Well, this started off as an easy idea: look at my albums, and decide which one was the best for every year since my year of birth (1987). I guess it kinda took off because when I'm writing about music I can't seem to quit.
I probably should've split this up in multiple journals, but since I was working in Word I didn't get to that. Ah well. A cookie for everyone who manages to read it all. Two cookies for everyone who suggests an album to me.
Final note, this took me 3 days to write and 2 more to add tags, so don’t complain if I made a spelling error somewhere.
1987
The Uplift Mofo Party Plan
My choice:
The Uplift Mofo Party Plan
Runner-up: N/A
Oh crap, not the
Red Hot Chili Peppers. Not that they suck, they just uh, well they’re just shit nowadays. As a matter of fact they were shit in ’87. Probably more shit then today. I don’t know if it’s funk or rock or a mix of styles but I know one thing: it’s out of control. And no, that’s not a good thing here. Get off the second spot in my all-time artists, would you? Still, no competition for them at all, so I guess they walk away with the top spot after all. Damnit, why can’t anyone make good music in such a totally awesome year?
1988
...And Justice for All
My choice:
...And Justice for All
Runner-up: N/A
Meh, just one album again. It’s better then the
Red Hot Chili Peppers though, but probably not something I would’ve picked if there was any decent competition. Ah well, it has
One, so that’s a big bonus.
1989
Disintegration
Doolittle
Mother’s Milk
The Stone Roses
My choice:
The Stone Roses
Runner-up:
Mother’s Milk
Yay, we actually get to choose now! The
Pixies made a pretty good album, solid but it doesn’t have that little extra for me. Same goes for
The Cure; I love their style but it’s just not good enough to take away the top spot.
Which leaves one out of three decent albums the
Red Hot Chili Peppers made (hm,
John Frusciante joined them first time for this album, I see a connection here), and the epynomous debut of
The Stone Roses. And
The Stone Roses take the cake here, for having
I Wanna Be Adored and
She Bangs the Drums and
Waterfall and
Made of Stone on one album. Now that’s clustered quality!
1990
Twin Peaks Soundtrack
Enlightenment
My choice:
Twin Peaks Soundtrack
Runner-up:
Enlightenment
Meh, no choice at all. Both are decent albums at best, so basically I picked the Twin Peaks soundtrack because I love the
Twin Peaks theme as well as its vocal version,
Falling. And did I mention
Laura Palmer’s Theme is the definition of creepy tension? If you don’t, go watch Twin Peaks. Now. ‘Cause it’s a whole lot better then it’s music. Or that of
Van Morrison, for that matter.
1991
Metallica
Dangerous
Loveless
Nevermind
Ten
Screamadelica
Greatest Hits II
Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Spiderland
Hymns to the Silence
My choice:
Screamadelica
Runner-up:
Loveless
Meh, why couldn’t any of these albums have been released a year earlier or later? They would’ve been serious contenders in both those years, because every album on this list rocks. Besides
Greatest Hits II and
Hymns to the Silence, that is. First, we have two classics:
Metallica and
Nevermind. I’ve never really been a fan of either of them, but you gotta respect them for changing music as we knew it. At least
Nevermind did,
Metallica probably just changed the band’s music (in a bad way).
Then there’s
Michael Jackson’s final decent album (before he decided it was more fun to mess around with kids then to make good music), the genre-defining
Spiderland (say hello to postrock, everyone!) and yet another of the 3 decent albums the
Red Hot Chili Peppers made.
And none of those make the grade. That is because the shoegazing classic
Loveless is brilliant in its simplicity and
Screamadelica is the best mix of dance and rock I’ve ever heard. So yeah, you might now now them...so get to know them, ‘cause they deserve the attention.
1992
Rage Against the Machine
My choice:
Rage Against the Machine
Runner-up: N/A
No competition again, but this one actually deserves it. Now that’s a prime example of how to make music driven by emotion. And the album cover is awesome too.
1993
The Ultimate Experience
Vs.
Siamese Dream
My choice:
Siamese Dream
Runner-up:
The Ultimate Experience
Ah, the
The Smashing Pumpkins. Now that’s a great example of how to make a good rock album. I love the balance on this one: on one hand they’ve got
Cherub Rock,
Quiet,
Hummer and more guitars-blasting-you-away-goodness, and on the other hand there’s the slower
Disarm,
Spaceboy and
Luna (which is one of the most gorgeous final tracks ever). Heck, even within songs they manage to create perfect balance (
Silverfuck).
