your favourite music sucks
May 19, 2009 5:25 AM Subscribe
This post was deleted for the following reason: I don't understand. this was posted here in 2003. -- jessamyn
Top 100 Albums of the 1990s
by Pitchfork Staff
November 17, 2003
It's been just over four years since Pitchfork published its first-ever Top 100 feature, Pitchfork's Top 100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s , and looking back at that list a lot has changed: our perceptions of the decade are different now, our personal tastes have expanded, our knowledge of the music has deepened,
I wonder how their perceptions, tastes, and knowledge have changed in the 6 years since this article was published.
posted by billysumday at 5:30 AM on May 19, 2009
by Pitchfork Staff
November 17, 2003
It's been just over four years since Pitchfork published its first-ever Top 100 feature, Pitchfork's Top 100 Favorite Albums of the 1990s , and looking back at that list a lot has changed: our perceptions of the decade are different now, our personal tastes have expanded, our knowledge of the music has deepened,
I wonder how their perceptions, tastes, and knowledge have changed in the 6 years since this article was published.
posted by billysumday at 5:30 AM on May 19, 2009
How exactly is the Blue Album better than Pinkerton? Excluding commercial success, of course.
posted by giraffe at 5:32 AM on May 19, 2009
posted by giraffe at 5:32 AM on May 19, 2009
I like blackberry pie, but key lime is good too.
posted by little e at 5:35 AM on May 19, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by little e at 5:35 AM on May 19, 2009 [1 favorite]
billysumday: "Also, double."
Oh, then since this is going to get deleted anyway...
OK Computer simply is the anxious, self-important, uncertain, technologically overwhelmed 1990s.
Say what you like about the 80s, I don't recall us writing bullshit like that about The Joshua Tree.
posted by Joe Beese at 5:35 AM on May 19, 2009 [1 favorite]
Oh, then since this is going to get deleted anyway...
OK Computer simply is the anxious, self-important, uncertain, technologically overwhelmed 1990s.
Say what you like about the 80s, I don't recall us writing bullshit like that about The Joshua Tree.
posted by Joe Beese at 5:35 AM on May 19, 2009 [1 favorite]
no, the bullshit relating to the joshua tree was 100% bono's fault.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:37 AM on May 19, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:37 AM on May 19, 2009 [1 favorite]
And Pinback doesn't even get a mention in the "unfortunately these artists were thrown under the bus" list. 1999 was in the '90s, people!
posted by giraffe at 5:38 AM on May 19, 2009
posted by giraffe at 5:38 AM on May 19, 2009
OK Computer simply is not as good as The Bends. Not for listenability, not for durability, not for me.
(But then I also can't grok the high esteem given Elliot Smith, Stereolab and Massive Attack, which belies my much-vaunted appreciation for the '90s.)
posted by kittyprecious at 5:44 AM on May 19, 2009
(But then I also can't grok the high esteem given Elliot Smith, Stereolab and Massive Attack, which belies my much-vaunted appreciation for the '90s.)
posted by kittyprecious at 5:44 AM on May 19, 2009
I'm more pooKeen pie person.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:44 AM on May 19, 2009
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:44 AM on May 19, 2009
Ooh, wait, I forgot about peanut butter pie. Peanut butter pie is awesome.
posted by little e at 5:45 AM on May 19, 2009
posted by little e at 5:45 AM on May 19, 2009
But then I also can't grok the high esteem given Elliot Smith, Stereolab and Massive Attack
hey, stereolab were great - well, their early stuff, naturally. like, an EP and maybe the first 2-3 albums.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:46 AM on May 19, 2009
hey, stereolab were great - well, their early stuff, naturally. like, an EP and maybe the first 2-3 albums.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:46 AM on May 19, 2009
I love these End of The Year lists...wait...what?
I'm only curmudgeonly because as I get older, I recognize less of the names of these lists.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 5:49 AM on May 19, 2009 [2 favorites]
I'm only curmudgeonly because as I get older, I recognize less of the names of these lists.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 5:49 AM on May 19, 2009 [2 favorites]
Whoa, I want to try the pie floater. Do you know where I could get one? At breakfast time? In Virginia?
posted by little e at 5:51 AM on May 19, 2009
posted by little e at 5:51 AM on May 19, 2009
is Virginia a suburb of Adelaide? just go up to the nearest church / pub / axemurder site.
