I came across this challenge on Mastodon. Stephen Downes posted his list, and, being a music lover, I thought I would take the challenge too.
But, immediately, there is a complication. (I love complications). I was born in 1965. December, 1965, to be precise. And so, what should I chose for that year? Obviously I was too young to chose music for myself, and have no memory of listening to any music that year. So, it’s not about what I listened to in 1965, but what I like best from the albums—albums, not songs—from that year. But should I limit myself to albums that were released the month I was born or chose albums from the whole year?
Also, I was born in Norway. Should I only look at albums released in Norway that year? (Spoiler alert: No.)
Choices, choices. I think I’ll just make it up as I go along, and look at favourite albums released in a given year. Some will be easy, others damn hard.
Luckily, one of my all-time favourites was released in December, 1965.
- 1965: The Beatles, Rubber Soul
- 1966: The Beatles, Revolver
- 1967: The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Ok, so I like The Beatles. I love The Beatles. They were the soundtrack of my childhood, as I have older siblings who also liked The Beatles, and ensured I was Beatles-indoctrinated. Once upon a time, I knew the lyrics to every single song on their original UK albums. I still know many of them…
- 1968: Big Brother and the Holding Company, Cheap Thrills
I was three when this came out; obviously I didn’t run out and buy it. But sometime in the mid 1980s I fell in love with Janis Joplin’s singing, and this album in particular. And, in 1989, I went with some friends to see Kathi McDonald, who had replaced Janis in Big Brother and the Holding Company, at the Red Dog Tavern in Peterborough—and I spilled a beer all over the woman who I am married to today.
- 1969: The Beatles, Abbey Road
- 1970: Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water
There were a lot of great albums from 1970, including Let it Be, but Bridge Over Troubled Water was perhaps my first favourite album that was not by The Beatles. I still listen to it regularly, and sing along—loudly, and with feeling—to «The Boxer» (if no one else is home, mind.).
- 1971: Led Zeppelin, IV
This was a tough year to chose one. It’s really a toss-up between Zeppelin and Carole King’s Tapestry, Joni Mitchell’s Blue, John Lennon’s Imagine, and Cat Stevens with Teaser and the Firecat. Not to mention Meddle by Pink Floyd; I spent so much time listening to that on my brother’s old reel-to-reel player. All those albums were defining for me at one point or another, but I landed on IV because it was the first one of those 4 that was defining for me…
- 1972: Lou Reed, Transformer
Kind of the opposite of 1971… Lots of music I like was released in ‘72, but the album that comes the closest to meaning something to me was Transformer. Walk on the Wild Side was the soundtrack for a particularly drug-addled period of my life in the late 1980s.
- 1973: Billy Joel, Piano Man
Sure, Dark Side of the Moon, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Quadraphenia all came out that year, and they are objectively better albums than Piano Man—and also seminal albums for me—but Billy captured me in the late 70s as I was entering my teenage years, and I still catch myself singing along to Captain Jack…
- 1974: Elton John, Greatest Hits
This is the first album on this list that I remember from the year it came out. I had a classmate who listened to it all. the. time. It’s a great album.
- 1975: Joan Baez, Diamonds and Rust
I like Bob Dylan, but I’ve never loved Bob Dylan (Leonard Cohen was a better poet!) so it seems appropriate to chose a Joan Baez album the year Blood on the Tracks came out.
- 1976: Gasolin, Live Sådan
Tough choice between this and Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same (and I watched the concert film of the same name many times at the Towne Cinema in Ottawa) during my high school years, but «Hva Gør Vi Nu, Lille Du» is still one of my favourite hard rock ballads. Although, the album from that year I still listen to the most is Hotel California…
- 1977: Abba, The Album
The first concert I ever went to was in 1977, when Boney M were touring Love for Sale, but Abba’s The Album it what I listened to over and over that year, closely followed by Smokie’s Bright Lights and Back Alleys. Nowadays, the 1977 album I’m more likely to put on is Lust For Life by Iggy Pop or one of my all-time favourites, Bowie’s Heroes. I was also given a tape of Saturday Night Fever for Christmas that year, but never really warmed to it (I still haven’t seen the movie), but years later I was a bartender at university and thought I could use it to chase people our after last call. Big mistake.
