Which year seems to be the greatest year of music?

[Sunwoo1213]

I Mean, which year's album is Best?

My Pick of the best years by decade is,

1967, 1977, 1989, 1994, 2000, 2013.

And i think 1967,1977,1994 is stronger than other years..

How do you guys think?

[spiritualized]

Ahah,
Good question, a quick extract of my RYM ratings indicate :

1959 : average rating : 7.0
1966 : 7.2
1977 : 7.4
1980 : 7.2
1993 : 7.6
2000 : 7.1
2010 : 7.1

[StevieFan13]

My picks:
1. 1966
2. 1991
3. 1977
4. 1965
5. 1967
6. 2016
7. 1984
8. 1981
9. 1994
10. 1999

[Listyguy]

Here are my top years:
1965 (two great albums from Dylan and the Beatles, along with Otis Blue and A Love Supreme)
1967 (The Doors, VU & Nico, Forever Changes, Sgt. Pepper, two great Hendrix albums, Songs of Leonard Cohen)
1969 (Abbey Road, Stand!, two great Led Zeppelin albums, In the Court of the Crimson King, Let It Bleed, Five Leaves Left)
1971 (Led Zeppelin IV, Sticky Fingers, Who's Next, Blue, Hunky Dory, Tapestry, What's Going On, There's a Riot Going On)
1975 (Blood on the Tracks, Wish You Were Here, Born To Run, A Night at the Opera, Toys in the Attic, Physical Graffiti)
1994 (Ready To Die, Grace, Superunknown, Parklife, MTV Unplugged, Welcome to Sky Valley)

Of those, I'd probably say 1971 is my favorite year for music, with 1975 probably in second.

[prosecutorgodot]

I think 1970 was a pretty explosive year.
Jazz, Country/Folk, Hard rock, Classic rock all had great "classic" albums.

I think 1970 is most special for being the starting point for a lot of music. Metal developed under Black Sabbath, Proto-punk was bubbling with The Stooges (which leads to punk, then post-punk, new wave and dance-rock, which basically leads to all alternative rock afterwards). James Brown nearly perfects his new funky, rhythm-driven sound. The Jackson 5 emerge (right at the end of 1969), which is the start of the amazing career of Michael Jackson. The Wailers are honing their reggae craft, which would take over the world in a few years.

True, it is after the hopefulness of the 1960s, the hangover after Woodstock if you will. Nearing the end of anti-war fever, and the Beatles break up as well. But it adds to the element of shifting and handing over the torch in the world of music.

[Smithers-Jones]

1966 or 1967 for me. Just seemed those two years were great years for music of all genres. Arguably the greatest albums ever put out were released in '66 or '67 (Revolver, Pet Sounds, Otis Blue and the Velvet underground and Nico etc.)

[Nassim]

1997 saw the release of my 2 favorite of all time, another in my top 10, 3 more in my top 50. That's easily my favorite year ever, my only grudge is that it's pretty light on hip-hop.

[andyd1010]

(Great albums...Great songs other than the ones on those albums)

2010s: 2010 (The Suburbs, MBDTF, High Violet, Contra, Brothers...Rolling in the Deep, Zebra, The High Road)
2000s: 2007 (Neon Bible, In Rainbows, Boxer, Oracular Spectacular...Paper Planes, Fluorescent Adolescent, 1234)
1990s: 1994 (Weezer (The Blue Album), Dookie, Grace, Superunknown, Definitely Maybe)
1980s: 1987 (The Joshua Tree, Appetite for Destruction)...I'm not a huge 80s fan so that was good enough.
1970s: 1970 (Let It Be, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, All Things Must Pass, Cosmo's Factory...Maybe I'm Amazed, Lola, Your Song)
1960s: 1969 (Abbey Road, Led Zeppelin II, Let It Bleed...Proud Mary, Fortunate Son, Suspicious Minds)
Before 1960: 1956 (...Heartbreak Hotel, Blueberry Hill, Hound Dog, I Walk the Line)

2010 wins my vote.

[andyd1010]

Henrik, since it seems relevant to how you weigh best-of-the-year lists compared to all-time lists, do you have a ranking of the "strength" of each year? That would be interesting to see, and to see how big the differences are between years.

[Moonbeam]

My top 20 years based on my point system from 13,000+ song ratings so far:

1. 1982: 19.68 points
2. 1983: 18.75 points
3. 1980: 18.23 points
4. 1981: 18.22 points
5. 1979: 17.64 points
6. 1978: 16.31 points
7. 1987: 16.12 points
8. 1984: 16.02 points
9. 1977: 15.98 points
10. 1989: 15.92 points
11. 2007: 15.01 points
12. 1976: 14.75 points
13. 1986: 14.73 points
14. 1985: 14.59 points
15. 1990: 14.53 points
16. 2004: 14.10 points
17. 2010: 13.94 points
18. 1973: 13.81 points
19. 1988: 13.74 points
20. 2001: 13.73 points

[veganvalentine]

I might go with 1975 because of Wish You Were Here, Physical Graffiti, Captain Fantastic, Fleetwood Mac, A Night at the Opera, 10cc's The Original Soundtrack, Camel's The Snow Goose, Supertramp's Crisis? What Crisis?, One of These Nights, and ELO's Face the Music. All the odd years in the 70s are pretty amazing to me.

