I got memed in for a music list of sorts, a list of one’s favorite albums from each year that one has been alive. Well, there is something wrong with me. I am terrible, terrible, at keeping track of band names and associating the names with the songs, much less years when albums came out. After much searching through the internet of favorite bands, and again cursing the eighties for being a terrible decade (more on that later), I’ve been able to come up with this list:
1983: U2, War
1984: The Cars, Hearbeat City (A tribute to crappy music and sycophantic lyrics.)
1985: The Cure, The Head on the Door (A tribute to the death of the drummer during the eighties. What so bad about drummers that the eighties decided to kill them off?)
1986: Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet (STEEEEEEL HORSE IIIIIIIIII RIDEEEEEEEE!)
1987: Rick Astley, Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Rolled!
1988: Poison, Open Up and Say… Ahh! (Proof that “success” by being a sellout doesn’t get you anywhere.)
1989: Queen, The Miracle
1990: Michael W. Smith, Go West Young Man (A tribute to the fact that I didn’t know any better back then. I was only seven for God sakes.)
1991: R.E.M., Out of Time
1992: Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax playing Johannes Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano (This is beauty.)
1993: Counting Crows, August and Everything After (Hey, the early 90s was a hard time for music.)
1994: Queen, Greatest Hits (Because most came before my time.)
1995: Jars of Clay, Jars of Clay
1996: Cake, Fashion Nugget
1997: Sixpence None the Richer, Sixpence None the Richer
1998: Burlap to Cashmere, Anybody Out There?
1999: Switchfoot, New Way to Be Human
2000: Switchfoot, Learning to Breathe (I like ruts. And besides, they were my favorite band for a long time.)
2001: Five O’Clock People, In the Bleak Midwinter (Teh Awesome.)
2002: Damien Rice, O
2003: Sufjan Stevens, Michigan
2004: Lovedrug, Pretend You’re Alive
2005: The Decemberists, Picaresque
2006: Grand Funk Railroad, Greatest Hits (I had to work them in somehow, even if this is cheating.)
2007: Feist, The Reminder
2008: Five O’Clock People, Temper Temper
About the eighties, I see so very little of it to be redeeming. In fact, I commonly say, I am glad my youngest years were in the eighties, so I didn’t waste a decade with memories of bad synth music, neon with abandon, and Regan economics (*zing*). So I didn’t like the eighties, sue me. For above, I had also had a devil of a time trying to find for 1994 and 2007.
As for continuing on the meme, I tag people I think who would have a much better grasp of music: Chris, Ben, Adam, Michael, and Ry.
“I am glad my youngest years were in the eighties, so I didn’t waste a decade with memories of bad synth music” — Oh, you lucky bugger! I was born in 1978, and my subconscious consists of nothing except layer upon layer of bad synth music.
Damn, this is going to be hard. Might have to set aside a day to do some research!
Question: Is it meant to be your favorite album at the time, or can it be favorite albums of those years, looking back?
I figured its the latter one. Thats the way I did it. I don’t think its really possible to have a favorite album on your birth year unless its, “The Cow says, ‘Moooooooo.’”
There.
Done!