Jason

Probably a tie between 1983 and 1984.

statcat

1982, INXS - Shabooh Shoobah, Duran Duran - Rio, Gary Numan - I, Assassin, Flock of Seagulls - Flock of Seagulls, Mick Karn - Titles etc. New wave heyday.

creekdipper

Wow.

slop101

Just the aesthetics/production alone for most songs from '87 was garbage. So many songs had drums where it sounded like a spork hitting mashed potatoes. There was zero edge or passion in most of the stuff - it was the year following Top Gun and everything was trying to sound like that (honestly, shit) soundtrack. Again, there were some standouts that year, but it was all so thoroughly drowned out and outweighed by so much crap, that it has to go down as the worst year of rock, which is tough to say, as it was the year Appetite For Destruction and Joshua Tree came out. But again, there was so much more bad than good that year.

Hokeyboy

That one literally makes me go outside a kick a pigeon.

LITERALLY.

Court date is on May 6th...

Supermallet

"like a spork hitting mashed potatoes"

inri222

So that's where they got the idea for St. Anger.

Ash Ketchum

What, that's illegal in your town?! In New York, it's encouraged!

creekdipper

Like Mallet, I at the spork comment. Pretty accurate.

And not saying this because I feel the need to defend '87...as I mentioned, many favorites from that era (Dire Straits, ZZ Topp, Peter Gabriel, Jason & Scorchers) aren't represented that year, & I have a lot of favorite albums from 1980-1984. Everything's subjective anyway re: favorites.

However, I do respectfully think you're missing some really good stuff from that year. Maybe not much harder rock stuff & few "must-have" classics, but re: more good than bad, I think Sturgeon's Law applies to most years. And I did have to live through the excesses of bubble-gum rock, prog-rock, disco, & other atrocities (for the most part). A lot of "New Wave" stuff got old quickly & is really dated today. The smacking-on-wet-paper drum sound...and 'programmed' drums...is bad...but so was the era of the heavy synths (Asia, Night Ranger, Loverboy, all occurred long before '87). Van Halen had already "Jumped" to heavy synth sound. BTW...I was so intrigued by the OP's question that I actually looked at each year in the decade at the top 200 albums...and, in most years (even the ones with masterpieces, the quality dropped off pretty quickly after the first 30 or so). I just found '87 to have more consistent stuff that holds up well (and wasn't played to death with the exception of Tunnel of Love & Joshua Tree)...and although some stuff was overproduced, the songwriting matured for some artists who had been around for a decade or more.

Re: lack of passion...I'd recommend another listen to tracks such as "See How We Are" (X), "You Owe Me Some Kind of Love" (Chris Isaak), "Welcome To the Occupation" (REM), "Joan of Arc" (Jennifer Warnes feat. Leonard Cohen), "The Hardest Part" (Los Lobos), "Somewhere Down the Crazy River" (Robbie Robertson). Any year that can produce those tracks & many, many others can't be all bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KP9PNSUME4

creekdipper

Down here, we don't kick 'em. We cook 'em.

slop101

Thing is, the few artists that did have good albums in '87, had much better albums in other years. For some reason, no one seemed to do their best work in '87. GnR is a special exception, as they were working on that material for years before they made that album.

The best thing about the '80s though, is the variety, in both popular music, alternative, and top 40. There was a little bit of everything, everywhere. And though my favorite albums came out in the '70s and '90, those decades didn't have the same variety as the '80s and now feel a bit bland compared to it.

creekdipper

Totally agree that most artists in '87 had better albums elsewhere. But those albums were spread out over a number of years, and I just didn't find their stuff from that year to be among their worst. If I were picking a year based upon selected personal favorite albums, '87 wouldn't be the year. I just found a lot of things I can still listen to from that year...probably more than any other '80's year.

