I turned 18 in 2007. At this time I was mostly looking for music in the mystical www 
I totally forgot what was I listening back then, but it was mostly metal. I checked some lists and these albums I really liked back then:
Machine Head - The Blackening
Turisas - The Varangian Way
Baroness - The Red Album
Dark Tranquility- Fraction
Welcome aboard @Lukas89, good to have you hear. Solid choice with Dark Tranqulity!
Feel free to head over to this thread and introduce yourself. 
Another '96 18yo here. I wasnât a huge fan of all 4 of these that year, but some have really grown on me since then.
Social Distortion â White Light, White Heat, White Trash
Swans â Soundtracks for the Blind
Tool â Ănima (I was in bootcamp when this came out, our CC would drive by us as we were marching blasting this, knowing a bunch of us were Tool fans who hadnât heard it yet⊠jerk)
Fugees â The Score
Both of these are fantastic. Not the best Social D album, but âDonât Drag Me Downâ is one of their best songs IMO.
And Swans, well, just so much there to dive in to.
So, that would be 1984. 1979 to about 1986 were great year for music, just like 1994 to about 1996.
I scanned my vast CD collections (for the younger BassBuzzers: that is like Spotify, only in the physical world, but still digital. Itâs complicated to explain ^^) for everything 1984.
There were more results than I thoughtâŠ
These are my choices:
Depeche Mode: Some Great Reward. Depeche Mode played the soundtrack to my life for quite some time and were cool until Songs of Faith and Devotion (live). After that they have lost their way and became increasingly boringâŠ
Cabaret Voltaire: Micro Phonies. Cabaret Voltaire might be one of the most important bands of the 80s that nobody knows (except @howard , perhaps)
Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense. Because!
Thomas Dolby - The Flat Earth. An almost perfect album, underrated and way ahead of itâs time.
Runners up (it was hard to choose):
Alien Sex fiend: Acid Bath
Section 25: From the Hip
Tuxedomoon: Half-Mute
The Stranglers: Aural Sculpture
U2: The Unforgettable Fire
Sade: Diamond Life
The Style Council: Café Bleu
Talk Talk: Itâs my Life
Simple Minds: Sparkle in the Rain
The Cramps: Bad Music for Bad People
Everything but the Girl: Eden
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions: Rattlesnakes
The Smith: Hastful of Hollow
Coil: Scatology
Vangelis: Soil Festivities
Cocteau Twins:Treasure
Art of Noise: Whoâs Afraid of the Art of Noise?
Siouxsie: HyĂŠna
Duran Duran: Arena.
Front 242: No Comment
And I have to mention Sisters of Mercy, Nitzer Ebb and Neon Judgement, that made quite some 12", but released their first albums after 1984.
So, 1984 was a pretty good year!
Yep I still listen to that album and Code.
Lots of other greats on your list!
Yeah - I knew I could relay on you. My favourite Cabaret Voltaire album must be âThe Crackdownâ.
1984 was a good year, but possibly still the weakest between 1979 and 1986. Many bands were about to make their best album (think: âViolatorâ) or had done it already(think: New Gold Dream (81â82â83â84)")âŠ
I will have to check but I think Skinny Puppyâs Remission was 1984. One of my favorites of all time.
But yeah, I get what you are saying. New Order did a lot in â83 and â85, for example.
I turned 18 in â86 so those years were prime time for me 
Did I miss that in my list? Let me check that too!
Power, Corruption and Lies: 1983
Blue Monday: 1983
Low-Life: 1985
So my theory is correct: 1984 was a good year, but better things happened shortly before and after ^^
I concur, The Top by the Cure came out that year. Itâs sandwiched between Pornography in '82 and Head on the Door in '85. I love the Top but of the 3, if one has to goâŠ
I graduated in 1979, so for me it was:
For me, the ârealâ The Cure was:
The first album, âThree Imaginary Boysâ, felt immature, after that they became THE CURE and after those thee albums they became commercial - though âThe Head on the Doorâ was quite interesting, especially âSinkingââŠ
I saw them on Saturday night, some of it was good, some of it was d-d-dull⊠they finished with Personal Jesus though, which was bloody fantastic!
Isnât that an oxymoron? 
No, itâs not! I think they were influential for the few - and that few became influential for the many
Who? I need a lineage⊠
Cabaret Voltaire (band) - Wikipedia, Chapter: Legacy and influence
But, funny story: I met Alan Wilder (Ex- Depeche Mode) at a party in Hamburg, must have been mid-90s.
I was there with a friend , and she introduced me to him. He was sitting on the floor, completely alone and ignored by everyone, possibly a little drunk (or whatever ^^).
I didnât even recognize him (WTF!!!) - good that my friend knew about my DM passionâŠ
I was star-struck, as Depeche Mode was âmy bandâ for such a long time, and Wilder was the architect of the sound that defined DM for me (heavily influenced by EinstĂŒrzende Neubauten, of course).
So initially, I was stuttering, not making any sense and generally in flight mode.
But he was quite comfortable with me, possibly cause this was a party full with typical Hamburg hipster music business people (and Mousse T ^^) and I was relatively normalâŠ
So, we talked about this and that and MUSIC, and he mentioned that he was a big fan of Cabaret Voltaire, and that possibly nobody at that party knows them (not even Mousse T ^^).
Of course, it makes sense if you lived through the 80s, being part of a certain underground scene. But it was a moment where I felt i has something in common with the one and only Alan WilderâŠ
So, is that lineage enough?
Addendum - I just read this with a feeling of TERROR: âTrent Reznor stated that the Cabaret Voltaire was a major influence when working on his debut studio album with How to Destroy Angels.â.
That album totally s#cked and marked the obvious death of NIN - which I should have noticed long beforeâŠ
I agree 100%
And three imaginary boys is pretty immature I suppose. But thatâs probably what I love about it.
I can listen to any Cure album start to finish up to Bloodflowers. Iâve tried to listen to the last three albums so many times and just canât. I did like wild mood swings though. I know not many fans liked it.
