The year that has the most impact on your musical journey

[Samsara]

This is a topic I have thought about off and on for probably 20 years now. What year of music (albums released in a calendar year) is the one that most impacted your personal musical journey? There are so many great years of music where several records were released. Does one really stand out for you?

For me, it's very, very easy:

1988

1. Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
2. Metallica - ...And Justice for All
3. Living Colour - Vivid
4. Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 2
5. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
6. Fates Warning - No Exit

>>>>Does any specific year, and its releases really define your musical journey?

[hefdaddy42]

Without question, 1992.  Discovering Dream Theater led to almost all of my musical choices for the next, well, 30 years or so.

[pg1067]

That list looks familiar, Bri!   

For me, it's probably 1982 because that's when we got MTV.

But I could make an equally strong argument for 1981.

Prior to the summer of 1981, my knowledge of music was classical (I played trumpet, and the only records my mother owned were classical).  After graduating from 8th grade in 1981, my mother and I went and spent three weeks with my sister and her husband and two young kids outside of Denver.  They had a finished basement, which is where my sister had all of her records, and that's where I slept.  I spent a good chunk of our time there listening to Beatles albums.  By the time we drove home, I was hooked.  For my birthday in October, I got a stereo with a turntable, cassette deck and 8-track player (hell yeah!).  I immediately bought the Beatles 1962-66 and 1967-70 compilation albums and joined the Columbia Record and Tape Club.  My first albums:

- Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - I Love Rock and Roll
- The Go-Go's - Beauty and the Beat (the local newspaper did an article on them, with a big color picture, and I was in love)
- Devo - Freedom of Choice
- J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame
- Buckner & Garcia - Pac-Man Fever (at the height of the arcade game boom)
- Simon & Garfunkel - The Concert in Central Park (a nod to my sisters' influence)

But it wasn't until we got MTV in 1982 that my eyes were really opened to what was out there.  In particular, the videos for Rush's Countdown and Subdivisions and from the Exit...Stage Left video (Tom Sawyer and Red Barchetta) had a profound impact on me.

[Stadler]

I have to think about this.  Probably 1982 as well, but I want to mull this over a bit first.

[twosuitsluke]

This is going to take some thought. Is it the year that most of the important records to me came out,regardless of how old I was at the time, or the year that experienced the most life changing albums coming out in real time? I'm thinking it'll be the latter for me, and if it is it'll likely be 2005.

[lonestar]

Without question, 1992.  Discovering Dream Theater led to almost all of my musical choices for the next, well, 30 years or so.

This. I can remember the specific moment in my kitchen, listening to 96.9 The Eagle, and hearing those notes coming over the radio. Little did I know that it'd lead me to countless artists, not to mention all you assholes.


Honestly, with the exception of a small handful of artists like Rush, Yes, Marillion, IQ and a few others, there is a maximum 6 degrees between every artists I listen to and Dream Theater

[SoundscapeMN]

favorite or just most impact?

I think about a few specifics:

1973 - Genesis, Tull, Zeppelin, The Who, Renaissance, King Crimson, Herbie Hancock, ELP, Mavishnu, Pink Floyd, Yes
1994 - Brave, Awake, Handful of Rain, Promised Land
2000 - The Shaming of the True, The Perfect Element I
2005 - TREOS, Coheed, The Mars Volta, Oceansize, Mew

[Kwyjibo]

Mine would be 1978:

Dire Straits
Toto
Van Halen

Three of my absolute favorite bands have released their debut records in that year. And it's not only that those bands became known to the public but that each of those records ranks very high in that particular band's discography. Maybe not always their best, but definitely up there.

[chknptpie]

Without a doubt: 1994
Green Day - Dookie
NOFX - Punk in Drublic
The Offspring - Smash

[HOF]

I don’t know if it’s been the most impactful for me or not, but I always think of 1994 as a high point of sorts:

DT - Awake
Marillion - Brave
King’s X - Dogman
Roine Stolt - The Flower King
Dave Matthews Band - Under The Table And Dreaming
Big Big Train - Goodbye to the Age of Steam
R.E.M. - Monster
Toad the Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea
Alice In Chains - Jar of Flies
Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Queensryche - Promised Land
Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Of course there is a lot of good stuff in ‘93 (Winger - Pull, Mr. Big - Bump Ahead, Counting Crows - August and Everything After, Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream, Enchant - A Blueprint of the World) and ‘95 (Marillion - Afraid of Sunlight, Spock’s Beard - The Light, Van Halen - Balance, Dokken - Dysfunctional, The Flower Kings - Back In The World of Adventures, Radiohead - The Bends), so that three year run seems really impactful on me in general.

