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

the dance of the 00's totally kicked the arse of the 90s didn't it? these polls are great.

I first heard Higher State of Consciousness in the summer of 95 a month or two before it was released (or before it charted, anyway) in the Zap Club in Brighton - one of those magical moments where everyone went mad (though obviously it helped that most were in a, er, higher state of consciousness already). Like R2D2 gone wrong. I was obsessed with it for about a month, it sounds a bit gratuitous now.

Even though I'm a huge fan, I get why people were annoyed with how much Autechre showed up on the albums list (less room for other worthy contenders). Saying Carl Craig is more deserving because of all the different dancefloors he occupied (vs. variation in BPM/structure) I think is fair in terms of the tracks poll. Electronic albums (particularly the ones that made up the poll) - as I think we'll agree on - are much less about the dancefloor.

Again, I don't really want to argue that Autechre should have that many slots on the albums poll, but I could argue about the roll their albums have played in the larger context of electronic music/R&B. I hear their influence (direct or indirect) on a fairly wide range of artists I've listened to over the years: from the Neptunes/Timbaland era to Southern Hip Hop/Witch House, Pantha du Prince/Burial to The-Dream/The Weeknd...

Ok, I'm going to shut up now.

http://www.noveltyproducts.co.uk/images/products/982_Round_Bread_Roll.jpg
is this the roll their albums have played?

26. SL2 - On a Ragga Tip (XL Recordings, 1992)
554 points, 10 votes.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/onaraggatip_zps2812a16c.jpeg

http://youtu.be/01KHO-WuOV4

15 (7) On A Ragga Tip, SL2 - were we on the train by this time? Maybe this was the closest I came to being one of the ravers who wormed their way into the countryside, gormless kid though I was. In context, a lovely gaping huge aerodrome hanger in a desert of quaintness and charm.

― robin carmody (robin carmody), 5. joulukuuta 2002 10:01

Haha I remember at the bus stop swapping tapes of DJ rave on feel da voibe whatever - but the thing to remember was that the ravers were the townies and the ENEMY, as were the popkids, so the thought of highschool me getting into it would have been absolutely ridiculous and in fact it is only NOW that double cd RAVE ON is available to me in the HMV sale for 3.99 that I have decided that ON A RAGGA TIP is the best song ever.

― starry (Groke), 4. helmikuuta 2003 20:20

I heard "On a Ragga Tip" for the first time in my life this past Thursday!! Holy CRAP

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), 15. marraskuuta 2003 21:38

(I am now mad at myself that despite quite rightly liking the Shamen and the Prodigy in 1991 I spent a good chunk of 1992-1993 being all "REAL music with REAL guitars". smh@me.) (man I hope On A Ragga Tip is on the '92 list) (is the MC on On A Ragga Tip really called R0nan F!tzgerald or is wikipedia being funny?)

― how do i shot slime mould voltron form (a passing spacecadet), 25. lokakuuta 2011 23:30

man, I bought this on a total whim when I was living in Germany solely because it was on XL Records

obviously that purchase made me very, very happy

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

Greatest chart era ever? Every other tune's a massive hit, every one of them a total banger.

25. The KLF - Last Train to Trancentral (Live from the Lost Continent) (KLF Communications, 1991)
556 points, 8 votes, one 1st place vote.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u641/Lixenixen/lasttrain_zps0439b44b.jpeg

http://youtu.be/6ifNTb1Xx_I

Oooh ...

the chord changes *between* the repetitions of the title (I'm sure you know what I mean) in the chorus of Donna Summer's "Love's Unkind".

About two minutes into the KLF's "Last Train To Trancentral": the same MC's self-aggrandisement as before, but the chord sequence is widening, the sheer sound is becoming fuller and fuller, and then the breakdown: a wide-open chasm, Hollywood's western relocated in, I dunno, Castlemorton or somewhere (but cooler, obviously). Then the song returns ... if there is one precise moment when I discovered pop's transcendence, that is it. And the samples from "What Time Is Love" and "3AM Eternal" on the song's last lap, as it were, are pretty awesome as well; the KLF had remade pop as one glorious self- mythologisation, and the rules were rewritten within each five-second sequence.

― Robin Carmody, 10. maaliskuuta 2001 3:00

I think I was awestruck, or something close to it, when I first heard the KLF's "Last Train To Trancentral" on the radio - the idea at a young age that anyone in pop was this intelligent, and this gifted, and had this many ideas.

― Robin Carmody, 30. kesäkuuta 2001 3:00

One of the KLF's great achievements was putting out, like, five singles from The White Room. The single versions are completely different from the album versions: generally faster, hookier - just more pop really. 'Last Train to Trancentral' is, to me, the epitome of this method: it's just hook after hook after hook, with a bonkers half-time breakdown and, at the end when it appears no more can possibly happen, a cameo dalek voice chanting 'Mu Mu'. Pop genius.

― Ben Butler, 23. helmikuuta 2002 3:00

Ooh! And make sure you have the "Live From the Lost Continent" mix of "Last Train to Trancentral"!

Stupid dance bands making 100000 different versions of every song.

― Mr. Snrub, 21. marraskuuta 2004 0:49

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.