Roadrunner was a rock magazine published in Adelaide, Australia between 1978-83. Its founding editors were Stuart Coupe and Donald Robertson. Though primarily focused on Australian and overseas rock music, it also covered areas of the burgeoning counterculture and issues such as punk.
Full issues are currently archived at the University of Wollongong. Here's the album reviews available in each issue of 1981.
| Issue |
Date |
Artist | Album |
| 4(1) |
February 1981 |
The Jam | Sound Affects |
| Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls | Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls |
| Heroes | Heroes |
| Silicon Teens | Music for Pigeons |
| The Reels | 5 Great Gift Ideas from The Reels |
| Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | Organization |
| Various Artists | "Times Square" Soundtrack |
| Simple Minds | Empires and Dance |
| Killing Joke | Killing Joke |
| 4(2) |
March 1981 |
Elvis Costello & The Attractions | Trust |
| Adam & The Ants | Kings of the Wild Frontier |
| Lou Reed | Rock and Roll Diary 1967-1980 |
| The Teardrop Explodes | Kilimanjaro |
| The Motivators | The Motivators |
| Showaddywaddy | Bright Lights |
| Japan | Gentlemen Take Polaroids |
| Ellen Foley | Spirit of St. Louis |
| Matt Finish | Short Note |
| Pearl Harbour | Don't Follow Me, I'm Lost Too |
| The Associates | The Affectionate Punch |
| Masters Apprentices | Hands of Time |
| Peter Cook & Dudley Moore | Derek & Clive Live |
| Various Artists | Ugly Things |
| The Nobodies | The Nobodies Cassette |
| 4(3) |
April 1981 |
| The Saints | The Monkey Puzzle |
| Radio Birdman | Living Eyes |
| Magazine | Play |
| The Fall | Grotesque (After the Gramme) |
| XL Capris | Where is Hank? |
| Garland Jeffreys | Escape Artist |
| Tactics | My Houdini |
| The Revillos | Rev Up |
| Paul Kelly & The Dots | Talk |
| Billy Thorpe | 21st Century Man |
| Russell Morris & The Rubes | Almost Frantic |
| U2 | Boy |
| Generation X | Kiss Me Deadly |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival | The Concert |
| Visage | Visage |
| Michael Franks with Crossfire | Live |
| Ian Dury & The Blockheads | Laughter |
| 4(4) |
May 1981 |
The Birthday Party | Prayers on Fire |
| The Reels | Quasimodo's Dream |
| The Bodgies | Sensational |
| The Takeaways | Crunch Time |
| Piano Piano | The Vorpal Blade |
| The Makers of the Dead Travel Fast | The Vessels |
| Laughing Clowns | 3 |
| Spandau Ballet | Journeys to Glory |
| Eric Burdon's Fire Dept. | Last Drive |
| The Fire Engines | Lubricate Your Living Room |
| The Johnny Average Band (feat. Nikki Willis) | Some People |
| Sir Douglas Quintet | Border Wave |
| The Joe Ely Band | Live Shots |
| John Starling | Long Time Gone |
| Santana | Zebop! |
| The Who | Face Dances |
| Phil Collins | Face Value |
| Kevin Borich/Dutch Tilders | The Blues Had a Baby |
| Various Artists | Dance Craze |
| Split Enz | Corroboree |
| Bus Boys | Minimum Wage Rock & Roll |
| The Bushwackers | Faces in the Street |
| Wishbone Ash | Live Dates Volume Two |
| Pere Ubu | The Art of Walking |
| The Stray Cats | Runaway Boys |
| 4(5) |
June 1981 |
Public Image Ltd. | The Flowers of Romance |
| UK Squeeze | East Side Story |
| B.E.F. | British Electronic Foundation |
