he says when you gonna make up your mind: o.g. p4k 90s poll (001-050)

this is really just a built to spill poo-album poll w/ 47 trick responses that are there to confuse you

keep it like a secret

hahaha so three built to spill albums was actually not an exaggeration

imo this is spiderland or ride the fader and i can't decide yet

voting OK Computer just over Loveless and Perfect from Now On

pony express record vs for your own special sweetheart vs in on the kill taker

loved:

guided by voices - alien lanes
stereolab - emperor tomato ketchup
built to spill - there's nothing wrong with love
pavement - crooked rain crooked rain
liz phair - exile in guyville
guided by voices - bee thousand
pavement - slanted & enchanted

liked:

elliot smith - either/or
built to spill - keep it like a secret
built to spill - perfect from now on
elliot smith - xo
yo la tengo - i can hear the heart beating as one
beck - mellow gold
beastie boys - check your head
nirvana - nevermind

was pretty indie, i guess.

"was" ffs

"i guess"

pox: emergency & i, flood, grace, siamese dream, either/or, pony express record, the bends, post, nevermind, teenager of the year

Pixies "Trompe Le Monde" actually. If the AoL album were "Vee Vee" I'd have picked that. If the MBV album were "Isn't Anything" I might have picked that. Etc.

Much as I love the *first* Walt Mink album (and I'm not even from Minnesota) El Producto doesn't really belong here. Chavez and Slint win the "Future Generations" award. "Struggling Electric & Chemical" is missing, but that's probably for the best.

"you guys really have to hear this album 'endtroducing,' its like rap, but not rap-rap. he's a true master of the sampler as an instrument. i think you'll really like it"

"i'm really sick of like, you know, bling bling rap, you know?"

Emperor Tomato Ketchup by miles.

how do you pronounce trompe le monde?

def voting SHUDDER

my pox: crooked rain crooked rain, bricolage, bonsai superstar, weezer, slanted & enchanted, pony express record, post, bakesale, bee thousand, nevermind

― deltron the escape g.o.a.t. (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, January 19, 2012 7:02 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

iirc, it was more like, "it's really cinematic and trippy", plus yeah, a lot of "sampling as an artform". don't remember anyone hearing much "bling" talk in '96. was more about the gangsters.

In it's time, "Pump Up The Volume" was a fucking RAP SONG like the way the Dust Brothers and Steinski and Prince Paul and The Bomb Squad made rap songs.

― moonshit journey to caca (Whiney G. Weingarten), Saturday, September 17, 2011 7:27 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

how do you pronounce trompe le monde?

tromp le mond

some dude do you like pavement?

i dont like much of this list really

The bottom 50 better than the top 50. Went with Loveless.

some dude do you like pavement?

― Lamp, Thursday, January 19, 2012 10:14 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i have a very ambivalent relationship w/ them where i'd get one album, like it at first but then it'd get old quick, then i'd get another and the same thing would happen, until i had all their albums and realized i kind of hate them.

Own around a dozen of these, heard many others. There's only one album here that entranced me - Kristin Hersh's Hips And Makers. And it still does.

A million times, Homogenic.

Out of these, Entroducing.

Hips and Makers is really great

goin w beck

Exile in a close call over Bee Thousand and Endtroducing

exile; obligatory reminder that loveless sucks

lotta albums on this list that were formative for young me

love all the pavement albums obv but "loveless" is all-time, voting that

wow tori amos in the top 10 of this is so weird - esp as the past decade has pretty much seen her written out of The Canon, rarely do you see people talking about her as a classic artist (and even at the time critics weren't exactly wholly on side). certainly i've felt, way more than for any other artist, that the response will be tumbleweeds. as far as i can tell she's the only artist that tim f reps for that the rest of ilm doesn't pick up on (or at least, the bits of ilm that tim usually influences).

little earthquakes is only her 4th best album but it's still pretty classic. what singer songwriter nowadays could you possibly imagine writing "precious things"? "so you can make me cum, that doesn't make you JE-E-SUS" <3 <3

that aside the list is pretty much entirely awful. so many bullshit "alternative" acts who bored me then and bore me now, seeing all these names in one place is such an unwelcome blast from the past. whenever i see these formative lists i give thanks for the music of my formative years being what it was - i want to go back and shake 13-year-old lex's hand for having good taste and never getting taken in by canon indie.

of these, apart from tori, i love both björk albums (homogenic way more than post), and i loved the dj shadow at the time but would be vaguely embarrassed to listen to it now for some reason, and i like exile in guyville and emperor tomato ketchup fine without being overly enthusiastic. (phair has the hooks and the words but her voice is just wooden; stereolab never struck me as that far away from, like, the cardigans, and as much as i like ETK it rarely moves me emotionally, it's just bubbly melodic poppy ea candy with no real centre)

Genuinely astounded that Archers Of Loaf made the top 50 but Afghan Whigs didn't.

