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

Yeah Break and Enter is so good. Did it get nommed?

You're right about the helium vocals - No Good felt almost retro in the context of Jilted and the rest of what was going on in electronic dance at the time. Seems that every time I've had the errr.. pleasure of hearing any new Prodge tracks they sound like they're trying to do an update on No Good (and failing at it, suffice to say).

Break and Enter was nominated and did get some votes, but it only got to #111 on the list.

Also, it was #8 on your ballot, so you should remember. :)

Their stock fell pretty soon afterwards and the fact that they stopped playing No Good live shows how bad they became at spotting what they were good at. They were actually proud of jettisoning it, when it was the perfect bridge between their earlier and later sounds.

I saw them headlining the V97 festival and about halfway through their set Howlett teased the crowd with the opening keyboard stabs of 'No Good', then stopped and laughed. Then they played some boring Fat of the Land album track. Such a disappointing gig.

I think it was me who nominated Break and Enter, I had it at #11. I had The Bomb way up at #4 as well, surprisingly (given that I've hardly listened to it in years) - I just listen to everything I'm thinking of voting for and give them marks out of ten and then rank them, I must have really liked it that day.

The Bomb is so, so, so amazing. I only recently found the Chicago original, and though I love it and it's exactly the same as The Bomb, they are very different records and my love for them is not the same.

14. The Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy Hey Girl (Freestyle Dust, 1999)
667 points, 12 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/heyboyheygirl_zps95a87223.jpg

http://youtu.be/tpKCqp9CALQ

Chemicals got good again once they dumped those Shite Rockin Beats. I'll take the retro-rave of 'Hey Boy Hey Girl'/'Under the Inluence' over any of that Dig Your Own Anus.

― Omar, 19. lokakuuta 2001 3:00

Yeah Ronan, "Hey Boy Hey Girl" is great without the vocal sample, but as Ned notes sometimes words just have a purely aural purpose. HBHG *needs* catchphrases in order to become an anthem because it has less of a song-structure than the usual Chem Brothers fare. And I think HBHG actually works better as an anthem than as a cool-but-secret track. The reason the specific samples in HBHG work is that they're so meaningless, so of course any number of things could have been put in their place.

― Tim, 11. helmikuuta 2002 3:00

'rockefeller skank' was never a particular favourite of mine ('right here right now' on the other hand is IMMENSE) - i prefer fatboy slim generally (w/the usual caveats) but 'block rockin' beats' is one of the 3-4 chem bros tracks i unreservedly love (though not quite as much as 'hey boy hey girl').

― lex pretend, 3. marraskuuta 2008 11:53

Always found it underwhelming myself.

There was a bit of Beatles/Stones thing going on with the Chems and the Prodge at my sixth form. I was firmly in the Prodge camp.

Chems, and I'm happily surprised it's that song.

Also happy to see MAW represented, though I def prefer something like 2 dozen of their other various productions from the '90s.

I thought "Hey Boy Hey Girl" was pretty cool, at least compared to their earlier "rock" stuff, which I didn't care about at all (who wants to hear Noel Gallagher sing on a dance track?). On the other hand, Jam & Spoon's remix of Yello's "You Gotta Say Yes to Another Excess" did pretty much the same thing better in 1995.

13. Omni Trio - Renegade Snares (Foul Play Remix) (Moving Shadow, 1993)
689 points, 11 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/renegadesnares_zps6d656d17.jpg

http://youtu.be/p-JyF1Mf5Vo

Renegade Snares

xpost Wrong tempo, wrong thrust.

With few exceptions, most dance music sucks over about 130 BPM.

You must be American?

You must have no hips?

Great track, but Foul Play VIP mix is better.

Baiting aside, here's just about the only max-speed dance track I can think of that I love:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Eerwdouc8

(Oops, sorry for embedding.)

I can dance with both my hips and legs, it depends on my mood.

