Best year for new music?

Branching off the 1990's music discussion, what year saw the best new music releases? I'm not looking for just had the single best album, but the most great music.

Is there a year that beats '91? Nevermind, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Low End Theory, Ten, Bad Motorfinger, Achtung Baby, Gish, Sailing the Seas of Cheese, Use Your Illusion, 'Metallica', Our of Time...

Damn son...hard question.

It'll be a year when you were in high school or maybe college. 

1967.

The Beatles found acid and lost the pop sound. The Doors opened themselves up, Hendrix got Experienced, Pink Floyd opened the gates for the piper, and so much much more.

RevRico said:

1967.

The Beatles found acid and lost the pop sound. The Doors opened themselves up, Hendrix got Experienced, Pink Floyd opened the gates for the piper, and so much much more.

Oh dang, that had BOTH Sgt. Pepper *and* Magical Mystery tour... also have Aretha with "I Never Loved a Man the way I Love You", Velvet Unergrdound and Nico, Procol Harum, Disraeli Gears, the start of Prog Rock with 'Days of Future Passed', Albert King 'Born Under a Bad Sign'... lotta good stuff.

Without doing any research, or really knowing what I'm talking about, 1984.

Now, it's off to the goggles to see how wrong I am.

Edit: Not sure I'm right, but there are arguments to be made.  VOA by Sammy Hagar, Purple Rain, Born in the USA, Van Halen 1984.  Could be worse.

No matter what music you like, 1984 was a crazy year for album releases. Here are 25 released that year in different genres.

Purple Rain - Prince and the Revolution
Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen
Like A Virgin - Madonna
Run-D.M.C. - Run-D.M.C.
1984 - Van Halen
The Unforgettable Fire - U2
The Smiths - The Smiths
Ride The Lightning - Metallica
Private Dancer - Tina Turner
Reckoning - R.E.M.
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads
Learning To Crawl - The Pretenders
Reckless - Bryan Adams
Make It Big - Wham!
Footloose - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Welcome To The Pleasuredome - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Love At First Sting - Scorpions
Out Of The Cellar - Ratt
Stay Hungry - Twisted Sister
New Edition - New EditionThe Fat Boys - The Fat Boys
Grace Under Pressure - Rush
Bon Jovi - Bon Jovi
Fistful Of Metal - Anthrax
The Red Hot Chili Peppers - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Streetwiseguy said:

Without doing any research, or really knowing what I'm talking about, 1984.

Now, it's off to the goggles to see how wrong I am.

I was typing as you answered :)

In reply to Steve_Jones :

One more for your 1984 list: Powerslave. 

And tying the year all together: 

Keith Tanner said:

It'll be a year when you were in high school or maybe college. 

I have lived my entire life making fun of people who actually think this way.  And there are a lot of them.

1984 was epic.

1992 was also an intense year.  Some people don't like the music, but...

REM- Automatic for the people
Dre- The Chronic
Pearl Jam- Ten
Sade- Love Deluxe
Prince- Love Symbol
STP- Core
Sonic Youth- Dirty
Neil Young- Harvest Moon
Arrested Development- ...Days in the Life
Sir Mix-a-Lot- Mack Daddy
Snow- Informer
Nirvana- Nevermind
TLC- TLC Tip
BDP- Sex and Violence
Tool- Opiate
No Doubt- Self titled
En Vogue- Divas
Kriss Kross- totally krossed out
Das EFX- Dead Serious
Soul II soul- Just Right
Beastie Boys- check your head
The Cure- Wish
House of Pain- self titled
INXS- Wherever you are
Barenaked Ladies- Gordon

Gin Blossoms, Flaming Lips, Ramones, Suzanne Vega, Ugly Kid Joe, Public Enemy, Ice-T, Blind Melon, NIN, Alice in Chains.... I mean, TONS of iconic music in late 91/early 92.

I started University in 1992. I would LOVE to say it's just because it was my first year of college, but books have been written about the music of 1991/1992. Books are written about 1984, 1967, 1972, and 1955... but no one writes books about the music of 1987, or 1981. There wasn't a single dorm room that didn't have a CD of Pearl Jam's Ten, Nirvana's Nevermind, or Chili Pepper's Blood/Sex/Magic.  

Duke said:

Keith Tanner said:

It'll be a year when you were in high school or maybe college. 

I have lived my entire life making fun of people who actually think this way.  And there are a lot of them.

