WORST album on this list of “The 25 Best Albums Of High School” (1994-May 1998)” I found while rooting around my parents' house over the holidays

I owned or listened to at least half of these (my high school years: 96-00), and still like a lot of them (Tales From The Punchbowl, so underrated as Primus albums go). My personal least favorite of the ones I know is Dr. Octagonecologist, although I think John Henry is the weakest of TMBG's first 6 or so albums. If I heard them all, worst might be, I dunno, maybe One Hot Minute?

"The only other person I knew who taped 120 Minutes every sunday was a girl who went to the other high school that I had a crush on."

You were in love with two high schools? People from Florida are weird.

This thread makes me wish I could turn this one into a poll.

Now's the time on ILX where we admit thinking TMBG were awesome in junior high

Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
Tool – Aenima
Korn – Korn
Gravediggaz – 6 Feet Deep
Porno for Pyros – Good God’s Urge

this is a pretty solid list, for the most part!

I guess I'll vote NIN. That angst for angst's sake shit always sounded so contrived.

Hmm... Hard call between Porno For Pyros, RAtM and Atari Teenage Riot…

That list has Florida written all over it.

(I do not mean that as a dig at the state of Florida, more just a description.)

There are a lot of great albums here and also a lot of bad ones, but the choice is easy: PRIMUS. worst = Primus, practically by definition

I would say Korn or Porno For Pyros but that's based on my unilateral hatred of both bands, not actually having heard the records. I'm guessing the PFP is the worse of the two on an objective level...

Wyclef is the worst.

I still like that Porno For Pyros album though the 2nd album is better.

Korn is the worst one obv.

One Hot Minute is the most perfect failure. It's a terrible album, but its also by far the worst Red Hot Chili Peppers album. No matter how easy it is to hate Korn, they've done a lot worse than that album.

The worst of RHCP is better than the best of Korn though (plus I don't agree with "One Hot Minute" being their worst)

Porno for Pyros was crushingly disappointing even while I was living off 90's alt-rock, so I give it to that.

this is pretty damn close to what i listened to in high school

gotta be either primus or wyclef

i really really fucking hate Primus

I listened to Dig Your Own Hole the other day and it was AWESOME

In order of awfulness:

1.) Porno for Pyros – Good God’s Urge
2.) Red Hot Chili Peppers – One Hot Minute
3.) Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Orange
4.) Primus – Tales From The Punchbowl
5.) Pearl Jam – Vitalogy
6.) Korn – Korn
7.) They Might Be Giants – John Henry
8.) Rage Against The Machine – Evil Empire
9.) Natural Born Killers soundtrack
10.) Mike Watt – Ball-Hog Or Tugboat
11.) Faith No More – King For A Day… Fool For A Lifetime
12.) Tool – Aenima
13.) Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
14.) Beastie Boys – Ill Communication
15.) Ween – Chocolate And Cheese
16.) Beck – Mellow Gold
17.) Atari Teenage Riot – Burn, Berlin, Burn
18.) Beck – Odelay
19.) Wyclef Jean – The Carnival
20.) Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole
21.) Dr. Octagon – Dr. Octagonecologist
22.) Nirvana – Unplugged In New York
23.) Melvins – Stoner Witch
24.) Wu-Tang Clan – Wu-Tang Forever
25.) Gravediggaz – 6 Feet Deep

I'm scared and sad that I've actually heard at least parts of all but two of these records.

that's not that scary. and not even very sad.

i mean, most of them are okay. and were fairly popular/ubiquitous/etc.

otm.

I still at least halfway like at least 10 of those records.

i unabashedly love at least 3 on there

There are definitely some awesome albums. I still listen to Good God's Urge, Downward Spiral, 6 feet Deep, King for a Day..., Nirvana Unplugged, Aenima, and Vitalogy.

Even some of the bands that I don't like (Primus, Korn, Ween) were OKAY. That Red Hot Chili Peppers album sucks a fucking dick though.

I'm thinking Korn or the Chili Peppers with the Chili Peppers getting my vote.

that's not that scary. and not even very sad.

