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

but I won't. I'll just get Dan to edit every single album post on this thread. >:D

Make me an ILM mod and I'll do it myself...

*Six vs DMS vs Dr Octagon, in fact, coz there's no strawman like indie hiphop!

indie hiphop v. proto-wayne poop metaphors comic book masterbation.

Hahaha! Outstanding work, ringmaster!

Six is hardly britpop is it, other than that they were British and used guitars. It's not got much in common with Cast or Shed Seven at least. I went for it for its ambition above all, the polar opposite on this score at least of Oasis and the rest of the dadrock types.

Similarly with Dog Man Star, which is the high water mark of britpop, even though really it came out before britpop was a thing. It's a bit like Six in that they both start with a kind of powerpop(?) template but open out beyond it very quickly. With Suede at least the arrangements are always much lusher, so the opening out seems a bit more natural and less quirky than Six. It doesn't all work, but the half-dozen songs that do are magnificent things. Only Blur really occasionally get close.

There's still one other britpop era album I was hoping to see, but I suspect that might be yer lot, unless Geir does ride to the rescue after all.

Kool Keith is indie?

dr. octagon is so dope

motherfuckers kool keith was in ultramagnetic MCs he's not indie rock

N.B. I have the Dr Octagon album and will listen to it soon - my brother assures me it's great

I don't think I've ever heard any of the rock albums in this poll, except for Metallixa (maybe REM too?), so I can't really raise my ire for any specific artist, just for the general prevalence of indie/alternative rock. For some reason I've actually seen Suede live twice though. I guess they were an okay live act, never cared for their music. But I don't quite get what makes them so hated compared to some other bands in this poll - what makes them so different from, say, REM?

why don't any of you want to help me make Geir listen to hip-hop

spend more time talking about Dr. Octagon's advanced chord progressions

Definitely on-par with the Beatles and Oasis iirc.

it does have more F Sharp 7 diminished than any other album in hip hop history

i doubt suede is geirbait, too sexual prolly

xpost

and that one verse where keith rhymes a whole verse in phrygian mode

seeing geir complain about black ppl music for the 87th time is just not worth it dp, no matter how he ends up hearing it.

Have you heard Dr. Octagon's pitch-perfect, note-for-note cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody," guys?

why don't any of you want to help me make Geir listen to hip-hop

spend more time talking about Dr. Octagon's advanced chord progressions

― it means "EMOTIONAL"! (HI DERE), Tuesday, May 4, 2010 8:59 PM (1 minute ago)

Similar artists to Dr Octagon on Last Fm include Early Genesis, Ocean Colour Scene, Late XTC, Crowded House, Coldplay and The Flower Kings (??)

I don't think Geir even reads these polls, sadly - he might if he were the only voter

ooops i fucked up i think phrygian is a greek mode, so that's probably mud ppl music to geir

mixolydian or gtfo

No, Greek music is where music began for Geir.

Aphrodite's Child amirite?

28= 33= Hole - Live Through This (1994)
62 points
5 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: Fetchboy

http://robetin.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/1994-live-through-this.jpg

You couldn't even quantify the amount of hate I had for this record when it was first out, in part because of extreme overexposure from constantly being pumped out into the apartment from my roommate's stereo, but also because Kurt Cobain had just died and I was sure Courtney had something to do with it, and also because I suspected he wrote all of her songs anyway.

Now, with 15 years of distance, I find it's actually a pretty remarkable album. And yes, a lot of the songs resemble bits of Cobain's own material, but this is because Courtney Love was a pretty skilled opportunist (and really, is it that hard to write a song in the Nirvana style?).

― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 3 May 2009 11:06 (1 year ago)

Live Through This is great! okay, bye now.

― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 23:44 (5 years ago)

The second side = victory lap.

― I'm crossing over into enterprise (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 3 May 2009 14:28 (1 year ago)

this is a dope album and i'd say i like it about as much as any Nirvana album.

― young drobot (some dude), Monday, 4 May 2009 15:57 (1 year ago)

i'll just say that this is probably my favorite hard rock album of the past fifteen years.

oh, and how exactly did Cobain "write" it when he was pretty much livin' in junk heaven at the time (and complaining about not being able to write songs anymore to anyone who would listen).

and if Courtney ripped off his song ideas, so what? that just makes her a brilliant thief, afaic--kinda like Zeppelin and the Stones in fact.

― Ioannis, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 11:45 (11 months ago)

i've heard from "sources" close to kurt cobain that he wrote most if not all of live through this.

― "Together we could rape the universe" (omar little), Tuesday, 5 May 2009 21:26 (11 months ago)

however, i don't think it's a big deal.

― "Together we could rape the universe" (omar little), Tuesday, 5 May 2009 21:26 (11 months ago)

it doesn't influence my enjoyment of the music, but obviously, it renders courtney far less interesting in my eyes. not that i believe anything. i just believe in the songs, themselves.

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 5 May 2009 21:41 (11 months ago)

Scott's post there was taken from one of the most appalling, horrendous threads I've ever seen on ILM. DO NOT READ. why do people on ILM hate "live through this" ?

(and indeed, Scott's post is pretty much the only thing I could conscionably take from it)

what makes [Suede] so different from, say, REM?

This is why I'm glad Tuomas is around, because I rarely converse with anyone who has such an outsider perspective on rock music that they'd lump Suede and R.E.M. together. It puts things in perspective. I mean, I'm sure there's a ton of electronic music I lump together that someone with more insight could delicately separate based on this or that thing, and now I know how those people feel.

Tuomas, Pole 1 showed up earlier! Does this not make you happy?

