1991 Rank/discuss the canon

[rayge]

Because after all that toil and turmoil, I can't let it flounder, at least not yet...

It's the usual drill, basically: ruminate, fulminate, deplore, ignore at yr leisure and pleasure.

Runners and riders ( vids begin here preludin.proboards.com/thread/6822/preludin-canon-open-1986-95?page=12)

Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy (G)
PM Dawn - Set Adrift on Memory Bliss (davey)
Mercury Rev - Car Wash Hair (ray)
Geto Boys - My Mind Playin Tricks On Me (freap)
Clock DVA - Techno-Geist (DF)
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (osgood)
Ministry - Jesus Built My Hotrod (dayo)
Metallica - Enter Sandman (goatboy)
Guns N' Roses - Estranged (fonz)
Teenage Fanclub - The Concept (JSJ)
Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend (hatz)
Primal Scream - Higher Than the Sun (riggers)
U2 - Even Better Than The Real Thing (fange)

Go!

[fonz]

I got it right

[DayoRemix]

Ranking/Talking:

The top four were all contenders for my pick..1991 was a year with an embarrassment of riches, as were most of the 90s..(Too bad the some of selections don't reflect this..)

Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy (G) A Thunderbolt. When this and "Daydreaming hit the landscape, you knew things had changed. Massive didn't sound like anybody else. Deep, moody, intense, dramatic, this single had everything to present a new kind of soul music. Perfect video to go along with it.

Ministry - Jesus Built My Hotrod (dayo) Al bringing his brand of grinding chaos to the unsuspecting masses. The single was oddly accessible and sold well, something Ministry rarely pulled off. Great guitar work and kinetic energy.

Mercury Rev - Car Wash Hair (ray) A messy, noisy stroll through the clouds. It has it's own brand of pleasant chaos, like it will lightly spin out control at any moment.Some interesting added guitar noise thrown in by Dean Wareham.

Clock DVA - Techno-Geist (DF) Let the spirits rise..Post modern futurist dance music for the coming robot apocalypse. What's not to love?


Geto Boys - My Mind Playin Tricks On Me (freap) Great sample, beat and flow. Interesting presentation of mental issues like paranoia, depression and general psychosis, through lyrical storytelling. One of the great Hip Hop singles from the period.

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (osgood) Oh Nirvana. I try to love you, but enjoy the people who inspired you more. (Also like others from their own scene more) Spirit is a solid single and brought attention to those still toiling in the underground, so props to that. 

Metallica - Enter Sandman (goatboy) As a straight forward Rock song, it chugs along fine. It's just not what one who likes early Metallica wants to hear. But hey, this single alone bought them all houses.  

PM Dawn - Set Adrift on Memory Bliss (davey) Always felt PM Dawn worked better as a concept than in actuality. Hip Hop Hippie music as the anti-gangster rap makes sense. And their singles aren't awful. This one smartly uses a Spandau Ballet sample. Ultimately, it just pleasant rap for the masses, so not much to get excited about. Tough to keep checking them out further, seeing as they became even more overtly religious as they went on, so it became annoying. 

Guns N' Roses - Estranged (fonz) Nine minutes of slick production, peppered with plaintiff, low register Axl vocals. Their first album was a distant memory at this point.  

U2 - Even Better Than The Real Thing (fange) Not a fan, of course, but I do give them a little credit for trying to change the formula during the period. This one played with a bit of updated psychedelica. Better than their usual shtick, at least          

Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend (hatz) Inoffensive, white boy Alt Rock. meh..

Teenage Fanclub - The Concept (JSJ) TF are another example of liking other people doing similar things much more. This single just lays there. You want to get excited, but no. Also feels like a decided reach for Pop sales. 

Primal Scream - Higher Than the Sun (riggers) Feels like an extended intro to a song that will take off later, but never does. Primal Scream doesn't do much for me.

[DarknessFish]

Strangely enough, this 1991 list doesn't get my juices flowing any more than the 1961 list did. Perhaps I'm just a miserable bastard.

Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
Honestly, I feel like I'm the one guy who doesn't get this. I've never thought it was that great, but I know that every other bugger does. I preferred Tricky. That guy's mullet in the video. I don't have any specific complaints, it's a solid enough song, but it just doesn't move me.

PM Dawn - Set Adrift on Memory Bliss
That Spandau Ballet sample is unforgiveable, it sets my teeth on edge. There's something far too smooth and sickly about the production, it's like a De La Soul song created by government committee, sponsored by Coca-Cola.

Mercury Rev - Car Wash Hair
I think it's mainly the vocal that's put me off Mercury Rev, there's probably something for me in there if I got past that. I like the languid feel, the bits of horns floating around, the vague chaos

Geto Boys - My Mind Playin Tricks On Me
More like it from a hip-hop perspective, doing the laid-back thing again, but in a kind of aggressive way. Not passive aggressive. Aggressive aggressive, but lied down in the sun, in an alley somewhere.

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Is there anything to say on this? A giant barnstorming pop song. But I still prefer Touch Me I'm Sick. I think that goes for any grunge song, to be fair.

Ministry - Jesus Built My Hotrod
Absolute class, obviously. Seems strange that Ministry were almost colossal at this point, they probably only needed one good follow-up album to become the next Metallica. Didn't happen. Even Psalm 69 was actually only half-good, a disappointment after the previous three albums. Still, 15 year-old me did not know that. 15 year-old me was drunk.

Metallica - Enter Sandman
Enter Shitman more like. Yeah. Ride the Lightning, it ain't.

Guns N' Roses - Estranged
Estshitted more like. I'm on a roll here.

Teenage Fanclub - The Concept
The Consh...no I'll stop. Some kind of collaboration between Oasis and Mercury Rev gone a bit wrong. Again, it's the vocals I don't like more than anything. But there seem to be too many people holding guitars for the sound that's being created. It's more dreary than languid.

Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
I actually quite like the energy at the start of this one, even though I'm getting a kind of Kula Shaker feel from it. I don't like the backing vocals. The guitar sounds unreasonably chunky for a wet indie no-mark. The singer again can do one, but the guitar sounds like I imagine ZZ Top do, but better.

Primal Scream - Higher Than the Sun
Not for me, ta. I never liked Primal Scream, feel quite pleased that there was reason not to like Bobby Gillespie after all this time. The electronic buzzing noises are cool, but it all feels like an artificial add on to a belated baggy bandwagon buggerer.

U2 - Even Better Than The Real Thing
Clearly incorrect, "You To Me Are Everything" was a decent pop song. Faith No More's The Real Thing was a shit album with a couple of decent tracks. Tony Di Bart's "The Real Thing" was a catchy if slightly wet and limp dancefloor banger. This is worse than all those things.

[fearlessfreap]

I'm going to try and stay positive. I'll add that Back in 91, a friend of mine called Jesus Built My Hotrod the new Surfin Bird.