Modern Rock #2 Hits, Pt. 3: The Nirvana Years (1991–94)

*gasp

that inxs album was kinda their achtung baby move but it didn't really take, they were going out of fashion quickly. their next album would flop (justifiably) and then they'd make a somewhat muted attempt at a comeback mid-90s but it somewhat flopped too (it wasn't the comeback they wanted in any case) and then hutchence died a year or so later. duran duran had already fallen out of fashion and off the charts so 'ordinary world' and (my fave) 'come undone' were welcome returns and felt vaguely in line w/ the instant nostalgia for the 80s (esp new wave) that came in w/ alt-rock radio. they were 80s in all the right ways, inxs in all the wrong ways.

iirc INXS' mid-90s commercial decline culminated in Noel Gallagher calling Hutchence a has-been while they were onstage together at the BRIT Awards in '96, and apparently he (already suffering from serious depression) took that remark pretty badly

"Not Enough Time" got quite a lot of airplay on my college station but iirc no one was passionate about it -- a repeat of what happened in 1990-91 with the X singles except worse. My station played them because it was supposed to play them; in a year there would be no obligation to play them.

Heaven Sent is an odd leadoff single -- vocals pushed so far back in the mix, louder-than-usual-for-INXS rock guitars. Not Enough Time is a gem, though. Love that bassline.

I discovered several years later that "Beautiful Girl" was beloved.

yeah if they helped the modern rock format establish itself w/ kick being a smash in 87, by 92-93 they were drafting off that format's explosion in popularity

"Beautiful Girl" another one i like. at some point i really want to explore the INXS catalog because i only know Kick but i like nearly all their singles.

"Taste It" is another good one, my single of choice from that album (Welcome to Wherever You Are)

iirc INXS' mid-90s commercial decline culminated in Noel Gallagher calling Hutchence a has-been while they were onstage together at the BRIT Awards in '96, and apparently he (already suffering from serious depression) took that remark pretty badly

― Frontier Psychiatrist, Monday, May 26, 2014 3:09 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

When INXS put out Elegantly Wasted, they were very, very much out of fashion here. This was the point where you'd hear more about Hutchence's personal life rather than his music. As obnoxious as he is, Noel Gallagher was very much on the money - at that point in time, Hutchence was seen as being washed-up. A has-been.

at some point i really want to explore the INXS catalog because i only know Kick but i like nearly all their singles.

― ςὖτ ιτ Οὖτ (some dude), Monday, May 26, 2014 3:38 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The only one that I'll really go anywhere near out of choice is Shabooh Shoobah.

songs i remember:

R.E.M. – "Man on the Moon"
Duran Duran – "Ordinary World"
Lenny Kravitz – "Are You Gonna Go My Way"
Radiohead – "Creep"
U2 – "Numb"
Björk – "Human Behaviour"
The Breeders – "Cannonball"
The Cure – "Purple Haze"
Counting Crows – "Mr. Jones"

songs i like:

Radiohead – "Creep"
U2 – "Numb"
Björk – "Human Behaviour"
The Breeders – "Cannonball"

Should mention that I voted for Enigma, lots of classics from this era but I'll always rep for "Return to Innocence" if its turns up in a poll. Runners-up:

The Breeders – "Cannonball"
R.E.M. – "Man on the Moon"
Radiohead – "Creep"
Primal Scream – "Movin' on Up"
Morrissey – "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful"
INXS – "Not Enough Time"

some dude, after switching to tonic waters without corn syrup buying a two-disc INXS comp last summer was the wisest decision I've made in years.

was psyched to vote for this underrated Primal Scream song until I realized "Cannonball" was on here.

Yeah, Cannonball pretty much trumps. Would love to be able to throw a vote to Human Behavior and I am definitely the kind of REM fan that loves Man on the Moon, has sung it at karaoke on three continents, etc. etc. But Cannonball sounds so fucking awesome every time I hear it, in every context. Great little pocket epic in structure, so many little moments and things you get to look forward to..could almost be a poll in itself. Tons of "feel" and atmosphere too - at turns menacing, dreamy/psychedelic, sexy, fist-pumping anthemic, dancey, loose and jammy, tight and wired, and it's all happening in the shade, in the shade....

If it were "Divine Hammer" this would be tough, but a competition...apparently that peaked at #28 so I might have to wait a while for that poll to come around.

So weird to see "Return to Innocence" down there though - something about its omnipresence in Pure Moods commercials in '94, '95 (alongside Orinoco Flow, the Twin Peaks theme, and a lot of whooshy video) made me think it had to be a kinda older song, like an '89-'91 thing. Also never realized one of the samples was "When The Levee Breaks," man do I feel dumb now.

Yeah, still feels weird that worldbeat/ambient stuff from this era like "Sadeness", "Return to Innocence", and Deep Forest's "Sweet Lullaby" became modern rock hits

Also never realized one of the samples was "When The Levee Breaks,"

Neneh's "Trout" samples the same Zep drum beat. And I'm pretty sure the drums on "Not Enough Time" are also nicked from a classic hip hop breakbeat, in its case Dexter Wansel's "Theme from the Planets"

The big Zep box sets came out in '90 and '93 - guess they were bigger in that era that my vague elementary school memories can reconstruct.

TS: Michael Stipe's horrible guest rap on Neneh Cherry's "Trout" VS. KRS-One's horrible guest rap on REM's "Radio Song?"

the pure moods stuff ('orinoco flow' had done well on mod rock radio as well) always felt like a continuum w/ college radio's playing world music and new age. between enigma and deep forest, new pavement getting played w/ hype, the format being very proud of itself for embracing tony bennett, and the connells just falling into a hit, spring 94 feels like the closest commercial radio got to college radio.