Well, to me Suede and REM don't sound so different: they both have whiny singers, lyrics with odd metaphors, a sound somewhere between soft and hard rock, jangly guitars, and melancholic tunes. I don't see that huge a difference between them, stylistically, and they both sound equally whiny and irritating to me.

(x-post)

if LTT isn't at least in the top 50 of the 90s list someone's gonna have to pay.
― Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Tuesday, August 31, 2004 11:44 AM (5 years ago) Bookmark

By "someone's gonna have to pay" I meant "I'll make sure it is on the next one"

MIGHT LAST A DAY! MINE IS FOREHHHHHHHUHVERRRRRR-EH-ERRR!!!

Well, firstly Suede's entire *thing* is derived from the glam excesses of the 1970s whereas R.E.M. draws a lot of its style from Appalachian folk traditions (sometimes more indirectly than at other times), resulting in two very distinct sounds within a broader category. Secondly, R.E.M. seem less confined by their own parameters, seemingly shifting direction on a whim from album to album, whereas Suede never dare stray too far from their original gameplan (not to fault them for this, it's a noble gameplan).

Trying to think of the most Suede-like R.E.M. song (or vice-versa)... Crush With Eyeliner?

:DDDDDDDDDDDDDD @ Hole.

I'm sure there's a ton of electronic music I lump together that someone with more insight could delicately separate based on this or that thing, and now I know how those people feel.

xp - i think this is otm. i know several rock and/or hip hop listeners who call just about anything i put on with a 4/4 kick drum "techno".

this poll is great fun so far. i like the one-vote wild cards! at this rate first place could be from a single 199-point vote...

Well, firstly Suede's entire *thing* is derived from the glam excesses of the 1970s whereas R.E.M. draws a lot of its style from Appalachian folk traditions (sometimes more indirectly than at other times), resulting in two very distinct sounds within a broader category. Secondly, R.E.M. seem less confined by their own parameters, seemingly shifting direction on a whim from album to album, whereas Suede never dare stray too far from their original gameplan (not to fault them for this, it's a noble gameplan).

Well, obviously I only know Suede and R.E.M. through their hit singles... But, for example, to my ears these two songs certainly seem to belong in the same category - the only big difference is that Suede uses more modern production techniques.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsbTfdcHXRs&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we_bSR3wrgY

serious q: what is this poll? stuff that didn't get into another poll? why poll that?

they both have whiny singers, lyrics with odd metaphors, a sound somewhere between soft and hard rock, jangly guitars, and melancholic tunes.

this reads like an explanation from an alternate-universe Pandora.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VkkeV6Crdc

???

the last 2 suede albums were utter shite and Suede shouldn't be judged by them.

That's the only Pandora I know.

tuomas, here's an iconic earlyish REM song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47DYVhBgRmQ

here's an iconic early suede song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN5zcUrWrdY

i think ppl would agree that these are typical of each band's "classic" era...you really don't hear the difference.

you kinda sound like those ppl that say "Oh all this hippity hoppity stuff sounds the same...Wu-Tang Clan...Snoop Doggy Dogg, it all sounds the same"

33= Wilco - Summerteeth (1999)
62 points
5 votes
0 first-place votes
Greatest contributor: monster_xero

http://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/covers/summerteeth.jpg

summerteeth is a shiny, great pop album (mostly) with really interesting production and great songs. being there is good but still too rooted in classic rock for me. I don't think they've topped summerteeth and doubt they ever will.

― akm, Thursday, 21 June 2007 04:05 (2 years ago)

Listen To "Summerteeth". It's far better than YHF.

― michael bourke, Thursday, 16 May 2002 01:00 (7 years ago)

God, Summerteeth was amazing, wasn't it?

― Beatrix Kiddo, Monday, 15 June 2009 13:36 (10 months ago)

I haven't heard YHF but Summerteeth is a brilliant record. Tweedy = v. good songwriter for damn sure

― electric sound of jim, Thursday, 16 May 2002 01:00 (7 years ago)

Summerteeth gets better every time I listen to it. It has the undercurrent of impending chaos I look for in music (mmmmmmmm...chaos)

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Thursday, 10 June 2004 18:12 (5 years ago)

I think Tweedy's voice is beautiful on YHF. It does have a more hoarse sound than usual, but it sounds so sad and wracked with emotion. It's a good album, but Summerteeth is the masterpiece. "She's a Jar" alone can justify the existence of indie MOR. Hooray for Wilco.

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Monday, 16 December 2002 00:43 (7 years ago)

Summerteeth is the only Wilco album to which I'm severely underexposed (I think I've only heard it all the way through once).

I commend Tuomas for at least making it known that he's got trouble grasping the differences between two bands like R.E.M. and Suede, because I sure as hell couldn't tell you what's so different about, say, Justus Köhncke and Vladislav Delay, though I'm sure a trained ear could tell them apart immediately.

no-one going to embed 'so weit wie noch nie' and 'anima' then?

geez don't you know the difference between justus kohncke and jurgen paape

haaaa shit yes

ugh I hate that Hole album. actually I hate most of the Hole catalog apart from the first one. a blight upon our cultural landscape, that woman.

No one ever talks about the beats on Dr. Octagon. It's Kut Masta Kurt right? That guy's awesome.

uh, this post is a joke, right?

seem to remember i had the kohncke album in 2005 or so but i can't remember anything about it, other than it didn't sound like vladislav delay

i know jf was only employing them as two random placeholders but i'd guess that formally there usually wd be greater difference between two given 'electronic' tracks than two alt-rock tracks but the latter may appear more different because of extra-musical associations, which tuomas would not have

That's my point, though. I can recognize the differences while listening (Köhncke is a little organically "funky" iirc), though in the grand scheme it all blurs together. That's how I presume most '90s guitar rock (or guitar rock in general) comes across to Tuomas.