1986 - "True Blue" - Madonna
1987 - "Darklands" - The Jesus And Mary Chain
1988 - "Surfer Rosa" - Pixies
1989 - "Doolittle" - Pixies
1990 - "Nowhere" - Ride
1991 - "Nevermind" - Nirvana
1992 - "It's A Shame About Ray" - Lemonheads
1993 - "Siamese Dream" - Smashing Pumpkins
1994 - "The Holy Bible" - Manic Street Preachers
1995 -"The Bends" - Radiohead
1996 - "Everything Must Go" - Manic Street Preachers
1997 - "Mogwai Young Team" - Mogwai
1998 - " In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" - Neutral Milk Hotel
1999 - "Come On Die Young" - Mogwai
2000 - "Music" - Madonna
2001 - "White Blood Cells" - The White Stripes
2002 - "Original Pirate Material" - The Streets
2003 - "Elephant" - The White Stripes
2004 - "KC Rules OK" - King Creosote
2005 - "Silent Alarm" - Bloc Party
2006 - "Passover" - The Black Angels
2007 - "Person Pitch" - Panda Bear
2008 - "Sleight Of Heart" - Malcolm Middleton / "Alas I cannot Swim" - Laura Marling / "Midnight Organ Fight" - Frightened Rabbit (the jury still has 4 months to consider his verdict, ta!!)
Over to you guys then...
56 comments:
I started working my way back, but gave up bcause I'm too indecisive, incidentally, there was a few I could have picked in 2000.
Never like to miss out on a list:
1976 - Station to Station - David Bowie
1977 - The Stranglers - No More Heroes
1978 - Siouxsie & The Banshees - The Scream
1979 - Magazine - Secondhand Daylight
1980 - Killing Joke - Killing Joke
1981 - A Certain Ratio - Sextet
1982 - Cocteau Twins - Garlands
1983 - Echo & the Bunnymen - Porcupine
1984 - Mark Stewart - Learning to Cope With Cowardice
1985 - The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy & the Lash
1986 - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Kicking Against the Pricks
1987 - Lee "Scratch" Perry - Time Boom X De Devil Dead
1988 - Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
1989 - A.C. Marias - One Of Our Girls
1990 - Gary Clail - End of the Century Party
1991 - Dub Syndicate - Stoned Immaculate
1992 - Sugar - Copper Blue
1993 - Morphine - Cure for Pain
1994 - Lambchop - Jack's Tulips
1995 - Tindersticks - Tindersticks II
1996 - Underworld - Second Toughest in the Infants
1997 - Mogwai - Young Team
1998 - Massive Attack - Mezzanine
1999 - Echo & the Bunnymen - What Are You Going To Do With Your Life?
2000 - Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun
2001 - Explosions in the Sky - Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever
2002 - Nina Nastasia - The Blackened Air
2003 - Elbow - Cast of Thousands
2004 - The Mountain Goats - We Shall All Be Healed
2005 - Thee More Shallows - More Deep Cuts
2006 - Nathan Fake - Drowning in a Sea of Love
2007 - Chris Garneau - Music For Tourists
2008 ?
I like this a lot. I'm still trying to think coherently about my heroes but for now I must leave it all and go to bed having spent all day refreshing the BBC's transfer deadline thread and watching slack-jawed as City have gone from minor contenders to Robinho-clenching money-mongerers. I am, understandably, confused and elated...
One question, though - the album had to be recorded IN that year and you have to have bought it, right?
Night.
Ditto everything Snadfrod just said, and I'm not even a City fan (though my Grandad - as Gordon is sick of hearing - did play for them).
I love the idea Blimpy, but my buying patterns are so erratic that I'm going to have some 70s albums in my 90s purchases, if I can even remember when I actually bought them (doubtful).
I've been thinking about this sort of thing recently because I'm facing one of those Significant Birthdays next year, and thought I'd produce the soundtrack for the party by choosing a track for every year - trying somehow to shoehorn in both my favourite ever songs and tracks from my favourite artists. Hit major problems from c.2000 onwards, since by that point I'd largely abandoned the world of rock and pop for jazz, and it wouldn't be entirely fair on the party to start playing some of my noisier and more abstract records. Was reduced to looking for tracks that I remembered hearing on the radio once - and I still can't find anything at all for 2002. What the hell happened to music in 2002? Can anyone recommend anything that I might remotely like, in time for me to get into it before March?