Had to go with Liz Phair in the end.

It's a close call between Homogenic and Emperor Tomato Ketchup for me, they're both in my top twenty albums of all time.

Quite a few albums in this list I haven't heard of like Amon Tobin, Brainiac and Walt Mink.

lol I strongly dislike the top 3 bands.

1 - Archers
2 - Phair
3 - Pixies - TlM
4 - Breeders

Slanted, then Trompe, then Check Your Head.

there aren't any fun albums on this list like there were on the other one

every album on here seems deadly serious & dragged down by the weight of its own import

what were the fun albums on the other list?

all of this except the bizarro excellence of tori in the top 10 goes such a long way to explaining why the p4k aesthetic sucks

the postal service ^_^

kmt

My top 10 would be:

033 guided by voices - alien lanes
004 guided by voices - bee thousand
018 bjork - homogenic
007 dj shadow - endtroducing...
015 sunny day real estate - how it feels to be something on
001 my bloody valentine - loveless
016 beastie boys - check your head
050 smashing pumpkins - siamese dreams
024 fugazi - in on the kill taker
045 pixies - bossanova

Probably not as strong as the first half of the list. Keep it Like a Secret is the one BTS album that deserves to be anywhere on here imo.

every album on here seems deadly serious & dragged down by the weight of its own import

― I am that young sis, the beacon, a yardstick (dayo), Friday, January 20, 2012 7:14 AM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

hahah what? this list has beck and they might be giants on it!

it cracks me up how much this list violates the 'earlier stuff was better' indie canon rule in ways they'd never allow today: XO over Either/Or, TNT over Millions Now Living, Killtaker over Repeater, How It Feels To be Something On over Diary

ha, xp Whoever's decision to rank Frank Black's first two solo records above Bossanova must've had a gleeful moment
Actually there's lots of this, see Tortoise and Fugazi
Voted "Exile"

048 heatmiser - mic city sons

the heck is that?

Elliot Smith

Would have easily voted Afghan Whigs were they in this list, guess I'll vote Slint instead?

fyi -- pixies - trompe le monde, danny

Just to be clear I was answering NickB, not proclaiming my vote for Elliot Smith. I don't really like Elliot Smith.

Aha, haha!

albums I fuck with:

050 smashing pumpkins - siamese dreams
047 amon tobin - bricolage
035 bjork - post
031 breeders - last splash
021 beck - mellow gold
018 bjork - homogenic
017 walt mink - el producto
013 radiohead - the bends
009 beck - odelay
007 dj shadow - endtroducing...
006 nirvana - nevermind
002 radiohead - ok computer
001 my bloody valentine - loveless

of these, my fave is probably Post

Voted for Trompe le Monde just over Keep it Like a Secret. Just.

voted Emperor Tomato Ketchup

I think i heard a track from that tortoise album recently and quite liked it

but it might have been something else

Was going to vote Exile but at the last minute changed it to Last Splash; both are awesome though

esp as the past decade has pretty much seen her written out of The Canon, rarely do you see people talking about her as a classic artist (and even at the time critics weren't exactly wholly on side)

yeah her profile seems to have really fallen off but my ltd impression was that in the 90s she was a big deal. i like 'little earthquakes' a fair bit (altho its sorta a lol tori choice) but i almost never want to listen to a whole album of hers. that said ive had parts of 'winter' stuck in my head since i made this poll

TNT 4 LIFE

xp
would never have thought to vote for Tori, but thread title lyric is reminding me of how much I liked her then. She was big deal. Vividly remember my anglophile friend showing me this cover for the first time:

http://undented.com/images/20.jpg

hahah what? this list has beck and they might be giants on it!

