Best music of the '90s

[Rutlefan]

Not "that" '90s music that everyone first thinks of, like this:

 

 

But rather shoegaze. Loved that whole scene and it is still for me the best stuff,as a whole, that came out of the '90s, apologies to Nirvana and Teenage Fanclub. Whenever I hear someone say "90s music sucked" I wonder if they are only thinking of the Seattle thing (which I liked but get the backlash) or if they are actually claiming that the vast array of great stuff in the '90s, esp the early '90s, sucked. If the latter then they might as well be from another planet.

 

Anyway, favorite shoegaze bands were My Bloody Valentine (of course, still are), Ride, Lush, Revolver, Catherine Wheel, Slowdive, Curve, House of Love. Off the top of my head, but so much great stuff at that time. Any other shoegaze fans?

[Narps]

....

[Rutlefan]

BTW, was thinking of this as the new Wire album has a lot of elements of the best music of the early '90s, at least to my ears (reviews I've read claim it looks back to the '60s). Made me nostalgic for those days. Two examples...

 

Gets really cool one minute in:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obaHP_7eV6I

 

Two minutes of post-punk pop perfection:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjBilMQBrpg

Edited May 1, 2015 by Rutlefan

[blueschica]

Rutlefan, off thread, totally different question. Has RedSectorA ever tried to get the HD Vine drive to you?

[blueschica]

Rutlefan, off thread, totally different question. Has RedSectorA ever tried to get the HD Vine drive to you?

Sorry to interrupt your thread, the shoe gaze bands sound interesting and I want to look into them. I should have PM ed you. Just trying to confirm the death of the HD VINE after 5 years. I'm done bothering you now . .

[Rutlefan]

^^ responded to that thread you sent in the PM. Thanks.

[Na na na]

The Boo Radleys

Catherine Wheel

Curve

Lush

My Bloody Valentine

Ride

Slowdive

Swervedriver

 

The Shoegaze movement is the last truly great new musical adventure...

[Jaminbenb]

Never got into that at all.... Saw Catherine Wheel open for +Live+, and just never got into that whole scene. It was better than a lot of what was out at the time, but...I'm an old head...still loving some of the 60's. the 70's and (early) 80's stuff...

[Blue J]

Of the things that are specifically associated with the '00s, aside from the birth of grunge (which I liked a lot of), there were also the Britpop movement- Blur and Elastica were a lot of fun...loved them. I never liked Pulp and Oasis that much, though.

 

And then there was trip-hop...Massive Attack (both with Tricky and without), and Portishead...great stuff.

 

On a different tip- who remembers a band called Black Tape For a Blue Girl?

[x1yyz]

During the 90s I was completely immersed in the industrial music scene. Some of my faves from that era were:

 

Haujobb - Homes & Gardens album

 

 

 

Front Line Assembly

 

http://youtu.be/AIFPzehIY1Q

[x1yyz]

More faves (since I can't post more than two at a time):

 

Skinny Puppy

 

 

 

Steril

 

[gudbuytjane]

I was a big fan of the grunge moment, before it became ubiquitous. For me grunge was about a return to a more organic sound, as the late 80's had really sunk into what I consider one of the worst-sounding periods of music ever. Noise gate snares, overly boomy toms, and some of the worst synth sounds ever imagined. When grunge hit I was excited to see a bunch of long-haired bands playing with guitars and drums that sounded like they grew up on the rock music I grew up on, but also with a punk sensibility that was familiar. Then, yeah, it really exploded, and like anything that makes money people start copying the elements that made money, and soon the idea of genre is constrictive. But the first time I heard Nevermind playing in a record store, a full year before it broke big, and asked the clerk "What is this?" only to buy it sight unseen on his recommendation--that was a pretty awesome moment. :) Edited May 1, 2015 by gudbuytjane

[Segue Myles]

My ten favourite 90's albums:

 

Third eye blind's debut

 

Paradise Lost- Draconian Times; Host

 

Lacuna Coil- In a reverie

 

The Gathering- Mandylion; Nighttime Birds

 

King's X- Faith Hope Love; King's X

 

Toto- Tambu

 

Jimmy Eat World- Clarity

 

Mineral- End Serenading

 

Okay...that was eleven!

[Rutlefan]

I wasn't a huge Skinny Puppy fan but I really loved some of their tracks, like these. Always included these in mixes of the period.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRVAKtsD57c

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgv2cAmEGAA

Edited May 1, 2015 by Rutlefan

[geezer]

My Top Five bands of the 90s:

 

Type O Negative (Peter Steele was a genius! "Bloody Kisses" is a timeless masterpiece)

 

Tiamat ("Wildhoney": where metal first met Floyd)

 

Monster Magnet (Hawkwind Y2K and more)

 

The Gathering (Anneke, I still love you!)

 

Cathedral (Doom!)

 

 

[Rick N. Backer]

I was a big fan of the grunge moment, before it became ubiquitous. For me grunge was about a return to a more organic sound, as the late 80's had really sunk into what I consider one of the worst-sounding periods of music ever. Noise gate snares, overly boomy toms, and some of the worst synth sounds ever imagined. When grunge hit I was excited to see a bunch of long-haired bands playing with guitars and drums that sounded like they grew up on the rock music I grew up on, but also with a punk sensibility that was familiar. Then, yeah, it really exploded, and like anything that makes money people start copying the elements that made money, and soon the idea of genre is constrictive. But the first time I heard Nevermind playing in a record store, a full year before it broke big, and asked the clerk "What is this?" only to buy it sight unseen on his recommendation--that was a pretty awesome moment. :)

 

I loved the grunge stuff as well. For me, the best grunge albums were Soundgarden - Superunknown, Nirvana - Nevermind, STP - Core, Pearl Jam - Vs. and Alice in Chains - Facelift.