Oh but wait, there’s actually two more 1993 albums. Right...well, Vs. was a rather bad follow-up to
Pearl Jam’s neat debut,
Ten, and the
Jimi Hendrix album is a collector. Since it’s also the collector which probably has his best songs on it, it takes the second spot. Although the
The Smashing Pumpkins are miles ahead.
1994
Grace
Sky Valley
Dog Man Star
My choice:
Dog Man Star
Runner-up:
Grace
Tough choice again.
Jeff Buckley’s only studio album versus the best album of stonerrock pioneers
Kyuss vs. “that britpop band that didn’t get the attention it deserved because
Oasis and
Blur were constantly throwing mud at each other”.
Kyuss is the first to fall: it’s good, but it doesn’t manage to reach the level that their spiritual succesor
Queens of the Stone Age did. Still well worth a listen if you like that band.
Then there’s
Jeff Buckley. It’s almost like he knew he was gonna die young and decided to just show off everything he had for
Grace. He can rock (
Eternal Life), he can sing a ballad (
Hallelujah, move over
Leonard Cohen!), he can sing like he’s still in church (
Corpus Christi Carol), he can frickin’do
everything. Such a shame he died too young.
But then there’s
Suede. I say
The Asphalt World, and you should fall in love (or start developing musical taste). Now that’s a song that’ll be high on my list of totally awesome songs. Oh, and did I mention it also has
Heroine,
New Generation,
The Power, and much more. Matter of fact, I don’t think there’s a bad song on this album. Get over
Brett Anderson’s voice, and you’ll fall in love with
Suede too.
1995
Different Class
One Hot Minute
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
My choice:
Different Class
Runner-up:
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
First, let’s discard this
Red Hot Chili Peppers album. Because it’s crap (hey,
John Frusciante’s gone, I see yet another connection!) and you should skip it and move on to
Californication or (prefered option) move back to
Mother’s Milk or
Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Now with that out of the way, let’s start wondering why the
The Smashing Pumpkins didn’t manage to fill another album with nothing but good rock songs, but instead just mess around a bit. It’s also just too long, there’s definitely some good songs on here (
1979 is the one most worth mentioning), but they’re stuck in the middle of a whole lot of mediocre songs. If they would’ve discarded those and just made an single-disc album, it would’ve been so much better.
Not that it would’ve been as good as
Different Class. Although one has to wonder if good is the right word here. Because
Pulp is catchy. That can be good (
Michael Jackson) and bad (
Panic! At the Disco). As you might’ve guessed, it’s a good thing here.
Jarvis Cocker & company delivered an underrated britpop cd which sports classics like
Common People,
Disco 2000 and
F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E. (now that’s an awesome title for a song). Don’t expect anything totally new or genius or whatever, just expect damn catchy songs with brilliantly sarcastic lyrics.
1996
Placebo
Ænima
My choice:
Placebo
Runner-up:
Ænima
Meh, two albums I didn’t listen too much. I still don’t manage to listen to
Tool’s early work too much, because it’s hard to get into. Since
Placebo’s a lot easier to get into, it takes the top spot here (but that still doesn’t make it awesome)
1997
The Colour and the Shape
BBC Sessions
Young Team
The Fat of the Land
OK Computer
The Healing Game
My choice:
The Colour and the Shape
Runner-up:
The Healing Game
What?
Van Morrison over
Radiohead and
Led Zeppelin? Yes, because
OK Computer is one of the most overrated albums in history (start flaming away, fanboys). And
Led Zeppelin’s
BBC Sessions consists of some live stuff, some rarities, a bit of everything really. It fails to deliver as a complete package (why would I want to hear
Communication Breakdown 3 times on one album?) And
Van Morrison, well, he delivers his best album of the ‘90s. It’s nice and raw and sounds like the man’s seen it all (which is probably true, anyway).
Then there’s
Mogwai’s first; it’s good postrock but it just can’t live up to the big names in the genre.
The Prodigy is something I only play when I’m either pissed or in need of energy so that probably doesn’t justify a nomination either.
And the
Foo Fighters, they simply made their best album in 1997. Right in the middle of changing from the grunge that
Nirvana left behind (their epynomous debut) to soft rock songs about how badly
Dave Grohl misses
Kurt Cobain and I don’t know what else (
One by One /
In Your Honor), they hit the right mix of both styles. It’s easy going at times (
Doll,
See You), then it’s pure rock the next second (
Monkey Wrench,
My Hero), but most of all, it has some very nice build-up in their songs (especially
February Stars and
New Way Home). And that’s enough for the top spot in the slightly disappointing year.
1998
Moon Safari
Led Zeppelin
2. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (243) 
