If recording artists could apply for tenure, like university professors, who would have the strongest application?
Universities award tenure based (mostly) on the quality and quantity of research that the professor publishes over a five or six-year period. Listeners could similarly award tenure to musicians based on the quality and quantity of music they release in a similar time period.
Because I thought up this absurd exercise, I nominate myself as the chair the recording artist tenure committee and am setting a few rules:
1. A tenure packet includes all of the music that an artist released within in a period of less than six consecutive years. This period could occur at any point during an artist’s career, and artists could qualify more than once. Dylan made the list twice, once for his work in the mid 60s and again a decade later. Jason Isbell made the list 1.667 times, if you count a pair of Drive-by Truckers albums. Other amazing artists didn’t make it because their best work was spread across decades rather than clustered into a single five-year window (Tom Petty, The Cure, Nick Cave) or was released before albums were a thing (Hank Williams, Ray Charles).
2. I judged the relative strength of tenure packets based on the quantity, quality, and influence of the music released within a qualifying time period.
Quantity: It is difficult to earn tenure at research-focused universities in my field (marketing) without publishing at least three articles. Universities often want more, but three is the minimum. Similarly, I’m setting the minimum bar to make this list at three original albums released inside a six-year window. Some of my favorite artists (Outkast, Michael Kiwanuka) didn’t make it because they didn’t drop albums fast enough. Releasing more than three albums strengthened a packet, but once this bar was met, the strength of the tenure packets depended more on the quality and influence of the music than the number of releases.
Quality: This is subjective. Universities judge the quality of a research paper based on the prestige of the journal in which it was published. I judged music quality based on how much I enjoy listening to it. Run DMC and Taylor Swift have been both productive and influential but are not on this list because I’ve never been able to make it through an entire album of theirs.
Influence: Influence is objective in theory, but difficult to measure in practice. Researchers count the number of times a paper has been cited as a proxy. Influence in music is harder to assess. Still, there are some differences in influence that we probably agree on. Bob Dylan was more influential than Joan Baez. The Beatles were more influential than Wings. This is why the fab four score high on this list even though I question their fabulousity.
3. My goal is to evaluate which tenure applications (i.e., collections of music released in a six-year window) are the strongest. Here are my picks for the top 50. Let me know who I missed in the comments.
1. Led Zeppelin (1969–1973)
• I (1969)
• II (1969)
• III (1970)
• IV (1971)
• Houses of the Holy (1973)
2. Beatles (1965–1969)
• Rubber Soul (1965)
• Revolver (1966)
• Sgt. Pepper (1967)
• Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
• The Beatles / The White Album (1968)
• Yellow Submarine (1969)
• Abbey Road (1969)
3. Bob Dylan (1963–1967)
• The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
• The Times They Are a Changin’ (1964)
• Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
• Bringing it All Back Home (1965)
• Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
• Blonde on Blonde (1966)
• John Wesley Harding (1967)
4. Jimi Hendrix (1967–1971)
• Are You Experienced (1967)
• Axis: Bold as Love (1967)
• Electric Ladyland (1968)
• Band of Gypsys (1970)
5. Radiohead (1997–2001)
• OK Computer (1997)
• Kid A (2000)
• Amnesiac (2001)
6. Rolling Stones (Dec 1968–August 1973)
• Beggars Banquet (1968)
• Let It Bleed (1969)
• Sticky Fingers (1971)
• Exile on Main Street (1972)
• Goats Head Soup (1973)
7. Bob Marley (1973-1977)
• Catch a Fire (1973)
• Burnin’ (1973)
• Natty Dread (1974)
• Rastaman Vibration (1976)
• Exodus (1977)
8. Grateful Dead (1970-1974)
• Workingman’s Dead (1970)
• American Beauty (1970)
• Grateful Dead / Skull and Roses (1971)
• Europe ’72 (1972)
• Wake of the Flood (1973)
• From the Mars Hotel (1974)
9. Bruce Springsteen (1973-1977)
• Greetings from Asbury Park (1973)
• The Wild, the Innocent, and the East St. Shuffle (1973)
• Born to Run (1975)
• Darkness on the Edge of Town (1977)
10. David Bowie (6/1972–1/1977)
• The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust (1972)
• Aladdin Sane (1973)
• Pin Ups (1973)
• Diamond Dogs (1974)
• Young Americans (1975)
• Station to Station (1976)
• Low (1977)
11. Neil Young (8/1970–6/1975)
• After the Gold Rush (1970)
• Harvest (1972)
• On the Beach (1974)
• Tonight’s the Night (1975)
12. Nirvana (1991-1995)
• Nevermind (1991)
• Incesticide (1992)
• In Utero (1993)
• MTV Unplugged (1994)
13. Bob Dylan (1974-1978)
• Planet Waves (1974)
• Blood on the Tracks (1975)
• The Basement Tapes (1975)
• Desire (1976)
• Street Legal (1978)
14. The Band (1968-1972)
• Music from the Big Pink (1968)
• The Band (1969)
• Stage Fright (1970)
• Cahoots (1971)
15. Van Morrison (1968–1972)
