I hope as always that we don’t have another thread on this subject that can just be necromantically revived.
But anyway - who here has some thoughts on individual years in which musical recordings all seemed to be of an ultra-high quality, or years in which everything just seemed to go to shit?
It strikes me now that, even though the year 1994 doesn’t really have any special significance in my life overall, so many of the albums that I listen to weekly come from that year. For example:
Scorn, “Evanescence”
God, “The Anatomy of Addiction”
Laika, “Silver Apples of the Moon”
Naked City, “Absinthe” (yeah ok, it’s December 1993 release, but 1994 in spirit, no?)
Artificial Intelligence II compilation on Warp
I dunno, if you were into daring cross-pollination of styles and enjoyed the full musical spectrum of sounds, '94 seemed as good a year as any.
I think the years 1986-1988 were the absolute nadir of a lot of music that was once good in the late 70s-early 80s. Punk bands started going metal, often very badly. Goth bands started getting signed to major labels and churning out crappy pop records. Loads of no-talent white people were putting out “rap” records that, unsurprisingly, really sucked. The world was plagued by an endless array of really terrible 12-inch remixes.
On the other hand, Ministry transitioned to a harder sound and put out what was arguably their strongest material ever during that time. Of course, if you liked their new wave period better, that could be seen as their downturn period as well.
I hope as always that we don’t have another thread on this subject that can just be necromantically revived.
But anyway - who here has some thoughts on individual years in which musical recordings all seemed to be of an ultra-high quality, or years in which everything just seemed to go to shit?
It strikes me now that, even though the year 1994 doesn’t really have any special significance in my life overall, so many of the albums that I listen to weekly come from that year. For example:
Scorn, “Evanescence”
God, “The Anatomy of Addiction”
Laika, “Silver Apples of the Moon”
Naked City, “Absinthe” (yeah ok, it’s December 1993 release, but 1994 in spirit, no?)
Artificial Intelligence II compilation on Warp
I dunno, if you were into daring cross-pollination of styles and enjoyed the full musical spectrum of sounds, '94 seemed as good a year as any.
Oh, and postscript to 1994 worship - it was of course the year of ‘Downward Spiral.’
It’s not something I listen to a lot anymore, but I can admit that it is probably the best set of songs that we’re ever going to get for “industrial pop music” or “‘angsty teenage girl’s bedroom wall’ industrial music” or whatever we choose to designate it.
Heresy’ is maybe the best of the 2 million “fukk your god” songs that the EBM genre has cranked out, ‘March of the Pigs’ and ‘Big Man With a Gun’ are some of the best machine-rock temper tantrums, and ‘Closer’ is really quite a good sex jam now that it isn’t on constant, constant ‘alternative radio’ airplay.
I think the years 1986-1988 were the absolute nadir of a lot of music that was once good in the late 70s-early 80s. Punk bands started going metal, often very badly. Goth bands started getting signed to major labels and churning out crappy pop records. Loads of no-talent white people were putting out “rap” records that, unsurprisingly, really sucked. The world was plagued by an endless array of really terrible 12-inch remixes.
oh yes, '86-'88 had some cruel moments in store for those who liked the more extreme fringes of rock music.
From Discharge’s “Grave New World” to Celtic Frost’s “Cold Lake,” it seems like there was a catastrophic, uninvited ‘stylistic experiment’ failure wherever you looked. I’m sure whole doctoral theses have been written on the factors that converged to make such unabashedly crap art.
post lunch-break edit:
On the OTHER hand, some genres did their best ever / still unsurpassed work from 86-88. I certainly don’t think thrash metal ever improved after this time, and once “From Enslavement to Obliteration” hit in '88, well, it certainly couldn’t claim to be the most ‘extreme’ of rock-derivative styles anymore.
American indie-rock of the ‘noisy’ variety also put out its touchstone material at this time - I can’t think of a Big Black / Sonic Youth / Butthole Surfers album from the era that doesn’t actually deserve the critic snob praise heaped upon it.
Oh, and postscript to 1994 worship - it was of course the year of ‘Downward Spiral.’
It’s not something I listen to a lot anymore, but I can admit that it is probably the best set of songs that we’re ever going to get for “industrial pop music” or “‘angsty teenage girl’s bedroom wall’ industrial music” or whatever we choose to designate it.
Heresy’ is maybe the best of the 2 million “fukk your god” songs that the EBM genre has cranked out, ‘March of the Pigs’ and ‘Big Man With a Gun’ are some of the best machine-rock temper tantrums, and ‘Closer’ is really quite a good sex jam now that it isn’t on constant, constant ‘alternative radio’ airplay.
It’s really the pinnacle of the genre up to that point, taking as it does every thread of industrial music at the time (metal, experimental, pop, EBM, goth) and blending it all into one album. Yes, hardcore fans were (and some still are) all bent out of shape because it became popular (Morrissey was right - we do hate it when our friends become successful) and because it was frequently about human emotion rather than serial killers and cyber-whatever like all the other bands were doing, but I think listening objectively it was the absolute peak.
I’d say about 95% of what I listen to is from 1969-1987.
I would be quite happy if no new bands were ever formed after 1985. If you were making music in 1985, cool. I’ll probably like you, and even if I don’t, I’ll still respect you.
If you are younger than me and trying to make music, please don’t ask me to listen to it. I already know I hate it.
