There’s something about Martha Walsh almost shouting the hook to the title track of this record that just captures a very particular moment in time. I was 9 and I didn’t know what dance music was, let alone house. But I knew this song, like the rest of the planet. It was just inescapable. And …
Tag: 1990
One for All (1990) by Brand Nubian
Somewhere online I read that this was an early “alternative hip hop” album and that coloured my experience of it, because it didn’t seem that alternative to me. But what do I know?
Casino (1990) by Blue Rodeo
Blue Rodeo are an institution in Canada. And they were well on their way to becoming an institution in Canada before I ever cared about alt country, or any form of country music. And I guess that’s why I missed the boat on them. Because they were already in my musical ether before I started …
Naive (1990) by KMFDM
I am much more familiar with KMFDM’s later work, in the ’90s, as they got dancier and dancier and lapsed into self-parody. My experience of all that was further impacted by having a friend in high school who wore KMFDM t-shirts, which made them look so hardcore and threatening. And then I listen to them …
Nowhere (1990) by Ride
I’ve never gotten shoegaze, it’s just not anything that appeals to me on a fundamental level. Some of this comes from the nature of the genre – pop music drowning in distortion is still pop music – and part of it I’m pretty sure comes from not seeing it live at the time it was …
Seasons in the Abyss (1990) by Slayer
From the opening track “War Ensemble”, it’s clear that Slayer has one purpose in mind on this record and that’s pummeling the listener into oblivion. And they do just an absolutely excellent job of that.
Heaven or Las Vegas (1990) by Cocteau Twins
The Cocteau Twins, arguably the inventors of dream pop, have an inimitable sound. On their early records I find that sound a little too reminiscent of Siouxsie and the Banshees but, at this stage of their career, I find that comparison basically useless. Bands with such distinct sounds, who I don’t love enough to listen …
Mama Said Knock You Out (1990) by LL Cool J
Before he was an actor, LL Cool J always struck me as a rapper with less weight. I don’t really know if I heard much of his music beyond the title track here, but the moment I learned what LL Cool J stood for, I smirked and I couldn’t take him seriously. (Not that this …
Jordan: The Comeback (1990) by Prefab Sprout
Note: This album has nothing to do with Michael Jordan. It’s always weird coming to a critically acclaimed album by a band you’ve basically never heard a note of in your entire life. I was like 6 or 7 when Prefab Sprout had their big hit, and it was a hit in the UK. I …
Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (1990) by George Michael
More than his debut album, this record strikes me as the work of a singer-songwriter, one who also happens to be an incredibly dynamic performer, and a multi-instrumentalist. I’ve only listened to Faith a couple of times, but this feels more personal. And I must say I like it more. As an aside: the fact …
To the Extreme (1990) by Vanilla Ice
Poor Vanilla Ice. Prior to the launch of The Vanilla Ice Project (which I have never watched!) the guy was a laughing stock for most people who were alive at the time of this release. (Well, for all the people who didn’t buy this album and likely for at least some of the millions of …
Time’s Up (1990) by Living Colour
I’m a big fan of the debut, but it’s a been a couple years since I listened to it. From memory, this record feels a little more scattershot – perhaps due to ambition – than that one.
No Fences (1990) by Garth Brooks
I honestly thought Garth Brooks was a songwriter. I have a memory of channel-surfing and finding a show on which he and some other country songwriters were discussing songs they wrote. So I just assumed he wrote all or most of his material. Going by this album, his breakout hit, he doesn’t. (He co-writes 4 …
Persistence of Time (1990) by Anthrax
I have heard so much about Anthrax but somehow never heard them until today. I still remember reading about their debut in my Billboard book when I was a kid (or a tween), about how it was the fastest metal album ever (supposedly…according to Billboard) and not even knowing what metal was, just sort of …
Facelift (1990) by Alice In Chains
Alice in Chains are, to me, the least immediately appealing of the big Seattle grunge bands. I think that’s because they have the least catchy songs – though Cantrell is a good songwriter he is not necessarily a writer of particularly catchy songs. Though I do wonder how much of my experience of this band …
World Clique (1990) by Deee-Lite
Like you, I have heard “Groove Is In the Heart” a thousand times. Whether I want to or not, I know basically every note. But, unlike some (most?) of the people who bought this album I have never been a fan of dance music. And to the extent that I am welcoming of dance music, …
Cowboys From Hell (1990) by Pantera
I know the legend of Pantera but I don’t know their early music. Regardless, it’s hard to believe this band was once a glam metal band. I guess you can hear touches of it here and there if you’re really, really paying attention but, if you listened to this first, and then were told their …
Lights…Camera…Revolution (1990) by Suicidal Tendencies
Back in 2012 I heard Prime Cuts and I was pretty damn impressed. I’d never heard the band before and I was thinking “Where has this been all my life”? But it took me a really long time to hear some more of their music and I must say that I might have grown out …
Goo (1990) by Sonic Youth
Sometime between their earliest albums and Daydream Nation Sonic Youth learned how to write melodies and, as importantly, learned how to swing. (Obviously this happened gradually.) And that development is perhaps nowhere more apparent than on Goo, their most accessible album to date.Sure, calling a Sonic Youth album ‘accessible’ is a relative thing, but it’s …
Deicide (1990)
This thing is just relentless. I have no idea if it really is one of the best selling death metal albums of all time, but it’s certainly one of the most over-the-top, at least that I’ve ever heard. (That’s a good thing.)
No Depression (1990) by Uncle Tupelo
There are people who will tell you that this is the first ever alt country album. They are wrong about that. They have apparently never heard of the Jayhawks or any of the alternative rock bands incorporating country into their music in the 1980s. (I just finished reviewing an album also credited with inventing this …
Mariah Carey (1990)
“Whitney Houston but hotter.”
A Catholic Education (1990) by Teenage Fanclub
I’ve heard so much about Teenage Fanclub the power pop/jangle pop band that I really, really wasn’t ready for this. And because I really wasn’t ready for this I might have overrated it a tad. Such is life.
Step by Step (1990) by New Kids on the Block
New Kids on the Block make subsequent boy bands sound sophisticated. Maurice Starr’s songs on their earlier records show a level of contempt for their fans that later boy band songwriters mostly avoided. (Both musically, in how unsophisticated and imitative his songs and musical ideas are and, especially, lyrically, as he realized that teens don’t …
Left Hand Path (1990) by Entombed
The early history and evolution of death metal is controversial. Like many genres of music, it’s possible that it was invented in two different places around the same time. (Or, rather, the sounds that came to be called death metal appeared in two different countries around the same time.) I’ve always found this evolution nebulous …
Pod (1990) by The Breeders
I can’ really decide what to do with this one. The songs are okay but I like the aesthetic. But I don’t like the production. I keep going back and forth.
Wilson Phillips (1990)
My memory of “Hold On” was that it was catchier than it is. I’m not saying it’s not catchy, it totally is. But I’m not sure it’s as memorable as I remembered it being. (I have some vision of somebody – in a film? – singing along to it.)
Life (1990) by Inspiral Carpets
Full disclosure: I listened to this on YouTube and two songs were missing. I don’t think those two songs would have changed my mind but you never know.
The Good Son (1990) by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
I love Tender Prey. For me, it’s the culmination of the Seeds through their first era, a powerful combination of punk-influenced music and songwriting well beyond the quality of most punk albums.
Hammerheart (1990) by Bathory
I have read that this is perhaps the second “viking metal” album ever. I really can’t confirm that because, well, I’ve never heard of viking metal before. I didn’t know it was a thing. What I do know is that black metal was definitely not this varied in its early years but I don’t know …