1990: Was it really that bad of a year for music?

this is what the reading festival looked like in 1990:

https://www.readingfestival.com/sites/live.inviqa.readingfestival.com/files/images/history/poster/1990.jpg

i went but i think i must have been off my nut the whole weekend cos i don't really remember seeing any of those bands at all apart from the cramps and tackhead. was hugely into the young gods and loop but a field in the middle of the afternnon isn't really the time or the place

still dont know who the fuck an emotional fish are

There's a woman at the end of the street always talking about football records, I was having a flick through discogs and I found what she was talking about. The rap is pretty good but I'm not so keen on the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1VXJd7b9bA

1990 singles

Lush - sweetness and light
my bloody valentine - soon/glider
the orb - little fluffy clouds
depeche mode - enjoy the silence
seal - crazy
sinead o connor - nothing compares 2 U

and the enigma album

was 6 in 1990, so yeah. favourite music was probably the tiny toons theme song tbh

Brotherlovesdub, if you've talked about music with a variety of people in a variety of places over a long enough time, as well as read up a lot about music via a variety of sources, then you begin to notice patterns and/or trends and some things become noticeably more discussed than other things, while other things recede into the background.

As for the spreadsheet stuff, I'll keep my thoughts to myself on that one.

Oh yeah, that first Trash Can Sinatras album is still so good. Another 1990 gem. https://www.discogs.com/The-Trash-Can-Sinatras-Cake/release/1803974

Thanks! gracious of you to acknowledge your own hypocrisy

― brimstead, Friday, November 3, 2017 6:00 PM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You're welcome, and if you really want me to knock the snark on the head, I'd start by not being a provocative idiot.

Still jam this on the reg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/516eno-vIWL.jpg

Whoa, the Reading '90 poster! Faith No More would have still been touring The Real Thing. It's easy to forget how popular the Inspiral Carpets were, they seem to be mostly discussed as a distant third to The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, while the likes of The Charlatans and Blur moved on and eclipsed them.

Huh, Frank Tovey played the Mean Fiddler Stage!

that's the one name that really leapt out at me looking back at it now. wouldn't have known who he was at the time, now i would kill to have seen him live

was there ever a bloke-ier line-up though? fuck, there's only about three women on the entire bill

I only ever saw Tovey live once, supporting Depeche Mode on the tour for Exciter (as Fad Gadget) and he was great. I'm glad I got to see him at least once!

Also released in 1990, Ultra Vivid Scene - Joy 1967-1990 is one of my all-time favorite albums.

then you begin to notice patterns and/or trends and some things become noticeably more discussed than other things, while other things recede into the background

It's neither, tbh.

seal - crazy

Oh shit, I'd forgotten that this was released in '90 (the album came out the following year), but yeah this is great.

Seal's early stuff in general was great, IMO.

^ cosign

I vehemently disagree that 1990 was a bad year for music but it may be personal biases at work. I turned 21 that January and moved (back) to New York in October, 1989 and immediately started working at Tower Records in the Village and not long afterwards started writing for whomever would let me. I was a sponge living in a city I loved and trying to listen to anything and everything but especially the metallic stuff. Here is a list of albums I loved and still hold an affinity for, in alphabetical order...

1000 Homo DJs - Supernaut
Alice in Chains - Facelift
Anthrax - Persistence of Time
Atrophy - Violent by Nature
Bad Brains - The Youth Are Getting Restless
Bad Religion - Against the Grain
Bathory - Hammerheart
The Black Crowes - Shake Your Money Maker
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Good Son
Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting
Course of Empire - Course of Empire
The Cramps - Stay Sick!
Death - Spiritual Healing
Dread Zeppelin - Un-Led-Ed
Dwarves - Blood Guts & Pussy
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Fields of the Nephilim - Elizium
The Fluid - Glue
Fugazi - Repeater
GWAR - Scumdogs of the Universe
Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo habitual
Judas Priest - Painkiller
Killing Joke - Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions
King's X - Faith Hope Love
L7 - Smell the Magic
Lard - The Last Temptation of Reid
Loop - A Gilded Eternity
Love / Hate - Blackout in the Red Room
Manitoba's Wild Kingdom - ...And You?
Bob Mould - Black Sheets of Rain
Nausea - Extinction
Nocturnus - The Key
Obituary - Cause of Death
The Obsessed - The Obsessed
Pantera - Cowboys From Hell
Paris - The Devil Made Me Do It
Pixies - Bossanova
Poison Idea - Feel the Darkness
Iggy Pop - Brick by Brick
Pop Will Eat Itself - Cure for Sanity
The Posies - Dear 23
Primus - Frizzle Fry
Prong - Beg to Differ
Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
Redd Kross - Third Eye
Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers + Queers
Sacred Reich - The American Way
Scatterbrain - Here Comes Trouble
Silverfish - Fat Axl
The Sisters of Mercy - Vision Thing
Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
Social Distortion - Social Distortion
Sonic Youth - Goo
Tad - Salt Lick
Testament - Souls of Black
Thee Hypnotics - Come Down Heavy
Trouble - Trouble
Uncle Tupelo - No Depression
Venus Beads - Transfixed
Vicious Rumors - Vicious Rumors
Warrior Soul - Last Decade Dead Century
Wartime - Fast Food for Thought
John Zorn - Naked City

