30 Year Vintage: The Techno Futurism and Hip-Hop Social Realism of 1987

Over at the vintage blogs, I've highlighted a number of songs from releases, singles, EPs, scores, et al. that came through 10/20/30/40/50/60 years ago.   For the purpose of these lists, each artist will only appear once on each list

Here are the 50 best smash albums from 1987, a year that seemed caught in an identity crisis between various paths forward

1. Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction
2. Pixies - Come on Pilgrim
3. Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra
4. The Butthole Surfers - Locus Abortion Technician
5. Game Theory - Lolita Nation
6. Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush the Show
7. Marianne Faithfull - Strange Weather
8. Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses
9. Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription
10. Prince - Sign O the Times
11. Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark
12. Husker Du - Warehouse: Songs and Stories
13. Erik B & Rakim - Paid in Full
14. Soundgarden - Screaming Life EP
15. Wire - The Ideal Copy
16. The Smiths - Strangeways Here We Come
17. Loop - Heaven's End
18. Coil - Unreleased Themes for Hellraiser
19. Def Leppard - Hysteria
20. Caroline K - Now Wait for Last Year
21. Happy Mondays - Squirrel and G-Men Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out)
22. Pussy Galore  - Right Now
23. INXS - Kick
24. Pet Shop Boys - Actually
25. Negativland - Escape from Noise
26. My Bloody Valentine - Strawberry Wine EP
27. White Zombie - Soul Crusher
28. U2 - The Joshua Tree
29. Sonic Youth - Sister
30. The Replacements - Pleased to Meet Me
31. Schoolly D - Saturday Night! The Album
32. Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me
33. Einsturzende Neubaten - Fuenf Auf Der Nach Oben Offenen Richterskala
34. Big Black - Songs About Fucking
35. Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded
36. Nick Drake - Time of No Reply
37. Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands
38. The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
39. Jody Watley - Jody Watley
40. George Michael - Faith
41. Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby
42. The Dukes of the Stratosphear - Psonic Psunspot
43. Lydia Lunch - Honeymoon in Red
44. Ice-T - Rhyme Pays
45. Michael Jackson - Bad
46. LL Cool J - Bigger and Deffer (BAD)
47. Yo La Tengo - New Wave Hot Dogs
48. R.E.M. - Document
49. Cabaret Voltaire - Code
50. Rollins Band - Life Time

Here are the 50 best singles from 1987, a great year for hits, including many that sounded like nothing that came before and plenty that came after

1. Frankie Knuckles - "Your Love"
2. M/A/R/R/S - "Pump Up the Volume"
3. Rhythim is Rhythim - "Strings of Life"
4. New Order - "Temptation (Substance Version)"
5. Salt N' Pepa - "Push It"
6. Happy Mondays - "24 Hour Party People"
7. Phuture - "Acid Tracks"
8. Erik B & Rakim - "Paid in Full (Seven Minutes of Madness- the Coldcut mix)"
9. The Cure - "Just Like Heaven"
10. The Sugarcubes - "Birthday"
11. Public Enemy - "Rebel Without a Pause"
12. Pailhead - "I Will Refuse"
13. T'Pau - "Heart and Soul"
14. Mr Fingers - "Stars"
15. Depeche Mode - "Behind the Wheel (Shep Pettibone Mix)"
16. Husker Du - "Up in the Air"
17. The Smiths - "London"
18. Boogie Down Productions - "The Bridge is Over"
19. Guns N Roses - "Welcome to the Jungle"
20. LL Cool J - "Going Back to Cali"
21. Swing Out Sister - "Blue Mood"
22. Gang Starr - "Bust  a Move Boy"
23. Expose - "Point of No Return"
24. R.E.M.  - "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)"
25. U2 - "With or Without You"
26. Pierre's Pfantasy Club - "Got the Bug"
27. Prince - "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker"
28. INXS - "New Sensation"
29. 2 Puerto Ricans, a Blackman and a Dominican - "Do It Properly (DEF mix)"
30. Wiseblood - "0-0 (Where Evil Dwells)"
31. Biz Markie - "Nobody Beats the Biz"
32. Fallout - "The Morning After (Sunrise mix)"
33. Einsturzende Neubaten - "Ich Bich's"
34. Ultramagnetic MC's  - "Mentally Mad"
35. Belinda Carlisle - "Heaven is a Place on Earth"
36. Pet Shop Boys - "Rent"
37. Channel One - "It's Channel One"
38. Stephanie Mills - "You're Puttin' a Rush on Me"
39. Rhythm Controll - "My House"
40. Ice-T - "Squeeze the Trigger"
41. Soundgarden - "Tears to Forget"
42. Sinead O'Connor - "Troy"
43. The Vaselines - "Son of a Gun"
44. My Bloody Valentine - "Strawberry Wine"
45. DJ Polo & Kool G Rap - "Rikers Island"
46. George Michael - "I Want Your Sex"
47. EPMD - "It's My Thing"
48. The Sisters of Mercy - "This Corrosion"
49. Enya - "Boadicea"
50. The Church - "Under the Milky Way"