The 25 best indie rock albums of 1981, according to Radio X magazine

22-03-2026

Radio X magazine continues its work of revisiting the classics of the past in the indie-rock field, publishing its list of the 25 "Best indie albums of 1981". A ranking ordered not by merit but by release date, running from May (the month that saw the release of "Faith" by the Cure) through to November, the month in which "Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret" by Soft Cell came out.

Here, then, are the 25 best indie-rock albums of 1981, according to Radio X magazine (full feature here)

1. The Cure – “Faith”

2. The Undertones – “Positive Touch”

3. The Beat – “Wha’ppen?”

4. Kraftwerk – “Computer World”

5. Squeeze – “East Side Story”

6. Echo & The Bunnymen – “Heaven Up Here”

7. Siouxsie & The Banshees – “Juju”

8. Mission Of Burma – “Signals, Calls & Marches”

9. Pretenders – “Pretenders II”

10. Section 25 – “Always Now”

11. Altered Images – “Happy Birthday”

12. Heaven 17 – “Penthouse & Pavement”

13. The Police – “Ghost In The Machine”

14. Madness – “7”

15. Depeche Mode – “Speak And Spell”

16. Joy Division – “Still”

17. U2 – “October”

18. The Human League – “Dare”

19. Black Flag – “Damaged”

20. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – “Architecture & Morality”

21. The Stranglers – “La Folie”

22. New Order – “Movement”

23. Japan – “Tin Drum”

24. The Teardrop Explodes – “Wilder”

25. Soft Cell – “Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret”

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Claudio Fabretti, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

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