On this list include my favorite albums by Bad Religion, Death, Entombed, GWAR, Pantera, Primus, Prong, Skinny Puppy, Sonic Youth and John Zorn. I still play a lot of them. The Course of Empire is one of my favorite albums to this day.

So yeah, come at me 1990 haters. I'll fight you!

Without having read the rest of this thread: That's a great list of albums right there.

In 1990 I turned 27 and a friend turned me into indie music. And I was very surprised how much excellent stuff was out there. Definitely one of the greatest years of rock music. Albums I love to pieces which have been mentioned:
The House of Love - "Butterfly" (my fave of 1990 what a glorious record, they should have been as big as The Smiths)
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas (still my fave of theirs, the word ethereal was invented for them)
Sonic Youth - Goo (accessible but still rough and edgy)
The Pixies - Bossanova (their most pop album, almost smooth)
Blue Aeroplanes - Swagger (still a milestone of half spoken word indie, campfire music)
The Chills - Submarine Bells (where the Beach Boys and Daniel Johnston meet)
Neil Young - Ragged Glory (where Neil rocked out again)
Lou Reed & John Cale - Songs for Drella (the tribute album of 1990, each song immediately recognisable as by Reed or by Cale)

Not mentioned yet:
The Breeders - Pod (their best)
Swell - s/t (almost as good as their seminal 41)

Eno/Cale - Wrong Way Up came out in 1990, and a perfect amalgam of their talents it is.

Wrong Way Up is great. It didn't make a broad impact at the time but it remains in my collection, unlike so many of the other titles listed ITT.

I recall the New Zealand music scene starting to gain wider notice in North America in 1990. Maybe not as influential as the Pacific Northwest was about to become but definitely longer lasting for me. SPIN did a story around that time and a friend brought me back a copy of the Tuatara comp that she picked up while on a trip to NZ that summer. There are several significant NZ releases from 1990 already noted but I'd also suggest the Plagal Grind EP and TKOP's A Beard of Bees, which is still an absolutely magical listen.

My mistake, Beard of Bees was actually 1984 release. It was the Xpressway cassette that dropped in 1990. Fantastic album, even if it doesn't strengthen this particular argument.

One massive NZ album from 1990:

The Dead C. - Trapdoor Fucking Exit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LWN9d9X-6o

To answer the question, maybe?

Maybe I'll use this thread to document the completely random trail I've found myself on over the last couple of days. Namely, listening (without prejudice) to a long string of pop albums from 1990 that I've never heard before. Thus far:

Oleta Adams - Circle of One
Al B. Sure! - Private Times...and the Whole 9!
Laura Branigan - s/t
Bernadette Cooper - Drama According to Bernadette Cooper
Deee-Lite - World Clique
Digital Underground - Sex Packets
Dino - Swingin'

The best of the lot has been the Bernadette 'Klymaxx' Cooper album, a sharp and fun Prince-not-Prince jam in the same league as another long-standing 1990 favorite, A'me Lorain's Starring in...Standing in a Monkey Sea. The Branigan album was surprisingly solid if a bit sonically anachronistic. The Deee-Lite album was, aside from the obvious outlier, kind of a disappointing snooze tbh. Oleta is good value but I guess not much of a pop album per se. The rest...eh.

I guess I'm continuing with this experiment for the time being, to the extent that anyone cares.

Wow -- I was listening to Circle of One again yesterday! I enjoy Adams' voice and piano playing and her modest little tunes. I'll admit, though, that I listened again because at a friend's service two weeks ago one of his other buddies played Adams' cover of "Everything Must Change," which devastated me.