Also, with some faster genres, like d'n'b, you can dance with your hip in "half-step" (i.e. moving it only to every other beat), or move your legs fast in "full-step" (i.e. to every beat), and even alternate between the two. It's fun!

(x-post to Eric)

youtu.be/RqvBaU_m1mw

Great track, but Foul Play VIP mix is better.

Whoops, look like posted the wrong video! It was indeed the "Foul Play VIP Mix" that got to #13. Here's the proper video:

http://youtu.be/RqvBaU_m1mw

12. Underworld - Rez (Junior Boy's Own, 1993)
698 points, 11 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/rez_zps9ef5263a.jpeg

http://youtu.be/F6Y7lcvubhU

a fair amount of their output is wank...but stuff like "Rez" and "Jumbo" are those moments when dance music just transcends itself...stunning......probably because Karl Hyde cuts out that annoying gibberish

― Michael Bourke, 4. joulukuuta 2000 3:00

After "Rez" I could just about forgive them anything.

― Stevo, 18. tammikuuta 2001 3:00

i dont see why 'rez' wouldnt qualify...it always stood out from most other Underworld tracks for me cos a) no lyrics despite its 'epic-ness' and b) it doesnt seem to have been designed primiarly for dancing because of the subtlety and the nuances of the track - its very pensive, pregnant even - building up to something but isnt sure what - it feels quite aimless tho its moving forward without realising it.....er, excuse the pretentious musing...(gets his coat and leaves)

or is 'rex' the first microhouse track? ;)

― stevem (blueski), 22. marraskuuta 2002 18:27

90)6.35 into Rez: the series of long swooshes has faded, and it's just the drums for half a minute, then the swirly twirly main bit wanders back into the room and notices the party's still going on

or

89)8.00 into Rez: and now it's dancing on the speakers.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), 15. tammikuuta 2004 18:10

Rez plods like a fule. Vid was aight

― blunt (blunt), 18. toukokuuta 2006 4:32

Needs: +3% pitch, -Goa mud

― blunt (blunt), 18. toukokuuta 2006 4:33

Now here's one where I prefer the more refined versions of this style UW put out later.

I know it's from 12 years ago but that Michael Bourke post is incredibly off the mark; Hyde is the reason why the group's endured in my opinion. Rez is one of the few instrumental tunes they did that really works.

11. Boards of Canada - Roygbiv (Warp Records, 1998)
712 points, 10 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/roygbiv_zpsac338f0f.jpeg

http://youtu.be/N_TOd7VnI44

'music has the right' took a while for me to love. much of it is classic but there are some boring parts. roygbiv is, of course, the highlight.

― gareth, 8. toukokuuta 2001 3:00

Manifesto of the Children of the Analog(ue) Baroque

Did anyone ever attend an elementary school built in the 1970's? Mine was, and I still remember the very colors and fonts on the wall. I still remember the huge white numbers painted over the ROYGBIV walls in the pod-like enclaves for each grade. kindergarten=ORANGE, first 1=yellow, 2=green, 3=blue, 4=purple, 5=red. Those letters were so cool too, lowercased and vertically arranged on the wall in the hallway entrance to each 'pod'. that school was so badass. everything was in lowercase letters, it was full of sunroofs, it had an atrium with a rocky pathway that cut through the plants, a very cool lunch room with long tables, 'psychedelic' trays, and chairs that were blue, orange, or black. we would hope to be in the same color chair as a pretty girl and make fun of the guy who was in the same color chair as an ugly one. That was when i was truly happy and content. When all that mattered was the playground, Children's Television Workshop, Star Wars, Atari or even the Odyssey 2, and Little League. We watched all the film strips and videos (remember those big discs that you inserted like a card) with the analog synths in the background. BoC bring it all back home. Their music seems to make me yearn for such nostalgia. However, the BoC music seems to pull those deja vu moments out of the deep chasms in our minds but we know very well we cannot go back to those days. There is a sense of detachment in the music of the BoC as well. It's a strange gestalt. I know someone out there has had similar memories and would have to agree. Some of us whether we know it or not are Chilren of the Analog Baroque. When George Lucas infected every child's mind. When Francois Truffaut communicated with little greys with an ARP modular. We proudly wore those ringer shirts with 3/4 length sleeves with the same color as the collar and a number 88. Our dads had mustaches and beards and wore corduroy pants while our mothers had sexy feathered haircuts like Charlie's Angels. Even Dolly Madison cakes had a cool logo(she was hot for a 2 dimensional face without a nose). We had the boardgame Operation, then Pong, then PacMan and then the Commodore 64. As children, we saw the death of John Lennon and Steve McQueen. Oh, those were much simpler days. Perhaps our best years are gone. When there was a chance for happiness. But we wouldn't want them back. Not with the fire in us now. No, we wouldn't want them back.

