What is your favorite year for music ever?

[Marvellous G]

2010, hands down.

[Ravenheart]

1574, the golden age of music.

[skydivingninja]

@SDN

Brand New - Daisy
Coheed and Cambria - Neverender DVD (the greatest fucking thing ever that isn't called Heima)
dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
Florence + The Machine - Lungs
Karnivool - Sound Awake
Oceansize - Feed to Feed DVD
Riverside - Anno Domini High Definition


fuck that year was awesome

Can't believe I forgot dredg, but I wasn't including live albums, otherwise you know Neverender would be on there.

1574, the golden age of music.

[rogerdil]

1974
Wigwam - Being
Hatfield and the North - Hatfield and the North
Premiata Forneria Marconi - L'isola di Niente
Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
Area - Caution Radiation Area; Crac!
Gong - You
Frank Zappa - Roxy & Elsewhere
Renaissance - Turn of the Cards
Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark   
Airto Moreira - Virgin Land
Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic
Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black; Red
Yes - Relayer
Roxy Music - Country Life
Flora Purim - Butterfly Dreams

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Either '86 or '87:

1986

Meatllica - Master of Puppets
Van Halen - 5150
Poison - Look What the Cat Dragged In
Cinderella - Night Songs
David Lee Roth - Eat ‘Em and Smile
Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
Stryper - To Hell With the Devil
Tesla - Mechanical Resonance
Racer X - Street Lethal


1987

Whitesnake - Whitesnake
Motley Crue - Girls, Girls, Girls
Frehley’s Comet - Frehley’s Comet
Faster Pussycat - Faster Pussycat
Guns n Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Kiss - Crazy Nights
Joe Satriani - Surfing With the Alien
Dokken - Back for the Attack
White Lion - Pride
Racer X - Second Heat

[PuffyPat]

-Octahedron, the best Mars Volta album since De-Loused

Nope.

[Lowdz]

1987.
I had a Jon Bon Jovi curly perm, a guitar (A BC Rich Eagle) and I was 19 with money in my pocket. Life didn't get any better than that.

Dokken- Back For The Attack
TNT- Tell No Tales
Keel- ST
Tony Macalpine- Maximum Security
Marillion Clutching At Straws
Whitesnake-1987
Def Leppard- Hysteria
DIO- Dream Evil
Rush- Hold Your Fire
Joe Satriani- Surfing With The Alien
White Lion- Pride
Heart- Bad Animals
Deep Purple- House Of Blue Light
Cher- ST
Gary moore- Wild Frontier
Black Sabbath- Eternal Idol
Helloween- Keeper Of The Seven Keys I
Motley Crue- Girls Girls Girls
Aerosmith- Permanent Vacation
Savatage- Hall Of The Mountain King
Alice Cooper- Raiise Your Fist
MSG- Perfect Timing
Great White- Once Bitten
cacophany- Speed Metal Symphony
King Diamond- Abigail
Manowar- fighting The World.

[Jaq]

1976:

Peter Frampton, Frampton Comes Alive
Genesis, A Trick of the Tail
Rush, 2112
Kiss, Destroyer
Thin Lizzy, Jailbreak
Judas Priest, Sad Wings of Destiny
Led Zeppelin, Presence
Nazareth, Close Enough For Rock And Roll
Rainbow, Rising
Blue Oyster Cult,  Agents of Fortune
Alan Parsons Project, Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Jeff Beck, Wired
Boston, Boston
Manfred Mann's Earth Band, The Roaring Silence
Rush, All The World's A Stage
Thin Lizzy, Johnny The Fox
Styx, Crystal Ball
Kansas, Leftoverture
Kiss, Rock N Roll Over
Eagles, Hotel California
Queen, A Day At The Races
ELO, A New World Record.
Genesis, Wind and Wuthering

...good god. 1976 was brilliant

[Sintheros]

Not enough love for 2001 in this thread. 2001 brings us...

Devin Townsend - Terria
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Pain of Salvation - The Perfect Element
Green Carnation - Light of Day, Day of Darkness
Tool - Lateralus
maudlin of the Well - Bath
maudlin of the Well - Leaving Your Body Map
Transatlantic - Bridge Across Forever
Ark - Burn the Sun
System of a Down - Toxicity
Kamelot - Karma
Porcupine Tree - Recordings
Muse - Origin of Symmetry
Dream Theater - Live Scenes from New York (heh)

And I'm surely missing a few, but what a collection!

[Zantera]

The Perfect Element is actually 2000.

2000 was actually a pretty great year as well, at the top of my head it had: The Perfect Element, Lift Your Skinny Fists... and Kid A, 3 fantastic albums.
There are most likely more, but these 3 are just some I hold very dearly. 

[Dream Team]

1976:

Kansas - Leftoverture
Rush - 2112
Boston - Boston
Camel - Moonmadness

All four of those would be in my all-time top 30 or 40.

Others:

Billy Joel - Turnstiles
Blue Oyster Cult - Agents of Fortune
Eagles - Hotel California
Frank Zappa - Zoot Allures
Genesis - A Trick of the Tail
Genesis - Wind and Wuthering
Heart - Dreamboat Annie
Jeff Beck - Wired
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny
Queen - A Day at the Races
Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior
Steely Dan - The Royal Scam
Styx - Crystal Ball

Good stuff. It's nice to see lists from someone who was born before the Clinton administration . . .

[antigoon]

I feel like I'm not old enough to say.

[necrotomist]

2011 is/was indeed pretty spectacular...

[jingle.boy]

Easily 1971

Meddle
Zeppelin IV
LA Woman
Who's Next
Masters of Reality
The Yes Album, Fragile
Aqualung
Sticky Fingers
Fireball
Nursery Cryme

Many of these are considered the best album the respective band ever did.