[King Postwhore]

I would say 1981.  I was 13.  An eight grader.  Coming into my own musically.  Taking guitar lessons.

Styx - Paradise Theater
Rush - Moving Pictures (My cousin got a cassette from our guitar teacher with Santana Zebop on the other side)
Biily Squire - Don't Say No
Van Halen - Fair Warning
Foreigner - 4
Journey - Escape
Pat Benatar - Precious Time
Triumph - Allied Forces
Genisis - Abacab
The Police - Ghost in the Machine
Black Sabbath - Mob Rules
AC/DC - For Those About to Rock
Ozzy - Diary Of A Madman


What a great time for music.

[Grappler]

1998

I was 18, away at college for the first time that fall, and discovering that Europe had A TON of (power) metal bands:

Iced Earth - Something Wicked this Way Comes
Metallica - Garage Inc.
Bruce Dickinson - The Chemical Wedding
Radakka - Requiem for the Innocent
Sentenced - Frozen
Stratovarius - Destiny
Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth
Black Sabbath - Reunion
Black Label Society - Sonic Brew
Fear Factory - Obsolete
Slayer - Diabolus in Musica (released the week after I graduated from high school)
Hammerfall - Legacy of Kings
Iron Maiden - Virtual XI
Korn - Follow the Leader
Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe
Soulfly - s/t
Skid Row - Greatest Hits
Savatage - The Wake of Magellan
Nightwish - Oceanborn


That was an amazing year for metal music, and this is only a fraction of the albums that came out that year. 

[lonestar]

I would say 1981.  I was 13.  An eight grader.  Coming into my own musically.  Taking guitar lessons.

Styx - Paradise Theater
Rush - Moving Pictures (My cousin got a cassette from our guitar teacher with Santana Zebop on the other side)
Biily Squire - Don't Say No
Van Halen - Fair Warning
Foreigner - 4
Journey - Escape
Pat Benatar - Precious Time
Triumph - Allied Forces
Genisis - Abacab
The Police - Ghost in the Machine
Black Sabbath - Mob Rules
AC/DC - For Those About to Rock
Ozzy - Diary Of A Madman


What a great time for music.

The Styx, Rush and Triumph albums could be a near holy trinity of my early teen years. Just add Yessongs, Give the People What they Want and Quadrophenia and you got my pre-Marillion/IQ (around '87/'88) soundtrack. I'd only say I leaned more towards Signals than Power Windows.

[twosuitsluke]

Without a doubt: 1994
Green Day - Dookie
NOFX - Punk in Drublic
The Offspring - Smash

What a great year for punk  I wasn't really aware of it in '94, but I retrospect it really was a great year. '94 was the year I really became more aware of what my older siblings were listening to, even if I wasn't into it at the time. These albums also definitely influenced 11 year old me as I love them now...

Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Blur - Parklife
Portishead - Dummy

[gmillerdrake]

Without question, 1992.  Discovering Dream Theater led to almost all of my musical choices for the next, well, 30 years or so.

ditto

[KevShmev]

Not sure I can pin point one year, as my truly formative years of growth as a music fan were 1990-1992, but most of the albums I got into those years were from the 60s and 70s and 80s. 

[Samsara]

Maybe I was unclear.

What year had the most albums released that was the most impactful in your musical journey.

As I said, in 1988, I had all those albums released that year that really still resonate with me all these years later (thus, the impact on my journey).

[KevShmev]

Maybe I was unclear.

What year had the most albums released that was the most impactful in your musical journey.

As I said, in 1988, I had all those albums released that year that really still resonate with me all these years later (thus, the impact on my journey).

Ah, okay, that makes more sense. 

