http://www.guitarworld.com/poll-what-was-best-guitar-album-1984

Wow, that's a really diverse list. Judas Priest and Iron Maiden losing to Stryper, though?

yeah - i dont see that.

I like a lot of those albums, but to me it's a no content with Malmsteen winning. I love that Manowar is on a guitar world poll though.

Stryper are no slouches on guitar but I don't know if I would vote them in at #1.

I voted Ride The Lightning.

Voted for W.A.S.P.'s debut, although it is pretty much tied with Armored Saint's debut for me. Judas Priest's Defenders of the Faith is up there for me as well. However, my favorite album from 1984 is Exciter's Violence and Force.

Interesting mix. There's a lot of stuff on that list that I love, but I voted for Loudness' DISILLUSION just for gits and shiggles. Akira Takasaki was ON FIRE back then.

Stryper's massive lead over everyone else is puzzling. Who knows, maybe the Stryper guys sent out this link on their Twitter feed or something and told everyone "vote for us!"

POWERSLAVE!

Stryper at no. 1 is a puzzler. Not that the guitar work on that album isn't cool...

Shouldn't JETHRO TULL win?

There is some very impressive guitar playing on ALL the Stryper albums...saying they're "no slouch" is an understatement...both Michael and Oz are top notch guitar players...

I am going to risk lynching and say that if you sat Michael Sweet down beside KK Downing, Glen Tipton, Dave Murray & Adrian Smith (and take legend out of the equation), that Sweet would leave them in the dust on sheer technical ability alone.

Sweet is a product of the Van Halen generation and, even though he's obviously influenced by all those guys, his generation went in a much more technical direction.

The only one on my above list that could come close to matching him would be Tipton (you can hear on Painkiller that he was moving way past Downing into the sweeps and shredding).

I went with Maiden, my favorite guitar solos come from Maiden and some of the best are on Powerslave.

something tells me this poll has already been posted at that christian forum you guys all go to already.

Actually, someone posted over there that this poll was there and people there were surprised and many disagree as well. Seems Malmsteen is the popular choice there too.

I voted Slide It In.

I'm not even going to venture into the meaningless "technical vs" arguments.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and King Crimson for me.

Normally Ted Nugent would have been an easy choice for me, but Penetrator was a weak album for 'ol Uncle Ted.

prima donnas? Stryper & The Scorpions are leading the poll. How are they prima donnas?

Oh, I voted for Anthrax. "Fistful of Metal" is a vastly underrated album IMO. However there are at least a dozen I easily could have voted for.