20 Essential Albums From the Golden Age of MTV

It was rad, it was chill and it was totally tubular.

The launch of MTV just after midnight on Aug. 1, 1981, sparked a musical revolution and cultural shift that both reflected and defined Generation X, the “baby busters” born between 1965 and 1979, now with a median age of roughly 50 and numbering 65 million people.

With the powerful influence MTV had over music, fashion, lifestyle trends and politics, it’s no surprise Gen Xers became known as the MTV Generation. The channel’s early years delivered a dizzying diversity of memorable videos that boosted careers and fueled sales of iconic albums. Pop open the ultimate soundtrack to the Big ‘80s with our guide to the MTV-fueled albums and stars that defined a generation.