― bryan, 20. helmikuuta 2002 3:00

i nearly always find the beats a welcome addition, and BOC always seem to have valued electronic rhythm to a fair extent and they tend to prefer it heavy. it's usually one of the last things to come in, which can give the impression the track has been built to support the beat rather than the other way round, no? which is an understandable criticism if true, only i don't hear it as a big problem myself - i don't think it would make a significant difference to how i hear BOC. 'ROYGBIV' seems as good an example as any of the beat being useful, if only for the bit where the bassdrum drops out again just for 4 bars - that's possibly the best bit, but it couldn't work without the beat beforehand.

― $V£N! (blueski), 10. huhtikuuta 2005 19:05

roygbiv is a straight John Carpenter rip with breakbeats under it and a kid's voice.

― Alex in SF, 25. helmikuuta 2009 1:10

^^^ not an insult btw.

― Alex in SF, 25. helmikuuta 2009 1:10

If "new day" is the only basic channel/maurizio/etc track that places I will be severely disappointed (great as that track is). Likewise "the bells". Poll is way short on techno IMO! Though it has otherwise been awesome, obviously.

Been busy the last couple of days so just catching up now - had Angels Fell, Destiny, Energy Flash, The Bomb and the VIP of Renegade Snares on my ballot, v pleased that Renegade Snares made it so high up. Great results all round though, there's still a few in the top 30 that I haven't heard before.

10. Robin S. - Show Me Love (Stonebridge Club Mix) (Mega Records, 1992)
722 points, 13 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/showmelove_zps155be789.jpeg

http://youtu.be/O7k81MF6ByA

Help Identifying Late 80s - Early 90s Minimal Techno song

C/D: Robin S "Show Me Love"

"Show Me Love" was my #2, my favourite vocal dance track of the 90s (and probably of all time).

It's one of those cases where a remix has so utterly overshadowed the original version that most people think the remix is the original. Robin S.'s singing is undeniably powerful in both versions, but the original's backing track is a pretty standard piece of early 90s pop house, while Stonebridge stripped it all away and replaced it with a brilliant new track that's yearning, seductive and sleek. And even if that famous keyboard sound is a preset in the Korg M1 synth (you can hear it on William Orbit's 1989 remix of "Batdance", for example), you can't deny it's the way it's used in this track that makes it so effectice, the altering between the classic "woman scorned" diva vocals, the ravey hard bass, and the bits where everything is stripped down to the beat and the one ultramemorable riff that's somehow both wistful and uplifting.

With few exceptions, most dance music sucks over about 130 BPM.

― Zero Dark 33⅓: The Final Insult (Eric H.), Friday, December 21, 2012 5:28 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm American and have hips and think this is totally inane.

That said, I was the #1 voter for "The Bomb!"

xp and here's my #2!

pretty much the perfect example of 90s chart-dance, with the melancholy edge pushing it just that bit higher. special mention to the todd edwards remix from a few years later. the more recent ones bore the shit out of me tho.

