I decided to look at the top 10 year runs in music history and rank the top 5. I looked at both solo artists and bands and tried to take the best 10 year runs of their careers. For most major artists, I’m familiar with their work, but I also relied on All Music as a reference. I tried to give weight to both quantity and quality along with popularity and influence.
5.) Neil Young ( 1969 – 1979 )
This period marks the first 10 years of Neil Young’s solo career. The highlights include Everybody Knows this is Nowhere, After the Goldrush, On the Beach, Tonight’s the Night and Harvest. This also includes the live albums Rust Never Sleeps & Live Rust. Outside of a brief resurgence in the late 80s-early 90s, I think this decade includes all of the essential Neil Young albums.
4.) Bob Dylan ( 1962 – 1972 )
This is also marks the first 10 years of an artist’s career. This includes most of Dylan’s major releases, such as The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, Highway 61 & Blonde on Blonde. One could argue that you could change this to 65 – 75 and include Blood on the Tracks & Basement Tapes, but then you are missing his 63-64 work. Either way, Dylan belongs on this list.
3.) The Rolling Stones ( 1964 – 1974 )
Once again, this represents the beginning of The Rolling Stones’ career. This includes Between the Buttons, Aftermath, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Beggars Banquet & Exile on Main Street. Much like Neil Young, I think this 10 years encompasses everything you need to listen to from The Rolling Stones. They produced a ton of records in this 10 year span.
2.) Bruce Springsteen ( 1973 – 1983 )
This is the first, and only, entry that doesn’t span into the 1960s. I went with The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle thru Nebraska. One could argue that you could start with Born to Run and go thru Born in the USA, but I prefer The Wild. There are only 5 albums (1 double album) released in this decade, but they are all top notch 5 star masterpieces. If you pushed it to best 15 year runs, I suspect Springsteen would vault to the top spot on this list.
1.) The Beatles ( 1963 – 1970 )
This might be a little unfair, because it only spans 7 years, but I don’t care. They were a band from 1960 – 1970, so I think it should still count. Either way, it doesn’t matter since they have the best discography of all time, they just crammed it in 7 years.
Honorable Mention: The Who ( 1965 – 1975 )
Is there anyone I missed? Leave any suggestions or thoughts in the comments.
I mean… this list is super myopic. What about Michael Jackson 1979-89 or Jay-Z 1999-2009… or Prince 1982-1992. Billy Joel 1973-1993. Queen 1973-1983. LL Cool J 1985 – 1995. These people all defined generations and cultures. Whats with you only counting music from the 60s and early 70s. I’m not saying the artists in your list aren’t deserving. The list is just far from conclusive.
You’re a fool! If you are going to talk about a 10 year run of greatness, you must include Pink Floyd (1970-1980). The band single handedly transformed psychedelic rock into progressive rock in the mid 70′s.
Lets Review…
1970
Atom Heart Mother – The “Atom Heart Mother” suite takes up all of side one, and is split into six parts, featuring a full brass section and choir which take most of the lead melody lines, while Pink Floyd mainly provide the backing tracks; a reverse of the 1960s pop music practice of using orchestration as the background, and putting the rock band in front. However, there is one section where a bluesy electric guitar solo by David Gilmour takes the lead.
1971
Relics – Relics is a compilation album. Until the more definitive release of The Early Singles (1992), Relics was most noted for its inclusion of Syd Barrett-era hit singles, “Arnold Layne” and “See Emily Play”, as well as B-sides to three other singles. It is notable that the Relics versions of “Paintbox”, “Julia Dream” and “Careful with That Axe, Eugene” are mixed in stereo
Meddle – Demonstrates the band’s change in genre from psychedelic rock, to progressive rock.
1972
Obscured by the Clouds – Based on their soundtrack for the French film La Vallée, by Barbet Schroeder. At this point in their career, the band were not new to scoring movies. They had already scored the films More and Zabriskie Point in 1969 and 1970 respectively. So when the band went in to score the movie, they had a lot more experience and therefore produced a much finer product.
1973
Dark Side of the Moon – a concept album. The album built on the ideas Pink Floyd had explored in their live shows and previous recordings, but it lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure in 1968 of founding member, principal composer and lyricist, Syd Barrett. The album’s themes include conflict, greed, aging, and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by Barrett’s deteriorating mental state.
