I'm not a huge Steely Dan fan but I enjoy the album "Pretzel logic" and "Rikki don't loose that number" is a great song. Doesn't anybody ever notice that Sondre Lerche has been very inspired by "Rikki..." intro in his "Faces down" intro ?
And I love the guitar solo on "Rikki...".
Well ... the intro of "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" itself is "inspired" by the intro of Horace Silver's "Song for My Father". Unless you're talking about the burbling marimba-like sounds at the -very- beginning of the song.
Also, I love the guitar solo on "Rikki", too. Along with everything else about it.
Dumbangel (13)
Jonah (14)
Pop Elton (14)
Penguin (16)
Slush (20)
Harold Wexler (36)
Honorio (3
BillAdama (46)
Rocky Raccoon (55)
Tim (56)
Rune (65)
Mitchell Sterling (82)
Stammer (83)
Kevin (85)
Sonofsamiam (9
Albums in the Top 1000 Poll:
The Soft Bulletin (32)
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (90)
Transmissions from the Satellite Heart (353)
Zaireeka (371)
Clouds Taste Metallic (82
At War with the Mystics (863)
Songs in the Top 1000 Poll:
Do You Realize? (159)
Race for the Prize (185)
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part 1 (334)
Moth’s Head in the Incubator (720)
Greg (14)
Daniel (17)
Nicolas (1
BillAdama (19)
Honorio (20)
Stephan (2
Vgrd (30)
Paul (42)
Rocky Raccoon (54)
Damosuzuki (55)
Harold Wexler (55)
Miguel (55)
Henrik (64)
Kevin (69)
Albums in the Top 1000 Poll:
Elvis Presley (305)
Songs in the Top 1000 Poll:
Suspicious Minds (4
Heartbreak Hotel (315)
Blue Moon (410)
That’s Alright Mama (914)
Vgrd (12)
Slush (27)
Greg (2
Honorio (29)
Nicolas (31)
BillAdama (32)
Rocky Raccoon (33)
Sonofsamiam (35)
Henrik (40)
Stephan (46)
Paul (52)
Miguel (54)
Georgie (64)
Dumbangel (65)
Jonah (67)
Daniel (84)
Harold Wexler (84)
Fred (99)
Albums in the Top 1000 Poll:
What’s Going On (22)
Here, My Dear (586)
Let’s Get It On (822)
Songs in the Top 1000 Poll:
What’s Going On (14)
I Heard It Through the Grapevine (74)
Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) (317)
Sexual Healing (374)
Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) (513)
Let’s Get It On (83
Henrik (4)
Depeche Mode (10)
Pop Elton (7)
Slush (15)
Jonah (33)
Andre (35)
Lonesome Panda (40)
Mitchell Sterling (59)
BillAdama (63)
Vgrd (79)
Tim (82)
Honorio (90)
The Nineties are my favorite my far. Massive Attack, though, is a huge surprise. I also don't remember "Teardrop" being higher than "Unfinished Sympathy," although I agree wholeheartedly.
The nineties are a gaping hole in my music experience. I was really into "alternative" in the eighties, but got kind of turned off when it went so mainstream and so grunge. (I was more into the jangly alternative sound). Then I tried hitching my wagon to alt-country, but that all started to sound boring after awhile.
Now as I go back and try to "reconstruct" the nineties using resources like this site, I'm still having a really hard time connecting with anything from that decade. (Other than Odelay, which I have always liked).
The Britpop just isn't doing it for me, I'm past my hard rock years (at least as pertains to getting new stuff), and the hip hop from the 1990s all sounds so old fashioned now. What's an old guy like me going to find in the 1990's that is worthwhile?
I don't like the 90s very much. Most of my favorite albums and songs are from the 70s, with the 60s and 80s closely together in 2nd and 3rd spot (the music from the 60s is mostly from the last 6 years, while the rest of the decades has 10 years, and so it is still my favorite decade). After that the 90s and 00s are close together, but the 00s are quickly catching up. With 2 years left to go, I think the 00s will surpass the 90s for me.
Paul, your trajectory sounds a lot like mine--alternative in the 80s, disenchanted with the heavier post-Nirvana music in the 90s and flirting briefly with the No Depression stuff.
