1969 Briefly Revisited: AotY

This project often becomes an exercise in wondering: Wow... how in the world did y'all get this So Wrong??

If you only listen to one song: "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", Aretha Franklin^[1]

The Grammys got 1969 very wrong

Quick review... here are the actual nominees for 1969's Album of the Year.

Original List

• Bookends, Simon & Garfunkel
• By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Glen Campbell
• Feliciano!, José Feliciano
• Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles
• A Tramp Shining, Richard Harris

For your consideration, here are five completely different albums that could have been nominated for 1969's Album of the Year. (Spoiler alert: it's a better list.)

Alternative List #1

• Aretha Now, Aretha Franklin
• Axis: Bold As Love, Jimi Hendrix
• Crown of Creation, Jefferson Airplane
• Song to a Seagull [AKA Joni Mitchell], Joni Mitchell
• Soul Men, Sam & Dave

And, just to prove a point, here are five more albums that could have been nominated for 1969's Album of the Year. (Spoiler alert: it's still a better list.)

Alternative List - #2

• After Bathing at Baxter's, Jefferson Airplane
• The Dock of the Bay, Otis Redding
• The Immortal Otis Redding, Otis Redding
• Lady Soul, Aretha Franklin
• Simply Streisand, Barbra Streisand

It's easy to make fun of the Grammys for the quality and quantity of their wrongness. This project does, at times, become an exercise in wondering how the Grammys could miss so badly; I also take it as an opportunity to ponder if I might be making the same mistakes with current music. It's easy enough to know what the right answers are for 1969, but do I have the right answers for 2018? If nothing else, it's a reminder to keep an open mind.

Other Quick Notes

Jimi Hendrix
omg Jimi why u so good?

Jefferson Airplane
I never knew I loved Jefferson Airplane, but I love Jefferson Airplane.

I loved Surrealistic Pillow. I love Crown of Creation. I'm not sure I full-on "love" After Bathing At Baxter's... at the very least I like it a lot.

Aretha

The current One Man Academy (OMA) project is listening to the Grammy's Album of the Year nominees and re-choosing winners, absent of historical context.

Featured songs from this post: Spotify