This list contains, in my own opinion, the ten best albums of the 1990s. All opinion of course, and I tried my very best to limit it to one album per artist (with one exception here). Now, the list:
10. Pearl Jam, Vs.
This is one instance where I decided to forego the "one album per artist" rule. (Hey, I made the rule up, so I get to decide when to ignore it). The '90s were, for me at least, a very top-heavy decade, with a few top artists making incredible albums, but a big gap between them and the rest of the pack. It doesn't help that the late '90s were largely a wasteland for good music, with cookie-cutter pop songs, "nu metal," pop-punk, and half-baked Nirvana and Pearl Jam ripoffs dominating airwaves and ears. But with multiple great albums by the likes of Nirvana, Radiohead, and several others, someone had to be on here twice, and my choice was Pearl Jam. On Vs., Pearl Jam advanced their sound past that of Ten, which is a great album in its own right, but is a little heavy on the melodrama ("I don't question our existence, I just question our modern neeeeeeeeeeeeeeds" from "Garden"). Later Pearl Jam albums demonstrated the band's sense of fun, which ended up being one of their best attributes. It all started here--the Pearl Jam who made Ten would never have included a song like "Blood," and few bands could write a song like "Daughter" at all.
9. Weezer, Weezer (Blue Album)
Before the variety of multicolored Weezer albums hit store shelves and ruined their reputation, Weezer began their career with an album that excels at re-creating certain elements of classic rock. But while most bands at the time looked to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath for inspiration, Weezer was emulating the aspects of classic rock that had been largely ignored in the years following, drawing inspiration from bands like The Cars and Cheap Trick. The result is a unique and well-written album that holds up 20 years after its release, and remind us why we ever cared about that band that punished our ears with "Beverly Hills."
8. Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Some music is great, but it's not for everyone. You may be able to appreciate a beautiful Mozart sonata, but that doesn't mean you'll ever listen to it on your own, or even think of it when you're looking for music to play. That's me with this album. I think the songwriting's excellent, and this album inspired many bands that I love, such as the Decemberists, but for whatever reason, I could never get into Neutral Milk Hotel. (I suspect it has a lot to do with Jeff Mangum's voice only a mother could love). Despite all this, the songwriting si so strong that I could not deny Aeroplane a spot on this list. And hey, it never hurts when your band is approved by April from Parks and Recreation.
7. System of a Down, System of a Down
A lot of metal is weird, but this is weirder than most. Be prepared for 40 minutes of odd shrieking and stop-and-start metal. And if you're OK with that, this is one of the better metal bands out there, mixing hardcore punk with Eastern influences, making each of its albums a unique experience. This album is unique in their catalog--it's not the best, but it's the rawest and has a menacing tone that stands out and haunts the listener.
6. R.E.M., Out of Time
I know Automatic for the People is the critical favorite. But for me, the best R.E.M. album has to be Out of Time, which boasts not only their best song, the incomparable "Losing My Religion," but flows just as well as an album as Automatic does.
5. Daft Punk, Homework
One of the most innovative albums of the decade as well as one of its best, Homework brought dance music into the 21st century a full three years early. Highlighted by "Da Funk" and "Around the World," in 1997 people had rarely if ever heard anything like this. The good news: it was only going to get better for Daft Punk from here.
4. Rage Against the Machine, Rage Against the Machine
Many of the bands of the early '90s are blamed unfairly for those that came along later in the decade, seeking to emulate them but instead bastardizing the genre and retroactively hurting the original band's reputation. This is true of pretty much every band in this top five, but none is it more true than for Rage Against the Machine. Fusing rap and metal was a unique idea in 1992 when this album came on the scene, and as the later efforts of bands like Linkin Park and Papa Roach showed, RATM caught lightning in a bottle here. It definitely helps that they have something to say, but it's mostly due to the fact that RATM's musicianship was so strong, particularly from bassist Tim Commerford and guitarist Tom Morello, that it cannot be denied.
3. Nirvana, Nevermind
1991 was a special year. The '80s and all the musical excesses that came with them-from Depeche Mode to Def Leppard--were over, and people were looking for something else to fill the void. Enter Nevermind. Nevermind was one of the first alternative albums to enter the mainstream, something that still remains a rare achievement; just think of the likelihood today that a loud, sloppily-playing punk band like this would become a cultural phenomenon. It just doesn't happen. That's what's so unique about this album.
2. Radiohead, OK Computer
OK Computer was the perfect album for the end of the '90s and the dawn of the new millennium. It communicated all the uncertainty that comes with the increasing influence of technology in our lives, and looking back, it comes across as a haunting purveyor of things to come. It also features some of the finest songwriting I've ever heard, from straightforward piano pop like "Karma Police" to unique songs like "Climbing up the Walls," their magnum opus, the sprawling, six-minute, multi-part "Paranoid Android." In short, OK Computer is all you need to forget that Radiohead ever released "Creep," which is probably just what they wanted out of it.
1. Pearl Jam, Vitalogy
It's not the most relevant or important album of the '90s, or the best-selling, or the most favorably reviewed. But for me, this is the best the '90s had to offer. Many people don't realize it now, but before Kurt Cobain's death, Pearl Jam was a much bigger deal than even Nirvana. They were a phenomenon, the likes of which we really haven't seen since. And this was weighing on the band members, particularly Eddie Vedder. On Vitalogy, Vedder took a larger role in the songwriting than he ever had before, practically dominating the creative process, and he used this outlet to express his frustrations and anxieties about having attained the celebrity that he never really wanted. This album is the best of all forms of Pearl Jam: from the character studies ("Better Man," "Nothingman") to the classic rock-style anthems ("Last Exit") to the weird ("Whipping"). And yes, it could do without the nine-minute sound collage that is "Stupidmop," but if you pretend that song doesn't exist (as I always do), Vitalogy is a nearly perfect listening experience for fans of this style of music, and it sums up the decade as well as any other album.
No comments:
Post a Comment