Popular music is rarely monolithic, but certain styles of rock can define different eras. The British Invasion and psychedelia bridged the '60s, and grunge flavored the early '90s, but the '80s were all over the place. The character of the decade's loudest and most guitar-and-drums-driven music was one of triumph and declaration. After all, this is the time when heavy metal went mainstream, roots rock for and about regular American working folks hit big, epic and anthemic European rock struck a chord, and hair metal helped people party down. The '80s also offered music buyers more ways to purchase music than ever before, what with so many chain stores inside and outside of shopping malls selling the hottest LPs on vinyl, cassette, and, later on, compact discs.

In retrospect, so much '80s

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