3 Classic Rock Albums From 1981 That Suddenly Sounded Old Overnight

The year 1981 was an interesting one for popular music, especially in the rock world. Punk rock was continuing on from the late 1970s and evolving in new ways. New wave, likewise, had continued its takeover of pop music. Plenty of classic rock icons dropped albums in 1981 with some success, but many of those “old guard” legends were met with mixed reviews as the music landscape seemed to rapidly change. Let’s look at a few examples of killer classic rock albums released that year that were rendered obsolete almost overnight.

‘Paradise Theatre’ by Styx

Ah, Styx. When one thinks of 70s progressive rock, one often thinks of this band straight from Chicago. They certainly carried their success through into the 1980s with Paradise Theatre, which would become their most commercially successful album. So why, then, is that very record on our list?

Sadly, Paradise Theatre was the beginning of the end for a band with several Top 10 records in the mid-to-late 70s. Kilroy Was Here dropped in 1983 and peaked at No. 3. After that, the band went on a years-long hiatus, returning in 1990 with Edge Of The Century. From then on, Styx never scored another Top 40 record again. Paradise Theatre resonated with fans of theatrical prog, but one can’t deny that their particular sound was already going out of fashion in the face of new wave and synth-pop. A writer at The Washington Post in 1981 even went as far as to say that there was nothing on the album “that will be worth remembering in a year or two.” Ouch.

‘Face Dances’ by The Who

Here we have a veteran rock band from the 1960s and 1970s that delivered legendary work after legendary work. Face Dances, sadly, didn’t quite reach the heights of albums like Tommy and Who’s Next. That has less to do with talent and more to do with tragedy. Face Dances was the first album by The Who to hit the shelves after the sudden death of their explosive drummer, Keith Moon. 

Kenney Jones did the best he could, but Face Dances lacked that chaotic sound that Moon lent the band. It had a more polished and contemporary sound. Couple that with the fact that punk rock and new wave had entered the picture in 1981 and forced out the old rock sound, and Face Dances was inevitably met with mixed reviews. Still, that didn’t stop it from making it to the Top 10 in the US and UK.

‘Dead Ringer’ by Meat Loaf

Meat Loaf enjoyed some serious success with Bat Out Of Hell in 1977. Sadly, Dead Ringer makes it to our list of classic rock albums from 1981 that sounded obsolete overnight, and it was a surprising semi-flop for the artist who would later stage a killer comeback in the 1990s. Meat Loaf brought his theatrical and dramatic flair to the record, but listeners were becoming more interested in short and sweet Top 40 singles over conceptual, operatic tunes. Dead Ringer didn’t even make it to the Top 40 in the US. Luckily, though, with a little time, listeners’ minds would change about Meat Loaf’s style by the time Bat Out Of Hell II dropped in 1993.

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