 

They're called the formative years for a reason :)

You know, I wanted to say 1969 but I was probably thinking of 1967. Plenty of good stuff came out in 1969 but 1967 was off the chain. 
 

Just like the 90s thread though I have to say it's impossible for me to pick a best. I agree with 1984 and 1992 as well. But then I count no fewer than 18 excellent albums from 1994. I think I could spend a year researching this question and still not give a definite answer. 

Keith Tanner said:

Duke said:

Keith Tanner said:

It'll be a year when you were in high school or maybe college. 

I have lived my entire life making fun of people who actually think this way.  And there are a lot of them.

 

They're called the formative years for a reason :)

Yup.

For me it's 1987.  Pretty much everything on this list: http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2020/05/26/top-100-songs-of-1987/

1992, 1999, 2000, 2015.

1994, 1998, 2021 honorable mentions.

Damn the 90's really was amazing music from start to finish

dculberson said:

Just like the 90s thread though I have to say it's impossible for me to pick a best.

That just makes the game more fun.

I'm surprised no one's shown any love for the 70's at all yet. Quite a few contenders there, but I think 1971 may be the strongest.

1971 had:

Zeppelin IV
Hunky Dori
Who's Next
Sticky Fingers
Joni Mitchel 'Blue'
Tapestry
What's Goin' On
There's a Riot Goin' On
Bill Withers 'Just as I am'
Al Green Gets Next to You
Allman Brothers Live at the Philmore East
Aqualung
Imagine 
Meddle
Janis Joplin 'Pearl'
Fragile
The Yes Album
Maggot Brain
Master of Reality
Madman Across the Water
Alice Cooper 'Killer'
Teaser and Firecat
L.A. Woman
Shaft soundtrack
A Nod is as Good as a Wink
The Cry of Love
Genesis 'Nursery Cryme'
...

We've got a lot of great music in rock, metal, blues rock, soul, singer/songwriter, prog. After the Beatles broke up, it provided room for other artists to step up, and I think we really saw a lot of those artists coming into their own from '71-'73.

In reply to Beer Baron :

I almost said in the other thread, the 90's was probably on par, or almost, with the 70's, but didn't want to open that can.

I'm going to be 54 this year.  My pick is 1979.

I think it was especially memorable as the 11-year old me kind of shifted form pop am radio to FM rock radio in my tastes and this is what was in heavy rotation, being the newest...

London Calling-The Clash
The Wall-Pink Floyd
Tusk-Fleetwood Mac
Fear of Music-Talking Heads
Breakfast in America-Supertramp
Damn the Torpedos-Tom Petty
Off The Wall-Michael Jackson
Highway to Hell-AC/DC
Armed Forces-Elvis Costello
Regatta de Blanc-The Police
Candy-O -The Cars
In Through The Out Door-Led Zepplin
Van Halen II
Look Sharp-Joe Jackson
The Long Run-The Eagles
Dream Police-Cheap Trick
Discovery-ELO
The Specials
Into The Music-Van Morrison
Eat to the Beat-Blondie
Prince (self titled)
The Pleasure Principle-Gary Numan 
Get the Knack 

 

There's a series of columns on Stereogum called "the Number Ones" that makes for pretty interesting reading. It's a write up of each #1 song on the Billboard pop charts in order, and it gives a good look at the shifts in tastes over time. It's into the mid-90s now. The background of some of those songs is crazy, and there are some great stories.

I'd recommend a good adblocker, the site is almost unusable otherwise. 

I am firmly in the 1977 camp.  I can't think of a more revolutionary year in music.

The Damned "Damned Damned Damned"

Wire "Pink Flag"

Cheap Trick "self titled"

The Clash "Self Titled"

Buzzcocks "Spiral Scratch"

X-Ray Spex "Oh Bondage Up Yours"

Ramones "Rocket to Russia"

Motorhead "self titled"

Vibrators "Pure Mania"

Sex Pistols "Never mind the Bollocks"

Dead boys "Young loud and snotty"

The Saints "I'm Stranded"

The Jam "In the city"

Elvis Costello "My aim is true"

Talking Heads "77"

Radio Birdman "Radios appear"

AC/DC "Let there be rock"

I could literally make this list 5 pages long single spaced from memory and I'm sure a quick google would expand that to 20 pages

Trent said:

I am firmly in the 1977 camp.  I can't think of a more revolutionary year in music.

That one jumped out as a strong contender for me too.

A couple other strongly mentionable albums you left out...:

Rumours
Steely Dan 'Aja'
Animals
David Bowie 'Heroes'
Lust for Life
Exodus
Out of the Blue
Bat out of Hell
The Stranger
Slow Hand
A Farewell to Kings
News of the World
...

