Are Recessions Producing Better Music Than Economic Expansions?

This is an old thought of mine from the 90s when grunge exploded in the midst of wars and recessions: Are recessions the catalyst for more artistic and creative output than market expansions? If so, why?

I searched for “the top albums of all times” on Google and found Rolling Stone’s “The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. Picking the top twenty and matching them with expansion or recession cycles:

1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles (1967 - expansion)

2. Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys (1966 - expansion)

3. Revolver, The Beatles (1966 - expansion)

4. Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan (1965 - expansion)

5. Rubber Soul, The Beatles (1965 - expansion)

6. What’s Going On, Marvin Gaye (1971 - expansion)

7. Exile on Main Street, The Rolling Stones (1972 - expansion)

8. London Calling, The Clash (1979 - expansion)

9. Blonde on Blonde, Bob Dylan (1966 - expansion)

10. The Beatles (“The White Album”), The Beatles (1968 - expansion)

11. The Sun Sessions, Elvis Presley (1955 - expansion)

12. Kind of Blue, Miles Davis (1959 - expansion

13. Velvet Underground and Nico, The Velvet Underground (1968 - expansion)

14. Abbey Road, The Beatles (1969 - recession)

15. Are You Experienced?, The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967 - expansion)

16. Blood on the Tracks, Bob Dylan (1974 recession)

17. Nevermind, Nirvana (1990 - recession)

18. Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen (1975 - expansion)

19. Astral Weeks, Van Morrison (1968 - expansion)

20. Thriller, Michael Jackson (1982 - recession)

80% of the greatest albums were released in an expanding economy and only 20% in a contracting. An expanding economy drives employment and vice versa. But recession are usually very short (average 10 months) which might make this comparison unfair. I might also need to expand the sample to 100 albums to make it more scientific or look at when the music was created instead of release date.

Mapping the greatest albums to what cyclical stage the financial markets were in might be a better method. Bear or bull cycles for financial markets and real estate matters as it drives or contracts consumption (at least in the past 10-years bubble economy). Then 65% of the albums were created during bear markets and 35% during bull markets.

Maybe it’s not the output I should look at but when the band started and what influenced them. Many great band members comes from poverty and where there is nothing else to do they get time to explore their creative talents.

To be continued…