Stairway to Hell: The 100 Best Heavy Metal Albums of the '90s (pt. 3)!

Supergrass: I Should Coco

??? Good album, no way is it metal AT ALL.

lol mansun

damn, but that's a lot of alt-rock there.

what's LJ gonna choose? there's all his heavy metal favourites like Mansun,Supergrass and his fave metal girl-group Sleater-Kinney!

This list is insane.

Awful

Chuck you really did hate 90s metal didn't you?

Where/when does this list actually come from btw?

Some stupid book where the author left out Dog Eat Dog and Ultraphobic -- can you believe that shit? (Voting Cherry Pie, as pennance.)

check here DJ Mencap.

Product Description

Synopsis

This irreverent and hilarious guide to all that's loud, vulgar, fast, violent, pissed-off, and adolescent in the music of the last forty yearsthe first book to prefigure the emerging "alternative" culture of the 1990shas now been updated with the hundred best metal albums of the decade.

here are some "hilarious" customer reviews:

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars destined to be misunderstood in our lifetime, 27 Aug 1999
By A Customer

were more listeners to adopt eddy's ethos (in spirit if not in personal choices) the music world would be a less straitjacketed, reductive place than it is today - and as for all the Priest /Maiden fans, they'll grow up one day I'm sure.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Life? welcome..., 25 Jul 1999
By A Customer

If you want to do a book on music in general, do it. However, don't use the word "heavy metal" in the title if Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are dismissed. Welcome to life buddy.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not fair to metal nor to truth, 13 Jul 1999
By A Customer

I knew right away that the book was worthless when the New York Dolls had one of the top ten "heavy metal" albums of all time. The NY Dolls are a GREAT -one of the GREATEST- punk rock/glam bands of all time, but they're simply not heavy metal. They, like the Stooges, Ramones, et al. are playing a million different variations of Chuck Berry only faster and more raw. It's got power, angst and everything else, but it IS NOT METAL. If someone of consequence, say a mainstream journalist uses this book as a reference (never happens...) there will be a lot of articles confusing metal with punk rock and all the rest of rock and roll. Granted, Led Zepplin IS metal (right?) and rightly deserve the praise they get in this book but Black Sabbath is THE band that got it all started. Eddy brushes off Black Sabbath like they were of minor significance. He also dismisses Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, all the death metal, speed metal, etc. that's been of tremendous significance in clearly defining what "heavy metal" is. It's not even a funny joke that P-Funk and the Osmonds are included in the book. What's the point in calling these bands/people heavy metal? I mean, rock and roll is a huge tent, but some parts of the tent simply do not mix and it is unfair to have included non-metal bands in this book. It is pointless to purchase it as it is of no value except as a novelty - which means "save your money."

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worthless book !!!, 5 Jul 1999
By A Customer

I read this book from a friend. The writer of this book should be arrested !!! He doesn't seem to know what is heavy metal! He didn't include any Maiden álbum in the 500 greatest! Burn the book!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What "Universe" does Chuck Eddy live in?, 28 May 1999
By A Customer

Missing from Eddy's pathetic book: Starland Vocal Band, Bay City Rollers, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. COME ON! Some of the people who have given this vaccuous compilation 5 stars (FIVE!!!) talk about how Eddy is making a statement or how Eddy "runs a gamut". These people must be Eddy's relatives, because some of the artists/groups that he includes can, in no way, be connected to heavy metal. I'm not interested in some kind of artistic statement that obviously has nothing to do with heavy metal. Does Eddy even know what heavy metal is? Perhaps Eddy should write the ultimate insider's guide to Country--and feature such country legends as Mercyful Fate, Slayer, and Napalm Death.

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed bag - but evokes repeated readings, 1 May 1999
By A Customer

I appreciate his signficant nod to Black Sabbath (though I woulda put more albums on the list), but..........

If he dismisses Iron Maiden & Judas Priest as cartoonish sterotypes, why does he list 2 Godz albums? Talk about inconsistency in logic!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars metallica, 24 April 1999
By A Customer

i think metallica's album with the same name is the best metal album...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I'd give it 0 stars if I could, 22 April 1999
By A Customer

Let me see: Poison is better than Metallica, Bryan Adams and Prince are heavy metal, and Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, the Scorpions, Judas Priest, and Megadeth (for starters)have no albums worthy of inclusion within the 500 greatest of all-time? Though his Lester Bangs wannabe style is slightly interesting, as a guide to picking music this guy is strictly an amateur who I can't take seriously. For a much better (and less obnoxious) guide, buy Martin Popoff's "The Collectors Guide To Heavy Metal."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Chuck Eddy - metal expert.......HA HA HA HA HA, 28 Mar 1999
By A Customer

Picture this : bitter nerd who collects vinyl thinks that by defining his own pathetic record collection as "heavy metal" he has an instant licence to cool.....

