2011 is making my head hurt...

[heavyharmonies]

... as I start prepping my best-of list. There was a LOT of damned good music released this year, especially in the area of "traditional" AOR/melodic rock (not so much on the modern hard rock front). There is just a boatload of exceptionally good material. Some of it I haven't even gotten to listen to yet.

 

Anyone else think that 2011 had more than the usual number of very good releases?

 

-Dan

[Glen]

Yes definitely.

 

Virtually the whole of my top 20 is rated 85% or more which has probably not happened since about 1992 !!

[The Rocker]

Yes, I agree. A whole lot of really top notch stuff this year.

[Nightrain]

I absolutely agree, and not only in the AOR/MHR sector, but in other genres as well (prog/thrash/heavy metal/etc), and after I take a quick glance, I have around 34 albums above 85% and over 50 albums around 80%, that's pretty crazy, and not only close to 1992, but maybe close to 1988-1989.

[The Rocker]

I'm not to much into Metal as much as I used to be,(Of course I still love my classic metal from the 80's early 90's, Maiden, Helloween etc.)But has anyone heard the new Primal Fear single? Reminds me of that time. Bad Guys Wear Black!

[zacharyamelie]

My head is fine it's my wallet that is taking a beating.

 

2008 was great, 2009 was probably even better, 2010 was insane and now 2011 is not quite as good as 2010.

 

My top 10 of 2011 are close to being as good as my top 10 of 2010, however it goes downhill pretty fast between 11 and 20. Last year I had a solid top 20, this year I'd say I only have a solid top 10. One factor is that, well for me, the modern rock scene is no longer something I'm into, I got bored of it, therefore the amount of releases I'm buying has dropped. In 2008 nearly half of my top releases were of the modern rock kind, now I have none on my potential best of list other than the latest Trivium release.

 

If 2012 is anywhere near as good as what the past few years has given us, it will be outstanding.

[heaven&hell]

2010 was much beter imo

[Metal T]

2012 looks good so far:

 

Dokken

Cult

VH (possibly)

Primal Fear

Legion

Accept

[All Nights Reserved]

Yes definitely.

 

Virtually the whole of my top 20 is rated 85% or more which has probably not happened since about 1992 !!

 

I always thought 1992 was the end of an era. Btw I'm not really into new music (of MHR/AOR) but I liked what I've heard this year.

[The Rocker]

Yes definitely.

 

Virtually the whole of my top 20 is rated 85% or more which has probably not happened since about 1992 !!

 

I always thought 1992 was the end of an era. Btw I'm not really into new music (of MHR/AOR) but I liked what I've heard this year.

What kind of music are you into now? Do you just listen to the old stuff?

[Geoff]

I think it was an incredible year too. My memory is too f*cked to say off the top off my head how it compares to recent years, but it seems like the best I can think of in many, many years. I also think that my top 10-20 by the end of the year will be made up of truly first class albums.

[All Nights Reserved]

Yes definitely.

 

Virtually the whole of my top 20 is rated 85% or more which has probably not happened since about 1992 !!

 

I always thought 1992 was the end of an era. Btw I'm not really into new music (of MHR/AOR) but I liked what I've heard this year.

What kind of music are you into now? Do you just listen to the old stuff?

 

If I listen to melodic hard rock it should be prior 1993 in general but there are a few bands/albums from the new era that I like, e.g. the new Steel Panther is just awesome.

[The Rocker]

Yes definitely.

 

Virtually the whole of my top 20 is rated 85% or more which has probably not happened since about 1992 !!

 

I always thought 1992 was the end of an era. Btw I'm not really into new music (of MHR/AOR) but I liked what I've heard this year.

What kind of music are you into now? Do you just listen to the old stuff?

 

If I listen to melodic hard rock it should be prior 1993 in general but there are a few bands/albums from the new era that I like, e.g. the new Steel Panther is just awesome.

