# You can only listen to music from a single year. Which year do pick? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2011, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243 "2011-12-06T07:51:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/21 "2011-12-06T17:16:52Z")
Seriously? Where is the option for “kill me now”? I listen to music ranging all the way from when my parents were teens to what the kids are listening to nowadays. I couldn’t limit myself. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/22 "2011-12-06T17:23:30Z")
It has to be 1999 because 3 of my top 5 favorite albums were released that year of which, interestingly enough, I had one that year and didn’t discover the others for a few years later. And aside from those three, several other bands had among their best works in the same year. Anathema - Judgement Nevermore - Dreaming Neon Black Opeth - Still Life Dream Theater - Scenes from a Memory Iced Earth - Alive in Athens In Flames - Colony Samael - Eternal Amorphis - Tuonela Agalloch - Pale Folklore My Dying Bride - The Light at the End of the World Katatonia - Tonight’s Decision … The list goes on, but I don’t need to list it all. Several of those albums I could listen to on repeat all day, so having all of them would just be awesome. Second Place is probably 2002, which I could also easily live with: Blind Guardian - A Night at the Opera Nightwish - Century Child Green Carnation - Light of Day, Day of Darkness Into Eternity - Dead or Dreaming Opeth - Deliverence Porcupine Tree - In Absentia Meshuggah - Nothing Rhapsody - Power of the Dragonflame Bloodbath - Resurrection through Carnage Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turblence Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors … And then 2005 which does have my all time favorite album, which I could probably just leave on repeat forever, and has several other masterpieces, it doesn’t quite have enough to trump either the heavily top weighted 1999 or the overall awesomeness of 2002. Dark Suns - Existence Ulver - Blood Inside Meshuggah - Catch Thirty-Three Nevermore - This Godless Endeavor Opeth - Ghost Reveries Swallow the Sun - Ghosts of Loss Spock’s Beard - Octane Antimatter - Planetary Confinement Dream Theater - Octavarium Novembers Doom - The Pale Haunt Departure The Old Dead Tree - The Perpetual Motion Antestor - The Forsaken Wow, you know, after listing out all these all the awesome albums from these 3 years, it’s actually much closer than I’d have thought. Now I’m not so sure, but I already voted so… meh. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/23 "2011-12-06T17:37:30Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > I have a feeling almost everyone will pick a year when they were in high school. > > 1994: > > Morrissey - Vauxhall & I > Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral > Portishead - Dummy > Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Let Love In > Blur - Parklife > Beastie Boys - Ill Communication > Weezer - Weezer > Sloan - Twice Removed > Beck - Mellowgold > Liz Phair - Whipsmart > Hole - Live Through This > Therapy? - Troublegum > > Not to mention releases by Tori Amos, Sonic Youth, Erasure, Pavement, Elliott Smith, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers, Nirvana, and Suede. I’m pissed about missing Radiohead’s The Bends by three months, but what can you do? I’m with you on this one. Oddly enough you missed some of my faves: The Crow Soundtrack STP - Purple Pearl Jam - Vitalogy Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle Soundgarden - Superunknown Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies I think most of my music collection IS 1994 🙂 I do miss Ben Folds Five and the Squirrel Nut Zippers but I will live. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/24 "2011-12-06T17:55:54Z")
Can I convince them to make me deaf to all music after 1972 instead? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/25 "2011-12-06T18:06:29Z")
I voted 1984, but actually, I think I’ll go with '85 (then '84, then '79, then '66, then '87). '85 has some of my favorite albums: Husker Du - New Day Rising & Flip Your Wig The Replacements - Tim Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians - Fegmania! & Gotta Let This Hen Out! The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy New Order - Low-Life The Fall - This Nation’s Saving Grace The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & The Lash R.E.M. - Fables of the Reconstruction The Cure - The Head on the Door Kate Bush - Hounds of Love Sonic Youth - Bad Moon Rising Camper Van Beethoven - Telephone Free Landslide Victory Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun Butthole Surfers - Psychic…Powerless…Another Man’s Sac Tom Waits - Rain Dogs Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche 85 The Dead Milkmen - Big Lizard in My Backyard Talking Heads - Little Creatures The Smiths - Meat Is Murder The Dukes of Stratosphear - 25 O’Clock Billy Bragg - Between The Wars ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/26 "2011-12-06T18:49:12Z")
