If nobody is going to talk about the Lilys then I guess I will. So there.
Thrilled about all the Swirlies love. If that wasn't there I don't know I think I would have voted Chavez.
― Evan, Thursday, 8 August 2019 16:14 (four years ago) link
I hadn't heard the swirlies until mike chose it for the poll. Very in debt to MBV innit? I liked it though a lot.
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Thursday, 8 August 2019 17:45 (four years ago) link
Totally but with that album they really had a very unique take.
― Evan, Thursday, 8 August 2019 18:10 (four years ago) link
1996 NME Albums
1. Beck - Odelay2. Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go3. Orbital - In Sides4. Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic5. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing6. Screaming Trees - Dust7. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Murder Ballads8. Tricky - Pre-Millennium Tension9. Rocket From The Crypt - Scream, Draculs, Scream!10. Sparklehorse - Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot11. The Bluetones - Expecting To Fly12. Suede - Coming Up13. Placebo - Placebo14. Kula Shaker - K15. The Boo Radleys - C'mon Kids16. R.E.M. - New Adventures In Hi Fi17. Babybird - Ugly/Beautiful18. Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup19. The Divine Comedy - Casanova20. Aphex Twin - Richard D James21. Fun Lovin' Criminals - Come Find Yourself22. Fugees - The Score23. The Lemonheads - Car, Button, Cloth24. Beth Orton - Trailer Park25. Ash - 197726. New Kingdom - Paradise Don't Come Cheap27. Nicolette - Let No One Live Rent Free In Your Head28. Alex Reece - So Far29. Ghostface Killah - Ironman30. Gallon Drunk - In The Long Still Night31. The Afghan Whigs - Black Love32. Tiger - We Are Puppets33. Plug - Drum 'N' Bass For Papa34. Baby Fox - A Normal Family35. Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die36. The Black Crows - Three Snakes And One Charm37. Underworld - Second Toughest In The Infants38. Sebadoh - Harmacy39. Animals That Swim - I Was The King, I Relay Was The King40. Lilys - Better Can't Make Your Life Better41. Nas - It Was Written42. The Olivia Tremor Control - Dusk At Cubist Castle43. The Cardigans - The First Band On The Moon44. John Parish/Polly Harvey - Dance Hall At Louse House45. Red Snapper - Prince Blimey46. Radar Brothers - Radar Brothers47. The Future Sound Of London - Dead Cities48. Dodgy - Free Peace Sweet49. Urusei Yatsura - We Are Urusei Yatsura50. Spice Girls - Spice
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Thursday, 8 August 2019 18:21 (four years ago) link
Melody Maker End Of Year Critic Lists - 1996
Albums
1. Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go2. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing3. Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic4. Tricky - Pre-Millennium Tension5. Underworld - Second Toughest In The Infants6. Beck - Odalay7. Suede - Coming Up8. Afghan Whigs - Black Love9. Babybird - Ugly/Beautiful10. The Boo Radleys - C’mon Kids11. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Now I Got Worry12. The Make-Up - Destination: Love: Live! At Cold Rice13. Screaming Trees - Dust14. Then Aloof - Sinking15. New Kingdom - Paradise Don’t Come Cheap16. Nick Cave - Murder Ballads17. Black Star Liner - Yemen Cutta Connection18. Silver Jaws - The Natural Bridge19. The Bluetones - Expecting To Fly20. Sparklehorse - Vivadixiesubmarine...21. Placebo - Placebo22. Catatonia - Way Beyond Blue23. Trembling Blue Trees - Her Handwriting24. Telstar Ponies - Voices From The New Music25. Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die26. His Name Is Alive - Stars On Esp27. Lambchop - How I Quit Smoking28. Jack - Pioneer Soundtracks29. The Dirty Three - Horse Stories30. The Cardigans - First Band On The Moon31. Orbital - In Sides32. Longpigs - The Sun Is Often Out33. Barry Adamson - Oedipus Schmoedipus34. Ash - 197735. 60ft Dolls - The Big Three36. Lamb - Lamb37. Sterolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup38. Rachel’s - Music For Egon Schiele39. Rocket From The Crypt - Scream, Dracula, Scream!40. The Divine Comedy - Casanova41. The Yummy Fur - Nightclub42. Subcircus - Carousel43. Jeru The Damaja - Wrath Of Then Math44. Fila Brazillia - Black Market Gardening45. Spring Heel Jack - 68 Million Shades46. Dodgy - Free Peace Sweet47. Red Snapper - Prince Blimey48. Throwing Muses - Limbo49. Snoop Doggy Dogg - The Doggfather50. Cul De Sac - China Gate
Kerrang! Albums Of The Year 1996
