The 10 Most Important Albums in Alternative Music in the 1990's

Alright, if you know me, you will definitely know I am a product of the 90's. From my music to my style to everything about me, the 90's are in my blood. So today, due mostly to the fact that I'd rather not review the new Kalan Porter album, I present, in my opinion, the 10 albums that shaped music more than any other in the 1990's.

10) Ten by Pearl Jam

Before the rebirth (and destruction, might I add) of punk in the 1990s, there was grunge: an alternative music force driven by a faithful fan base and the desire to push the boundaries of rock to their limits. One of the bands to emerge dominant on this scene was Pearl Jam. Lead by the raspy vocals of Eddie Vedder and the powerful guitars of Mike McCready, Pearl Jam lead the way for the Seattle grunge sound to dominate the world. Their debut album, Ten, was a monster. With powerhouse tracks like Even Flow and Once, as well as softer spins like Jeremy and Black, there was something in Ten that everyone could enjoy. This was one of the first albums to have a profound effect on me and, as a kid, Black was among my favourite songs. What Pearl Jam thought they could do to the world, musically and through actions, they did to me with Ten.

9) The Colour and the Shape by the Foo Fighters

With the passage of Kurt Cobain up into the great gig in the sky, Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl knew the past wasn't something he wanted to hold on to. He was determined as a musician to to continue spreading that message that music was a thing of beauty, no matter what form it took. So six months after Cobain's death, Grohl began recording what would be the first Foo Fighters album. He did this by himself, playing every instrument, writing and singing every word. However, the album didn't sound quite right as a solo project. In 1996, after touring a year, the newly formed band created The Colour and the Shape, an album that personifies the 90s. Influenced by the hardcore punk scene of the 80s, Black Flag in particular, the energetic record drove heavy guitars on songs like Monkeywrench and Everlong, but knew how to turn it down on songs like Walking After You. They've kept it going to this day, winning 2 Grammies in the process, and their latest record is sounding excellent.

8) (What's The Story) Morning Glory by Oasis

I've been listening to Oasis as far back as I remember. Along with U2, they were always that band that I just enjoyed listening to more than anything. Morning Glory is their magnum opus: an album where you know the words to every song and there was nothing out of place. Classic jams like Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova and Don't Look Back in Anger only began to unravel the greatness of the album. The deeper cuts like She's Electric, Hey Now! and Morning Glory made this album great. Sure Oasis is a band full of arrogant jerks who think all music before and after them is crap, but this album was and is something special to a lot of people. Just a brilliant piece of work.

7) Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

We all know the legacy of the Chili Peppers: a California band with delusions of grandeur and funk that just wouldn't quit. After the band's line-up had been stricken with tragedy with the death of Hillel Slovak, the band's former guitarist, the band's greatest fan, John Fruciante, stepped in to save them in their time of need. The newly formed Peppers went on to create Mother's Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik, two brilliant albums the infused funk and alternative rock in ways never before seen in mainstream music. The more popular of the two, yet not the inferior by any means, BSSM, sculpted the 90's for me musically. After years of hearing the same old mainstream rock like Creed, Third Eye Blind and stuff like that, the Chilis come along and introduced me to everything rock could be. Songs like Suck My Kiss, Give It Away, Power of Equality and especially Under the Bridge all made music make sense more than it already did. The Chilis were and are great. End of story.

6) Loveless by My Bloody Valentine

Alright, this is my unknown portion of the countdown, where Casey Casem would make a long-distance dedication you've never heard of on the countdown. My Bloody Valentine is a shoegazer band from Dublin, Ireland. They were formed in 1984, interested in being a punk band, but progressed way, way beyond the realm of punk. For those who don't know, the shoegazing style is defined by a massive amount of guitar effects in music. The artists playing would be more concentrated on their effect pedals than the audience in front of them, so they appeared to be looking at their shoes the whole time they played. My Bloody Valentine is the highest echelon of the shoegazer scene. Loveless opened my eyes to everything music could be: how melodies don't always have to be in one or two dimensions, how music didn't have to be completely understood to capture emotions in the listener. For that reason, Loveless made the top 10: it captured the true essence of music in something known only to very few.