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:53 AM on May 19, 2009
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:53 AM on May 19, 2009
I don't know of any axe murder sites nearby. Does it count if I murder someone with an axe myself, right now?
posted by little e at 5:56 AM on May 19, 2009
posted by little e at 5:56 AM on May 19, 2009
not sure; i need to go & consult Wisden's Cricketing Almanack to adjudicate on that.
give me a session, an innings and about half an over & i'll get back to you.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:00 AM on May 19, 2009
give me a session, an innings and about half an over & i'll get back to you.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:00 AM on May 19, 2009
Can I just say how disappointed I was to find that "...Baby One More Time" was not on that list.
Also, there is no way that Massive Attack's Mezzanine deserved to be in that list. One truly awesome song. The rest, not so much. Blue Lines, on the other hand, is there by right.
My other thoughts: I bought Boards of Canada's "Music Has the Right to Children" and found it to be unmitigated, overrated shite. I loved The Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" but scratch my head as to why "The Soft Bulletin" is so beloved of music reviewers.
And do Weezer really merit two entries? Two of the best albums produced in ten years. Seriously?
posted by MuffinMan at 6:11 AM on May 19, 2009
Also, there is no way that Massive Attack's Mezzanine deserved to be in that list. One truly awesome song. The rest, not so much. Blue Lines, on the other hand, is there by right.
My other thoughts: I bought Boards of Canada's "Music Has the Right to Children" and found it to be unmitigated, overrated shite. I loved The Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" but scratch my head as to why "The Soft Bulletin" is so beloved of music reviewers.
And do Weezer really merit two entries? Two of the best albums produced in ten years. Seriously?
posted by MuffinMan at 6:11 AM on May 19, 2009
While I was completely unsurprised that My Bloody Valentine's Loveless was #2, I was pretty amazed they put Fugazi on there, just because they seem to get pretty consistently ignored.
posted by dunkadunc at 6:21 AM on May 19, 2009
posted by dunkadunc at 6:21 AM on May 19, 2009
our perceptions of the decade are different now
I.E. "We discovered that we'd accidentally included some artists who had gained wider popularity during the ensuing 4 years, and thus felt our indie cred had been slightly invalidated, so we went back & threw them off in favor of some more obscure titles that made us feel more smug in our arcane knowledge of what's cool, and thus more self-important."
I was gathering new music like a fiend through the 90's and I was 30 entries into that list before I even found a band I'd heard OF (the Pixies), hough I was quite familiar with all the bands they tossed off the list. They really have out-elited me!
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:21 AM on May 19, 2009 [4 favorites]
I.E. "We discovered that we'd accidentally included some artists who had gained wider popularity during the ensuing 4 years, and thus felt our indie cred had been slightly invalidated, so we went back & threw them off in favor of some more obscure titles that made us feel more smug in our arcane knowledge of what's cool, and thus more self-important."
I was gathering new music like a fiend through the 90's and I was 30 entries into that list before I even found a band I'd heard OF (the Pixies), hough I was quite familiar with all the bands they tossed off the list. They really have out-elited me!
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:21 AM on May 19, 2009 [4 favorites]
Muffinman, I could start on you about Mezzanine, but I can't, I'm too busy laughing at Pitchfork. Again.
posted by debord at 6:22 AM on May 19, 2009
posted by debord at 6:22 AM on May 19, 2009
I know this is sacrilege but I've never quite understood MBV's Loveless always making it into the top 10 of these lists. It's a great record but it seems to always be held up as some fetish object from the 90's.
posted by photoslob at 6:24 AM on May 19, 2009
posted by photoslob at 6:24 AM on May 19, 2009
Sometimes I think that if Pitchfork can't find a band obscure enough to review, they just make one up. And then no one dares point it out for fear that the band actually does exist and they're just not hip enough to know about it.
posted by octothorpe at 6:26 AM on May 19, 2009
posted by octothorpe at 6:26 AM on May 19, 2009
Two Pavement albums in the top 10 -- on the one hand, good old predictable Pitchfork, on the other -- well, Pavement did make two of the best albums of the 90s, though depending on the day I might argue about whether S&E and CT,CT are actually those two.
