[rudyfink]

There may be something better, but I found something similar to what you are looking for in https://www.allmusic.com years ago. They grouped music by genre (and sub-genres) and noted significant artists and albums by year within each genre.

I went through the genres, working from the past to the present and ended up with a much broader experience in music because of it.

They still seem to have most of those features.

For example, they have a list of genres (https://www.allmusic.com/genres). If you go into a genre, say blues, there are lists of significant albums and artists. You have to click on the "list view", but that exposes the year of the album or artist. At the very bottom of the genre page (almost hidden) are lists of sub genres that you can break out. Each of these has the same highlighted album and artist information. If you go into detail on an individual artist, say Robert Johnson, they have bio, discography, and related artist / influences (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/robert-johnson-mn0000832288/...) information.

All that said, the site does not seem as easy to use as I remember (but that could be my memory). But, hopefully, it is at least a start towards what you are looking for!

[cognaitiv]

AMG is really amazing. I can’t think of a more comprehensive encyclopedia of well curated music-related data and thoughtful criticism in one place. It would be really exciting if this database were available publicly a la MusicBrainz because the rich relationship graph encourages novel interfaces to explore the content.

Before all of this information was readily available on the internet, The Rolling Stone Album Guide was the de facto reference and a used copy can be had for around $5. Like any critical rating of art, ymmv, famously Led Zeppelin.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/117198.The_New_Rollin...

For current artists I usually turn to Pitchfork for news and criticism, RS tends to have a strong boomer bias.

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/