4! @TNKA36 you’re such a rule breaker!
@Barney is going to fail you
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I mean, you’d think counting to 4 should be a given for bassists?
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So had the Sex Pistols. And The Queen is Dead actually came out in 1986, not 1987. But the important thing is that 1987 was when I first listened to/obtained those albums. So to me, they ARE from the year I turned 18.
Yeah, 'cuz internetting is serious business. It clearly says “released” in the original question…
And this is why we can’t have nice things 
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Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet - “Party Hard” 
Fear Factory - Digimortal 
System of a Down - Toxcicity - Toxcicity (there are better videos, but I was there) 
Tool - Lateralus - “Schism” 
PS: We should make a definitive list for each year. I’ll start:
1824 - Beethoven, 9th Symphony, … 
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Interesting topic… I’ll play.
REM - Automatic for the People
the Cure - Wish
Sade - Love Deluxe
Tied for 4th place (sorry, it’s a dead-heat-nobody-is-moving tie in my head):
Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of… [this was the first time I remember hip hop being “fun” and positive again. Hip hop had gotten way too dark and heavy up until this album. It brought in so much funk, too–good stuff!]
The Lemonheads - It’s a shame about Ray [this is the one album where I really think they got their act together, I think it’s their best album.]
This is weird. I only bought two albums from the year 2000 when I was in school.
I wasn’t even a big fan of Bloodfowers. But I did really like this Papa Roach album. My brother was friends of a friend of the band and he gave me a bunch of their single with Last Resort and Dead Cell on them to hand out at school. Then I got to meet them in Las Vegas, they were very cool guys and gave me a signed poster.
This album came out in 2000, but I didn’t know AFI until about 2010 and I didn’t really get into their music until 2020.
I’ll add this one even though it came out in 2001, which is the year I graduated.
This also came out in 2001, but I didn’t know about Muse until about 2005.
(cue creaky old person voice)
For all you young whippersnappers, this topic has enticed me enough to chime in, despite my self-imposed hiatus from the BassBuzz forum, for “reasons,” as one of my sons would say. My “important albums” will be from before the time of most of you, and quite possibly not to your tastes. As it is for most of us, we like what we like, and were most influenced by our first musical encounters.
Please note the variety of music that was released on LPs in 1971 (the year I turned 18), most of which “soup to nuts” range I was exposed to from the radio or elsewhere, so it’s a bit hard to choose.
(unlike the image, little-old-lady-me doesn’t have a rocking chair, and doesn’t usually wear a dress)
One album released in 1971, and which I probably actually bought then, was
- “Tapestry,” by Carole King (since it sold a gazillion copies). Surely I played this one to death, almost as much as my Beatles albums.
But, the first album I actually ever bought, also probably in 1971 when I had my first part time job and money of my own to spend, was
- “Jesus Christ Superstar” - the U.S. edition that was in the top 40 LPs in 1971 (and the first 45 rpm “single” I ever bought with my own money was “Spirit in the Sky” by Norman Greenbaum; but don’t read any religious significance to me out of either. I just liked the music).
Others that were released in 1971 which I bought, although perhaps after that year:
- “Bridge over Troubled Water,” by Simon and Garfunkel (my HS senior year English teacher was right on the ball, using the lyrics from this album to discuss/analyze in class)
- “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys,” by Traffic. Importance: my intro to something jazz influenced.
So that’s four, and I should stop there. I will mention a few more, though (sorry, Barney). Feel free to stop reading now.
- “Nilsson Schmilsson,” by Harry Nilsson. I also liked “The Point!” by him released on Feb. 2 that year, which was a version of the animated TV special of the same story (worth a listen, at least once).
- “Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy,” a compilation by the Who (and the only Who recording in my collection). [corrected name of the group]
- “Teaser and the Firecat,” by Cat Stevens. I have a few of his LPs from back then.
- I heard Leo Kottke play live in the fall of 1971, and later bought his compilation LP, “Leo Kottke: 1971-1976” (obviously not bought in 1971, but probably contained songs I’d heard then).
Of course I had always enjoyed the Beatles music, growing up contemporaneously with their releases. For those who don’t like them, well, I guess you had to be there. I eventually made it my mission to acquire all the Beatle LPs, too long a story to relate. Here are three releases by the former Beatle members which were released in 1971, which I either bought then, or soon after:
- “All Things Must Pass,” by George Harrison
- “Ram,” by Paul McCartney
- “Imagine,” by John Lennon
Importance of the latter recordings to moi? How the individual “threads” (individuals) that made up the Beatles were unique and interesting in their own right, but the output of those individuals did not seem as good as the whole.
