Always a fun exercise in futility.
- 1991 - Pearl Jam - Ten
1992 - Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
1993 - Radiohead - Pablo Honey
1994 - Weezer - The Blue Album
1995 - Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
1996 - Weezer - Pinkerton
1997 - Bob Dylan - Time Out of Mind
1998 - Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane over the Sea
1999 - The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
2000 - Radiohead - Kid A
2001 - The Strokes - Is This It
2002 - The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
2003 - Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism
2004 - The Killers - Hot Fuss
2005 - Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
2006 - The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
2007 - Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
2008 - The Airborne Toxic Event - The Airborne Toxic Event
2009 - Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon: The End of Day
2010 - The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
2011 - Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra
2012 - not sure yet
EDIT: thanks everyone! It's fun to get a handle on everyone's varied tastes through this, but I know it takes some work to post. So I appreciate that.
Below is a list of albums that I either loved when they came out or still love today. I have full album links to Youtube for most of them. The ones that have the year in bold are albums that particularly influenced me. And yes... I like "the Shins" and "Wilco" a lot. 1977 Elvis Costello -My Aim is True
1978 Blondie -Parallel Lines
1979 (a good year for albums) The Clash - London Calling
1980 David Bowie - Scary Monsters and super creeps
1981 The Rolling Stones -Tattoo You
1982 Michael Jackson -Thriller
1983 Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
1984 Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
1985 The Cure -The Head on the Door
1986 Paul Simon - Graceland
1987 U2 -The Joshua Tree
1988 Pixies - Surfer Rosa
1989 Beastie Boys - Pauls Boutique
1990 They Might Be Giants - Flood
1991 Nirvana - Nevermind
1992 Dr. Dre - The Chronic
1993 Radiohead - Pablo Honey
1994 Jeff Buckley - Grace
1995 Radiohead - The Bends
1996 Wilco - Being There
1997 Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
1998 Pearl Jam - Yield
1999 Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
2000 Elliot Smith - Figure 8
2001 The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
2002 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
2003 The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
2004 Arcade Fire - Funeral
2005 Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel the Illinois
2006 Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
2007 Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
2008 Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
2009 Wilco -Wilco the Album
2010 Vampire Weekend - Contra
2011 Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
2012 The Shins - Port of Morrow Welp... there goes my afternoon :-) That was fun, thanks.
>1986 Paul Simon - Graceland You. I like you. To all the other people who were alive in 1986 and didn't list this I'm ashamed. That's my favorite album of all time. Period. I was born in 1981, and too lazy to make my own list, but that would have been in there for sure.
I understand why you might not want to make the list, it did take a long time. That said, if you find the time I suggest doing it, it was a really fun exercise. And Graceland is definitely a great album, Paul Simon is pretty special.
I just listened to Paul's Boutique for the first time in a while this week and was surprised to find that so many of the Beastie Boys' lyrics resemble @horse_ebooks tweets.
Fun indeed. I really enjoyed making this list. Thanks for the impetus.
This one is obviously more labor intensive with age. (answers subject to change at any second) 1979 - Pink Floyd - The Wall 1980 - Talking Heads - Remain in Light 1981 - Eno/Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts 1982 - Roxy Music - Avalon 1983 - Philip Glass - Koyaanisqatsi 1984 - Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense 1985 - The Cure - The Head on the Door 1986 - Talking Heads - True Stories 1987 - New Order - Substance 1988 - Pixies - Surfer Rosa 1989 - New Order - Technique 1990 - Depeche Mode - Violator 1991 - Talk Talk - Laughing Stock 1992 - Ween - Pure Guava 1993 - Smashing Pumpkins - Siames Dream 1994 - Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand 1995 - Radiohead - The Bends 1996 - Pearl Jam - No Code 1997 - Radiohead - OK Computer 1998 - Gotta think about it 1999 - Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin 2000 - Medeski Martin Wood - The Dropper 2001 - Gorillaz - Gorillaz 2002 - Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 2003 - The Beatles - Let it be naked (cheap shot) 2004 - Wilco - A Ghost is Born 2005 - Boris - Pink 2006 - Flaming Lips - At War with the Mystics 2007 - Radiohead - In Rainbows 2008 - The Smiths - The Sound of the Smiths 2009 - Gotta think about it 2010 - Gotta think about it 2011 - Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues 2012 - Shearwater - Animal Joy
