Friday May 30th 9-10 pm BST – listen again on Mixcloud.com and our app!

The year 1986 was a fascinating moment in music history. Pop, rock, and experimental genres collided, with artists pushing sonic boundaries while also achieving mainstream success. The albums highlighted represent a rich cross-section of this cultural moment, ranging from synth-pop and art-rock to ambient dreamscapes. Here’s a detailed look at those albums — and their place in the broader soundscape of 1986:

🎶 

Selected Albums from 1986: A Snapshot

🎹 

Pet Shop Boys – Disco

• Release: November 17, 1986
• Genre: Synth-pop, Dance, Hi-NRG
• Overview:
  Disco is not a traditional studio album but a remix compilation of tracks from their debut Please. With extended and club-oriented versions of hits like “West End Girls” and “Opportunities,” it reflects the rise of the remix album and the Pet Shop Boys’ deep entrenchment in club culture. It also helped solidify the duo’s presence in dance music and introduced many listeners to Hi-NRG production.

🧠 

Peter Gabriel – So

• Release: May 19, 1986
• Genre: Art Rock, Pop Rock, Worldbeat
• Overview:
  A landmark in Gabriel’s career, So combines experimental production with pop sensibilities. Hits like “Sledgehammer”, “In Your Eyes”, and “Don’t Give Up” (with Kate Bush) made it his most commercially successful album. Produced with Daniel Lanois, it merges rock, soul, and world music, becoming a blueprint for intelligent pop. So defined Gabriel’s solo identity and showcased his commitment to both accessibility and sonic innovation.

⚡ 

Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Liverpool

• Release: October 20, 1986
• Genre: Rock, New Wave
• Overview:
  The follow-up to their decadent debut Welcome to the Pleasuredome, Liverpool took a heavier, guitar-driven direction. With production by Stephen Lipson and a more serious tone, it lacked the cheeky exuberance and impact of their earlier work. Singles like “Rage Hard” showed promise, but internal band tensions and changing musical trends dulled its reception. It marked the end of Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a cultural force.

🌫️ 

Cocteau Twins – Victorialand

• Release: April 14, 1986
• Genre: Dream Pop, Ambient
• Overview:
  Victorialand is a shimmering, voice-and-guitar ambient album, recorded without bassist Simon Raymonde (who was working on This Mortal Coil). It’s minimal, drifting, and ethereal — even by Cocteau Twins standards. Elizabeth Fraser’s vocals act more as texture than lyric, and Robin Guthrie’s effects-laden guitar creates lush, floating soundscapes. It’s a deeply intimate, almost weightless listening experience, and one of the band’s most beautiful, meditative works.

🔊 

Art of Noise – In Visible Silence

• Release: April 1986
• Genre: Avant-garde, Electronic, Sample-based Pop
• Overview:
  This was Art of Noise’s first full project after leaving ZTT and producer Trevor Horn. The album features “Peter Gunn” (with Duane Eddy) and the quirky “Paranoimia” (with the AI character Max Headroom). It continues their unique approach to sample collage and experimental sound design but with a more structured pop sense than their earlier work. Bridging high art and novelty, it’s a pivotal entry in 1980s electronic music.

🌍 

David Sylvian – Gone to Earth

• Release: September 1, 1986
• Genre: Art Rock, Ambient
• Overview:
  A double album split between one disc of vocal-driven songs and one of ambient instrumentals. The first half features philosophical lyrics, lush arrangements, and collaborations with Robert Fripp and Bill Nelson. The second half delves into ambient textures, anticipating future developments in ambient and post-rock music. It’s introspective, spiritual, and ambitious — a true artistic milestone for Sylvian and a cult classic for lovers of artful, boundary-pushing music.