Yet Another Music List - Part I (1969-1982)

The AV Club just mentioned yet another approach to making music lists: selecting your favorite album recorded every year you've been alive. So this list is just my favorites, feel free to mention what great taste I have.

1969: The Velvet Underground by The Velvet Underground
While there are other worthy candidates including The Stooges' first album, The Band's second disc and Tommy, I have to go with the one consistently listenable album made by The Velvet Underground. Bonus points because it features After Hours.

1970: Cosmo's Factory by Credence Clearwater Revival
Layla and Live at Leeds are the main competition. While years of having their hit songs peddled on TBS have made CCR seem lame, this is an honest-to-goodness great album.

1971: Every Picture Tells a Story by Rod Stewart
It's difficult not to pick Who's Next or even Led Zeppelin IV, but it's hard to overstate how awesome Rod Stewart was in 1971 as The Faces also released their best disc, A Nod is as Good as a Wink to a Blind Horse. I always imagine that he just switched lives with some other guy who looks and sounds just like him, then has devoted the rest of his time since to hanging out at his local pub.

1972: Exile on Main Street by The Rolling Stones
Honorable mention to Big Star's #1 Record and Sail Away by Randy Newman. This is the only Stones album I own and probably the only one I need.

1973: Raw Power by The Stooges
I think Quadrophenia is the only other real competition, since neither Pink nor Floyd do much for me these days. This album is a testament to David Bowie's ability to round up enough drugs to keep Iggy in one place for a whole week.

1974: Radio City by Big Star
This was a pretty bad year for music, it seems. This may be the one album I own from that year. It is a great one, though.

1975: The Basement Tapes by Bob Dylan & The Band
On the other hand, this was a good year. It also had Born to Run, Blood on the Tracks and Metal Machine Music, okay maybe not that one, not to mention Elvis's The Sun Collection. Still, even though it was recorded eight years earlier, The Basement Tapes is timeless.

1976: Modern Lovers by The Modern Lovers
Jonathan Richman's debut beats out Tom Petty's and Warren Zevon's. Basically because Roadrunner just edges out American Girl and Desperadoes Under The Eaves.

1977: Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols
It was easy picking this over a whole bunch of crap plus Elvis Costello's and Television's debuts.

1978: True Love Stories by Jilted John
I thought I would have to decide whether Darkness on the Edge of Town or Big Star's Third/Sister Lovers was the best and most depressing album of the year until I remembered Jilted John's one disc. True Love Stories is one of the great representations of awkward adolescence on record, which is pretty good for what is essentially a one-shot novelty.

1979: Metal Box by Public Image Ltd.
Depending on your tolerance for repetitive bass lines and un-melodic caterwauling --- mine is pretty high --- this is either a great album or unlistenable crap. Limeyg is in the latter camp. By the way, the other choices were not that strong.

1980: London Calling by The Clash
While this is definitely the best album of 1980, I'm disappointed to have to leave out the Dead Kennedy's and Jim Carrol's debuts as well as Back in Black. This was a better year for music.

1981: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash by The Replacements
I was afraid that I'd end up having to pick the Replacement's sixth-best album one year because everything else sucked. Sound Affects by The Jam is okay: the amazing That's Entertainment plus filler.

1982: Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen
The jolly New Jersey funnyman sings about murder, cars, recession, dead dogs and more cars. This was a much better year to choose from.