I do like this handful of late '90s radio alts:
(1996) Smashing Pumpkins - 1979(1997) Foo Fighters - Everlong(1998) Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta(1999) New Radicals - You Get What You Give
But, c'mon:
(1990) Faith No More - Epic(1990) Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing(1991) Big Audio Dynamite II - Rush(1991) Jesus Jones - Right Here, Right Now(1991) R.E.M. - Losing My Religion(1991) Siouxsie & The Banshees - Kiss Them For Me(1991) Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit(1992) Blind Melon - No Rain(1992) Pearl Jam - Even Flow(1992) Spin Doctors - Two Princes(1993) Radiohead - Creep(1993) The Breeders - Cannonball(1994) Counting Crows - Mr. Jones(1994) Green Day - Longview(1994) Weezer - Undone-The Sweater Songetc.
― PappaWheelie V, Saturday, 22 May 2010 03:41 (thirteen years ago) link
I like about as many of those songs from each list
― The Reverend, Saturday, 22 May 2010 05:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Neither. 1994-1996. The MID-90s!
― Fastnbulbous, Saturday, 22 May 2010 06:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Saturday, 22 May 2010 23:01 (thirteen years ago) link
boo yah
― dud rock (crüt), Saturday, 22 May 2010 23:02 (thirteen years ago) link
The old fart brigade stumbles onward.
― EZ Snappin, Saturday, 22 May 2010 23:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Late 90's had that huge influx of rap-metal. holy god that was an embarrasment
― kelpolaris, Saturday, 22 May 2010 23:26 (thirteen years ago) link
the first nu-metal album was 1994 (Korn), Kerrang was going on about Nu-Metal when that came out, though I think it took a while for it to catch on in the US.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 23 May 2010 11:44 (thirteen years ago) link
lol exactly 100 votes! someone make a pie chart
― every night i tell myself i am the custos, i am the wind. (some dude), Sunday, 23 May 2010 11:56 (thirteen years ago) link
well, wouldn't rage against the machine kind of count as the "first nu-metal album"? or is that too pedantic/too much about defining "nu-metal"?!?
― keine Macht für dich mehr! (Eisbaer), Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:13 (thirteen years ago) link
RATM got the 'funk metal' and 'rap metal' tags a lot but i don't know if they were actually metal enough (or at all really) to get the 'nu-metal' label, they were just a harder alt-rock band
― every night i tell myself i am the custos, i am the wind. (some dude), Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:15 (thirteen years ago) link
nah, Korn were the first band to be called it. I probably still have that issue of Kerrang up the loft. RATM never got called nu-metal, not even now.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:15 (thirteen years ago) link
not here anyway
Korn WERE pretty unique when they first came out, that much i will concede as true. though AFAIC it was because of Jon Davis's love for bagpipes (which made him kinda Bon Scott-ish).
― keine Macht für dich mehr! (Eisbaer), Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:18 (thirteen years ago) link
the whole nu-metal thing wasnt just rap + metal, it had something to do with specific tunings didnt it? (at least at first) most of the early ones were Korn clones (remember that bunch of chancers Coal Chamber?) Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Slipknot were second wave nu-metal i guess?
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:18 (thirteen years ago) link
oh god one of my mates loved Stuck Mojo.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:19 (thirteen years ago) link
and anyway, though i didn't vote i would've voted early 90s (30+ y/o) -- a lot out of (continuing) ignorance of what was going on in the alt-rock world (other than the stuff on mainstream radio) more than anything else (graduated college, looked for and got my first post-college graduation job and was super busy, went back to law school ... and was therefore too busy/preoccupied to listen obsessively to college/left-of-the-dial stations any more or go to concerts).
― keine Macht für dich mehr! (Eisbaer), Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:20 (thirteen years ago) link
xxpost I wouldn't say it had to do with specific tunings. A lot of nu-metal bands use(d) drop D tuning, but that predates nu-metal, and downtuned guitars are a heavy metal standby since the days of Sabbath. To me nu-metal is usually identifiable by the rhythm and the vocals.
― dud rock (crüt), Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:21 (thirteen years ago) link
the whole nu-metal thing wasnt just rap + metal, it had something to do with specific tunings didnt it?
yeah, i think that's about right (plus the rhythms and distinctive nu-metal vocals) -- otherwise, you could back even further than Korn (or RATM) and say that either Faith No More or (God help us all) the Red Hot Chili Peppers were the first nu-metal bands.
― keine Macht für dich mehr! (Eisbaer), Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:22 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah i wasn't conflating rap metal and nu-metal, just saying that RATM only ever got described as anything + metal when being lumped in with the biggest existing rap/rock trend.
― every night i tell myself i am the custos, i am the wind. (some dude), Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:23 (thirteen years ago) link
I know FNM & Helmet kinda got blamed (unfairly) for nu-metal, but they definitely were not nu-metal.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:30 (thirteen years ago) link
a lot of the beefs against nu-metal, if i remember correctly, centered on (a) the whiny/juvenile/dumb lyrics (see especially Fred Durst) -- though emo/crabcore has taken over as the whipping boy in that regard nowadays; (b) the hip-hop influences were really badly executed (lyricists who couldn't rap to save their lives, shitty beats, etc.); and (c) the simple fact that this shit was inescapable.