Abahachi, I too have a significant birthday in March - I'm not too sad about it cos it's the one where the government gives you stuff. 60 on March 7.
I have no hope of making a list for this. Best I can do is:
First: Freewheeling Bob Dylan 1963
Latest: Sweet Warrior, RT, 2008
I should clarify - this isn't necessarily WHEN you bought the albums (i didn't get Neutral Milk Hotel in the 90s, it was more recent than that) but just picking a fave new release record from each of the years.
Oh Blimpy, and there was me thinking you were one of the few who got NMH in the original release... Anyway, I've done mine as records I bought in the year of release, mainly because I wanted to narrow it down at least a BIT. Not sure its definitive but here goes...
1993 - Bat Out Of Hell II - Meat Loaf
1994 - Cracked Rear View - Hootie and the Blowfish
1995 - The Sun Is Often Out - Longpigs
1996 - A Maximum High - Shed 7
1997 - Silver Sun - Silver Sun
1998 - Deeserter's Songs - Mercury Rev
1999 - The Contino Sessions - Death in Vegas
2000 - The Closer You Get - Six By Seven
2001 - Origin of Symmetry - Muse
2002 - Lifted, or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground - Bright Eyes
2003 - Panic Movement - The Hiss
2004 - The Lost Riots - Hope of the States
2005 - Leaders of the Free World - Elbow
2006 - Boys and Girls in America - The Hold Steady
2007 - Boxer - The National
2008 - ah, sure, we'll all be doing that in a few months, won't we?
Hmm, can you see a pattern of development, there? And boy does that leave out some good ones. Sheesh, I knew I wasn't as broad minded as I thought...
I actually struggled more as the years went on, but had no problem with 2000. Blimpy, do you not own Mwng? Or The Great Eastern? Mind you, if you did do it from memory then you are a better man than I. Good game. Good game.
By which I mean I struglled to choose one from many, not that I struggled to choose one at all...
@abahachi - Johnny Cash released his cover of "Hurt" in 2002, but it's probably the least party friendly tune you can imagine!
@snad - Lifted is a great, great record, but The Streets got played to death by me that year. I only have Universal Audio by the Delgados, but do listen a lot to "American Trilogy" on my ipod
@Blimpo - call yourself a Scottish indie lover? For shame. But I totally understand about records that got played to death and how they tend to get in ahead of maybe more exceptional ones. For me at least.
@Abahachi - The Flaming Lips released Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots that year, too, which would have been in my list but for what I said above. Maybe Do You Realise or Fight Test?
I started buying records back in 1963. The first record I ever bought was I wanna hold your hand which I bought with my birthday money.
Trying to remember what were my favourite records for every year since then is going to be nigh on impossible, but I might give it a go.
There will undoubtedly be gaps though.
I am wondering if I should try and remember which were my faves at the time or which are faves now for teach particular year.
The two lists would be different and it might be interesting to compare how my tastes have changed over time.
That should be "each particular year" not "teach"
Golly, it would be WAY too hard to decide. Like Snadfrod, I'm still trying to choose two heroes. I think I may have missed the boat on that one...
On reflection, perhaps it would work if I do leave the jazz in, rather than desperately trying to like something new so that I can add it to the list, and think of it as the soundtrack to the tail end of the evening, winding down in a chilled sort of way. Assuming that there will be anyone left, if they've had to sit through the rest of the playlist. It's my party, and I'll destroy the last shreds of credibility if I want to...
