FREEFORM 1990's ALTERNATIVE ALBUM POLL - THE RECKONING (TOP TEN COUNTING DOWN NOW)

alright, let's get it started!

63= Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return To The 36 Chambers
41 points
2 votes
1 first-place vote
Greatest contributor: Noodle Vague

http://danjlovesthe90s.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/dirty-version.jpg

This album is a timeless classic for the ages!!! I'm not joking...i think this is one of the better albums of the last 15 years.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 20 October 2005 17:09 (4 years ago)

OTM. A lot of people sleep on this one, thinking ODB is just some crackhead Step'n Fetchit. There's some deep + deeply fucked stuff going on in this record. It's sprawling and always entertaining, even at it's most messed-up and experimental. If this came out of some white kid's garage they'd be calling it avant-garde.

Might be my favorite Wu record after Liquid Swords.

― Edward III (edward iii), Thursday, 20 October 2005 17:19 (4 years ago)

Among my fifty or so fave albums.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Friday, 21 October 2005 19:26 (4 years ago)

Possibly my favourite straight-up hip hop record.

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Friday, 10 November 2006 15:25 (3 years ago)

best opening track ever

― latebloomer and his 'Cyborg Companion', Hacker (latebloomer), Friday, 10 November 2006 21:10 (3 years ago)

i had no idea this album was so slept on

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 20 October 2005 17:38 (4 years ago)

SHAME ON YOU
WHEN YOU STEPPED UP TO
THE OL' DIRTY BASTARD

BROOOOOOKLYN

ZUH

― Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 18:47 (2 years ago)

Everyone SO OTM on this one. This thread makes me so happy. Rest in peace, brother, dude, Jesus.

― A Radio Picture (Rrrickey), Friday, 10 November 2006 11:50 (3 years ago)

by the looks of it, if just a few more people had voted, this'd be quite a lot higher

FOR SHAME YOU FUCKERS

am totally needing to listen to this now, given those descriptions

but yeah a one-point return from people other than NV seems disappointing

This is one of the most interesting lists I've seen on here. Lush and ODB next to each other is just wonderful to see, both great albums.

One of the endless joys of Return to the 36 Chambers is the way it deploys its density and inventiveness in the service of something that's as playful and ridiculous as it is mean-faced and funky. Sometimes I think people underrate the ODB because they think he's taking the piss but the important thing here is that Great Art Always Takes the Piss.

luis bunuel -> ODB -> damien hirst

(1995 btw)

I honestly thought this could've gone top 10. that might be my last pick to chart then, lol

*scratches chin*

the important thing here is that Great Art Always Takes the Piss.

That's an interesting thought, I'm usually drawn to the parodic or at least ironic elements in Great Art but there probably are exceptions. Hou Hsaio-Hsien? Rilke? Titian? The last Raekwon album? I dunno.

I'm not sure if I ever heard that ODB album during my Wu Tang fan phase as a 15 yr old, it was cool that they were so prolific but there just wasn't enough time in the day I guess. Shall get a copy though, along with about a dozen of the other albums here.

62 Aphex Twin - I Care Because You Do (1995)
42 points
4 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributors: another Al3x, dog latin

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EcSfGla5Kr8/SMnzA7AiEbI/AAAAAAAAATs/5gDTQVFar4g/s400/i_care_because_you_do.jpg

The only Aphex Twin that I liked was "I care because you do". That had soul. The rest are just experimentation for experimentation's sake.

― Snow Dog, Monday, 15 January 2001 01:00 (9 years ago)

This thread's right up my alley (right now I'm wearing a shirt with the Aphex logo). I Care Because You Do is my favorite, because it's got a good balance of pretty, soothing tracks with the noisy/chaotic/goofball ones.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Monday, 8 December 2003 13:22 (6 years ago)

I can't really listen to "I Care Because You Do" by Aphex Twin anymore. At the time it was the most incredible thing ever but for now it's too harsh and purposefully obtruse. It'll bounce back one day soon I'm sure though.