...for those of you born since I was able to buy cigarettes, maybe... 1974 - Kraftwerk - Autobahn
1975 - Pink Floyd - Wish you were Here
1976 - Jean Michelle Jarre - Oxygene
1977 - Pink Floyd - Animals
1978 - Brian Eno - Music for Airports
1979 - Pink Floyd - The Wall
1980 - Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
1981 - Cabaret Voltaire - Red Mecca
1982 - Peter Gabriel - Security
1983 - New Order - Power, Corruption, Lies
1984 - Siouxsie & The Banshees - Hyaena
1985 - Skinny Puppy - Bites
1986 - Ministry - Twitch
1987 - Sisters of Mercy - Floodland
1988 - Skinny Puppy - VIVISectVI
1989 - Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing To Taste
1990 - Sundays - Reading, Writing & Arithmetic
1991 - Front 242 - Tyranny For You
1992 - Orb - UFOrb
1993 - Front 242 - Fuck Off (with the numbers)
1994 - Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman
1995 - Future Sound of London - ISDN
1996 - Curve - Come Clean
1997 - Juno Reactor - Bible of Dreams
1998 - Massive Attack - Mezzanine
1999 - David Sylvian - Dead Bees on a Cake
2000 - Banco De Gaia - Igezeh
2001 - Hybrid - Wider Angle
2002 - Sasha - Airdrawndagger
2003 - Bel Canto - Dorothy's Victory
2004 - Banco De Gaia - You Are Here
2005 - Stellamara - The Seven Valleys
2006 - Azam Ali - Elysium for the Brave
2007 - Deepspace - Barometric Sea/Barometric Sun
2008 - M83 - Saturdays=Youth
2009 - The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
2010 - School of Seven Bells - Disconnect from Desire
2011 - Com Truise - Galactic Melt
2012 - School of Seven Bells - Ghostory Note that this list is generated through iTunes smart lists, and that a lot of the early shit isn't tagged properly.
Whippersnappers! Get off my lawn! (I was born in '63)
Yeah, the late 60's and the 70's would probably be difficult for me to pick. I gotta say, the 1990's were hard for me. Not because there wasn't a lot to choose from but because those were my formative years musically. I wanted to pick everything, too much nostalgia. I think I may change my 1993 to Siamese Dream, I definitely listened to that more than I did Pablo Honey, though it's close.
1988 - Les Miserables Complete Symphonic Recording (yup) 1989 - Pixies - Doolittle 1990 - Fugazi - 13 Songs 1991 - A Tribe Called Quest - Low End Theory 1992 - Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine 1993 - Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) 1994 - Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain 1995 - Radiohead - The Bends 1996 - DJ Shadow - Endtroducing... 1997 - Bjork - Homogenic 1998 - Yoko Kanno & The Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop Soundtracks 1999 - The Chemical Brothers - Surrender 2000 - Amon Tobin - Supermodified 2001 - Super Furry Animals - Rings Around The World 2002 - Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 2003 - Jay-Z - The Black Album / Danger Mouse - The Grey Album 2004 - Animal Collective - Sung Tongs 2005 - Sufjan Stevens - Illinois 2006 - The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America 2007 - LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver 2008 - The Dodos - Visiter 2009 - Dan Deacon - Bromst 2010 - Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest 2011 - Real Estate - Days 2012 - Grizzly Bear - Shields
Great list, we have several in common. Have you listened to Sufjan Stevens Michigan? When I met my wife we listened to that album a LOT. I may even prefer it to Illinois. sounds_sound, I think you'd dig this list too. Also, I'm curious what your list would look like. Get in on this brotha
Yeah, Michigan is a great one too but I felt like Illinois expanded on all of the songwriting and stories told in Michigan to make an even bigger, bolder record. If it's a rainy day I'll always pick Michigan over Illinois, though. I had a really big Age of Adz phase too but I've never really felt like going back to listen to it since. It's almost too overpowering of a record
Michigan seemed way more personal in a specific way. Sufjan grew up in Michigan so that makes sense. Illinois was more of a walk-through history. Still very personal and emotive, but not specific to him. -With the enormous exception of Casimir Polanski Day -one of my favorite songs ever.
I could see why you'd pick Seven Swans it's bad ass. I remember Sufjan saying that he wanted to make an album for each state. Here's a review for Illinois written by a friend. Not sure he'll get to all 50.
I often forget how important a first line of an album is, that's a good one. They always say how important first impressions are in life, why should music be any different? That'd make a good post "best first lyric". I've always been a fan of Put your hand on the wheel, let the golden age begin
For best first lyric I'd probably go with Van Morrison - If I ventured in the slipstream / Between the viaducts of your dream / Where immobile steel rims crack / And the ditch in the back roads stop / Could you find me?