1969: Man of the World, Fleetwood Mac
1970: Black Night, Deep Purple
1971: Won’t Get Fooled Again, The Who
1972: Cover of the Rolling Stone, Dr Hook
1973: Life On Mars, David Bowie
1974: Killer Queen, Queen
1975: Lady Marmalade, Labelle
1976: Anarchy in the UK, Sex Pistols
1977: Knowing Me, Knowing You, Abba
1978: Identity, X-Ray Spex
1979: Is She Really Going Out With Him?, Joe Jackson
1980: Going Underground, The Jam
1981: Vienna, Ultravox
1982: Private Investigations, Dire Straits
1983: Total Eclipse of the Heart, Bonnie Tyler
1984: Love Is A Battlefield, Pat Benatar
1985: West End Girls, Pet Shop Boys
1986: Walk Like An Egyptian, Bangles
1987: Animal, Def Leppard
1988: The Colours, Men They Couldn’t Hang
1989: Monkey Gone to Heaven, Pixies
1990: Ribbons, Sisters of Mercy
1991: Five Man Army, Massive Attack
1992: Constant Craving, kd lang
1993: White Love, One Dove
1994: And So Is Love, Kate Bush
1995: Common People, Pulp
1996: Ready or Not, Fugees
1997: Never Ever, All Saints
1998: Stop, Spice Girls
1999: Stone Ridge, Tomasz Stanko
2000: Visiting Trumpton, Partisans
2001: Multi Don Kulti, Bojan Z
2002: Whenever, Wherever, Shakira
2003: Ouz, Gilad Atzmon
2004: Seven Days of Falling, Esbjorn Svensson Trio
2005: Hyperballad, Marcin Wasilewski Trio
2006: Degree in Intuition, Neil Cowley Trio
2007: ?
2008: ?
@ blimpy - there go my plans for an early night - boy, do I love a good list...
1970 - Moody Blues - A Question Of Balance
1971 - Strawbs - From The Witchwood
1972 - Focus - Focus III
1973 - Derek & The Dominos - In Concert
1974 - Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
1975 - Hatfield & The North - The Rotters Club
1976 - James Taylor - In The Pocket
1977 - Steely Dan - Aja
1978 - The Police - Outlandos D'Amour
1979 - Madness - One Step Beyond
1980 - UB40 - Signing Off
1981 - Squeeze - Eastside Story
1982 - Orange Juice - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
1983 - Cocteau Twins - Head Over Heels
1984 - Prefab Sprout - Swoon
1985 - The Smiths - Meat Is Murder
1986 - The Go-Betweens - Liberty Belle & The Black Diamond Express
1987 - The Wedding Present - George Best
1988 - Martin Stephenson & The Daintees - Gladsome, Humour & Blue
1989 - The Blue Nile - Hats
1990 - Prefab Sprout - Jordan: The Comeback
1991 - Crowded House - Woodface
1992 - REM - Automatic For The People
1993 - High Llamas - Gideon Gaye
1994 - Oasis - Definitely Maybe
1995 - Pulp - Different Class
1996 - Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go
1997 - Teenage Fanclub - Songs From Northern Britain
1998 - Belle & Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap
1999 - Hefner - The Fidelity Wars
2000 - Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
2001 - Ballboy - Club Anthems 2001
2002 - Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
2003 - Shack - ... Here's Tom With The Weather
2004 - Morrissey - You Are The Quarry
2005 - Ben Folds - Songs For Silverman
2006 - Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
2007 - Taken By Trees - Open Field
2008 - ????
@ DsD - ToffeeGirl's great grandad played for Man City - I don't think they paid Macclesfield Wednesday £35 million for Tommy Bullock back in 1897 though!
1979- The Specials ‘the specials’
1980- Dexys- ‘searching for the young soul rebels’
1981- Best of Blondie
1982- Complete Madness
These were all purchased around the same time.. blondie and madness, my first lps.
Dexys because I loved them and the specials because the big lads talked about them. Judge dread owned a record shop near me Nans.. ska/2tone was big.
1983- Wham ‘fantastic’
1984- Frankie goes to Hollywood ‘welcome to the pleasure dome’
these knocked out some good uns, but I can still sing most of the words, so help me…
1985- Jesus and the mary chain ‘psycho candy’ just pips this is big audio dynamite.
1986- Smiths ‘queen is dead’ very close with Pet shop boys ‘please’
1987- Pixies ‘come on pilgrim’ mini album.. on the day it was released September 87 and my world would never be the same again.
1988- Galaxie 500 ‘Today’ sadly ousting Cohens ‘i’m your man’ Cures ‘kiss me x3’ and Ultra vivid scene…
1989- Young MC ‘stone cold rhymin’ sorry De La Soul.
1990- Happy Mondays ‘pills and thrills’ a last moment change to mazzy star ‘she hangs brightly’
1991- Bongwater ‘Power of Pussy’ piping Wolfgang press ‘Queer’ drat Massive attack ‘blue lines’ limps in third.
