A Long Listmaking Exercise For A Long Weekend

noah | July 3, 2008 5:00 am
toys.jpg

Today’s list that’s going around some blogs that I read: List the albums you like most from each year that you’ve been alive. It sounds simple, right? But in making a list like this, you realize things about yourself, like how Aerosmith’s peak for me came right around the year I was born, even though I didn’t really hear them until many years later. And how 2004 was something of a weak year for my personal canon, while 1989 was a really huge year for it, one where I had to pick between Like A Prayer, Doolittle, Cocked & Loaded, Full Moon Fever, and the album I finally wound up selecting. Anyway, peruse my list after the jump–Anthony made one too–and feel free to pick mine apart/make your own, although I should warn you that it took me a while to do. (I’m usually loath to use Wikipedia as a source, but its lists of album releases were helpful to cross-reference with Amazon, as were the Pazz & Jop rundowns on Robert Christgau’s site.) If people enjoy this exercise, maybe we’ll do singles lists next week! Or, hell, runners-up lists, since some of these “best” decisions were a lot harder than others.

1975 – Aerosmith, Toys In The Attic 1976 – Aerosmith, Rocks 1977 – Wire, Pink Flag 1978 – Van Halen 1979 – The Raincoats 1980 – Various artists, Wanna Buy A Bridge? comp 1981 – Motley Crue, Too Fast For Love 1982 – Michael Jackson, Thriller 1983 – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Dazzle Ships 1984 – Prince and the Revolution, Purple Rain 1985 – The Jesus & Mary Chain, Psychocandy 1986 – Janet Jackson, Control 1987 – Guns N’ Roses, Appetite For Destruction 1988 – Pixies, Surfer Rosa 1989 – Faith No More, The Real Thing 1990 – Mother Love Bone, Apple

(This is the point where things started getting tough, like three-solid-contenders-per-year tough.)

1991 – Soundgarden, Badmotorfinger 1992 – Unrest, Imperial ffrr 1993 – Afghan Whigs, Gentlemen 1994 – Pram, Helium 1995 – Helium, The Dirt Of Luck 1996 – Olivia Tremor Control, Music From The Unrealized Film Script Dusk At Cubist Castle 1997 – Built To Spill, Perfect From Now On 1998 – Pulp, This Is Hardcore

(Here the toughness subsides. Draw your own conclusions as to why.)

1999 – Mr. Bungle, California 2000 – PJ Harvey, Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea 2001 – Aveo, Bridge To The Northern Lights 2002 – Ikara Colt, Chat And Business 2003 – S Prcss, MNML 2004 – Dogs Die In Hot Cars, Please Describe Yourself 2005 – Celebration 2006 – Scritti Politti, White Bread, Black Beer 2007 – Siobhan Donaghy, Ghosts 2008 – Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Vol. 1

A thing to do. [bg5000]