Given that, I could probably say 1976 due to Boston's self-titled debut (hearing Foreplay/Long Time and then whole album was life-changing), Rush's 2112 and Kansas' Leftoverture.

[pg1067]

Maybe I was unclear.

What year had the most albums released that was the most impactful in your musical journey.

As I said, in 1988, I had all those albums released that year that really still resonate with me all these years later (thus, the impact on my journey).

It's going to be really tough for me to narrow things down between any of the years from about 1980-84.

[El Barto]

Maybe I was unclear.

What year had the most albums released that was the most impactful in your musical journey.

Drag. I liked the way the question was originally interpreted better.

In any case, it doesn't matter mcuh for me. 80/81 when I heard Back in Black, Blizzard, and Women and Children First for the first time. I shudder to think what I'd be like if I hung around with rednecks rather than pot-smoking rock and rollers.

[KevShmev]

In any case, it doesn't matter mcuh for me. 80/81 when I heard Back in Black, Blizzard, and Women and Children First for the first time. I shudder to think what I'd be like if I hung around with rednecks rather than pot-smoking rock and rollers.

You'd be a diehard Ted Nugent fan. 

[chknptpie]

I don’t know if it’s been the most impactful for me or not, but I always think of 1994 as a high point of sorts:

DT - Awake
Marillion - Brave
King’s X - Dogman
Roine Stolt - The Flower King
Dave Matthews Band - Under The Table And Dreaming
Big Big Train - Goodbye to the Age of Steam
R.E.M. - Monster
Toad the Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea
Alice In Chains - Jar of Flies
Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Queensryche - Promised Land
Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Of course there is a lot of good stuff in ‘93 (Winger - Pull, Mr. Big - Bump Ahead, Counting Crows - August and Everything After, Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream, Enchant - A Blueprint of the World) and ‘95 (Marillion - Afraid of Sunlight, Spock’s Beard - The Light, Van Halen - Balance, Dokken - Dysfunctional, The Flower Kings - Back In The World of Adventures, Radiohead - The Bends), so that three year run seems really impactful on me in general.

1994 also had NIN's The Downward Spiral which is a phenomenal album.

[Zydar]

I've always had 1966 and 1973 as my two favourite "music years". A lot of my favourite albums of all time were released in either of those two years.

For instance:

1966:
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (+ Good Vibrations single)
The Beatles - Revolver (+ Paperback Writer single)
Rolling Stones - Aftermath
Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
The Byrds - Fifth Dimension
The Kinks - Face To Face
The Who - A Quick One

1973:
Genesis - Selling England By The Pound
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon
Paul McCartney & Wings - Band On The Run
Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy
Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
The Who - Quadrophenia

[WilliamMunny]

I don’t know if it’s been the most impactful for me or not, but I always think of 1994 as a high point of sorts:

DT - Awake
Marillion - Brave
King’s X - Dogman
Roine Stolt - The Flower King
Dave Matthews Band - Under The Table And Dreaming
Big Big Train - Goodbye to the Age of Steam
R.E.M. - Monster
Toad the Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea
Alice In Chains - Jar of Flies
Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Queensryche - Promised Land
Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

Of course there is a lot of good stuff in ‘93 (Winger - Pull, Mr. Big - Bump Ahead, Counting Crows - August and Everything After, Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream, Enchant - A Blueprint of the World) and ‘95 (Marillion - Afraid of Sunlight, Spock’s Beard - The Light, Van Halen - Balance, Dokken - Dysfunctional, The Flower Kings - Back In The World of Adventures, Radiohead - The Bends), so that three year run seems really impactful on me in general.

1994 also had NIN's The Downward Spiral which is a phenomenal album.

Man, this is a great thread idea!

I'll second '94—not only did it provide a massive amount of influential albums, but I was also coming of age during it, so there's a strong nostalgic connection to virtually anything that was released that year.

That all said, I am 'hopeful' that the most influential year might still be in my future

[RoeDent]

The year that came into my mind first when I saw the question was 2011. A Dramatic Turn of Events came out, the first DT album I was here for the entire process for. I was also getting into other bands at the time. Steven Wilson released Grace for Drowning, Haken released Visions, Opeth released Heritage. All of that in September.

