Albums from my youth, part 1

The world's going to shit, and I find myself retreating more and more into the past as some form of escape. Having ripped just about every CD I now own, I realise I've got a chronicle of my life in there, and in particular the formative years of 1988-93 when I grew my hair and fell in love with hard rock and heavy metal (albeit with a major splash of poodle hair rock, as I like to call the US market during this period).
So here's part one of some of my favourite albums from the period, in no particular order and with a few comments thrown in for good measure. Don't hold your breath for part 2, God knows when it'll arrive.

Queensryche - Empire
I was introduced to Queensryche when the single Empire was climbing the US Top 40 and I was staying up late (or recording on VHS) to watch the Casey Kasem video countdown along with RAW Power on late-night ITV.
I subsequently bought Silent Lucidity and Best I Can 7-inch singles from the bargain bin in Woolworths and the Empire CD became one of my early CD albums when I spotted it going cheap on a market stall. I may have made up the last bit.

Def Leppard - Hysteria
I "discovered" Def Leppard when Rocket was heading into the UK top 20 in late 1988, but let my interest lapse until the aforementioned RAW Power  played two songs in January 1991 in tribute to the deceased Steve Clark: Pour Some Sugar on Me and Love Bites. My first copy of the album was second-hand vinyl from a record shop in Llandrindod and the album has been with me ever since. I bought a copy on CD a long time ago, of course, but my "rabid" collecting phase was with the two follow-ups, Adrenalize (all but the first single on CD, plus the album) and Slang (all the CD singles as well as the album).

Quireboys - A Bit of What You Fancy
Good old London pub rockers, these. Modelled on Rod Stewart and the Faces, circa 1991. Hey You and I Don't Love You Anymore got me hooked and I bought my first copy of the album on cassette in 1990. Their followup took an age to arrive - I only ever bought the two CD singles - and by that time the boat had sadly sailed.