What Year(s) of Music had the Biggest Impact on You?

[Captain Bowie]

2006-2007 for me. Not sure why, was my first year after HS, first year of college. For some reason that year I made a conscious effort to look for more music and branch out my taste. Whenever I hear a song or album that gives me a different feeling than the rest of my favorites, it is from this time.

Releases from that time that had an impact on me:

The Tragically Hip - World Container
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium
Rise Against - The Sufferer & The Witness
White Stripes - Icky Thump
Foo Fighters - Skin and Bones
Matthew Good - Hospital Music
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris


Personally that is an amazing collection of music. Probably my favorite Hip, Foo, RHCP and Matt Good albums ever.

Click to read more...

 

[Elvis P]

1. Exile On Main Street - Rolling Stones
2. Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars - David Bowie
3. Talking Book - Stevie Wonder
4. Machine Head - Deep Purple
5. Harvest - Neil Young
6. Superfly - Curtis Mayfield
7. Something/Anything - Todd Rundgren
8. Eat A Peach - Allman Brothers Band
9. I'm Still in Love With You - Al Green
10. Honky Chateau - Elton John

1. Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
2. Innervisions - Stevie Wonder
3. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
4. Quadrophenia - The Who
5. Pronounced Leh'-nerd Skin-'nerd - Lynyrd Skynyrd
6. Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye
7. Call Me - Al Green
8. Catch A Fire - Bob Marley & The Wailers
9. Band On The Run - Paul McCartney & Wings
10. New York Dolls - New York Dolls

It's a tough question so I'm just going to look at rock. Those 72-3 albums and bands influenced me the most.

 

[wedge]

1994
Green day with dookie and aerosmith with livin' on the edge and cryin'. Lot of other stuff too but this the most important.

 

[Captain Bowie]

1994
Green day with dookie and aerosmith with livin' on the edge and cryin'. Lot of other stuff too but this the most important.

94 was an amazing year. The whole 91-95 period was unbelievable. Wish I wasn't so young during those years.

But in 94 alone you had Nirvana's MTV Unplugged, Smash, Dookie, Throwing Copper, Definitely Maybe, Superunknown, Ill Communication, Jar of Flies, Purple, Sixteen Stone, ect...

 

[Osprey]

This will date me, but I would probably go with 1988. It was in that year or the year before (so that songs were still heavily on the radio) that Bon Jovi's New Jersey, Def Leppard's Hysteria, Poison's Open Up and Say... Ahh!, Guns 'n' Roses' Appetite for Destruction, U2's The Joshua Tree, Motley Crue's Girls, Girls, Girls and others were released. That was a peak year for rock, IMO. It was also a good time for other types, like pop, with Michael Jackson's Bad and others. Of course, I was also at an impressionable age when my tastes were being sculpted, but the sheer volume of such great music at that time definitely had the biggest impact on me.

 

[kihei]

^^^^
1988 will date you? Ha!

1964 and everything changed

The Beatles--Meet the Beatles; Twist and Shout; A Hard Day's Night and everything else they recorded that year
The Rolling Stones--The Rolling Stones; 12 X 5
The Kinks--You Really Got Me
Bob Dylan--Another Side of Bob Dylan
The Searchers--It's the Searchers
The Animals--The Animals
Yardbirds--Five Live Yardbirds
The Supremes--Where Did Our Love Go
Dionne Warwick--Anyone Who Had a Heart; Make Way for Dionne Warwick
Dusty Springfield--Stay Awhile
Dave Clark Five--Glad All Over
Peter and Gordon--A World without Love

 

[Captain Bowie]

/\ Nice list (old man)!

 

[BonMorrison]

2003 to 2008 had some of the most important albums of my entire life. For context, 2003 to 2007 was high school for me and then the year after was first year post-secondary so I did a lot of growing up in this time which is why these albums stand out amongst the ones of recent years.

