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A Favorite Album For Each Year of My Life

This took me a while, because I love music and I listen to a lot of it and I think about it almost as much as I listen to it. My friend Phillip Mottaz put me up to this and I accepted the challenge. Here are my Favorite Albums by Year for Each Year of my Life. I went by actual release year, not peak of popularity. They were not necessarily my favorites at the time of release. A few, like 1984, were no brainers (a right answer, as Phillip says). 1970, 1985 and 1994 became Sophie's Choice. As a result some of my all time favorite records are absent. Some favorite artists recur, proving they made consistently great albums that have influenced my listening habits perpetually. Steely Dan is here twice, but not my favorite Steely Dan record. I apparently enjoy Franz Ferdinand far more than I would have guessed. If I tackle this exercise again in 5 years or 5 weeks, I would expect about 3 or 4 to change. Here we go, as of today...

1969 - Abbey Road - The Beatles
1970 - ABC - The Jackson 5
1971 - What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
1972 - The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders From Mars - David Bowie
1973 - Band on the Run - Paul McCartney & Wings
1974 - Pretzel Logic - Steely Dan
1975 - Main Course - Bee Gees
1976 - Royal Scam - Steely Dan
1977 - Saturday Night Fever - Bee Gees, et al.
1978 - Some Girls - Rolling Stones
1979 - Off The Wall - Michael Jackson
1980 - The Game - Queen
1981 - Computer World - Kraftwerk
1982 - 1999 - Prince
1983 - Let's Dance - David Bowie
1984 - Purple Rain - Prince and the Revolution
1985 - Rain Dogs - Tom Waits
1986 - Parade - Prince and the Revolution
1987 - Sign 'O' The Times - Prince
1988 - It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back - Public Enemy
1989 - Paul's Boutique - Beastie Boys
1990 - Fear of a Black Planet - Public Enemy
1991 - Diamonds and Pearls - Prince and the New Power Generation
1992 - O+> - Prince and the New Power Generation
1993 - Sons of Soul - Tony Toni Toné
1994 - Parklife - blur
1995 - What's The Story (Morning Glory) - Oasis
1996 - Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop - Stone Temple Pilots
1997 - In It For The Money - Supergrass
1998 - Hello Nasty - Beastie Boys
1999 - Battle of Los Angeles - Rage Against The Machine
2000 - Stankonia - Outkast
2001 - "Love And Theft" - Bob Dylan
2002 - Life On Other Planets - Supergrass
2003 - The Black Album - Jay-Z
2004 - Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand 2005 - The Emancipation of Mimi - Mariah Carey
2006 - Bright Idea - Orson
2007 - Magic - Bruce Springsteen
2008 - Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
2009 - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
2010 - Brothers - The Black Keys
2011 - Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 - Beastie Boys
2012 - Tempest - Bob Dylan
2013 - The Next Day - David Bowie
2014 - Art Official Age - Prince
2015 - Paper Gods - Duran Duran
2016 - ★ - David Bowie

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