IT DOESN'T WORK!!! On nearly every count Eddy reveals his ignorance of the genre. From the laughable inclusion in the "Nineties" appendage of a series of eighties hard rock collections, to the listing in said section of a Suzi Quatro retrospective!! I CAN speak with authority on "metal" having run the Australian subsidiary of Roadrunner Records for four years (the world's most successful "metal" label), and this guy is genuinely clueless. Not trying to reveal my own loyalties, but how can you have a "heavy metal" countdown without the inclusion of acts such as "Iron Maiden", "Judas Priest" or new cutting edge acts such as "Fear Factory" or "Coal Chamber"....

I'll tell you how this could happen....Chuck Eddy, despite claiming to be an authority, has either not heard of these bands or is scared of their music. When half his collection is wimp-out AOR records and other soft American "rock lite", you really must wonder about the integrity of his conclusions.

As a fan, and (if I may say so) a relative expert on the genre of "metal", I urge you not to buy this book. However, if Europe's "Final Countdown" has you air-guitaring in the bedroom, Eddy's book is a must......

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a waste of money, 17 Mar 1999
By A Customer

If you can't say anything nice......

was the 1st one KJB's ?

Not trying to reveal my own loyalties, but how can you have a "heavy metal" countdown without the inclusion of acts such as "Iron Maiden", "Judas Priest" or new cutting edge acts such as "Fear Factory" or "Coal Chamber"....

Roadrunner dude lost me with the last 2. (Roadrunner is a shite label btw)

more, you say? well, alright then...

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't whine Metal Heads -- pick up Uncle Chuck's 'Stairway'!, 28 Feb 1999
By A Customer

My dad has been carrying around a first edition copy of 'Stairway to Hell' ever since my uncle Chuck Eddy gave it to us. Every once in a while, we pull it out of a dusty box on the porch just to laugh at a couple of the contorted record reviews. To tell the truth, I'm kinda glad that none of my school teachers have told me I had to read it cover-to-cover. I'm not sure I'd pass the test! But Metal Heads who whine that their favorite demonic band is missing from 'Stairway' are missing the point. Music is supposed to be fun! If you're the kind of person who doesn't take yourself too seriously -- you'll get a daily dose of Heavy Metal chuckles if you pick up a copy of uncle Chuck's book!

1.0 out of 5 stars worthless, 12 Jan 1999
By A Customer

This book has to be the biggest pile of garbage I have ever "read" in my life. Eddy's definition of "heavy metal" is so distorted that it includes Miles Davis, the Osmonds, Parliament/Funkadelic, and much that would be considered FM "classic rock." Overall, there is too much emphasis on 80's glam rock/pop metal to make this a complete listing of the "best in the universe." I sure am glad I only checked this out of the library; had I spent good money for it I would be incensed beyond belief. Don't waste your time with this...

5.0 out of 5 stars A virtual Hard Rocking Bible...but somewhat tongue-in-cheek, 21 Dec 1998
By A Customer

I've read the reviews and I've owned this book since the fall of 1991 (i.e. the first printing), so now it's time for my two cents' worth. Eddy is an incisive writer whose musical tastes run the metal gamut (in fact, many of the albums included, like those by Prince, Neil Young, Teena Marie, and Donnie Osmond are about as heavy metal as saying that Bill Clinton is a Republican), but his sense of humor and history is impeccable. Buy this book; it WILL send you to the cutout bins looking for rare stuff by Sir Lord Baltimore, Dust, Bang, and, er, Prince. A caveat for those who already have the first edition: the second edition is basically a reprint of the first with no changes, plus an extra chapter on the best HM albums of the 90s.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Greatest, 17 Oct 1998
By A Customer