[Elite]

As far as ‘albums released in a year’ I’d say 1992 for the basic reason that Images & Words was released then, but I was born in the same year, so I discovered it way later obviously.

On a more abstract level (not albums released but ‘stuff that happened’ or ‘discovering stuff’ it would be either 2008 or 2019.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I initially thought it might be 2000, and then remembered Blackwater Park is '01 and not '00.  I started making lists, and could make an argument for either of those years, but realized that '99 is slightly earlier, and arguably just as if not more foundational.  This is not necessarily my favorite albums of the year (though there would certainly be a lot of overlap), but albums that represented or altered my taste early on. 

1999:

Amorphis - Tuonela
Arch Enemy - Burning Bridges
Carlos Santana - Supernatural
Dan Swano - Moontower
Dancing Fantasy - s/t
Dark Tranquillity - Projector
Dido - No Angel
Drain S.T.H. - Freaks of Nature
Dream Theater - Scenes From a Memory
Gamma Ray - Power Plant
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada
Hybrid - Wide Angle
In Flames - Colony
Katatonia - Tonight's Decision
Liquid Tension Experiment - 2
Michael Hedges - Torched
Opeth - Still Life
P.O.D. - The Warriors E.P.
Rage Against The Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles
Secret Garden - Dawn of a New Century
Sonata Arctica - Ecliptica
Steve Vai - The Ultra Zone
Sugar Ray - 14:59
Testament - The Gathering
The O.C. Supertones - Chase the Sun
The Tea Party - Triptych
Velvet Acid Christ - Fun With Knives
Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want
VNV Nation - Empires

[TAC]

To me, this is an easy one. The one year that I could not live without is 1981.
When I did my Top 50 ten years ago, 8 albums from 1981 placed in the Top 31.
Those were:

Michael Schenker Group-MSG
UFO-The WildThe Willing And The Innocent
Def Leppard-High n Dry
Thin Lizzy-Renegade
Lucifer's Friend-Mean Machine
Ozzy Osbourne-Diary Of A Madman
Rush-Moving Pictures
Riot-Fire Down Under

MSG, Def Leppard, and Rush were musical life changing.

After that, there's a ton of great albums..

Iron Maiden-Killers
Van Halen-Fair Warning
Joe Perry Project-I've Got The Rock And Rolls Again
AC/DC-For Those About To Rock
Black Sabbath-Mob Rules
Rainbow-Difficult To Cure
Judas Priest-Point Of Entry
Accept-Breaker
Saxon-Denim And Leather
Y&T-Earthshaker
Shooting Star-Hang On For Your Life
Journey-Escape
Gary Moore-Dirty Fingers
Blackfoot-Marauder
Pat Benatar-Precious Time
Triumph-Allied Forses
Kiss-The Elder
Ted Nugent-Intensities In 10 Cities
Styx-Paradise Theater
Krokus-Hardware
Tygers Of Pan Tang (with John Sykes)-Spellbound
Molly Hatchet-Take No Prisoners
Kix-s/t
Billy Squire-Don't Say No
38 Special-Wild Eyed Southern Boys
April Wine-The Nature Of The Beast
Blue Oyster Cult-Fire Of Unknown Origin

[bosk1]

I've got a couple, and I'll explain below.

1983:  As I like to call it, this was the "year of the guitar" for me.  The albums of this year and my musical discoveries of "hard rock"/"heavy metal" as those terms were defined at the time steered me for the first time toward that distorted guitar-based sound and away from the older pop songs of my parents.  Some of the albums that had a big influence on me from that year:
-Def Leppard - Pyromania:  This was THE album that cemented for me that this was MY music.
-Journey - Frontiers:  Still a Journey fan, and although Journey was softer rock that flirted with pop, the rock guitars were still front and center on this album, and it fit perfectly with what I was getting into.
-Quiet Riot - Metal Health:  Along with the Def Leppard album above, Holy Diver, and Bark At the Moon, this got a ton of time in my cassette player.
-Dio - Holy Diver
-Queensryche - ep:  Didn't get into it until much, MUCH later, but this would eventually be huge for me as well.
-Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind:  same
-Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
-Y&T - Meanstreak
-Ozzy - Bark at the Moon

Although not fitting the mold above, Synchronicity, Rock 'n Soul pt. 1, and The Wild Heart got a ton of play that year as well, and were also a huge part of my musical life.