Yeah, what he said. You grow up with what you grow up with and you stick with what you enjoy as you do. Most of what I listened to in high school I don't touch at all now but I'm not going to pretend I didn't listen!

i might listen to orange if i had a copy. i liked that album. i would listen to a downward spiral but i sold my vinyl on ebay. i couldn't resist!

Ned, I'm going to pretend I didn't listen! In fact I'm going to start by posting a list of all the albums I didn't listen to and then comment that I listened. . . oh wait that's a bad plan.

Anyway I think the fact that these albums were so ubiquitous is more what I find sad and scary (although that's probably not the set of words.) I was probably going out of my way NOT to listen to the radio or MTV when most of these were popular and yet I've still managed to hear so many of these.

lol my high school cd case is so alabama

orbital - green album
orbital - in sides
v/a - trance europe express vol. 1 through 4
v/a - trance atlantic
the orb - adventures beyond the ultraworld
the orb - orbus terrarum
the orb - u.f.orb
william orbit - strange cargo iii
fsol - isdn
lfo - lfo
v/a - techno trax vol 4 through 13
aphex twin - i care because you do
polygon window
v/a - tresor 2

god

oh and three dog night's greatest hits

yeah, that just screams alabama.

He means Patricia Arquette's character from True Romance.

That list has Florida written all over it.

I'm trying to work out what this would mean (wrt this list) but I've never been to Florida.

this is a pretty solid list, for the most part!

-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 21 December 2007 18:19 (Yesterday) Link

Thanks BIG HOOS. While I am ashamed at some of the more bonehead choices on there (I voted for Porno For Pyros, by the way), I do at least take a little bit of pride that it's eclectic, even if it was Spin-magazine-fed version of eclectic.

I would say Korn or Porno For Pyros but that's based on my unilateral hatred of both bands, not actually having heard the records. I'm guessing the PFP is the worse of the two on an objective level...

-- Nate Carson, Friday, December 21, 2007 5:14 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

Even as a 28-year-old man and professional music snob, I will STILL go to bat for Korn's first album. There's some really forward-thinking stuff on there. Alice Cooper once described it as an album that took really ugly sounds and made them beautiful, which I think is accurate (and also the same reason that people listen to Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear and Battles)

The worst of RHCP is better than the best of Korn though (plus I don't agree with "One Hot Minute" being their worst)

-- Geir Hongro, Friday, December 21, 2007 5:53 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

This is so, so, so OffTM.

Korn's first record > Any RHCP album after Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

However:

Anything else by Korn < root canal

this is pretty damn close to what i listened to in high school

-- latebloomer, Friday, December 21, 2007 6:00 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

What year did you graduate, LB? And what are your 5 favorite albums of 2007?

Some stats:
--I still own 23 of these albums. (I got rid of all my Pearl Jam because when the fuck am I going to want to listen to Pearl Jam? I sold my Korn to get a Korn CD out of my CD collection after a girl saw it on the eye-level "K" section of my CD racks and said "KORN!?" But I burned the CD and still listen to it like once a year)

--I would say I "unabashedly love" 14 of these albums

--I would say I still "like" 8 of them (Primus, TMBG, RATM, Chili Peppers, Mike Watt [all of whom have albums I DO unabashedly love that didn;t come out between 94 and 98], plus Pearl Jam, Atari Teenage Riot and Tool)... tho I probably haven't actually heard any of these albums since high school

--I would say "barf" to that Porno For Pyros album.

Also, I think that while One Hot Minute is kind of crappy, it DOES have some pretty great stuff on it and is REALLY underrated. But I mean, it's also an album that I loved when I was 15, so blah blah memories.

dude you're gonna regret getting rid of that pearl jam in about 12 to 18 months. trust me. 30th birthday looming does weird things to a man.

Well, it's not like I can't get a new Pearl Jam record on Amazon for 79 cents.

When this poll closes, I'm going to do an updated 94-98 top 25 to celebrate my 10 year anniversary!