[reply]I think the years 1986-1988 were the absolute nadir of a lot of music that was once good in the late 70s-early 80s. Punk bands started going metal, often very badly. Goth bands started getting signed to major labels and churning out crappy pop records. Loads of no-talent white people were putting out “rap” records that, unsurprisingly, really sucked. The world was plagued by an endless array of really terrible 12-inch remixes.
oh yes, '86-'88 had some cruel moments in store for those who liked the more extreme fringes of rock music.
From Discharge’s “Grave New World” to Celtic Frost’s “Cold Lake,” it seems like there was a catastrophic, uninvited ‘stylistic experiment’ failure wherever you looked. I’m sure whole doctoral theses have been written on the factors that converged to make such unabashedly crap art.
post lunch-break edit:
On the OTHER hand, some genres did their best ever / still unsurpassed work from 86-88. I certainly don’t think thrash metal ever improved after this time, and once “From Enslavement to Obliteration” hit in '88, well, it certainly couldn’t claim to be the most ‘extreme’ of rock-derivative styles anymore.
American indie-rock of the ‘noisy’ variety also put out its touchstone material at this time - I can’t think of a Big Black / Sonic Youth / Butthole Surfers album from the era that doesn’t actually deserve the critic snob praise heaped upon it.[/reply]
Grave New World is such a piece of turd…I feel bad for anyone who’s first exposure to Discharge was that album…what came before was so incredible…
There were also a number of bands I really liked in the early/mid/late 90’s who only put out 2 or 3 albums and were done and you never heard from them again such as:
Quicksand
The God Machine
Mind Funk
Sugartooth
Life Of Agony
Acid Bath
are a few who come to mind right off the top of my head…
The 1980s is definitely the best for me. Technology was becoming affordable, and tons of bands were experimenting with different sounds, and in result, creating tons of sub-genres.
1995-2005 would be my least favorite. The underground scene was still strong, but the mainstream charts were filled with different blends of hip hop and manufactured solo artists/boy bands. Alternative music was fading out and all the good electronic groups were pushed into the underground. Daft Punk being an exception.
The past decade or so has been good. Some older groups have returned to the spotlight, and there are some pretty good alternative and indie artists in the charts.
1992 saw a lot of good music
Ministry- The way to suck seed
Danzig III -How the Gods Kill
Rage against the machine - S/T
Stone Temple Pilots - Core
Alice In Chain - Dirt
Iron Maiden-Fear of The Dark
Social Distortion - Somewhere Between Heaven And Hell
Beastie Boys - Check your head
Cypress Hill - S/T
Izzy Stradlin and the JuJu hounds
House Of Pain- S/T
and as much as I hate to list it cause I absolutely despise what I associate it with now … R.E.M. - Automatic for the people… was a fantastic album (until a lying ass whore beast ruined any redeeming qualities R.E.M. may have had)
There were also a number of bands I really liked in the early/mid/late 90’s who only put out 2 or 3 albums and were done and you never heard from them again such as:
Quicksand
The God Machine
Mind Funk
Sugartooth
Life Of Agony
Acid Bath
are a few who come to mind right off the top of my head…
1992 saw a lot of good music
Ministry- The way to suck seed
Danzig III -How the Gods Kill
Rage against the machine - S/T
Stone Temple Pilots - Core
Alice In Chain - Dirt
Iron Maiden-Fear of The Dark
Social Distortion - Somewhere Between Heaven And Hell
Beastie Boys - Check your head
Cypress Hill - S/T
Izzy Stradlin and the JuJu hounds
House Of Pain- S/T
Also:
Skinny Puppy: Last Rights
Dr. Dre: The Chronic
Einstürzende Neubauten: Tabula Rasa
Faith No More: Angel Dust
Front Line Assembly: Tactical Neural Implant
Godflesh: Pure
KMFDM: Money
Meat Beat Manifesto: Satyricon
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult: Sexplosion!
Nine Inch Nails: Broken
[reply]There were also a number of bands I really liked in the early/mid/late 90’s who only put out 2 or 3 albums and were done and you never heard from them again such as:
Quicksand
The God Machine
Mind Funk
Sugartooth
Life Of Agony
Acid Bath
are a few who come to mind right off the top of my head…
Fucking Quicksand! “Slip” is a great album.
I remember Sugartooth, don’t know why.[/reply]
Yeah Slip rules…so does Manic Compression…great unheralded band…
[reply]1992 saw a lot of good music
Ministry- The way to suck seed
Danzig III -How the Gods Kill
Rage against the machine - S/T
Stone Temple Pilots - Core
Alice In Chain - Dirt
Iron Maiden-Fear of The Dark
Social Distortion - Somewhere Between Heaven And Hell
Beastie Boys - Check your head
Cypress Hill - S/T
Izzy Stradlin and the JuJu hounds
House Of Pain- S/T
Also:
Skinny Puppy: Last Rights
Dr. Dre: The Chronic
Einstürzende Neubauten: Tabula Rasa
Faith No More: Angel Dust
Front Line Assembly: Tactical Neural Implant
Godflesh: Pure
KMFDM: Money
Meat Beat Manifesto: Satyricon
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult: Sexplosion!
Nine Inch Nails: Broken
1999 was a shit year for music.[/reply]
How do I forget KMFDM? Good catch.
I own Last Rights but that album never did anything for me … Didn’t realize it came out in '92 though.