In terms of 1979, great pick...one, after all, that started this whole blog trail in the first place. Hard to argue with its importance to all of us guys in our forties (Kyle may not get it though). And such great music. I would add a couple of small-ish bur great release - The Records' Shades in Bed (which I loved then); Gang of Four's Entertainment (which I learned to love later), and Rolling Stones Some Girls, which although it came out in 1978 was the record I lived with most in 1979, and which started my life long romance with British pop/rock (Romancing the Stones?). So I think 1979 works equally well as both a personal and academic take on the best year in pop.