5) Goo by Sonic Youth

For me, Sonic Youth is the band. No band has shown me a new vision of music quite like Sonic Youth has: turning random tunings into brilliant, lasting music. They are a band that, it's said, had a great effect on the grunge scene in the 90's with works like Daydream Nation(the best album of the 80's by the way) in the late 80's. Goo, Sonic Youth's first album of the 90's, really displays the beginning of the grunge movement: hard, distorted riffs infused with the classic back and forth singing of Kim and Thurston. The immortal Kool Thing displays that best. This song has everything: great guitar work, fantastic drums, Kim singing in classic form and Chuck D of Public Enemy providing his brilliance. This may be Sonic Youth's most noteable record in terms of air time and sales, but that doesn't mean for a second that the band sold out. Sonic Youth is as in form as ever on Goo. Pick this one up.

4) Mellon Chollie and the Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins dominated the 90's with attack after attack of alternative rock oozing with distortion. Yet it took until 1995 for the band to achieve their peak of ability with Mellon Chollie. This album was special, not only because it was a double disc and each disc was incredible, but because it was The Wall of our generation. The sound was special, unlike anything heard before: it opened into Billy Corgan playing a two-minute long piano intro, extending into Tonight, Tonight, a rock song with strings that went together like peanut butter and jelly. Then the classic Pumpkins sound reoccurred in Jellybelly, Zero, Here is No Why and Bullet with Butterfly Wings. From there it twisted and turned every which way imaginable, closing on disc 2 with the entire band singing the closer. This one's a modern classic.

3) Nevermind by Nirvana

This list would not be complete without Nevermind. Nirvana's classic grunge triumph of teenage worship and universal acclaim, home of Smells Like Teen Spirit and a host of other, brilliant songs, the 90s simply wouldn't be the 90s without it. Grunge gets no better than this. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, the Screaming Trees, all of them were eclipsed by Nirvana. Kurt Cobain was one of the greatest song writers of our time: taking influence from the Pixies, Black Flag, the Beatles and numerous indie artists from the underground. The combination of Cobain with bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl created a sound unlike any other the world had seen. I'm not trying to sound like Nirvana is the greatest band on the planet, but in the 90's, for quite a long time, that's exactly what they were. Up until Kurt's suicide in 1994, nobody made grunge like Nirvana, musically and lyrically.

2) OK Computer by Radiohead

Every once in a while, an album comes along that is perfect from start to finish. This album starts with an obtuse rock track infused with layers of guitar and a completely synthed sound completing the package. It progresses into long tracks, both hard and soft, with that same layered sound and, once it ends, you know you are truly listening to a masterpiece. That is OK Computer. Thom Yorke, a British lyricist, guitar enthusiast and electronica aficionado, recruited some of his friends from college to play a new breed of alternative rock. The band delved into shoegazer and the 80s indie scene, but always had a desire to play straight-up guitar rock with a twist. Including Yorke, three guitar players as well as a keyboardest, bass player and drummer made a massive, looming sound over their audiences. In the mid 90's, while everyone was searching for that next album to bounce them back after the Pumpkins went goth, Radiohead released OK Computer to massive acclaim and universal appreciation. A band that had been known for depressing lyrics and melodies dove headfirst into spacey art rock with more positive annotations. This album is a masterpiece of alternative rock. There has never been anything like it before and there will never be anything like it again, even 10 years later.

1) Grace by Jeff Buckley

Has there ever been an album that is so good you can not find the right words to give it the due credit? If so, this one is mine. Jeff Buckley was on track to be the next Dylan, the next Lennon, the next _____ (put your opinion of the greatest songwriter of all time in that space). The man was 28 when he released this record and he would die two years later. Yet this album has gone on to affect artists worldwide, being noted as an influence to Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Neil Peart, Chris Cornell, Sir Paul McCartney and even the great Bob Dylan himself. And it wasn't just his ability to craft words either, the man could sing. He could reach octaves high above the average male voice, which allowed his music to moan with passion and cry with emotion. His guitarwork was brilliant as well. On tracks like Grace and So Real, you could hear the work put into it on the musical front. However, it was his lyrics and the intensity with which he sung them that stood out above all else. The greatest shame of all was that he would never complete a second album. Demos of this project, entitled "My Sweetheart, The Drunk" were set to be produced and released for 1997, yet Buckley drowned while swimming in a lake a year earlier. What was already created was produced and released by Chris Cornell, a long-time friend of Buckley, and we retitled "Sketches for 'My Sweetheart, The Drunk'". The album was still brilliant, yet so incomplete. One thing is for certain, however, Grace is a modern classic. Absolute perfection.

Alright, that's my list. There'll be a ton of disagreement with my views on the music, yet I feel this representation of 90's music was accurate to an extent. It wasn't a decade as musically fulfilling as the 60's or 70's, yet it wasn't nearly as horrible as the 80's so we can all be thankful for that. Either way, between 1990 and 1999, a lot of amazing things happened in the world of music. A lot of things went horribly wrong (a.k.a. the boy-band revolution, the majority of the punk revival, Brittany Spears & company, etc..) but one thing is for certain: the spirit and beauty of music will always survive as long as there is someone to listen to it.

Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist

Rating: 7.2/10

Sound: 8
Lyrics: 8
Sound/Production Quality: 7
Impression: 7
Replay Value: 6
Tilt: 7

Release Date: July 10th, 2007
Genre: Alternative Rock
Key Tracks: 7 Shades of Black, Tarantula, United States

The Smashing Pumpkins are finally back! After a 7-year hiatus, Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain have agreed to write new material as the Smashing Pumpkins once more. However, guitarist James Iha and bassists D'arcy Wretzky and Melissa Auf der Maur are not present on these new recordings, so much skepticism has arisen from this reunion. Corgan and Chamberlain recorded this record alone (Jimmy arranging the drums and searching for new band members; Billy singing, playing bass and guitar), an impressive feat for two people to accomplish. In the end, Ginger Reyes on bass and Jeff Schroeder on guitar were hired for the tour and Zeitgeist was released in July to massive sales (#2 on the Billboard Top 200, #1 in Canada, the UK and New Zealand).

The album opens to Doomsday Clock, a somewhat heavy opener, similar to The Everlasting Gaze on MACHINA. There song isn't bad, but the chorus isn't nearly catchy enough to make this one a great start to the trip. We then enter 7 Shades of Black, a classic Pumpkins-style track. This track alone proves that the passion, force and attention to detail the Pumpkins possessed in the 90s is still somewhere inside Billy and Jimmy, yet they're having a hard time bringing it out. That feeling is mutual with Bleeding the Orchid, though I did find it got old very fast. The chorus was hard to listen to, although the lyrics were great.

Now we arrive at That's The Way (My Love Is), one of those Pumpkins ballads that you could never really tell where to place. It was like the song To Forgive on their magnum opus, Mellon Cholie and the Infinite Sadness: just as you were really getting into it with songs like Jellybelly and Zero, Billy slips a really soft song in there and you're left with a "what the fuck just happened?" kinda feeling that I really didn't like. It's not a terrible song itself, but it left me with that feeling and I hate the feeling (on another note, it would have been good as a Zwan B-side or something). Either way, the song progresses into Tarantula, the song's big single. This song opens to a riff you'd expect on an early Pumpkins record: heavy, distorted and hits you like a boulder after that slow ballad. Again, the song's chorus is kind of inaudible, yet the lyrics are Pumpkins all the way: "I wanna be there when you're happy/I wanna love you when you're sad." The song escalates to that point where all you can hear is Billy screaming the guitar. That's total rock n' roll for me. Love it.

From that powerhouse, we enter Starz, one of those songs where the lyrics go in one ear and out the other except for one phrase ("We are stars...WE are...We are stars...WE aaaare") that really starts to piss you off once it's stuck in your head. However, the song finally quiets down and we enter United States, a 10-minute long track, classic to Pumpkins fans. In the first era, there was always that long track (Silverfuck, X.Y.U., Glass and the Ghost Children) that you'd just get lost in whenever it played. United States is that track on this album and it's excellent. Rich in lengthy progressions and cool drum beats, it's one not to be missed. But just as we're returning to the classics, Corgan takes the inspiration from his Zwan project to close this album, throwing a series of 3-minute, meaningless tracks (Neverlost, Bring the Light, (Come On) Let's Go) at us that leave us with a cool rock beat, but not much else. Then, to close, Corgan breaks out the keyboard on For God and Country, again forgettable, and finally ends Zeitgeist with Pomp and Circumstances, a song that would sound more at home on My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade.

In conclusion, the Smashing Pumpkins' return may have been a little premature. While it is incredible to have them back and making music once more (and while it's even more incredible that I can finally get out to a live show), on the music front, they're Swiss cheese. Sure, some of Zeitgeist's tracks are catchy and intriguing, but there are more pros than cons. However, give it some time, maybe convince James and D'arcy to come back, and then we'll see what the Pumpkins can bring out. In other words, this is the start of a work in progress.