1992- a year lost to the SPIRAL TRIBE sound systems breach the peace e.p is more than enough.
1993- Bjork ‘Debut’ I loved this woman from birthday on.. no contest.
1994- Portishead ‘dummy’
1995- Tricky ‘Maxinquaye’
1996- Jimi Tenor ’Intervision’
1997- Gus Gus ‘Polydistortion’
1998- Board of Canada ‘Music has a right to children’
I found this a really interesting time for different sound.. now so familiar but cool as.. for me.
1999- dUES ‘ideal crash’
2000- Magnetic Fields ’69 love songs’ cos it was a bollox to find.. beating Lemon Jellys 3eps compilation (now a packaging selection I could do!)
2001- Bhundu Boys ‘The Shed Sessions’ Saul Williams ‘Amethyst Rock star’ kicked arse.. but the Zim boys win out.
2002- The Mountain Goats ‘Tallahassee’ has won.. Roots ‘phrenology’/ Bright Eyes ‘lifted’/ Sage Francis ‘Personal Journals’/ Departure Lounge ‘too late to die young’ put up a good case.. but a winner needed.
2003- Buck 65 ‘Talkin’ honky blues’ with I Am Kloot an audible pin drop behind.
2004- Too Tough .. Tv on the radio/ Modest Mouse/ Hot Chip/ the Earlies/ the Walkmen/ Golden Virgins.. oh yeah.. my son was little I listened to a lot of music..
Because it’s just for me I’m going with..
Gisli ‘How about that’
He supported the Beta Band on their final tour.. I was the only one who had the album!
2005- Brakes ‘Give Blood’ no contest.
2006- Elvis Perkins ‘Ash Wednesday’ because it was harder to get hold of than Tunng ‘comments of the inner chorus’
2007- Soulsavers ‘its not how far you fall, it’s the way you land’ gets a draw with Jeffrey Lewis ’12 crass songs’
2008- oh come on.. do you want blood….
Blimpy you are a….. don’t ever make me think like that again.
My list IS on it's way (there goes another early night) but in the meantime, @ ToffeeBoy:
My grandad, Pat (known as Rex) Clayton was an inside left at City just before WWII. He actually had a phenomenally good 2-goals-every-3-games ratio ... i.e. he only made the first team three times, but scored twice!! [Club records verified by one gordonimmel of this parish!]
He left Manchester to join Bristol City because, and I quote: "it was a nicer place to live and I was going to play regularly . . . OK, because I was only on two pound ten shilling at [Manchester] City, and Bristol offered me six pound ten shilling!" See, it's ALWAYS been about the money.
He apparently turned out for the Arsenal war side too (are you listening, ejay?), although I can't find any evidence of that.
After the war had nicked his best years, he played for Lincoln City before retiring to late non-League football (& a window-cleaning career) with Retford Town, at which is the only team photo I've ever seen him in unfortunately.
fucker?
Christ, that was hard! No Zeppelin, Alabama 3, Guns'n'Roses, Joni Mitchell, Wah!, Thin Lizzy, Spear Of Destiny, Sarah McLachlan, Live, Tangerine Dream, Was (Not Was), Hothouse Flowers, etc., etc.,
An absolute bastard of a task that has left me with under four hours before the alarm goes off!
So for what it's worth:
1973 – Lynyrd Skynyrd – Pronounced…
1974 – Genesis – Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
1975 – Bad Company – Straight Shooter
1976 – Lone Star – Lone Star
1977 – Ian Dury – New Boots & Panties
1978 – AC/DC – If You Want Blood
1979 – UFO – Strangers In The Night
1980 – AC/DC – Back In Black
1981 – UFO – The Wild The Willing & The Innocent
1982 – Simple Minds – New Gold Dream
1983 – ZZ Top – Eliminator
1984 – The Smiths – Hatful Of Hollow
1985 – Katrina & The Waves – Katrina & The Waves
1986 – Talk Talk – The Colour Of Spring
1987 – John Mellencamp – The Lonesome Jubilee
1988 – Talk Talk – Spirit Of Eden
1989 – Faith No More – The Real Thing
1990 – a tie between Thunder’s debut & Sinead’s I Do Not Want…
1991 – Temple Of The Dog
1992 – Gun – Gallus
1993 – Grant Lee Buffalo – Fuzzy
1994 – Sass Jordan – Rats
1995 – Natalie Merchant – Tigerlily
1996 – Fun Lovin’ Criminals – Come Find Yourself
1997 – a threesome involving Phil Campbell (Fresh New Life), Steve Earle (El Corazon) and The Sundays (Static & Silence)
1998 – then? Placebo’s Without You I’m Nothing. Now? DBT’s Gangstabilly
1999 – Shack – HMS Fable
2000 – Sigur Ros – Agaetis Byrjun
2001 – Dakota Suite – Alone With Everybody
2002 – Richmond Fontaine – Winnemucca
2003 – Elbow – Cast Of Thousands
2004 – Drive-By Truckers – The Dirty South
2005 – The National - Alligator
2006 – Willard Grant Conspiracy – Let It Roll
2007 – Soulsavers – It’s Not How Far You Fall…
I'm loving reading these lists, by the way.
