Make a list of the most important albums, 1964-2013. One album each year.

So a newspaper in Denmark did this over the summer. One album per artist. Their list looked like this:

1964: Ronettes: Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes featuring Veronica
1965: Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited
1966: The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
1967: The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground & Nico
1968: The Beatles: The White Album
1969: The Rolling Stones: Let It Bleed
1970: Black Sabbath: Paranoid
1971: Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
1972: T-Rex: The Slider
1973: Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon
1974: Bob Marley: Natty Dread
1975: Queen: A Night at the Opera
1976: Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life
1977: David Bowie: "Heroes"
1978: Big Star: Third/Sister Lovers
1979: Talking Heads: Fear of Music
1980: Joy Division: Closer
1981: Kraftwerk: Computer World
1982: Michael Jackson: Thriller
1983: U2: War
1984: Bruce Springsteen: Born in the USA
1985: Kate Bush: Hounds of Love
1986: The Beastie Boys: Licensed to Ill
1987: Prince: Sign O' the Times
1988: Morrissey: Viva Hate
1989: The Cure: Disintegration
1990: Depeche Mode: Violator
1991: Nirvana: Nevermind
1992: Neil Young: Harvest Moon
1993: Mazzy Star: So Tonight That I Might See
1994: Portishead: Dummy
1995: Tricky: Maxinquaye
1996: Patti Smith: Gone Again
1997: Radiohead: OK Computer
1998: Lauryn Hill: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
1999: Moby: Play
2000: Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP
2001: The Strokes: Is This It?
2002: Johnny Cash: IV: The Man Comes Around
2003: The White Stripes: Elephant
2004: Danger Mouse: The Grey Album
2005: Gorillaz: Demon Days
2006: Amy Winehouse: Back to Black
2007: Arcade Fire: Neon Bible
2008: The Last Shadow Puppets: The Age of Understatement
2009: Leonard Cohen: Live in London
2010: Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2011: PJ Harvey: Let England Shake
2012: Frank Ocean: Orange
2013: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Push the Sky Away

Me and my Danish friends had a lot of fun laughing at them. The Cohen one was especially great. Then I got a bit obsessive and made my own. It goes like this:

1964 The Beatles – A Hard Days Night
1965 John Coltrane – A Love Surpreme
1966 Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
1967 Velvet Underground and Nico
1968 Tropicalia ou Panis et Circenses
1969 Miles Davis – In a Silent Way
1970 Black Sabbath – Paranoid
1971 Funkadelic – Maggot Brain
1972 David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
1973 Can – Future Days
1974 Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark
1975 Brian Eno – Discreet Music
1976 Ramones – Ramones
1977 The Congos – Heart of the Congos
1978 Kraftwerk – Man-Machine
1979 Gang of Four – Entertainment
1980 Kliché – Supertanker
1981 David Byrne and Brian Eno – My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
1982 Michael Jackson – Thriller
1983 New Order – Power Corruption Lies
1984 Prince and the Revolution – Purple Rain
1985 Kate Bush – Hounds of Love
1986 Slayer – Reign in Blood
1987 Pixies – Come on Pilgrim
1988 NWA – Straight Outta Compton
1989 Nirvana – Bleach
1990 Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
1991 My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
1992 Darkthrone – A Blaze in the Northern Sky
1993 Wu Tang Clan – Enter the Wu Tang
1994 Portishead – Dummy
1995 Bjork – Post
1996 Belle and Sebastian – If You're Feeling Sinister
1997 Daft Punk – Homework
1998 Outkast – Aquemini
1999 Boredoms – Vision Creation Newsun
2000 Radiohead – Kid A
2001 The Strokes – Is This It
2002 2 Many Djs – As Heard on Radio Soulwax
2003 Dizzee Rascal – Boy in da Corner
2004 Kanye West – The College Dropout
2005 LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem
2006 The Knife – Silent Shout
2007 Burial – Untrue
2008 TV on the Radio – Dear Science
2009 Sunn O))) – Monoliths & Dimensions
2010 Waka Flocka Flame – Flockavelli
2011 Tune-yards – Who Kill
2012 Grimes – Visions
2013 Beyonce – Beyonce
2014 YG – My Krazy Life

It's kinda fun. What would your lists look like?

http://i.imgur.com/wJ40C9M.jpg

trenchant

public castration is a good idea

he has goggles

+1

good choice for '86 matt

I recall 1994 not being an absolutely fucking awful year for music?

theres something about listing 51 frequently listed albums in a frequently iterated genre of album-list -- the albums by year list beginning some time in the 1960s -- that ensures the only infrequently listed album is quite prominent

so ive been playing the kliché album

its quite enjoyable, would recommend etc

ty frederik

The Kliché album is normally considered the best Danish album of all time. It's amazing. The lyrics of Millitskvinder and Masselinjen are from Mao.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws1HYz7ojr0

Such a jam

this album doesnt sound like la dusseldorf exactly but apart from the obvious new wave references it has some of the slightly hyper, propulsively optimistic ambience of 'viva'

Yeah, spot on. I remember listening to La Dusseldorf for the first time and thinking they'd definitely been an influence on Kliché. The whole stick was surpremely Kraftwerkian, with matching uniforms and songs about modern inventions like supertankers. But much more tongue in cheek in a very slippery danish way. The lyrics are amazing and hilarious, and the delivery is much more impassioned.

it's a pain to do this sort of list because there are years when 10 incredibly good albums come out and there are years where I can't find myself truly enjoying more than 3 albums.

I'll give it a shot. It's incomplete but I'll work 2014 backwards... they are my favorite albums of each year but if I made a top 10 for the decade they wouldn't figure there.

1964: The Ronettes - s/t
1965: The Sonics - Here are the Sonics
1966: Beach boys - Pet Sounds
1967: Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Safe as Milk
1968: The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle
1969: Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
1970: Velvet Underground - Loaded
1971: T. Rex - Electric Warrior
1972: Can - Ege Bamyasi
1973: The Stooges - Raw Power
1974: Elis Regina & Antônio Carlos Jobim - Elis & Tom
1975: Eno - Another Green World
1976: Debris' - Static Disposal
1977: The Congos - Heart of the Congos
1978: Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance
1979: Gang of Four - Entertainment!
1980: Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
1981: Kraftwerk - Computerwelt
1982: The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour
1983: Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
1984: Arvo Part - Tabula Rasa
1985: Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
1986: Arthur Russell - World of Echo
1987: David Sylvian - Secrets of the Beehive
1988: Ultramagnetic MC's - Critical Beatdown
1989: The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
1990: A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
1991: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
1992: Stereolab - Peng!
1993: Jin Hi Kim - KomunGuitar
1994: Disco Inferno - D. I. Go Pop
1995: Tricky - Maxinquaye
1996: Ground-Zero - Revolutionary Pekinese Opera Ver.1.28
1997: Iva Bittová & Vladimír Václavek - Bílé Inferno
1998: Massive Attack - Mezzanine
1999: Gas - Königsforst
2000: Radiohead - Kid A
2001: Fridge - Happiness
2002: Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People
2003: Four Tet - Rounds
2004: Madvillain - Madvillainy
2005: The Books - Lost and Safe
2006: Ellen Allien and Apparat - Orchestra of Bubbles
2007: Panda Bear - Person Pitch
2008: Shed - Shedding the Past
2009: Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
2010: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
2011: EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints
2012: Chromatics - Kill for Love

There's only three years on which the three of us agree on so far:

1966 Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
1985 Kate Bush – Hounds of Love
2000 Radiohead – Kid A