[Na na na]

My fav grunge albums are Alice In Chains - Facelift/Dirt/Jar Of Flies. I like Mother Love Bone - Apple. Pearl Jam - Ten, Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger & Temple Of The Dog's S/T.

[Jaminbenb]

Of the things that are specifically associated with the '00s, aside from the birth of grunge (which I liked a lot of), there were also the Britpop movement- Blur and Elastica were a lot of fun...loved them. I never liked Pulp and Oasis that much, though.

 

And then there was trip-hop...Massive Attack (both with Tricky and without), and Portishead...great stuff.

 

On a different tip- who remembers a band called Black Tape For a Blue Girl?

 

I worked with a kid that was a MAJOR Oasis fan....we used to question his um..."male-ness" because the license plate on his car was "NOELIAM"

 

About the only saving grace for the kid was that he turned me on to a few good places to buy boots because he was an incessant collector of their bootlegs, and he said that two of the shops he frequented, carried Rush and Floyd boots.

[bathory]

the 90s rocked

 

we've got black metal, death metal, doom metal, prog metal, trip-hop, shoegaze, grunge (not huge on a lot of it but I really like nirvana, mudhoney, AIC, some others), sludgy stoner stuff. bands like sonic youth and dinosaur jr were finally getting a little money. probably the last really enjoyable "indie rock" (hate the term but it is what it is, I suppose) for me came out in the 90s. most of the newer shit that I encounter ends up sounding like pixies lite or diet pavement or worse. also, rap was sweet up to the late 90s. I dig some old trance shit, plenty of electronic shit

 

I don't know much industrial but I like ministry a lot.

[PolarizeMe]

Love '90s music. In fact most of what "modern bands" I listen to today are actually '90s bands. In response to the OP's question about any other shoegaze fans in here, I'm one of them! Saw MBV live at their last show of the U.S. Tour two years ago front and center of the barrier and it was an amazing experience. Gonna see the reunited Ride as well in June which I'm really looking forward to.

 

As for other favorite '90s bands, aside from most that were already mentioned which I like to certain degrees, four that come my mind that haven't been mentioned yet would be the early Opeth stuff, the first four Katatonia albums, Botch (a really short lived and very underrated band who were ahead of their time predating the now known as mathcore genre), and the early to late '90s Neurosis stuff. These are all metal bands, but those are some of my favorite metal bands who formed or were in their prime in the '90s. I've started listening to some trip-hop music like the first Portishead album and Massive Attack and I've been digging it so far. A bit out of the range of what I listen to but it's always nice to venture off into unfamiliar territory and be wonderfully surprise by what I hear.

 

And bathory, speaking of industrial, have you heard of Godflesh?

Edited May 1, 2015 by PolarizeMe

[bathory]

I've got streetcleaner on tape, my dad gave it to me. never listened to it

[Segue Myles]

My Top Five bands of the 90s:

 

Type O Negative (Peter Steele was a genius! "Bloody Kisses" is a timeless masterpiece)

 

Tiamat ("Wildhoney": where metal first met Floyd)

 

Monster Magnet (Hawkwind Y2K and more)

 

The Gathering (Anneke, I still love you!)

 

Cathedral (Doom!)

 

We have a lot in common. Every one of these bands!

 

Although I would swap Tiamat for Paradise Lost if I was too keep this at five!

[PolarizeMe]

I've got streetcleaner on tape, my dad gave it to me. never listened to it

 

Streetcleaner's an industrial classic.

[Rutlefan]

"Love '90s music. In fact most of what "modern bands" I listen to today are actually '90s bands. In response to the OP's question about any other shoegaze fans in here, I'm one of them! Saw MBV live at their last show of the U.S. Tour two years ago front and center of the barrier and it was an amazing experience. Gonna see the reunited Ride as well in June which I'm really looking forward to."

 

I saw MBV play in Kawasaki Japan after Loveless. Amazing show. The Japanese crowd really did just stand there and gaze, but to be fair, that's pretty typical there. Better than being obnoxious I guess. At any rate, if you like your wall of sound really loud, that was a great show.

 

Ride isn't playing near DC unfortunately.

Edited May 2, 2015 by Rutlefan

[PolarizeMe]

I had earplugs on for the MBV show. I dunno if it was something they started doing post-reunion but they left a huge container of earplugs out for free with a very fair warning to put them on if you care about not losing your hearing. Allegedly, by law they had to give out those earplugs and disclaimer. Needless to say, I go to quite a lot of shows so I took their disclaimer serious, and I was able to enjoy and appreciate the wall of sound without (permanently) damaging my ears, but I bet half of the audience went without earplugs and are now deaf.

 

That gig was a premonition as one of the next gigs I saw was Mastodon a few months after, but forgot to bring earplugs and after the gig I had terrible ringing in the ears (I was in the front for that as well) for a few days and while for the most part it subsided, it was pretty scary thinking that it might've stayed that way. Lesson learned, I've worn earplugs to every gig since and I've still been able to enjoy gigs as I would've without them.