Very interesting that there's been some convergence so far, even from just a few lists.
See know lists from the ladies, is that because:
a) Do not want to reveal age
b) Can't make their mind up
c) Too busy running the world
d) All or none of above
I think lists may be a guy thing - as in Nick Hornby's Hi Fidelity...
Unless one of you lovely ladies wants to prove me wrong...
It'll take too much time, for me, save it for the weekend ok?
Tracy - Please. I'd be very interested to hear yours.
I think I can speak for all female 'Spillers when I say we're far too busy coordinating our bikinis to our firearms to come up with lists this demanding.
Look girls, we've all shown you ours....
@Steen so that's c then, thought so.
I haven't got the time or the inclination to go away and check the years that various albums came out but I can say that "Meddle" was a fave in 1971 (I think) and "London Calling" in 1979 (again, I think)..
My fave album of 1989 was definitely the Dead's "Without a Net", unless it came out in a different year.
I think that long lists are definitely a bloke thing, but I can tell you exactly when I bought all my various pairs of shoes and boots.
This may be starting to explain why my musical compatibility with everyone else on last.fm is so very low - though I do at least own a couple of the same albums as Blimpy and Shoey, even if they haven't made it onto the list...
@ abahachi - I don't think our broader tastes are all that different - for example, there are at least ten items on your list that I'm proud to own and several others which I know and like. What interests me is how there seem to be some periods where we all come together (the late 70s and the mid-90s for instance) and most interestingly, how the current decade seems to be where we have all diverged the most. So we seem to have broadly similar backgrounds (progrock, punk, new wave, a sprinkling of britpop) but these have ultimately led us to explore different paths. For me, one of the joys of the RR last.fm pages is the opportunity to take some illuminating journeys down other people's paths.
@ Abahachi - yep, I'll back ToffeeBoy there. It's a bit difficult to compare my album selection against your single songs list, but apart from my aversion to Abba & Pet Shop Boys (fp'll disown me if she reads this!), you & I only really diverge in this last decade. Respect for sticking to individual tunes with your selection, btw, that would have just been TOO hard for me.
... and I meant to say, more generally, that it's interesting to see that we don't all pick the same albums as our artist highlight - at least 3 different Smiths albums mentioned, for example.
I think there's a really interesting point here that I has been rattling around my head for a while now, but which i can't quite articulate properly yet.
It's something like this, though: does success build consensus, or does consensus build success?
I only ask this because it always strikes me that the further back you go on lists like this, the more convergence you see, to the point that, when you average out 1,000,000 votes or something, you always get Revolver and Sgt Pepper in the top 5 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Now, I'm not saying they aren't (wouldn't know, actually, I've never heard both all the way through), but I do wonder if their reputation is built as much on easy consensus, name-dropping and the passage of time, as much as it is built on quality.
I know this is rambly, but there is a kind of opposite case, too - I remember in 97, Q magazine (I think) did one of those Greatest Albums lists and OK Computer, having just received a massively overwhelming CRITICAL consensus, flew in at the top and has now become shorthand for a great recent album, ie. 'nothing's been released in the last 20 years better than OK Computer'. Which is probably balls. Or not.
I don't really know what my point is, and this may not be the place for the discussion, but can anyone help me out with an opinion? Or a philosophical/psychological explanation? Or is it just the fact that the vast majority of people are tone-deaf f*cktards with only two records in their collection anyway and hence consensus = crap...