> [@Dr.Righteous](#): > > Since it does not matter when it was written or recorded I’d have to choose whatever the current year is. That way I’d have access to everything so far! > > Or am I reading the question wrong? Reading it wrong; say you wanted to include [Ruby Tuesday](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Tuesday) by the Stones - although it was recorded in 1966, it was released in 1967, so you’d pick the latter year. If you picked 1968 or later, well the song wasn’t released then so you’re out of luck. Compilations are out unless the songs included on it were from the year you picked. If you pick 1996 because you fancy having [The Very Best of The Who](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Generation:_The_Very_Best_of_The_Who) and cheating the system, since none of the songs on it were released in 1996 you’re SOL. In fact, since you cheated the aliens will make every track that would otherwise be static sound just like Friday by Rebecca Black. Serves you right for trying to be crafty! ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/27 "2011-12-06T18:55:02Z")
Excellent poll idea. If you were asking for the best year in music, I’d be pretty torn. But this poll was easy for me - I looked up when Neutral Milk Hotel’s _In the Aeroplane Over the Sea_ was released, and picked that year: **1998**. I simply couldn’t go a year without listening to this album. And I figure that there would be enough interesting music to keep me occupied if I want to listen to something else. And I guess I’m right - it’s not a lot, but it’s enough to see me through: Pearl Jam - _Yield_ Beastie Boys - _Hello Nasty_ Beck - _Mutations_ Plus, there were a bunch of other albums released that year that I’m sure I could find some nuggets on. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/28 "2011-12-06T19:06:32Z")
1973 wasn’t bad: Dark Side Of The Moon, Quadrophenia, Queen, Who Do We Think We Are, Houses of The Holy, Greetings From Asbury Park, Aerosmith, Tyranny and Mutation, Raw Power, Tres Hombres, Brain Salad Surgery, Montrose, Abandoned Luncheonette, Band on the Run, Tattoo… ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/29 "2011-12-06T19:31:57Z")
‘This’ year. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/30 "2011-12-06T19:48:36Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > 1994: > > Morrissey - Vauxhall & I > Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral > Portishead - Dummy > Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Let Love In > Blur - Parklife > Beastie Boys - Ill Communication > Weezer - Weezer > Sloan - Twice Removed > Beck - Mellowgold > Liz Phair - Whipsmart > Hole - Live Through This > Therapy? - Troublegum > > Not to mention releases by Tori Amos, Sonic Youth, Erasure, Pavement, Elliott Smith, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers, Nirvana, and Suede. I’m pissed about missing Radiohead’s The Bends by three months, but what can you do? 1994 is a tempting choice for me, too: along with **ZipperJJ** ’s choices and these: Pulp - His ‘n’ Hers Massive Attack - Protection Jeff Buckley - Grace Sugar - File Under: Easy Listening …1994 was a pretty good year. And I was _not_ in high school, actually. 1995 was good too, at least at the very top of Britpop: Maxinquaye - Tricky (What’s The Story) Morning Glory - Oasis It’s Great When You’re Straight..Yeah! - Black Grape The Bends - Radiohead Grand Prix - Teenage Fanclub I Should Coco - Supergrass Different Class - Pulp To Bring You My Love - Pj Harvey The Great Escape - Blur Kind of hard for Britpop to top that, really. ---
**Author:** ![gatorslap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gatorslap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gatorslap)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/31 "2011-12-06T19:51:07Z")
1. Pearl Jam - Ten Nirvana - Nevermind Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger Digital Underground - This is an EP Release Digital Underground - Sons of the P Smashing Pumpkins - Gish Living Colour - Biscuits Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese Siouxsie and the Banshees - Superstition Fishbone - The Reality of My Surroundings Infectious Grooves - The Plague that Makes Your Booty Move Primal Scream - Screamadelica Massive Attack - Blue Lines Big Audio Dynamite - The Globe Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik Pitch Shifter - Industrial A Tribe Called Quest - Low End Theory Temple of the Dog De La Soul - De La Soul is Dead Queen - Innuendo 3rd Bass - Derelicts of Dialect Violent Femmes - Why Do Birds Sing? Prince - Diamonds and Pearls Operation Ivy NOFX - Ribbed Screaming Trees - Uncle Anesthesia L7 - Smell the Magic Mudhoney - Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge Green Day - 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours Divinyls The Orb - Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld Orbital Bad Religion - 80-85 Pop Will Eat Itself - Cure for Sanity Mr. Bungle The Shamen - En-Tact Pixies - Trompe le Monde The Cult - Ceremony Pennywise Dramarama - Vinyl Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie - Hammer and Tongs Del tha Funkee Homosapien - I Wish My Brother George Was Here Alice in Chains - Man in the Box single Ministry - Jesus Built My Hotrod single ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/32 "2011-12-06T20:04:11Z")
