PEOPLE OF THE NATIONS, DANCING TOGETHER! It's the 1990s TOP 100 ELECTRONIC TRACKS poll results!

neither Destiny nor Gabriel(le) are speed garage tracks - the latter was a garage/2 step outlier but really unique

― nashwan, Thursday, December 20, 2012 6:05 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

surely you're talking about the Large Joints remix, which isn't the one in this poll

I always thought Last Train was considered the runt of their litter - delighted to see it above What Time Is Love?. And d'oh! The spelling always annoyed me, I always thought it should be 'Transcentral' - it was only when I saw the teleprinter tapping it out at the start of that clip that I finally saw the pun.

3am Eternal > Last Train To Trancentral > What Time Is Love

Though the degrees are very minor

Like what Robin says but I never liked their cynical cleverness and anything goes approach on what they were sampling.

Kinda true that the original "gabriel" was a bit of an outré draw for both the speed and 2step garage eras, it fit in with both vibes while fully belonging to neither.

"the dance of the 00's totally kicked the arse of the 90s didn't it?"

I respectfully disagree.

Regarding Gabrielle (Live Garage Mix), I think it’s a very unique track. On one hand it’s very deep house, but on the other, the highly swung percussion means it fits very well with 2-step.

Yeah, surely the decades are backwards in that post.

Generally, in my experience…

90s club:

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/liverpoolecho/sep2012/9/8/club-051-620-430127219.jpg

00s club:

http://www.ravesofourlives.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/empty_club.jpg

Pretty sure the 90s had color.

xp i suspect you spent the last decade going to the wrong places

24. Utah Saints - Something Good (FFRR, 1992)
562 points, 12 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/somethinggood_zps3d86e415.jpeg

http://youtu.be/Rz5kh0Oi5tk

oooooooooo-i just know that "Something Good" is gonna crush

― rogermexico., 25. tammikuuta 2008 23:03

I'll go for Something Good since it puts Kate Bush to some use for once in her life.

― John Justen, 25. tammikuuta 2008 23:21

Like anyone my age who isn't lying through their teeth, my first big exposures to 'rave music' were "The Hockey Song" (R U ready 4 this?) and "Something Good" like in fiddo's case. Basically you had to like it. Indie culture didn't really exist in Canada until the internet. How organic of it all.

― Darrens8====D (DarrenK), 5. tammikuuta 2004 6:56

something good: i hadn't heard this in like 10 years, but i remembered it was breakbeaty, and i remember the beginning of the vocal snippet going "oooohwwwii" over and over again. i think the last time i saw it was a video projected on a wall at a college dance i snuck into when i was like 15.

i had no idea it was kate bush until 3 mins ago when i d/led it again. forehead slap!

i love how halfassed the lift is: the cloudbusting strings just plain do not go with those chords! and whatever cd this copy came from it goes into energy flash.

― f--gg (gcannon), 28. maaliskuuta 2005 10:58

I love Something Good. I was only about 10 when this came out, and it's probably the first electronic music I ever really liked. Also quite wonder when like f--gg I realised at about age 15 after getting heavily into Kate Bush that the sample was from Cloudbusting, which was at the time my favorite Kate Bush song. Still love sticking Something Good on compilations every now and then.

― kate/thank you friendly cloud (papa november), 28. maaliskuuta 2005 16:06

I think "Something Good" (as well as everything from Utah Saints' first album) is the perfect case in favour of maximalism... It just has to have all that, the abrasive sample-chopping, the pointless hard rock guitar riffs, the punchy piano, the fat bassline, the rabble-rousing "U-u-u-tah Saints!" chants, the crowd cheers, otherwise it just wouldn't make sense.

OTM

Concerned for the legitimacy of the poll.

Rev, you may be right :D

23. The Prodigy - Out of Space (XL Recordings, 1992)
569 points, 11 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/outofspace_zps81fafc27.jpeg

http://youtu.be/a4eav7dFvc8

out of space

Those opening two chords are among the most extraordinary, spine-tingling things ever produced

-x-post-

But, too many people seemed to go to clubs to be entertained in the 00s, rather than being the entertainment.

22. Orbital - Chime (FFRR, 1990)
583 points, 9 votes

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/chime_zps9c66ff7b.jpeg

http://youtu.be/r458Sn1vQ1s

the triumvirate of Chime, Midnight and Belfast is completely unfuckable with.

― sam500, 13. kesäkuuta 2008 19:58

"Chime" fucking destroys "Halcyon" for me. I could listen to that chime riff for practically all eterntity.