- 1978: Bob Marley, Kaya
I listened to this album all the time back then. In 1978 I was just starting to develop my musical taste, and Bob Marley kept my horizons broad.
- 1979: The Clash, London Calling
1979 was a really good year for music, and there are a number of albums from that year I still listen to regularly. In the end, it was down to Neil Young and Crazy Horse with Rush Never Sleeps, Dire Straits with Communique, (and not to mention XTC with Drums and Wires) and The Clash. Ask me again tomorrow and I might pick a different one…
- 1980: Dollie, Første Akt
Another good year, and at first it boiled down to Peter Gabriel, Peter Gabriel (aka. Melt) and The Pretenders — but then I remembered that Dollie were perhaps more influential for 14-year-old me. Two young women, near my own age, singing catchy pop tunes (in Norwegian!) about the experience of being a young woman in a misogynist world. It was an eye-opener.
- 1981: Stevie Nicks, Bella Donna
Like many teenaged boys back then, I had a huge crush on Stevie Nicks, and played this album over and over. Although, I considered choosing Foreigner 4 which contains Waiting for a Girl Like you—my first teenage slow dance. Also saw Foreigner tour that album at the Ottawa Civic Centre; pretty good show.
- 1982: Yazoo, Upstairs at Erics
1982 was another stellar year (for my musical tastes) with albums like Avalon by Roxy Music, Arias and Symphonies by Spoons, Scatterlings by Juluka, Special Beat Service by the English Beat, Love over Gold by Dire Straits, New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) by Simple Minds (my introduction to what became one of my favourite bands), Too-Rye-Ay by Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Brannigan by Laura Brannigan… But Only You is still one of my favourite songs.
- 1983: David Bowie, Lets Dance
- 1984: Simple Minds, Sparkle in the Rain
- 1985: Talking Heads, Little Creatures
- 1986: Paul Simon, Graceland
- 1987: Eurythmics, Savage
Really, the mid-80s were a fantastic time for new music for me, but for most years chosing a defining album is not difficult. 1987 is different, however. The year also produced Suzanne Vega’s Solitude Standing, Joan Baez’ Recently, Midnight Oil’s Diesel and Dust, Sinead O’Connor’s The Lion and the Cobra, INXS’ Kick, X’ See How We Are, and more. Really, a stellar year for music.
- 1988: Cowboy Junkies, The Trinity Session
I was living the Peterborough, Ontario and the Cowboy Junkies played there several times in 1987-88. The first time they came (touring Whites off Earth Now!) they played at the Underdog, and the sound mix was so bad it was painful. They came back 3 months later and played the PR Dining Hall—only 6 people paid a cover that night, but the band graciously played a full set and it was amazing! It’s only because of that I can rate this album over The Proclaimers’ Sunshine on Leith, Tracy Chapman’s debut, Talking Heads’ Naked, The Pogues’ If I Should Fall From Grace With God, and the album that otherwise would have been a clear no. 1 for me: Leonard Cohen’s I’m Your Man.
- 1989: Jane Sibery, Bound by the Beauty
- 1990: Bob’s Your Uncle, Tale of 2 Legs
- 1991: R.E.M., Out of Time
- 1992: The Tragically Hip, Fully Completely
- 1993: Sarah McLachlan, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
- 1994: Cranberries, No Need to Argue
Ask me tomorrow and I might list Joni Mitchell’s Turbulent Indigo, Blue Rodeo’s Five Days in July, or Jeff Buckley’s Grace but today the Cranberries are the ones I chose on the strength of Dolores O’Riordan’s vocal on Zombie.