Didn't mean to indicate that I was disregarding your reasons or that I felt slighted by your comments (or to suggest that you weren't familiar with some of the specific albums from that year because I'm sure you're knowledgeable about the era). Just hated to see you write off a lot of good stuff after hearing that radio show.

And, even though the albums may not be my favorites from artists I like, some of the tracks are outstanding (again, IMO).

But it's been a fun question to explore & made me dig out some of the CD's to throw on. I've enjoyed everyone's lists & discussions. Isn't that what top lists are for...to advocate for our favorites (giving our expert opinions, natch) and arguing with others over them? That's half the fun!

P.S. And you did specify "rock", although I would probably argue with that, too. I'm just not seeing that much good rock years over the past decade.

Hokeyboy

I think there was a pretty good Hooters album in 87...

Sign o' The Times and Appetite for Destruction alone negate any Hugh Padgham-infested nightmare of 1987 you could mention.

slop101

See, I wasn't a huge fan of Sign o' the Times - mostly to do with it's sound/production. There's at least 4 or 5 Prince albums I'd put ahead of it.

dhmac

The Smiths released 2 albums in 1984:
- "The Smiths" (their self-titled debut)
- "Hatful of Hollow" (compilation of BBC recordings and B-sides)

Obi-Wanma

I really don't think about Music (or films, or much of anything really) in terms of what year it came out, and I don't really remember that kind of information, at least not for anything more than a year or two old.

hdnmickey

1987 for me was all about Faith, Kick, and Nothing Like The Sun. All awesome. All the best each artist/band has done. At least in my opinion.

I put in the effort to make sure I wasn't forgetting any releases during that year. But like the others, I would say it was pretty bad overall.

hdtv00

Yea it's easily 1984. I've actually compiled into albums the top 100 from 1970-2014 and 84 is THE year. Toward the late 80's(86-89) man tons of songs just suck. But early 80's they are classic and still catchy tunes.

So when I play back my albums from time to time I almost always let 84 play through but I'm always skipping like crazy in the later years. I would just like the results would've given 83 my 2nd place too. It's a fun year for music but it's not the killer 84 is if you ask me.

Song titles speak for themselves.
84
<iframe src="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hdtv00/16699529053/player/" width="1024" height="576" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe>

87
<iframe src="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hdtv00/17293824556/player/" width="1024" height="576" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe>

and see even 83 the songs destroy 87
<iframe src="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hdtv00/16697326344/player/" width="1024" height="576" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe>

creekdipper

http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine

Today's (4/30) PBS strip addresses this perfectly. Sorry...don't know how to post the strip directly, so just posting link.

hbilly

1980 for me. Not the greatest year in music but a personal favorite and a more interesting one in my opinion. It was the beginning of a new decade, things changed, and that was reflected in the music I think. There was definitely a "Goodbye 1970s . . . hello 1980s" vibe lingering in the air. However, you still got the best of both worlds so to speak. 1980 still had plenty of great songs from 1979 in the charts, while you got cool new stuff at the same time. Classic disco was fading, New Wave influence was getting stronger, and rap / hip-hop began to spread. Such a fun, diverse year in music.

dvdjunkie32

1983 for me. I lived out in the sticks and had very limited access to music. The nearest rock station was 100 miles away. My brother gave me his Def Leppard "Pyromania" cassette and I was so hooked. I played that tape so much that all the lettering wore off. Those songs still hold up well today.

Huey Lewis "Sports" was another big one for me. Loved every song on that one. My brother also gave me his Quiet Riot "Mental Health" tape and I wore that one out too. haha I was big into Mellancamp as well.

Less was more back then.

ResIpsa

The correct answer is 1979

dan30oly

1982

Primarily because I love teh Steve Miller Band's Abracadabra so much and that's the year it went #1

Josh-da-man

The best year for music for me would probably ge about 1986; that's when I started getting into 'good' music.

Why So Blu?

1985 - Youthquake by Dead or Alive


I was a kid but that was roughly the year I started paying attention to music. It holds special meaning for me.