New music has lost a lot of hold on me over the last few years. And three years ago 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. I ended up cutting out one year of the project (1996), which helped me feel like I wasn’t always behind. This made it 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.
1971
- Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
- Can – Tago Mago
- Lily Tomlin – This Is a Recording
- Miles Davis – Jack Johnson
- Fela Kuti – Live!
- The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers
- David Bowie – Hunky Dory
- Led Zeppelin – Untitled
- Carole King – Tapestry
- Joni Mitchell – Blue
HONORABLE MENTIONS
• Bob Dylan – Greatest Hits Vol. II
• Elton John – Madman Across the Water
• Nilsson – Nilsson Schmilsson
• John Prine – John Prine
• Rodriguez – Coming from Reality
• The Rolling Stones – Hot Rocks 1964-1971
• Cat Stevens – Teaser and the Firecat
• Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells a Story
• The Who – Who’s Next
1981
- Elvis Costello – Trust
- Rick James – Street Songs
- Kraftwerk – Computer World
- U2 – October
- X – Wild Gift
- The Rolling Stones – Tattoo You
- This Heat – Deceit
- The dB’s – Stands for Decibels
- Mission of Burma – Signals, Calls, and Marches
- Brian Eno & David Byrne – My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
HONORABLE MENTIONS
• Blondie – The Best of Blondie
• Funkadelic – The Electric Spanking of War Babies
• Gang of Four – Solid Gold
• Motörhead – No Sleep ’til Hammersmith
• Willie Nelson – Greatest Hits (& Some That Will Be)
• Pretenders – Pretenders II
• Queen – Greatest Hits
• Rush – Moving Pictures
1991
- U2 – Achtung Baby
- My Blood Valentine – Loveless
- A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory
- Slint – Spiderland
- Primal Scream – Screamadelica
- Gang Starr – Step in the Arena
- The KLF – The White Room / The Orb – Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld / Massive Attack – Blue Lines
- Garth Brooks – Ropin’ the Wind
- Talk Talk – Laughing Stock
- Teenage Fanclub – Bandwagonesque
HONORABLE MENTIONS
• Green Day – Kerplunk!
• Reba McEntire – For My Broken Heart
• Nirvana – Nevermind
• Pearl Jam – Ten
• Pixies – Trompe le Monde
• Public Enemy – Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black
• R.E.M. – Out of Time
• Bonnie Raitt – Luck of the Draw
• Seal – Seal
• Matthew Sweet – Girlfriend
2001
- Lift to Experience – The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads
- Jay-Z – The Blueprint
- Jimmy Eat World – Bleed American
- The Strokes – Is This It
- The Caretaker – A Stairway to the Stars
- Death Cab for Cutie – The Photo Album
- Various Artists – Music from the Motion Picture Josie and the Pussycats
- Daft Punk – Discovery
- The Avalanches – Since I Left You
- Starsailor – Love Is Here
HONORABLE MENTIONS
• Ryan Adams – Gold
• Björk – Vespertine
• Broken Social Scene – Feel Good Lost
• Cannibal Ox – The Cold Vein
• The Cure – Greatest Hits
• Dashboard Confessional – The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most
• The Dismemberment Plan – Change
• Gorillaz – Gorillaz
• Low – Things We Lost in the Fire
• Nick Lowe – The Convincer
• John Mayer – Room for Squares
• The Microphones – The Glow Pt. 2
• Pete Yorn – musicforthemorningafter
• Radiohead – Amnesiac
• The Shins – Oh, Inverted World
• Spoon – Girls Can Tell
• Unwound – Leaves Turn Inside You
• Rufus Wainwright – Poses
• The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
• Various Artists – NOW That’s What I Call Music! 6
2011
- Bright Eyes – The People’s Key
- The Roots – undun
- Adele – 21
- Beyoncé – 4
- Seryn – This Is Where We Are
- Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
- St. Vincent – Strange Mercy
- The Decemberists – The King Is Dead
- Destroyer – Kaputt
- Original Broadway Cast – The Book of Mormon
HONORABLE MENTIONS
• The Beach Boys – The Smile Sessions
• The Black Keys – El Camino
• Bon Iver – Bon Iver, Bon Iver
• Cut Copy – Zonoscope
• Drake – Take Care
• Kirk Franklin – Hello Fear
• Friendly Fires – Pala
• Jay-Z & Kanye West – Watch the Throne
• Joy Division/New Order – Total
• Kendrick Lamar – Section.80
• The Lonely Island – Turtleneck & Chain
• M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
• Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica
• Josh T. Pearson – Last of the Country Gentlemen
• Wilco – The Whole Love
• Various Artists – Drive (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)