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71 Records Year by Year (1: 1950–1959)
Music that differed
The original series by Paul Combs, an album from every year you’ve been alive, is too much of a challenge for this septuagenarian, so I’ve narrowed the criteria a bit.
My listening experience is so spotty that listing my favorite songs / albums since my birth year (1950) won’t tell you much about how either my taste or the music itself developed over time.
And other than the popular music I listened to the most (1966–1979), citing the albums I consider the best (objectively or subjectively) would have too many gaps to be meaningful. Take jazz from 1958 as an example. According to the AllMusic reviews for that year, there are sixteen 5-star albums (2 by Frank Sinatra) plus many more 4 and 4 1/2 star selections. Whew! I’ve got some catching up to do.
So I’m going to focus not on music that changed me but music that changed music, that diverged from what was (at the time) the mainstream. My list is still incomplete and subjective, but there’s no question that these 71 albums broke new ground, even if they had little impact at the time. The chances are good that whether or not they became famous for their innovations, they’ve influenced some of your favorite artists.