That Best Of or Greatest list thing is definitely an interesting phenomenon.
I read something once that implied that given three choices a lot of people picked a long time fave, a current fave and one that they felt they had to nominate for credibility.
I wonder if that explains why "Sgt Pepper" comes top so often, whereas I reckon that both "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul" are better albums.
It may well explain why you get weird ones creeping in to the top 5 - because they are recent releases and lots of people buy them. I mean, I might be biased but I don't really think easy listening singalong stuff like Coldplay and Travis will last the distance (well, I hope not anyway).
@ snad - of course this is the place for the discussion. Where else can you expect to get such pleasant waffle??!!
I definitely agree with you about consensus - I think what we get a lot in these 'best ever' lists is a sort of Emperor's New Clothes syndrome - we know 'x' always appears in lists like this so we have to include it here. So you're always going to get The Beatles, Radiohead, Oasis, The Stones, Beach Boys etc., whether the people voting have actually heard the album or like it at all. It's the same with all those Channel 4 top 50's. If I see that bloody Morecambe & Wise sketch where they're making breakfast together one more time....
PS. I love Morecambe & Wise but for some reason the consensus has become that that is their finest moment - it's not - it could easily have been a Cannon & Ball or Little & Large sketch.
I need to respond to the later comments properly, but in the meantime, I have a very odd choice of favourite Morecambe & Wise moments - the whole of The Sweeney episode called Hearts & Minds; one of my most treasured videos. Anyone else remember it?
What bothers me about concensus is being told what not to like. Have tended to avoid the music press for the last 20 years for that reason, and am free to enjoy "Parachutes", "Rush of Blood" & "Eyes Open" along with the teen shoeys. (they're still on their own with the frigging Jonas Brothers though, who they are both rushing off to Tampa to see this evening).
Disagree with Carole, in that Coldplay will probably stand the test of time for my eldest as most of us still love the music we first got excited about.
Don't remember M&W's Sweeney. Would it be on YouTube?
Think picking & justifying a favorite album for a particular iconic group would make for a great thread.
@ shoey - I absolutely agree - we've touched on the 'superior' attitude of some music lovers (which I'm pleased to say is only present in very small doses in this neck of the woods) on the 'Spill before but I think it needs to be said again. Unless someone can draw me a line in the sand between 'good' music and 'bad' music (or 'worthy' music and 'unworthy', or 'cool' and 'uncool' or any other dichotomies you care to name) AND can define precisely why they chose to draw the line where they did, and why they chose to place a particular song or act on one side of the line or the other ... [takes huge wheezing breath!] ... I think they're on shaky ground - it is entirely a subjective matter. And I'll certainly dond your Coldplay stance...
@ Shoey - Sorry, mate can't find a clip from Hearts & Minds online, and I couldn't possibly say where I upgraded my tired old VHS tape to a virtual-shiny 375MB version ...
... that I could easily burn to a disc for, say, taking on my next Florida holiday, maybe??
I haven't been tempted to participate in this post but everytime I scroll past it something jumps out and hits me in the eye, it's the title; "How long have you been buying records for?
For whom?, for what? It's a question I can't answer, though there are 40 odd 'you guys' who do buy records for.
Sounds good DsD, unless you feel like uploading a YouTube & posting it here. Never done it myself, but how hard could it be?
@ToffeeBoy - I don't think my attitude towards Coldplay is "superior", I just don't like them. It isn't because I think they are uncool, it is because I think they are dull and derivative.
Mind you, I think most current bands are derivative and I am not particularly interested in any of them.
@ carolebristol - sorry - I didn't mean it that way at all - I certainly didn't mean to cause offense. The point I was trying to make is that descriptions like 'dull' are entirely subjective (and I've got no problems with anyone saying (as you have clearly said) that you 'think' a particular band are dull - it's your opinion and I honour and welcome it). It's when people say something or someone is 'crap' without qualifying it as an opinion that my shackles start to rise.
Still friends?
@ Shoey - Sweeney episode just under an hour, and I don't know how to split it. youtube only allows 10 min max slots. Go look in your last.fm inbox ...
;o)
@ ToffeeBoy & CaroleBristol - Actually I don't necessarily have a problem with 'derivative'. One of my all-time favourite blues tunes is Shades Of Blue from short-lived 90s rockers Jumpin' The Gunn. By definition it cannot be authentic, but it's well-played, well-produced, and done with feeling.