― call all destroyer, Friday, January 20, 2012 8:10 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

being a TMBG fan is a pretty heavy weight to carry around

seems so weird to me that they chose that sunny day real estate album instead of Diary. Am i alone?

Those pitchfork fellers love them some Walter Mink.

Can I say it? OK Computer is boring. They did get better after that.

seems so weird to me that they chose that sunny day real estate album instead of Diary. Am i alone?

'diary' is on the list its just in the 051-100 poll

How It Feels to Be Something on is top five from this list for me. I love that album.

still pretty funny to think of pitchfork saying ANYTHING about sunny day real estate today, though

I thought sunny day real estate was a fun pop punk band and I just listened to spotify and they sounded really dour

my pick wouldve been LP2... or realistically knapsack

dayo their name is IRONIC gah it was the 90s how could you be so easily fooled

haha I couldn't remember if they were lumped in w/ death cab + dashboard + bright eyes et al

51-100 was much better. I've listened to two of these in the last 24 months, and while I have a soft spot for Hips and Makers, P4k got it right with #1.

nope

I was probably going to boringly vote for OK Computer but this thread is making me want to vote for Tori Amos. I remember being more into Under the Pink but I'm giving Little Earthquakes a spin now.

I should perhaps vote for Siamese Dream to be true to my 90s self.

There are many albums I love or loved here (at one point I owned or had taped almost everything here) but right now Last Splash is sounding like a good vote

Alien Lanes, ETK, Chavez, Shudder To Think, Brainiac, love you too. and Pavement, but I'm sulking at Wowee Zowee not being here

still fuck with:

keep it like a secret
everclear (this list is how i discovered american music club, dang)
icky mettle!
in on the kill taker
for your own special sweetheart
how it feels to be something on
little earthquakes

Inclusion of SDRE is probably my second favorite thing about this version of the list (after inclusion of Dirty)

Btw spacecadet I thought I saw Wowee Zowee on the bottom half poll...?

hahah what? this list has beck and they might be giants on it!
― call all destroyer, Friday, January 20, 2012 8:10 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

being a TMBG fan is a pretty heavy weight to carry around
― I am that young sis, the beacon, a yardstick (dayo), Friday, January 20, 2012 3:20 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

"Flood" is really good though.

i remember "winter" blowin my mind like it was yesterday

<3 "Crucify" (but Little Earthquakes is not getting my vote in the end, sorry. Want to pull out DJ Shadow, BtS, and Bjork before voting.)

I still like/listen to these:
050 smashing pumpkins - siamese dreams
047 amon tobin - bricolage
039 built to spill - perfect from now on
035 bjork - post
024 fugazi - in on the kill taker
018 bjork - homogenic
012 pixies - trompe le monde (parts of it)
010 pavement - crooked rain crooked rain
008 tori amos - little earthquakes
007 dj shadow - endtroducing...
006 nirvana - nevermind
003 pavement - slanted & enchanted
002 radiohead - ok computer
001 my bloody valentine - loveless

POX:

050 smashing pumpkins - siamese dreams
034 slint - spiderland
032 archers of loaf - icky mettle
024 fugazi - in on the kill taker
019 jawbox - for your own special sweetheart
013 radiohead - the bends
010 pavement - crooked rain crooked rain
006 nirvana - nevermind
003 pavement - slanted & enchanted
002 radiohead - ok computer

the real answer is 'on the mouth' /homer

red medicine > in on the kill taker
heatmiser c'mon
d-plan fuc travis
god bless they might be giants but
alien lanes > bee thousand
the other two built to spill records > there's nothing wrong with love
trompe le monde: too high

What was the date of this list, if someone didn't say upthread? Boy, it really is like a time capsule. Amazed that Soft Bulletin is absolutely nowhere to be found.

I actually still haven't heard/gotten to know a few of the canonical items here...

NOT SURE I'VE EVER EVEN HEARD OF THIS, AM I MISSING ANYTHING:
036 american music club - everclear
019 jawbox - for your own special sweetheart
017 walt mink - el producto
029 shudder to think - pony express record

HAVEN'T HEARD, ALWAYS BEEN CURIOUS, WHICH ONE SHOULD I SPOTIFY TODAY?

