What is the Best Year in Music, Ever?

[Doug Gilmour]

What is the Best Year in Music Ever?

Well, what do you think the best year ever has been for music? Which year produced the best artists, in your opinion? Quite a choice to make, I know!

As for me..

1989:
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
Pixies - Doolittle
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (this has grown on me lately)

Other notable years include:

1966 (Pet Sounds, Blonde on Blonde, Revolver, etc.)
1967 (Velvet Underground & Nico, Sgt Pepper's, The Doors, etc.)
1986 (Graceland, Raising Hell, Licensed to Ill)
1991 (Screamadelica, Blue Lines, Achtung Baby, Loveless, Ten, etc.)
1994 (Grace, Dummy, Definitely Maybe, Mellow Gold)
1998 (Mezzanine, Moon Safari, Hello Nasty)

Those are mine, what about your favourite(s)?

-Dan

 

[Adam]

2005 > x , where x Є (-∞,∞)

Truth to be told, I never got into music pre 80's, partly because I wan't alive then

This year has seen (at least in the genre's I like) some brilliant (timeless if you will) albums, and it's only half way through.

 

[klang]

The universal answer to that question would be "When I was in my twenties"

 

[dharmabum420]

1973 was an incredible year - beyond incredible.

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Tom Waits - Closing Time (debut)
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
Aerosmith - Aerosmith (debut)
Bob Marley - Burnin' and Catch a Fire
Wings - Band on the Run
Queen - Queen (debut)
The Who - Quadrophenia

Arguably the best albums ever by Floyd, Zep and Elton John, the debuts of Tom Waits, Aerosmith and Queen, and solid material from some of the greatest performers ever.

 

[Adam]

The universal answer to that question would be "When I was in my twenties"

BURN!

Love it, and so true.

 

[dharmabum420]

BURN!

Love it, and so true.

I dunno, I was in my 20's from 1994-2003, and while there were a few really good years in there... it was nothing like some of the stuff from the late 60's and early 70's in my opinion. Especially on the charts... the rise of boy bands, bubblegum girl power pop and the commercialization of rap. I did love a lot of the early 90's though, especially living a few hours from Seattle.

On the other hand, the music from the late 60's-70's I listened to a lot in my early 20's, so maybe it should be said that the music you listened to in your 20's is what defines it.

 

[neb]

1977
1 - Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks - Here's the Sex Pistols
2 - Television - Marquee Moon
3 - The Clash - The Clash
4 - Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
5 - Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True

 

[melsmusic]

I can't pick one year because I have been alive too many years

Although born in the late 60's I would choose the very late 60's to early 70's (before disco took over).

Then early 90's.

 

[maogall]

1976
The Ramones - Ramones

 

[jimbopod]

Hell Yeah im with the last guy!!! 1976 all the fricking way.

 

[Galley]

I can't narrow it down to a single year, but the years 1979-1983 definitely gets my vote. I call that era the "Golden Age of AOR". It's mind-boggling how many landmark albums were released in that time period.

The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You
Foreigner - 4
Styx - Paradise Theater
Toto - Toto IV
Yes - 90125
R.E.O. Speedwagon - Hi-Infidelity
ZZ Top - Eliminator
The Knack - Get The Knack
Dire Straits - Making Movies
AC/DC - Back In Black
Asia - Asia
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Electric Light Orchestra - Time
Journey - Escape
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - Against The Wind

Those are all I could think of off the top of my head. I just happened to be in high school at the time. WooHoo!

 

[vitosha]

Yes, Galley, '79-'84 had great stuff, but I preferred the New Wave sound of those years: Talking Heads, Pretenders, Patti Smith, Joe Jackson, and on, and on .... But an unforgettable beginning came in 1965, when Moog's synthesizer was introduced, a band called the Jefferson Airplane was formed in SF, USA and Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Festival. That began a huge period of experiment and innovation.

 

[Azoic]

1985-
psychocandy -jesus and mary chain
head on the door- the cure
lowlife- new order
floodland- sisters of mercy
the queen is dead- the smiths