Top 5 - Greatest Years in Rock N' Roll
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Big Joe Turner, Ike Turner’s Rhythm Kings’ Rocket “88” flowed into Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Gene Vincent. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio, disc jockey Alan Freed began referring to the music he on his mainstream radio program played as "rock and roll", and this popularized the phrase for music that was basically a dance rhythm played with an electric guitar and a snare drum backbeat. Many, many genres within rock n’ roll spawned countless albums over the years, each year sparking new styles in playing, direction, style, songwriting and influence. Here are my Top 5 years in Rock n’ Roll.
5. 1984 - Oh, the decade of decadence and no other year showed it as well as ‘84. One of the greatest rock movies, Purple Rain was out, MTV was in full swing, and Michael Jackson’s hair caught on fire! Notable releases: Purple Rain - Prince and the Revolution, Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen, Like A Virgin - Madonna, Run-D.M.C. - Run-D.M.C., 1984 - Van Halen, The Unforgettable Fire - U2, Let It Be - The Replacements, The Smiths - The Smiths, Ride The Lightning - Metallica, Private Dancer - Tina Turner, Zen Arcade - Hüsker Dü, How Will The Wolf Survive - Los Lobos, Reckoning - R.E.M., Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads, Ocean Rain - Echo And The Bunnymen, Learning To Crawl - The Pretenders, Heartbeat City - The Cars, Diamond Life - Sade, Love At First Sting - Scorpions, Powerslave - Iron Maiden, Stay Hungry - Twisted Sister, The Last In Line - Dio, Defenders Of The Faith - Judas Priest
4. 1969 - January kicked off the year with Led Zepplin’s debut album! The Beatles did their last public performance on a rooftop in London, and, in between, a little thing called Woodstock. Some idiot decided the Hell’s Angles would be good for security at a Rolling Stones concert and that ended poorly. Other notable releases: Abbey Road - The Beatles, Tommy - The Who, Let it Bleed - Stones, Stand! - Sly & The Family Stone, Green River - CCR, the self-titled release The Stooges, Santana, The Velvet Underground, Blind Faith, and the Allman Brothers Band.
3. 1967 - The Summer of Love, and music! And, Jimi Hendrix lights his guitar on fire for the first time. Albums of the year: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band & Magical Mystery Tour - both from The Beatles, Are You Experienced & Axis: Bold as Love - both from Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Doors & Strange Days - both from The Doors, I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You - Aretha Franklin, Velvet Underground And Nico - The Velvet Underground, Disraeli Gears - Cream, Surrealistic Pillow - Jefferson Airplane, Days Of Future Passed - The Moody Blues, Forever Changes - Love, Piper At The Gates Of Dawn - Pink Floyd, Buffalo Springfield Again - Buffalo Springfield, Younger Than Yesterday - The Byrds, The Who Sell Out - The Who, Something Else - The Kinks, Reach Out - The Four Tops
and John Wesley Harding - Bob Dylan
2. 1956 - The early years of Rock N’ Roll, pivotal 1956. It’s the first time on Billboard charts that five singles appear in both the pop and R&B Top Ten charts: Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" (#1 pop, #6 R&B), Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes" (#4 pop, #3 R&B), Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally" (#9 pop, #1 R&B), the Platters' "(You've Got) The Magic Touch" (#10 pop, #7 R&B) and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers' "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" (#7 pop, #4 R&B). Presley's and Perkins' singles would also appear on the country and western Top Ten chart at #1 and #2 respectively. Rock music proved “dangerous” as Elvis Presley goes on The Milton Berle Show to introduces his new single, "Hound Dog", and scandalizes the audience with some suggestive gyrations. Notable
1. 1991 - Ah, yes the birth of Grunge, the Seattle Scene, the glorious flannel and heavy riffs. But, it’s not all about those PNW bands. Tons of great releases throughout the year including: Nevermind - Nirvana, Ten - Pearl Jam, Achtung Baby - U2, Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge - Mudhoney, Metallica - Metallica, Blood Sugar Sex Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest, Out of Time - R.E.M., Use Your Illusion I & II - Guns N' Roses, Blue Lines - Massive Attack, Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill, BadMotorFinger - Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Apocalypse '91 - Public Enemy, Death Certificate - Ice Cube, Luck of the Draw - Bonnie Raitt, O.G. Original Gangster - Ice-T, Laughing Stock - Talk Talk, Mama Said - Lenny Kravitz, De la Soul Is Dead - De la Soul, Diamonds and Pearls - Prince, Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet, Into the Great Wide Open - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Gish - Smashing Pumpkins, Of the Heart, of the Soul & of the Cross - PM Dawn, 2Pacalypse Now - 2pac, Trompe le Monde - Pixies, Marc Cohn - Marc Cohn, Green Mind - Dinosaur Jr., For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge - Van Halen.