9. Aphex Twin - Xtal (Apollo, 1992)
724 points, 10 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/saw8592.jpeg

http://youtu.be/HnDd7Vj-rt4

XTAL

I wasn't able to find a Youtube that wouldn't have that background noise and distortion in the sound, so I guess the track is actually like that? Weird.

doubt that's the last we'll see of this guy. there's one other 90s chart-dance diva cut that's if anything a bit LARGER than 'show me love' which should really be here too, here's hoping.

It's no Tha or Alberto Balsam but it's still damn good.

8. Isolée - Beau mot plage (Playhouse, 1998)
747 points, 12 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/beaumotplage_zps83d00311.jpeg

http://youtu.be/1_USmRTXR0I

explain me "beau mot plage"

t/s: isolee "beau mot plage" vs losoul "lies"

Great track, but I've never really understood why it's considered a classic of minimal house or something... It doesn't feel that minimal to me (maybe in arrangement, but not in sound), and those squelchy synths don't sound housey, they're more in the tradition of early 90s German trance - not terribly far away from what Oliver Lieb or The Jeyenne or even Cosmic Baby were doing back then.

I don't really get why Roygbiv would be seen as the outstanding track from that album (or Alberto Balsam from ICBYD for that matter). Not that I dislike either track.

i'm surprised there was any consensus on b.o.c. at all.

Isolee brings back some good memories. Wonder if Rest would've made the top 10 in the albs poll if it hadn't been released in 2000.

7. Daft Punk - Around the World (Virgin, 1997)
792 points, 13 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/aroundtheworld_zps0fde39ac.jpeg

http://youtu.be/s9MszVE7aR4

these two acts have merged the art of electronic dance music with pop fun better and more imaginatively than anyone else ever did or probably will.

― the neurotic awakening of s (blueski), 18. elokuuta 2004 13:08

yeah that's why "one more time" and "around the world" are still reliably killing dancefloors in house/techno-shy california.

― vahid (vahid), 18. elokuuta 2004 13:12

Everyone likes 'Around The World', even some of my hip hop mates.

― R.I.M.A. (Barima), 19. elokuuta 2004 1:50

AROUND THE WORLD for the second bassline

― max, 20. helmikuuta 2009 14:41

What video is more entrancing when you've drank a minikeg (5 litres) of Grolsh than "Around The World" by Daft Punk?

'around the world' lyrics poll

Yay!

The bubbling, funky bass bit is one of my favourite musical performances ever

yeah such a killer track every time even though i've heard it 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I seem to remember Lex (on God knows what thread) saying recently that he hated it because it was so monotonous, which seemed like a really odd reason because part of the reason I love it is that it's so joyful and varied compared to a lot of other stuff

6. Orbital - Halcyon + On + On (Internal, 1993)
920 points, 13 votes, one 1st place vote.

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

http://youtu.be/bV-hSgL1R74

I love the vocal samples on "Halcyon", and the moment its beat really drops in is completely holy.

― Roxymuzak, Mrs. Carbohydrate (roxymuzak), 19. lokakuuta 2005 3:42

"Halcyon" is one of the defining tracks on Orbital 2. The Opus III sample and the buildup of that groove just explodes directly into awesomeness. Every bit of brilliance on their next three albums are telegraphed in this song, "Impact", "Remind" and "Lush".

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), 19. lokakuuta 2005 15:18

......and isn't Halcyon referring to their (the brothers) mother's addiction to the tranquiliser of the same name?
Hardly a celebratory subject but still , I love it.

― Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountain Dog (Jessie the Drunk Dutch Mountai), 19. lokakuuta 2005 15:19

think it is maybe a representation of what their mother's world felt like?

― cutty (mcutt), 19. lokakuuta 2005 15:30

Can I be frightfully predictable and cite Southall's piece on Halcyon, which somehow perfectly crystallises one of my favourite records ever.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), 3. tammikuuta 2004 5:29