That one year in music

Oh, and check out Google's home page and the guitar in honor of Les Paul's 96th birthday.

 

Not sure I have a year that stands out with x favorite songs, so I'll pick the year I'd like to go back in time and be at 18 years old as this music was being released. And it's more based on albums than particular songs.

1971.

It was far enough from the Fab Four days where rock and roll had moved beyond it's rudimentary, basic three chord, I love her/miss her beginnings and really was begin to stretch out and deliver all kinds of music and sounds, all seeming quite inventive and new.

The trinity at the top of the list were the megapowers:

Sticky Fingers
Who's Next
Zeppelin Four

And you had others like:

Carole King, Tapestry
Allmans, Fillmore East
The Yes Album
McCartney, Ram

And releases from:

Carly Simon (a pair)
Chicago
Sabbath
Deep Purple
Thin Lizzy
3 Dog Night
Badfinger

And if you want songs from the year (from artists not mentioned above), you can add:

What Is Life
Imagine
Love Her Madly
Maggie May
Peace Train
Bang A Gong (Get It On)

 

2008 was indeed a good year, huh?

 

And I haven't had a chance to look up stuff. 1966 looks like a damn tough year to beat: the innocence starting to end, but still much catchy stuff. But 1979 sticks out for me as the My Sharona/Hell Is for Children summer.

 

I'd probably go with that year too, but don't forget all of the great soul and funk that was released that year as well. Both Sly & The Family Stone's There's A Riot Goin' On and Funkadelic's Maggot Brain were released in '71, among many, many others.

 

1980 was a pretty good year for rock music: AC/DC puts out Back in Black; Motorhead with Ace of Spades; Iron Maiden's self-titled; Black Sabbath does Heaven and Hell and Ozzy does Blizzard of Ozz; Judas Priest does British Steel; Pink Floyd puts out The Wall.... That would work for me.

 

1991 is my pick. A lot of that has to do with how old I was at the time and being a senior in high school, but Pearl Jam's Ten, Nirvana's Nevermind, the Illusion albums, Metallica's black album, Achtung Baby, Bloodsugarsexmagic, Tribe Called Quest's Low End Theory, Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, Smashing Pumpkins's first album...

 

1973

Here is a small sampling of the standout albums of the year:

Elton John - "Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only The Piano Player"
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
Billy Joel - "Piano Man"
Genesis - "Live"
"Selling England By The Pound"
Pink Floyd - "The Dark Side of the Moon"
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - "Brain Salad Surgery"
The Doobie Brothers - "The Captain and Me"
Led Zeppelin - "Houses of the Holy"
Jim Croce - "Life and Times"
Aerosmith - "Aerosmith"
Queen - "Queen"
Eagles - "Desperado"
Earth, Wind & Fire - "Head To The Sky"
Stevie Wonder - "Innervisions"
Marvin Gaye - "Let's Get It On"
Bruce Springsteen - "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J."
"The Wild, The Innocent and the E-Street Shuffle" (Boss' first two albums)
The Who - "Quadrophenia"
Steve Miller Band - "The Joker"
Chicago - "Chicago VI"

Those albums alone spawn a pretty nice rotation on the jukebox, iPod or multi-CD player. In addition, Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" became prominent this year off of "Machine Head," released in 1972.

 

In the PBS documentary on Bob Dylan a few years ago, they had a shot of the Billboard Top Singles chart when "Like A Rolling Stone" hit number one. Numbers 2-5 were "Help," "California Girls," "Where Did Our Love Go" and "I Can't Help Myself."
Add "Satisfaction" and I think it's fair to say 1965 has a strong case here.

 

Speaking of the Billboard charts ... on April 4, 1964, the Top 5 songs (and 12 of the top 100) were all Beatles songs:

1. Can't Buy Me Love
2. Twist & Shout
3. She Loves You
4. I Want To Hold Your Hand
5. Please Please Me
--
31. I Saw Her Standing There
41. From Me To You
46. Do You Want To Know A Secret
58. All My Loving
65. You Can't Do That
68. Roll Over Beethoven
79. Thank You Girl

http://www.mybeatles.net/charts.html

 

2Pac's first solo album also came out in 1991.

 

For nostalgia? 1994.

For music I enjoy now? Probably, as mentioned, 1966, 1977 or 1980.