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

I love World Clique, full stop. I regard it as a collection of exemplary house pop.

Sex Packets was fine, with some definite fun highlights, but it's pretty uneven. Seems like an early victim of 'must fill every available minute of time on this new CD format!' bloat.

We might've been listening to Circle of One at the same time! I'm definitely going to listen to more Oleta Adams now, for sure. I've always really liked her cover of 'Get Here' and was pleasantly surprised by her stylistic breadth and, yeah, her voice.

Rather generous of Roland Orzabal to produce it without turning it into TFF.

Here was this week in 1990 on American Top 40. Conclusion: 1990 was awesome fuiud.

1 2 BLACK VELVET –•– Alannah Myles – 12 (1)
2 4 LOVE WILL LEAD YOU BACK –•– Taylor Dayne – 9 (2)
3 1 ESCAPADE –•– Janet Jackson – 10 (1)
4 3 ROAM –•– The B-52’s – 14 (3)
5 8 I WISH IT WOULD RAIN DOWN –•– Phil Collins – 8 (5)
6 14 I’LL BE YOUR EVERYTHING –•– Tommy Page – 6 (6)
7 12 ALL AROUND THE WORLD –•– Lisa Stansfield – 8 (7)
8 6 I GO TO EXTREMES –•– Billy Joel – 11 (6)
9 15 KEEP IT TOGETHER –•– Madonna – 8 (9)
10 17 GET UP! (BEFORE THE NIGHT IS OVER) –•– Technotronic – 9 (10)
11 10 C’MON AND GET MY LOVE –•– D-Mob – 15 (10)
12 24 DON’T WANNA FALL IN LOVE –•– Jane Child – 7 (12)
13 16 NO MYTH –•– Michael Penn – 12 (13)
14 7 NO MORE LIES –•– Michel’le – 19 (7)
15 21 HERE AND NOW –•– Luther Vandross – 14 (15)
16 22 ALL MY LIFE –•– Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville – 7 (16)
17 23 FOREVER –•– KISS – 8 (17)
18 9 JUST A FRIEND –•– Biz Markie – 10 (9)
19 19 SACRIFICE –•– Elton John – 11 (19)
20 5 PRICE OF LOVE –•– Bad English – 14 (5)
21 11 DANGEROUS –•– Roxette – 15 (2)
22 18 OPPOSITES ATTRACT –•– Paula Abdul & The Wild Pair – 15 (1)
23 26 WHOLE WIDE WORLD –•– A’me Lorain – 10 (23)
24 31 I WANNA BE RICH –•– Calloway – 7 (24)
25 13 TOO LATE TO SAY GOODBYE –•– Richard Marx – 10 (12)
26 33 WITHOUT YOU –•– Motley Crue – 5 (26)
27 20 SOMETIMES SHE CRIES –•– Warrant – 12 (20)
28 36 HOW CAN WE BE LOVERS –•– Michael Bolton – 4 (28)
29 25 HERE WE ARE –•– Gloria Estefan – 15 (6)
30 32 LOVE ME FOR LIFE –•– Stevie B – 8 (30)
31 37 HEARTBEAT –•– Seduction – 5 (31)
32 39 WHIP APPEAL –•– Babyface – 5 (32)
33 63 NOTHING COMPARES 2 U –•– Sinead O’Connor – 2 (33)
34 28 THE DEEPER THE LOVE –•– Whitesnake – 10 (28)
35 27 WE CAN’T GO WRONG –•– Cover Girls – 16 (8)
36 42 HEART OF STONE –•– Cher – 7 (36)
37 40 YOU’RE THE ONLY WOMAN –•– The Brat Pack – 8 (37)
38 29 ANYTHING I WANT –•– Kevin Paige – 10 (29)
39 44 IF U WERE MINE –•– The U-Krew – 9 (39)
40 43 THE HEART OF THE MATTER –•– Don Henley – 6 (40)

Man, that top twenty. No "meh," just good-to-great vs The Hague.

Looking through that American Top 40 list, I guess a lot of the attendant albums must be from '89 because they would otherwise be in the playlist I'm jamming. I've got Tommy Page and Michel'le on the way, at any rate!

Just started Was (Not Was) - Are You Okay?. Will report back.

Equivalent UK chart for same week. There’s some horrors in it but feels like something special especially the run between 11 and 18.

