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

(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.

kohncke/delay wd be like suede/royal trux, which i guess tuomas could tell apart?

I just had to go back and give myself a Delay refresher, and I think I was thinking more of the Luomo stuff. The music recorded under his own stagename is definitely more deconstructed than I remembered it being.

I was away from my laptop when Paradise of East Africa placed. Pretty much ebullient vocals and sinuous guitars front to back. It's crime that this is now out of print, but digital copies seem to be floating around. So who gave it the other ten points? I thought for sure that I'd be the only person voting for this one.

outdoorminer was your compadre there.

Last one for tonight...

31 Super Furry Animals - Guerrilla (1999)
65 points
2 votes
1 first-place vote
Greatest contributor: useless chamber

http://www.thomasthetaff.com/welshbands/superfurryanimals/pictures/A04a-Guerrilla.JPG

I'm from Texas. Guerrilla is the album that did it for me. Absolutely ingenious.

― enjoy bell woods (sjjd111), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 18:32 (4 years ago)

Guerrilla is amazing. I frequently see it in throw-out bins for three bucks. I can't believe it doesn't MOVE.

― edward o (edwardo), Wednesday, 31 August 2005 01:13 (4 years ago)

whats your favorite album by these welsh people?
mine is guerrilla

― Dude (The Yellow Dart), Wednesday, 11 February 2004 05:10 (6 years ago)

wow what a hideous cover

hahahaha shit

I've just looked at my final tally and it turns out

it turns out

that I DO have a top 100 after all

because I've put an album in twice

and I've posted that album earlier tonight

in its INCORRECT placing

well done

http://www.therealestatebloggers.com/imagessm/banging_head_against_wall.jpg

it's fine, it just has a few more points than I've credited, so I'll repost it in its proper place

Not all lists are perfect. I actually inadvertently left an album out of the '70s alternate poll 100 that should've been #50 because I overlooked a first place vote.

(Though I remedied that as soon as it was brought to my attention, AFTER the poll was completed.)

As it stands!

____ Stereolab - Peng! (1992)
____ XTC - Apple Venus, Vol. 1 (1999)
100. De La Soul - Buhloone Mind State (1993)
___ Fugazi - End Hits (1998)
98. Crowded House - Woodface (1991)
97. Sonic Youth - Washing Machine (1995)
96. Björk - Debut (1993)
95. Mark Eitzel - Songs of Love (1991)
94. Elliott Smith - Either/Or (1997)
___ The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde (1992)
92. The Afghan Whigs - Black Love (1996)
91. Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998)
90. UGK - Ridin' Dirty (1996)
89. Grifters - Crappin' You Negative (1994)
88. The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I (1999)
87. The Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen (1993)
___ Neil Young - Harvest Moon (1992)
85. Biosphere - Substrata (1997)
___ Missy Elliott - Da Real World (1999)
___ Mogwai - Young Team (1997)
82. 2pac - All Eyez on Me (1996)
81. Metallica - Metallica (1991)
___ Built To Spill - Keep it Like a Secret (1999)
79. A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders (1993)
___ The Divine Comedy - Promenade (1994)
77. The Auteurs - New Wave (1993)
___ Burger/Ink - Las Vegas (1996)
___ Electronic - Electronic (1991)
74. Sleep - Dopesmoker (199?)
___ Slowdive - Souvlaki (1993)
72. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A#∞ (1998)
71. R.E.M. - New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996)
___ Earl Brutus - Tonight You Are The Special One (1998)
69. Sun City Girls - Torch of the Mystics (1990)
___ Sun City Girls - 330,003 Crossdressers From the Rig Veda (1996)
67. Pete Namlook - Air (1994)
66. Palace Music - Lost Blues and Other Songs (1997)
65. Sonny Sharrock - Ask the Ages (1991)
___ Lush - Spooky (1992)
63. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers (1995)
62. Aphex Twin - I Care Because You Do (1995)
___ They Might Be Giants - Flood (1990)
60. Mr. Bungle - California (1999)
___ Madonna - Erotica (1992)
58. Gas - Königsforst (1999)
57. Mouse on Mars - Autoditacker (1997)
56. Sonic Youth - A Thousand Leaves (1998)
___ Pizzicato Five - Happy End of the World (1997)
___ Magic Hour - No Excess Is Absurd (1994)
___ Nomeansno - Live and Cuddly (1991)
___ Kristin Hersh - Hips and Makers (1994)
___ Ground Zero - Revolutionary Pekinese Opera Ver.1.28 (1996)
50. Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (1998)
49. Faith No More - Angel Dust (1992)
48. R.E.M. - Out of Time (1991)
47. Pavement - Brighten the Corners (1997)
46. Blur - 13 (1999)
45. Nachtstrom - 17 Songs After Midnight (1999)
44. Arvo Pärt - Te Deum (1993)
43. Outkast - ATLiens (1996)
42. Pavement - Wowee Zowee (1995)
___ Julian Cope - Peggy Suicide (1991)
40. Straitjacket Fits - Melt (1991)
___ Pole - 1 (1998)
38. Various Artists - Guitar Paradise of East Africa (1990)
37. Slint - Spiderland (1991)
36. Mansun - Six (1998)
___ Suede - Dog Man Star (1994)
34. Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst (1996)
___ Hole - Live Through This (1994)
33. Wilco - Summerteeth (1999)
32. Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante (1995)
31. Super Furry Animals - Guerrilla (1999)

you fucking idiot, I just modreq'd one of those albums to be deleted

Hah, oops!

since this seems to be a list of albums that weren't on another list (i think?) i don't suppose it matters much how many there are.

jed_, quit being a killjoy. Alternate polls can prove more interesting (see: TURN THIS MUTHA OUT! It's the Alternate 1970s Albums Poll on ILX — Results Thread)

OMG guys, maybe we should do the *next* 100 albums of each decade, once these alternate polls are finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do think it makes more sense to do polls that exclude those that placed in the originally-run ones, as it makes the results more interesting (although I still think the way this one dealt with points was not the best way to do things). To do it without the previous winners is not arbitrary, it's "what did the last poll miss that is exciting and awesome?" Yeah, maybe a full re-poll would be fine at some point, but to make it an interesting contrast of changing canons/demographics it needs to have a proper gap in time.

if there's one more than there should be you can just crown that as the winner of the next list - the alternative alternative poll - or at least make sure it's eligible for the voting.