The main exception is that I DID fall pretty hard for Britpop, which seemed a welcome respite from Soundgarden and STP and Bush and the like. I'm a sucker for tuneful irony.
The more I hang out on this site, the more I realize that I've never really gotten into 2000s music in any deep way. I have one or two dozen favorites, but I'm just not immersed the way I was 20 years ago. I guess it's partly the fragmentary nature of pop these days, combined with my rapidly encroaching middle age. If the Strokes had started in 1981, I'd probably have loved them; as it is, I think they're OK but I don't see what all the fuss is.
All of this may be a long-winded way of bemoaning the near-absence of most of my picks from the top 100...
Paul, I understand your plight, but I figure that if someone in his mid-twenties (like me) can latch onto artists like Hank Williams and Glen Campbell -- artists from years ago, who I never heard growing up, from a genre that I always associated with bad music -- then I don't see why you can't go back and reconnect with music from the nineties.
I'm not sure if this is one would be up your alley or not, but it's a great '90s album with atypical influnces: New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too. It's not grunge; it's like funk and soul-tinged pop with lyrics criticizing commericialism and religion. Probably the "smartest" album from the nineties that I've heard, but unfortunately it was the first and last from the band -- they split up not long after.
The other day I was driving to.. I can't remember where, and "Someday We'll Know" played (from my own collection, I don't think I'll see the day a Dutch station plays that song) and I thought to myself: with a proper re-release this song (and "You Get What You Give" too, for that matter) could even become pretty successful nowadays. What a fantastic song. So yeah, one of my favorite albums of the 90s as well.
Yeah, I remember you being a fan of that record, Stephan. And you might be onto something re: a re-release, but unfortunately, I think MYBBT is destined to wallow in the land of one-hit-wonder album obscurity for the rest of its days. The same land where you'd find the likes of A-ha's "Hunting High and Low" and The La's.
("Someday We'll Know" is great, yes, but what about "Flowers" and "Gotta Stay High"? F$cking poptastic!)
And what about "I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away The Ending"? Hell, pretty much all the songs on the album are brilliant. I'm listening to the album again right now and I think I'll move it up a few spots on my list again.
I had it at #17 for the album poll. Seems about right. (Again, it's that whole appeal of a band putting out one great record and then fucking off. I can't explain why I enjoy that sort of thing.)
Wow, I'm a potty mouth today. Speaking of which, whatever happened to Twister?
Mitchell, I was asking because I made a thread a couple months ago about that. I noticed that it's AM acclaim comes mostly from critics in non-English speaking countries and only his recent album had US acclaim. So, what is the demo here?
Mitchell, I was asking because I made a thread a couple months ago about that. I noticed that it's AM acclaim comes mostly from critics in non-English speaking countries and only his recent album had US acclaim. So, what is the demo here?
I am curious as to how high a band has to be on an individual list to crack the top 500.
I'm curious because I was happy to see Frankenixon in the top 500, but perplexed because that was a local central Iowa band that released 2 and a half albums while I was in college in Des Moines (Iowa) and then dispersed. They should have become huge (or at least Pitchfork huge) but they just didn't. My high placing of Frankenixon on my own artist list is just as much because of that connection of witnessing several live intimate performances in local venues as the quality of their music. You should definitely seek out mp3s or myspace sites, if you can find anything by them.
Awesome discussions here! My internet connection went down at home because some line was cut somewhere that services thousands of Sydney customers, so I may not be able to update much over the next few days. I'll see what I can do!
I also am not a big 90s fan, even though I should like it given my age. I was totally captivated by just about everything that was around in the 80s (yes, even Richard Marx and Roxette!), and when the 90s came along, everything seemed so jaded, negative and angry, and I just couldn't get behind those emotions very much. I've grown to appreciate some stuff more since the 90s have ended, but it still pales in comparison to the 80s, 70s and 00s for me.
Well the album and song polls tended to prove that I am the most 90s/00s oriented person on this forum.
I don't find the 90s that angry or negative... I admit it is often jaded but not without a sense of hope and beauty.
The 00s might me funnier, but the 90s are deeper, more sincere.
I, personaly, think that the worst decade is by far 80s (especially from 81 to 87), not only because of the sound of the synth-pop, but because it is mostly a transition period, especially for rock and pop, where the great years are passed and it takes time to build something new.
