'It has stood the test of time': was 1971 the greatest year in music?

[BeyondGeography]

Volume is paramount on the new Apple docuseries 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything, both in the play-it-loud sense as well as the sheer-quantity sense. The watershed social and artistic moment explored across the eight episodes contained a staggering amount of genius, to the point that an interview quickly dissolves into the same awed name-cataloguing one might expect to hear around a college radio station or independent record shop.

...But for all their open-hearted admiration, the brilliance of their new project lies in the discipline with which they channel that spirit of fandom into a more studied form of cultural anthropology. The vast purview of their chosen year – John Lennon moving to New York, the Stones shacking up in the south of France, the Concert for Bangladesh, Joni Mitchell releasing Blue, the list of key events seems to go on forever – forced them to consider more thoughtful, creative methods of organizing the material. Though they worked from the basis of David Hepworth’s book Never a Dull Moment, the creative team wanted to move away from his straightforward chronology toward a structure shaped by overarching themes.

“When we got into the research, it became apparent what a seminal, transitional year this was,” Gay-Rees says. “The 60s had ended so badly – Kent State, Altamont, Charles Manson, the Beatles breaking up. It felt like there was a tonal shift to this golden age of paranoia. We all did a lot of reading around it, we being a team of 15 people beyond us, all in an open-plan office kicking around ideas all the time.

“It became really exciting when we realized there might be a different way to approach a music documentary, because we didn’t want to do the Behind the Music type thing. There’s a place for that, but it’s not our specialty.”

More at https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/may/22/asif-kapadia-1971-music-documentary-apple-tv?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. IMO, 1966 was far more impactful and important.

Pet Sounds, Revolver, Blonde On Blonde, plus arguably Motown’s best year, and the peak year for one hit wonders making Garage Rock Nuggets.

Billboard’s Hot 100 for 1966:

1 "California Dreamin'" The Mamas & the Papas
2 "96 Tears" ? and the Mysterians
3 "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" Jimmy Ruffin
4 "Last Train to Clarksville" The Monkees
5 "Reach Out I'll Be There" Four Tops
6 "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" Nancy Sinatra
7 "Cherish" The Association
8 "Strangers in the Night" Frank Sinatra
9 "Kicks" Paul Revere & the Raiders
10 "Ballad of the Green Berets" SSgt. Barry Sadler
11 "Good Lovin'" The Young Rascals
12 &quot You're My) Soul and Inspiration" The Righteous Brothers
13 "You Can't Hurry Love" The Supremes
14 "Sunny" Bobby Hebb
15 "See You In September" The Happenings
16 "Li'l Red Riding Hood" Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
17 "Lightnin' Strikes" Lou Christie
18 "Poor Side of Town" Johnny Rivers
19 "Working In The Coal Mine" Lee Dorsey
20 "A Groovy Kind of Love" The Mindbenders
21 "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" Dusty Springfield
22 "Sunshine Superman" Donovan
23 "Born a Woman" Sandy Posey
24 "Monday, Monday" The Mamas & the Papas
25 "Red Rubber Ball" The Cyrkle
26 "Born Free" Roger Williams
27 "Walk Away Renée" The Left Banke
28 "Cool Jerk" The Capitols
29 "B-A-B-Y" Carla Thomas
30 "Hanky Panky" Tommy James and the Shondells
31 "When a Man Loves a Woman" Percy Sledge
32 "Time Won't Let Me" The Outsiders
33 "Bus Stop" The Hollies
34 "Paint It, Black" The Rolling Stones
35 "Summer In The City" The Lovin' Spoonful
36 "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" B. J. Thomas & the Triumphs
37 "My Love" Petula Clark
38 "Daydream" The Lovin' Spoonful
39 "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" The Temptations
40 "Wild Thing" The Troggs
41 "Elusive Butterfly" Bob Lind
42 "I Am a Rock" Simon & Garfunkel
43 "Dirty Water" The Standells
44 "Hooray for Hazel" Tommy Roe
45 "Crying Time" Ray Charles
46 "Sweet Pea" Tommy Roe
47 "Secret Agent Man" Johnny Rivers
48 "Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?" The Lovin' Spoonful
49 "We Can Work It Out" The Beatles
50 "Homeward Bound" Simon & Garfunkel
51 "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" Stevie Wonder
52 "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" Cher
53 "Sloop John B" The Beach Boys
54 "19th Nervous Breakdown" The Rolling Stones
55 "Wipe Out" The Surfaris
56 "Psychotic Reaction" Count Five
57 "Paperback Writer" The Beatles
58 "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" The Temptations
59 "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)" The T-Bones
60 "Barefootin'" Robert Parker
61 "Just Like Me" Paul Revere & the Raiders
62 "Love Makes the World Go Round" Deon Jackson
63 "The Pied Piper" Crispian St. Peters
64 "Somewhere My Love" Ray Conniff Singers
65 "Almost Persuaded" David Houston
66 "If I Were a Carpenter" Bobby Darin
67 "Don't Mess with Bill" The Marvelettes
68 "Cherry, Cherry" Neil Diamond
69 "Message to Michael" Dionne Warwick
70 "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing" Lou Rawls
71 "Gloria" The Shadows of Knight
72 "My World Is Empty Without You" The Supremes
73 "Barbara Ann" The Beach Boys
74 "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" Bob Dylan
75 "Guantanamera" The Sandpipers
76 "I'm Your Puppet" James & Bobby Purify
77 "Land of 1000 Dances" Wilson Pickett
78 "Oh How Happy" The Shades of Blue
79 "Woman" Peter and Gordon
80 "You Baby" The Turtles
81 "Sweet Talkin' Guy" The Chiffons
82 "Five O'Clock World" The Vogues
83 "Black Is Black" Los Bravos
84 "Nowhere Man" The Beatles
85 "Dandy" Herman's Hermits
86 "Baby Scratch My Back" Slim Harpo
87 "She's Just My Style" Gary Lewis & The Playboys
88 "The More I See You" Chris Montez
89 "I Fought the Law" Bobby Fuller Four
90 "Yellow Submarine" The Beatles
91 "Hungry" Paul Revere & the Raiders
92 "Zorba the Greek" Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
93 "Shapes of Things" The Yardbirds
94 "Along Comes Mary" The Association
95 "634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.)" Wilson Pickett
96 "Devil with a Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly" Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels
97 "Wouldn't It Be Nice" The Beach Boys
98 "This Old Heart of Mine The Isley Brothers
99 "Green Grass" Gary Lewis & The Playboys
100 "A Well Respected Man" The Kinks