• Astral Weeks (1968)
• Moondance (1970)
• His Band and the Street Choir (1970)
• Tupelo Honey (1971)
• Saint Dominic’s Preview (1972)
16. Otis Redding (1964-1968)
• Pain in My Heart (1964)
• The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads (1965)
• Otis Blue (1965)
• The Soul Album (1966)
• Complete & Unbelievable (1966)
• King & Queen (1967)
• Dock of the Bay (1968)
17. The Hold Steady (2004-2008)
• Almost Killed Me (2004)
• Separation Sunday (2005)
• Boys and Girls in America (2006)
• Stay Positive (2008)
18. Creedence Clearwater Revival (1968-1972)
• Creedence Clearwater Revival (1968)
• Bayou Country (1969)
• Green River (1969)
• Willy and the Poor Boys (1969)
• Cosmo’s Factory (1970)
• Pendulum (1970)
• Mardi Gras (1972)
19. Jason Isbell (2011-2015)
• Here we rest (2011)
• Live from Alabama (2012)
• Southeastern (2013)
• Something More Than Free (2015)
20. Pink Floyd (1973–1977)
• Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
• Wish You Were Here (1975)
• Animals (1977)
21. Drive-By Truckers (2001-2005)
• Southern Rock Opera (2001)
• Decoration Day (2003)
• The Dirty South (2004)
22. Prince (1980-1984)
• Dirty Mind (1980)
• Controversy (1981)
• 1999 (1982)
• Purple Rain (1984)
23. Sly Stone (1968-1972)
• Dance to the Music (1968)
• Life (1968)
• Stand (1969)
• There’s a Riot Going On (1971)
24. Joni Mitchell (1970-1974)
• Ladies of the Canyon (1970)
• Blue (1971)
• For the Roses (1972)
• Court and Spark (1974)
25. Elvis Costello (1977-1981)
• My Aim is True (1977)
• This Year’s Model (1978)
• Armed Forces (1979)
• Get Happy (1980)
• Trust (1981)
• Almost Blue (1981)
26. The Doors (1967–1971)
• The Doors (1967)
• Strange Days (1967)
• Waiting for the Sun (1968)
• The Soft Parade (1969)
• Morrison Hotel (1970)
• LA Woman (1971)
27. Sufjan Stevens (2003-2007)
• Michigan (2003)
• Seven Swans (2004)
• Illinois (2005)
• The Avalanche (2006)
28. Pearl Jam (1991-1995)
• Ten (1991)
• Vs. (1993)
• Vitology (1994)
29. Ween (9/1994-6/1999)
• Chocolate and Cheese (1994)
• 12 Golden Country Greats (1996)
• The Mollusk (1997)
• Painting the Town Brown (1999)
30. The White Stripes (2001-2005)
• White Blood Cells (2001)
• Elephant (2003)
• Get Behind Me Satan (2005)
31. The Smiths (1984-1988)
• The Smiths (1984)
• Meat is Murder (1985)
• The Queen is Dead (1986)
• Strageways Here We Come (1987)
32. U2 (1987-1991)
• The Joshua Tree (1987)
• Rattle and Hum (1988)
• Achtung Baby (1991)
33. Merle Haggard (1966-1970)
• Swinging Doors (1966)
• I’m a Lonesome Fugitive (1967)
• Branded Man (1967)
• Sing Me Back Home (1968)
• The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde (1968)
• Mama Tried (1968)
• Pride in What I Am (1969)
• Same Train, A Different Time (1969)
• A Portrait of Merle Haggard (1969)
• A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (1970)
34. The Kinks (9/1967–8/1972)
• Something Else by the Kinks (1967)
• The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
• Arthur (1969)
• Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part 1 (1970)
• Percy (1971)
• Muswell Hillbillies (1971)
• Everybody’s in Show-Biz (1972)
35. The Decemberists (2002-2006)
• Castaways and Cutouts (2002)
• Her Majesty (2003)
• Picaresque (2005)
• The Crane Wife (2006)
36. The Ramones (1976-1980)
• Ramones (1976)
• Leave Home (1977)
• Rocket to Russia (1977)
• Road to Ruin (1978)
• End of the Century (1980)
37. Sublime (1992–1996)
• 40 Oz to Freedom (1992)
• Robbin’ the Hood (1994)
• Sublime (1996)
38. Townes Van Zandt (1968-1972)
• For the Sake of the Song (1968)
• Our Mother the Mountain (1968)
• Townes Van Zandt (1969)
• Delta Momma Blues (1971)
• The Late Great Townes Van Zandt (1972)
• High, Low, and In Between (1972)
39. Tom Waits (1983-1987)
• Swordfish Trombones (1983)
• Rain Dogs (1985)
• Frank’s Wild Years (1987)
40. Willie Nelson (1973-1977)
• Shotgun Willie (1973)
• Phases and Stages (1974)
• Red Headed Stranger (1975)
• The Sound in Your Mind (1976)
• The Troublemaker (1976)
• From Lefty to Willie (1977)
41. Kendrick Lamar (10/2012–4/2017)
• Good Kid M.A.A.D. City (2012)
• To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
• Damn (2017)
42. Velvet Underground (1967-1971)
• Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
• White Light/White Heat (1968)
• Velvet Underground (1969)
• Loaded (1970)
43. Tupac (1993-1997)
• Strictly 4 My Niggaz (1993)
• Me Against the World (1995)
• All Eyez on Me (1996)
• The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996)
• R U Still Down (1997)
44. The Black Keys (2008–2012)
• Attack & Release (2008)
• Brothers (2010)
• El Camino (2011)
45. Lana Del Rey (2012-2016)
• Born to Die (2012)
• Ultraviolence (2014)
• Honeymoon (2015)
46. Allman Brothers Band (1969-1973)
• Allman Brothers Band (1969)
• Idlewild South (1970)
• At Fillmore East (1971)
• Eat a Peach (1972)
• Brothers and Sisters (1973)
47. A Tribe Called Quest (1990-1994)
• People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (1990)
• The Low End Theory (1991)
• Midnight Marauders (1993)
48. Metallica (1984-1988)
• Ride the Lightning (1984)
• Master of Puppets (1986)
• …And Justice for All (1988)
49. Nick Drake (1969-1973)
• Five Leaves Left (1969)
• Bryter Layter (1970)
• Pink Moon (1972)
50. Beach House (2008–2012)
• Devotion (2008)
• Teen Dream (2010)
• Bloom (2012)