Top 5 90's Albums

[Katzkatz]

Okay it had to be done after the 70s and 80s it is the 90s! Trickier to pick compared to the other decades. Here goes:-

1. Like a Prayer - Madonna.
2. Nevermind - Nirvana.
3. Achtung Baby - U2.
4. Division Bell - Pink Floyd.
5. Out of Time - REM.

Other noteables:-

Ten Summoner's Tales - Sting.

[Smurph]

Pretty hard to nail down just five, but I suppose I'd go with:

Alice in Chains - Dirt
Pearl Jam - Ten
Orbital - In Sides
Bad Religion - The Gray Race
Live - Throwing Copper

But waaaay more would be needed, probably my favourite decade for music. Hanging around the fringes are:

Jamiroquai - Emergency on Planet Earth
Floyd - Division Bell
Foo Fighters - Colour and the Shape
Megadeth - Youthanasia
Leftfield - Leftism
Prodigy - Fat of the Land
Dweezil Zappa - Confessions
Terrorvision - How to Make Friends...

And many more.

[Katzkatz]

It was trickier for me as I am not really into the Brit pop stuff.

[Fred83]

1.Oasis-Whats story morning glory
2.Stone Roses-Second coming
3.Oasis-Definatly Maybe
4.Nirvana-Nevermind
5.Guns N Roses-Use your illusion I & II

[Spector]

I can't actually name five. The CD killed the album in my opinion, because records were 40-45 minutes beforehand, and CD made them 60 to 70 minutes, which is far too long for a pop record. As a result, 90s albums are loaded with so much padding and filler that you can't listen to them straight through. Remember Second Coming by The Stone Roses and its 6 minute intro of nothingness? Not only that, but CDs sound terrible!

Here's three albums that I can think of :

Automatic For The People - REM
Achtung Baby - U2

I was wrong. I can only think of two!

[Tapey297]

I love the '90 s my five would be

Orbital - In Sides
Prodigy - Experience
Oasis - Whats the Story Morning Glory
Cypress Hill - Black Sunday
Eminem - The Slim Shady LP

others of note

Nirvana - Nevermind
Shamen - Boss Drum
Prodigy - Fat of the Land
Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
Leftfield - Leftism
Oasis - Definetly Maybe
Adamski - Dr Adamski's Musical Pharmacy
NWA - Staight Outta Compton

[Sputryk]

Hmm..., since the heyday of the 80's music has been on a downward slide, the majority I find absolute dross. Nevertheless, there have been a few musical highlights that more than make up for a poor decade.

(in no particular oder):

1 - Frank Zappa - The Yellow Shark
2 - Joe Satriani - The Extremist
3 - Stratovarius - Destiny
4 - Boston - Walk On
5 - Francis Dunnery - Tall Blonde Helicopter

[Sherringford Hovis]

I was never really into the brit-pop thing at all and thought all my faves where in the 70's and 80's but with a little thought, it occurred to me that some of my most listened to albums came from the 90's, so here goes.

The Wildhearts - Earth Versus the Wildhearts
Therapy? - Troublegum
The Levellers - Levelling the Land
NIN - The Downward Spiral
RHCP - Blood Suger Sex Magic

And I could go on and on....

The Wildhearts - P.H.U.Q
The Wildhearts - Fishing For Luckies
Pearl Jam - Ten
Alice In Chains - Dirt
FNM - Angel Dust
Queen - Innuendo

and so on and so fourth.

[AlleyKat]

Personally, I think one of the "problems" with the 90's is that a lot of the best music wasnt really best served by the album as a format.
Dance music (one of the main genres of the decade), for example, like hip-hop, disco, garage rock or soul generally works best as shorter chunks of sound (eg, a single, or 12 inch).

Obviously, there are plenty of exeptions to that, but it is a factor, I think.

The 90's was good for dance music, experimental stuff like "post-rock" (horrible term) and certain kinds of garage rock. A lot of other genres were pretty much perfected in previous decades (eg, soul in the 60s, jazz, original rock & roll and electric blues in the 50s, stadium AOR in the 80's, for example).