2003:
Muse - Absolution
Brand New - Deja Entendu
Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place
The National - Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers
Story of the Year - Page Avenue
Something Corporate - North

2004:
My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want to Be
Alter Bridge - One Day Remains
Kanye West - College Dropout
Thursday - War All the Time
The Killers - Hot Fuss
Lamb of God - Ashes of the Wake
Underoath - They're Only Chasing Safety

2005:
Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
Between the Buried and Me - Alaska
City & Colour - Sometimes
Trivium - Ascendancy
Story of the Year - In the Wake of Determination

2006:
Brand New - The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me
Muse - Black Holes & Revelations
My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
Protest the Hero - Kezia
Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds
Alexisonfire - Crisis
Thursday - A City By the Light Divided
Kanye West - Late Registration
The Killers - Sam's Town

2007:
Alter Bridge - Blackbird
Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
The National - Boxer
Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High
30 Seconds to Mars - A Beautiful Lie
illScarlett - All Day With It

2008:
The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
Protest the Hero - Fortress
Chiodos - Bone Palace Ballet
Trivium - Shogun
City & Colour - Bring Me Your Love
The Parlor Mob - And You Were a Crow
Story of the Year - The Black Swan

 

[kihei]

/\ Nice list (old man)!

Thank you, whippersnapper.

 

[Shareefruck]

I don't have a year in my childhood where the music that came out at the time blew me away and I was actually paying attention to it. I only started getting into music in the last 5-10 years, and I wasn't crazy about most of the stuff coming out at the time. The year In Rainbows came out was probably one of the few where I was actually excited about the current year, and it was mostly just that one album.

But my favorite year is 1967.

1. Interstellar Space by John Coltrane - 5.0+ (Untouchable)
2. Atlantis by Sun Ra - 5.0+ (Untouchable)
3. Velvet Underground and Nico by The Velvet Underground - 5.0 (Masterpiece)
4. After Bathing at Baxter's by Jefferson Airplane - 5.0 (Masterpiece)
5. Are You Experienced by Jimi Hendrix - 5.0 (Masterpiece)
6. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles - 4.5 (Brilliant)
7. Safe as Milk by Captain Beefheart - 4.5 (Brilliant)
8. The Real McCoy by McCoy Tyner - 4.0 (Flawless)
9. Miles Smiles by Miles Davis - 4.0 (Flawless)
10. Songs of Leonard Cohen - 4.0 (Flawless)
11. Straight, No Chaser by Thelonious Monk - 3.5 (Great)
12. John Wesley Harding by Bob Dylan - 3.5 (Great)
13. Parable of Arable Land by Red Krayola - 3.5 (Great)
14. Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis - 3.5 (Great)
15. Live at Greenwich Village by Albert Ayler - 3.0 (Very Good)
16. West Side Soul by Magic Sam - 3.0 (Very Good)
17. Lumpy Gravy by Frank Zappa - 3.0 (Very Good)
18. Live at Monterey by Ravi Shankar - 3.0 (Very Good)
19. Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd - 3.0 (Very Good)
20. Disraeli Gears by Cream - 2.5 (Good)
21. Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane - 2.5 (Good)
22. Absolutely Free by Frank Zappa - 2.5 (Good)
23. Something Else by The Kinks - 2.5 (Good)
24. Goodbye and Hello by Tim Buckley - 2.0 (Positive)
25. Forever Changes by Love - 2.0 (Positive)

 

[Jack Straw]

1977-1978. I went to my first Dead shows. That pretty much changed things for good.

 

[aufheben]

Probably 1979 or 1977.

 

[Acadmus]

1979-1985 and 1991-1995 were the most influential. In the late 80s I listened to music from 1957 - 1973 pretty much exclusively, with a heavy concentration on first The Monkees and then The Beatles. Started listening to top-40 in 1991 and then outgrew it by 1993 as my tastes morphed fully into the "alt rock" artists and started really building on the cassette collection I started in 1991 (and then switched most of it to CDs starting in '95). Started reconnecting to the 80s (including part of the decade I missed) from 1999 - 2005, discovered there were good artists I'd missed out on from 2000-2009 sometime in 2009 or 2010, and then started really reconnecting with the hits of the 70s and 80s in 2014 when I got SiriusXM in my car.

 

[Tuggy]

93-94 for me. I was 13-14 then and grunge/alternative was what I loved.

 

[tony d]

1998-1999 for me. To this day Lullaby by Shawn Mullins is my favorite song.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

I've always sort of felt like 1981 was a big year in music for me. The year bridged by freshman and sophomore years in high school and solidified emerging trends in my taste (at the time) for arena rock and fusion jazz.

