It's 1978 this time, a busy year for Bruce Springsteen, who issued Dark on the Edge of Town, and co-wrote a song for Patti Smith; Elvis Costello released his second album; it was the year of "Some Girls" from the Rolling Stones; and both the Police and the Cars released their first albums.

It's 1967 this time, the year of the Summer of Love, and the year of some pretty awesome music, too: Motown sounds like the Four Tops were big; Aretha recorded one of her most famous albums; the Rolling Stones recorded a whole bunch fo stuff in 1967; it was the year of "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" from the Beatles; and Jimi Hendrix took the electric guitar to a whole new level with the "Are You Experienced" album.

It' s 1987 this time; Mojo Nixon told us that Elvis is everywhere. From the Land Down Under, Midnight Oil released their biggest-selling album. In My Tribe was issued from 10,000 Maniacs, and it was a huge year locally with albums from Hüsker Dü, Prince and the Replacements.

A nod to Prince this time as the Time Machine stops in 1999. Tom Waits was big in Japan. The Magnetic Fields released perhaps their finest album. Moby released his big-selling Play album. And it was the year of "The Soft Bulletin" from Oklahoma City's the Flaming Lips.

The machine drives to 2008 this time. Locally, it was the year of When Life Gives You Lemons… by Atmosphere. Supergroup of sorts the Raconteurs released Consolers of the Lonely featuring Jack White and Brendan Benson; and there were emerging artists like Vampire Weekend and the synth-pop group Chairlift, and Bon Iver emerged from the hunting shack with For Emma, Forever Ago.

We hop in the wayback machine this time to 1957. Patsy Cline and Marty Robbins had big hits. In New Orleans, Professor Longhair and Fats Domino recorded classics. Rock and roll music was king with big tracks from Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry.

It's 1976 this time, James Brown and Parliament brought the funk, Blondie, the Runaways and the Ramones brought the punk, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers recorded a song just in time for the Bicentennial.

It's 1980 this time; Wille Nelson was "On the Road Again"; Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band unleashed the two-album set, The River. Meanwhile, it was a three-album set from the Clash called Sandinista!. It was the year of the Pretenders' debut, and a third album dropped from Prince, called Dirty Mind.

The old Time Machine makes a stop in 1998 this time. Local boys done good Semisonic had their biggest hit; Neutral Milk Hotel released their masterpiece In The Aeroplane Over the Sea; speaking of masterpieces, it was the year of Car Wheels on a Gravel Road from Lucinda Williams, and it seemed everybody owned a copy of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

It's 1966 this time, a big year in music: groups like the Mamas and the Papas, the Byrds and the Monkees were all over the charts. Nancy Sinatra had her biggest hit, and the Beach Boys released their masterpiece: Pet Sounds.