Rubber soul

Although it presents a daunting task--and one laden with rampant second guessing--picking a favorite album from every year you've been alive provides a fun excuse to dig through one's collection.

Pinning down release years is another matter, though. iTunes has wrong information, allmusic seems to go by the country where the album first came out (which is fair enough), and the CDs themselves may have reissue dates rather than the original. I've tried to be as accurate as possible.

The criteria for inclusion included being subject to whim, a favorite at the time, and a favorite now. (Obviously I wasn't rocking out to Led Zeppelin just out of the womb.) Picking albums from the 1990s to now became harder as the pools were larger. I tried to stick to what I was listening to a lot at the time, but I didn't always. I also attempted to keep multiple records from the same artist from appearing, but you'll see that I couldn't hold myself to that.

Working with college students can keep you young. I'd venture to say that I'm more plugged into the music scene than a fair number of them and have some more adventurous tastes. It can also make you feel older than your age. The thought that Achtung Baby and Nirvana's Nevermind, albums that came out during my freshman year of college, are as old now as David Bowie's Diamond Dogs and other classic rock albums that seemed of a generation far removed from my own.

Suffice it to say that I'd probably change some of these a minute after pressing "publish post". For all I know there are big omissions simply because I haven't ripped the CDs in question to my hard drive. Whatever the case, I'm going with these selections...for now. So as not to bore you with a list, I've included commentary where I felt like I had something to say.

1973: Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy

1974: Big Star Radio City

1975: Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here

1976: Electric Light Orchestra A New World Record

Disclaimer: I've never heard this album. I had a lot of trouble finding something from 1976. I know and love several songs from this, so the ELO album was the best I could do.

1977: Billy Joel The Stranger

1978: The Cars The Cars

1979: The Clash London Calling

1980: Billy Joel Glass Houses

1981: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Hard Promises

1982: Bruce Springsteen Nebraska

1983: The Police Synchronicity

1984: R.E.M. Reckoning

1985: John Cougar Mellencamp Scarecrow

1986: Crowded House Crowded House

1987: U2 The Joshua Tree

1988: Midnight Oil Diesel and Dust

It seems pretty remarkable that an album and band as steeped in politics--and Australian politics, no less--as Midnight Oil made a dent in the U.S., but their fiery brand of message and melody was an eye-opener for someone who grew up in the age of Reagan. Granted, I didn't hear this album until a few years later, but the hook-laden "Beds are Burning" snagged me when I heard it on Top 40 radio in '88.

1989: Tom Petty Full Moon Fever

About as close to perfection as a pop/rock record can get to these ears. Closer "Zombie Zoo" may be a little silly even for Petty and not quite the equal of everything that precedes it, but the straightforward simplicity of this timeless smash and the humor--how about that break he takes on the CD to recognize those listening on vinyl and cassette?--make it a great feel-good record.

1990: The La's The La's

I was heavily into a Beatles phase and crazy for anything described as Beatlesesque. I recall reading about this in a magazine that reviewed new CDs--and just CDs, if memory serves--at a friend's house. The right comparisons were made, and I tried to get in on the ground floor of a possible next Beatles. Of course it didn't happen, and the band didn't put out a second album. Still, it's a nice bit of Britpop. You've probably heard one of their songs, even if it was the Sixpence None the Richer cover.

1991: U2 Achtung Baby

1992: R.E.M. Automatic for the People

1993: Counting Crows August and Everything After

I was music director at the college radio station in 1993, so it's no surprise that my shortlist for this year was the longest of any. I was listening to a lot of music, watching the charts in Radio and Records, taping 120 Minutes, and reading plenty of other stuff. I lost interest in Counting Crows about ten years ago, but I feel pretty safe in saying that this was my favorite album of the year at the time and is still one I like.

1994: Jeff Buckley Grace

1995: Guided by Voices Alien Lanes

1996: Belle & Sebastian Tigermilk

At the time the first B&S album was notoriously difficult to find, although word of its genius was all over a Guided by Voices e-mail discussion list I was subscribed to. Through the list I obtained a cassette tape copy from, of all people, a guy who was a Nightline producer. Thus I was introduced to one of my favorite bands.

As a side note, I had to go to the public library to check my Columbus freenet account (via telnet) to read those e-mails. It was text-only, and the freenet permitted only two hours of access to your e-mail per 24 hours. Ancient history, I know.

1997: Radiohead OK Computer

1998: Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Another GBV mailing list discovery and one of the stranger albums in my collection then and now. Entirely unheard, I bought this based on those raves. (Remember, listening to music online still wasn't easy or common then.) I've been surprised to see how this album's legend has increased over the years, but I suppose word gets around among music fans much more rapidly these days.

1999: The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin

2000: Spoon Girls Can Tell

2001: Beulah The Coast is Never Clear

2002: Kelly Willis Easy

I could have just as well put Neko Case's Blacklisted or Laura Cantrell's Not the Tremblin' Kind here, although I had to get a Kelly Willis album on here somewhere. Perhaps the peak of my alt.country phase.

2003: The New Pornographers Electric Version

2004: The Arcade Fire Funeral

2005: Sufjan Stevens Illinois

2006: The Pipettes We Are the Pipettes

Relentlessly catchy to the point where I had hunted down the entire UK album and several rarities more than a year before the remixed American release reached stores.

2007: Jens Lekman Night Falls Over Kortedala

2008: The Raconteurs Consolers of the Lonely