The first edition of this book (which I got in 1992 when it first came out - I like to brag about this because it's the ONE thing I was into before everyone else) more or less formed my sensibilities RE: what I like about pop music, so, yeah, I'm a little biased. I just about wet my pants when I saw the 2nd ed. in my not-so-local bookstore, and snapped it up instantly, and it did not disappoint. If I knew someone who wanted to get started on some kind of weird "Great Books About Rock n Roll" program, I'd give 'em this, Chuck's "Accidental Evolution of Rock N Roll", and R. Meltzer's "Aesthetics of Rock." Chuck is one of the smartest and funniest humans writing about r'n'r (or anything else); reading one of his books (or reviews) is more akin to listening one of your weird, obsessed friends ramble on without restraint about a topic they truly love (maybe that's why I keep using the dude's first name, as if I knew him or something). I much prefer that feeling to that of being lectured at or talked-down to that I get from other r'n'r books. I have a feeling that the very thing that I - and others - love about this book is the same thing that will alienate a lot of the plebians who will cry 'foul' upon discovering that Priest and Maiden don't make the final cut, to wit: the willingness that Chuck has to challenge, provoke, irritate, confuse, or SOMEHOW get SOME KIND OF REACTION FROM the reader. You may hate this book, but it will NOT put you to sleep. Instead of telling the metal fan what s/he wants to hear, Chuck tries to - gasp! - expand their horizons somewhat by - choke! - throwing a few actual IDEAS their way!! If you feel you're up to the challenge, give STAIRWAY a try. I can't recommend it highly enough.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only book on hard rock worth owning., 17 Aug 1998
By A Customer

Chuck Eddy's "Stairway to Hell" is a witty and acerbic look at the author's "500 best metal" albums of all time. And it doesn't suffer fools or old subscribers to Kerrang gladly. Translated: "If you expect to see your favorite Priest or Maiden LP glorified, you're gonna be s--- outta luck." But, no pain no gain and if there's another book that so succeeds in capturing the joye de crunch of hard rock and heavy metal while being a blunt stick in the eye to the average rock critic and the audience's lowest common denominator, I haven't seen it. Eddy takes no prisoners as he calls Pearl Jam purveyors of lame but loud "folk rock" and disses Korn as droopy, boxer-shorted paleface teenagers who practice clumsy racial metal crossover. (Sorry, his e-mail address isn't included should these thoughts reduce you to speechless rage.) Thrill to Eddy's prose on such truly obscure wonders as The Highway Kings, White Witch, Nitzinger and Point Blank as you, perhaps, contemplate digging through cutout bins in search of them. Oh yeah, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Ted Nugent, Deep Purple . . . they're included, too.

1.0 out of 5 stars This book has very little to do with heavy metal., 27 Jun 1998
By A Customer

This publication is testatment to how out of favour metal is in North America. The past five years have seen some of the best metal ever, yet very little recent material is included in the book. I believe that virtually any metal fan would agree that bands the author leaves out (e.g. Iron Maiden, Judas Priest)are absolute archetypes of the genre. I pity the unsuspecting metal fan who runs out and buys P-Funk thinking they are 'one of the best' of all time. 'Stairway to Hell'is embarrassingly....out of touch.

1.0 out of 5 stars Absolute rubbish, 22 Jun 1998
By A Customer

Chuck Eddy's complete lack of knowledge on the subject of heavy metal astounds me! Anyone that would consider Suzy Quatro, the Osmands, and P-funk as heavy metal shouldn't be allowed to speak about the genre, let alone write a book claiming to list it's 500 greatest albums! Please! Where is Judas Priest? Where is Iron Maiden? Honestly, Chuck, is this a joke? Fans, don't waste your time or money.

i love how most of the good reviews are by known ilxors though!

ain't it great?

special prize fro whoever can spot the Raggett review!

about his uncle chuck?

and let's not forget:

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only book on hard rock worth owning., August 17, 1998

By Dick Destiny (cr✧✧✧@s✧✧.s✧✧✧.n✧✧.e✧✧) (southern California) - See all my reviews

Chuck Eddy's "Stairway to Hell" is a witty and acerbic look at the author's "500 best metal" albums of all time. And it doesn't suffer fools or old subscribers to Kerrang gladly. Translated: "If you expect to see your favorite Priest or Maiden LP glorified, you're gonna be s--- outta luck." But, no pain no gain and if there's another book that so succeeds in capturing the joye de crunch of hard rock and heavy metal while being a blunt stick in the eye to the average rock critic and the audience's lowest common denominator, I haven't seen it. Eddy takes no prisoners as he calls Pearl Jam purveyors of lame but loud "folk rock" and disses Korn as droopy, boxer-shorted paleface teenagers who practice clumsy racial metal crossover. (Sorry, his e-mail address isn't included should these thoughts reduce you to speechless rage.) Thrill to Eddy's prose on such truly obscure wonders as The Highway Kings, White Witch, Nitzinger and Point Blank as you, perhaps, contemplate digging through cutout bins in search of them. Oh yeah, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Ted Nugent, Deep Purple . . . they're included, too.

yeah, people do have Nieces & Nephews, you know.

xp

(please don't hurt me, George.)

the monks are 60's garage, neither 90's nor metal .. i'm sorry but i really dont get this poll at all .. unless thats the point?

