1991 20 years on from a hell of a year in Music:

[CrashedCarDriver]

Check this out for the albums that was released that year:

Blur - Leisure
Clouds - Penny Century
Crowded House - Woodface
Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill
De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead
Died Pretty - Doughboy Hollow
Fugazi - Steady Diet Of Nothing
Guns N Roses - Use Your Illusion I & II
Ice-T - OG Original Gangster
The KLF - The White Room
Lenny Kravitz - Mama Said
Massive Attack - Blue Lines
Metallica - Metallica (aka The Black Album)
Mr. Bungle - Mr. Bungle
Mudhoney - Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Pearl Jam - Ten
Pennywise - Pennywise
Pixies - Trompe Le Monde
Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Primus - Sailing The Seas Of Cheese
Prince - Diamonds & Pearls
Public Enemy - Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black
Ratcat - Blind Love
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
R.E.M. - Out Of Time
Sepultura - Arise
Slint - Spiderland
Smashing Pumpkins - Gish
Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
Temple Of The Dog - Temple Of The Dog
Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
U2 - Achtung Baby
Ween - The Pod

and to think in 5 years time (2016) there wont be CDs anymore

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

You made a long list with that much forgettable bullshit on it and you forgot this?

Damn.

Only one of the best hip hop debuts of all-time by one of the best and most influential hip hop artists of all-time. Nothin much.

 

[cobl04]

*wipesawayatear

 

[blueeyedgirl]

You listed Ratcat? And why are some bolded and others not? I can't detect any useful links between them..

 

[patternshirt170]

"and to think in 5 years time (2016) there wont be CDs anymore"

I don't know, I think they'll still be around, because people will still buy the format they want, I don't see the line being drawn just yet by the major labels...

 

[lazarus]

Who the fuck puts De La Soul Is Dead in bold but doesn't do the same for The Low End Theory?

 

[LemonMelon]

The list sucks pretty hard. Some seminal records you missed:

Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
Ice Cube - Death Certificate
Main Source - Breaking Atoms
The Jesus Lizard - Goat
Mercury Rev - Yerself Is Steam
The Wedding Present - Seamonsters
Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend

 

[Popmartijn]

Plus:
Queen - Innuendo
Urban Dance Squad - Life 'n Perspectives Of A Genuine Crossover

 

[namkcuR]

Don't forget MJ's last release before his fall from grace(Sorry, Laz, I had to mention it):

And I love how everyone is pretending not to notice the glaring omission of that most legendary of legendary 1991 releases(even if it's not the best), which celebrates it's 20th anniversary today.

 

[bono_212]

, I didn't even notice it was missing, but I did only make a quick scan of the list.

 

[iron yuppie]

I'm going to be frank and say that only two or three of the albums mentioned thus far (that I have heard) seem to have held up very well: AB, Loveless, and perhaps Blue Lines. Then again, I am not the biggest fan of 90s music.

 

[bono_212]

I am not the biggest fan of 90s music.

I wasn't either until about a year and a half ago when I made a concerted effort to hear "good stuff" from the decade. It's still not my favorite, but there's a lot there for me to now love. Though to be honest, 91...not my favorite.

No Ozzy on this list?

 

[LemonMelon]

Blue Lines

This album sounds terrible IMO, having only recently been introduced to it. The classic Massive Attack sound shares space with really badly dated house music all too often there.

Laughing Stock still sounds incredible. It could be released today and would fit in great amongst the post-rock it influenced.

And what do you mean you don't like "90s music?" I used to say I disliked 80s music and a month of searching convinced me that pinning one decade down as weaker than another is a poor way of approaching music. "Well, I know this album is supposedly amazing and all, but that whole decade of music must have colored it somehow...I'll pass."

 

[bono_212]

Anything from that year not on the list already that I really like would probably be a few film scores (Beauty and the Beast and Hook ) Distant Plastic Trees by The Magnetic Fields, Chorus by Erasure, Whirpool by Chapterhouse and maybe Electronic's self-titled.

 

[djerdap]

As far as I am concerned, best year for music ever.

 

[Popmartijn]

As far as I am concerned, best year for music ever.

I say it has heavy competition from 1997.

 

[djerdap]

I say it has heavy competition from 1997.

Interesting... OK Computer, Pop and I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One come immediately to mind, but I'm not a big fan of the latter half of the 90s when taken as a whole...

 

[LemonMelon]

'69 or '71 would be my favorite. I like '97 a lot though, possibly more than '91 which was revolutionary but much of it hasn't dated all that well.

 

[iron yuppie]

And what do you mean you don't like "90s music?" I used to say I disliked 80s music and a month of searching convinced me that pinning one decade down as weaker than another is a poor way of approaching music. "Well, I know this album is supposedly amazing and all, but that whole decade of music must have colored it somehow...I'll pass."

Agreed on your assessment point. I don't mean to say that I summarily write off the whole decade; I just consider most of the critically-acclaimed stuff from the 90s, such as Pavement, Neutral Milk Hotel, and gangsta hip hop, not to hold up over time as well as any other decade. The stuff that I used to love as an adolescent - mainly the "grunge"/alternative scene - has also aged very poorly, I think. Of course, there are some brilliant albums from the 90s. I did not mean to suggest otherwise. I would just think that I listen to albums from that decade far less frequently than any other of the past 50 years.

