My Favorite Albums of the Last 60 Years

 DISCLAIMER: The following is subject to change as my opinions continue to evolve.

So recently I did my Top 10 Songs From 50 Artists post, and have since decided to take my music fandom a step further and try to determine my favorite albums of each of the last 60 years (as in one album per year).

I don’t think this post needs any further introduction aside from that, so lets just get into this thing:

1960: Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain

1961: Roy Orbison - At the Rock House

1962: Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

1963: The Beatles - Please Please Me

1964: The Beatles - A Hard Day’s Night

1965: The Beatles - Help!

1966: The Rolling Stones - Aftermath (preferably the US version)

1967: Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced? (preferably the US version)

1968: Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland

1969: Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin

1970: Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III

1971: Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

1972: Black Sabbath  - Vol. 4

1973: Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy

1974: Kiss - Hotter than Hell

1975: Kiss - Dressed to Kill

1976: Kiss - Rock and Roll Over

1977: Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

1978: Van Halen - Van Halen

1979: Pink Floyd - The Wall

1980: Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz

1981: Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

1982: Kiss - Creatures of the Night

1983: Metallica - Kill ‘Em All

1984: Metallica - Ride the Lightning

1985: Tears For Fears - Songs from the Big Chair

1986: Metallica - Master of Puppets

1987: Guns N’ Roses - Appetite for Destruction

1988: Metallica - And Justice for All

1989: Faith No More - The Real Thing

1990: Alice in Chains - Facelift

1991: Pearl Jam - Ten

1992: Faith No More - Angel Dust

1993: The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

1994: Soundgarden - Superunknown

1995: Oasis - (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?

1996: Outkast - ATLiens

1997: Foo Fighters - The Colour and the Shape

1998: Outkast - Aquemini

1999: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication

2000: Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory

2001: John Frusciante - To Record Only Water for Ten Days

2002: Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the Way

2003: The White Stripes - Elephant

2004: Green Day - American Idiot

2005: Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel

2006: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium

2007: The White Stripes - Icky Thump

2008: Guns N’ Roses - Chinese Democracy

2009: Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way to Blue

2010: The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards

2011: Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

2012: Jack White - Blunderbuss

2013: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

2014: Royal Blood - Royal Blood

2015: Hamilton - Hamilton

2016: Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Getaway

2017: Royal Blood - How Did We Get So Dark?

2018: Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog

2019: Slipknot - We Are Not Your Kind

2020: Run the Jewels - RTJ4

2021: Royal Blood - Typhoons

2022: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Unlimited Love

…So there’s my list! We could just stop there, but lets make this more fun and do some analysis:

Five albums

Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante (four times with Red Hot Chili Peppers and once himself)

Four albums

Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Metallica, Jack White (twice with The White Stripes, once with The Dead Weather and once himself)

Three albums

The Beatles, Ozzy Osbourne (once with Black Sabbath and twice himself), Alice in Chains, Royal Blood

And the other artists on here all had one or two albums each. I recognize that my list consists mostly of rock acts. That said, there was also one jazz album that made the list (Sketches of Spain), along with two new wave albums (Songs from the Big Chair and Playing the Angel), three hip-hop albums (ATLiens, Aquemini and RTJ4), one EDM album (Random Access Memories) and one soundtrack (Hamilton). Furthermore, among all the rock records, only two double CDs made the list (The Wall and Stadium Arcadium).

One last thing I would like to say is that most of you probably noticed how all of the albums I chose for last decade (the 2010’s) were all from legacy acts, with the only exception being Royal Blood (the only artist whose entire studio album discography made this list, by the way). I think that alone reflects what my own personal tastes tend to gravitate towards. That said, just because I mainly prefer older music artists doesn’t mean that’s how I want everyone else to feel. As a matter of fact, these days, I’m glad most people in my age demographic seem to prefer newer music artists. I used to be a stickler about that sorta thing when I was younger, but now I think pop culture should continue to move on and evolve, regardless of what I like or don’t. If the rest of the world enjoyed the same things I do, it would be a pretty boring world…

…That’s all I got!

Peace!

UPDATE: If I had to pick just one album per decade (and one per artist), I’d go with this:

1960’s: Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced? (preferably the US version)

1970’s: Kiss - Hotter than Hell

1980’s: Guns N’ Roses - Appetite for Destruction

1990’s: Faith No More - Angel Dust

2000’s: The White Stripes - Elephant

2010’s: Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

2020’s: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Unlimited Love

Related Article: 2023 Pop Culture Review

Related Article: Top 3 Albums Per Year