Just change "heavy metal" to "rock" and this will look a lot less awkward.

Perhaps Eddy should write the ultimate insider's guide to Country--and feature such country legends as Mercyful Fate, Slayer, and Napalm Death.

Would purchase.

oops, posted that one twice.

Okay I actually read through the thread..

The book sounds like garbage

oh, c'mon, it's fun!

i mean, that was entirely the point in the first place, ya know?

and chuck didn't decide on the title, and there is some great albums in the book.

Why didn't you include Coal Chamber, Chuck?

They suck?

I'm pretty sure the book title was my idea, though. (Or at least it was a collaborative effort.)

Not fair to metal nor to truth

xp I can detect no flaw in your logic, Chuck. Good enough for me!

Eddy brushes off Black Sabbath like they were of minor significance

I honestly don't get this. They're all over the book -- The first six albums all make it, two in the top 30. Guess you could argue they could be higher, but I don't see how six albums is "minor." (I do, righlty or wrongly, brush off post-Ozzy Sabbath -- and post-Sabbath Ozzy for that matter -- but that doesn't seem to be the guy's point.)

I'm actually surprised that you aren't a fan of at least the first two Ozzy solo albums, Chuck. They seem like they would be up your alley.

"Eddy brushes off Black Sabbath like they were of minor significance"

You do, I'm sorry to say.

but there are TWO Sabbath albums in the top thirty alone!

Nope, I've never doubted their significance at all, and I can't think of anything I've ever written that would suggest I did. Still not a big fan of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, but that's not the same thing.

As for those early solo Ozzies, I haven't listened to them in years. Maybe I'll pick up Blizzard Of Ozz if I see it real cheap someday, though. Bet I'd be more inclined to go for Heaven And Hell or Mob Rules, actually, but to be honest I never gave them much of a chance. Probably should have.

yeah, that new Heaven & Hell disc has really inspired me to check the Dio-era out! hated that stuff in high school, tho.

I always thought it sounded kind of thin and emaciated and arhythmic compared to those early Sabbath albums (Ozzy's solo stuff even more than the Dio-era Sabbath stuff); may well have been wrong, though.

I didn't get what people liked about that new Heaven & Hell album, though:

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/27386930/review/27534978/the_devil_you_know

it sounds AWESOME! i mean, Geezer & Iommi make up the greatest bass/guitar tag-team in rock. even now!

Dio sounds surprisingly vital for a man (or goblin?) of 900 or so, i must say.

In one of the other threads, Chuck (and a few others) complain about '90s metal—and I assume some '80s, and '00s—sounding unrelentingly "ugly." Just a hunch, but I figure that a lot of my disagreement comes from actually liking "ugly" sounding music. If you're put off by growls and grinding, you're never going to realize that Sepultura has great drumming underneath nearly everything, drumming that often connects Brazilian music to the larger world of metal. And if you feel like everything's gone ugly, you're not going to bother wading in for stuff like Sleep, which isn't particularly ugly or outside of the Sabbath tradition, but came up on labels with a lot more ugly stuff on them.

Black Sabbath = the ur-text of my conception of metal. Not just the foundation document, but the organizing principle for almost everything that came after. Only thing of equivalent importance to my understanding of the genre = NWOBHM as a whole (expanding out into thrash, death/black, etc). And I think that conception, with its myopia, is pretty common. So Black Sabbath are slighted to the extent they aren't treated as a shorthand definition of metal. First and last word.

Sepultura were ugly in a really uninteresting way, tho, for my tastes. and hell, you want ugly, i really dig Khanate.

xp

Well, if Black Sabbath are the definition of metal, first and last word, how do bands like Cannibal Corpse and Coal Chamber fit more than, say, "Maggot Brain" or "Crazy Horses"? I don't get that.

I have sometimes liked Sepultura's Brazilian-style drumming, fwiw (and said so on that other thread I think); just don't like what they put on top of it much.

Totally hate Khanate's vocals. They sound completely ridiculous to me, and not in a remotely entertaining way. But again, there is tons of ugly (or at least noisy) music in the book. Just read the index!