If a band puts it together well and don't make false claims, it'll do for me.
I think I object to when consensus just becomes lazy tagging for the majority - whereby people can write off Radiohead as 'miserable', metal as 'noise' and Coldplay etc as 'boring'. It is a massive affliction of commercial radio, I find, and just moves on to become a shorthand for people who don't want to be more informed.
Hearing Coldplay, etc and not liking them is A1 fine, as long as it can be justified. On the other hand, simply saying that your favourite band is the Beatlesnever quite stops me getting suspicious that you don't really care...
Okay, as a way into my thoughts on the latest turn in the debate, I've now done the list properly: albums, which I bought in the relevant year, no longer having to think of songs that would work at a party nor to include the odd number (e.g. Joe Jackson) to keep Mrs Abahachi happy.
1980: Vienna, Ultravox
1981: The Visitors, Abba
1982: Love Over Gold, Dire Straits
1983: The Final Cut, Pink Floyd
1984: Perfect Strangers, Deep Purple
1985: Hounds of Love, Kate Bush
1986: Different Light, The Bangles
1987: Hysteria, Def Leppard
1988: Short Sharp Shocked, Michelle Shocked
1989: Oh Mercy, Bob Dylan
1990: Vision Thing, Sisters of Mercy
1991: Blue Lines, Massive Attack
1992: Mixes from the Lost Continent, The KLF
1993: Morning Dove White, One Dove
1994: Dog Man Star, Suede
1995: Different Class, Pulp
1996: The Score, Fugees
1997: Leosia, Tomasz Stanko
1998: Mezzanine, Massive Attack
1999: From Gagarin’s Point of View, Esbjörn Svensson Trio
2000: Sourpuss, Partisans
2001: Solobsession, Bojan Z
2002: Footprints Live, Wayne Shorter
2003: Exile, Gilad Atzmon
2004: The Sweetness of the Water, Spring Heel Jack
2005: Simple Acoustic Trio, Marcin Wasilewski Trio
2006: 11 Songs - aus Teutschen Landen, Zentrallquartett
2007: The Amadeus Project, Guy Barker
2008: Third, Portishead (?)
What this exercise brought to mind fitted in very well with the issues raised by Snadfrod; I can see, in retrospect, how my tastes have been shaped in different ways. When I started buying records in the 1980s, the key drivers (frequently diametrically opposed) were a particular group of friends (hence Floyd, Purple, Leppard etc.) and the Top 40. In the 1990s, I'd become a regular reader of the NME - even though I couldn't stand a lot of the music they championed, it still had an effect - but was also discovering beats or different kinds, largely because they offered a lot more for me as a bass player (even if most of them didn't use live bass). Then came the move to jazz, driven by a mixture of the Penguin Guide to Jazz on cd to see what I needed to catch up on, and whatever groups I happened to hear in concert locally and fell in love with.
Is there anything in the list that's there just because of fashion? You ask this of a man who still thinks the Bangles produced the best album of 1986? I think I would say that in some cases I certainly began to listen to some bands because they were being hyped, either by the media or by friends - that's certainly true of Pink Floyd, Kate Bush, Suede and, in the jazz line, Stanko - but I've kept listening to them because the records simply have something about them that spells longevity.
Of course it's not a completely honest list. For some years it was a difficult choice between several strong candidates, and probably I've ended up favouring records that still mean a lot to me rather than ones which I might have picked at the time. So, no place in the list for, to pick a few:
Bonnie Tyler, Faster than the Speed of Night
Whitesnake, Slide It In
The Cardigans, First Band on the Moon
Portishead, Dummy
Prince, Sign 'O' The Times
Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman
Genesis, Genesis
Van Halen, 1984
Tricky, Maxinquaye
Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation...
Make-Up, Save Yourself
Spice Girls, Spice...
@DsD very cool, thanks.
@Abahachi just finished a nom for "Get Your Filthy Hands Off" from The Final Cut, pop over here and see it in your latest list. There was an Ultravox suggestion in the same post too, but from the Foxx era.
Yes, I think 'The Final Cut' is an incredibly historically-aware album - 'One of the Few' would be another track worth considering. Love the Ultravox, but I think it's too much about the film rather than the event.