| Jim Carroll Band | Catholic Boy |
| Johnny Rivers | Borrowed Time |
| David Lindley | El Rayo X |
| The Church | Of Skins and Heart |
| Various Artists | Game as Ned Kelly |
| Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers | Hard Promises |
| The Sports | Sondra |
| David Byrne & Brian Eno | My Life in the Bush of Ghosts |
| Various Artists | Concerts for Kampuchea |
| Ward 13 | Flash as a Rat |
| Pere Ubu | The Modern Dance |
| Durutti Column | The Return of the Durutti Column |
| The Books | Expertise |
| 9 Below Zero | Don't Point Your Finger |
| Rab Noakes | Rab Noakes |
| Kevin Coyne | Sanity Stomp |
| Joe Jackson | Beat Crazy |
| Bow Wow Wow | Your Cassette Pet |
| Nazareth | The Fool Circle |
| Pat Travers | Radio Active |
| .38 Special | Wild Eyed Southern Boys |
| Marshall Tucker Band | Dedicated |
| Ozark Mountain Daredevils | Nuclear Fishin' |
| Elton John | The Fox |
| 4(6) |
July 1981 |
The Hitmen | Hitmen |
| Magazine | Magic, Murder and the Weather |
| Gary US Bonds | Dedication |
| Dave Edmunds | Twangin |
| The Cure | Faith |
| Various Artists | The Melbourne Club |
| Various Artists | Live at the Station |
| John Cale | Honi Soit |
| Gang of Four | Solid Gold |
| Taj Mahal | The Best of... |
| Grace Jones | Nightclubbing |
| Basement 5 | 1965-1980 |
| Peter Frampton | Breaking All the Rules |
| Judas Priest | Point of Entry |
| Joe Walsh | There Goes the Neighbourhood |
| Van Halen | Fair Warning |
| Joy Division | Unknown Pleasures |
| Phoebe Snow | Rock Away |
| Skafish | Skafish |
| Polyrock | Polyrock |
| Danny Graham | Danny Graham |
| Roger Taylor | Fun in Space |
| Jack Green | Humanesque |
| Kim Carnes | Mistaken Identity |
| Moody Blues | Long Distant Voyager |
| 4(7) |
August 1981 |
Echo & The Bunnymen | Heaven Up Here |
| Rick Wakeman | 1984 |
| Yoko Ono | Season of Glass |
| Ph.D. | Ph.D. |
| Jean-Michel Jarre | Magnetic Fields |
| The Scars | Author! Author! |
| Cabaret Voltaire | The Voice of America |
| Landscape | From the tea-rooms of Mars...to the hell-holes of Uranus |
| Ken Lockie | The Impossible |
| Plastics | Welcome Back |
| Rickie Lee Jones | Pirates |
| Lee Dorsey | Everything Gonh be Funky |
| David Johansen | Here Comes the Night |
| Bram Tchaikovsky | Funland |
| The Tubes | The Completion Backward Principle |
| 4(8) |
September 1981 |
Yellow Magic Orchestra | BGM |
| A Certain Ratio | To Each |
| Kid Creole & The Coconuts | Fresh Fruit from Foreign Places |
| Various Artists | Frank Johnson's Favorites |
| Pretenders | Pretenders II |
| Leo Kottke | Guitar Music |
| Iggy Pop | Party |
| Little Feat | Hoy-Hoy |
| Siouxsie and The Banshees | Juju |
| Barclay James Harvest | Turn of the Tide |
| Deutsche Amerikanische Freundschaft | Alles Ist Gut |
| Doug & The Slugs | Cognac & Bologna |
| The Beat | Wha'ppen? |
| The Scientists | The Scientists |
| Marc Hunter | Big City Talk |
| The Ramones | Pleasant Dreams |
| David Chesworth | Layer on Layer |
| Laughing Clowns | Reign Of Terror, Throne Of Blood |
| Kim Wilde | Kim Wilde |
| The Lounge | The Lounge |
| Teenbeat | Before Playtime |
| 4(9) |
October 1981 |
Rolling Stones | Tattoo You |
| Debbie Harry | Koo Koo |
| Joe Ely | Musta Notta Gotta Lotta |
| The Shakin' Pyramids | Skin 'Em Up |