― dog latin (dog latin), Sunday, 13 March 2005 21:03 (5 years ago)

icbyd possibly rdj's best album?

― ethan, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (8 years ago)

I am one of those dudes who thinks that everything after ICBYD has been pretty much downhill with a promising blip of an EP before his mind was eaten by MetaSynth running on a PowerBook

― LISTEN U TURBO CROUTON (TOMBOT), Friday, 10 November 2006 16:52 (3 years ago)

that's a great album, time was I would've voted for it in a flash. Nowadays tho I find I'm much more "Ventolin" than "Alberto Balsam".

I never really got all the Aphex Twin love. Some of his early 90s material was pretty good, but later on he pretty much exemplified everything that went wrong with non-dancey electronic music during the latter half of the 90s.

I mean, I guess he didn't invent drill'n'bass and IDM wankery, but his success made them all the more prevalent, and this ended up tainting other, previously brilliant acts such as Mouse on Mars.

I mean, I guess he didn't invent drill'n'bass and IDM wankery

No he probably did, along with a couple of others.

As a valued customer of ilxor.com your opinion is very important to us. Please don't answer the following questions honestly to help us improve the quality of our awful horrible music appreciation.

I'm pretty sure drill'n'bass was invented by µ-ziq... Or are there earlier examples of that than his first albums?

AAAAAPPPHHHEXXXX!!!

YES!!!!!

I loved this album at the time. These days the schonkiness has dated it, but back then it's what made it great. Alberto Balsam has to be one of the best IDM tracks ever.

drill'n'bass is credited to Plug (aka Luke Vibert)

That's not to say I agree with Tuomas' terrible opinions, AFX is great. His first hyperactively breaky 'drill'n'bass' tracks were on the Hangable Auto Bulb EP I think.....would have voted for that if EP's were included. They weren't right?

to me ODB and Aphex represent something that seems to have gotten lost around the 00s - stuff that pushes things right over the precipice in terms of innovation, musicality etc, but on the surface appears to be a practical joke.

Another one of my votes gets in, hurrah

but yeah a one-point return from people other than NV seems disappointing

That would be my 1 point, thanks!

I actually prefer ODB's second album to this one, but they're both utterly classic and timeless.

to me ODB and Aphex represent something that seems to have gotten lost around the 00s - stuff that pushes things right over the precipice in terms of innovation, musicality etc, but on the surface appears to be a practical joke.

This is very OTM. Great point.

And speaking of which...

60= They Might Be Giants - Flood (1990)
43 points
3 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: Jesse

http://blogs.pitch.com/wayward/TMBGflood.jpg

N. (nickdastoor) wrote this on thread Least sexy band ever on board I Love Music on 14-Oct-2002
They might be Giants?

Kenan Hebert (kenan) wrote this on thread Bands that have self-titled songs on board I Love Music on 17-Feb-2003
They Might Be Giants

rex jr. wrote this on thread Bands that are expressions on board I Love Music on 27-Feb-2003
They Might Be Giants

Al (sitcom) wrote this on thread This is the thread where you can freely proclaim your love for arists actively hated-on by ILM. on board I Love Music on 01-Mar-2003
(they...might...be.......giants)

Millar (Millar) wrote this on thread Who is the Uncoolest Band Ever? on board I Love Music on 28-May-2003
They Might Be Giants

johnboy wrote this on thread Who's the tallest person in music? on board I Love Music on 02-Jul-2003
They might be giants....

colin s barrow (colin s barrow) wrote this on thread What song am I thinking of? on board I Love Music on 13-Nov-2003
They Might Be Giants?

Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub) wrote this on thread who is the biggest nerd in rock n' roll? on board I Love Music on 23-Jan-2004
They Might Be Giants

Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy) wrote this on thread Bands With Ethnically Misleading Names on board I Love Music on 02-Oct-2004
They Might Be Giants

jel -- (jel) wrote this on thread Band names that are complete sentences. on board I Love Music on 03-Apr-2004
They might be giants

Ian Moraine (Eastern Mantra) wrote this on thread Worst Music to Find Yrself Fucking to on board I Love Music on 24-Dec-2004
They Might Be Giants

zeus wrote this on thread T/S FAUST vs. THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS vs. WEEN vs. WEIRD AL vs. YANN TOMITA on board I Love Music on 10-Apr-2005
They Might Be Giants.

M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson) wrote this on thread What do you think of as "geek rock"? on board I Love Music on 30-Jun-2005
They Might Be Giants

Guayaquil wrote this on thread Bad Company 'til the day I die on board I Love Music on 29-Aug-2005
They Might Be Giants

Fritz Wollner (Fritz) wrote this on thread a curiosity: musicians with IAN as name on board I Love Music on 28-Sep-2005
they might be giants

mason r butler wrote this on thread Acts whose lojal fans kept on embracing their new material long after their commercial popularity had ended. on board I Love Music on 25-Mar-2006
They Might Be Giants?

Alex in Baltimore (Alex in Baltimore) wrote this on thread bands that have been or someday probably will be retroactively described as "emo" on board I Love Music on 17-May-2006
They Might Be Giants

M@tt He1geson: Sassy and I Don't Care Who Knows It (Matt Helgeson) wrote this on thread T/S: Chris Ott vs. The Decemberists/Carson Ellis on board I Love Music on 15-Nov-2006
they might be giants

Alternative round-up:

I got to see They Might Be Giants do the whole Flood album in order a few years ago. They did "Fingertips" and everything. It was bloody fantastic.

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 5 September 2005 00:11 (4 years ago)

What's all this "serious critical evaluation" nonsense. They are about one tenth as dorky as ILM.

Classic.

― everything (everything), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:40 (3 years ago)

They are better at writing miserable songs about dying, being dead or death in general that anyone else I can think of right now.

― everything (everything), Tuesday, 1 August 2006 21:56 (3 years ago)

I'm not the biggest TMBG fan, but then I reckon I'd have been huge into them if i'd paid more attention at the time.

"Birdhouse In Your Soul" has been one of my favourite songs since I was about 10 though.

Hurray, my ballot appears at last.

But I don't think it's right to call this record "avant garde in the guise of a practical joke" -- the first TMBG record is much more like this, but with Flood they complete the transition from performance artists to regular rock and roll band -- though the traces of their avant-gardism remain and give the record a special savor. It is their "Abacab."

Ha, I was kinda joking with that intro!

I think I voted for a different Aphex album but I loved "I Care Because You Do" very much indeed once and it is nice to see it here.

And dog latin's post is pretty much exactly how I feel about TMBG too. Picked up Flood many years after the fact and liked it; can only imagine how much I'd have grown up loving them had I been more of an album-buyer (or known anyone to copy tapes off) when 10y/o me saw Birdhouse In Your Soul on TOTP and thought it was the best thing ever.

haha, Flood was actually the beginning of me falling out of like with TMBG; I disliked that they were going so intentionally quirky as opposed to being a rock group who happened to have quirky elements to them

haha man the initial set of posts in the TMBG entry is lj's most inspired 'blurb' so far, loved it. also love the album, gave it 8 points.

xpost -- i can see that, although really the first 2 albums were pretty damn silly too, and they kinda moved back toward being more of a mildly quirky rock group for a while later on (and then swung back to quirk overload)

10y/o me saw Birdhouse In Your Soul on TOTP and thought it was the best thing ever.

