Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox made their breakthrough on almost nothing. After their first album stalled, the duo took out a loan, set up a makeshift studio in a London loft, and built their second record around cheap synths and a drum machine. The result, released in 1983, turned them into stars.

The title track is the obvious landmark. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" rides a cold, pulsing synth bassline and one of the most instantly recognizable vocal hooks in pop, and it climbed all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The rest of the album is just as sharp. "Love Is a Stranger" is sleek and seductive, "The Walk" struts on horn stabs and a funk bass, "Jennifer" is eerie and hushed, and "This City Never Sleeps" closes the record in a haze of urban unease.

Paired with Lennox's cropped orange hair and androgynous suits, Sweet Dreams made Eurythmics one of the defining acts of the MTV era, and its minimalist electronic sound still feels ahead of its time.

Remastered and pressed on 180-gram vinyl, with a download card included. A synthpop essential.