Okay all, see you later this summer, maybe!
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That right there 
is pure gold. That sums up my entire feeling of the Beatles, they were like lightning in a bottle, together there was so much they brought to the table as musicians and friends that it made their individual talents gel into something even better. I’m still a fan of the stuff they did on their own.
Okay, I’m now going down a Beatles rabbit hole. I’m off topic.
Thank you for putting those thoughts together so well!
Did I mention that I’m a Beatles fan? It all started for me because…
Ah, there I go again. Ok, I’ll stop for real now.
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Tapestry, JC Superstar (original Broadway cast), Bridge over Troubled Waters, Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy, Teaser and the Firecat, All Things Must Pass, and Ram were big ones for me, though I would also throw in Madman across the Waters and Fragile for 71
Catholic Boy-Jim Carroll Band
Scary Monsters-David Bowie
Ace of Spades-Motorhead
Strong Arm of the Law-Saxon
Honorable Mention-Lightning to the Nations-Diamond Head
@Wombat-metal
Elton John didn’t hit my radar until later, say 1975ish, when I worked in a department store (which had a very large record department, and where I spent a certain amount of my paycheck weekly at an average of $4.99 USD per LP, seriously amassing my record collection). At that point, I was in my early 20s, and myself and another one or two of that age had fun with those coworkers who were just a few short years younger than us: we referred to them as “YK’s,” and they called us “OFs” or something like that (YK = young kid, OF = old fogies). Anyway, loving Elton John’s music was one defining factor to be a YK at that time and place.
The JC Superstar LP I had (and still have) was not the Broadway cast recording, but had Ian Gillan as Jesus (Ian Gillan of Deep Purple, another group who had some LPs I liked; Fireball, released in 1971, and Machine Head). For Yes, I think all I have is the single for “Roundabout.”
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1980 here
#1 has to be London Calling - The Clash
a close #2 is Dirty Mind - Prince
#3 Double Fantasy - Lennon and Ono
#4 Hotter Than July - Stevie Wonder (hey, it introduced us to Master Blaster)
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Our school did a field trip to see JC Superstar on Broadway back in that time period, and I remember it was all movement and light and colors and sound. It was a watershed moment for me.
If anyone ever wonders why I love Pink Floyd or Rammstein or Babymetal in concert, it’s from seeing Superstar.
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1985
Misplaced Childhood- Marillion
Chronicles of the Black Sword- Hawkwind
Iron Maiden-Live After Death
Power Windows-Rush
Not necessarily the most important albums to me at the time, but the most important to me released that year
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Greetings, my 1971 sister. I agree with you regarding “Low Spark” though it didn’t quite make the cut on my own list of four above. I also agree with “Meaty Beaty…”, though I left it off mine because it was a compilation of earlier hits. (BTW, it was the Who, not the Kinks. I’m making slips like that all the time now. 
)
And of course, the Beatles. I always liked them, but have gained a real appreciation for them over the years. And for Sir George Martin. I wonder what they would have sounded like without his influence.
So you have at least one person in your corner. Personally I don’t give a rat’s pattootie whether others approve or disapprove of my tastes. I’m still going to throw stuff out there.
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1984? husker du’s zen arcade is by far number one in my book. what else from that year, hmm…
local heroes the effigies forever grounded, minutemen’s double nickels on a dime (even though i hated them at the time like everybody did, youth is wasted on the young), and fang’s where the wild things are i guess. oh and meat puppets II.
Hard to beat! Either my favorite or second favorite Husker Du album, depending on if I am in a New Day Rising mood or not. '84 had many other solid releases for me. Three off the top of my head:
Related to the Du, Replacements, Let It Be
4AD kicked out with a lot of stuff! Cocteau Twins, Treasure
and related, This Mortal Coil, It’ll End In Tears
man a lot more. '84 was a good year too.
'83 was even more solid. Bauhaus, Burning From The Inside; Social Distortion, Mommy’s Little Monster; Husker Du released both Everything Falls Apart and Metal Circus. New Order released both Power, Corruption and Lies and Blue Monday. Siouxsie released Nocturne. Depeche Mode released Construction Time Again. a lot more.
'79 to '88 or so - damn
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