Best year in Music?

1967 voted best year in music
Last Updated Thu, 05 Jan 2006 14:50:54 EST
CBC Arts

It was the year Jimi Hendrix and the Who blasted audiences with searing performances at the Monterey festival and the British Invasion was gathering steam: 1967 has been voted the best year for pop in a BBC radio poll.

The Who in an undated photo.
Listeners to BBC Radio 2, who have an average age of 51, tallied up the musical milestones of that year and declared it the Ultimate Music Year out of 50 years ending in 2005. It was the year the Beatles unleashed Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Hendrix pushed the envelope with Are You Experienced?

"It was a very formative time for me when I was getting into music. It was the year of the concept album and there were so many fantastic singles," British singer/songwriter Paul Weller told Radio 2. Weller headed the Jam and Style Council.

The British invasion was in full roil as the Rolling Stones agreed to tone down their lyrics to Let's Spend the Night Together for The Ed Sullivan Show and Pink Floyd started to crack in to the North American market.

The Monkees ruled the charts and the Beach Boys were introducing a new sound. It was also the year the Beatles performed All You Need is Love to 400 million people on the first worldwide television broadcast.

Best known as the Summer of Love, mid-1967 saw anti-Vietnam War protests foment anger amongst young Americans, and 200,000 people gather for a landmark music festival in Monterey, Calif.

It was the same year San Francisco's psychedelic sounds hit music charts with bands such as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, the Doors and the Byrds.

Female performers were also topping the charts, with Aretha Franklin and folkie Joan Baez leading the charge.

Future stars David Bowie and the Bee Gees were getting into the studio.

Radio 2 broadcaster Andrew Collins, however, quipped to listeners that it wasn't all rosy on the music front in 1967 — The Sound of Music soundtrack held on to the No. 1 album spot for 13 weeks.

On the other end of the spectrum, 1999 got the least number of votes of the 40 years. That year was marked by the debut singles of Britney Spears' Baby, One More Time and Christine Aguilera's Genie in a Bottle.

BBC Radio 2's Top Five Music Years:

1967
1957
1973
1966
1969

What does everyone think?

Usual rose-tinted BS.

2001. Possibly 2006 soon.

-AC

94', 96'

^arguably

The 80's was the best for me!

the 90's and from 2002 to last year

its the best year, not the best 13 years

It's just the older generation stuck in their "our generation >your generation" state of mind again. Everyone considers the era they grew up in to be the "golden age."

It looks like '06 for music could be the '98 of videogames. 🤓

i dont have a favourite year, im sort of all over the place. being a hip hop fan im more mid 90s until now because im not really into the old school stuff.

You youngins' got to admit, there are some pretty heavy hitters in that article though. And yes, I've been taught a painful lesson that when voicing my opinion on the music forums, it's just that-my opinion, not law.

But anyone agree that there are some pretty big names of old farts in that conversation?

I didn't see anyone denying it. I'll personally still fo with 01.

And stop using "youngins" as if it means they know less. You thought Zeppelin were American.

-AC

for me, '88 was the best year for music

AC, Sssshhhh.

Don't tell anyone. 😮 🙁 😉

Why not? You did. Continue using age as a factor here (youngins etc) and I'll never let you forget it.

I'm not saying a 13 year old girl has the wisest choice in music, but then discuss the music...not her age.

-AC

I prefer the (late) 60's, 70's, and 80's ✅

Silence, AC! For I am the great and powerful.....Oz. 😛

Hahaha.

"Zeppelin could compete with The Beatles in US Vs UK."

Classic. An ageist music fan makes an ironically juvenile faux pas 🙂.

-AC

I think 67 was a great year, and the original post makes a lot of sense, 76 - 77 the punk explosion is also a contender, 89 - 90 The stone Roses make a splash paving the way the Manchester sound and Factory Records, Raves and Modern Dance Music.

It's all good for me 67 birth influences still heard 39 years later. Yup 67 influenced everything but hip hop.

I think it's definitely got to be a year in the 90's, but I'm not sure which I'd go for yet.