1989 was pretty damn good (for me) too

Dr. Feelgood
Winter Rose
Slip of the Tongue
Pump
Mr. Big
Presto
Skid Row
Great Radio Controversy
Surveillance
Big Game

[CharlieDominietzsche]

Bump because I was going to make a similar thread and no one's yet mentioned the most spectacular year of all, 1969:

• Trout Mask Replica
• Tommy
• Hot Rats
• Uncle Meat
• Abbey Road
• Space Oddity
• In A Silent Way
• In The Court Of The Crimson King
• Three CCR albums
• At San Quentin (Johnny Cash)
• Led Zeppelin I
• Monster Movie (Can)

[Big Hath]

Here are the top 25 years and the points they've attained from the top 50 list database (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Av7hhWXD5VkadEtTOTNyN0ZfdTZaWWF3N3BjOFROeGc)

Year    Points
2005   3545
2007   3021
2001   2780
2002   2714
2009   2475
2011   2258
2006   2234
2003   2173
1999   1964
1998   1844
1992   1840
2010   1744
2004   1628
2000   1566
2008   1558
1988   1090
1994   1018
1995   1002
1997   966
2012   920
1986   915
1973   881
1977   867
1975   842
1990   799

[Jaq]

Well whenever I get around to doing my list, I'm going to drag 1976 onto that list, because damn I love that year.   

[Big Hath]

it's close at number 28.  Here are the top 5 so far from that year:

Boston
2112
Leftoverture
Moonmadness
Romantic Warrior

[Kotowboy]

1994.

The Holy Bible
Monster
Troublegum
Dookie
Vitalogy.
Definitely Maybe
Blue Album
Music For The Jilted Generation

[KevShmev]

Well whenever I get around to doing my list, I'm going to drag 1976 onto that list, because damn I love that year.   

Yep, that would probably be my number 1 year as well, by far.

[bundy]

Why 1972 is Bundy's favourite year for music:

Roxy Music (s/t), Blue Oyster Cult (s/t), Steely Dan (Can't Buy a Thrill) and The Scorpions (lonesome Crow) all release debut albums.

David Allen assembles the line-up of Gong that will go on to release the Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy (Flying Teapot, Angels Egg, You).

Pink Floyd record Dark Side of the Moon.

Hawkwind record the live album Space Ritual.

Three of the greatest Italian prog albums are released:
Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso -Darwin
Il Balleto Di Bronzo - Ys
Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per Un Amico

Other releases from 1972 that would sit comfortably in any self respecting music fan's collection:

David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust.. (not '73 as stated in an earlier post)
Yes - Close to Edge
Genesis - Foxtrot
Neil Young - Harvest
Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Trilogy
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Santana - Caravanserai
Alice Cooper - Schools Out
Uriah Heep - Demons and Wizards
Uriah Heep - Magicians Birthday
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
Gentle Giant - Three Friends
Black Sabbath - Volume 4 (Ties with Paranoid as my favourite Sabbath album)
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
Jethro Tull - Living in the Past
Deep Purple - Machine Head
Caravan - Waterloo Lily
The Moody Blues -Seventh Sojourn

[contest_sanity]

1994.

The Holy Bible
Monster
Troublegum
Dookie
Vitalogy.
Definitely Maybe
Blue Album
Music For The Jilted Generation

Great year!  Also would add:

Dream Theater - Awake
Megadeth - Youthanasia
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Pantera - Far Beyond Driven
King's X - Dogman
Alice in Chains - Jar Of Flies
Pink Floyd - The Division Bell
The Offspring - Smash
Live - Throwing Copper
Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary
Testament - Low
Korn - Korn
Queensryche - Promised Land
Nirvana - Unplugged
Tom Petty - Wildflowers
Bush - Sixteen Stone

And if you're a hip hop head, ya got

Nas - Illmatic
Biggie - Ready To Die

[RoeDent]

I can't think of a year just yet, but as we're talking about specific time periods, I don't think we've had a much bigger month for major prog releases as September 2011.

Opeth - Heritage
Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn of Events
Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning
Anathema - Falling Deeper
Haken - Visions (limited, but some people got it that month)
The Tangent - COMM

At least. It was an extraordinary month.

[growthmusic57]

Great thread! Love reading all of these responses. Agreed with '94…"Awake" and "Jar of Flies" are two of my favorite albums.

I'm not gonna lie, this year was actually quite good. DT's self-titled is tremendous, and I really got into "The Gabriel Construct" by Gabriel Riccio. Karnivool's "Asymmetry" has quickly become one of my favorite albums as well, period.

2002 was good too: Meshuggah's "Nothing," DT's "Six Degrees," and Opeth's "Deliverance" are some excellent albums.



But yeah, 2011 for proggy stuff takes the cake.

[Dellers]

I'd say 1979, closely followed by the few years before. Music has never sounded better than it did in '79. Crystal clear sound and before people started to use insane limiting.

[BlobVanDam]

I'll have to compile a list, but I'd have to go with either 1991 or 1992. Both great years for rock music.

[bl5150]

I'll have to compile a list, but I'd have to go with either 1991 or 1992. Both great years for rock music.

I reckon that'd be around my favourite time too - just as a whole load of awesome bands would be dropped from their labels quicker  than you could say "Nirvana"

[BlobVanDam]

I'll have to compile a list, but I'd have to go with either 1991 or 1992. Both great years for rock music.

I reckon that'd be around my favourite time too - just as a whole load of awesome bands would be dropped from their labels quicker  than you could say "Nirvana"

I believe the technical term is that those bands were rock-blocked.