1990:  The "year of branching out."  This is when my musical tastes, although firmly entrenched in what I loved, also branched out in a lot of directions that would eventually lead me to prog metal, including really discovering Queensryche and crowning them as my favorite band.  Heavier thrash was starting to click.  And forays into more alternative, pre-grunge, and slightly progressive were opening doors.
-Queensryche - Empire:  THE album of 1990.  Had a huge impact on where I was going and where I presently am.
-Depeche Mode - Violator:  Interesting album that was starting to bring a bit of rock into their new wave sound, and I liked that blend a lot.
-Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet:  Well, I did mention that diversity was a key for this year.
-Y&T - Ten
-Poison - Flesh & Blood:  I was never anything more than a casual Poison fan, but this album was a bit of a departure from their sound in some ways, and an effort to take their music somewhere new that I could appreciate.
-Suicidal Tendencies - Lights...Camera...Revolution!:  Punk meets thrash, both of which were fairly new in my collection, and both of which worked well together when coupled with really solid musicianship and songwriting.
-Mother Love Bone - Apple
-Stryper - Against the Law:  Didn't like it at the time, but it was emblematic of bands I liked branching out and doing something a bit different.
-Extreme - Pornograffitti
-Prince - Graffiti Bridge
-Warrant - Cherry Pie
-Megadeth - Rust in Peace:  To be fair, I listened to it, it didn't take, and then I went back and it became huge for me a couple of years later.
-Steve Vai - Passion and Warfare:  So experimental and weird, and yet somewhat familiar.  There could not have been a better year for me than 1990 for him to release this.
-Testament - Souls of Black
-Don Dokken - Up from the Ashes:  Although this probably got the least amount of plays from me compared to most other albums on this list, it is again emblematic of a musician I had listened to for quite a while shaking things up a bit and saying "I'm going to do this my way instead of writing what the corporate heads at the label want me to write."
-King's X - Faith, Hope, Love
-Cinderella:  I think this is what the band always wanted to sound like.  They were finding their feet and casting off a lot of the slick commercialization of the first two albums while still sounding like themselves.  They had gone through changes that brought them, IMO, right where they wanted to be.
-Scorpions - Crazy World:  And near the opposite side of the spectrum, we have an album from a band that is sort of like their "AC/DC album" in that it is very formulaic and just taking the core elements of their trademark sound, mixing it with the core elements of what made them successful on radio and MTV, and just doing various version of that for each of the 11 tracks on the album, each of which could have just been labeled "Scorpions rocker" or "Scorpions ballad" and interchanged with any other song on the album that fit the respective label.
-Tesla:  Five Man Accoustical Jam

There are others I could have listed from this year as well.  But, again, it was kind of a year of experimentation and diversity. 

When I discovered Dream Theater in 1992-1999, the fact that they took elements from so many disparate things I loved in music already, and combined them into a glorious mess that translated into good songs was right up my alley.  I kind of got it when hearing DT in 1992, but it didn't fully click.  When I revisited them in 1999, it was like Thanos to the Avengers, or Stef Curry to LeBron:  "You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me."  It was where I was destined to be all along, but I couldn't have gotten there without 1983 and 1990.  In many ways, it was just...inevitable.

[nick_z]

This isn't an easy one...

I might have to go with 1992, as that was year when I went from being a relatively casual listener to "mildly-obsessed music fan". And, more importantly for the theme of the thread, because that was the year I purchased Images and Words, which is still my favorite album and sparked all sorts of music discoveries.

Other highlights:

Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power (arguably a heavy music "baptism of fire" for me)
Faith No More - Angel Dust
Alice in Chains -  Dirt
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
Skyclad - A Burnt Offering for the Bone Idol
Helmet - Meantime
Megadeth - Countdown to Extinction
Elegy - Labyrinth of Dreams
Joe Satriani - The extremist
Blind Guardian - Somewhere Far Beyond
Peter Gabriel - Us

...but, honestly, when I look at every year between 1992 and 1995, it's just basically impossible to choose. SO many examples of incredible music shaping my journey. Just because it's fun:

1993, just naming a few:

Rush - Counterparts
Paradise Lost - Icon
Saviour Machine - Saviour Machine
Savatage - Edge of Thorns
Enchant - A Blueprint of the World
Coroner - Grin
Rage - The Missing Link
Metal Church - Hanging in the Balance
Voivod - The Outer Limits
Anacrusis - Screams and Whispers
Carcass - Heartwork
Death - Individual Thought Patterns
Annihilator - Set the World on Fire
Angra - Angels Cry
Depeche Mode - Songs of Faith and Devotion

I mean, come on! And then...