@ToffeeBoy
Re "Still friends?"
Of course!
@abahachi - i find your list fascinating. thaks for posting!
Bloody nora, that was very hard indeed! So hard, in fact, you will be able to see I was unable to choose the best without mentioning one -and sometimes two- runners-up. Can't choose between The Decemberists and Maximo Park for 2005, also can't choose which of Bright Eyes' lps that year I prefer. You will notice a startling lack of musical variety. I am a proper indie chick: sorry!
1978 The Jam: All Mod Cons
1980 ABBA: Super Trouper
1981 Adam and the Ants: Prince Charming
1982 Yazoo: Upstairs At Eric’s (Duran Duran: Rio /ABC Lexicon of Love)
1983 Yazoo: You & Me Both (The Jam: Snap)
1984 Billy Bragg: Brewing Up With…
1985 Kate Bush: Hounds of Love (Aha: Hunting High and Low)
1986 The Smiths: The Queen Is Dead (Pet Shop Boys: Please/ The Men They Couldn’t Hang: how Green Is The Valley?)
1987 Erasure: The Circus (Deacon Blue: Raintown)
1988 The Wonder Stuff: Eight Legged Groove Machine (REM: Green, The Men They Couldn’t Hang: waiting For Bonaparte)
1989 Pixies: Doolittle (The Cure: Disintegration)
1990 James: Gold Mother (The Sundays: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic)
1991 REM: Out Of Time (Inspirals: The Beast Inside/Crowded House: Woodface/Billy Bragg: Don’t Try This At Home)
1992 PJ Harvey: Dry (James: Seven)
1993 Belly: Star (Kate Bush: the Red Shoes)
1994 Kristin Hersh: Hips and Makers (Pulp: His’n’Hers/ Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart: Take Me To God)
1995 PJ Harvey: To Bring You My Love (Belly: King/ Gene: Olympian/Dubstar: Disgraceful)
1996 Bluetones: Expecting To Fly (Catatonia: Way Beyond Blue/Belle & Sebastian: Tigermilk)
1997 Kenickie: At The Club (Tanya Donelly: Lovesongs For Underdogs)
1998 Belle and Sebastian: the Boy With The Arab Strap (Hefner:Breaking God’s Heart)
1999 Cinerama: Va Va Voom (Hefner: the Fidelity Wars)
2000 Idlewild: 100 Broken Windows (Murray the Hump: Songs of Ignorance/ PJ Harvey: Stories From the City, Stories From The Sea/The Delgados: The Great Eastern)
2001 Ballboy: Club Anthems (The White Stripes: White Blood Cells)
2002 Ballboy: A Guide For The Daylight Hours (Tanya Donelly; Beautysleep)
2003 Belle & Sebastian: Dear Catastrophe Waitress (The Postal Service: Give Up)
2004 The Killers; Hot Fuss (The Streets: A Grand Don’t Come For Free)
2005 The Decemberists: Picaresque/Maximo Park: A Certain Trigger (Bright Eyes: I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning/Digital Ash In A Digital Urn)
2006 I’m From Barcelona:We’re From Barcelona
2007 Maximo Park: Our Earthly Pleasures (Rilo Kiley: Under The Blacklight)
2008 Death Cab For Cutie: Narrow Stairs (James: Hey Ma)
Thanks, Tracy. To my surprise I own more of Abahachi's revised list than I do of yours.
Note from Pedant's Corner: Wasn't Polly's Stories from 2001? I remember it won the Mercury in 2001, because the award was delayed due to Sep11. I bought it specifically to celebrate DarceysSis' birth & put away for her 18th. (I did buy the No.1 single that week too, but I hope she won't thank me in 2019 for a copy of Blue's Too Close!!
@ Abahachi - Interesting list now, in particular a fair few albums not seen by "concensus" as the artists' best.
And thanks for the exploration of 'taste' too. I may have to respond to your & May1366's thoughts ... but not now!
G'night.
Rich, both Wiki and Polly's own site have Stories as being released October 2000. Shonky memory damaged by too much real ale?
More like not enough! Julie had me sober for much of 2001 in case of the need for an emergency car dash.
CD release date makes sense, now that I think it through. My bad, as they say.
Post a Comment