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The greatest half decade for music ever!

Rockmeister

Rockmeister

pfm Member
So any sequence of five years starting whenever you wish. I need at least 2 albums per year in your submission please and more if you want. 5 years. 10 albums or CD's (no singles or EP's, but if your going right back, 78's are allowed) minimum. Don't worry if you overlap (bound to occur) with other posters. It's only for fun...
and the fight ofc:)
 
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I’ll have a bash, and go for 1968-73

1968: The Beatles: The Beatles; Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding

1969: The Band: The Band; The Beatles: Abbey Road

1970: The Stooges: Fun House; Neil Young: After The Goldrush

1971: The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers; The Who: Who’s Next

1972: David Bowie: Ziggy Stardust; The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street

1973: Iggy & The Stooges: Raw Power; The New York Dolls: The New York Dolls
 
1976: Patti Smith Horses. Joni Mitchell Hejira. Ramones 1st. La Dusseldorf 1st. The Upsetters Super Ape. Stevie Wonder Songs In The Key Of Life.

1977: Kraftwerk Trans Europe Express. Television Marquee Moon. Steely Dan Aja. David Bowie Low. Ian Dury New Boots And Panties. Congos Heart Of The Congos.

1978: Magazine Real Life. Wire Chairs Missing. Tubeway Army 1st. Eno Music For Airports. Per Ubu Modern Dance. Chic C’est Chic. Steel Pulse Handsworth Revolution. Devo Are We Not Men?

1979: Joy Division Unknown Pleasures. B-52’s 1st. PIL Metal Box. Donna Summer Bad Girls. The Slits Cut. Marianne Faithful Broken English. Michael Jackson Off The Wall. Steve Hillage Rainbow Dome Musick. Gang Of Four Entertainment. The Specials 1st. Misty & Roots Live At The Counter Eurovision. Human League Reproduction.

1980: Talking Heads Fear Of Music. OMD 1st. Young Marble Giants Colossal Youth. Dalek I Compass. Durutti Column Return Of. Echo & The Bunnymen Crocodiles. Japan Gentlemen Take Polaroids. Gil Scott Heron 1980. UB40 Signing Off. The Cure Seventeen Seconds. John Foxx Metamatic. Fad Gadget Fireside Favourites. Teardrop Explodes Kilimanjaro. A Certain Ratio To Each.

PS I’m prepared to bet most of us will select our teenage years. There is always a shedload of truly amazing music around. The real skill is being sharp and focused enough to find it later in life.

Edited to add a few more given new rules! I’ve stuck to my own rule of only one album per artist though (would be too easy to load up on Joy Division, Talking Heads, Magazine etc).
 
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agree with both of you...17 to 22 is my usual go to...the college/girls/ crazy years, and i did say, 'at least' 2 per year. Add more! It's a discovery thread also i think:)
 
Prob mid 90’s when at the peak of my clubbing and festival phase, not entirely sure though as I spent all those years either coming up on mdma or coming down on mdma so my memory is hazy. So much good music, so many lost weekends, so many friendships, such a ****ing good time
 
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My Aim is True, New Boots & Panties, The Clash, Exodus, 1977
This Year's Model, Handsworth Revolution, All Mod Cons, 1978
Armed Forces, Specials, London Calling 1979
Get Happy, More Specials, I Just Can't Stop It 1980
Trust, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, East Side Story 1981
 
My favourite sequential 5 years for music would have to be 1972 - 1976; I can't possibly restrict it to two albums per year so I won't even try.:)
Here goes :-

1972 Yes - Close To The Edge, Stevie Wonder - Talking Book, Genesis - Foxtrot, Wishbone Ash - Argus, The Doobie Brothers - Toulouse Street
1973 Genesis - Selling England By The Pound, Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon, The Who - Quadrophenia, Stevie Wonder - Innervisions, John Martyn - Solid Air
1974 Tangerine Dream - Phaedra, Joni Mitchell - Court & Spark, Stevie Wonder - Fulfillingness' First Finale, King Crimson - Red, Barclay James Harvest - Everyone Is Everybody Else
1975 Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here, Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti, Joni Mitchell - The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, Camel - The Snow Goose, 10cc - The Original Soundtrack
1976 Joni Mitchell - Hejira, Steely Dan - The Royal Scam, Genesis - A Trick Of The Tail, David Bowie - Station To Station, Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key Of Life
 
OK my shout is...

