My Favorite Album from Every Year I’ve Been Alive (Part One: 1966–1979)

Now there’s no way for it to only be Springsteen

I recently did pieces on my favorite songs from both the year I turned 16 and the year I consider most pivotal for me, and I enjoyed those trips down memory lane so much I decided to go really big and choose my favorite albums from every year that I have been alive. I quickly discovered a problem, however: the sheer size of it would deter all but the most dedicated readers. I have been alive for parts of seven decades: all of the ’70s, ’90s, ’00s, and ’10s, plus four years of the ’60s, nine of the ’80s, and three of the ’20s; I say only nine of the ’80s because as I told Terry Barr recently, I honestly remember not one bit of 1988; I grabbed a bottle of Jack on New Year’s Eve ’87 and woke up mid-January ’89.

Since doing this as one piece would run to a read time of around 57 minutes, I’ve decided instead to break it up by decade. Given my feelings about rock post-1995, I may combine 2000–2022 into one article, but I’m not sure yet. I will definitely combine the 1960s and 1970s, because the four years of the ’60s I was alive would not make a very long article. And let me be crystal clear: this is not a listing of the greatest albums of each year, but rather my personal favorites. Sometimes they will be the same thing, often they will not. I’m sure you’ll have opinions in the comments.

Let’s get started.

1966: Revolver by The Beatles. The year I was born saw some groundbreaking albums released, including Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde and the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. Many would consider them better than Revolver, and maybe they are. I still like the Fab Four’s follow-up to Rubber Soul better (and had I been born three weeks earlier, Rubber Soul would be my favorite of 1965).

1967: The Doors by The Doors. While better in my opinion than that silly old Sgt. Pepper’s album by a country mile, it was hard to not pick Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow here. In the end, Mr. Mojo Risin wins out, pun intended.

1968: The Beatles (aka The White Album) by The Beatles. I played this one so many times as a kid that my mom threatened to take away my record player. Honorable mention to the Johnny Cash classic At Folsom Prison.

1969: Abbey Road by The Beatles. The Stones’ Let It Bleed or Led Zeppelin II could have slid in here, but when I saw the year Abbey Road was what immediately came to mind, which means something.

1970: Cosmo’s Factory by Creedence Clearwater Revival. This is also my favorite CCR album, and it beat out some good ones from 1970 for this spot, including Moondance by Van Morrison and Paranoid by Black Sabbath.

1971: Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin. A surprisingly close second was Every Picture Tells a Story by Rod Stewart. L.A. Woman and Who’s Next were also in contention.

1972: Jackson Browne by Jackson Browne. His debut album is my favorite from 1972 based solely on the number of times I have played “Rock Me on the Water.” It barely beats out The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and Exile on Main St.

1973: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. 1973 was a very good year, with The Dark Side of the Moon, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Band on the Run, and Bruce’s debut Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. all dropping that year. I’ve played The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle more times than all of those others combined.

1974: Bad Company by Bad Company. 1974 was not a great year for albums.

1975: Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I did the previously mentioned article on how 1975 was a pivotal year for me musically because of this album. There were other great albums released that year, but none of them are worthy to be mentioned in the same paragraph as The Greatest Album Ever.

1976: Boston by Boston. Yes, this was the same year as the Eagles’ Hotel California, Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak, KISS’ Destroyer, and Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life. But I did not wear out both the vinyl LP and the 8-track of any of those; I did with Boston.

1977: The Stranger by Billy Joel. It easily beats out Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Steely Dan’s Aja, good as both of those are, though Alive II by KISS and Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell made strong runs for this spot. I still need to do an entire article on The Stranger, one of the great albums of all time.

1978: Darkness on the Edge of Town by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Only Bruce could keep Thin Lizzy’s Live and Dangerous out of this spot, and I feel kind of bad about it even now.

1979: Candy-O by The Cars. The year before I started high school was another solid one for albums, with Pink Floyd’s The Wall, AC/DC’s Highway to Hell, Tom Petty’s Damn the Torpedoes, and Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces all released in 1979. For me, however, there was something about Candy-O that I cannot explain that sets it apart to this day. Check it out and you’ll see what I mean.

That’s my favorite albums from the first decade and a half of my time on this planet. I’ve created a playlist with my favorite song from each album below. Next time, we venture into the glorious 1980s, which will hold a few surprises. Until then, keep on rockin’.

Update: All parts of the series can now be found here: Part 2 ; Part 3; Part 4; and Part 5.

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