Favourite album from each year since you were born

[LordCost]

Alice In Chains - Jar Of Flies  1994 meh.

I agree with you, I like Dirt a lot but only the first three songs from Jar Of Flies. I don't know any other album of 1993, so I will leave it empty.
And yes, I have two albums in the wrong year, I have to modify the list.

[bosk1]

I tried doing this once and gave up because it was taking me too long. 

Suffice to say, I was born smack dab in between the releases of Black Sabbath (s/t) and Hey Jude, which ain't bad at all.  If I had to pick a favorite album from that year, it would probably be one of those or Paranoid. 

Actually Bosk, for me part of the fun was how long it took. Great memories!

Oh, no doubt!  I just don't have the time to do it.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

So, as most everyone else has noted, this was not an easy task.  For a number of years, I had a bunch of albums that I couldn't decide on ('86-'90).  For some years, I had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to even come up with anything ('03, '05, in particular).  So I've listed my favorite from that year, and honorable mentions in parentheses.  Some are pretty obvious, some may come as a surprise:

1975 – Kiss – Alive
1976 – Rush – 2112 (Boston – Boston / Kiss - Rock and Roll Over)
1977 – Fleetwood Mac – Rumors
1978 – Van Halen – Van Halen 1
1979 – AC/DC – Highway to Hell

1980 – AC/DC – Back in Black
1981 – Van Halen – Fair Warning
1982 – Kiss – Creatures of the Night (Rainbow – Straight Between the Eyes)
1983 – Quiet Riot – Metal Health (Def Leppard – Pyromania / Night Ranger – Midnight Madness)
1984 – Van Halen – 1984 (Prince – Purple Rain Soundtrack / Kiss – Animalize / Dokken – Tooth and Nail)
1985 – Dokken – Under Lock and Key (Descendents – I Don’t Wanna Grow Up / Anthrax – Spreading the Disease)
1986 – Metallica – Master of Puppets (Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet / Tesla – Mechanical Resonance / DLR – Eat ‘Em and Smile / Poison – Look What the Cat Dragged In / Vinnie Moore – Mind’s Eye)
1987 – Guns n Roses – Appetite for Destruction (Def Leppard – Hysteria / Frehley’s Comet – Frehley’s Comet / Whitesnake – Whitesnake / Satriani – Surfing with the Alien / Roy Orbison – In Dreams: The Greatest Hits)
1988 – Warrant – Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinkin’ Rich (Jason Becker – Perpetual Burn / LA Guns – LA Guns / Queensryche – Operation: Mindcrime / Poison – Open Up and Say Ahh / Winger – Winger / Racer X – Extreme Volume Live)
1989 – Mr. Big – Mr. Big (The Smithereens – 11 / Enuff Z’Nuff – Enuff Z’Nuff / Motley Crue – Dr. Feelgood / Skid Row – Skid Row / Stevie Ray Vaughan – In Step)

1990 – Steve Vai – Passion and Warfare ( The Black Crowes – Shake Your Money Maker / Eric Johnson – Ah Via Musicom / Pantera – Cowboys From Hell / Extreme – Pornograffiti / Warrant – Cherry Pie / King’s X – Fath Hope Love)
1991 – Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey Soundtrack (Mr. Big – Lean Into It / Van Halen – For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge / Spin Doctors – Pocket Full of Kryptonite)
1992 – Kiss – Revenge  (Dream Theater – Images and Words / Steelheart – Tangled in Reins / Joe Satriani – The Extremist)
1993 – Van Halen – Live Right Here, Right Now (Steve Vai – Sex and Religion / Coverdale Page – Coverdale Page / Candlebox – Candlebox / Rush – Counterparts)
1994 – Dream Theater – Awake (King’s X – Dogman / Sammy Hagar – Unboxed)
1995 – Extreme – Waiting for the Punchline
1996 – Kiss – Unplugged (Working Man – Tribute to Rush)
1997 – Ace Frehley – 12 Picks
1998 – Talas – If Only We Knew Then What We Know Now (Kiss – Psycho Circus / Paul Gilbert – King of Clubs and Flying Dog)
1999 – Dream Theater – Metropolis 2

2000 – Racer X – Technical Difficulties (Paul Gilbert – Alligator Farm)
2001 – Racer X – Superheroes
2002 – Paul Gilbert – Burning Organ
2003 – Dream Theater – Train of Thought
2004 – ZO2 – Tuesdays and Thursdays
2005 – Dream Theater – Octavarium
2006 – Joe Satriani – Super Colossal
2007 – ZO2 – Ain’t It Beautiful
2008 – Whitesnake – Good to Be Bad
2009 – Steel Panther – Feel the Steel (ZO2 – Casino Logic)

2010 – Paul Gilbert – Fuzz Universe
2011 – Steel Panther – Balls Out (Mr. Big – What If)
2012 – Paul Gilbert – Vibrato
2013 – Winery Dogs – Winery Dogs
2014 – Steel Panther – All You Can Eat

[BlobVanDam]

Cozmo, if I was born a decade earlier and able to put those years on my list, I'd have chosen most of the same albums. (except for Rush and Fleetwood Mac. They're not making it near any list of mine ever )

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

[King Postwhore]

Cozmo, if I was born a decade earlier and able to put those years on my list, I'd have chosen most of the same albums. (except for Rush and Fleetwood Mac. They're not making it near any list of mine ever )

What the Blob.

So many of those albums I still own on album.  If I only had a record player now.