Yep, and I didn't really like "proper songs" when I was 10, but something about BHIYS completely slayed me at exactly this age.

i can see that, although really the first 2 albums were pretty damn silly too,

Oh yeah, I totally agree; for me, it felt more like they went from a rock group who could be silly to a silly group who could rock and I wasn't as interested in the latter. (Nowadays, I feel differently but this was SRS BIZNIZ when I was 15)

I disliked that they were going so intentionally quirky Hard to make sense of this in reference to a band whose earlier catalog includes "Purple Toupee," "Cowtown," "Santa's Beard," "Shoehorn with Teeth," "Rhythm Section Want Ad," "Number Three," "The Day (Marvin Gaye and Phil Ochs Got Married)," etc!

But let's not let these minor points distract us from urging all TMBG-deniers to listen to some of the great tracks on this record that never made it to radio, e.g. "Dead": "Now it's either I'm dead and I haven't done anything that I want, or I'm still alive and there's nothing I want to do." Or "Everybody Wants a Rock," which seems more complicated to me every year.

I didn't like most of the songs you listed (of the ones I recognize; I spent a lot of time skipping over the wackier tracks on the first two albums) and Flood was chock-full of songs done in that vein.

Granted, this means I was listening to like maybe 3 or 4 songs per album but I REALLY liked those songs.

Second one I voted for coming up

(lol actually I did start getting into Flood due to a high school girlfriend who loved it; oh hormones, how many things will you convince us to try/re-evaluate?)

i like flood! can certainly do without a couple of the tracks but some of them are quite touching

60= Mr Bungle - California (1999)
43 points
3 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: m the g

http://img11.nnm.ru/4/5/9/4/a/713800a22ac8431f2f733ab877d.jpg

Unbelievably classic..."Pink Cigarette" is just the best suicide song, and there's another track that sounds like Hall and Oates on nitrous (you on nitrous, not Hall & Oates). A masterwork of many moods.

― matt riedl (veal), Monday, 4 November 2002 21:09 (7 years ago)

It's one of the only albums I've heard in the last few years that actually made me stop what I was doing to say, "Whoah..."

― Kim (Kim), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 01:54 (7 years ago)

I haven't listened to California in FOREVER. It is still my favorite album; I can hear it all in my head if I try. REEEETROVERTIGOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

― nickalicious, Wednesday, 26 December 2007 21:37 (2 years ago)

California is definitely classic! Easily Mr. Bungle's best.

― latebloomer: We kissy kiss in the rear view (latebloomer), Friday, 17 June 2005 06:08 (4 years ago)

Agreed on California's goodness. A record that made me laugh with pleasure when I first heard it, it's so sharp.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 17 June 2005 15:14 (4 years ago)

This band got better with every album for real.

― jigglepanda.gif (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, 17 October 2008 16:59 (1 year ago)

does patton smoke crack or what? listening to this now

― Don't hag me with your false green. (jdchurchill), Wednesday, 2 September 2009 18:40 (7 months ago)

the shows where they play Flood in its entirety are really fun, especially hearing them make sense of the weirder tracks onstage (although I really hate the arrangement they did for "Dead")

xp yeah for Bungle inclusion! Let's hope there's more where that came from.

suddenly nobody has anything to say :D

I remember making my friend drive me to Best Buy to purchase California on the first day it came out. He was mostly into Moonshine house and trance, but I told him it was "like, weird death metal" so he agreed to give me a ride. We got the album and hopped back in his Civic, taking DJ Dan out of the CD player. Listening to "Sweet Charity" confounded my expectations of what Mr. Bungle was - I was in 5 minutes of totally unexpected hilarious bliss. I think about halfway through the next song, my friend asked me to turn it off.

Great, a run of albums I've actually heard. Came to Mr Bungle quite late (though a longtime FNM fan). California's my favourite. A perplexingly fried surf-rock album, and yeah Pink Cigarette is amazing sunset cowboy music. Another band who pushed things to the max in many directions whilst placing tongue firmly in cheek. This kidn fo thing just doesn't really happen any more. I guess postmodernism - or whatever this strain of humour originates from - got a bit tired in the end.