― The Good Dr. Bill (Andrew Unterberger), 14. lokakuuta 2004 17:13

Chime for me seems to pick a sonic height far away at the beginning and just cruise towards it perfectly. When the bassline pulses in first it's so reassuringly full of direction. Lots of dance music, to me has this locomotive feel to it, but nothing really achieves perfection like Chime does.

― Ronan, 10. toukokuuta 2002 3:00

I think everyone will be glad to know that at some point in the last year I woke up thinking, "My God, 'Chime' is fucking amazing," and have yet to be convinced that I was wrong.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), 20. lokakuuta 2003 18:03

One of many 90s tracks which owes part of it’s sonic quality to being recorded to cassette. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec06/articles/classictracks_1206.htm

21. Baby D - Let Me Be Your Fantasy (Production House, 1992)
586 points, 10 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/letmebeyourfantasy_zps949018be.jpeg

http://youtu.be/THnXKCx7Cd8

baby d - let me be your fantasy (3:50)
- in 1992 if you'd told me this would end up being a #1 single within two years i'd have said 'what?! how?!!' and maybe 'oh man, it's crap!' progress is cool

― stevem (blueski), 16. helmikuuta 2004 15:54

If you're not going to be playing out Let Me Be Your Fantasy then I'm disowning you as a friend.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), 12. toukokuuta 2004 17:33

Was trying to think of a single rave track to represent all rave tracks... Maybe Let Me Be Your Fantasy?

― Rejoice that you weren't eaten (chap), 18. tammikuuta 2011 22:14

That one does cover a lot of bases: breakbeat, piano house, female vocals, hoovers, 303 acid... about the only thing it's missing is a "Charly"-esque toytown sample.

― Indolence Mission (DJP), 18. tammikuuta 2011 22:24

That's all for today, top 20 tomorrow!

On no. I'll be travelling, so I'll miss it.

No Chemical Brothers so far...

I was worried this might miss out. What a fucking tune.

what a way to go for the evening

I heard the whole of Baby D's album for the first time the other day, it's really quite good!

Concerned for the legitimacy of the poll.

― MikoMcha, Thursday, 20 December 2012 10:22 PM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol miko

New board description.

I love that Chime article

20. The KLF - 3 A.M. Eternal (Live at the S.S.L.) (KLF Communications, 1990)
596 points, 11 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/3ameternal_zpsb82d6212.jpg

http://youtu.be/g2qMtXG3Z5o

I've been on a early 90s jamz kick and never realized before how much of an exact rip the 3AM Eternal single is of Snap - 'The Power', down to the Eastern European voice sample at the start. feckin brilliant - How to Have a No 1 the Easy Way indeed...

― Fahrvergnügent (herb albert), 6. tammikuuta 2010 0:58

And why is "3AM Eternal" not counted as the all time bestest dance tune of all time? There is no justice in this world.

― dog latin, 1. joulukuuta 2002 3:52

I fucking hated dance music at the time and I thought "3 am Eternal" was amazing.

― sund4r subramanian (sund4r), 3. joulukuuta 2002 23:30

3 A.M. Eternal" still sounds GRATE.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, 3. lokakuuta 2007 1:39

You posted that a few hours too late.

Although if 3 a.m. Really is eternal, then that's a moot point.

Has anyone else made pop acid house as effectively as The KLF? I don't think so.

beep boop, boop beep

19. Orbital - The Girl with the Sun in Her Head (Internal, 1996)
598 points, 9 votes, one 1st place vote.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/insides.jpeg

http://youtu.be/_a9U9dpf3PE

the intro to "The Girl With The Sun In Her Head" is incredibly poignant in an uplifting way.

― David Gunnip, 24. tammikuuta 2002 3:00

I always had the same question of people with Orbital back then too; "if The Girl With The Sun In Her Head were played on guitar you'd wank over it" I said to my guitarist mates, and they had to admitt that yes, they would.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), 19. kesäkuuta 2003 11:56

To my ears, "The Girl With the Sun in Her Head" and "Lush 3-1/3-2" are so much above anything I've ever heard from Underworld--including a few tracks that I think are amaaaazing, that I don't understand why anyone can choose Underworld instead. The thing I especially love about the former is the multiple layers of the song: I think at one point there are five or six melodic lines all locking together to form this incredibly dense but beautiful melody, while still keeping the groove going.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), 2. marraskuuta 2004 0:45

What I meant to say was that when I'm listening to Orbital I can never quite forget that the music was deliberately composed. This is not really a compliment. There is a sense of of marionette strings being pulled and mechanisms chunking through a predefined path. At best it's part of the charm (The Girl With The Sun In Her Head), but at worst, if the track as a whole doesn't work for me (several tracks on Wonky) the music just ends up sounding contrived.

― hot slag (lukas), 29. elokuuta 2012 9:27

KLF do nothing for me, tbh

Always always always rocks the party that tune. Any kind of party.