Plus, the first recordings by Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Velvet Underground, and Buffalo Springfield were all issued in 1966.

And lastly, the song often voted as the best single of all time was released at the end of 1966:

Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. I've long thought 1966 was inordinately eventful year in so many ways including as you say in music

And not just cause I happened

Star Trek debuted like a month before me, too.

[yonder]

2. I don't know how one would pick a single best year.

Maybe a block of 2 or 4 or 5 years, but 1? Tough task.

[multigraincracker]

4. What I remember from 71

[modrepub]

5. The 70s Always Seem To Get A Bad Rap

Economically, it was a bad decade. Inflation (leftover from 1960s Big Society/Vietnam spending), gas shortages/price spikes and labor unrest dominated the headlines and set the stage for the Reagan revolution/Wall Street decade to follow.

The 70s were a transformative decade. I think the impacts of that 10 year span have been largely lost in the economic malaise most people felt. It becomes easier to appreciate a lot of what happened in that decade as time goes by; the perceived bad times become softer, we become more nostalgic and younger generations who weren't born then look it with new eyes.

Music, at least on the Rock & Roll side, kind of fell into some perceived rut after the Beatles broke up, other acts from the 60s broke up or aged our of their formative teens/20s years and untimely deaths of some of the better known acts of the 60s. Taking that line seems, to me at least, to ignore a ton of new material that came out during that decade.

[exboyfil]

6. You won't get an argument from me

Some of my absolutely favorite albums came out that year (LZ IV, Who's Next, Yes Album, Aqualung, and Low Spark for the rocker in me). Gaye, Mitchell, Stewart, and King's best albums. The sad last act for Morrison's Doors and what an album. A credible offering from the Stones. One of the best live albums of all times (Allman Brothers Filmore). Two ex-Beatles with their best or close to the best solo albums (Ram and Imagine).


1. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
2. Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin
3. Who's Next - The Who
4. Blue - Joni Mitchell
5. There's A Riot Goin' On - Sly And The Family Stone
6. Tapestry - Carole King
7. Sticky Fingers - The Rolling Stones
8. L.A. Woman - The Doors
9. At Fillmore East - The Allman Brothers Band
10. Imagine - John Lennon
11. Hunky Dory - David Bowie
12. Aqualung - Jethro Tull
13. Fragile - Yes
14. Electric Warrior - T-Rex
15. Pearl - Janis Joplin
16. Every Picture Tells A Story - Rod Stewart
17. Maggot Brain - Funkadelic
18. Master Of Reality - Black Sabbath
19. Ram - Paul and Linda McCartney
20. Meddle - Pink Floyd
21. Teaser and the Firecat - Cat Stevens
22. Surf's Up - The Beach Boys
23. The Yes Album - Yes
24. Al Green Gets Next to You - Al Green
25. Pieces of a Man - Gil Scott-Heron
26. Just as I Am - Bill Withers
27. Curtis/Live! - Curtis Mayfield
28. Killer - Alice Cooper
29. Tago Mago - Can
30. Nilsson Schmilsson - Nilsson
31. Soul Revolution - Bob Marley and The Wailers
32. The Stylistics - The Stylistics
33. Shaft - Isaac Hayes
34. If I Could Only Remember My Name - David Crosby
35. A Nod Is as Good as a Wink...to a Blind Horse - Faces
36. Santana III - Santana
37. Love It to Death - Alice Cooper
38. Pawn Hearts - Van der Graaf Generator
39. Nursery Cryme - Genesis
40. Roots - Curtis Mayfield
41. The Concert for Bangla Desh - Various Artists
42. Tupelo Honey - Van Morrison
43. The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys - Traffic
44. 4 Way Street - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
45. Madman Across the Water - Elton John
46. Muswell Hillbillies - The Kinks
47. Teenage Head - The Flamin' Groovies
48. In the Land of Grey and Pink - Caravan
49. Stormcock - Roy Harper
50. Aretha Live at Fillmore West - Aretha Franklin
51. Faust - Faust
52. Tarkus - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
53. Gonna Take a Miracle - Laura Nyro and Labelle
54. American Pie - Don McLean
55. Fireball - Deep Purple
56. White Light - Gene Clark
57. Revolution of the Mind (Live at the Apollo, Vol. 3) - James Brown
58. The Cry of Love - Jimi Hendrix
59. Focus II / Moving Waves - Focus
60. All Day Music - War
61. Crazy Horse - Crazy Horse
62. Islands - King Crimson
63. Straight Up - Badfinger
64. Mirror Man - Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
65. First Utterance - Comus
66. Straight from the Heart - Ann Peebles
67. Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren - Todd Rundgren
68. Deuce - Rory Gallagher
69. Black Moses - Isaac Hayes
70. In Search of Space - Hawkwind
71. (For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People - The Chi-Lites
72. Where I'm Coming From - Stevie Wonder
73. The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend - Baby Huey
74. Nantucket Sleighride - Mountain
75. Sky's the Limit - The Temptations
76. Hot Pants - James Brown
77. Melting Pot - Booker T. & The MG's
78. Every Good Boy Deserves Favour - The Moody Blues
79. John Prine - John Prine
80. Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old) - Elvis Presley
81. Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon - James Taylor
82. A Nickel and a Nail and Ace of Spades - O.V. Wright
83. Givin' It Back - The Isley Brothers
84. Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse - Eugene McDaniels
85. Rory Gallagher - Rory Gallagher
86. Look at Yourself - Uriah Heep
87. Acquiring the Taste - Gentle Giant
88. Message from the Country - The Move
89. Don't Knock My Love - Wilson Pickett
90. Link Wray - Link Wray
91. Satori - The Flower Travellin' Band
92. America - America
93. Salisbury - Uriah Heep
94. One Year - Colin Blunstone
95. High Time - The MC5
96. Split - The Groundhogs
97. Harmony - Three Dog Night
98. Songs For Beginners - Graham Nash
99. The Staple Swingers - The Staple Singers
100. Time and Place - Lee Moses

[BeyondGeography]

8. Great list...thanks for that

The 60s had a better assemblage of pop tunes, but from a depth-of-quality album standpoint across genres and sub-genres, 1971 stands apart IMO. It was a unique moment in time. All of these artists came out of the 60s so they knew how to put a song together, had absorbed the tenor of the times and, importantly, enjoyed a degree of artistic freedom and support from record producers that would soon disappear.

[llmart]

9. No. 1 - My all time favorite album

I have it on CD now and it's one of the few CD's that I own. I keep it in my car. I am transformed and transplanted back to 1969 when I listen to it.

[Doc Sportello]

7. K&R!

I have many of those albums. A great year.