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

he had dreds

a dred wig even

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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.