I was gathering new music like a fiend through the 90's and I was 30 entries into that list before I even found a band I'd heard OF
I'm not sure which end you started from, but this means either you haven't heard of Radiohead or you haven't heard of Bob Dylan.
posted by escabeche at 6:28 AM on May 19, 2009
I was gathering new music like a fiend through the 90's and I was 30 entries into that list before I even found a band I'd heard OF
I'm not sure which end you started from, but this means either you haven't heard of Radiohead or you haven't heard of Bob Dylan.
posted by escabeche at 6:28 AM on May 19, 2009
What? X but not Y? How can they think that n is any good? And F's debut record was totally better than the higher-charting follow-up. I am grisly with opinions!
kittyprecious: OK Computer simply is not as good as The Bends. Not for listenability, not for durability, not for me.
Kitty, you've turned me into one of those 'Fixed that for you' people. I'd far rather be one of those, 'Well that's just, like, your opinion, man' Lebowski-ites. And shall try to be in future.
posted by Cantdosleepy at 6:31 AM on May 19, 2009
kittyprecious: OK Computer simply is not as good as The Bends
Kitty, you've turned me into one of those 'Fixed that for you' people. I'd far rather be one of those, 'Well that's just, like, your opinion, man' Lebowski-ites. And shall try to be in future.
posted by Cantdosleepy at 6:31 AM on May 19, 2009
I was gathering new music like a fiend through the 90's
hm, interesting that they didn't have a single album from the NZ Flying Nun label, who in the early 90s were the flagbearers for grungy pop, maybe equivalent to REM of that era, and generally did Nirvana years before Nirvana.
also, no Fall. epic fail, by every possible measure.
britpop, in general, is likewise unrepresented.
not exactly britpop, but surprising to see nothing of the likes of PWEI, Jesus Jones, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, etc - had a lot to do with crossovers between genres that were very typical of a period of the 90s.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:34 AM on May 19, 2009
hm, interesting that they didn't have a single album from the NZ Flying Nun label, who in the early 90s were the flagbearers for grungy pop, maybe equivalent to REM of that era, and generally did Nirvana years before Nirvana.
also, no Fall. epic fail, by every possible measure.
britpop, in general, is likewise unrepresented.
not exactly britpop, but surprising to see nothing of the likes of PWEI, Jesus Jones, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, etc - had a lot to do with crossovers between genres that were very typical of a period of the 90s.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:34 AM on May 19, 2009
Fixed that. Happier. More productive.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:36 AM on May 19, 2009
I know this is sacrilege but I've never quite understood MBV's Loveless always making it into the top 10 of these lists. It's a great record but it seems to always be held up as some fetish object from the 90's.
Their review of Loveless gets it just about right, actually. It's the furthest you can go in that particular direction and make any sense. I think people admire it, whether or not they particularly like it, just because it represents a boundary that nobody's managed to push successfully.
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:38 AM on May 19, 2009
Their review of Loveless gets it just about right, actually. It's the furthest you can go in that particular direction and make any sense. I think people admire it, whether or not they particularly like it, just because it represents a boundary that nobody's managed to push successfully.
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:38 AM on May 19, 2009
KevinSkomsvold: "I'm only curmudgeonly because as I get older, I recognize less of the names of these lists."
You hold up a cruel mirror to my own advancing decrepitude.
"The Flaming Lips"? Who? What the... ?
Now all you kids get off my lawn.
posted by Joe Beese at 6:39 AM on May 19, 2009
You hold up a cruel mirror to my own advancing decrepitude.
"The Flaming Lips"? Who? What the... ?
Now all you kids get off my lawn.
posted by Joe Beese at 6:39 AM on May 19, 2009
like a kittyprecious
tied to a stick,
that's driven into
frozen winter *profanity*?
Danke, Ubu.
posted by Cantdosleepy at 6:39 AM on May 19, 2009
tied to a stick,
that's driven into
frozen winter *profanity*?
Danke, Ubu.
posted by Cantdosleepy at 6:39 AM on May 19, 2009
Nope. I refute this list. James McMurtry is nowhere to be found in here.
posted by PuppyCat at 6:45 AM on May 19, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by PuppyCat at 6:45 AM on May 19, 2009 [1 favorite]
nebulawindphone: "Their review of Loveless gets it just about right, actually. It's the furthest you can go in that particular direction and make any sense."
I think that's about right. There's shoegaze acts that have gone further (Guitar comes to mind) but it's just so much noise that no signal gets through, so to speak.
posted by dunkadunc at 6:46 AM on May 19, 2009
I think that's about right. There's shoegaze acts that have gone further (Guitar comes to mind) but it's just so much noise that no signal gets through, so to speak.
posted by dunkadunc at 6:46 AM on May 19, 2009
« Older I, Zombie | Be all that you can be Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:26 AM on May 19, 2009