Haven’t been on here much lately, but last week I wrote something and this seems like a natural place to share it. I’m sure The Afterword will have previously debated the greatest ever year for music, my vote goes to 1967, and here’s why: https://davidrenfree-33236.medium.com/you-can-stop-arguing-now-the-greatest-ever-year-for-music-was-1967-735666d97c64
Other opinions are of course available. And wrong đ
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We did, and the general consensus was…. whatever year you were 17
Well, 1964 was a good year, but I’d go for 1967, or ’68, or ’69…
1964 brought us Louie Louie and You really got me. Hard to argue against that!
But 1963 had already brought Green Onions.
1966 was pretty good, as far as I remember.
Not too many clunkers in this list.
https://www.uk-charts.top-source.info/top-100-1966.shtml
What astonishingly high quality popular music there. Wow, I’d forgotten some of those tunes.
Well it canât be 1967 then as I was only born in that year – which made me 17 in 1984, which I believe is generally accepted as peak 80sâŚ..
The best year is usually 2 years before the year you bought your first record(s).
I bought my first single in 1981. 1979 was the best year in music.
Yup, the theory works.
“When you were 17”. Nah, 1987 was a bleedin awful year
It was not. You clearly did not know what the fuck was going on…
I see what you did there!
Thanks for confirming the hypothesis. 1979 was indeed the best year / when I was 17.
1987 also a bit of a belter.
1979 at a teenager and 1991 as an adult.
Who says you’re allowed two?
I do.
Oh my god, this guy is a maverick who lives by his own rules. Does anybody have the film rights to this thread?
Youâre not touting for another big movie to join the sequel to Netflixâs Enola Holmes in getting shot in Hull are you, M?
Any more major motion picture shoots along the Hessle Road and theyâll be changing the cityâs name to HullywoodâŚ
I’ve sent a few of the films I’ve made to academy members for their consideration. Have yet to get the nod, but hey.
I find that quite persuasive actually. Certainly I would find it hard to argue for a better year for pop singles (although 1966 might be a close contender). It was a truly astonishing year.
Maybe it’s 67 for singles, 71 for albums.
YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TWO.
The singles top tens in 1966 are incredible, but 1979 runs it close in that regard.
Yes, I liked The Buggles.
Not sure if you are taking the piss WRT the Buggles, but Video killed the radio star is a fabulous record IMHO, & I am most definitely not taking the piss.
And as for the theory that the year you were 17 is the best year for singles, there were some cracking records released in 73.
I’ve just picked a random week in June 1979. At least 20 records in the top 75 are classics. (Kevin Keegan’s is not one of them)
And you’re right about VKTRS, and the album it comes from. The beginning of the Mighty Reign of the Horn.
Actually I do love it. I was gently joshing though, as I’m sure it’s not the first 1979 song people would go for.
I also like Another Brick in the Wall!
I think it’s very funny. We’re always being told that 1977-8 saw the total and utter victory of punk rock over all other forms of music. And yet somehow the seventies ended with the Christmas number one being a disco record by Pink Floyd.
This seems to be the orthodox view now – but in what way is the lumbering gloom fest that is ABITW a âdisco recordâ? Iâll allow you that itâs funky by their standards..
Deliberate – and fairly cynical – disco influence, according to this.
https://web.archive.org/web/20110513090114/http://www.guitarworld.com/article/pink_floyd_goodbye_blue_sky?page=0%2C3
The Age of Plastic is an absolutely fabulous album. No weak points, all killer no filler. True!
The Buggles liked Yes.
I had two…naa naa de naa naa!
Bloody nonsense; I was 17 in 1974, and nothing good came out then or for years either side. O, exceptâŚ.
1979. How old was I, um …17.
Get born in the boring war.
Don’t get killed in the boring war.
Don’t get a childhood illness that kills you.
Do avoid National Service.
Become a teenager in time for Elvis’s first UK 45.
Rock ‘n’ Roll… accept NO substitutes… so 1956.
You’re 78? Explains a lot.
Are you George Bernard?
You’re the one who’s funding 78- year-olds with all those box sets.
What a prize mug.
Anyway… isn’t that ageist?
Ageist? Why? Just makes it clear you don’t like much music after you were 27 or 28. Just like me, brother
As for the box sets which ones do you mean? Beatles mono, bought for about 300 quid, now worth more than a grand or The Stones one 150 quid now worth 4 times that. Vinyl retains it’s value or goes up, unlike mostly worthless CeeDees
Bit of fairly meaningless arithmetic though, isn’t it?
You either buy the things because you want to be able to hear the music, or you might as well be buying (insert name of random thing that will accumulate monetary value) instead. Next you’ll be admitting that the boxed sets are still sealed in order to maximise their resale value!
I occasionally splurge on a very limited edition whisky from my favourite distillery; they do one each year and usually charge around the ÂŁ90 mark for a 75cl bottle. I’ve got dribbles left in a few that are now being sold – full & unopened – for four or five times that, or even more. Surely the point is to drink the bloody stuff and celebrate the glory of the experience? The fact that, unopened and un-enjoyed, they can fetch a huge profit is completely disconnected from their quality as whiskys.
I only buy stuff I like (very much) and want to hear, but am glad I got in when these things were affordable, in fact many such releases were bought at rock bottom prices. Did I buy the recent All Things Must Pass deluxe box set at about 100 quid? No I didn’t even though I love the album.
Nothing is sealed and I don’t bother with “back up” copies or multiple formats.
