If you could take only one year's output of music with you to a desert island, which year would it be? Second question: how old were you during this year?

My choice is 2003. I was 31.

Highlights:
Beulah - Yoko
My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves
Outkast - Speakerbox/The love below
Decemberists - Her majesty the Decemberists
Death cab - Transatlanticism
Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site
Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
White Stripes - Elephant
Sufjan Stevens - Greetings from Michigan
Songs: Ohia - Magnolia Electric Company
Blur - think tank
Delgados - Hate
New Pornographers - Electric Version
Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

damn, I could list 20 more albums I still listen to.

Probably 1995. I was 25 years old, living in a studio apartment in Chicago, just west of Lincoln Square, dating the woman who was to become my wife, and just starting to talk about moving in together. Was going to probably 2-3 shows a week.

Highlights:
Guided By Voices - Alien Lanes
Son Volt - Trace
Yo La Tengo - Electr-o-Pura
The Apples in Stereo - Fun Trick Noisemaker
Pulp - Different Class
The Amps - Pacer
Rancid - ...And Out Come the Wolves
Pavement - Wowee Zowee
Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic
Elastica - Elastica
Matthew Sweet - 100% Fun
Palace - Viva Last Blues
Cornershop - Woman's Gotta Have It
Oasis - What's the Story Morning Glory
Tricky - Maxinquaye
The Sea and Cake - Nassau
Falstaff - Falstaff
Blur - The Great Escape
Supergrass - I Should Coco
The Boo Radleys - Wake Up!
Luna - Penthouse
The Magnetic Fields - Get Lost
Peter Laughner - Take the Guitar Player for a Ride

and probably 10 or 12 more...

Off the top of my head, I'd probably have to go with 1978. I turned 12 that year.

My stock answer for this is generally 1979, the year I was born, but if I was going to take music that I have a more personal connection to, that I was really into at the time it came out, I'd go with 2002. I turned 23 in the fall of that year.

I could take all of this, even though some of the ones toward the bottom don't do a whole lot for me these days:

Songs: Ohia – Didn’t It Rain
Deerhoof – Reveille
Kevin Drumm – Sheer Hellish Miasma
Sonic Youth – Murray Street
Black Dice – Beaches and Canyons
The Walkmen – Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone
Racebannon – In the Grips of the Light
The Books – Thought for Food
Six Organs of Admittance – Dark Noontide
Busdriver – Temporary Forever
Max Tundra – Mastered by Guy at the Exchange
Jackie-O Motherfucker – Change
Comets on Fire – Field Recordings from the Sun
Racebannon – Satan’s Kickin’ Yr Dick In!
Tom Waits – Blood Money
Yume Bitsu – The Golden Vessyl of Sound
Spoon – Kill the Moonlight
Iron & Wine – The Creek Drank the Cradle
Sightings – Michigan Haters
The Mountain Goats – All Hail West Texas
Enon – High Society
Keith Fullerton Whitman – Playthroughs
Luna – Romantica
Clipse – Lord Willin’
The Curtains – Fast Talks
Mastodon – Remission
Vibracathedral Orchestra – Dabbling with Gravity and Who You Are
Radar Bros. – And the Surrounding Mountains
The Notwist – Neon Golden
Charalambides – Unknown Spin
The Fire Show – Saint the Fire Show
El-P – Fantastic Damage
Mclusky – Mclusky Do Dallas
The Libertines – Up the Bracket
The Mountain Goats – Tallahassee
MIMEO & John Tilbury – The Hands of Caravaggio
The Blood Brothers – March on Electric Children
Sunburned Hand of the Man – Headdress
Isis – Oceanic
Boards of Canada – Geogaddi
Amalgamated Sons of Rest – s/t
Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Astrobotnia – Astrobotnia, Pt. 3
Clinic – Walking with Thee
Tom Waits – Alice
The Fucking Champs – V
Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O – Electric Heavyland
Polwechsel Fennesz – Wrapped Islands
Mr. Lif – I Phantom
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – Source Tags and Codes
Hot Snakes – Suicide Invoice
The Anomoanon – Asleep Many Years in the Wood
The Microphones – Song Islands
Pedro the Lion – Control
Sunn O))) – 3: Flight of the Behemoth
High on Fire – Surrounded by Thieves
Antipop Consortium – Arrhythmia
Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O - Univers zen ou de zéro à zéro
Sigur Rós – ( )

That's 60 albums.

impossible question

Based on your wording here, I am assuming how we feel about the music now is more important than how we experienced it in the year of release.