Images:
1) Zeitgeist album cover
http://landslide.2007.org/zeitgeist.jpg
2) Ginger Reyes while filming the Tarantula video
http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/gallery/pics/DSC_0063.JPG
3) Billy Corgan and Jeff Schroeder rockin' it out in Madrid
http://www.smashingpumpkins.com/gallery/pics/P1020318.JPG

The White Stripes - Icky Thump

Rating: 9.4/10

Sound: 9/10
Lyrics: 10/10
Sound & Production Quality: 8.5/10
Impression: 10/10
Replay Value: 9/10
Listener's Tilt: 10/10

Release Date: June 19th, 2007
Genre: Alternative Rock, Blues, Garage Rock
Key Tracks: Icky Thump, Conquest, Prickly Thorn But Sweetly Worn/St. Andrew's In The Air, Little Cream Soda, Rag & Bone, Catch Hell Blues

Ladies and gentlemen, Icky Thump: the next spectacular entry by The White Stripes. This album marks the Stripes' debut onto a major label (Warner Music in North America) after the departure from Jack's Detroit blues label (Third Man Records) and a jump into production equipment from this century (they're renowned for using equipment from the 1960s and earlier when recording their music). Also, after a nervous breakdown resulting from his breakup with Renee Zellweger (sp*), Jack and Meg have left Detroit for a comfy, southern setting in Nashville, Tennessee, so it's very fair to say that The White Stripes have gone through many changes in order to continue to be at the forefront of modern, alternative rock. Icky Thump, a long time coming after the bizarre anti-rock of 2005's Get Behind Me Satan, is a return to form for the Stripes: Jack's addictive, creative guitar work and keyboard coupled with Meg's subtle, yet effective drumming. With catchy hooks, cool blues, rags and bones, last licks of your ice cream cone, a mandolin and bagpipes, The White Stripes have created a contender for album of the year.

The album opens with the title track, a bluesy, garage tune about immigration, with one of the catchiest guitar riffs I've heard in a while. This song displays Jack's complete arsenal on the guitar as well as the keyboards, switching back and forth between the two during the song, along with an extended, progressive solo towards the end. Lyrically, the song describes a man with no job and no real name on a journey to Mexico to waste his life away. While there, he meets a half-blind woman who takes him to a hotel where they proceed to eat, drink and be merry. The next day, he wakes up to find himself robbed, tied to his bed and, once he leaves, finds a new lease on his life. It's one of those songs that provide great entertainment as well as an earful lyrically. Absolutely killer track, my favourite of the year so far.

From there, the album moves on to You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As Your Told), a song in classic Stripes format that you'd think would have been a B-side off 2002's Elephant, and 300 mph Torrential Outpour Blues, a solid track in classic blues style. And then we reach Conquest, a classic 50's tune by Patti Page modernized in a way the Stripes only could. The story goes that Jack was in a bar one day, was listening to a mariachi band and was particularly impressed with the trumpet player. Jack then asked the man, Regulo Aldama, if he wanted to join him and Meg on a track on the album. He agreed and the cool trumpet sounds you hear on Conquest are all from an unknown, mariachi trumpeter from Tennessee. All in all, Conquest is a great battle of the sexes song, describing a man with no respect for women falling in love and having everything he knew be reversed. Very cool song, check it out. Moving along, Bone Broke is another solid Stripes entry.

Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn is very interesting. The song comprises of Meg on tambourine, Jack on the mandolin and a man named Tim Drury on the bagpipes. It's not the most creative song lyrically, spinning tales of the carefree days in a carefree town being marred by some unknown force, but the way the song is put together is so blissful and crazy. Like, you'd never catch guys like The Edge or John Fruciante playing a mandolin/bagpipes combo like this, yet here's Jack White breaking the mold into something unimaginably interesting. The song then moves into St. Andrew's In the Air, where Meg finally takes the mike in a less conventional role, but makes a fantastic conclusion. Jack finally picks up his guitar again and plays some crazy riffs.

Icky then moves into the darkest section of the album, Little Cream Soda. Contrary to the title, it is an atmospherically dark song with images of leaving childhood behind and moving forward with commitment. The song is bluesy and lyrically adept, so it falls into my favourites from the album. Then, we have Rag & Bone, fun times with Jack and Meg as garage sale-goers. This song is the catchiest on the album, it's just non-stop fun. If you have a broken trumpet or a telephone, a toilet seat or a Christmas tree, Jack and Meg'll take it off your hands. I'm Slowly Turning Into You will be the next single from the duo. It almost sounds like something they should have put on Get Behind Me Satan, an organ driven track with a guitar chorus. It's once again solid, but it's getting more addictive the more times I hear it. A Martyr For My Love For You is a song about giving it all up for the one you love. A passionate love song, it sets the mood for the quickness of Catch Hell Blues, probably my favourite track on the album right after Icky Thump. It's fast, it's classic Stripes blues, what more could you ask for? Finally, Effect and Cause, a return to the retro recording equipment that has made their careers long ones, marks a great conclusion to a great album.