But it's probably just going to be all rap records. And Mellow Gold will still probably be No. 1.

i'm just gonna take yr word on porno for pyros, since assumption of suckiness is why i never bought a pfp album.

when i was in hs (11 years before you whippersnapper) i at one point did this whole stupid thing where i went through all my records and rated every song individually on a 1-10 scale, then added up the totals to rank the albums. i wish i still had that list (lost along with everything else on my apple iie floppy discs), but i remember purple rain was no. 1, which i don't feel bad about. i imagine there were a few clash albums in the top 10, probably some ramones, replacements, regatta de blanc, rum, sodomy and the lash, most likely the first big country record. mostly stuff i still like i guess.

(nb not all those albums came out while i was in high school. of stuff contemporaneous to 83-87 there would have been r.e.m., springsteen, psychocandy, billy idol...)

haha, I totally forgot about "Y'all Want A Single." and I started a thread about it at the time!

Korn - "Y'All Want A Single"

There's a song about playing pranks. And there's a line, I shit you not--RAPPED, mind you:

"I put doodoo in a bag, set in on fire/Open your door, there's a bag on fire."

-- Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, December 24, 2007 12:53 AM (18 hours ago) Bookmark Link

i am so downloading this

then possibly gouging my ears out afterwards

but the spirit of scientific inquiry beckons

Yes, it bids you to open your door.

top 5 funniest Korn singles from after everyone stopped paying attention to them:

1. "Make Me Bad"
2. that cover of Cameo's "Word Up!" (which I still honestly think was pretty awesome
3. "Y'all Want A Single"
4. the one with Xzibit, Lil Jon, Snoop Dogg and David Banner playing the band in the video
5. the unplugged version of "Freak On A Leash" with Amy Lee singing backup

Here's an updated list of my favorite albums from 1994-1998 for my 10th anniversary! Albums that are still on the list after a decade are in bold

1. Notorious BIG - Ready To Die
2. Beck - Mellow Gold
3. Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst
4. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
5. Wu-Tang Clan - Wu-Tang Forever
6. Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
7. Melvins - Stoner Witch
8. Johnny Cash - Unchained
9. Fatboy Slim - You've Come A Long Way Baby
10. GZA - Liquid Swords
11. Nirvana - Unplugged In New York
12. Harvey Milk - Courtesy And Goodwill Towards Men
13. Goodie Mob - Soul Food
14. Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep
15. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return To The 36 Chambers
16. Air - Moon Safari
17. Devin - The Dude
18. Company Flow - Funcrusher Plus
19. OutKast - Aquemini
20. Beck - Odelay
21. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works II
22. Ween - Chocolate And Cheese
23. Boredoms - Super Ae
24. Jay-Z - Vol 2: Hard Knock Life
25. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange

*Though to be fair a few of these albums came out AFTER I graduated

2. that cover of Cameo's "Word Up!" (which I still honestly think was pretty awesome

totally, made me think they were due for a second act. then they sucked again.

whiney: graduated in 2000. my favorites of 2000 are lcd soundsystem, caribou, burial, battles, radiohead, no age, grinderman, dirty projectors, electrelane, justice. among others.

that should be "favorites of 2007" obv.

RATM--Evil Empire.

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

best = 'stoner witch'
worst = that jon spencer blues explosion lump of dung

I too will go to bat for the first Korn album. I have no desire to listen to it today but I thought it was pretty powerful and unique, even though I always turned my nose up at it when amongst friends. I suppose the best argument for it would be that it's probably had the biggest influence on post-2000 rock of any record I can think of but most of the bands/music it has influenced aren't thought highly of round these parts either.

I also like Marilyn Manson.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

whoops i voted for best

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

lol @ this poll of all polls getting over 100 votes

very happy that Ball-Hog Or Tugboat? is one of only 2 albums to get no votes. possibly the best guest star clusterfuck album of all time.

Aw, poor Korn! I think they were voted off the island for their later sins.

TS: Korn's Korn vs. Porno For Pyros' Good God's Urge.

Korn is way better!

I would like to personally thank everyone who voted in my poll, btw.

I will rep for that Porno For Pyros album, I still like it. Vitalogy is the joint best Pearl Jam album along with No Code.

