Odd years vs even years (in terms of which produce better music)

Impossible to answer. It goes in waves. Sometimes the trends in music are good, sometimes they are bad. But most years are quite similar to the year just before it.

is it just me or are the polls on ilm getting more and more retarded?

prime number years vs. non primes?

by that reckoning, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89 and 97 are the ones to watch

Mental as it seems, those ARE all good years for music. That theory would also suggest that odd years are better than even years.

It's very hard to decide, because first I was thinking 64, 66, and 84; and then I realized 53, 65, and 93.

71 is better than 72, Maybe the answer is lower numbers.

can we delete geir's post so it looks like musically was the first to respond?

^^yes (or just move it down one)

Mental as it seems, those ARE all good years for music. That theory would also suggest that odd years are better than even years.

Pretty sure your mental energies can be put to better use than coming up with a theory based on these non-findings.

by that reckoning, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89 and 97 are the ones to watch

Which suggests that prime numbers are excellent. Out of these, all were excellent years for music other than maybe 1989. And 1989 was the best year of an otherwise very bad period for music. So prime numbers are good ;)

you just said that music goes in waves, not years.

Yes, and I stand for that. I am not superstitious enough to believe in anything else ;)

It's hard to say - these are definitely the top 2 though.

for me :

86 = shit year
87 = excellent year.

subsequently, i'm convinced by this personal snapshot to vote.

Well my thinking was 2007= great 2008=shite 2009=quite good again.

1986>1987

(But still 1980-84 >>>>>> 1986)

goes without saying this thread is ridiculous, but since it's a slow monday morning I'll actually try to answer it at least for myself. I went through all my best-of lists going back to 1970, most of them small works in progress, marked down all the ones that gave me a gut instict "awesome year" feeling and ended up with 9 even years ('78, '80, '84, '88, '94, '96, '98, '00 and '04), and 7 odd years ('71, '73, '77, '87, '95, '97 and '01). so i'll vote for even.

that's just going on albums, though, i might feel totally different if i had singles lists for all those years.

Well my thinking was 2007= great 2008=shite 2009=quite good again.

"thinking" is a reach there. nick i know ur smarter than this & i'm trying to figure out what ur trying to prod ilx into discussing w/this thread?

RACISM obv.

1960s = Odd years (1967 best)
1970s = Odd years (1971 & 1977 best)
1980s = Even years (1984 & 1980 best)
1990s = Draw (1997 & 1994 best)
2000s = Odd (2001 & 2007 best)

Odd win

The year 16AD was bangin'.

I quite like 4AD.

Odd years are more erratic, veering from amazing to meh. Even years are more consistent: mostly solid, but with fewer that are either amazing or meh.

So it's a draw, then.

1960s: 1963-68 were all great years. 1960-62 and 1969 were not on the same level.
1970s: 1970 was not particularly good, the rest were all great years, getting gradually better each year from 1971 until 1976, and then a bit worse, but still very good, in 1977-78, before 1979 started another great period
1980s: 1980-84 downright fantastic and the best era for music ever. 1985-86 OK. 1987-89 rather horrible
1990s: 1990-91 were quite bad. 1992-93 slightly better, 1994-97 really great before things started to become worse in 1998-99 again
2000s: 2000 a continuation of what was bad about 98-99, but getting better from 2001. 2001-2002 were good years, 2003-04 also quite nice, and 2005 great. Then things have gone in the wrong direction since 2006 although 2009 seems to be the best year since 2005.

So, no difference between odd and even.

I think this thread has lived out its potential and purpose now.

It'll be a great thread next year.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I WAS RIGHT!