Thus: 1972

which gets you

Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
Neil Young - Harvest
Archie Shepp - Attica Blues
Curtis Mayfield - Superfly
Caetano Veloso - Transa
Aretha Franklin - Amazing Grace
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
Terry Callier - What Color is Love
Various Artists - The Harder they Come

That's almost half my top 20 (or things that used to be in my top 20 and that I still love) of all time including Exile (my #1)

plus

Terry Callier - Occasional Rain
Archie Shepp - The Cry of My People
Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt
Townes Van Zandt - High, Low & In Between
Candi Staton - S/T
Aretha Franklin - Young Gifted & Black
Van Morrison - St. Domenic's Preview
Lo Borges - S/T
Bill Withers - Still Bill
Gilberto Gil - Expresso 2222
James Brown - Get On the Good Foot
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Lou Reed - Transformer
Rod Stewart - Never A Dull Moment
Al Green - Let's Stay Together
Milton Nascimento & Lo Borges - Clube da Esquina
Stevie Wonder - Talking Book
Stevie Wonder - Music of My Mind
Os Novos Baianos - Acabou Chorare
T. Rex - The Slider
Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes
Marcos Valle - Vento Sul
Miles Davis - On the Corner
Fela Kuti - Roforofo Fight
Fela Kuti - Shakara
Big Star - #1 Record
Randy Newman - Sail Away
Pharoah Sanders - Black Unity
Little Feat - Sailin' Shoes
Manassas - S/T
JJ Cale - Naturally
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
Cymande - S/T
Joni Mitchell - For the Roses
Jorge Ben - Ben
Donald Byrd - Ethiopian Knights
Arthur Verocai - S/T
Mellow Candle - Swaddling Songs
The Pharoahs - Awakening
Ornette Coleman - Skies of America
Dr. John - Dr. John's Gumbo
David Ackles - American Gothic
James Brown - THere It Is
Lyn Collins - Think
Jackson Browne - Saturate Before Using
Bobby Womack - Understanding
Ry Cooder - Boomer's Story
Bobby Charles - S/T
Harry Nilsson - Son of Schmilsson
The Isley Brothers - Brother, Brother, Brother
The Dramatics - Whatcha See is Whatcha Get
Bobby Womack & JJ Johnson - Across 110th Street
Manu Dibango - Soul Makossa
Horace Andy - Skylarking
Grin - 1+1
Roger Rodier - Upon Velveatur
Eric Anderson - Blue River
Jerry Jeff Walker - S/T
Leon Russell - Carney
Brinsley Schwarz - Nervous on the Road
Loudon Wainwright III - Album III
Syreeta - Syreeta
Gil Scott Heron - Free Will
Rahsan Roland Kirk - Blacknuss
Tony Joe White - The Train I'm On
Plainsong - In Search of Amelia Earheart
Michael Nesmith - The Hits Just Keep on Comin'
Jim Dickinson - Dixie Fried
Lee Hazlewood - 13
Leon Thomas - Blues and the Abstract Truth
Otis Spann - Walkin' the Blues
Tim Maia - Tim Maia
The Lafayette Afro Rock Band - Malik
Jesse Winchester - Third Down, 110 To Go
Coulson, Dean, McGuinness, Flint - Lo & Behold
Kris Kristofferson - Jesus was a Capricorn
Fontella Bass - Free
Velvert Turner Group - S/T
Black Merda - Long Burn the Fire
Bob Frank - S/T
The Everly Brothers - Stories We Could Tell
The Awakening - Hear, Sense, Feel
Eric Quincey Tate - Drinking Man's Friend
Eggs Over Easy - Good N' Cheap
Willie Colon - El Juicio
Louie Ramierez - Ali Baba
Joe Bataan - Poor Boy
Joe Bataan - Singin' Some Soul
Doug Carn - Spirit of the New Land
Henry Franklin - The Skipper
Wendell Harrison - An Evening with the Devil
Head, Hands & Feet - Tracks Plus
Bill Quick - Maravillosa Gente
Labi Siffre - Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying
Labi Siffre - The Singer and the Song
Bobby Whitlock - S/T
Bobby Whitlock - Raw Velvet

plus if comps count -

Little Richard - the Essential Little Richard
Kinks - Kink Kronikles
Nuggets - the first one

So much awesome music and virtually every genre well represented

I turned 5 in 1972 though and was 4 for most of the year so I can't say I really have memories from these albums coming out. If I had to pick a year for memories, it might be 1989 which was the spring of my Junior year in College and the fall of my senior year. Lot of albums that were once important to me came out that year and I think you experienced music differently when you couldn't afford to hear everything but could afford to hear a lot and music was truly a soundtrack to your life. There's not nearly as much that I still listen to from 1989 though and there wasn't nearly as much diversity. I probably don't own much other than alt/indie/reggae/ska/punk from those years.

You didn't even list the two best albums from 1972.

Damn, 1972 is a great choice.

'95 was definitely a good music year for me, as was '03 and '07. I was 31 in '07.

