The Police · 1981 Spin it Again - They had become the biggest band in the world by sounding like the smallest — then they let the ghosts in.

Echo & the Bunnymen · 1980 Spin it Again - Recorded in six days with a producer who had never made a record — it still sounds timeless.

Prince · 1981 Spin it Again - A twenty-two-year-old asking who he is over the only sound that matters: his own.

Duran Duran · 1982 Spin it Again - Colin Thurston's production and John Taylor's bass lines proved that 1982's pop didn't have to be disposable.

The Clash · 1979 Spin it Again - The last truly great Clash album, and the moment they stopped being a punk band and became something that still doesn't have a name.

Talking Heads · 1979 Spin it Again - Talking Heads and Brian Eno turned neurosis into rhythm on the album that proved new wave wasn't just about youth rebellion—it was about actually being aware.

Talking Heads · 1980 Spin it Again - A 1980 record from Talking Heads that rewards close listening.

Blondie · 1979 Spin it Again - A 1979 record from Blondie that rewards close listening.

The B-52'S · Spin it Again - A timeless record from The B-52'S that rewards close listening.

Kayah · 1988

Kate Bush · 1980 Spin it Again - Kate Bush was nineteen when she made this, and she had already heard every classical composer and every pop song worth hearing.

Vicki Brown · 1987 Spin it Again - Vicki Brown had a voice that made every session musician in the room play like they were trying to prove something, and then she disappeared before anyone was paying attention.

Spandau Ballet · 1983 Spin it Again - They spent two years in four different studios to understand how to be the thing they sounded like they wanted to be. This is where they figured it out.

Haircut 100 · 1981 Spin it Again - A band with one chance to make the record right, working with an engineer who understood that layering four instruments doesn't muddy a song if you know where to place each one.

Don Johnson · 1986 Spin it Again - Richard Perry produced it, Steve Lukather played on it, and two million Americans bought it — the part your music-snob brain has to just sit with.

Tears for Fears · 1983 Spin it Again - They were twenty years old, they had read the primal therapy guy, and somehow that produced one of the coldest-sounding warm records the eighties ever made.

Soft Cell · 1981 Spin it Again - They recorded this in a hurry on a budget that showed, and somehow that's why it still sounds dangerous.

Belouis Some · 1985 Spin it Again - The record you bought for one single and never actually played.

Cyndi Lauper · 1983 Spin it Again - Thirty years old, one failed band behind her, and she walked into Media Sound and made every song sound like she'd lived it twice.

The Cars · 1981 Spin it Again - The Cars at the exact moment when every night on the road had made them a machine without yet making them a tired one.