I caught this meme from Author Nicholas Carr and Amazon's chief technology officer, Werner Vogels. The idea is to pick and album for every year of your life. No bands or artists can repeat (although I think band members with solo albums count as separate entities). I tried to make sure the album for a given year was released during that year. If you are a music lover, you ought to give this a try - whether or not you have a blog to post it to. It will likely bring back memories of music that you haven't listened to for several years.
Here's my list:
- 1957: Thelonius Monk, Monk's Music*
- 1958: Duke Ellington, Black, Brown and Beige
- 1959: Charles Mingus, Mingus Ah Um
- 1960: Ornette Coleman, Free Jazz
- 1961: John Coltrane, at the Village Vanguard
- 1962: Kingston Trio, Best of the Kingston Trio
- 1963: Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar
- 1964: Eric Dolphy, Out to Lunch
- 1965: Andrew Hill, Compulsion
- 1966: Beatles, Revolver
- 1967: Jefferson Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow
- 1968: Steppenwolf, Steppenwolf
- 1969: Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica
- 1970: Frank Zappa, Weasels Ripped my Flesh
- 1971: Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV
- 1972: Sun Ra, Space is the Place
- 1973: Art Ensemble of Chicago, Fanfare for the Warriors
- 1974: Loggins and Messina, Mother Lode
- 1975: Julius Hemphill, Coon Bid’ness
- 1976: Tom Waits, Small Change
- 1977: Bonnie Raitt, Sweet Forgiveness
- 1978: Bruce Springsteen, Darkness on the Edge of Town
- 1979: Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures
- 1980: Kate Bush, Never for Ever
- 1981: Material, Memory Serves
- 1982: Gang of Four, Songs of the Free
- 1983: James Blood Ulmer, Odyssey
- 1984: Stevie Ray Vaughn, Couldn’t Stand the Weather
- 1985: Dire Straits, Bothers in Arms
- 1986: Albert Collins, Cold Snap
- 1987: Midnite Oil, Diesel and Dust
- 1988: Was Not Was, What Up Dog
- 1989: Love and Rockets, Love and Rockets
- 1990: Los Lobos, The Neighborhood
- 1991: Pearl Jam, Ten
- 1992: Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes
- 1993: Morphine, Cure for Pain
- 1994: Soundgarden, Superunknown
- 1995: Radiohead, The Bends
- 1996: Lyle Lovett, The Road to Ensenada,
- 1997: Kate Rusby, Hourglass
- 1998: Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Dusty Road
- 1999: Foo Fighters, There is Nothing Left to Lose
- 2000: U2, All That You Can’t Leave Behind
- 2001: Bjork, Vespertine
- 2002: Christina Aguilera, Stripped
- 2003: Outkast, Speakerboxxx
- 2004: Green Day, American Idiot
- 2005: Queens of the Stone Age, Lullabies to Paralyze
- 2006: Muse, Black Holes and Revelations
- 2007: Eddie Vedder, Into the Wild
*Originally I had Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane's album, Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane for 1957. But having John Coltrane again in 1961, I thought this stretched the 'no repeat' rule too far, so I replaced it with Monk's, Monk's Music.
After scanning your list I am now listening to Midnight Oil.
Thanks Dude
Posted by: Steve Todd | August 25, 2008 at 06:05 AM
All right!
Posted by: MarcFarley | August 25, 2008 at 08:43 AM
I'll need to check out the Eddie Vedder - thanks for sharing the meme! I killed a couple hours last night and posted mine.
Posted by: Stuart Miniman | August 26, 2008 at 08:57 AM
Hey readers, if you want to check out Stuart's list, click on his name/link in the comment above.
Stuart, BTW I had some problems with some of the years too and I agree that 2001 was a tough year. As for 05, "I'm Shipping up to Boston" is such a great song. Does it really matter what else is on the album?
Posted by: marc farley | August 26, 2008 at 02:50 PM