1 12 THE POWER SNAP!
2 2 LOVE SHACK THE B-52S
3 6 STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER CANDY FLIP
4 3 BLUE SAVANNAH ERASURE
5 1 DUB BE GOOD TO ME BEATS INTERNATIONAL FEATURING LINDY LAYTON
6 7 LILY WAS HERE DAVID A STEWART FEATURING CANDY DULFER
7 5 I'LL BE LOVING YOU (FOREVER) NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
8 17 BIRDHOUSE IN YOUR SOUL THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
9 4 THAT SOUNDS GOOD TO MEJIVE BUNNY AND THE MASTERMIXERS
10 8 HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LIVE WITHOUT YOU MICHAEL BOLTON
11 10 INFINITY (1990'S TIME FOR THE GURU) GURU JOSH
12 14 DON'T YOU LOVE ME 49ERs
13 11 MOMENTS IN SOUL JT AND THE BIG FAMILY
14 15 THIS IS HOW IT FEELS INSPIRAL CARPETS
15 19 EVERYTHING STARTS WITH AN 'E' {1990} E-ZEE POSSEE
16 16 LOADED PRIMAL SCREAM
17 28 CHIME ORBITAL
18 34 MAMMA GAVE BIRTH TO THE SOUL CHILDREN QUEEN LATIFAH AND DE LA SOUL
19 9 THE BRITS 1990 VARIOUS ARTISTS
20 13 NOTHING COMPARES 2 U SINEAD O'CONNOR
21 36 ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE JAM TRONIK
22 New DON'T MISS THE PARTYLINE BIZZ NIZZ
23 33 ALL I WANNA DO IS MAKE LOVE TO YOU HEART
24 New GHETTO HEAVEN FAMILY STAND
25 21 HANDFUL OF PROMISES BIG FUN
26 32 READ MY LIPS (ENOUGH IS ENOUGH) JIMMY SOMERVILLE
27 New BETTER WORLD REBEL MC
28 New PICTURES OF YOU THE CURE
29 18 NATURAL THING INNOCENCE
30 New KINGSTON TOWN UB40
31 New ESCAPADE JANET JACKSON
32 20 ENJOY THE SILENC DEPECHE MODE
33 48 BLACK VELVET ALANNAH MYLES
34 Re SHE BANGS THE DRUMS THE STONE ROSES
35 New WHAT U WAITIN' 4 THE JUNGLE BROTHERS
36 New I REMEMBER YOU SKID ROW
37 22 I DON'T KNOW ANYBODY ELSE BLACK BOX
38 29 HERE WE ARE GLORIA ESTEFAN
39 40 YOUR LOVE TAKES ME HIGHER {1990} THE BELOVED
40 38 TOO LATE TO SAY GOODBYE RICHARD MARX

Old Lunch, I think you need to listen to World Clique again. And again. And again. Keep listening to it. You must. Do not stop. Just play it again. Now. And forever. Our clique is the world. The world is our clique.

xp top 10 starts strong, ends very badly

Forgot about that weird Brits 1990 megamix single

I'd managed to completely forget about Jive Bunny

I still own a cassette of the Jive Bunny LP, I remember being disappointed that it didn't include their abysmal Christmas single.

"Here We Are" is among my favorite guilty pleasures from that era.

Ain't nothin' guilty about the pleasure of an Estefan ballad.

Seems like an early victim of 'must fill every available minute of time on this new CD format!' bloat.

The CD has half a bonus track over the LP; the cassette has four.

Orbital Top 20 singles artist. Oh yeah.

Again, for me - something I find common in this period - is the “indie” stuff stinks the chart up more than anything else (not a big Madchester/baggy person so there is that); the chart looks more interesting without it

Goddamn, I had thought 'This is Ponderous' (1991)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gYIbMwswKM

was some sort of unfortunate outlier from this era, but there are tracks exactly like it on the Was (Not Was) and Will to Power albums from '90. WTF was happening.

From a purely anecdotal standpoint, listening to albums from this particular year feels incredibly schizophrenic to me inasmuch as, between the summer of '90 and the fall of '91 (when singles from some of these albums were still charting), I lived in four different cities (we moved at the end of my seventh grade year, then again in the middle of eighth grade, and then again just before my freshman year). So I have an array of geographical associations with these songs, and then also the thing where a song hits big in one part of the country long before another catches up, etc. The fact that 'U Can't Touch This' and 'Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Move)' were released in the same year seems to strain all temporal credulity.