1. Screaming Trees - Dust2. Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go3. Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar4. Sepultura - Roots5. Ash - 19776. Metallica - Load7. Social Distortion - White Light, White Heat, White Trash8. Soundgarden - Down On The Upside9. Nirvana - From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah10. The Black Crowes - Three Snakes And One Charm11. Korn - Life Is Peachy12. Joyrider - Be Special13. Rocket From The Crypt - Scream, Dracula, Scream14. Pearl Jam - No Code15. Terrorvision - Regular Urban Survivors16. Tool - Aenima17. NY Loose - Year Of The Rat18. Imperial Drag - Imperial Drag19. Rage Against The Machine - Evil Empire20. Girls Against Boys - House Of GVSB
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Thursday, 8 August 2019 18:22 (four years ago) link
some terrible typos on those lists from rocklist.net
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Thursday, 8 August 2019 18:23 (four years ago) link
18. Silver Jaws23. Trembling Blue Trees
― epistantophus, Thursday, 8 August 2019 18:33 (four years ago) link
6. Beck - Odalay
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Thursday, 8 August 2019 18:36 (four years ago) link
14. Then Aloof - Sinking
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Thursday, 8 August 2019 18:38 (four years ago) link
Feed Me Weird Things is great, also love Hard Normal Daddy and Music Is Rotted One Note
― Dan S, Friday, 9 August 2019 00:35 (four years ago) link
Head sez Labradford, heart sez Bardo.
― Coelacanth Green (Leee), Friday, 9 August 2019 00:45 (four years ago) link
Elephant Six is such a great historical artifact, I still love a lot of the music that came out of it
― Dan S, Friday, 9 August 2019 00:47 (four years ago) link
even kind of prefer Black Love to Gentlemen these days
― campreverb, Friday, 9 August 2019 03:00 (four years ago) link
Harvey Milk’s “Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men” without hesitation.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Friday, 9 August 2019 05:27 (four years ago) link
even kind of prefer Black Love to Gentlemen these days― campreverb, Friday, 9 August 2019 04:00 (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
― campreverb, Friday, 9 August 2019 04:00 (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
I rate them about the same.
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Friday, 9 August 2019 07:14 (four years ago) link
very very highly
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Friday, 9 August 2019 07:15 (four years ago) link
New Kingdom! Had that been on either list it might have been a contender...
― Captain ACAB (Neil S), Friday, 9 August 2019 07:27 (four years ago) link
I like that album actually. I forgot about it
― The World According To.... (Michael B), Friday, 9 August 2019 10:07 (four years ago) link
not a great list for me.better stuff on the bubbling under list.voted for the album that i still play on a regular basis - LFOand agree re New Kingdom.
― mark e, Friday, 9 August 2019 10:50 (four years ago) link
I'll talk Lilys with you evan
― stop torturing me ethel (broom air), Friday, 9 August 2019 15:57 (four years ago) link
A question for North Americans - While the UK 'indie/alternative' music scene was overwhelmed by Britpop by 1996 what were North American 'indie/alternative' fans listening to post 1995?
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Friday, 9 August 2019 20:22 (four years ago) link
Black Star Liner - Yemen Cutta Connection
oh damn this takes me back, I loved that album, pretty much wore the tape out. whatever happened to those guys?
obviously an actual American will have a more relevant answer to your question but I joined the Pavement mailing list in the summer of '96 (99% populated by American college kids) and the year-end lists were kind of revelatory, but the stuff I remember being on nearly every list was GBV, JSBX, Afghan Whigs, and a lot of Elephant Six stuff or some nascent post-rockish thing like the Sonora Pine or A Minor Forest
(though re the latter pair I may just be remembering bands whose names I found intriguing as "most talked about", see also how in my memory John Peel played that Swirlies album a lot but that's probably just because it's a striking album title)
― a passing spacecadet, Friday, 9 August 2019 21:58 (four years ago) link
Not in any order:
That was the era of trip hop and turntablism - two trends that I intertwine in my mind though they are quite different. DJ Shadow's Endtroducing, Tricky. Labels like Mo Wax and Ninja Tune.