Sleep I should maybe listen to more, though I doubt I'll ever get around to it now. Life is short. I do love a lot of stoner metal (and, as I said on the other thread, should have included more in the book -- lots of the sludge of the '70s I included basically invented stoner metal.) In the past, though, Sleep basically put me to, uh, sleep. (I never really gave Kyuss the chance they probably deserve, either. And there are no Masters of Reality albums in the book; maybe should be.)

Geezer & Iommi make up the greatest bass/guitar tag-team in rock

Maybe, but I don't think that new album ever really gives them a chance to lock into much of a delectable churning groove like they used to. There are hints here and there, but that's it.

(Six is heavier, better, and camper, though!)

that only one of them, Bob, was gay

No, Grant Hart also

btw if there is no Wildhearts in this list then I will be quietly dismayed

FWIW I thought Hart was bisexual, whatever that may mean for the purposes of this already hairsplit-tastic thread

Hey country matters, sorry to disappoint you; this is from an earlier thread:

Do wish I'd included some Anacrusis and My Dying Bride and Wildhearts in the book, though.
― xhuxk, Monday, 21 September 2009

which Wildhearts would you choose, chuck? Earth vs The Wildhearts?
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Tuesday, 22 September 2009

Yeah, definitely. That should be way up there in the '90s addendum; don't think I'd even heard of the band when I wrote it. Might include another album by them, too, but Earth Vs. is by far my favorite.
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 22 September 2009

which MDB would you go with? i think 'turn loose the swans' is their best statement. it's unyieldingly dark and depressing, which i feel is the best territory for the band.

ah cool Chuck! If you haven't heard it, give Fishing For Luckies (initially fan-only but now available on Amazon, was intended as the 'wilder' second side to PHUQ but eventually released on its own) a spin, it's fucking phenomenal.

Have MDB on my computer, am yet to give it a proper listen. Will rectify.

I think I have Fishing For Luckies in a storage box in the closet; I'll try to dig it out.

As for MDB, here's a corny blurb I included in a "Doom-Metal Essentials" column that ran in Spin this month (issue with Pearl Jam on the cover, if anybody wants to read it in full), so I guess that'd be my first choice. Probably Like Gods Of The Sun second, for now. Have never actually heard Turn Loose The Swans:

My Dying Bride The Angel And The Dark River (Peaceville, 1995)

In the ‘90s, a strain of European doom slipped even further into the abyss by sinking suicidal impulses inherited from Joy Division and the Swans into its quicksand. My Dying Bride, from a North England wool-manufacturing burg, were at the forefront. Sluggish like there’s literally no tomorrow, booming with foghorns and torrential waves and classical pianos, this album feels eternally lost on the dark sea.

Hey, maybe somebody should pay me to write a book about the 500 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums In The Universe That I Accidentally Left Out Of My First Book. That'd be fun!

unyieldingly dark and depressing, which i feel is the best territory for the band

Um...as opposed to all of My Dying Bride's upbeat, happy-faced dance-party records, you mean? (Actually, for all I know, they might have some.)

Grant Hart is bi according to our band could be your life

Hey, maybe somebody should pay me to write a book about the 500 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums In The Universe That I Accidentally Left Out Of My First Book. That'd be fun!

blog it and make subscribers pay. (i get 15% for the suggestion, right?)

Just wanted to say, so cool that you post to these threads, Chuck. It's like a running extension of the book.

WTF?!?!??! NONE of these albums are metal!!!!!

j/k

S-K. Then Nirvana. Then Nirvana. But The Monks on German TV beats them all.

In defense of my sputtering about metal/not-metal (an instance of the most common and least interesting genre of response to ck's list), I can totally see how MX-80 Sound, The Dictators and The Runaways function as oddball outliers in a field defined by the likes of Sabbath, Priest, Maiden, Scorps, Saxon, VH, AC/DC, BOC etc. Especially round about 1980. At Creem. That makes perfect sense and raises no hackles.

Calling The Urinals, The Monks, The Queers and PJ Harvey metal in, like, Y2K is not precisely the same thing. Not bitching, mind, just making an observation. Agree that there's something cool about this kind of broad-mindedness. At least potentially...

Never said it was precisely the same thing, though. But it was definitely an extension of the thing (maybe to the thing's outer limits), which was my point.

Listened to Supersonic Storybook and Stull randomly the other day and really liked a lot of it. I wonder if Urge Overkill will be critically rehabilitated someday. They kind of had a Blue Explosion-esque fall from grace but they had some great songs. Or maybe they were both justly scorned after making a bunch of increasingly crappy records.

eh, saturation is great and exit the dragon has good stuff on it

I forget Exit The Dragon but Saturation I liked a lot too at the time.