Now don't get me wrong, because I'm mr. 80's (hard rock, hard aor, some metal) but I don't know what I would do without hearing new music of that genre, like Reckless Love, Crazy Lixx, The Magnificent etc. I do always fall back to the 85-95 stuff!!!

[Captain Howdy]

There was a few decent albums at the beginning of the year, but the end of the year just exploded with great releases.

[heaven&hell]

I look at 2010 and see Accept, Iron Maiden, Dio, Heaven&Hell, Alter Bridge, Kamelot, Crazy Lixx, Crashdiet, Pretty Maids, Y&T, Overkill, Allen/Lande, Wig Wam,Slash,Reckless Love, Bangalore Choir, Hardcore Superstar, Unruly Child. 2011 has had some great releases too but not near as many as 2010 did for me at least.

[Geoff]

I look at 2010 and see Accept, Iron Maiden, Dio, Heaven&Hell, Alter Bridge, Kamelot, Crazy Lixx, Crashdiet, Pretty Maids, Y&T, Overkill, Allen/Lande, Wig Wam,Slash,Reckless Love, Bangalore Choir, Hardcore Superstar, Unruly Child. 2011 has had some great releases too but not near as many as 2010 did for me at least.

See, to me I only really see 5 or 6 releases there (highlighted) that could compare with the best of 2011. And even then, the Hardcore Superstar and Unruly Child discs are both great, but still a long way off any of the best releases from this year. The rest, for me personally, wouldn't even make a nutsack of an imprint on what's been released this year.

[glam_junkie]

I thouhgt 2011 was a pretty quiet year for glam/sleaze.

 

There were a few releases late 2010, which sorta left a void in 2011. I would probably struggle to fill a "top 10 glam/sleaze" list off the top of my head, as all the new releases i immediately think of are actually from 2010.

[Geoff]

I thouhgt 2011 was a pretty quiet year for glam/sleaze.

 

There were a few releases late 2010, which sorta left a void in 2011. I would probably struggle to fill a "top 10 glam/sleaze" list off the top of my head, as all the new releases i immediately think of are actually from 2010.

Truth. I think that's why the Crashdiet and Crazy Lixx discs from last year really stand out (plus they're brilliant), as there wasn't really much like that released this year at all.

[heaven&hell]

I look at 2010 and see Accept, Iron Maiden, Dio, Heaven&Hell, Alter Bridge, Kamelot, Crazy Lixx, Crashdiet, Pretty Maids, Y&T, Overkill, Allen/Lande, Wig Wam,Slash,Reckless Love, Bangalore Choir, Hardcore Superstar, Unruly Child. 2011 has had some great releases too but not near as many as 2010 did for me at least.

See, to me I only really see 5 or 6 releases there (highlighted) that could compare with the best of 2011. And even then, the Hardcore Superstar and Unruly Child discs are both great, but still a long way off any of the best releases from this year. The rest, for me personally, wouldn't even make a nutsack of an imprint on what's been released this year.

 

Well I'm not shocked that our opinions would differ since they usually do but the difference for me is I loved every album I listed and there were many others I didn't list that I bought such as Sister Sin, Keel, Scorpions, Bombay Black that I totally forgot about. When it comes down to it I probably bought twice as many 2010 releases compared to 2011 releases mostly because more bands I like put out new stuff in 2010 and not in 2011. While there have been some great stuff for me in 2011 such as FarCry, Edens Curse, Voodoo Circle, Reckless Love(it's now grown on me), Megadeth, Anthrax, Iced Earth, Saxon, Whitesnake, Mr Big, King Kobra, The Poodles, Black Country Communion, Reece/Kronlund, but 2010 just had more top albums for MY taste.

 

Edit: I forgot about Vain Enough Rope which could potentially be my album of the year so maybe there are more 2011 releases I have that I forgot about. I do have a few recent releases that I just purchased but haven't had the time to live with them yet or they haven't shown up in the mail yet.

[Nightrain]

I do think 2010 and 2011 has similarities, both are great years and full of awesome releases, but by the end of the day, 2011 still have more great releases, but both are awesome years.

