Let It Be – The Replacements

Let It Be looms large among ’80s rock albums, generally regarded as one of the greatest records of the decade. Nothing about it is clean; it’s all a ragged mess, careening wildly from dirty jokes to wounded ballads, from utter throwaways to songs haunting in their power. This blend of bluster and vulnerability is why they were perhaps the most beloved band of their era, as they captured all the chaos and confusion of coming of age in the midst of Reaganomics, and Let It Be is nothing if not a coming-of-age album, perched precisely between adolescence and adulthood.