UO are still celebrated for Supersonic Storybook and especially Saturation, if only in quiet, out-of-the-way corners. But their style is currently unfashionable, so real rehab is probably a ways off. Obstacles include early records with limited appeal (Jesus Urge Superstar is my favorite) and a massive-drop off after Saturation.

What's your prognosis for Blues Explosion?

JSBX have the same problem (a desperately unfashionable style). Hard to imagine that a revival of the blackface Elvis impersonator trend is gonna come along any time soon. Plus there's always Pussy Galore to glom onto instead.

JSBX were awful. Just awful.

Yeah good point - not just Pussy Galore but Flat Duo Jets or The Gories or The Cramps or Hounddog Taylor etc. etc. would be cooler to namecheck than Blues Explosion, I guess. And this makes sense, because they are all indeed cooler. I think "blackface Elvis impersonator" is a bit reductive though - Orange and Crypt Style are still great records, no matter how quickly they descended into self-parody (an easy trap when you're kind of making fun of yourself/rock n roll to begin with anyway).

xpost
Anyway looks like it'll be awhile before their rehab.

the make up were great though.

but none of these are metal hehe

I do like both Orange and Crypt Style. And that one about Willie Horton. Plus some later stuff, like "Rocketship". Even so, by the time you get to Orange, I'm liking them in spite of Jon's singing at least as much as because of it. Though both...

Which Willie Horton? (The released convict or the Detroit Tiger? Think I'd be more likely to like a song about the latter.)

(Pussy Galore actually do have an album in Stairway, btw.)

Early JSBX elpee called A Reverse Willie Horton. It's pretty good, though it's basically just a different packaging of the Crypt Style sessions (I think).

I assume that it refers to the guy that Michael Dukakis let out of prison.

anyway, I guess the connection between UO and Blues Explosion in my mind might be that both mocked and celebrated the idea of the Rock Star, glamming it up and playing a theatrical show at a time when late-period grunge was at its most over-earnest and glum. Glam against glum. Seemed like a breath of fresh air at the time - but maybe had a built-in obsolescence when more colours crept into the grey background and they started to look a little silly and preening.

I think that's it exactly. That kind of comic mockery generally tends to have a short shelf life. It points towards other things, but unless it offers a LOT beyond the pose, it tends to become embarrassing quickly. See The Darkness and Electric Six for contemporary equivalents.

From my second book: Other hard-rockers (Girls Against Boys, Jonathon Fireater, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Urge Overkill, Afghan Whigs, even Joan Jett sometimes!) dress snazzy like they're going out on Friday night to meet some girls.

Even though I didn't like all of those bands' music much, I liked the idea at the time that they were at least countering what seemed to me like the sexlessless and lousy body image of most indie nerd rock. They seemed to encourage dancing by girls, never a bad thing.

Never could get past JSBE's retarded schtick myself. But I have a feeling that, if I had, I would have heard something interesting and rocking in the band's sound. A shame he couldn't apply that sound to, say, a regular rock band. I might well have been a fan then.

I actually prefer Darkeness and Electric Six to all of those bands except maybe Urge Overkill (and uh, Joan Jett), fwiw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGeR8idfMFg&feature=related

GVSB now there was a cracking good band

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

That Monks youtube = day made

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

dear music-lovers...

i approve of the winner

it's true that there wasn't much competition

im surprised suede didnt win tbh

Does this one-on-one surprise anybody as much as it does me?

Nirvana: In Utero 22
Nirvana: Nevermind 2

not really. It's the better album.

Well duh, I ranked it higher in the book, too. But it's not 11 times as good, for Crissakes.

Guess I just never realized that the preference here was that lopsided (assuming those aren't troll votes, which would explain everything.)

in utero is pretty much always the fans choice and that of ILM too

please don't hurt me, George.

You should see how many people recommended my reviews of a Fu Manchu EP and Sleep. Generally speaking, cockroach in the punchbowl is a fine and glorious tradition, as this thread so well demonstrates.

"i said my, my, like the spider to the fly"

chuck, i guess when MDB lost the violin and added synths to their dynamic, they lost some of the melancholic power that made them so unique. TLTS is devastatingly bleak from start to finish and has some fairly harrowing lyrical observations. basically it's the darkest thing i've heard from them - and that includes TAATDR, which almost ventures into power-ballad territory with 'two winters only'. you're quite right though, nothing they've done has ever been upbeat per se. even the electro stuff they experimented with was appropriately unnerving.