1975
Wish You Were Here – Inspired by material they had composed while performing across Europe, it was recorded over numerous sessions at London’s Abbey Road Studios. The album explores themes of absence, the music business, and former band-mate Syd Barrett’s mental decline. Initial recording sessions were a difficult and arduous process but it was Roger Waters’ idea to split the centrepiece track “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” in two, and join each half with three new compositions. “Shine On” was a tribute to Barrett, who, in an ironic twist, made an impromptu visit to the studio while it was being recorded. The band failed initially to recognise Barrett, who had gained weight and changed his appearance.
1977
Animals – Animals is loosely based on George Orwell’s political fable Animal Farm. Various castes in society are represented as different types of animals (dogs as the enforcers of the law, sheep as the powerless pawns, horses as the working class, and pigs as the ruthless leaders). There is a significant difference between the book and the album – the album attacks capitalism,[4] while the book is a criticism of communism. This difference is not as great as it seems, however, as both the album and the book actually advocate a democratic socialist ideal that differs from both capitalism and communism.
1979
The Wall – he Wall is a rock opera that centres on the character, “Pink”, who is largely based on Waters. Pink encounters obstacles throughout his life, beginning with the loss of his father during World War II, continuing with abuse from his schoolteachers, an overprotective mother, and the desertion of his wife—all of which factor into Pink’s isolation from society, represented by the metaphorical ‘Wall’ of the album title.
As with most of their previous albums, The Wall is a concept album, but deals largely with the theme of personal isolation. The concept was inspired by an event that occurred during the band’s 1977 In the Flesh Tour, where bassist and lyricist Roger Waters’ frustration with the behaviour of the audience reached a point where he spat in the face of a fan at the foot of the stage. Waters would come to regret his actions, and spoke of his desire to build a wall between himself and the audience. The Wall features a notably harsher and more theatrical style than their previous releases. During production of the album, keyboardist Richard Wright left the band, but returned to perform during later concert performances as a salaried musician.
Stevie Wonder, 1966-1976. Covers the last part of his singles years (“For Once In My Life,” “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” “Uptight” “I Was Made to Love Her”) and his incredible album run with “Music of My Mind,” “Innervisions,” “Talking Book,” and “Songs in the Key of Life.”
Van Morrison, 1967-1977. “Astral Weeks,” “Moondance,” “Tupelo Honey.” “His Band and the St. Choir” and “Veedon Fleece” are underrated as well.
Lets not forget the emotistical Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails.
1988-now
I have to agree with Thomas McLeod. Whoever that is….
@Thomas I looked at some of your suggestions before I wrote this. I really wanted Prince to be on here, but it’s not possible to include any run that has Batman: The Soundtrack in it. I like Prince 1980-1987 though. Michael Jackson has 2 great albums (Off the Wall & Thriller) and another solid one (Bad). After that his stuff starts to get silly. I thought about Public Enemy (1987-1997), but nearly all their work was in between 1987 – 1991. A Tribe Called Quest runs into that same duration issue. I didn’t think about Jay Z or LL Cool J, but I’d still place Public Enemy above both.
@Conderman. Yes, I know, you like Pink Floyd. I looked at them and passed, but I’ll listen to more of their catalogue and reconsider.
@Marfield I looked at Van Morrison, but decided to pass. Do you think it’s better than Neil Young’s run? I didn’t even think about Stevie Wonder. What about Wonder 71-81? It looks like I have some Wonder to listen to.
@PackaCracka No way, no how to Nine Inch Nails on this list. In my mind, they only have 2 albums of consequence.
Only two albums of consequence? I thought this was a good blog for a second. Have you heard The Lost Highway soundtrack? Major critics would disagree with you being that he’s been nominated for 12 grammys and been described as “the most vital man in music”
You ask “Anyone I missed?” as if suggesting an artist leaves them open to your scrutiny. I wasn’t “suggesting” NIN to have made the top 10 best “runs” in music history, I was saying.. they are making it. You really shouldn’t be so dismissive to music that isn’t from the 70s-80s.
I haven’t heard The Lost Highway, only Perfect Drug (which is a good song). I really like Pretty Hate Machine a lot and I also enjoy Downward Spiral. I thought With Teeth was ok and I hated The Fragile. I agree that Reznor is important, especially with his embrace of the web and social media, but I think Radiohead is a much more worthy contemporary.
I wouldn’t use Grammys as a mark of much anything, Matchbox 20 has 4 grammy nominations.