Tynan's Anger

Arts & Culture Commentary from a Loving Digital Skeptic

The Best Years in The History of Pop Music

Posted on | June 16, 2010 | 3 Comments

and I was never the same
Image by 400ad via Flickr

As we approach the mid-point of 2010, one thing I and many other music critics seem to be thinking is that this is one of the better half-years for music in recent memory. I was very dissapointed by the music last year produced, but like most things in life, quality, creative music comes in waves and cycles. To prove a point about rock music not having been doomed to peak in the 60s (since, after all, this is the 50th anniversary of 1960), I will list the best years for pop music in the last half century, roughly:

1. 1968

Political turbulence tends to produce great art, and no year in the past 50 was more turbulent than 1968. Attempting to escape in peace and love turned out to be fruitless, however, and by 1968, when kids were still getting drafted into a war they wanted no part of, riots started breaking out by educated kids in the US and Europe. And out of that, we got Electric Ladyland, The White Album, Wheels of Fire, Truth, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Astral Weeks, Beggars Banquet, At Folsom Prison, Songs of Leonard Cohen, Village Green Preservation Society, Music From The Big Pink, the debut of Creedence Clearwater Revivals, The Stooges, Arethra Now, and Zappa’s intra-bohemia spoof We’re Only In It For The Money, a trend that would only continue with innovations only realized decades later by the Velvet Underground and Blue Cheer. Pretty much everything that would come in pop music for the next 42 years began here.

2. 1989

Hip hop and pre-explosion alternative rock were peaking resulting in no fewer than 4 abject  classics (Paul’s Boutique, 3 Feet High, straight outta comp, Doolittle) 3 comeback albums by legends soon to gain new respect (Neil Young, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello), the peak of Madonna, pretentious rock (galaxie 500) the best hip-hop song of all time (fight the power) [three more things]. Never had pop music had so much variety peaking at the same time.

3. 1977

The explosion of punk in ’77 is so well documented that it’s difficult to keep up, but just take a look at this list: Never Mind The Bollocks, Pink Flag, Ramones Leave Home, Rocket to Russia, Talking Heads 77, Marquee Moon, Lust for Life, My Aim Is True, In The City. Meanwhile, David Bowie was reached both his pop and experimental peaks with Heroes and Low, Kraftwerk was reinventing modern pop with Trans-Europe Express. In the mainstream, Fleetwood Mac released Rumours, Pink Floyd released Animals, Steely Dan, Randy Newman, and Cheap Trick released career highlights, and 60s nostalgists were already eating their words.

4. 1970

5. 1992

Nevermind was released in October of 91, and Gen X waiting until the next year to peak. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains fourmed the metal side of grunge’s foursome.  Noise rock saw it’s best ever album in the Jesus Lizard’s Goat, while Sonic Youth reached the top 10 in the UK for the first time with Dirty. REM finally released their mainstream double album opus, k.d. lang and L7 were peaking just as PJ Harvey and Mary J. Blige were beginning, the schism that would eventually take over indie rock was still fresh with Pavement, Sugar, and the Jayhawks playing in college radio stations. All the while the Beastie Boys and former N.W.A. members were proving that their recent artistic breakthroughs were not a fluke, Arrested Development released one of the best albums of the year, and House of Payne and Sir Mix-A-Lot produced the biggest hits in a time when much worse hits were just as big. All this came at the peak of the music industry’s financial success, and with the the New Kids on the Block, Vanilla Ice, and MC Hammer fading fast.

6. 1991

7. 1969
Petered out and exhausted from the turbulence of the previous year, rock started to split in several directions, all for the better. Garage rock was coming back into the fray with MC5/Stooges, VU was cooling it down just as metal and was starting to head up with Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, and King Crimson. The Who, previously mocked as apathetic punks, began their ambitious legacy with Tommy, just Captain Beefheart was producing the weirdest masterpiece anyone had yet to see. Neil Young, David Bowie, Nick Drake began their careers, just as Joni Mitchell and Niko were producing fantastic second albums. Oh, and the Beatles released Abbey Road, probably their most musically accomplished album.

8. 2006

9. 1993

10. 2003

The music industry was already in full self-destruct mode before 9/11, and unlike other media, it failed to recover subsequently. But aritsts were barely struggling to respond to their feelings to that event by the time the War in Iraq was starting, and the turbulence of this year, which saw the debut of the iTunes store and the MP3 as the new main vehicle for music, produced some truly fantastic art, dance rock revival was still fresh with LCD Soundsystem, !!!, The Electric Six, and Snow Patrol releasing career highs, as were a pre-garden state Shins. Broken Social Scene and Explosions in the Sky paved the way for future internet-made success stories, and we saw fantastic last gasps by the gone, but not forgotten, Warren Zevon, Johnny Cash, and Joe Strummer. Previously ignored acts like Fountains of Wayne got their time in the limelight, and Radiohead went political. The Roots released an under-appreciated follow-up to their magnum opus, which featured their most memorable song in “The Seed 2.0) While we’re talking about memorable songs: “Hey Ya!” was the last truly universal hit America has seen. The best album of the year came from the White Stripes, who proved that their hype and MTV-friendly image was no fluke with the decade’s best pure rock album.

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Comments

  • http://www.theclashblog.com Tim Merrick

    Great (ambitous) post…but how can you mention 1977 without discussing The Clash?

    Surely some oversight?

    Best
    Tim

  • http://www.tynansanger.com Ethan Stanislawski

    Tim,
    Since this is an American blog, and Americans didn’t get the album officially until 79, I didn’t think to include it (I actually prefer the American version of the album, but I see your point).

  • http://www.theclashblog.com Tim Merrick

    Fair enough..though it was the biggest selling import album of 1977 simply because CBS weren’t quite sure what to do with them.

    Releasing it more than 2 years after the fact remains one of the strangest moves by a label ever.

    Nice Blog!!

    T