040 kristin hersh - hips and makers
016 beastie boys - check your head
001 my bloody valentine - loveless
004 guided by voices - bee thousand
003 pavement - slanted & enchanted
007 dj shadow - endtroducing...
034 slint - spiderland
022 yo la tengo - i can hear the heart beating as one
032 archers of loaf - icky mettle

LIKE PRETTY GOOD, NOT BEST OF THE DECADE BY ANY MEANS:

045 pixies - bossanova
042 dismemberment plan - emergency & i
031 breeders - last splash
030 stereolab - emperor tomato ketchup
002 radiohead - ok computer
012 pixies - trompe le monde

DAMN GOOD:

025 they might be giants - flood
018 bjork - homogenic
013 radiohead - the bends
006 nirvana - nevermind

LOVE THIS RECORD IN AN IRRATIONAL WAY THAT IS NOT UP FOR DISCUSSION, WOULD VOTE FOR NUMBER ONE FOR ANY OF THESE:

035 bjork - post
009 beck - odelay
005 liz phair - exile in guyville
014 weezer - weezer

EXCEPT, THIS IS HERE SO #1 IS PRETTY CLEAR, AKA I'M WITH NED:

050 smashing pumpkins - siamese dream

the list was originally published in November 1999, so The Soft Bulletin had only been out for a few months (although Emergency & I had only been out for a few weeks, but that making the list so quickly was kind of a grand tastemaking gesture)

Yeah, this was right around the time that I started reading Pitchfork I think, all that activism for D-Plan definitely did a lot for them. At least in my mind they pretty much went from "who?" to an Important, Influential Band of the Era pretty quick. They actually were a kickass band, too - somehow none of the records have ever quite clicked with me though.

the Kristin Hersh record is spooky and fantastic.

I think Doctor Casino & I must be long-lost siblings.

re. my vote,

LOVE THIS RECORD IN AN IRRATIONAL WAY THAT IS NOT UP FOR DISCUSSION, WOULD VOTE FOR NUMBER ONE FOR ANY OF THESE:

014 weezer - weezer

<3s to Euler, I feel the same way every time there's a thread where you and I both get to chime in on Rock of the 90s!

much love good doctor

I wonder how much these early 2000s lists of 90s alt were shaped by geography? iirc Pitchfork was a Chicago based publication, at least back then, & I wonder how much that shaped the records they rated highly.

iirc DC & I both have ATL roots, & I wonder if our shared experiences re. 90s rock reflect that.

Somehow I thought Pitchfork started out of MN (ergo the 12 Rods love etc)?

(Wikipedia confirms this.)

yeah but i think by '99 chicago was the base of operations for the site and a lot of its writers -- not that championing tortoise or whatever counts as any kind of 'regional bias' in the context of 90s indie, or that the site wasn't if anything more centered around D.C. post-punk as much as anything midwestern at that point

didn't want to distract by suggesting that Chicago-based rock was the locus of their interest, but rather that I wonder how being a teen in Chicago or MN or wherever shaped the kind of alt.rock you were exposed to, in a way that's different from nowadays.

it's not just a point about radio b/c by the mid 90s Clear Channel was doing its thing, but rather that the kinds of tapes you'd get passed by your older sibling at the state uni mighta had a more geographical slant based on touring radii or even just "local flavors" than nowadays.

like obv Smashing Pumpkins & Weezer were huge everywhere but were some of the other acts on here more "regional"? I dunno, I speak as a southerner in the 90s & alt.rock (in GA & in Texas) was different in interesting ways from this: Merge acts were super huge in ATL b/c it wasn't a big deal to get there from NC.

I feel like NMH is a concession to the southern take on indie, but I dunno; I heard Jeff Tweedy cover "King of Carrot Flowers Part whatever" at the Lounge Ax in 1999 (yeah yeah I know) & it was a "big deal".

mostly I wonder why jam bands never made the pfork canon when down south that stuff's been college rock standbys since the early 90s.

dude PHISH is on this list!!!!

not this part of the list! did we poll the other half & is it on there? I've been on the road (following Panic of course)

TS: Pitchfork canon vs Bonnaroo canon

not this part of the list! did we poll the other half & is it on there?

yeah it should still be on the ilm sna. its a fun thread!!!

i do think theres s.thing v midwestern abt this list, its entry point seems to be meat & potatoes indie rock that draws out of 80s college rock stuff like husker du, the replacements &c. its v 'american', actually, its much less british-influenced than the indie choices in their later 90s list, more streamlined and earnest.