Records
Styx - Paradise Theater
Phil Collins - Face Value
Saga - Worlds Apart
Rush - Moving Pictures
Quincy Jones - The Dude
Van Halen - Fair Warning
Joe Jackson - Jumpin' Jive
Foreigner - 4
Def Leppard - High & Dry
Journey - Escape
Spyro Gyra - Free Time
Pat Benatar - Precious Time
Chick Corea - Three Quartets
Triumph - Allied Forces
The Who - Face Dances
J Geils Band - Freeze Frame
Herbie Hancock - Magic Windows

Also, Simon & Garfunkel's Concert in Central Park was in 1981, as was Eddie Van Halen marrying Valerie Bertinelli. And Yes broke up. Those things were big deals to me at the time anyway.

 

[DeYarmond Edison]

I would pick multiple years from 1960 but I wasn't alive then.

I'm going to go with 2011.

Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues

Both had a massive impact on me.

 

[Xelebes]

1996-1997 - Eleven years old and listening to Chris Sheppard on Power 92.
2001-2003: Late night listenings to CBC's Brave New Waves. Listened to Patti Schmidt's Abstract Disco Hour.
2004-2006 - When I went to raves and stuff. Went to a couple concerts at the end of it but have stopped due to personal issues and stuff.
2007-2008 - important years for me for growing tastes. The music at raves changed to something I disliked but got turned on to other things.

 

[b1e9a8r5s]

1998-1999 for me. To this day Lullaby by Shawn Mullins is my favorite song.

People like that song?

Edit: Not trying to be rude, but that was always a turn the station song for me.

 

[plank]

1973

The Who - Quadrophenia
The Beatles - Red and Blue Albums
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
The Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup
The Doors - L.A. Woman
Wings - Band on the Run
Joe Walsh - The Smoker You Drink the Player you Get
Bruce Springsteen - Greetings from Asbury Park
Bruce Springsteen - The Wild,The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle
ZZ Top - Tres Hombres
Little Feat - Dixie Chicken
Grateful Dead - Wake of the Flood
Neil Young - Time Fades Away
Jackson Browne - For Everyman
The Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
The Doobie Brothers - The Captain and Me
Montrose - self titled
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced
Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstasy
Elvis - Aloha from Hawaii via Satelite
Buckingham Nicks - self titled
Grand Funk - We're an American Band

 

[kihei]

1973

The Who - Quadrophenia
The Beatles - Red and Blue Albums
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
The Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup
The Doors - L.A. Woman
Wings - Band on the Run
Joe Walsh - The Smoker You Drink the Player you Get
Bruce Springsteen - Greetings from Asbury Park
Bruce Springsteen - The Wild,The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle
ZZ Top - Tres Hombres
Little Feat - Dixie Chicken
Grateful Dead - Wake of the Flood
Neil Young - Time Fades Away
Jackson Browne - For Everyman
The Allman Brothers Band - Brothers and Sisters
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
The Doobie Brothers - The Captain and Me
Montrose - self titled
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced
Steely Dan - Countdown to Ecstasy
Elvis - Aloha from Hawaii via Satelite
Buckingham Nicks - self titled
Grand Funk - We're an American Band

If memory serves, 1973 was Robin Trower's first solo album, Time Removed from Yesterday. Didn't make much of a dent, but it was a pretty good album.

 

[Roo Returns]

It's all about eras. As other people have pointed out, the 1991-95 era was really the second "Golden Age" of music at least for my generation. Although it's labelled as "grunge" or "alternative" heavy, that's when most of those bands (Nirvana, Soundgarden, RHCP, Metallica, Megadeth, Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr, RATM, Tool Primus, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul) put out their most commercial albums and were gateways to catalogues and other stuff. Also Nas, Wu Tang, Tupac, Biggie, introduced to the world.

I also love 89-91 because there was so much good metal, and English music especially like The Cure, The Church, and all the dance stuff like Happy Mondays, EMF, Stone Roses, even Love and Rockets/XTC who were their own thing put out some memorable commercial music. The releases from that era whether Pretty Hate Machine, Justice For All, Mother's Milk, were all really high energy records.

Late 60s-early 70s had it all. The true Golden Age of the album. England was dominating rock, Bob Marley/Lee Perry/Peter Tosh, Allmans in the US, fusion, RnB.

I was also a fan of 04-06 because of indie releases. I think once 07-08 started was the end of the music consumption as we know it, and the beginning of the whole iTunes only era. This was right after Tower Records closed down, Best Buy started decreasing their catalogue, and many ma and pa stores at least here in NY (thank goodness for both Newbury Comics and Amobea Records) started closing down.