1994:

Dream Theater – Awake
Amorphis – Tales from the Thousand Lakes
Queensryche – Promised Land
Fates Warning – Inside Out
Tiamat – Wildhoney
Machine Head – Burn My Eyes
Vanden Plas – Colour Temple
Dave Matthews Band – Under the Table and Dreaming
Tori Amos – Under the Pink
Marillion – Brave
Prong – Cleansing
Skyclad – Prince of the Poverty Line
Stratovarius – Dreamspace
Threshold – Psychedelicatessen

and if that wasn't enough..

1995:

Paradise Lost - Draconian Times
Blind Guardian – Imaginations from the Other Side
The Gathering – Mandylion
Sentenced – Amok
Moonspell – Wolfheart
Fear Factory – Demanufacture
Meshuggah – Destroy Erase Improve
Death – Symbolic
Dark Tranquillity – The Gallery
At the Gates – Slaughter of the Soul
Nightingale – The Breathing Shadow
Skyclad – The Silent Whales of Lunar Sea
Decoryah – Wisdom Floats

Seriously, I get teary-eyed just thinking about those years   

[Dream Team]

1983 for reasons that Bosk eloquently listed. But add in Metallica and Judas Priest.

[contest_sanity]

I don’t know if it’s been the most impactful for me or not, but I always think of 1994 as a high point of sorts:

DT - Awake
Marillion - Brave
King’s X - Dogman
Roine Stolt - The Flower King
Dave Matthews Band - Under The Table And Dreaming
Big Big Train - Goodbye to the Age of Steam
R.E.M. - Monster
Toad the Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea
Alice In Chains - Jar of Flies
Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Queensryche - Promised Land
Pink Floyd - The Division Bell

1994 also had NIN's The Downward Spiral which is a phenomenal album.

Without a doubt: 1994
Green Day - Dookie
NOFX - Punk in Drublic
The Offspring - Smash

Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Blur - Parklife
Portishead - Dummy

I too am gonna go with 94 and add Sunny Day Real Estate's Diary, Testament's Low, and Live's Throwing Copper.

[Podaar]

'75 is close, but truly 1976 is what shaped me the most

Frampton Comes Alive
Dreamboat Annie
Sad Wings of Destiny
Jailbreak
2112
Too Old to Rockn' Roll: Too Young to Die
Rocks
Rising
Agents of Fortune
No Heavy Petting
The Royal Scam
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Chicago X
Boston
Technical Ecstasy
Crystal Ball
Zoot Allures
The Song Remains the Same
Free-For-All
Leftoverture
Made in Europe

[Stadler]

'75 is close, but truly 1976 is what shaped me the most

Frampton Comes Alive
Dreamboat Annie
Sad Wings of Destiny
Jailbreak
2112
Too Old to Rockn' Roll: Too Young to Die
Rocks
Rising
Agents of Fortune
No Heavy Petting
The Royal Scam
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Chicago X
Boston
Technical Ecstasy
Crystal Ball
Zoot Allures
The Song Remains the Same
Free-For-All
Leftoverture
Made in Europe

There are some good calls there - Made In Europe, The Song Remains The Same, Technical Ecstasy.  I would add "Rock and Roll Over", but that's just me.

[romdrums]

1977 was a pretty big year.  Star Wars was released, I was born  , and the following albums dropped:

Yes- Going For the One
Pink Floyd- Animals
Genesis- Seconds Out
Rush- A Farewell to Kings
ELP- Works Volume 1
David Bowie- Low, Heroes
Peter Gabriel- 1

In all serious though, 1994 was the big year for me, for many of the albums and reasoned listed by others.