[Honorio]

Periodically this issue shows up on the Forum (it's the third time if I'm not wrong). I found on the computer what I wrote last time...

1956: "It's got to be rock'n'roll music / If you wanna dance with me," when the rock was young, when there was Heartbreak Hotel, Long Tall Sally, Roll Over Beethoven, I Walk the Line, Blue Suede Shoes, Be Bop a Lula, Please Please Please…
1967: "There something's happening here / What it is ain't exactly clear," when everything seemed possible, when there was A Day in the Life, Alone Again Or, Sunday Morning, Purple Haze, Ruby Tuesday, Waterloo Sunset, Walk Away Renée…
1971: "Dream is over / And so, dear friends, / You just have to carry on," when the end of the sixties dream opened the thunder box, when there was Life on Mars, Wild Horses, Riders on the Storm, Inner City Blues, Family Affair, Get It On, Black Dog…
1977: "Don’t know what I want / But I know how to get it / I wanna destroy," when two simultaneous revolutions (punk rock and disco music) changed the rock music forever, when there was Anarchy in the UK, White Riot, Heroes, Stayin' Alive, I Feel Love, Psycho Killer, Marquee Moon…
1982: "Don’t push me cause I'm close to the edge / I'm trying not to lose my head," when there was a new music for a new society, when there was Billie Jean, 1999, The Message, Uncertain Smile, Come On Eileen, Town Called Malice, Shipbuilding…
1991: "Here we are now / Entertain us / I feel stupid and contagious," when indie became mainstream, when there was Smells Like Teen Spirit, Losing my Religion, Unfinished Sympathy, Higher Than the Sun, One, Under the Bridge, Alec Eiffel…
2001: "You've got to tolerate / Some of the people that you hate / I'm not in love with you / But I won't holding it against you," when the last electronica masterpieces gave place to a rebirth of young rock bands, when there was Last Nite, Fell in Love with a Girl, Juxtapozed with U, Knives Out, Digital Love, Can't Get You Out of My Head, Pagan Poetry…
2010: "Headbone connects to the headphones / Headphones connect to the iPhone / IPhone connected to the internet / Connected to the Google / Connected to the government," the age of Adz when Rap went Pop and Folk went Electronica, when there was Limit to Your Love, Runaway, Bloodbuzz Ohio, Not in Love, Ready to Start, Fuck You!, Cold war…

[Live in Phoenix]

Looking mostly at my top 100 albums:

1960s: 1967, not close (also counting The Basement Tapes)
1970s: 1977, close call with 1971
1980s: maybe 1983 just barely over 1987
1990s: 1991 (three of them in my top 5)
2000s: 2006, mostly because of Joanna Newsom

[Sweepstakes Ron]

My top 20 years based on my point system from 13,000+ song ratings so far:

Holy crap, that is a LOT of ratings! How do you keep track of them all?

[Moonbeam]

My top 20 years based on my point system from 13,000+ song ratings so far:

Holy crap, that is a LOT of ratings! How do you keep track of them all?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

[Lone_Stone]

Well since I am a huge guitar fan I would say around 1850 because it was then that the classical guitar was made
Source: http://www.musicalien.net/guitar-history/

But no joke now, I love guitar music and I am into older music so I would say 1965

But that's just me

[Dexter]

My top 20 years based on my point system from 13,000+ song ratings so far:

Holy crap, that is a LOT of ratings! How do you keep track of them all?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

I'm in awe of you!


As to the greatest year of music, history points to 1956, 1965 or 1991 but I think you have to live through all those years to be credible. As someone who got into music starting the late 80's I can definitely say 1992 was the greatest year in music in my timeline. Nirvana's Nevermind blew up and then later Pearl Jam's Ten and the underrated Dirt from Alice in Chains was also released this year. In short, this was the year I moved on from my parents' type of music and staked the alt-rock sound as my own.

[Lone_Stone]

@Dexter yeah, 1956 was also an amazing time in the music history.. Love everything that happened then

[StevieFan13]

Hell, I stand by putting last year in the pantheon of great years for music. Any year that can give us Lemonade, Blonde, You Want It Darker, Blackstar, "Ultralight Beam," "I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore," Skeleton Tree, A Seat at the Table,"Cheap Thrills," "The Sound" - it was an exciting year for music, even with the unfortunate amounts of death.