40 Albums in 40 Years - 1976-2016

 

My buddy Scott (@skot1107) recently turned 40 and made a list of his favorite records that came out each year he was alive.  I thought this was an interesting idea so I decided to make my list for my birthday as well.  Since I turn 40 today, here we go.

Now, just to get it out of the way: This is mostly a list of how I feel about these records right now.  If you were to look at my best records lists from prior years, they don't all match up anymore.  In some instances my favorite record for a given year has changed over time.  Of course, warm nostalgia for some childhood albums does play a part.

I'm also well aware that my choices for the early 80's are probably suspect to some.  I'll be honest, I don't really listen to a ton of bands from back then.  Sure, I like The Replacements and Husker Du just fine, but I don't relisten to those bands over and over and over.  I guarentee I've listened to these Weird Al records a lot more than any early punk rock band.  And I promise you I've listend to Briefcase Full of Blues more times than any record I own. Also, 1982 appears to be the worst year in the history of recorded music.

I had to leave out some of my very favorite records of all time just because of the year it happened to hit.  I could not imagine making a list like this that didn't include One Foot In The Grave by Beck, but it had the bad luck of coming out the same year as Jehu in 1994. This happens for a few other heavy hitters as well.

Lastly, I haven't put this year's record on the list yet.  I'll come back and update this once I have posted my best records of 2016 list in a few weeks.

1976 - David Bowie - Station To Station
1977 - John Williams - Star Wars Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1978 - The Blues Brothers - Briefcase Full Of Blues
1979 - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Damn The Torpedoes
1980 - The Blues Brothers - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1981 - The Cars - Shake It Up
1982 - Buckner & Garcia - Pac Man Fever
1983 - Weird Al Yankovic - Weird Al Yankovic
1984 - Weird Al Yankovic - In 3D
1985 - Weird Al Yankovic - Dare To Be Stupid
1986 - Weird Al Yankovic - Polka Party
1987 - Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded
1988 - Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
1989 - Snuff - Snuff Said
1990 - Leatherface - Fill Your Boots
1991 - Leatherface - Mush
1992 - Rocket From The Crypt - Circa Now
1993 - Bum - Wanna Smash Sensation
1994 - Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
1995 - Rocket From The Crypt - The State Of Art Is On Fire
1996 - Snuff - Demmamussabebonk
1997 - Him Kerosene - Start.Stop.
1998 - Broccoli - Home
1999 - Built To Spill - Keep It Like A Secret
2000 - Hot Snakes - Automatic Midnight
2001 - Rocket From The Crypt - Group Sounds
2002 - Hot Snakes - Suicide Invoice
2003 - The Thermals - More Parts Per Million
2004 - The Marked Men - On The Outside
2005 - Oranger - New Comes And Goes
2006 - Camp Radio - Camp Radio
2007 - Statues - New People Make Us Nervous
2008 - Night Marchers - See You In Magic
2009 - Sick Sick Birds - Heavy Manners
2010 - Steve Adamyk Band - Steve Adamyk Band
2011 - Title Tracks - In Blank
2012 - Mrs Magician - Strange Heaven
2013 - Night Marchers - Allez Allez
2014 - Cloud Nothings - Here And Nowhere Else
2015 - Clearance - Rapid Rewards
2016 - TBA