Post-rock was a big thing - Tortoise and all the Chicago acts in its orbit. Labels like Touch & Go, Thrill Jockey, Quarterstick, Drag City. Honestly Millions Now Living and Tortoise in general were a Big Deal to a lot of people I knew, sort of the way Animal Collective was regarded in the 00s. They felt like a significant break with what a lot of indie kids were into prior to that. But in retrospect it doesn't feel like it had a lasting impact, and I feel like people who didn't live through that era have a hard time believing that was the case with that band.
Hip Hop was huge - Snoop, Dre, 2pac, Fugees
I can't really speak to what was huge in the "alternative" mainstream - I sort of blocked it out in those years. Aside from the biggest britpop acts like Oasis, wasn't that the era of American bands like Matchbox 20 and Three Doors Down and all that stuff? Like you had big alternative explosion of the early 90s, followed by the Grunge pretenders like Seven Mary Three and Candlebox, then the bands that took the edge even off of those groups and just became a bland kind of alt-rock.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 9 August 2019 22:05 (four years ago) link
It was indeed the height of what Eric Weisbard termed "scrunge," but a few years before Matchbox 20 and 3 Doors Down.
― 60... 90... 120 Minute IPA (morrisp), Friday, 9 August 2019 22:10 (four years ago) link
the post rock/math rock stuff wasnt really covered a lot here in 96 except for Tortoise and later GYBE/Sigur Ros but it had a small amount of fans and of course then Mogwai introduced it to a lot of people and that mogwai/EITS strain took off a bit. Most coverage tended to be in The Wire as Melody Maker went all indie smash hits late 90s.
Late 90s or early 00s I started buying US music mags from Tower Records or Borders. My favourite was Skyscraper Magazine. Eventually started buying it from the US directly as I was hardly ever in Glasgow and had no idea when it would appear. But that mag was how I found out about a lot of the US bands that weren't covered by the UK indie press.
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Friday, 9 August 2019 23:25 (four years ago) link
Are the Spin lists of the time representative or was that more mainstream alt?
http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/spinend.htm#96
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Friday, 9 August 2019 23:54 (four years ago) link
the Spin lists from the 90s look to me like a good representation of indie/alternative with a little mainstream stuff thrown in
― Dan S, Saturday, 10 August 2019 00:04 (four years ago) link
On FB I asked the question and was told Magnet was a better guide but rocklist only had this
http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/newsgroup99.htm
ROCK LIST FROM MAGNET - 1998For lack of a better description, MAGNET is the American equivalent of WIRE.
ARTISTS OF THE YEAR:
1. Neutral Milk Hotel2. Elliot Smith3. Belle and Sebastian4. Ani DiFranco5. John Spencer Blues Explosion6. Spoon7. Massive Attack8. Brian Jonestown Massacre9. Air10. Cat Power
20 ALBUMS THAT MATTERED IN 1998 (in alphabetical order, I assume)
• Archers of Loaf- White Trash Heroes• Beck- Mutations• Blonde Redhead - In An Expression of the Inexpressible• Calexico - The Black Light• Caustic Resin- The Medicine is All Gone• Richard Davies - Telegraph• Dirty Three - Ocean Songs• Godspeed You Black Emperor! -f#a#• Jack Drag - Dopebox• Mercury Rev - Deserter’s Songs• Roy Montgomery - And Now the Ran Sounds Like Life is Falling Down Through It• Pernice Brothers - Overcome By Happiness• Robert Pollard- Waved Out• Quasi - Featuring "Birds"• Sonic Youth - A Thousand Leaves• Spinanes - Arches and Aisles• Sunny Day Real Estate - How it Feels To Be Something On• Tortoise - TNT• Tricky - Angels With Dirty Faces• Unkle - Psyence Fiction
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Saturday, 10 August 2019 12:57 (four years ago) link
Shit, how cool is that Swirlies record?
I guess it didn't get a release outside the US and also maybe the kind of thing that 'out of vogue' with much of the UK music press at the time so it went under the radar here.
Taking on MBV with an East coast indie rock sensibility works brilliantly. Not to say that's all it is, there's lots of invention going on.