It's a good one. Was it you that mentioned this album a couple weeks ago in a comment? It's a good one.
Doing this again because I am rather dissatisfied w/ the results of the other list. Including a Spotify playlist with most of the albums, though some don't exist on Spotify so I subbed/added in some other records. http://open.spotify.com/user/hissnlissn/playlist/64X29IHYkUe... 1984 - R.E.M., "Reckoning"
1985 - The Fall, "This Nation's Saving Grace"
1986 - The Go-Betweens, "Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express"
1987 - The Wedding Present, "George Best"
1988 - My Bloody Valentine, "You Made Me Realize"
1989 - The Telescopes, "Taste" /
1990 - Sonic Youth, "Goo"
1991 - The Orb, "The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld"
1992 - Sleep, "Sleep's Holy Mountain"
1993 - Slowdive, "Souvlaki"
1994 - Low, "I Could Live In Hope" / Bark Psychosis, "Hex"
1995 - Mojave 3, "Ask Me Tomorrow" / Smashing Pumpkins, "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"
1996 - The Handsome Family, "Milk & Scissors"
1997 - Chemical Brothers, "Dig Your Own Hole"
1998 - Bedhead, "Transaction de Novo"
1999 - Stereolab, "Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night"
2000 - Party of Helicopters, "Mt. Forever"
2001 - Owls, "Owls" / Unwound, "Leaves Turn Inside You" / Jim O'Rourke, "Insignificance"
2002 - Interpol, "Turn On The Bright Lights"
2003 - The Exploding Hearts, "Guitar Romantic"
2004 - Moodymann, "Black Mahogani"
2005 - Broadcast, "Tender Buttons"
2006 - I:Cube, "Live at the Planetarium"
2007 - Deepchord Presents Echospace: "The Coldest Season"
2008 - Sun Araw, "Beach Head" / Woods, "At Rear House"
2009 - Moritz von Oswald Trio, "Vertical Ascent" / Juju & Jordash, "Juju & Jordash"
2010 - Caribou, "Swim"
2011 - Belong, "Common Era" / Nick Lowe, "The Old Magic"
2012 - ...
Which seven? I just put together a Spotify playlist for the list if you want to get familiar w/ some of the others. http://open.spotify.com/user/hissnlissn/playlist/64X29IHYkUe...
This is too difficult. I'm only picking albums from March - my birthday month - each year, according to Wikipedia, which is far from comprehensive but helps to narrow it down a bit. I initially wrote sprawling mini-essays for each year up to 1989 but that method proved unsustainable. 1984 - Black Flag, "My War"
1985 - The Sisters of Mercy, "First and Last and Always"
1986 - Depeche Mode, "Black Celebration"
1987 - The Smiths, "Louder than Bombs"
1988 - The Pixies, "Surfer Rosa"
1989 - De La Soul, "3 Feet High and Rising" / Operation Ivy, "Energy" (sorry)
1990 - Depeche Mode, "Violator"
1991 - Roxette, "Joyride"
1992 - Def Leppard, "Adrenalize"
1993 - Stereolab, "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music"
1994 - Bark Psychosis, "Hex"*
1995 - Elastica, "Elastica"
1996 - Steve Earle, "I Feel Alright"
1997 - Daft Punk, "Homework"
1998 - Spacehog, "The Chinese Album"
1999 - Beth Orton, "Central Reservation" / Choking Victim, "No Gods, No Managers" (sorry, again)
2000 - Broadcast, "The Noise Made By People"
2001 - Kings of Convenience, "Quiet is the New Loud"
2002 - Idlewild, "The Remote Part" (tie so far between March '02 and March '92 for Worst Month in LPs [According to Wikipedia])
2003 - The Thermals, "More Parts Per Million"
2004 - TV On The Radio, "Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes"
2005 - Annie, "Anniemal"
2006 - Loose Fur, "Born Again in the USA" (okay, this is officially the lousiest Smarch I've encountered thus far - picking Loose Fur sort of by default, not that familiar w/ the album)
2007 - LCD Soundsystem, "Sound of Silver" (remember hearing this blast on work's brand new - at the time - tube amp a few years back led me to re-visit and re-enjoy the album)
2008 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_albums_released_in_2008... - It's almost as if the more music is released (this is the longest of Wikipedia's lists thus far) the less interesting it is. I can't pick a single one of these. 2007 was a really great year for music and also the year I started getting into techno and house music quite a bit - there was False, "2007", Ricardo Villalobos' "Fabric 36", Deepchord Presents Echospace, "The Coldest Season". 2008 was similarly good but not quite there - visited LittleWhiteEarbuds to refresh my memory and am breaking my self-imposed structure here both in protest of all the terrible music featured on Wikipedia for March 2008 as well as to offer a more legitimate answer that might lead someone to discovery. And so I'm gonna just go ahead and pick Move D & Benjamin Brunn, "Songs from the Beehive," which I didn't like as much when it was released but has since grown on me. The Osborne s/t LP is a real fun one, though, especially the single, ["Ruling"](www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-yBLPbw8_).