1967: The Beatles: Sgt.Pepper; Hendrix: Are You Experienced; Love: Forever Changes; Leonard Cohen: Songs of; Incredible String Band: Layers of the Onion.
1968: Van Morrison: Astral weeks; The Kinks: Village green preservation society; Aretha Franklin: Lady Soul; Cream: Wheels of fire.
1969: The Beatles: Abbey Road; Zeppelin: Zeppelin 11; King Crimson: In the court of...; Nick drake: Five leaves left; Zappa: Hot Rats.
1970: Neil Young: After The Goldrush; Simon and Garfunkel: Bridge over troubled water; Grateful Dead: American Beauty.
1971: David Bowie: Hunky Dory; The Stones; Sticky Fingers; Joni Mitchell: Blue; Yes: Fragile.

and although I can't include it, worth saying that if I'd added 72, we would have...
Neil Young: Harvest; Lou Reed: Transformer; Steely dan: Can't buy a thrill; Stevie Wonder: Talking book; Roxy music: 1st; Joni Mitchell: For the Roses;
Jackson Browne: For everyman; Carole King: Tapestry; John Lennon: Imagine;

But who is going to sacrifice Sgt Pepper, even for that lot? Not moi anyway :)
 
Tony L said:
PS I’m prepared to bet most of us will select our teenage years.
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Fraid so!

1986 Slayer - Reign in Blood, The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead, Metallica - Master Of Puppets
1987 Death - Scream Bloody Gore, Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me
1988 Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation, Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff, PE - It Takes A Nation Of Millions, Fugazi - Fugazi
1989 Pixies - Doolittle, Nirvana - Bleach
1990 The Breeders - Pod, Chill Out - The KLF
 
paulfromcamden said:
Fraid so!
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I think the key factor here is it was our personal starting point. The stage we knew nothing and were easily influenced without much knowledge about music or about what we liked. A lot of then current music going into a pretty much empty freshly formatted brain and forming pathways that help make sense of whatever we discover later in life. Some people never develop much beyond this ‘start era’ (which I find hugely depressing), others use it as a springboard out to every direction imaginable and keep hunting the new and interesting. The latter is certainly where I’ve tried to live and I could easily produce a great jazz list for say 1958-63 (i.e. before I was even born) or from five years ago up to today. I picked the period I did as it was my empty brain stage.
 
I think it's also something to do with the fact that, in my case at least, I could afford very few albums until I started work in 1972, so in the four years before that I listened obsessively to the few I owned, plus the few that my siblings owned. With music so ubiquitous now, that probably no longer applies.
 
Joe Hutch said:
I think it's also something to do with the fact that, in my case at least, I could afford very few albums until I started work in 1972, so in the four years before that I listened obsessively to the few I owned, plus the few that my siblings owned. With music so ubiquitous now, that probably no longer applies.
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The other thing is access. Looking back the ‘70s (when I grew up) was terrible compared to now. I knew I had very little interest in chart pop beyond say T. Rex, the odd Bowie song etc, so my taste was defined by only a couple of DJs (Peel, Alan Freeman etc) plus the Old Grey Whistle Test and later The Tube. That and whatever I could find in friend’s older siblings record collections. As such my trajectory was kind of odd: T. Rex, from there into Floyd, Yes, early Hawkwind, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk etc, then punk happened and from there into new-wave/indie, world, and eventually into jazz, soul, funk and classical (I started in a classical household, but didn’t like or connect with it as a child). It has been a very distinct journey at each stage discovering huge swathes of stuff I had no idea existed. I’m certainly still on it! If I ever stop looking that can be considered the time I have died mentally.
 
1975 Dr Feelgood - Down By The Jetty, Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
1976 Dr Feelgood - Stupidity, Be Bop Deluxe - Sunburst Finish
1977 The Clash - The Clash, The Jam - In The City
1978 Chic - C'est Chic, The Who - Who Are You
1979 The Specials - The Specials, The Clash - London Calling
 
Coinciding majestically with the Albion's original years in the top flight...

79: Unknown Pleasures, Cut, Replicas, Quiet Life
80: Travelogue, Colossal Youth, Metamatic, Digital Stimulation
81: Movement, Sister Feelings Call, Vienna, Tin Drum, Faith
82: Difficult Shapes and Passive Rhythms, You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
83: Power Corruption and Lies, Perverted by Language, Life's a Riot, Secrets of The I Ching
 
1987 - Big Black, Songs About F-ing; Butthole Surfers, Locust Abortion Technician
1988 - AR Kane, 69; American Music Club, California
1989 - Young Gods, L'Eau Rouge; Spacemen 3, Playing with Fire
1990 - Codeine, Frigid Stars; Skinny Puppy, Too Dark Park
1991 - Thin White Rope, The Ruby Sea; Talk Talk, Laughing Stock

Purely personal, that's obviously not the best 5 years for music ever, but I think it was actually pretty good for odd music that could still find a reasonably big audience. My rules were, I had to be into it at the time and I have to still be into it. If it was purely retrospective then Arthur Russell would be in there but it was impossible to get hold of World of Echo at the time. Think I first heard it 25 years after reading about it and thinking, "That sounds good!"
 
Seanm said:
Purely personal, that's obviously not the best 5 years for music ever, but I think it was actually pretty good for odd music that could still find a reasonably big audience. My rules were, I had to be into it at the time and I have to still be into it.
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Same. Otherwise I could have gone for 1959 (Shape Of Jazz To Come, KOB, ) to 1964 (A Love Supreme, Out To Lunch) with all the amazing stuff in between.
 
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