Hereâs nearly 5 hours of 1967, gems and (to some) warts. In the comments is a track list
One thing that struck me when doing this mix of 1967 singles was the richness of the tone palette – just about every instrument is on these recordings, except maybe, the synthesiser.
Thanks, rexborough. Nice selection.
Here’s a list of 1967 songs that a friend made for a radio show on this very subject.
Having been 13 in 1967, and bought my first single the previous year (I think), thus defying various theories above, I’d probably agree with this Top 20
20 Stevie Wonder – I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER
19 Bob Dylan – ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER
18 Procul Harem – A WHITER SHADE OF PALE
17 Ivor Cutler – IâM HAPPY
16 Pink Floyd – BIKE, ARNOLD LAYNE
15 The Doors – PEOPLE ARE STRANGE, BREAK ON THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE
14 The Byrds – SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROCK âNâ ROLL STAR?
13 Jefferson Airplane – SOMEBODY TO LOVE
12 James Brown & The Famous Flames – COLD SWEAT
11 Frank Zappa & The Motherâs Of Invention – BROWN SHOES DONâT MAKE IT
10 The Beach Boys – GOOD VIBRATIONS
9 The Spencer Davis Group – IâM A MAN
8 Traffic – PAPER SUN,
7 The Who – I CAN SEE FOR MILES
6 Cream – WHITE ROOM
5 The Jimi Hendrix Experience – FIRE, WATERFALL
4 Aretha Franklin – DR FEELGOOD
3 The Kinks – WATERLOO SUNSET, AUTUMN ALMANAC
2 Captain Beefhart & The Magic Band – ABBA ZABBA ZOOM
1 The Beatles – I AM THE WALRUS,
Anyone can probably come up with twenty classics from their year of choice to be fair. That’s what this discussion is all about, after all. I could post 20 from 1979 for example that would — for me — easily outdo this list.
Pretty bizarre to only manage one Beatles song from 1967, when there are multiples from the dreaded Doors (and others)
The year before I was 17 was a stone classic, but my pocket money wouldn’t stretch to anything like enough records to let me start what I might have called a ‘record collection’. Then the year after I was 17 produced a further deep well of musical joy, but I’d had to give up my paper round to concentrate on my A levels, so impecunity once again prevented me from buying much of it. With very few exceptions, the year I actually became 17 produced a plethora of good albums, but they were by artists whose previous or subsequent releases were much better. So I have decided that there is, at least for me, no specific year that can claim the crown, 17th birthday or otherwise.
1999
I was 41.
Really? 1999 wasn’t even the best year of the late 90s.
I do like Midnite Vultures though (Odelay’s idiot brother)
Twenty-five superlative albums:
ĂgĂŚtis byrjun, Mule variations, I see a darkness, 69 love songs, When the pawn…, Things fall apart, The contino sessions, Suite africaine, I am Shelby Lynne, Buena vista social club presents Ibrahim Ferrer, hours…, Dead bees on a cake, Pole – 2, From Gagarin’s point of view, Brand new second hand, The mountain, The soft bulletin, 13, Apple venus vol. 1, Da real world, Play, Remedy, Juxtapose, The writing’s on the wall, Head music
Lodger at 40, says a lot
https://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/1979.html
Thanks for reminding me of these lists, always interesting and introduced me to a lot of new (old) music. The one album that I have never been able to track down is the number 46 in the NME Writers All Time Top 100 – 1974, Anthology by Smokey Bacon and the Miracles. Any assistance in finding it would be appreciated.
Play and the Contino Sessions? Goodness, you have the patience of a saint.
PS. Look at that 1979 list…. it’s on another planet. Then look at the singles.
Head Music? Pfffffffft……
I love Suede but even Brett doesn’t rate most of Head Music.
I bought it the day it came out. It’s actually quite good. But look at that 1979 list and look back at Brett and he looks stupid as a mouse.
I will concede that 18/40 in that 1979 list are classics. Two less than my list of 1999 when I was not counting some of the obvious (such as Beck).
Personally, I think Head Music is Suede’s best, less pompous and a lot more fun than their first two.
Questions of dubious taste aside, what you appear to be implying is that you would prefer our pop chums were all strung out and loaded cos itâs âa lot more funâ.
What happened to âfirst, do no harmâ, Doc?
Are you telling me Suede were clean when they recorded their debut? I don’t think so.
I find it impossible to get a stain out of.
It’s bad enough when you get it on your pants, int that right tho’.
I guess they were unloaded.
I turned 17 in October 1976. I don’t remember that being a particularly good year for music. Off the top of my head I can recall hearing Ted Nugent (‘Hey Baby’) and Les Dudek (‘City Magic’) on John Peel’s show in ’76, along with some good stuff (Roxy Music’s Viva! album in full, Jamaican reggae) and some not so good stuff (I’m looking at you Frank Marino and your Mahogany Rush!). I recall 1979 being better.
Itâll be next year. Always next year. Thatâs whatâs so awesome about music.
A lot of taking it literally going on here đ
When I said 17 I thought it was obvious I meant “when you have your first kiss, when you dance with someone you fancy, when you fall in love for the first time.” Obviously the poetry of my thought did not make to the screen.
âwhen you have your first kiss, when you dance with someone you fancy, when you fall in love for the first time.â Well I certainly wouldn’t call that year the greatest ever for music! (Though I did like Public Service Broadcasting’s The Race For Space a lot and I know To Pimp A Butterfly got great reviews.)
lulz rofl etc đ
In that case, 1967 has it. I was 12.
The year before I was 17 was a cracker – 1985. Iâve long since thought that was the best year for albums, but I reckon 2017 at least matched it.