This is too difficult. I'm only picking albums from March - my birthday month - each year, according to Wikipedia, which is far from comprehensive but helps to narrow it down a bit. I initially wrote sprawling mini-essays for each year up to 1989 but that method proved unsustainable. 1984 - Black Flag, "My War"
1985 - The Sisters of Mercy, "First and Last and Always"
1986 - Depeche Mode, "Black Celebration"
1987 - The Smiths, "Louder than Bombs"
1988 - The Pixies, "Surfer Rosa"
1989 - De La Soul, "3 Feet High and Rising" / Operation Ivy, "Energy" (sorry)
1990 - Depeche Mode, "Violator"
1991 - Roxette, "Joyride"
1992 - Def Leppard, "Adrenalize"
1993 - Stereolab, "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music"
1994 - Bark Psychosis, "Hex"*
1995 - Elastica, "Elastica"
1996 - Steve Earle, "I Feel Alright"
1997 - Daft Punk, "Homework"
1998 - Spacehog, "The Chinese Album"
1999 - Beth Orton, "Central Reservation" / Choking Victim, "No Gods, No Managers" (sorry, again)
2000 - Broadcast, "The Noise Made By People"
2001 - Kings of Convenience, "Quiet is the New Loud"
2002 - Idlewild, "The Remote Part" (tie so far between March '02 and March '92 for Worst Month in LPs [According to Wikipedia])
2003 - The Thermals, "More Parts Per Million"
2004 - TV On The Radio, "Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes"
2005 - Annie, "Anniemal"
2006 - Loose Fur, "Born Again in the USA" (okay, this is officially the lousiest Smarch I've encountered thus far - picking Loose Fur sort of by default, not that familiar w/ the album)
2007 - LCD Soundsystem, "Sound of Silver" (remember hearing this blast on work's brand new - at the time - tube amp a few years back led me to re-visit and re-enjoy the album)
2008 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_albums_released_in_2008... - It's almost as if the more music is released (this is the longest of Wikipedia's lists thus far) the less interesting it is. I can't pick a single one of these. 2007 was a really great year for music and also the year I started getting into techno and house music quite a bit - there was False, "2007", Ricardo Villalobos' "Fabric 36", Deepchord Presents Echospace, "The Coldest Season". 2008 was similarly good but not quite there - visited LittleWhiteEarbuds to refresh my memory and am breaking my self-imposed structure here both in protest of all the terrible music featured on Wikipedia for March 2008 as well as to offer a more legitimate answer that might lead someone to discovery. And so I'm gonna just go ahead and pick Move D & Benjamin Brunn, "Songs from the Beehive," which I didn't like as much when it was released but has since grown on me. The Osborne s/t LP is a real fun one, though, especially the single, ["Ruling"](www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-yBLPbw8_).
2009 - UGK, "UGK 4 Life" - RIP Pimp C. This is the year I joined twitter. Here's a twitter trope for you: "That moment when you're looking at Wikipedia's record of all albums released in a year and you realize that when you're old some shitty pop punk band that spent their entire career as an opening act on the Warped Tour could very well be playing after your town's 4th of July fireworks at the community rec center." Way over 140 characters. This was also the only year I went to SXSW. My buddy and I drove down from Chicago and had an awesome time. We spent next to zero dollars (I think I had maybe $250 total to my name when he picked me up early in the wee hours of one March morning) on a bunch of free shows and cheap drinks in the hot, hot sun. I was so thoroughly engaged with music this year, and none of the albums I was interested in are listed on Wikipedia (at least for the month of March). If I had to make a more legitimate pick it might be the Abe Vigoda EP that came out this year if only for the Stevie Nicks cover, bu there were so many great records. I'm losing my mind looking at this list on wikipedia. Only four more years to go.
2010 - I quit. I hate this. Records released just five years prior are being re-released in 2010. I've always disliked the "Just because it's on Wikipedia it don't mean it's true!" trope but I'm beginning to believe that the only people supplying information about music to Wikipedia are the last remaining salaried employees at the major music labels and deaf people. I can't remember what I was into this year but I seem to recall it being a bit of an off/weird year in terms of what I was listening to.
2011 - I'm no longer following my self-imposed rules and I'm just going to say Belong, "Common Era," was my favorite album of the year.
2012 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_albums_released_in_2012... what a hilarious list. It's so short! Remember how long the list for, what was it, 2006 was? If you were standing far enough away that you couldn't make out the text you might have believed me if I told you this was a list of all the rotary phones sold since the introduction of the iPhone and not a list of all the albums released in 2012. Having a difficult time choosing an album of the year for 2012. 2011 was, imho, as great a year for music as 2007 and 2009 before it. Something about odd years. Spent a lot of time with my favorites from 2011 and discovering even more that were released that year that for whatever reason I missed. I don't know. I'll get back to you. I want my life back.
Well, thanks for the great effort. As far as March 2008 goes -- Volume One by She & Him was cute (no replayability whatsoever), Consolers of the Lonely by the Raconteurs was decent, Smile by Boris is all right if you're into that sort of thing, which I'm not. And there was a Van Morrison album which I've never heard but he was once one of the greats, so who knows. I would add that Wikipedia's album lists are shit and probably not the best way to make your own list. Stay Positive by The Hold Steady, Airing of Grievances by Titus Andronicus, and The '59 Sound by The Gaslight Anthem were quite possibly the best albums of 2008, and none of them are listed.
Wow, you weren't kidding about March 2008 were you? What a shit month for music. Great list, I like a number of these albums. I remember thinking Beth Orton was going to be HUGELY successful. Also, I really enjoyed The Noise Made By People, sounds_sound introduced me to Broadcast the year that came out. Nice list hiss.
I saw Broadcast on tour for that album as well. They played the Magic Stick in Ferndale. Saw so many good bands there over they years.
Thanks! Yeah, March 2008 - caveat, according to Wikipedia - is the doldrums. Nothing of any value there, far as I can tell. Just awful. Beth Orton was always doomed to the Starbucks hanging garden. Sad but true. I think that album almost sort of coincided with the explosion of Starbucks locations nationwide. The Broadcast album is easily their best, though I like everything they've done well enough. Real sad about the singer. Would have liked to see where they went given more time. Looking back at the list, it's hard to pick a definite favorite overall beyond Bark Psychosis (which I asterisked due to the fact that it was actually a late February release of that year). That's an album I've lived with for years and have enjoyed immensely.