menu Home chevron_right
MUSIC VIDEOS

The Rolling Stones: Sucking in the 1980s? | Albums Ranked

Classic Album Review | August 21, 2025



How bad were The Stones in the 1980s? A look at this band and that decade, plus a ranking of those albums. A surprising choice for number one.

If you like my channel and appreciate the work that goes into my videos, please support my channel. You can –

Become a Patron! – Be part of a Classic Rock Community!
There is a fine body of work on there now. https://www.patreon.com/classicrock

Make a one-time donation!
Help me to make more videos or buy stuff to annoy my wife with and unbox on my channel: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=46G7795CU9VBA&source=url

Gift me something to unbox from my Amazon Wish List: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/1T8FFB9GS4H25?ref_=wl_share

Buy me a coffee.
All that talk is thirsty work: https://ko-fi.com/classicalbum

Like the Facebook page:
I add stuff on a daily basis: https://www.facebook.com/1968rock#

All music used in my videos come from the Free Music Archive: http://freemusicarchive.org/

#rollingstones #ranking #classicalbum

Time stamps

00:00 – Intro
00:06 – Stones in the 80s
04:58 – Ranking

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Written by Classic Album Review

Comments

This post currently has 43 comments.

  3. @johnlorinc2081

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    The Stones didn't suck in the 1980's, but it certainly was a less consistent era. My list from worst to best:

    Dirty Work (absolute garbage aside from One Hit to the Body)
    Undercover (maybe two-and-a-half good songs….the rest is just phoned in)
    Emotional Rescue (a competent album with a few gems, but it can't compete with its predecessor or successor)
    Steel Wheels (even though it's longer than it should be there are gems)
    Tattoo You (it's not the last great Stones album, but it's the last essential Stones album)

    Great video once again!

  5. @charlestidwell4970

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    My memory says that the song was originally on the Black and Blue album. I had the album before it was lifted from me, and I swear the song was on it. The album under that name "Undercover" is a remix specifically made for and to focus on that song, which I guess the Glimmer Twins thought was a good idea, some many years after the original. I had never heard of it, until I went looking for the specific song on the old album. The cd does not have the song on Black and Blue. The portfolio of album covers have been remade frequently for personal reasons of the band, the newer Beggars Banquet album cover is nothing like the original album cover which featured a large banquet table in a large room that had been well-used and had members of the band in languorous poses around it. I had that album too, and it also was lifted from my collection by a thief or an ex-wife, I don't know which…

  6. @sirkeith

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    Got Undercover when it came out and I really enjoyed it, that line with "birthdays, kids, suicides" just stuck with me over the years , i think it's from All the Way Down..

  7. @KatharineShaw-z8u

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    The Stones albums were a mixed bag for me unlike the 70s where I don't think they made a bad album (I'm referring to the Stones label) "Tattoo You" was probably the pick of the bunch. This is not to say the Stones ever made a bad album but "Tattoo.." is sort the last classic album from them containing several radio friendly songs which they never repeated again.

  12. @joegrnwave1

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    Personally, I don't think they sucked in the 80s as they had some good albums.
    1. Tattoo You
    2. Undercover
    3. Emotional Rescue
    4. Steel Wheels
    5. Dirty Work

  15. @domielakrabi3276

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    The answer is – definitely not. "Steel Wheels" was a great comeback to old form after the Stones nearly disbanded around 86/87. Nevertheless I liked "Dirty Work" pretty much. There are some good rockers on it. The only one I'm not fond of is "Emotional Rescue", it's on the bottom of my ranking.

  17. @spiritualarchitect4276

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    When I was young and not so smart, I used to think that Emotional Rescue and Dirty Work were their worst albums. But as I got older it got harder to find new music. So a decade ago I bought Rescue and learned it was not bad after all. I bought Dirty when it came out ~ the FIRST Stones CD. It sat on my shelf and got played about twice a year at most and sometimes not at all. Then a few years ago, when I would write reviews on Amazon, I had to listen to it to write about it. And guess what, I got into it.

    Now I think Wheels is their worst album, at least since 1964. It it not bad, but it is boring.