― Thank You (Fattekin Mice Elf Control Again) (Noel Emits), Saturday, 10 August 2019 14:27 (four years ago) link
For lack of a better description, MAGNET is the American equivalent of WIRE.hmmm
― brimstead, Saturday, 10 August 2019 17:13 (four years ago) link
voted mainliner
― brimstead, Saturday, 10 August 2019 17:14 (four years ago) link
by that list it looked more like old melody maker
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Saturday, 10 August 2019 17:17 (four years ago) link
When I went to the US in 1999 I bought a copy of Magnet to read on the train and yeah it was more like Select than The Wire
― Colonel Poo, Saturday, 10 August 2019 17:29 (four years ago) link
I remember buying a Big Takeover in Tower Records or Borders in Glasgow only to be disappointed by the fact it was covering a lot of the British music I was trying to get away from reading about as I hated it. Bloody Idlewild especially.
I wanted American indie stuff not covered by the UK press.
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Saturday, 10 August 2019 18:29 (four years ago) link
CMJ New Music Monthly was the best source for reviews of indie-rock albums in 1996.
― 60... 90... 120 Minute IPA (morrisp), Saturday, 10 August 2019 18:31 (four years ago) link
dunno that one.
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Saturday, 10 August 2019 18:56 (four years ago) link
did they do album of year lists? cant find anything on http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Sunday, 11 August 2019 00:43 (four years ago) link
I don’t recall that they did, no.
― 60... 90... 120 Minute IPA (morrisp), Sunday, 11 August 2019 00:59 (four years ago) link
pity, its a good way to see what artists they covered.
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Sunday, 11 August 2019 11:39 (four years ago) link
they did have a monthly CD though:https://www.discogs.com/Various-CMJ-New-Music-Monthly-Volume-40-December-1996/release/1402554
but I don't know how representative that was of the mag, the CDs would occasionally end up in the £1 bin here but I never saw the magazine
― a passing spacecadet, Sunday, 11 August 2019 13:02 (four years ago) link
I remember the monthly CD and CMJ, I was mostly reading Rolling Stone and Spin back then. But heavily into Matador records in '96.
― Piano Mouth, Sunday, 11 August 2019 18:18 (four years ago) link
Maybe I did see it in Tower Records but it was too expensive if it came with a CD
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Sunday, 11 August 2019 23:36 (four years ago) link
I rarely read magazines that covered mostly indie stuff back in the day like Magnet, and NME, but was really into the whole underground/diy scene. I get most of my music recommendations from forums and friends and sometimes The Wire nowadays.
― Piano Mouth, Monday, 12 August 2019 11:57 (four years ago) link
did you read fanzines?
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Monday, 12 August 2019 14:16 (four years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Tuesday, 13 August 2019 00:01 (four years ago) link
did anyone read fanzines in the 90s/
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 12:08 (four years ago) link
I read several zines and created one myself and had a blast doing that. Is that what you mean by fanzines? ;0
― Piano Mouth, Tuesday, 13 August 2019 14:26 (four years ago) link
which ones did you read?I used to read a manic street preachers fanzine but most of the fanzines I read were football ones.
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 14:30 (four years ago) link
btw any volunteers to do the 00s?
I think Brad would be a good choice but whoever wants to do it can do it as I dont fancy it as my tastes really dont align with ILM in that period I hate stuff like Avalanches, LCD Soundsystem, The Knife/Fever Ray and Mike doesn't want to do it either.
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 15:03 (four years ago) link
actually i'll just post both tonight once the results for these are in
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 23:19 (four years ago) link
the bubbling under list that hasnt made either poll is numbering 44 btw.
Getting ridiculous here and the 00s will only be worse
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Tuesday, 13 August 2019 23:20 (four years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 00:01 (four years ago) link
i still intend to run a full ballot poll for the 00's. i'll do it when 1999 is done maybe
― imago, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 00:07 (four years ago) link
heh, i've been rinsing the mazzy star album after uncovering it this week (not via this thread) and it's just so dreamy. i love everything about it. nice to see a few votes... but i guess i still stand by avery island. never heard afghan whigs either so maybe they're next.
― meaulnes, Wednesday, 14 August 2019 00:11 (four years ago) link
afghan whigs were brilliant
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Wednesday, 14 August 2019 00:21 (four years ago) link
Best Album on OUR Favourite Albums of......1999 PART ONE
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Wednesday, 14 August 2019 00:23 (four years ago) link
Proper working links
Best Album on OUR Favourite Albums of......1997 PART ONE
Best Album on OUR Favourite Albums of......1997 Part Two
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Wednesday, 14 August 2019 00:46 (four years ago) link