A lot of more organic music has been spoilt not only by the advent of CD (as Spector pointed out), but in particular by a more digital and technological approach to recording, which despite being great for more studio based music (anything from later Pink Floyd, through to dance music) crushes the life out of music based around "feel" thats best played live.
(This was something that reached a head in the 80's with nasty, over engineered records, with that horrible fake drum sound).

Another issue is that two of the biggest movements in white-boy guitar music (grunge and britpop) were themselves only watered down versions of similar, but far superior 80's bands, with the real heirs to that low budget rock being left out in the margins.

Anyway, apologies for the rant, I know that many would disagree with the above and that what I've sketched out is full of holes, but I dont want to write an essay on the subject and I'm sure none of you guys want to read one.

Some 90's albums I like-

Loveless- My Bloody Valentine
Enter the Wu Tang (36 chambers)- Wu Tang Clan
Thank You- Royal Trux
Selected Ambient Works 85-92- Aphex Twin
Hit to Death in the Future Head- The Flaming Lips (when they were good)

Honorable mentions to Underworld's Dubnobasswithmyheadman, Trickys Maxinquaye and Nirvana's Nevermind.

[thl]

My top five albums of the 90s are:

1. Nirvana - Nevermind
2. Bryan Adams - Waking Up The Neighbour
3. Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory
4. Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion I & II
5. Metallica - Metallica (The Black Album)

[Sherringford Hovis]

I kind of agree with what you said to a point (AleyKat) but I think 'organic' music still gets made. The problem with the advent of CD's and a proliferation of computer based studio software is not the technology per se but more that that it lends itself to a lazier approach, allowing anyone to create rubbish and churn it out at a fair old rate.

Of course, the flip side to this is that smaller bands don't have to fork out an arm and a leg to get a 'good' sounding demo out into the world (partuclarly now with internet downloads) and this should lend itself to an even more creative music culture. Of course, it hasn't quite worked out that way but we still get the occasional suprise.

CD's are also cheaper to produce so that cost saving can be passed on to the consumer... oh... wait...

Still, your points are good ones and I bassically agree, but the music I listen to, with the odd exception, will always be preduced in a 'live' environment and just happen to be printed to CD's. Is there a difference in sound quality as Specter claims, almost certainly, a lot of warmth is lost on CD. However, since we all MP3 everything these days it makes very little difference and unless your stereo setup is fantastically expensive, it's not going to make a lot of difference to the average punter. Of course, to tie the two points together, most of the music released now would still sound like a load of old bobbins no matter how good the media.

Anyway, back to the top 90's albums and clearly, my choices are the best so I win the thread. No, really!

[AlleyKat]

I kind of agree with what you said to a point (AlleyKat) but I think 'organic' music still gets made...

Oh, for sure, but theres so much stuff made now that would sound a million times better if pro-tools and auto-tune had never been invented. As fans of Brian Wilson, Phil Spector and Stax/Motown probably appreciate, the actual sound is often as important as the material.

Anyway, congrats on your thread victory, dude, an Alleykat No-Prize is winging its way to your address right now...

[Smurph]

Therapy? - Troublegum

My brother was in the same class as Andy out of Therapy? in secondary school in Larne.

[djcarlos]

Therapy? - Troublegum

My brother was in the same class as Andy out of Therapy? in secondary school in Larne.

Really? I LOVE Therapy?

My top 5, which took some whittling down...

DJ Shadow "Endtroducing"
Red Hot Chilli Peppers "Bloodsugarsexmagik"
Therapy? "Nurse"
Pearl Jam "Ten"
Underworld "Dubnobasswithmyheadman"

[psj3809]

I loved britpop !

Anyway...

1 - Nirvana - Nevermind
2 - Oasis - Definiately Maybe
3 - Oasis - WTS Morning Glory
4 - Stone Roses - Second coming
5 - Shed Seven - A maximum high or Charlatans - Us and us only

NWA - Staight Outta Compton

Wasnt this late 80's ? Sure it was along with De La Souls great album