• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

1968…whew, what a year

Pretty much in agreement with respect to the general span of years as being the overall peak of creativity in rock music.
But also for pretty much all of the albums listed, there were others that for various reasons I would choose over those specifically coming out in '68 by the groups and individuals.
I think of more in terms of Ground Zero 66-70.
Quibbling, I know.
Age 13-17 for me, of course it must have been the Most Important Time! ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: DownRound and jerry
A lot of good records there! Surprised to not see The Soft Machine's debut on the list, it came out in Dec 1968.

The_Soft_Machine-album.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: ajkula66
I wasn’t even a teenager yet in 1968, so I didn’t get around to those albums on that list until a few years later. In 1968 I was listening to my dads country albums, like Roger Miller, Chet Atkins, Eddie Arnold, Merle Travis, Hank Williams, etc. By 1970 I had discovered AOR and I turned my ears to the Guess Who, CCR, the Who, Ten Years After, Allman Bros. Band, Grand Funk RR, the Byrds, CSN, Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield, Jethro Tull, etc.
 
This was a better year:


or 2 months of 1991:

August 12 - Metallica - Black Album
August 13- Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill
August 27 - Pearl Jam - Ten
September 17 - Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion I & II
September 23 - Pixies - Trompe le Monde
September 23 – Primal Scream - Screamadelica
September 24 - Nirvana - Nevermind
September 24 - Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
September 24 - A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
October 8 - Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger

A lot of great albums in 1993 as well.


Sorry boomers. Music didn't stop being creative and fruitful in 1975.

I mean Nevermind and BSSM came out on the same day.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BassBrass
Such groundbreaking music as Ebony and Ivory, Mull of Kintyre, the Frog Chorus, Give My Regards to Broadstreet, Vegan Sausage Rolls, Imagine, give peace a chance... which is your personal favourite?

Thomas the Tank Engine really is the highlight of all their post Beatles output...
"Nothing of value", you described the Beatles' output after 1968 ... I notice you completely skipped over the group's last couple albums with that statement, which is quite an omission. Also ignored Harrison's output in initial comment and in response diatribe.
Which leaves Lennon and McCartney, post Beatles. I wouldn't claim it's groundbreaking, but I'd say there was music "of value" from both. "Imagine" is a tune many people relate to, "Beautiful Boy" is a beautiful song, Instant Karma kinda hits, and so on. McCartney was generally not going deep lyrically with his solo music, but he did write a lot of catchy tunes (his specialty ^_^). "Live and Let Die" sits in that niche, imo, as does "Band on the Run", "My Love", and even, yes, "Silly Love Songs" (I like that arrangement, with the voices weaving, and the imelodically insistant bassline). So, this is a very subjective matter, but we simply disagree on this point.
Btw, I WAS there 😊, I remember that stuff, and a certain lull in the 70's at times, as FM radio became more restrictive or narrow with playlists. I was more into jazz at that point anyway, listening to hours and hours of classic stuff, going all the way back, as well as more contemporary artists.
And, my nephew loved Thomas the Tank Engine, glad to see that given mention. 🙂
 
  • Like
Reactions: IanStephenson
Please notice that I qualified that by mentioning that it was what was heard on radio, specifically commercially based FM rock stations, as that’s what was perceived as the standard of where the music “was at”. Considering how stilted and restricted FM programming had become by ‘72, or ‘73, in comparison to the eclecticism just a few years previous, that was a sad situation. That’s why I consider this concept of “classic rock” a fraud. It’s a very narrow definition, and just a marketing tool for broadcast programming.
I heard Who Live At Leeds both sides, in crisp hifi detail on boston's wbcn around 1972, wgbh was starting to do simulcasts with wgbh TV (ch 2), they broadcast the James Brown concert that (perhaps) saved the city from riot... it's also when we started reading Alan Watts. wbcn eventually fell to consolidation with a corporation... there's a great documentary on their early years... But for adventurous radio, nothing beats the 90s college radio stations like wzbc. Zbc has NCP radio weeknights, that means No Commercial Potential. Tufts radio is still great.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 31HZ
The peak of the great arc of creativity in rock from ‘65 to ‘71. After that, things got less adventurous, and more recycling of ideas occurred, at least of what I was hearing on the radio.
I'm glad you specified "in rock," because beyond rock there was Stevie Wonder, Billy Preston, Kool & the Gang (pre-JT), Parliament-Funkadelic, Herbie Hancock, and Bootsy's Rubber Band, just to name a few.
 
