Five Favorite Songs from the same Year

[WytchCrypt]

1983 is next up for me...a strange year considering neoprog, US hardcore punk, alternative and goth were all happening at the same time...

1) IQ - The Enemy Smacks (Tales from the Lush Attic)
2) Sad Lovers and Giants - Cowboys (Feeding the Flame)
3) Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized (Suicidal Tendencies)
4) Twelfth Night - Sequences (Live and Let Live)
5) Thomas Dolby - Europe and the Pirate Twins (The Golden Age of Wireless)

[flowerking]

1978, the year I graduated high school:

Good idea, here's my list from 1982:

1. IQ - IQ
2. Phil Collins - The West Side
3. King Crimson - Heartbeat
4. Kate Bush - There Goes a Tenner
5. Camel - Sasquatch

Honorable mentions:
Genesis - You Might Recall
Heart - The Situation
Peter Gabriel - Here Comes the Flood
CSN - Southern Cross

[SongForAmerica]

1974:

The Strawbs: "Autumn"
Rare Bird: "Peace of Mind"
Renaissance: "Mother Russia"
Kansas: "Death of Mother Nature Suite"
Rick Wakeman: Journey to the Centre of the Earth--the whole thing

[Rarebird]

1979
The Enid - Punch and Judy man
Pierre Moerlen's Gong - Downwind or Emotions
Pekka Pohjola - Try to remember
Streetmark - Intro / Welcome
Camel - Wait

[Bake 2]

1973 (a year that makes keeping it down to five seem ridiculous)
-Can / Bel Air
-Darryl Way Wolf / Saturation Point
-Eno / Here Come The Warm Jets
-Zappa / Zomby Woof
-Embryo / Warm Canto

[Jones the Jug]

1987:

Esquire - "To the Rescue"
Icehouse - "Heartbreak Kid"
Bourgeois Tagg - "Waiting for the Worm to Turn"
The Style Council - "Heavens Above"
Swing Out Sister - "Blue Mood"

[flowerking]

How about a year before prog? 1967. So many great classic rock songs to choose from!
1. Zappa - Oh No (part of Lumpy Gravy) (also could have made the list is Brown Shoes Don't Make It)
2. Hendrix - Little Wing (others are Castles Made of Sand, If Six Were Nine, Are You Experienced, 3rd Stone from the Sun or Manic Depression)
3. Beatles - I am the Walrus (close choices are Strawberry Fields Forever, Lucy in the Sky, A Day in the Life or Lovely Rita)
4. Grateful Dead - Morning Dew (also possible would be Golden Road and Cold Rain and Snow)
5. 5th Dimension - Up Up and Away

Didn't quite make the list (see all the alternative songs above plus these):
Turtles: Happy Together
Youngbloods: Get Together
Airplane: White Rabbit
Electric Prunes: I Had too Much to Dream Last Night
The Association: Windy
Sam & Dave: Soul Man
The Monkees: Pleasant Valley Sunday
Cream: SWLABR
Country Joe and the Fish: I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag
Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine
Moody Blues - Peak Hour and Tuesday Afternoon
Traffic - Dear Mr Fantasy

What a year 1967 was!

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

A different view on 1967:

1. Jefferson Airplane - "The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil"
2. The Who - "I Can See for Miles"
3. The Monkees - "I'm A Believer" (or "Pleasant Valley Sunday")
4. Strawberry Alarm Clock - "Incense and Peppermints"
5. Aretha Franklin - "(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman"

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

67?

Jimi ruled that year and all my top 5 would be his songs!

honorable mention:

Interstellar Overdrive
Knights in White Satin
Hansson & Karlsson - Tax Free
Don Ellis - Open Beauty
The Nice - Rondo
Bar-Kays - Bar-Kays Boogaloo

[The Dark Elf]

1971 (Good Lord! Too many to mention):

Yes - Starship Trooper
Jethro Tull - My God
Alice Cooper - Halo of Flies
Led Zeppelin - When the Levee Breaks
Jeff Beck - Situation
Pink Floyd - One of These Days

Throw in more: Nick Drake - At the Chime of a City Clock, Procol Harum - Simple Sister, Black Sabbath - Into the Void, The Moody Blues - The Story In Your Eyes, Uriah Heep - July Morning, Cat Stevens - The Wind, Don McLean - Vincent, The Allman Brothers - One Way Out, Focus - Hocus Pocus, The Doors - The WASP, Traffic - Many a Mile to Freedom

[AncientChord]

My view of a pivotal year forward in music: 1966 (no order, each essential)

The Beatles - Paperback Writer (one of the last great Beatles rockers prior to the drugs taking over)
The Yardbirds - Happenings Ten Years Time Ago (A psychedelic classic with the dual lead guitars of Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page. From the ground braking group that went from blues to psychedelic to hard rock.)
Ennio Morricone: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (Arguably the greatest theme ever written for a western film, by the creator of the Spaghetti Western soundtrack genre.)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Purple Haze (written in 1966, released in early 67. To Quote Jimi "Ah...And you'll never hear Surf Music again." And no one ever looked at rock guitar the same way again either.)
Buffalo Springfield: For What It's Worth (written in 1966. The first real protest song about how young people are treated by local, state and federal law enforcement. Stephan Stills wrote this about the 1966 Sunset Strip Hollywood protests of 1966. Sadly this iconic theme is just as valid today as it was when released in 1967.)

[Jones the Jug]

1979:

Renaissance - "Golden Key"
Brand X - "Don't Make Waves"
Angela Bofill - "I Try"
The Human League - "Austerity/Girl One (Medley)"
Saga - "Hot to Cold"

[Mythos]

The dark side of 1983:

Chameleons: Second Skin
Bauhaus: She's in Parties
New Order: Leave Me Alone
REM: Talk About the Passion
Depeche Mode: Everything Counts

[flowerking]

Here's my go at 1983.
1. IQ - The Last Human Gateway
2. Saga - Scratching the Surface
3. Renaissance - Auto-Tech
4. Pat Metheny Group - Song For Bilbao
5. Yes - Cinema

[The Dark Elf]

1988:

The Pogues - Turkish Song of the Damned
Leonard Cohen - Tower of Song
Tracy Chapman - Mountains O' Things
The Waterboys - Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?
Van Morrison & The Chieftains - She Moved Through the Fair
Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane

[WytchCrypt]

I'll have a go at 1967...

Beatles - Lovely Rita (Sgt Peppers)
Stones - Citadel (Satanic Majesties Request)
Cream - Dance the Night Away (Disraeli Gears)
Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale (A Whiter Shade of Pale)
Jimi - Up From the Skies (Axis Bold as Love)

Plus a ton of top 40 radio hits that were way too cool for top 40 radio