― keine Macht für dich mehr! (Eisbaer), Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:35 (thirteen years ago) link
D) and was shit
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 23 May 2010 16:36 (thirteen years ago) link
music aside, the early 90s (by which i mean 1990-1995) was more classic/exciting not just because i liked the alt-rock music better than the stuff that came out from 1996-1999. there was also the excitement of hearing stuff that my friends and i NEVER would've thought would make it onto mainstream radio end up precisely there -- and not just Nirvana. i was thrilled as a teen when stuff like the Cure and Depeche Mode finally got through to the mainstream in 1989-1990 (and wished that other favorites of that time like the Smiths or Echo and the Bunnymen would've stuck it out just a bit longer to enjoy the same kind of success) and they (along with Faith No More) kind of paved the way. i still remember the time when my friends and i were walking near Frat Row on our college campus circa 1992 and hearing Nirvana, the Pixies and Nine Inch Nails blasting therefrom. it seemed like it meant SOMETHING to us (esp. since in the not-too-distant-past all you'd hear from such quarters was either buttrock or dance-pop).
obviously, the thrill wore off when alt-rock became the NEW mainstream and you'd have to wade through the Stabbing Westwards, the Candleboxes, the Collective Souls etc. to get to the good stuff.
― keine Macht für dich mehr! (Eisbaer), Sunday, 23 May 2010 17:37 (thirteen years ago) link
It's also no coincidence that the rise of the Internet happened at the same time as major labels lost interest in "alternative" (nicely chronicled in Dean Wareham's memoir) and returned to boy bands and hip-hop. In 1992 I would've heard The Raincoats on my local college station; in 2000 I had to download them through Napster.
― Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 23 May 2010 17:47 (thirteen years ago) link
can you explain the connection there?
― The Reverend, Sunday, 23 May 2010 17:49 (thirteen years ago) link
i think he means that from Napster onwards you didn't have to rely on college/weirdo-commercial radio stations anymore to hear stuff like the Raincoats. i also imagine that there wasn't much (if any) profit to the record companies from stocking up on stuff like the Raincoats anyway (lol remember all of those cut-out bins full of the breeder's last splash?).
it's certainly no accident that it took a band like Metallica to take on Napster. who the hell would've bankrolled a legal challenge to Napster lead by the Raincoats or the Breeders (assuming that either band would've even wanted to sue in the first place)?!?
― keine Macht für dich mehr! (Eisbaer), Sunday, 23 May 2010 18:02 (thirteen years ago) link
Eisbaer otm -- I was finishing my reply before you posted.
― Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 23 May 2010 18:02 (thirteen years ago) link
the real surprise is the age breakdown?
― iatee, Sunday, 23 May 2010 20:08 (thirteen years ago) link
not w/r/t what they voted for, but that ilm is now majority 30+
― iatee, Sunday, 23 May 2010 20:09 (thirteen years ago) link
I still feel like The Youngest ILXor sometimes and I'm almost 27 now.
― frozen cookie (Abbott), Sunday, 23 May 2010 20:15 (thirteen years ago) link
ilm is ilxors who care enough about 90s alt-rock to click on a thread entitled "early-90s alt-rock vs. late-90s alt rock" are now majority 30+
(though I was surprised too)
― atoms breaking heart (a passing spacecadet), Sunday, 23 May 2010 20:17 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm not surprised -- really, i've always kind of taken it as an article of faith that the first half of the 90s was the better one wr2 music than the second and not surprised about the age either. it is kind of interesting and shocking to be reminded that lots of us are now old folk, though.
― keine Macht für dich mehr! (Eisbaer), Sunday, 23 May 2010 20:27 (thirteen years ago) link
you guys seem to be overlookingearly-90s alt rock (younger than 30) 35
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 23 May 2010 20:29 (thirteen years ago) link
So it's clearly not just 30+ ilxors who think it was better
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 23 May 2010 20:30 (thirteen years ago) link
Of course, an 80s alt-rock vs 90s alt-rock would almost definitely be a win for the 80s, since the 80s is ILM's canonic decade.
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 23 May 2010 20:31 (thirteen years ago) link
pfunk, was mostly talking about the #s of over 30s vs. under 30s, not their choices
― iatee, Sunday, 23 May 2010 20:33 (thirteen years ago) link
it will be interesting to watch the 90s become more lionized over the course of the next decade or so. assuming that the 20-year lag still applies.
― keine Macht für dich mehr! (Eisbaer), Sunday, 23 May 2010 20:37 (thirteen years ago) link
we already have a (rather great) ace of base sounding-ass song in the billboard top ten so
― The Reverend, Sunday, 23 May 2010 21:23 (thirteen years ago) link
i wonder what would win early vs late 90s polls for pop, rnb, hip hop,metal etc
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 23 May 2010 21:35 (thirteen years ago) link
I'll do the metal oneEarly 90s Metal Vs Mid 90s Metal Vs Late 90s Metal
― pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Sunday, 23 May 2010 21:37 (thirteen years ago) link