HGWTY returns to the 21st century for the first time in a few months to ask you to cast your minds back to 2007.
A reminder of the premise of the thread
After a number of days of posting and reminiscing, we’ll be rating the music of the year out of ten, based on the albums, singles, gigs, whatever that stand out for you that year, and voting for our favourite nominated albums and songs.
Everyone can nominate one album and one song from the year which will then be collated into side-polls two days before the thread closes - please make it clear when you post a nomination for the poll (as opposed to just posting clips or lists of songs and albums you like, which are very welcome).
Leaderboard
Rank
Year
Rating
Top Album
Top Song
1
1991
8.98
Slint - Spiderland
Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
2
1997
8.6
Radiohead - OK Computer
The Beta Band - Dry The Rain
3
1967
8.48
Love - Forever Changes
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Some Velvet Morning
4
1992
8.29
Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted
Pulp - Babies
4
2013
8.29
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Jubilee Street
6
2019
8.14
Self Esteem - Compliments Please
Big Thief - Not
7
1975
8.13
Neil Young - Tonight’s the Night / Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Cortez the Killer
8
2004
8.1
Madvillain - Madvillainy / Arcade Fire - Funeral
The Walkmen - The Rat
9
1981
8.06
The Cure - Faith
New Order - Ceremony
10
1982
7.76
The Cure - Pornography / Kate Bush - The Dreaming
Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding / The Associates - Party Fears Two
2007 was the year Madeleine McCann disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment, a global financial crisis began as the insidious risk-blurring of bundled mortgage-backed securities spectacularly collapsed the intra-bank markets, the first iPhone was released and a smoking ban in enclosed public places was enacted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Scotland had led the way 3 years earlier).
Ingmar Bergman, Luciano Pavarotti, Alice Coltrane, Boris Yeltsin, Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut, Chris Benoit and Anna Nicole Smith all died this year.
How good was the music?
You have until Thursday 11th August to nominate one album and one song which will then go into a poll along with a number rating poll for year overall out of 10, which will close on Saturday 13th.
keep seeing these threads but not engaging or reading - annoying as now I’ve read properly I like the idea a lot! definitely irritated I missed the 04/19 ones especially
anyway, has to be Jamie T - Panic Prevention for album for me - still stands up as one of my favs from the era. Some aspects have dated it a bit, but still got plenty of great storytelling details and arresting lyrics, has a lot more staying power than the straight-ahead indie guitar bands from the time, great bass-focused tracks, very organic blend of solo acoustics, bedroom electronics and full band attacks
feels basically like Skins in album form, said as the highest form of praise - pure condensed energy and sadness and aimlessness and hedonism. A real love letter to the culture it came from. Think Ike & Tina is the standout for me now, bittersweet banger
This was a hugely formative year in music for me. I was 24, living in London and going to the most amounts of gigs in my life. I have a huge fondness for the music released at that time, my AOTY were…
Sunset Rubdown – Random Spirit Lover / Radiohead – In Rainbows / Deerhunter - Cryptograms / LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver / Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline / Battles – Mirrored / The National – Boxer / Panda Bear – Person Pitch / The Field - From Here We Go Sublime / Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam / Efterklang – Parades / Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters / Les Savy Fav - Let’s Stay Friends / Menomena - Friend and Foe / Holy Fuck - LP / World’s End Girlfriend - Hurtbreak Wonderland / Liars - Liars / Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Can I nominate Album: Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline and Song: Efterklang - Cutting Ice to Snow