight-up neanderthal with Casio/Radio Shack 808 kicks. Again, this is unimportant: I'll bet this would still work to get the party going, and as Kid Rock once queried, "who's not down with that shit?" [number of possible ringtones: at least 3, probably at least 10]