Geeky list time: Pick an album for every year you've been alive

By Steven Hyden | July 7, 2008 | 1:17pm

Music Features Music

Here's something I saw recently on Idolator that's apparently been making the blog rounds lately: You're supposed to pick a favorite album for each year you've been alive. You can pick a record based on what you like now, or what you would have picked that year assuming you were old enough to care. It sounds simple, but this damn list pretty much dominated my spare thoughts all of July 4th weekend. Now, hopefully, it will speed along the dreaded post-holiday-weekend Monday.

My list of favorites, which I'm sure will be completely different if I ever do this again, is below. Obviously some years are stronger than others. 1981 yielded few familiar faces after scanning Wikipedia's handy list of records released that year, which is how my fourth or fifth favorite U2 record (with my least favorite U2 record cover) ended up being the representative pick. Other years were a virtual blood bath of musical awesomeness. The strongest years in my personal canon ended up being 1987, 1994, 1997, and 2002. The strongest of the bunch was probably '94–big favorites like Bee Thousand, Illmatic, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Ready To Die, Weezer, Wildflowers, Purple, Welcome To Sky Valley, Twice Removed, Amorica, and There's Nothing Wrong With Love all vied for the same spot, making this year my personal equivalent to the 2008 NBA Western Conference.