The following report is courtesy of Dave Tianen from Jsonline.com

With all due respect, rock was just starting to roll in its Glory that was grease, hot rod and malt shop days. By many estimates, rock is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, a natural milestone from which to take stock and reflect on a half century of creative glory sprinkled with interludes of musical misadventure. It's a good moment to ponder the answer to the question implied in Milner's putdown. When was rock's pinnacle, its bright shining moment, its finest year?

Was it back at the beginning in 1955, when the music world was turned upside down by the propulsive blast of rock's first No. 1 single, 'Rock Around the Clock' by BILL HALEY AND THE COMETS? In '55, ELVIS PRESLEY was still the Rockabilly Cat, the fastest-rising star in country music and poised to erupt, in Bono's apt phrase, as "the Big Bang of rock and roll." It was a year of emerging legends such as CHUCK BERRY, LITTLE RICHARD and RAY CHARLES.

Or was it in 1964, when the Beatles launched the British Invasion, changing the face of popular music in so many ways, replacing the era of solo singers with the reign of the rock band, gradually moving the emphasis away from the hit single to the album, opening a new period of social and political consciousness and marking artists who didn't write their own material as permanently obsolete?

Or perhaps it was 1991, when NIRVANA launched the grunge movement, blending elements of punk and metal to forge rock's last great creative upheaval and anointing Seattle as the center of the musical universe.

In an effort to get a fix on rock's greatest glory days, we asked a group of national and local critics, historians and music veterans for their pick on the greatest year in rock 'n' roll.

Interestingly, they tended not to pick the obvious years of historic upheaval, such as 1964 or 1955-'56. While nothing that approached a consensus materialized, two years did vie as leading contenders.

The big winner: 1969

This year is best remembered for Woodstock, rock's great communal moment. But Brad Tolinski, editor of Guitar World, argues that '69 actually marks the dawn of the modern world in rock.

"It's not just about Woodstock," Tolinski says. "It's super way beyond that. It's almost like what one would say about hip-hop now. I think after the first burst of creativity, rock actually matured and really came into its own as an art form."

Unlike Presley's national debut in 1956 with 'Heartbreak Hotel' or the arrival of Beatlemania in 1964, when music changed in a clear direction defined by a single dominant act, in 1969 many new movements were starting to take root. Carlos SANTANA launched a revolution in Latin rock that continues today with LOS LONELY BOYS. THE ALLMAN BROTHERS arose as the first of the jam bands. The VELVET UNDERGROUND Underground was pioneering art rock and punk. The first rumbling of heavy metal was starting with LED ZEPPELIN. And Tolinski argues that a case could be made that CCR marked the beginning of the roots rock phenomenon.

"You had the STOOGES first record. You had 'Abbey Road' by THE BEATLES. You had THE BAND. OK. Maybe Creedence wasn't the first roots-rock record , but maybe you could argue The Band's record was. (You also had) JEFFERSON AIRPLANE's Volunteers.'Let It Bleed by the STONES, which could be argued as their best record. As a clincher for a guitar magazine, you have the greatest guitar performance ever captured, in my humble opinion, which is JIMI HENDRIX's The Band Of Gypsies At Fillmore East. "And then you had Zeppelin's second record. And I didn't mention one of the greatest records in prog rock, KING CRIMSON's 'In the Court of the Crimson King.' "

Bram Teitelman, managing editor for rock for Billboard Magazine, agrees with Tolinski.

Said Teitelman, "'64 or '55, they were seminal years in terms of a certain type of sound or music being created, but it seems like the creative fruition of all those movements was in '69. . .It really sets the tone for a lot of the music that will come after and had reached a sort of critical mass. I happen to have the top 10 album charts book, and just looking at a random week in '69, you have Abbey Road, Led Zeppelin II, TOM JONES, CCR, CROSBY, STILLS & NASH, Santana' and JOHNNY CASH. Most of those bands are still relevant today. There are just some classic albums that came out in that year."