Short version: The sheer volume of music out there today will have better music than before, but that same volume makes it difficult to find.

Best year for music?  2021 (because 2022 hasn't finished, yet).

Why, because there's soooo much out there now.  I would bet there are artists creating music now that puts every one of those above to shame.  Problem is, finding it is a challenge.

I was thinking about this yesterday while listening to the radio.  Modern media distribution, i.e. the internet, has given artists much easier access to get their music out into the world. Look at Macklemore.  He had a successful single without a major record label.  While he wasn't the first, it is much easier for an artist to do it today.  Produce it at home on your computer, stick your music on Youtube or Spotify (or whatever people use these days) and you could have a hit without ever having a contract.  The sheer accessibility of home recording and free promotion has enabled 1000's of artists, who would have never been heard by anyone more than family and friends, to reach a global scale.  

However, finding that music is a challenge.  I think the 90's were the sweet spot between new music and record label support.  There was more accessibility for music distribution with a huge number of radio stations and music television which gave record companies more markets to sell to and thereby, more chance to pick up smaller artists or genre's to fill in those spots.  Plus, because it was growing rapidly and record labels were tossing things out to "see what sticks", the average listener was exposed to multiple genre's of music.  Look at MTV where in a hour of watching saw grunge, hard rock, glam rock, rap, pop, new wave, punk, funk, etc.  All getting equal (relatively) exposure. 

Going into the 2000's and beyond, as the internet picked up, more and more artists were able to bypass the record labels and thereby radio and television to get their music to people.  This gave artists the ability to expand their specific music type to much deeper and more esoteric experiments without having a record label yelling at them "we need a single!" or "we need another hit single just like before!"

As a result, music has become less broad and more focused.  An average young listener today (not counting us old farts because we were pre-wired for listening to a broader range), will probably stick to one music type simply because there are many options for them to expand into just that genre and never run out of new music to listen to.  Furthermore, social media sites are designed to show a user more examples of things they already enjoy, thereby limiting their music knowledge to those suggestions. 

I'm willing to bet there are music tracks (see, we don't even call them songs anymore) that would blow away any of the bigger artists from the past, but without it being shoved in our ear by the record label, you have to hunt for it.  And hunting for it is difficult because there are 1000's of tracks you have to dig through to find it, and people just don't have the time to do it.  So, they're more likely to stick to a specific type of music and expand that direction.  BTW, I'm not saying it's a bad thing that record labels aren't force feeding us music like they did before in the payola days, just that it makes it harder for average listener to find new things they like.

-Rob

In reply to rob_lewis :

Don't forget that the crap music of the past has been allowed to fade into obscurity, as will most of the music from 2022. We remember the stuff that is memorable, we've completely forgotten the majority of the dreck. That will happen to the current crop of new music as well.

There have always been ways for small independents to get their music out to fans, whether it's a short pressing of vinyl, home-burned CDs or cassettes. Sometimes that works - the Barenaked Ladies had a top selling independent cassette before they had a record deal. You may have heard of them :) It wasn't possible for that album to explode the way something like Gangham Style did, as it physically had to be delivered to record stores but it was certainly possible. 

In reply to rob_lewis :

I think the disconnect between artists and labels is actually a problem. There are great artists, but the production quality and support to help them achieve what they're capable of isn't really there.

I think we are in a slump of overall quality of new music being created lately. I think this is because the internet completely shook up how music gets produced and delivered, and we don't have enough people who have mastered this new paradigm such that they're able to mentor upcoming artists. I'm not yelling at clouds because I think artists are less talented today. I think they're just as talented, but lack the support that great artists of the past have had.

When you look at many of the greatest musical movements and works, you see influential producers as arguably more critical than artists. It's not so much "where's this generations Kurt Cobain, Pink Floyd, or LL Cool J?", but where is this generation's "Dr. Dre, Rick Rubin, or Alan Parsons?" I think they're out there, but still incubating.

I think the ability to just do everything by yourself on one computer is a hindrance. I think limitations of technology and needing to collaborate with other artists pushes musicians to create better music.

But I'm actually really hopeful. Although I think we're in a slump now, I think it's building up for a new explosion of innovation once a few artists master the new paradigm and step up to act as leaders guiding the next big creative wave.

Edit: Also my very unscientific observations are that kids these days are more aware and appreciative of older music than my generation was growing up in the 90's.