that's a good way to put it, that it's not a very British list. all I want to add is that I think it's not very Southern either; & blah blah I don't mean that negatively but rather descriptively

& to wonder if there's still something regional about indie interests or if the internet killed that too, & my answer (having recently spent a few weeks in the South amongst indie folks) is that regional jams are still a thing down there at least & probably everywhere else too where the Indie live today.

kinda wish I had the time / energy to "recreate" myself on here as a Southern jam band aficionado b/c it would be fun but alas, not in this life.

the other half: long ago and far away: o.g. p4k best of the 90s poll (100-51)

yeah but i think by '99 chicago was the base of operations for the site and a lot of its writers

Ha, I remember Dicrescenzo making a big point of this in his NYC Ghosts & Flowers review. Tool.

mostly I wonder why jam bands never made the pfork canon when down south that stuff's been college rock standbys since the early 90s.

Is that a Southern thing? I remember jam bands being crazy huge when I was in Buffalo 2005-2008.

i do think the world was still relatively small in late 99 early 00, even as the site itself was smaller and more amateurish. the 03 list in addition to embracing certain kinds of dance and rap music was also much more internationlist: the first destroyer record was released on a tiny vancouver label for example. when i think of southern 90s indie i think of elephant 6 tbqh but also the sunnier, janglier indie pop sound that list keeps entirely out of the top 50 (well except beck). its funnie because in some ways i think this sound partic. the drums and the melodies seem to loom much bigger over what certain posters would call 'p4k indie' of the 00s

voted crooked rain but didn't notice FLOOD was on here, might have voted for it if i were to be honest about which of these records i most feel like listening to on the average day in 2011.

good point (to Lamp)! think that's why those pfork lists were so bewildering to me when they first came out (I was there): sorta "artier" & "heavier" than what I'd been accustomed to.

E6 -> Soft Bulletin -> p4k indie, no?

this was around the time 'rocking out' (more than just *playing guitars* per se) was in the process of becoming really gauche in those circles.

E6 -> Soft Bulletin -> p4k indie, no?

yeah thats what i was getting at!! like its impossible to imagine the 'p4k aesthetic' rating shudder to think or even 'how it feels to be something on' so highly anymore and the indie that has replaced it is drawing a much different 60s tradition

Heh, a bunch of the people I knew in 99/00 would have probably put Slint at #1 and maybe Fugazi at #2.

(And OK Computer took it in the end.)

you're making me think I oughta listen to more of today's indie, putting things that way! I really don't know my way around it. are there a lot of Belle & Sebastien sounding band? there's a pretty clear line of influence through 60s goofballs like the Turtles & the Lovin' Spoonful to B&S, & that's miles away from SDRE, e.g., which I think of having more to do with Creed than B&S indie (& I like SDRE!)

xp to Lamp

you're making me think I oughta listen to more of today's indie, putting things that way! I really don't know my way around it. are there a lot of Belle & Sebastien sounding band?

sort ooofffff? and as a caveat i guess i should reiterate how often these sort of games end up saying more abt how i hear something than how something sounds but i think its more there are a lot of american indie bands drawing on the same sources and working a similar idea of indie, if not always the specific sonic palette of early b&s. these are probably the 'bigger' bands, dudes like bon iver and the fleet foxes &c &c

i wrote a p long essay that had its roots in some ilm posts abt how i could v clearly trace the influence from 80s dream pop and c86 bands like pastels and a.r. kane and american twee partic beat happening through to anco and then to the sounds of lo-fi/chillwave/post-anco indie. certainly stuff like early mag fields and st. etienne seems v influential both sonically and 'thematically'. blah blah blah

just posting but in some ways it feels like the specific sonic palette/associations of all the post-hardcore and harder indie rock here ended up feeling too 'alt radio' to ppl that didnt grow up w/the bands themselves. like the whole post-grunge radio wasteland has tainted that sound so heavily that only stuff like jeff magnum or b&s got picked up younger indie tastemakers. or maybe it just sounds too much like mallrock

it's funny b/c when I was living indie (i.e. high school + college) "the hard stuff" was indie: like you'd see heshers, or at least hesher-y types, at Superchunk shows, in addition to good little schoolkids like my friends & I. & Smashing Pumpkins were as much associated with metal as with alt at least at first: I first heard SP on Headbangers' Ball! like right after Slayer iirc.