Almost forgot too that 1972 was also the year of the Wattstax concert. The documentary didn't come out until 1973 but I think the soundtrack or at least some recordings from the concert were released in 1972.



No Beefheart or Prog allowed on my desert island if that's where you were headed.

Probably 1995. I was 14.

Too many to list

yeah, i started trying to think of years and just kept coming up with stuff i couldn't leave out.

ive really got a soft spot for 2005

andrew bird - ...eggs
okkervil river - black sheep boy
arcade fire - funeral
the mountain goats - sunset tree

are all in my top 25 listmania, not to mention

sigur ros - takk
sufjan stevens - illinois
the national - alligator
low - the great destroyer
crooked fingers - dignity and shame
portastatic - bright ideas

which all hold places in the 100.

but that may benefit from newness. lets not forget about 1977

elvis costello - my aim is true
the clash - s/t
television - marquee moon
the jam - in the city
the sex pistols - bollocks
david bowie - low AND heroes
brian eno - before and after science
ramones - ramones
suicide - s/t
fleetwood mac - rumours
talking heads - 77
kraftwerk - trans-europa express
wire - pink flag
peter gabriel - 1(car)
cheap trick - in color

'72, '77, '67, etc. were all inarguably great years for music. And almost certainly better than my pick for favorite ('95) and I recognize that. So why did I pick '95?
It's not because it's better, but it's because I was there. I remember those albums coming out, kicking my ass, and, in the case of GBV, turning my life upside down in the best possible way. Can't say the same for any of those others. I was just a little kid in the 70s, so...
1995 is my jam.

Usually I don't make a distinction between "desert island" and "best" or "favorite", but the way this was put, it's sort of like what one musical year could you stand to live in for the rest of your life. And I think I would want it to be one that I actually did experience and sort of participated in. I went to a lot of shows that year and discovered a whole lot of new music that meant a lot to me and still does. New discoveries had a bigger impact on me then, and I think I can still sort of feel that when I listed to music from that time.

Bingo.

I don't know. I don't really see things that way. If you were picking 1977 rather than a year in the 60's because you were around for the punk revolution but had not been alive to feel the significance of Dylan going electric, I would understand the distinction. 1995, 2002 or 1989 are just random years that we liked a lot of music in. There was nothing particularly culturally historically significant going on and while there is some argument that you experience music differently in your formative years, I don't generally consider that all that important. Were you blown away less the first time you heard Tom Ze, Jim Ford or Brinsley Schwarz because the albums had been out for 20+ years than you would have been if they were brand new? Do you think you experienced Alien Lanes differently hearing it as a new release than some college kid might today hearing it for the first time. I personally doubt it. I don't think hearing Transa or Attica Blues was any less revelatory for me hearing them almost 30 years after the fact.

I could identify 1989 possibly as a year similar to what 1995 means to you. My taste has changed and broadened significantly since then though and there's no going back. I don't have any desire to live the life I did in 1989 now at age 45. I have good memories but if I had to just choose a single year's music, I'd just choose the one with the best. In a way, not having lived through 1972 in the same sense as I did 1989 gives me the perspective to appreciate it more. If I were 15 years older, I probably would remember well and appreciate Exile on Main Street coming out and I'd have lived and breathed a lot of the rock albums. I most certainly wouldn't have been listening to Gil Scott Heron though, and I wouldn't have listened to all the great "New Jazz"/"Black Jazz" albums that I consider to be among the most exciting albums of the era.

We are each able to define this topic the way that we want to, I think. No criteria really given.
But, as to the specific points you bring up:
I think that, for me, it has to do with reliving the times. Maybe a bit of nostalgia, to be sure. But also, I do think that experiencing those records for me, as they came out, and getting to see the bands touring on those records, playing (for the most part) small clubs. In some ways, it did make it more exciting, I guess.
Plus, I discovered all of those albums at the same time, as opposed to a piece here, and a piece there. I think that is significant, too.

Of course you can. I'm not saying you're wrong if nostalgia influences your pick. There is no right or wrong answer. It wouldn't be wrong either if someone were to pick a random year and say that somehow they've only heard a handful of albums from that year and if they had to be limited to a year, they'd like to pick one that would still offer a lot of new discoveries.

I was curious though if you really thought being an active music consumer during the year mattered in how much you liked individual albums as opposed to how easily you could identify with a year's worth of music. From your reply it seems that it does for you but you didn't directly answer the question of whether you think you like Jim Ford, Brinsley Schwarz or Tom Ze or Harry Nilsson less than you would if you were an active music consumer during their prime.



I think it's significant but probably mostly in that it allows us to more easily mentally wrap our head around the year in question without looking at a big list of records released in the year and really think about it.

I guess the real answer should be thankfully we don't have to limit ourselves in this way.

I think this sentence:


perfectly sums up why I would pick a "nostalgic" year, if'n I were to answer the question.