I'm not asking you to like The White Stripes, I expect most of you out there to not, especially those of you who drum. What I'm asking is that you look at music with an open mind. If you do, your musical horizons will be broader and you will enjoy music much more than you do now. That being said, PLEASE open your horizons to the Stripes. They're a great band, they've been around for 10 years, they love Canada (they even filmed the video for You Don't Know What Love Is in Nunavut after performing a concert in the North West Territories the day earlier) and they continue to make listening to music an enjoyable experience for everyone who's seen them or heard them. Icky Thump is one of the best albums of this year. Pick this one up while it's still hot.


Pictures:
1) Icky Thump album artwork (http://www.whitestripes.com/IckyThump/cover_art/IckyThump_Cover.jpg)
2) Screen shot from the Icky Thump music video. (http://www.culturebully.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/White%20Stripes%20Icky.jpg)
3) Jack and Meg on the set of Icky Thump (http://www.harpmagazine.com/img/news/20060627_White_Stripes.jpg)

Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare

Rating: 8.8/10

Sound: 9
Lyrics: 8
Sound/Production Quality: 9
Impression: 9
Replay Value: 8
Tilt: 10

Release Date: April 24th, 2007
Genre: Rock, Alternative Rock
Key Tracks: Brianstorm, Fluorescent Adolescent, Do Me a Favour, The Bad Thing, 505

The Arctic Monkeys are back at it again. After debuting on the scene as one of Britain's most hyped bands ever, releasing "Whatever People Say I Am, That Is What I'm Not" last February to massive sales (and by massive, I mean they sold more albums on the first week their album came out than any Beatles album ever has) and instant critical acclaim, the quartet have returned with Favourite Worst Nightmare, a less hyped sophomore effort but, in many ways, a better one. You can easily hear a massive musical evolution with the opening track, Brianstorm. This track is darker than anything they've released: a fast, pulsating drumbeat, followed by an explosive guitar riff that hooks you instantly to a jealous thrashing of the common lady's man. And this is only the beginning. The Monkeys then plunge you into Teddy Picker, a song about misconceptions on sex, drugs and alcohol; D is for Dangerous, a song of obssession; and Balaclava, disrobing why stupidity is fun for teenagers.

And finally, we arrive at the real progression: Fluorescent Adolescent. I can't say enough about this song. It's catchy, it's interesting, it's heartfelt, a perfect 10 in my book. It's the monologue of a married woman who used to be a sex fiend and booze hound, but gave it all up for her idea of a perfect, storybook wedding. Yet now, a few years down the road from her magical day, she finds herself bored with her new serenity and misses those old night of drinking, dancing and letting herself go. Her dilemma is she can't have both and finds it impossible to decide. This song really is fantastic. If anything, download this track.

The final 6 tracks are ups and downs (more ups than downs, however). Only Ones Who Know is a romantic ballad that turns things way down for the Monkeys. It's passionate, but a once-in-a-while type song. Do Me a Favour is fantastic. It starts slow, picking up from the slowly moving previous track, into a shattering crescendo fitting only for this break-up song backdrop. This House is a Circus is just classic AM, a song about a broken home and the people connected to it, alright but forgettable. The Bad Thing is another fun song about stealing girlfriends, drinking and having sex-capades. Old Yellow Bricks barely caught my attention. It's in the home stretch to the end of the album, but it's almost forgettable compared to the other tracks. 505 is the most fitting conclusion they could have come up with. Similar in composition to Do Me a Favour, it starts quietly with only synths playing in the background, but as the song progresses the guitar and drums come in before the song blasts off into an all-out attack. It's a song about old memories and how, even though we evolve and change, the best memories are always with us. I think there's no better way to cap off a great album than that.

All in all, the Arctic Monkeys are here to stay. Whatever People Say was no fluke, they genuinely are fantastic musicians. Finally, as the average age of the band is 22 years old, these Monkeys'll be rockin' the jungle for years to come.

Welcome to the Blog

Hey, welcome to the reviews. Here I will be reviewing music of every genre for the listening public. This is not a way of saying, "my musical taste is better than yours, you should listen to me", I'm just trying to get some new music out there to people who are somewhat closed-minded about exploring music deeper than what's on the radio. Don't get me wrong, the radio can be a beautiful thing, but if I had my way, people would listen to music produced by Danger Mouse over music produced and/or performed by Timbaland. Alright, so if you wanna broaden your horizons a little, stay tuned and keep listening.