Skip to main content

1971



Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV (English hard rock/folk rock)
David Bowie – Hunky Dory (English glam rock/art pop)
Yes – The Yes Album (English progressive rock)
Yes – Fragile (English progressive rock)
Pink Floyd – Meddle (English progressive rock)
Can – Tago Mago (German kraut-rock/experimental rock)
The Doors – L.A. Woman (American blues-rock)
Funkadelic – Maggot Brain (American funk rock)
The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers (English hard rock)
Jethro Tull – Aqualung (English progressive rock/folk rock)
The Who – Who’s Next (English hard rock)
T-Rex – Electric Warrior (English glam rock)
Black Sabbath – Master Of Reality (English heavy metal)
Joni Mitchell – Blue (Canadian folk)
Alice Cooper – Killer (American hard rock/heavy metal)
Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On (American soul)
The Beach Boys – Surf’s Up (American psychedelic pop)
Deep Purple – Fireball (English heavy metal)
Harry Nilsson – Nilsson Schmilsson (American pop/rock)
Carole King – Tapestry (American soft rock)
Badfinger – Straight Up (British rock/power pop)
Paul and Linda McCartney – Ram (English pop/rock)
Leonard Cohen – Songs Of Love And Hate (Canadian folk)
Elton John – Madman Across The Water (English soft rock/ symphonic rock)
Nick Drake – Bryter Layter (English baroque pop/ folk)
MC5 – High Time (American hard rock/proto-punk)
Sly & The Family Stone – There’s A Riot Goin’ On (American funk/soul)
Dolly Parton – Coat Of Many Colors (American country)
Johnny Cash – Man In Black (American country)
Hawkwind – In Search Of Space (English space rock)
Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells A Story (English roots rock)
John Lennon – Imagine (English rock)
Electric Light Orchestra – Electric Light Orchestra (English symphonic rock, debut)
Uriah Heep – Look At Yourself (English hard rock/progressive rock)
Mountain – Nantucket Sleigh Ride (American hard rock/metal)
Comus – First Utterance (English progressive folk, debut)
Van der Graaf Generator – Pawn Hearts (English progressive rock)
The Move – Message From The Country (English art rock/ power pop, their last album, recorded at the same time as the first ELO album)
Todd Rundgren – Runt: The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren (American pop/rock)
Ash Ra Tempel – Ash Ra Tempel – (German space rock, debut)
The Kinks – Muswell Hillbillies (English country-rock)
Isaac Hayes – Shaft (American soul/funk, soundtrack to the film of the same name)
Genesis – Nursery Cryme (English progressive rock)
Budgie – Budgie (Welsh hard rock/heavy metal)
Cactus – One Way… Or Another (American blues rock/heavy metal)
John Prine – John Prine (American country/folk, debut)
Janis Joplin and Full Tilt Boogie – Pearl (American blues rock, her last studio album)
Bill Withers – Just The Way I Am (American soul, debut)
Emerson, Lake and Palmer – Tarkus (English progressive rock)
The Moody Blues – Every Good Boy Deserves Favor (English progressive rock/ symphonic rock)
Traffic – The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys (English progressive rock/jazz fusion)
Mahavishnu Orchestra – The Inner Mounting Flame (American jazz-rock fusion, debut)
ZZ Top - ZZ Top's First Album (American blues-rock, debut (unsurprisingly))
Harry Nilsson – The Point! (American pop-rock, soundtrack to the short animated film)
David Crosby – If I Could Only Remember My Name (American psychedelic folk, solo debut for Crosby Stills & Nash member)
The Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East (Southern rock/blues rock, live double album)


1971 has officially become one of my favorite years for music - seriously, look at all that great stuff in there. Partway through this list, I started getting fairly heavy on progressive rock and hard rock/proto-metal - Part of this is that I tend to want a good loud, energetic album to listen to when I'm coming home from a night shift. This ended with Allman Brothers because I decided to stop on July 3rd and they were the most "American"-seeming band I had on my to-listen list.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2004

Kanye West – The College Dropout (American hip-hop, debut album) Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand (Scottish indie rock/dance rock, debut album) Modest Mouse – Good News for People Who like Bad News (American indie rock) Arcade Fire – Funeral (Canadian indie rock, debut) Green Day – American Idiot (American pop punk rock opera) Mastodon – Leviathan (American heavy metal, loose concept album based on Moby Dick) Bjork – Medúlla (Icelandic (mostly) acapella experimental pop, featuring appearances by Rahzel, Mike Patton, Robert Wyatt and others) They Might Be Giants – The Else (American alternative rock) Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine (American math-metal, first album to feature Greg Puciatio on vocals) Pig Destroyer – Terrifyer (American grindcore) Ratatat – Ratatat (American electronic rock, debut album) Nightwish – Once (Finnish symphonic metal) The Killers – Hot Fuss (American dance rock, debut) Feist – Let It Die (Canadian b

What is this about?

In 2016, I wrote years from 1950 to 2000 on scraps of paper, put them in a bag, and started pulling them out when the occasion struck me - Once I picked a year, I would listen to nothing but albums from that year, stopping whenever I felt I had enough, at which point I'd either pull out another year or take a break from the process for a while. It's an entertaining way to discover new music you might not have tried otherwise, and allows you to get more of a cultural context towards whatever albums you already love from that year. I could use this basic idea for other fields of art and entertainment (books, movies, etc), but for now I'm sticking with music as it's the easiest for me to pursue. This blog is largely going to be dedicated to lists of albums I've listened to, but might also contain my thoughts on individual albums or musical trends I notice. Some additional rules I've given myself for this project, which I may or may not break in the future: Gre

1995

Radiohead - The Bends (English alternative rock) Elliott Smith - Elliott Smith (American indie folk)  Oasis - (What’s The Story) Morning Glory (English rock)  Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (American alternative rock, double album)  PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love (English alternative rock / blues rock)  Pulp - Different Class (English brit-pop / art rock)  David Bowie - Outside (English art rock / industrial rock, concept album and part one of a later abandoned trilogy, produced by Brian Eno)  Beastie Boys - Aglio e Olio (American hardcore punk, eight song, eleven minute EP)  Faith No More - King for a Day… Fool For A Life Time (American alternative metal, their only album to feature Mr. Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance)  Deftones - Adrenaline (American alternative metal / nu metal, debut album)  Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante (American experimental rock / avant garde metal)  Skunk Anansie - Paranoid & Sunburnt (British hard rock / alternative rock, debut al