    There are only 2 songs on it that I like; Rock and Sigh.

    I think Work has the 2 worst Stones songs ever; Winning Ugly and Back To Zero.

    But I do not see anything wrong with the cover, except its clean image has nothing to do with the dirty music inside it.

    Undercover and Tattoo have always been favorites.

    5 Steel Wheels

    4 Dirty Work

    3 Emotional Rescue

    2 Undercover

    1 Tatoo You

  18. @FrozenHero2010

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    The Rolling Stones had a bad 80s. Mick was increasingly frustrated with Keith and Ronnie (booze, drugs etc.), but he lit the fuse himself by arranging a solo deal on the back of a Stones deal.

    The albums themselves weren't too bad. All had some good songs on it, even Dirty Work.

  19. @styrmugnsell4560

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    Tattoo you is great, but I would not count it as an album from the 80's since most of the songs are outtakes from the 70's. 
    I find Steel Wheels the most boring album, they play it safe.
    Emotional rescue and Undercover are ok, Dirty Work got some great moments and some bad moments but a have too much 80's production.

  21. @rorycomm

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    Interesting variation in these comments.

    Emotional is massively underrated, this is a simply brilliant effort. Charlie is on absolute fire and so tight with Bill and Ron who plays quite a bit of bass on this.

    Tattoo is also sublime, top stuff throughout and we get a bit of Mick T on it too!

    My ranking:

    1. Emotional
    2. Tattoo
    3. Undercover
    4. Dirty
    5. Wheels

    I quite like Dirty, there's some good rockers on this one, much like Undercover.

    Agree with Wheels having formulaic songwriting but still enjoy singing along.

  23. @mikemiller865

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    Not their best decade. Each album has a track or two that rise to the top, but too much uninspired filler. A lot of coasting in this decade and assuming the fans would buy whatever they recorded and show up to hear the same setlist. The Meh Decade.

  25. @JJL-1962

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    Liked the video. I would place Tattoo You above Undercover. I feel that Side 2 of Tattoo You is really underrated. As far as Undercover, I do have an affection for it going back to the summer of 1984. When I graduated college, I spent three months working in New York City. My first stop was to the local electronics shop, of which there were many, to purchase a Sony walkman. I also purchased three cassettes: Reckoning by Rem, My Ever Changing Moods by Style Council and Undercover. Those three tapes were my summer playlist as I walked the "mean" streets of New York. I still enjoy all three albums and have come full circle by purchasing them on vinyl.

  26. @praisejunkie

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    Undercover was the first ‘contemporary’ Stones album I bought whilst in the charts, I was 16 at the time. It’s good but c’mon, it’s not a patch on Tattoo You (but does that album even count?)

  27. @glassslide

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    Maybe because I was 15 when it was released and already a rabid Stones fan, but I love Emotional Rescue; love the energy, love the live feel and the band sounds fully engaged. Holds up well and is not burdened by '80s production the way some of the others were. Tattoo You at age 16 and a senior in high school felt like our Sticky Fingers by which I mean a classic record with some timeless songs on it, also loved the dichotomy between the "party" opening side and the atmospheric, late night sounds on the second side. Steel Wheels was a welcome return to form and it just felt great to have the Stones back. Undercover is underrated with some good songs and some horrific '80's production. Dirty Work was and is a dumpster fire. Saint of Me is great, Harlem Shuffle is a nice cover and Sleep Tonight is a nice closer, the rest…yikes. Mick sings like he is screaming the lyrics while hanging out of a (fast) moving car, lol.

  29. @christianjentzsch1336

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    After my earlier comment I listened to Undercover and Dirty Work again, and frankly, I can't understand how anyone who loves the 60s and 70s Stones can rate Undercover better than Dirty Work. The second side of Undercover is completely forgettable except for the Ron Wood song which is okay. The first side isn't too bad, but also too much 80s sounding. I mean, it's the Rolling Stones, not David Bowie, they DIDN'T have to change their music, go with the Zeitgeist and stuff. Dirty Work, though – not one weak song on it (Too Rude may not be anyone's favorite, though). A real rocker. We were supposed to not like that record, probably, because reviews were lackluster, but in my opinion it's actually a really good Rolling Stones album.

