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Thanks for having the gumption to pick just one. Also for agreeing I'm right. #smilingface
Cue the hand wringing procrastinators who list several...
Dirt by Alice in Chains.
If you would permit me, I'd amend my previous answer to the 1996 MTV unplugged album.
Radiohead - The Bends
1996 MTV unplugged album (Alice in Chains)
That could well be the end of the thread right there. So much brilliant metal/rock/grunge in the 90s but amongst that this stands out.
Elizium by fields of the nephilim, just a masterpeice of gothy joy with a light dusting of flour
Nevermind. Nirvana.
Music for the Jilted Generation-The Prodigy
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Blue Lines - Massive Attack
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized
Don't know what was in the water in 1997, but that plus OK Computer and Urban Hymns makes it my top album year ever.
Copper Blue by Sugar (although Beaster is even finer but only an EP)
Beaster is amazing, and it was marketed as an album and featured in the album chart at the time etc. so you can have it. Was the only cassette album I ever bought that was the same tracks on both sides of the tape!
Generation Terrorists - Manics
If you want something chilled then Moon Safari by Air
1990's I was 15-25 and so much of my music is from that decade it's hard to name one. But I will mention The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion by The Black Crowes. It's the album I go back to most frequently, it's got me through the bad times and made the good times even better. It's a close run with their Amorica album which has the better songs. The 90's were amazing, my sixteen year old daughter loves the 90's too.
lambchopFull Member
‘Bandwagonesque’
A very solid contender, but shouldn't you be voting for a Lambchop album?
Blue Lines – Massive Attack
Would be a contender except its got one duff track on it
I'm going to say 'Odelay'. But only because the actual best album of the 90s - 'Pauls Boutique' was released in 89 and is therefore technically disqualified.
Bookmarking this thread as there's so much good music I haven't listened to for ages
Crikey, name one, based purely on probably my most listened - Arrested Development MTV Unplugged.
https://www.discogs.com/release/2161674-Arrested-Development-Unplugged
Itching to say one more.
'Mezzanine' - Massive Attack although 'In Sides' by Orbital is also up there
Would be a contender except its got one duff track on it
There's a duff track on Blue Lines?!
Nevermind.
Conveniently, at the beginning of the decade as well to pave the way for everything that came after. But also, most of (if not all) the choices on here are by definition, the choices of middle aged white men, so there's that.
We are all old bastards
Cowboy Junkies - Pale Sun Crescent Moon.
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume 2.
One of my most vivid memories is the first play of that record, being literally floored by how different it was.
William Orbit’s Strange Cargo - Hinterland.
I’m torn between it and an eponymous debut album from a different genre where every song is cracking. No-one has mentioned it yet. But in keeping with the OP’s earlier direction, I’ll remain off the fence.
(Nevermind would have made my top 3)
Rage Against the Machine
Absolute rager of a timeless album.
Beasty Boys Ill Communication
Rage Against the Machine
Absolute rager of a timeless album
100% this.
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
The Offspring - Smash
Faith No More - King for a day, fool for a lifetime
Kruder and Dorfmeister - DJ Kicks
God, so many of those listed already are contenders but ultimately it's got to be
OK Computer
But could be any one of a hundred really
But thinking about it SHOULD be Orb live 93
Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
The Offspring – Smash
Faith No More – King for a day, fool for a lifetime
Kruder and Dorfmeister – DJ Kicks
The thread's "best album". C'mon man, show some backbone and commit!
None of my suggestions. RATM self-titled without a doubt
There’s a duff track on Blue Lines?!
Yeah - Hymn of the big wheel.
So many great tracks on Blue Lines but (IMO) that track prevents it being a great album
Honestly, so many great albums through the 90’s, some absolutely groundbreaking. I managed 39 gigs just in one year in that decade, and trying to pin down one just isn’t possible, tbh.
These are the bands and albums from the 90’s that made a huge and lasting impact on me.
Massive Attack -Mezzanine,
Portishead - Dummy,
Soundgarden - Superunknown,
Faith No More - Angel Dust,
Belly - Star,
Pixies - Trompe le Monde,
Radiohead - OK Computer,
Screaming Trees - Dust,
Aimee Mann - I’m With Stupid,
Cowboy Junkies - The Caution Horses.
I saw all of them through the decade, apart from Pixies and Radiohead.
@llama This is a surprise why?
No-one said Loveless yet? Still sounds like nothing else (though the only distinct sound is the drumroll at the beginning), best listened to at a volume that makes your house shake, nearly bankrupted Creation records (partly because instead of recording the drum track, Shields sampled O’Ciosaig’s drumming then sequenced it) and with special guest chinchillas…
Most underrated would have to be Ride the Fader by Chavez, Dust by Screaming Trees (glad it’s not just me @CountZero) or Troublegum, which I managed to get into the student rag Classic Albums column.
Doggystyle and the soundtrack to Friday.
Wowee Zowee was better, you know…
(I also have a copy of Gary Young’s Hospital, which… isn’t)
Troublegum.
A particularly good record in the car when you want to rag it's head off, or at any other time when you want to forget the wife is a massive arsehole.
Hmmm... after the 80s brought you likes of Eddie Van Halen Randy Rhodes, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteem, Billy Sheehan, Gary Moore, and more into the mainstream, the 90s were all rather disappointing to me.
I'll throw a couple more into the mix that were on repeat for a tour of the Former Yugoslavia in '98.
Korn - Follow The Leader
The Offspring - Americana
Well done on that Aimee Mann album. That was lovely.
Hmmm… after the 80s brought you likes of Eddie Van Halen Randy Rhodes, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteem, Billy Sheehan, Gary Moore, and more into the mainstream, the 90s were all rather disappointing to me.
Get wid da yoot, grandad
after the 80s brought you likes of Eddie Van Halen Randy Rhodes, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteem
So people basically ****ing a guitar, no thanks.
RATM ST and Dust are absolutely classic albums. Paul's Boutique Vs. Stone Roses is no contest really. The Beasties take that honour purely from the fact the album basically changed hip-hop music production and the way sampling is used to a huge degree.
Hard to pick, but to suggest something not spotted in the thread so far...
REM- Automatic For The People
Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
I'd also be happy with already mentioned Fear of a Black Planet or Blue Lines. Or Maxinquaye.
I don't agree with maccruiskeen that a duff track stops an album from being excellent - for example I love Zep 4, and that has Stairway to ****ing Heaven on it.
Shouting End of Life
Oysterband
Hard to pick, but to suggest something not spotted in the thread so far…
REM- Automatic For The People
If you like REM and you have Netflix you could do worse than look up the Song Exploder episode about Losing My Religion (it'll also be on the podcast).
I was going to suggest "3ft high and rising" but it looks to have been released in 1989, maybe it was a little later in the uk that they became known.
So for me it would be a tossup between "dummy" and "moon safari" and since dummy was the first ssuggestion on the thread I will go for moon safari.
But there were many great albums in the decade, I could change my mind in 5 mins time and choose something completely different.
A few already posted that would be in my top ten.
I was thinking Elastica or Check Your Head, but if I had to chose a current favourite it would be Urban Hymns by the Verve.
Edgelords gotta be edgy I guess.
Goes for about £150 on Discogs in mint condition.