 

[Globo14]

'86-'95 contains the greatest music ever, in my opinion.

 

[LemonMelon]

Agreed on your assessment point. I don't mean to say that I summarily write off the whole decade; I just consider most of the critically-acclaimed stuff from the 90s, such as Pavement, Neutral Milk Hotel, and gangsta hip hop, not to hold up over time as well as any other decade. The stuff that I used to love as an adolescent - mainly the "grunge"/alternative scene - has also aged very poorly, I think. Of course, there are some brilliant albums from the 90s. I did not mean to suggest otherwise. I would just think that I listen to albums from that decade far less frequently than any other of the past 50 years.

That's perfectly fine; opinions are inarguable. Just so long as you don't let it color future listens to 90s albums, which would be very unfortunate.

 

[iron yuppie]

...'71

Zeppelin IV, Meddle, Who's Next, and Tribute to Jack Johnson? Yes, an awesome year indeed.

Edit: Hell, and Sticky Fingers. How could I forget?

 

[Popmartijn]

Zeppelin IV, Meddle, Who's Next, and Tribute to Jack Johnson? Yes, an awesome year indeed.

Edit: Hell, and Sticky Fingers. How could I forget?

Add to that What's Going On, Killer, L.A. Woman, Imagine, Madman Across The Water and There's A Riot Goin' On. Not bad indeed.

 

[LemonMelon]

Led Zeppelin - IV
The Who - Who's Next
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Can - Tago Mago
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Allman Brothers Band - At Fillmore East
Miles Davis - Tribute to Jack Johnson
Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
T. Rex - Electric Warrior
Yes - Fragile
Yes - The Yes Album
Sly and the Family Stone - There's a Riot Goin On
The Doors - LA Woman
Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame (what a great year for John McLaughlin!)
Caravan - In The Land of Grey and Pink
Genesis - Nursery Cryme
Roy Harper - Stormcock
Paul McCartney - Ram
John Lennon - Imagine
Alice Cooper - Killer
Alice Cooper - Love It To Death
Carole King - Tapestry
John Prine - John Prine
Gene Clark - White Light
Santana - III
Janis Joplin - Pearl
Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Gil Scott-Heron - Pieces of a Man
Cat Stevens - Teaser And The Firecat
The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies
Elton John - Madman Across The Water
Faces - A Nod Is As Good As A Wink...To A Blind Horse
Van Morrissey - Tupelo Honey
The Beach Boys - Surf's Up
Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson
Badfinger - Straight Up
Todd Rundgren - The Ballad of Todd Rundgren

Sorry, other years. You lose.

 

[Salome]

R.E.M. - Out Of Time was the best 90s album

 

[Vlad n U 2]

I say it has heavy competition from 1997.

Agreed, I'd even knock it up another notch and say that 1997 was even better.

 

[cobl04]

This album sounds terrible IMO, having only recently been introduced to it. The classic Massive Attack sound shares space with really badly dated house music all too often there.

Laughing Stock still sounds incredible. It could be released today and would fit in great amongst the post-rock it influenced.

And what do you mean you don't like "90s music?" I used to say I disliked 80s music and a month of searching convinced me that pinning one decade down as weaker than another is a poor way of approaching music. "Well, I know this album is supposedly amazing and all, but that whole decade of music must have colored it somehow...I'll pass."

I love a lot of the individual tracks on Blue Lines... but don't particularly enjoy listening to the album. Which is the opposite of my opinion on Protection, which only has the one track I'd listen to on its own (Protection) but is a fantastic album, even with the completely pointless addition of Light My Fire.

Thankfully, Mezzanine was next and it completely dwarfs both in every sense. Tremendous.

That's like people who say "I don't like 00s music" or someting to dat effect. Sure most of the mainstream music was complete rubbish (and it's only getting worse) but there is tons of great music if you simply look a bit harder.

 

[agentorange]

Where's Nevermind? My itunes dates it 1991... Kinda big.

1990-1 was about when I started finding my own music outside Top 40. They're not classics (some are borderline embarrassing now), but I've got some previously mentioned guilty pleasures that I still listen to occasionally that were staples in my radio back then:

Milltown Brothers - Slinky
Ned's Atomic Dustbin - God Fodder
The Ocean Blue - Cerulean
Superchunk - No Pocky for Kitty
Throwing Muses - The Real Ramona
Toad the Wet Sprocket - Fear

Oh yeah, 1994 kills 1997.

 

[LemonMelon]

Superchunk - No Pocky for Kitty

This is a great album. At least someone remembered it.

 

[namkcuR]

Where's Nevermind? My itunes dates it 1991... Kinda big.

And I love how everyone is pretending not to notice the glaring omission of that most legendary of legendary 1991 releases(even if it's not the best), which celebrates it's 20th anniversary today.

I had presumed that everybody noticed it wasn't there and had decided not to mention it because everything that could be said about Nevermind has been said, and because they think it's one of the most overrated records of all time.

It probably is. It's got some really tight tracks, and I really do enjoy it, but in small doses. I appreciate it for what it is, for its cultural impact, for its place in the collective memory of a generation, but when it pops up in the top 10 on greatest albums of all time lists, that's a little ridiculous, imo. I'm still not entirely sure it's Nirvana's best.