80s dream pop + c68 -> as much dance as indie, though? like indie is p comfortable with dance nowadays as I understand it, but not metal; something something about dance - metal = not sexxxy but I dunno, I'm on a Thin Lizzy kick so I doubt I can defend this anyway.

want someone to come busting in here & shout STRAIGHT EDGE IS THE KEY YOU MORANS

or else: 10,000 Maniacs were the key

I like keys, you see

affordable laptops and music editing software are the key tbh.

80s dream pop + c68 -> as much dance as indie, though? like indie is p comfortable with dance nowadays as I understand it, but not metal; something something about dance - metal = not sexxxy but I dunno, I'm on a Thin Lizzy kick so I doubt I can defend this anyway.

its hard to make these sort of claims abt 'indie' there are still plenty of plaid shirt bros. who havent given up the guitar as central organizing principle and for whom garage rock and proto-punk and 80s college rock are primary influences. and there are plenty of metal weirdos as well. but the difference is that unlike the lo-fi/chillwave end of underground music those dudes have kinda distanced themselves from the 90s bands itl that you might expcet them to be into/mention and so has the music criticism around these bands. the historical context they get put into by press/pr/fellow travelers is much different. also the sonic and thematic parallels are looser

srsly though lamp just tell me where are the bands that sound like a.r. kane

a.r.kane are one of those bands i really wish i could have heard with fresh ears, rather than in the mid-00s

I heard them at 16 (in 99). Age was more important than year, I think.

Tim, I've been wibbling about this all year long, but Sleep Over would sound great on a tape right after Spermwhale Trip Over.

Ha Tim F otm. AR Kane are awesome.

I wanna read your essay Lamp but were you implying that AnCo sounded like a cross between the Kanes and Beat Happening?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I'm gonna have to give it to SIAMESE DREAM. Like Lex, I'd like to go back in time and shake my 13-year-old self's hand, but for realizing this album for the titanic masterpiece it is and always has been.

I heard them at 16 (in 99). Age was more important than year, I think.

― Tim F, Sunday, January 22, 2012 4:01 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i can't entirely disagree cuz i was 20 when i first heard them (in 87), but i'm loath to say that they're only suited to unripe ears. 69 is one of my very favorite albums and has held up much better than most of my late 80s loves.

ar kane desperately need an "EPs" collection a la Disco Inferno

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

people still listen to exile in guyville?

i do

who are all the people voting in these polls????

there needs to be a "you must post in this thread before voting" thing here

hi river

lurkers are really the scum of the earth

hi dayo? :)

:)

oh i like lurkers and i mean i guess i cant be so faux-naive as to not realize p4k threads will get 'mad pageviews' im just surprised any ilm thread i started had more than 6 ppl read it so all these votes are like 'omg'

i'm okay with all these votes except for the d-plan ones

i voted d-plan cuz it was beloved to young me + i didn't want it to get 0 votes, i guess lurkers make fools of us all

Stoked that Exile took 2nd place. So awesome.

Why are these results bad? WTF did you expect?

I think I forgot to vote in this one.

When you have to choose only 1 album out of these 50, would it make more sense for people to choose Brainiac or Chavez? Just because it's more unexpected?

Actually I'm surprised Built To Spill had 1 vote among 3 albums.

if it were no. 1 song, i might have picked 'unreal is here'

xp i'm guessing built to spill was a lot of folx' fifth or eighth or whatever

morelike built to SUCK amrite????

I thought about voting Brainiac for a second; that's a good album

poor lampy

tbh the best album of the '90s was 'gentlemen' so

Actually I'm surprised Built To Spill had 1 vote among 3 albums.
--billstevejim

I blame the 'perfect storm' of me forgetting to vote and everyone else on ilm being wrong

I have no idea what my favorite 90's album is right now...

Prolly Illmatic.

there needs to be a "you must post in this thread before voting" thing here

― river, Tuesday, January 24, 2012 12:13 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i agree

why?