 

I also think 2012 will still have a great run, but I'm afraid 2013 will start to decline and by 2014 perhaps we can only see a few great albums, but I might be wrong though.

 

I'm just afraid the new 'grunge' thing will pop up to make our life miserable again

[Glen]

The fact of the matter is that Dan is right.

 

There have been just too many releases in 2011 - even receiving quite a few promos it has made it very hard on the wallet trying to keep up and many new albums haven't really received the listening time they deserve! I still have quite a few I've only been able to spin once!

[JamesEagle]

I agree with the sentiment here, but for the same reason I would have named the thread, "2011 is making my wallet empty"!

[embrock]

I do think 2010 and 2011 has similarities, both are great years and full of awesome releases, but by the end of the day, 2011 still have more great releases, but both are awesome years.

 

I also think 2012 will still have a great run, but I'm afraid 2013 will start to decline and by 2014 perhaps we can only see a few great albums, but I might be wrong though.

 

I'm just afraid the new 'grunge' thing will pop up to make our life miserable again

 

To me starting from 2008 every year has been great and it's really hard for me to even rank them as there have been sooo many great releases.

 

I'm not afraid of a new "grunge" thing at all, quite the other way around actually: I think that the whole 80s-styled music is only starting off now (in pop-music as well, just listen to Lady Gaga or Kelly Clarkson and compare that stuff to pop-music from about 5-10 years ago – miles more melodic and better imo) and we should have a lot of great years ahead. Plus the big rock-bands from the past decade are starting to embrace the stadium-rock elements: Bands like Nickelback or most of all Papa Roach have adapted a lot of elements from the late 80s and are much better than 10 years ago, when in fact some of them were labeled "post-grunge".

 

So don't worry mate!

[Nightrain]

I do think 2010 and 2011 has similarities, both are great years and full of awesome releases, but by the end of the day, 2011 still have more great releases, but both are awesome years.

 

I also think 2012 will still have a great run, but I'm afraid 2013 will start to decline and by 2014 perhaps we can only see a few great albums, but I might be wrong though.

 

I'm just afraid the new 'grunge' thing will pop up to make our life miserable again

 

To me starting from 2008 every year has been great and it's really hard for me to even rank them as there have been sooo many great releases.

 

I'm not afraid of a new "grunge" thing at all, quite the other way around actually: I think that the whole 80s-styled music is only starting off now (in pop-music as well, just listen to Lady Gaga or Kelly Clarkson and compare that stuff to pop-music from about 5-10 years ago – miles more melodic and better imo) and we should have a lot of great years ahead. Plus the big rock-bands from the past decade are starting to embrace the stadium-rock elements: Bands like Nickelback or most of all Papa Roach have adapted a lot of elements from the late 80s and are much better than 10 years ago, when in fact some of them were labeled "post-grunge".

 

So don't worry mate!

 

I agree with you friend, I hope this trend will continue for at least 10 years ahead, even though our wallet will scream some pain out

 

There's a problem with why 80s music slowly dies back then and grunge take over and that problem is saturity. Remember when in the late 80s, almost any state in USA produced more than 100 hair bands lol and perhaps most of them just don't have the capability of writing great musics and performing, all they had is the look, long blonde hair, four-pack abs, and bam, they made an album and sound so similar to Crue, GNR, Poison, Bon Jovi, or Dokken.

 

This might not happen today, but there's a risk of bands running out of idea and simply just write same songs/pattern over and over again for their album in the upcoming years, and eventually their new releases became similar to Yngwie Malmsteen, Last Autumn's Dream, or Axel Rudi Pell, every year a new album pop out but it's basically the same since 10-15 years ago, and a new music finally take over.

[Glen]

My promise to myself for 2012 is that I'm going to try to restrict my buying to just 20 albums. I've bought loads this year and anything past about the top 20 won't get much airplay - so I'm going to be a lot more selective next year.