There is a small fad happening on a lot of blogs lately where people create a list of the greatest albums to be released each year since they were born. Being a slight music nut I had to make a list of my own. To most this may seem completely unrelated to entrepreneurship but as I made the list it occurred to me that each album is an entrepreneurial venture in itself. Each album did something innovative to be considered on of the best albums that year. Additionally it reminded me of an article that came out of Davos in 2007 where they were asked to identify “The Top Ten Truths About the Digital Ecosphere”. The ninth truth was Songs are the spiritual property of the young and that music constructs young people’s identities and creates a sense of ownership amongst young people. So without further ado, the list:

1985 – The Cure “The Head on the Door”
1986 - The Smiths “The Queen is Dead”
1987 - Guns N’ Roses “Appetite For Destruction”
1988 - Pixies “Surfer Rosa”
1989 – Beastie Boys “Paul’s Boutique”
Honorable Mention: The Pixies “Doolittle”
1990 – Fugazi “Repeater”
1991 – Red Hot Chili Peppers “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”
Honorable Mention: Nirvana “Nevermind”
1992 - Massive Attack “Blue Lines”
1993 - Nirvana “in Utero”
1994 - Jeff Buckley “Grace”
Honorable Mention: Weezer “Weezer”
1995 - Oasis “What’s the Story Morning Glory”
Honorable Mention: Wilco “A.M”
1996 - At The Drive-In “Acrobatic Tenement”
Honorable Mention: Weezer “Pinkerton” or Wilco “Being There”
1997 - Radiohead “OK Computer”
1998 - Cursive “The Storms of Early Summer: semantics of a song”
Honorable Mention: Neutral Milk Hotel “In The Aeroplan Over the Sea”
1999 - Sigur Rios “Ágætis Byrjun”
Honorable Mention: The Flaming Lips “The Soft Bulletin”; Death Cab For Cutie “Something About Airplanes”; Wilco “Summerteeth”
2000 - Elliot Smith “Figure 8″
Honorable Mention: Radiohead “Kid A”; Ryan Adams “Heartbreaker”
2001 - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists “The Tyranny of Distance”
Honorable Mention: Rilo Kiley “Take Off And Landings”; Radiohead “Amnesiac”
2002 - Wilco “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”
Honorable Mention: Glassjaw “Worship and Tribute”; Interpol “Turn on the Black Lights”; The Postal Service “Give Up”
2003 - Broken Social Scene “You Forgot It In People”
Honorable Mention: Aesop Rock “Labor Days” ; My Morning Jacket “It Still Moves”
2004 - Arcade Fire “Funeral”
Honorable Mention: Danger Mouse “The Grey Album”; Madvillain “Madvilliany” or The Streets “A Grand Don’t Come For Free” or TV on the Radio “Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes”
2005 - Sufjan Stevens “Illinois”
Honorable Mention: Bloc Party “Silent Alarm”; The Hold Steady “Seperation Sunday”; Kings of Leon “Aha Shake Heartbreak”; My Moring Jacket “Z”; The National “The Alligator”; The New Pornographers “Twin Cinema”;  Okkervil River “Black Sheep Boy”; Stars “Set Yourself On Fire”; Wolf Parade “Apologies to the Queen Mary”
2006 - Hold Steady “Boys and Girls in America”
Honorable Mention: Destroyer “Destroyer’s Rubies”; Joanna Newsom “Ys”; Grizzly Bear “Yellow House”; TV On the Radio “Return to Cookie Mountain”
2007 - The National “Boxer”
Honorable Mention: Battles “Mirrored”; Burial “Untrue”; Radiohead “In Rainbows”;  Spoon “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga”;  Voxtrot “Voxtrot”

Note: I did break one rule in that you could only pick one album a year. But to follow another rule of only being able to have an artist appear once on the list I had to add an honorable mention.

When asked what’s an entrepreneur most people would say a small business owner or a web developer. But entrepreneurship can be found in many different walks of life. Your friend that makes screen print t-shirts is an entrepreneur. Your neighbor that collects honey and sells it at the local grocery store is an enttpreneur. Or even your college friends that started their own band and are touring the country in their parent’s van. Music is becoming a large part of the world of entrepreneurship. From making music, to marketing music, to producing music.

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