Am I the only one here who thinks that most modern music is crap? My choice for the best year would be 1853, when Franz Liszt wrote the bulk of his Hungarian Rhapsodies. So there! ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/33 "2011-12-06T21:07:55Z")
I like 80’s music the best, I have no idea when songs came out, so I picked the year I graduated from college. 1983. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/34 "2011-12-06T21:36:12Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > 1994 is a tempting choice for me, too: along with **ZipperJJ** ’s choices and these: > > Pulp - His ‘n’ Hers > Massive Attack - Protection > Jeff Buckley - Grace > Sugar - File Under: Easy Listening > > …1994 was a pretty good year. And I was _not_ in high school, actually. I can’t believe I forgot His ‘n’ Hers. Now that I think about it, I’m torn between 1994 and 1997. 1997: Radiohead - OK Computer Pulp - This is Hardcore Blur - Blur Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West Portishead - Portishead Bjork - Homogenic Depeche Mode - Ultra Elliott Smith - Either/Or Nick Cave - The Boatman’s Call The Prodigy - Fat of the Land Deftones - Around the Fur Travis - Good Feeling Whatever it is, I’m stuck in the 90s. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/35 "2011-12-06T23:00:22Z")
**1961** – I knew a couple of my all-time favorites were from 1961, but looking at a top 100 list gave me a whole bunch more. _I Fall to Pieces_ by Patsy Cline Del Shannon’s _Runaway_ _Crying_ and _Running Scared_ from Roy Orbison _Will You Love Me Tomorrow_ by the Shirelles My favorite from Marty Robbins – _Don’t Worry_ _Shop Around_ by the Miracles _Apache_ - Jorgen Ingmann’s version _Stand by Me_ and _Spanish Harlem_ - Ben E. King \*Hello Walls \* from Faron Young and _Are You Lonesome Tonight_ from Elvis Good times. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/36 "2011-12-06T23:49:39Z")
I chose 1982, if only for Kate Bush - The Dreaming Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel IV (aka Security) Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts Nina Hagen - Nunsexmonkrock ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/37 "2011-12-07T00:14:02Z")
I choose 1972, coincidentally also the year of my birth, but also the year that many of my favorite (prog rock, folk, etc) bands released awesome albums. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/38 "2011-12-07T00:36:22Z")
1980 **Rush** released \*Permanent Waves \*and recorded _Moving Pict_ures **Yes** released _Drama_ \*\*Van Halen \*\*release _Women and Children First_ ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/39 "2011-12-07T00:39:14Z")
So far, 1966-1972 is clearly the most popular. There is a smaller bump from 1978-1984 with a donut hole in 1981, the year of MTV’s debut, when the remnants of disco were being stamped out for good. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243/40 "2011-12-07T00:51:15Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > 1987, just in terms of some of my favourite albums: > The Cure: Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me > The Swans: Children of God > Sisters of Mercy: Floodland > Einsturzende Neubauten: Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala > Shelleyan Orphan: Helleborine > Dead Can Dance: Within the Realm of a Dying Sun > The Smiths: Strangeways, Here We Come > The Young Gods: The Young Gods > Fields of the Nephilim: Dawnrazor > Half Man Half Biscuit: Back Again in the DHSS > Jesus and Mary Chain: Darklands > Depeche Mode: Music For The Masses > Lloyd Cole & The Commotions: Mainstream > The Christians: The Christians > Swing Out Sister: It’s Better To Travel > Deacon Blue: Raintown > The Housemartins: The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death > The Stone Roses: Sally Cinnamon E.P. > R.E.M.: Document > Pixies: Come On Pilgrim > Big Black: Songs About Fucking > 10000 Maniacs: In My Tribe > Spear of Destiny: Outland > The Men They Couldn’t Hang: Waiting For Bonaparte > Midnight Oil: Diesel and Dust > > I’d be cheesed at missing out on Cocteau Twins, Bad Seeds, Kate Bush, Thomas Dolby, The Fall and This Mortal Coil. Can’t have everything. This was my vote also. I’d add U2’s _The Joshua Tree_ and The 77’s _The 77’s_. Plus Paul Simon’s _Graceland_, though released in '86, was still getting major airplay if I can count that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-listen-to-music-from-a-single-year-which-year-do-pick/605243.md?page=3)