The big Zep box sets came out in '90 and '93 - guess they were bigger in that era that my vague elementary school memories can reconstruct.

zep sampling trend predates the box set releases considerably, it was effectively rick rubin's move but others copped it when that rubin sound became so dominant for a minute there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7M7d8u40I4

(who knew there was a video for that btw?)

pretty soon the trend became big enough that even members of zep began doing it themselves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka_ALgG9hqY

sampling other omnipresent breaks crossed over also

'funky drummer'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tcwlCHSdGQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrBYsPJ0rkA

'ashley's roachclip'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waacof2saZw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICnlyNUt_0o

I get the idea of sampling 70s rock... I mean the thick loud natural-ness of the way Zeppelin's rhythm section was recorded would have really stood out on the airwaves in 1988, not to mention being a good sonic foil for one teeny voice on top. Nobody sampling "Carouselambra" or "South Bound Saurez" as far as I know.

In case anyone missed it...

When the Levee Breaks: Who sampled it best?

Didn't that Counting Crows dude drop out of sight to become a bartender for a year at the height of their popularity in order to "stay real" or something? I wonder if he ever regrets that decision.

Probably not, that guy is kind of a mess, and they managed to release two platinum albums after that.

Honestly I'm glad he did that instead of, like, publishing a book of poetry or something. In the pantheon of embarrassing side-hustles Adam Duritz could have had at the height of his fame, "bartender" is pretty low on the list.

guys

he had dreds

"In the Pantheon of Embarrassing Side-Hustles" would be a great title for a Duritz bio

anyway, voted for The Breeders

"Creep" hands fucking down

really surprised by how lame this list is

some dude, after switching to tonic waters without corn syrup buying a two-disc INXS comp last summer was the wisest decision I've made in years.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, May 26, 2014 7:20 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thanks for the tip...i bought some tonic water today but i'll have to check to see if it has corn syrup in it

Will also give a special mention to The Cure's drastically reworked, atmospheric take on "Purple Haze" (which is to this poll as U2's "Night and Day" was to the previous poll), though Stone Free as a whole is probably one of the key examples of baffling 90s tribute albums

Do I get tomatoes thrown at me if I say I like the STP, Cracker, and Blind Melon tracks from "Encomium"?

weird that there are two Cure songs on here and I'm not tempted to vote for either one (if it was the psychedelic mix of "Purple Rain" that would be a clear favorite)

so many good songs but "Cannonball" is one of the greatest songs ever written

Least appealing song on "Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin"

this era is rapidly obtaining one of the highest densities of ILM scholarship

he had dreds

a dred wig even

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

My three favorites here in at top 3, yay ILM consensus

who voted for mr jones

Kravitz vote surprises me more, but I guess if I dial my brain back to before I ever heard that song, or grew to hate its whole 'real rawk lives!' steez, it's kind of an okay song.

i actually kinda loved that album, just so shamelessly over the top pastiche, made the black crowes look like kraftwerk. if he had been better, if he maintained the level of quality behind 'let love rule', 'always on the run', 'it ain't over til it's over', and are you gonna go my way instead of falling off what didn't really seem that high a peak you could've plausibly made an argument for him as 'elo of the 90s' or at least the american oasis.

lol otm

I'm embarrassed to say I owned a Kravitz album before a Prince one, and on a level of pastiche he was often solid. "It Ain't Over Til It's Over" is legit beautiful.

Yeah, why is that even in question?

I liked "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" a lot.

But a few years later, he'd fallen way off.

Lenny Kravitz singing "Rock and Roll issssssssss Deeeeeeead" always annoyed me cos it was kinda like Brutus running around screaming that Caesar'd been stabbed

lol otm

The Breeders – "Cannonball"
Primal Scream – "Movin' on Up"
Radiohead – "Creep"
Enigma – "Return to Innocence"
Björk – "Human Behaviour"
R.E.M. – "Man on the Moon"

^ All great, can't argue with this

More curious about the "Ghost of a Texas Ladies' Man" voter tbh

This was the last era where I could discover cool bands outside of a couple of college stations. WFNX in Boston was still pretty good but by '94, I was drifting off as their playlists became stale and the majors 'discovered' the underground.

"A Girl Like You" is pleasant enough, although I always wanted to hear some blissed out ibiza lounge post-baggy version of it (minus the gospel choir).

The guitar riff in the chorus isn't that different from the chorus in "Cannonball"... plus there's the connection that Michael sang a duet with Kim on Pod's "Oh!".

I like "Creep" well enough but it's kinda dented by the fact that I find the song immediately preceding it on the album, "You," to be one of the greatest Radiohead songs eva

"You" is def a highlight of that pre-Bends era.....they sounded like they were getting close to all the American bands they aped for Pablo

Didn't vote in this, but would definitely have voted for 'Cannonball', because it's perfect!

Both "Let Love Rule" and "Are You Gonna Go My Way" would arguably be above median on this list, though of course as this kind of pastiche goes they are both crushed by Matthew Sweet's "Girlfriend"

I actually like more Lenny Kravitz singles than I think I do - "Believe" is kinda cool, and yeah "It Ain't Over Til It's Over" came on in the drug store a while back and I was really digging it, like what is this smooth grownup R&B jam, must be some 80s classic I don't know. I also always was weirdly into "Black Velveteen" though it's basically a different kind of pure cheeseball hipness attempt. Forgot all about "If You Can't Say No." Obviously once "Fly Away" dropped everything else he might have achieved was pretty much blotted out, but looking at his discography on Wiki I'm stunned to realize how many records dude actually put out. Including a single from a KISS tribute album - uh oh.

"Mr. Cab Driver" was a great record in my book. Sounds like Jonathan Richman guitar.