- 1995: Emmylou Harris, Wrecking Ball
Yes, I know 1995 was the year of Oasis, and everyone loved (What’s the Story) Morning Glory—and it’s not a bad album—but now, 30 years later, I still find Wrecking Ball to be an album that stands out, and I listen to often. The other album from that year I can say that for is Pulp’s Different Class, which is also brilliant.
- 1996: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Murder Ballads
- 1997: Sarah McLachlan, Surfacing
- 1998: Natalie Merchant, Ophelia
So many good women singers gave out great albums that year—Tori Amos with From the Choirgirl Hotel, Lucinda Williams with Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, the Lilith Fair live double album, and Kate and Anna McGarrigle (with many friends) with The McGarrigle Hour to name a few. But according to the stats in Longplay, Ophelia is the one I listen to the most…
- 1999: Tom Waits, Mule Variations
- 2000: Neko Case and Her Boyfriends. Furnace Room Lullaby
- 2001: Original Soundtrack, Moulin Rouge
- 2002: Johnny Cash, American IV: The Man Comes Around
- 2003: The Be-Good Tanyas, Chinatown
- 2004: Various Artists, Peace Songs
Ok, a bit of a cheat—but I bought the CD that year and it has gotten a lot of play. But 2004 was a year I rediscovered music after several years of mostly listening to children’s music with my daughter (although, to be fair, John Lithgow’s Singin’ in the Bathtub is objectively brilliant)… But Arcade Fire’s Funeral, Feist’s Let it Die, and Green Day’s American Idiot all still get regular play, not to mention the fantastic collection of reggae covers of Bob Dylan songs, Is it Rolling Bob?. Also, 2004 was the year I started listening to Radio Paradise online, and that has opened up completely new musical horizons.
- 2005: Kate Bush, Aerial
In a way, this is making up for not finding room for Running Up That Hill earlier…but it is a fantastic album in its own right. Also, there is stiff competition in 2005: Simple Minds with Black & White 050505, Sleater-Kinney with The Woods, Gorillaz with Demon Days, and The Decemberists with Picaresque. The last 3 are all bands I discovered through Radio Paradise, and ended up buying albums based on songs they had played.
- 2006: Vamp, I full symfoni (med kringkastingsorkesteret)
In August 2006 we left Canada—where I had lived for 27 years—for Norway. And so it seems right to chose what was the first Norwegian band that really grabbed me after we got there: Vamp.
- 2007: Various Artists, The Sandinista Project: A Tribute to the Clash
- 2008: Katzenjammer, Le Pop
- 2009: Leonard Cohen, Live in London
- 2010: The White Stripes, Under Great White Northern Lights
- 2011: PJ Harvey, Let England Shake
- 2012: Jack White, Blunderbuss
- 2013: Bombino, Nomad
- 2014: Various Artists/The New Basement Tapes, Lost on the River
- 2015: ZAZ, Sur La Route
- 2016: Michael Kiwanuka, Love and Hate
2016 is another of those tough years, given releases like Leonard Cohen You Want it Darker, Kate Bush with Before the Dawn (Live), and Simple Minds Acoustic, but I discovered Kiwanuka through Radio Paradise, and Cold Little Heart quickly became one of my most-played songs.
- 2017: Rag’n’Bone Man, Human
- 2018: Low, Double Negative
For some reason, I have almost no albums that were released in 2017 and ’18. Looking at various “best of” lists from those years, there are not a lot of albums released then I am missing, but there are a couple I’ll have to get. 2019, on the other hand…
- 2019: Lana Del Rey, Norman Fucking Rockwell
- 2020: Molly Tuttle, …but I’d rather be with you
- 2021: Haim, Women In Music Pt. III
- 2022: Gorillaz, Cracker Island
- 2023: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Weathervanes
- 2024: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Wild God
- 2025: Rosalía, LUX
And nothing from 2026, yet—although We Mean It, Man! by Gogol Bordello and The Mountain by Gorillaz are high on my list.
This was illuminating exercise for me, seeing both how my musical tastes have evolved over the years and seeing which music from my childhood and youth I still enjoy. Some years were really tough, others it was difficult to find an album to list at all.