  31. @splankhoon

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    They always had great hitsingles: Emotional Rescue, Undercover, Start Me Up…but the best one for me is She's So Cold. That song is essential rock 'n roll, timeless, funny and a wonderful hat's off to their roots. I like my Stones sleazy. 🙂

  32. @jedikiah1541

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    Favourites from Emotional Rescue are Dance, Emotional Rescue – title track, Down In The Hole and All About You. She's So Cold is a little slight, and especially for a single release, but it's not without charm. The guitars lock together well. Those were the days when The Stones could record something substandard, and it would still be infectious. I think that is true for a good portion of this album. I'm afraid that didn't happen so much in later years. Jagger's voice is in good form here, too. He sings in a variety of styles, some of which seem a little insincere (especially Where The Boys Go), but later as his voice aged, it could become quite irritating at times. I don't know whether you'd call it 'overaccentuation' (has anyone else noticed that).Here he still maintains that younger quality.

    I think Tattoo You is as strong for the ballads as the rockers. I like most of the album, but I do think Black Limousine, Neighbours and Ain't No Use In Crying are the weaker moments. The drum sound on Neighbours is quite irritating. I'm not sure it's a very good song, either! It is the one song that I think spoils the record a little.

  36. @craig8542

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    TBH Barry I go the other way Let It Bleed and Goats Head Soup. but you do a cracking channel and I am so old I can't reply in correct fashion Cheers

  37. @FrankyGoesToNowhere

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    For me the lower point is Steel Wheels. The rest of the list OK. Maybe put Tatto You as 1st option, but Undercover is a pretty good production and also have some ambition that later was lost in the albums to come. Steel wheels was my first CD, but the songs had very low average, Dirty Work its a more interesting piece of work.

  40. @darcyska

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    Always appreciate these dives into what many see as an artists 'darker' periods – always good to understand the band dynamics of the time to think about the albums in context.

  41. @ARD-lk5pr

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    Tattoo You is a great album, 3/4 perfect, with only tracks like 'Neighbours' and 'Little T&A' letting down side one while side two is flawless throughout.
    Personally, I think Undercover and Steel Wheels are both half great and half meh.
    Emotional Rescue is consistently decent throughout but never great at any point (I can't stand 'She's So Cold' though – hate that song LOL). Overall I find ER disappointing.
    Dirty Work is their only 80s album which sucks IMO, and even that has a couple of great songs on it.

  42. @alanartme1

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    In my opinion, once Olgham and especially Brian Jones left, The Rolling Stones disappeared and transmogrified into "The Stones". They are as separate as Tea is to Expresso…I very much miss The Rolling Stones. 😢

  43. @tussk.

    August 21, 2025 at 4:25 pm

    The Stones are one of those bands that peaked very early in thier career, but have dragged thier corpses around for another 50 years, becoming less relevant and more embarrassing as the circus limps on. They haven't written a good song since Fool to cry in 1976. Like KISS, nobody goes to hear the new stuff. They just want the hits from the 60's.

Comments are closed.

Related
Answering EVERY* Question | 300,000 Subscriber Q&A
Mic The Snare | April 19, 2026
Related
Francis Rossi (Interview) The Pink Floyd Sound | Progressive Rock | ...
Classic Album Review | April 19, 2026
Related
Khruangbin & Leon Bridges – Texas Moon – Lunar Fog ...
Poetic Wax | April 19, 2026

This area can contain widgets, menus, shortcodes and custom content. You can manage it from the Customizer, in the Second layer section.

 

 

 

Go to album
  • play_circle_filled

    92.9 : The Torch

  • play_circle_filled

    AGGRO
    'Til Deaf Do Us Part...

  • play_circle_filled

    SLACK!
    The Music That Made Gen-X

  • play_circle_filled

    KUDZU
    The Northwoods' Alt-Country & Americana

  • play_circle_filled

    BOOZHOO
    Indigenous Radio

  • play_circle_filled

    THE FLOW
    The Northwoods' Hip Hop and R&B

play_arrow skip_previous skip_next volume_down
playlist_play