OTM. I don't know anyone under the age of 40 who doesn't like On A Ragga Tip. You could play it to a room of angry earnest metal dudes who vow destruction of all dance music and On A Ragga Tip would get people dancing.

Also going back to Sandstorm, last night I remembered this ridiculous house party where the DJ had been totally shameless in a more or less predictable way all night and he ostensibly ended his set with La Rock 01 by Vitalic and the entire room thought he's blown the roof off it and then he just grinned and wheeled out Sandstorm and everyone realised quite how wrong they were. It was insane.

Also we appear to have already covered a lot of very big guns indeed already given we're only just into the top 20. Although given the slant of the list so far I'm now wondering a) if Injected With A Poison will place and b) if the Chemical Brothers will miss out altogether.

I'm 99.9% certain my number one isn't going to place. There's one tune that I assumed would be up there, but not all that high, and the higher up we go the more I think it's not going to make it.

very UK/ Europe heavy list thus far. I wonder if some of the big N American names will place? Off the top of my head maybe some Drexciya/UR, more Carl Craig, Jeff Mills maybe?

this ridiculous house party where the DJ had been totally shameless in a more or less predictable way all night and he ostensibly ended his set with La Rock 01 by Vitalic and the entire room thought he's blown the roof off it and then he just grinned and wheeled out Sandstorm and everyone realised quite how wrong they were. It was insane.

This, and the one upthread about the crowd tearing down the walls, just make me wonder why Sandstorm isn't the unanimous no.1. Imagine creating a record that can do that, you'd feel like god.

18. Orbital - Belfast (FFRR, 1991)
619 points, 9 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/belfast_zpsd4219a3e.jpg

http://youtu.be/h7sO39nU6hc

My favorite Orbital moment is from Belfast when the bassline hits the highest note.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), 29. huhtikuuta 2003 23:03

"Belfast" is UNDERrated if anything ... they never played it live as much as they should since it's gentler (=not very "banging") than most of their stuff. I doubt the casual Orbital fan even knows the song.

"Belfast" is the most gorgeous, tear-jerking thing they ever did, save perhaps "Attatched" or the first minute of "Way Out" or the last four minutes of "Out There Somewhere". I put it #3 on my 90's ballot.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), 14. lokakuuta 2004 19:06

And no fucking way is Blue better than Green. Maybe because you UKers didn't get the singles with your version, but our version has both "Chime" and "Belfast," thus automatically making it superior to every Orbital album besides In Sides and Snivilisation.

― The Good Dr. Bill\ (Andrew Unterberger), 14. lokakuuta 2004 13:46

Recommend me more songs like Orbital's "Belfast"

I don't think it's too big a spoiler to say that this was my number one, given that I've just done a search and the only reference to it on ILX is when I nominated it. The tune which I was expecting to place somewhere, but am beginning to doubt will turn up, is Liquid - Sweet Harmony. I've been assuming Da Funk will be up there somewhere and feel pretty sure Show Me Love will be top ten.

Things I'm hoping to see still: Loops of Fury, Da Funk, Flowerz, Renegade Snares, Narramine.

I reckon Sweet Harmony will place, people LOVE that tune.

Off the top of my head maybe some Drexciya/UR, more Carl Craig, Jeff Mills maybe?

Not sure exactly what's nominated but you'd expect The Bells to turn up at some point at the very least.

(xpost Renegade Snares definitely as well)

wow! such a stream of amazing tracks. 3am Eternal is my favourite KLF track. Surprised to see Something Good (another one I had on single as a kid). Never too mad on TGWTSIHH by Orbital, not a particular highlight of In Sides for me.

This, and the one upthread about the crowd tearing down the walls, just make me wonder why Sandstorm isn't the unanimous no.1. Imagine creating a record that can do that, you'd feel like god.

In Finnish, the word for "horce races" is "ravit", which conjugates similarly to the word "rave". Because of this, the Finnish word "raveissa" can mean both "at the horse races" or "at a rave". So it has become a common joke, when someone here says "I was at a rave", to ask "Oh, which horse won?". One day, in the early 00s, the local paper had a headline that said "Darude soitti raveissa" ("soitti" = "played"), which I automatically interpreted as "Darude played at a rave", so I was kinda wondering why that was somehow newsworthy... Until I read the article and found out Darude had actually played live at the horse races. It was kinda hard to take the guy seriously after that.

(Btw, fun fact: "Sandstorm" was co-produced by JS16, the same guy who produced "Freestyler", so he's partially responsible of the two biggest dance hits ever made in this country.)

Though "Freestyler" is, in my opinion, infinitely better than "Sandstorm".