God help me, I do still love Orange

I always hated Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

Orange is the shit, yeah. I definitely do not think Good God's Urge is the worst thing on the list or anywhere near it, though. It was a step in Perry Farrell's journey towards complete unlistenability and irrelevence, but he still had a long way to go.

who the fuck voted for 6 ft deep?

I had no idea people hated them so much until recently! I always thought they were indie darlings, until someone schooled me a year ago that I am apparantly the only person that ever liked them ever!

The kids of today should defend themselves against the 70s!!!!!!!

some of these votes are CRAZY

I don't even know where to begin with three votes for Wu-Tang Forever

I am familiar w/ most of these, though I can't say I love any of them. My favorite is probably Ween. Dr. Octagon I liked a lot when it was out but I haven't heard it since like 2000. Maybe I would still like it. Oh shit, there is a horse in the hospital! God was that funny.

should i still try downloading that fieldy's dreams album mentioned upthread?

i am sooooooooo curious but also scared lol

I mean do it if only for the chance to rethink what you mean when you say something is "the worst album ever."

Like next time you're ready to post "UGH THIS PANDA BEAR IS THE WORST ALBUM EVER" you can just think of Fieldy and his Dreams.

ok...downloaded it. will listen to this later. if anyone here is religious, pray for me!

i still have yet to listen to it. it's been sitting on my hard drive, taunting me. do i dare have the courage?

lol Korn

worst: RATM - Evil Empire

i have plenty of time for all of these, though

13. Tool – Aenima 5
4. Dr. Octagon – Dr. Octagonecologist 3
11. Wu-Tang Clan – Wu-Tang Forever 3
18. Faith No More – King For A Day… Fool For A Lifetime 3
2. Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral 3
12. Melvins – Stoner Witch 2
14. Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole 1
9. Beastie Boys – Ill Communication 1
24. Nirvana – Unplugged In New York 1

Can't believe Orange got 8 votes here. WTF is wrong with people?

FULL GROWN, GET DOWN

yeah that placing so high is a real headscratcher. it's their best record imho

not to keep picking on you Shakey i like JSBX too but Average White Band enrage you for race-related reasons but JSBX are totally cool?

top 5 funniest Korn singles from after everyone stopped paying attention to them:

1. "Make Me Bad"
2. that cover of Cameo's "Word Up!" (which I still honestly think was pretty awesome
3. "Y'all Want A Single"
4. the one with Xzibit, Lil Jon, Snoop Dogg and David Banner playing the band in the video
5. the unplugged version of "Freak On A Leash" with Amy Lee singing backup

― Alex in Baltimore, Monday, December 24, 2007 2:37 PM (3 years ago) Bookmark

i am inordinately proud of this post

that "Word Up!" cover is way better than it has any right to be

i have heard songs from 9 of these

i like the unplugged album ok

really surprised by the orange hate. love that album.

3. "Y'all Want A Single"

lol this one is soooo bad, even by Korn standards

not to keep picking on you Shakey i like JSBX too but Average White Band enrage you for race-related reasons but JSBX are totally cool?

lol all the bands that JSBX borrowed from are white, for the most part (the Cramps in particular). To my ears, with AWB it's mostly that they don't bring anything different or interesting to the table in terms of execution. like, the only real difference between Pick Up the Pieces and the James Brown riffs they compiled the song from is that, well, they're white and British. it's just kind of lazy and irritating.

as RL Burnside noted, the JSBX didn't even really play blues (o the irony). I think he called them closer to disco lol

So basically Shakey, your argument is that ppl who are good enough to work with Herbie Hancock, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Ray Charles, Ben E. King, Buddy Guy, Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye are still terrible because they are white and British?

they're terrible because they're boring

pick up the pieces is a good song. it would be a good song if it was by any 70s funk band.

also: orange in particular uses those real dramatic 70s isaac hayes blaxploitation strings and stuff, that is not from the cramps.

that is ONE song. and the strings, as RL Burnside might say, is more disco than blues. I'm not sure what your point is. Yes they had a wider range of influences than just the Cramps duh