Hip-hop and electro were too young so you have to go on very specific genres to find something interesting : heavy metal (Slayer, Metallica...), hardcore (Husker Du, Fugazi...) or even irish traditional music...
Most of the great act are just alone in their category with no scenes to support them, the best example being Prince, all alone in its category.
How important are music scenes to you guys? Personally, I admire more the artists who make great records in their on way, no matter what the current hype is.
What I mean is that Tom Waits or Prince's best albums are not the reflect of a dense period with lots of good bands/artists, they are just single exceptions on a rather poor global scene.
Unlike Radiohead, Nirvana or Massive Attack which were just the leaders of a more global trend.
Lonesome, it wasn't meant as an attack against your post. It just got me wondering about people's feeling about music scenes, and I just think that artists that go against current trends often have a more long-lasting appeal. Like Prince and Tom Waits.
I've got to agree with Lonesome Panda - the 90s are my favorite followed by the 70s and the 00s. That probably going to be apparent once my list is up.
As for the 90s being angry and negative, it really depends on what you listened to. I love Britpop (and didn't really like grunge) so to me, the 90s were pretty positive with a lighter sound than most people think of when this time is mentioned. It really depends on what type of music you think represents the 90s.
As for the Smashing Pumpkins, I hope they made the list. I would be surprised if they didn't, but I don't see too many fans of them here. I know I voted for them (very highly too), but not too sure about the others.
Smashing Pumpkins made the list. I'm 100% sure of that.
In my opinion Smashing Pumpkins have managed always high positions in our polls (last year in 90's poll Siamese Dream was at #17 and Mellon Collie #50. In song poll of 90's they got 4 songs in top 100 and in all time list they had 3 songs in top 200 and Siamese Dream was in top 100 in all time albums list. Quite well I guess.
To Jonah
In my list CMX was my #30. Regina and PMMP were #27 and #26. I'm pretty sure that no one else voted them but they all made to list (CMX was 493. and the two others in positions 460-470). So I guess everyones top 30 made to top 500.
It's nice to see that someone else voted 22 Pistepirkko. Rune (from Norway) was it you?
It seems that Slint didn't make to top 500. It was my number 37. That means that no one else voted it. Shame on you guys.
And finally to John. I'm from Finland. As you can see my English is bad. The lyrics are not the biggest reason I like Scott Walker.
Moonbeam, you should call up your ISP and tell them to hurry up because they are stalling an internet music poll. I'm sure they'll understand and expedite the process.
I've made no bones about the fact that I consider Billy Corgan to be one of the greatest alt-rock songwriters. Of the 200 songs I submitted for the song poll, nine were his.
The Sex Pistols were punk, but beneath it was pop. Nirvana was grunge, but Cobain wrote pop songs.
Same with Corgan. Sure, the Pumpkins didn't change music to the extent that the Pistols or Nirvana did, but the best Pumpkins songs -- Today, 1979, Perfect, etc -- were pop songs with catchy hooks, unfortunately branded with the alt/goth tag. Rubbish, I say.
what would present pop college culture look like then, anyway, when they would have meet our ...
toneiiiiighhhhhht....whoohooooo..violins..come on, hit meee Recordman, hit meee, heeeeeheeehaaaahaaaaa..... if ya dare, hit me again, foam and dazzle and make a real god out of me; soon enough you'll confront the one and only Half Billie "A-Two-Phase-Shave's enough to be confi" Dent (PS: Ok, this one IS lame...) who turns out to have survived the tropical acid thunder as the last single human of them all:: but(!) he hade mutuated into the one and evil <> all the while!!! ---- and that did happen, well, sorry... but...
toneeaeiiiiighhhhht.. toneeeeaaaiiiiighhhhhhtt...
I'll make the Recordman witness my suicide... I'll make him pay a thousand hours of therapy then... hhheeeeehhaaaaahhaaaaaa.... and how about another magic trick then, eh.?..
Now we're talking!
4 of my artists in the 69-60 range:
The Doors (#37 for me)
CCR (#30 for me)
Depeche Mode (#93 for me)
and
Sly and the Family Stone (my #54)