Mods we demand a recount!

not sure if I voted, I might be that one teenager of the year vote. awww. <3 but the bends surely deserved at least one of OKC's votes, and I am glad exile in guyville placed so high because it was great & it was nice as a teenage girl in the 90s to have dirty but sweet liz phair kicking around (somewhere between Bikini Kill & Alanis Morissette)

Loveless is one of those albums where I like 3 songs and couldn't care less about the rest

Liz Phair's album is one that I never gave a chance but I'm listening to 15 second clips on amazon and I don't think this music would ever jibe with me. I think I rather give Sheryl Crow a chance because I know I like some of her radio songs

OK Computer has 3 essential songs and a handful of good songs but they aren't essential

Homogenic is fine but I mostly prefer poppy Bjork these days. And that boils down to "Alarm Call" being the only song I'd stuff onto one of my mixes.

Bee Thousand, like OK Computer, isn't all prime but I find myself going back to Bee Thousand way more often.

I voted Alien Lanes. After the GBV poll I've been able to boil down my favorite GBV songs to a 80 minute mix and Alien Lanes has more songs than Bee Thousand

Liz Phair's album is one that I never gave a chance but I'm listening to 15 second clips on amazon and I don't think this music would ever jibe with me. I think I rather give Sheryl Crow a chance because I know I like some of her radio songs

...

captainlorax is wrong about most things but sheryl crow > liz phair seems pretty fair to me

hindsight does give that opinion a massive amount of leeway

i am enjoying lorax's new role as the Judge Dredd of Shitty Indie City 4

meh I would take Extraordinary over Soak up the Sun any day of the week

(xp)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqmivX34JV8

never forget

lol go to hell

This is one of those polls where I REALLY wish ilx-poll-widget would let each person get three votes or something like that - - I think a lot of low-placing things here are actually everybody's second or third choice.

I love Exile. I think it has a little bit of filler and some of the shock has worn off, but I don't think that's a strike against either its craft or the songwriting (which is FANTASTIC - jesus, listen to "Divorce Song," gets me every time) - I mean there are other Liz Phair threads to delve thorugh this but man. I really love the SOUND too, especially on the straightforward rock numbers (6'1" etc.) - it's like this overlap of this "flattened cool" lo-fi indie sound with really clean, propulsive rhythm guitar and drumming, like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers wandered into the wrong studio and decided to roll with it as this no-name singer-songwriter emptied out 2/3 of her songbook on tape. Love it, love it, love it.

Would rank Bends over OK Computer and Post over Homogenic, but don't mind any of them. Really, this is one of the strongest top tens I've seen in an ILX poll in terms of my personal taste.

Threw on Emergency & I the other night actually - it's pretty darn good but I'd still rather see them live. There's one or two kinda samey songs that kinda bog it down, I kinda want it to be this like really kick-ass 35-minute album. But no beef with it either.

Doc Casino otm about the Tom Petty comparison; I said this in another thread, but I kind of hold the challop that Liz (in her prime) is the Prince of power-pop; Exile does a couple of things, one where she writes totally hooky pop songs, and then other songs where the songwriting tics are far more ungainly--6'1" is the perfect example here; how long does she hold out that "I'll be-e-e-e-e-eet" for?--in which hooks are kind of secondary to an awkward langour that codes as authentic sensuality much more effectively than any number of four-letter words imo...

Despite voting for OK Computer, I have to admit that I can't really convince myself that "Paranoid Android" makes any sense as a composition.

"Exit Music" and "Lucky" are amazing though. (Cool aug6 chord in "Lucky"!)

"Paranoid Android" is ruined for me by jackass college dude playing it on his acoustic

I saw the same guy accidentally take a sip from a glass full of tobacco spit. Totally made my day

hahaha, great story.

I like a lot of individual songs on OK Computer - "Let Down" in particular just keeps growing on me. But there's also some sluggish stuff that verges on filler - I needed to hear "Fitter Happier" exactly once - and looking at the tracklist I straight up can't remember "Climbing Up The Walls" or "Exit Music." The highs are super high, but I think The Bends is just way more consistent in its songwriting.

I never really liked OKC; Doc you're otm about the sluggishness (embodied by "Let Down" imo) though again, you're right; there are some good songs in there.

The Bends was my favorite album as a teenager but though I still like the Just/My Iron Lung/Bulletproof run, that album hasn't aged the best...

the only bad song on OKC is "Electioneering"

I love that song ;_;