2009 - UGK, "UGK 4 Life" - RIP Pimp C. This is the year I joined twitter. Here's a twitter trope for you: "That moment when you're looking at Wikipedia's record of all albums released in a year and you realize that when you're old some shitty pop punk band that spent their entire career as an opening act on the Warped Tour could very well be playing after your town's 4th of July fireworks at the community rec center." Way over 140 characters. This was also the only year I went to SXSW. My buddy and I drove down from Chicago and had an awesome time. We spent next to zero dollars (I think I had maybe $250 total to my name when he picked me up early in the wee hours of one March morning) on a bunch of free shows and cheap drinks in the hot, hot sun. I was so thoroughly engaged with music this year, and none of the albums I was interested in are listed on Wikipedia (at least for the month of March). If I had to make a more legitimate pick it might be the Abe Vigoda EP that came out this year if only for the Stevie Nicks cover, bu there were so many great records. I'm losing my mind looking at this list on wikipedia. Only four more years to go.
2010 - I quit. I hate this. Records released just five years prior are being re-released in 2010. I've always disliked the "Just because it's on Wikipedia it don't mean it's true!" trope but I'm beginning to believe that the only people supplying information about music to Wikipedia are the last remaining salaried employees at the major music labels and deaf people. I can't remember what I was into this year but I seem to recall it being a bit of an off/weird year in terms of what I was listening to.
2011 - I'm no longer following my self-imposed rules and I'm just going to say Belong, "Common Era," was my favorite album of the year.
2012 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_albums_released_in_2012... what a hilarious list. It's so short! Remember how long the list for, what was it, 2006 was? If you were standing far enough away that you couldn't make out the text you might have believed me if I told you this was a list of all the rotary phones sold since the introduction of the iPhone and not a list of all the albums released in 2012. Having a difficult time choosing an album of the year for 2012. 2011 was, imho, as great a year for music as 2007 and 2009 before it. Something about odd years. Spent a lot of time with my favorites from 2011 and discovering even more that were released that year that for whatever reason I missed. I don't know. I'll get back to you. I want my life back.
Well, thanks for the great effort. As far as March 2008 goes -- Volume One by She & Him was cute (no replayability whatsoever), Consolers of the Lonely by the Raconteurs was decent, Smile by Boris is all right if you're into that sort of thing, which I'm not. And there was a Van Morrison album which I've never heard but he was once one of the greats, so who knows. I would add that Wikipedia's album lists are shit and probably not the best way to make your own list. Stay Positive by The Hold Steady, Airing of Grievances by Titus Andronicus, and The '59 Sound by The Gaslight Anthem were quite possibly the best albums of 2008, and none of them are listed.
Wow, you weren't kidding about March 2008 were you? What a shit month for music. Great list, I like a number of these albums. I remember thinking Beth Orton was going to be HUGELY successful. Also, I really enjoyed The Noise Made By People, sounds_sound introduced me to Broadcast the year that came out. Nice list hiss.
I saw Broadcast on tour for that album as well. They played the Magic Stick in Ferndale. Saw so many good bands there over they years.
Thanks! Yeah, March 2008 - caveat, according to Wikipedia - is the doldrums. Nothing of any value there, far as I can tell. Just awful. Beth Orton was always doomed to the Starbucks hanging garden. Sad but true. I think that album almost sort of coincided with the explosion of Starbucks locations nationwide. The Broadcast album is easily their best, though I like everything they've done well enough. Real sad about the singer. Would have liked to see where they went given more time. Looking back at the list, it's hard to pick a definite favorite overall beyond Bark Psychosis (which I asterisked due to the fact that it was actually a late February release of that year). That's an album I've lived with for years and have enjoyed immensely.
1994 was a really tough one for me. The Blue Album was really influential and I listened to it like crazy. I still love it very much. I went with Grace because ultimately, it had a greater impact on me. Plus, the ladies always loved it. But that Weezer album rules. We have some crossover on our lists. 2002 is another really difficult year. Foxtrot, Yoshimi and Sea Change all in the same year?? What a kick ass year for music.