| Devo | New Traditionalists |
| Kraftwerk | Computer World |
| The Crocodiles | Looking at Ourselves |
| Kilburn & The Highroads | Handsome |
| The Psychedelic Furs | Talk Talk Talk |
| The Ruts | The Crack |
| Freddie Aguilar | Freddie Aguilar |
| Slow Children | Slow Children |
| Film Soundtrack | "Excalibur" |
| The Fabulaires | Apocalypso |
| Sunnyboys | Sunnyboys |
| Little Heroes | Little Heroes |
| Meo-245 | Screen Memory |
| The Cramps | Psychedelic Jungle |
| The Passage | For All and None |
| Comsat Angels | Sleep No More |
| Slade | We'll Bring the House Down |
| Rose Tattoo | Assault and Battery |
| Hazel O'Connor | Sons and Lovers |
| The Radiators | Up for Grabs |
| Tygers of Pan-Tang | Spellbound |
| Tenpole Tudor | Tenpole Tudor |
| Concrete | 999 |
| Sniff 'n' The Tears | Love/Action |
| John Cooper Clarke | Me and My Big Mouth |
| Tim Curry | Simplicity |
| Classix Nouveaux | Night People |
| Duran Duran | Duran Duran |
| Matt Taylor/Phil Manning | Oz Blues |
| Oingo Boingo | Only a Lad |
| Jon and Vangelis | The Friends of Mr. Cairo |
| Joe Jackson | Jumpin' Jive |
| The dBs | Stands for Decibels |
| 4(10) |
November 1981 |
The Bureau | Only for Sheep |
| Doll by Doll | Doll by Doll |
| Tom Verlaine | Dreamtime |
| Swingers | Practical Jokers |
| The Dance | In Lust |
| The Tigers | The Tigers |
| The Dictators | Fuck 'Em If They Can't Take a Joke |
| Pat Benatar | Precious Time |
| The Residents | Mark of the Mole |
| Simple Minds | Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call |
| Moving Pictures | Days of Innocence |
| The Angels | Never So Live |
| Sharon O'Neill | Maybe |
| Matt Finish | Fade Away |
| The Kinks | Give the People What They Want |
| Greg Kihn Band | Rockihnroll |
| Nils Lofgren | Night Fades Away |
| Joe Cocker | Live in New York |
| Mental As Anything | Cats and Dogs |
| John Martyn | Glorious Fool |
| John Foxx | The Garden |
| Peter Baumann | Repeat Repeat |
| Def Leppard | High 'n' Dry |
| Jimmy and the Boys | Teddy Boys Picnic |
| 4(11) |
December 1981 -
January 1982 |
Various Artists | Reggae Now |
| Tactics | Glebe |
| King Crimson | Discipline |
| Systems Go | Anticipation |
| Snakes and Adders | Cuando Mi Amour |
| Yello | Claro Que Si |
| Midnight Oil | Place Without a Postcard |
| The Police | Ghost in the Machine |
| INXS | Underneath the Colours |
| The Metronomes | Multiple Choice |
| Wall of Voodoo | Wall of Voodoo |
| Georgie Fame | 20 Beat Classics |
| Mink DeVille | Coup de Grace |
| Broderick Smith's Big Combo | Broderick Smith's Big Combo |
| Marianne Faithfull | Underneath the Colours |
| The Go-Go's | Beauty & The Beat |
| The Sports | Play Dylan (And Donovan) |
| Ultravox | Rage in Eden |
| Etron Fou Leloublan | Les Trois Fou's Perdegagnent &
En Public aux Etats-Unis |
| Ferdinand | En Forme |
| XL Capris | Weeds |
| Pink Floyd | A Collection of Great Dance Songs |
| Inner City Unit | The Maximum Effect |
| Models | Local and/or General |
| Oingo Boingo | Oingo Boingo |
| The Wylie-West Band | Making Tracks |
| The Stockings | Red Tango |
| Various Artists | URGH! - A Music War |
| Olivia Newton-John | Physical |
| Toni Basil | Word of Mouth |
| Thought Criminals | You Only Think Twice |
| Joan Armatrading | Walk Under Ladders |
