New music has lost a lot of hold on me over the last few years. And last year I decided that instead of trying to keep up with it all, I’d look back at music history and listen to the albums celebrating milestones. Some of these I’d heard before, but many I had not. The project ended up being more than I could keep up with at times – there’s a list of at least 50 albums I didn’t get to – but it was much more enjoyable to discover and rediscover classics instead of just whatever was being dumped onto Spotify every Friday.
So below are my top 10s from each year I covered, along with some honorable mentions.
1969
1. The Beatles – Abbey Road
2. Dusty Springfield – Dusty in Memphis
3. The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground
4. Creedence Clearwater Revival – Green River
5. The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed
6. Miles Davis – In a Silent Way
7. The Band – The Band
8. Bob Dylan – Nashville Skyline
9. Isaac Hayes – Hot Buttered Soul
10. Sly & the Family Stone – Stand!
HONORABLE MENTIONS
• Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bayou Country / Willy and the Poor Boys
• Roberta Flack – First Take
• The Kinks – Arthur
• Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin
• Elvis Presley – From Elvis in Memphis
• The Stooges – The Stooges
1979
1. The Clash – London Calling
2. Elvis Costello and the Attractions – Armed Forces
3. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Damn the Torpedoes
4. Donna Summer – Bad Girls
5. Roxy Music – Manifesto
6. Joe Jackson – Look Sharp!! / I’m the Man
7. Nick Lowe – Labour of Lust
8. Prince – Prince
9. Michael Jackson – Off the Wall
10. Sister Sledge – We Are Family
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
• The B-52’s – The B-52’s
• David Bowie – Lodger
• Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady
• Chic – Risqué
• Dave Edmunds – Repeat When Necessary
• Gang of Four – Entertainment!
• Ian Hunter – You’re Never Alone with a Schizophrenic
• Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
• Graham Parker – Squeezing Out Sparks
• Sparks – No. 1 in Heaven
• Supertramp – Breakfast in America
• Talking Heads – Fear of Music
• Throbbing Gristle – 20 Jazz Funk Greats
• XTC – Drums and Wires
1989
1. The Cure – Disintegration
2. De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising
3. Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
4. Pixies – Doolittle
5. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
6. Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine
7. Tom Petty – Full Moon Fever
8. XTC – Oranges & Lemons
9. The Blue Nile – Hats
10. Madonna – Like a Prayer
HONORABLE MENTIONS
• Kate Bush – The Sensual World
• Julee Cruise – Floating into the Night
• Peter Gabriel – Passion
• Janet Jackson – Rhythm Nation 1814
1994
1. Jeff Buckley – Grace
2. Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
3. Weezer – Weezer (The Blue Album)
4. Oasis – Definitely Maybe
5. Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
6. Green Day – Dookie
7. Portishead – Dummy
8. OutKast – Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
9. Nas – Illmatic
10. The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die
HONORABLE MENTIONS
• Beastie Boys – Ill Communication
• Beck – Mellow Gold
• Blur – Parklife
• Johnny Cash – American Recordings
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Let Love In
• Lisa Germano – Geek the Girl
• Manic Street Preachers – The Holy Bible
• Massive Attack – Protection
• Nirvana – MTV Unplugged in New York
• Tom Petty – Wildflowers
• Sunny Day Real Estate – Diary
• Various Artists – Pulp Fiction (Music from the Motion Picture)
1999
1. Wilco – Summerteeth
2. Moby – Play
3. Sigur Rós – Agaetis byrjun
4. The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin
5. Tom Waits – Mule Variations
6. Jimmy Eat World – Clarity
7. The Dismemberment Plan – Emergency & I
8. Various Artists – Rushmore (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
9. Eminem – The Slim Shady LP
10. The Roots – Things Fall Apart
HONORABLE MENTIONS
• Fiona Apple – When the Pawn…
• Backstreet Boys – Millennium
• Beck – Midnite Vultures
• Built to Spill – Keep It Like a Secret
• Dixie Chicks – Fly
• Foo Fighters – There Is Nothing Left to Lose
• Genesis – Turn It on Again: The Hits
• The Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs
• Aimee Mann – Magnolia (Music from the Motion Picture)
• George Michael – Songs from the Last Century
• Mos Def – Black on Both Sides
• Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile
• Rage Against the Machine – The Battle of Los Angeles
• Sleater-Kinney – The Hot Rock
• Smash Mouth – Astro Lounge
• Various Artists – Go (Music from the Motion Picture)
2009
1. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
2. U2 – No Line on the Horizon
3. Death Cab for Cutie – The Open Door
4. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
5. Bon Iver – Blood Bank
6. The xx – xx
7. St. Vincent – Actor
8. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
9. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
10. Various Artists – Dark Was the Night
HONORABLE MENTIONS
• The Antlers – Hospice
• The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
• Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
• David Crowder*Band – Church Music
• Florence + the Machine – Lungs
• Japandroids – Post-Nothing
• Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon: The End of Day
• Phil Wickham – Heaven & Earth
• Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
• Various Artists – 500 Days of Summer (Music from the Motion Picture)
• Various Artists – Fantastic Mr. Fox (Original Soundtrack)