I'm glad you specified "in rock," because beyond rock there was Stevie Wonder, Billy Preston, Kool & the Gang (pre-JT), Parliament-Funkadelic, Herbie Hancock, and Bootsy's Rubber Band, just to name a few.
Yeah, I was so disinterested in the rock idiom on the radio during the ‘70s that’s when I discovered a whole new world in Jazz, the “ cool “ Jazz period of the ‘60s, the “ Fusion “ period of the ‘70s, Chick Corea, Weather Report, etc. that’s where I was hearing the adventurous excursions that seem to get lost in the rock music during that time but for me came back in the ‘80s with Talking Heads, Police, Devo, Joe Jackson etc. it was like a breath of fresh in the world of arena rock, hair rock, glam rock etc.
 
Yeah, I was so disinterested in the rock idiom on the radio during the ‘70s that’s when I discovered a whole new world in Jazz, the “ cool “ Jazz period of the ‘60s, the “ Fusion “ period of the ‘70s, Chick Corea, Weather Report, etc. that’s where I was hearing the adventurous excursions that seem to get lost in the rock music during that time but for me came back in the ‘80s with Talking Heads, Police, Devo, Joe Jackson etc. it was like a breath of fresh in the world of arena rock, hair rock, glam rock etc.
Yes, I think one of the reasons New Wave was so refreshing and welcome was we had come through a period of stagnation in late 70's, where even fusion started to get stale, plus had survived Disco. Well, except for "Disco Stu," who remains permanently damaged from his encounter with that period.
 
I can’t believe they put Blue Cheer on that list :banghead:

I also take issue with claiming Jethro Tull would “pioneer” prog rock since King Crimson already had three albums out before “Aqualung” was released...if you even consider that prog. However, “This Was” is one of their best albums and deserves to be on the list. I still listen to it a few times every year.
 
I think I've gotten almost every album on the list! 😊
At one time or another, almost every one of those records was on my turntable, but I may or may not have owned the album. We used to take albums over to friends' apartments or room and sit for hours listening to each other's music. Ah, the days of cheap, crappy pot (mostly leaves, sticks and seeds), 45 cent quarts of beer, and seemingly limitless time to enjoy life, friends, and music.
 
At one time or another, almost every one of those records was on my turntable, but I may or may not have owned the album. We used to take albums over to friends' apartments or room and sit for hours listening to each other's music. Ah, the days of cheap, crappy pot (mostly leaves, sticks and seeds), 45 cent quarts of beer, and seemingly limitless time to enjoy life, friends, and music.
I turned 13 in '68, we used to all go to the music shops and buy different albums from each other and go back to.somebody's basement and listen. I remember staring down at the Asbestos tiles that everybody seemed to have in their basements and listening to the White album or Electric lady land and letting it wash over me.
I didn't play yet, but the itch was set!
 
I was 11 years old in 1968, but I have--or had--over half the records on that kind of weird list. Here's a note about the Monkees, since they were on the list. In the summer of 1967 I went to my first concert: the Monkees at Charlotte Coliseum. The opening band was.....
The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Wow, and I thought we were living in Bizarro World right now. Can you imagine what the Monkees thought backstage when they heard Jimi take the stage? I remember a story which Robert Fripp told in an interview of having the headliner band's guitarist pull the power from his stage when KC was opening for them. He said "suddenly, we were playing in silence." Not sure, but I think it was Dusty from ZZTop? Apologies in advance, Dusty, wherever you might be, if I got that wrong.