SHINE: 20 Brilliant Indie Hits

i think "getting away with it" just edges out "regret"

Same

Same

Blur - "Parklife" - bought
Oasis - "Cigarettes & Alcohol" - album given to me by my brother thinking they looked 'like something you'd like'
New Order - "Regret" - bought
The Cranberries - "Zombie" - got a free promo while working at a record shop
Suede - "Animal Nitrate" - got a free promo while working at a record shop
Elastica - "Connection" - got a free promo while working at a record shop
Pulp - "Do You Remember the First Time?" - got a free promo while working at a record shop
Dodgy - "So Let Me Go Far" - NOPE
Shed Seven - "Speakeasy" - NOPE
Green Day - "Welcome to Paradise" - NOPE
The Smiths - "How Soon Is Now?" - bought
James - "Sit Down" - bought
Electronic - "Getting Away with It" - bought
The Wonder Stuff - "The Size of a Cow" - NOPE (but I did pay money for 8-Legged Groove Machine so the shame is still mine)
The Farm - "All Together Now" - I think I may have bought this second hand
Inspiral Carpets - "Dragging Me Down" - NOPE
The Charlatans - "Weirdo" - got a free promo while working at a record shop (but I did pay money for the one with The Only One I Know on it)
Jesus Jones - "International Bright Young Thing" - bought
Dinosaur Jr. - "Feel the Pain" - NOPE
The House of Love - "Shine On" - I think I may have bought this second hand

Owned: 14
Paid money for: 8 (albeit 2 second hand)

Conclusion: working for a record shop is really dangerous for your record collection

xp Yeah Dino Jr really sticks out on this one. Green Day too, I guess

Green Day being followed by The Smiths - you can almost see Moz roll his eyes.

I have to say I don't really get why the compilers chose to stick Dinosaur Jr in there.

Even they knew the limitations of British indie, obv.

I've only paid money for the Green Day album, 'Regret' I had on a few compilations and also on the New Order Best Of, so that counts as well. I'd guess I had about a third on them on copied cassette at various points though. Everything after 'Welcome To Paradise' would have been old hat and lame by the time this comp even came out.

(Actually if you include Now compilations that I paid for the ratio is probably higher)

My sick indie shame:

I have owned at some point all the songs on this apart from New Order, Cranberries, Electronic, The Farm and Jesus Jones

and I like the New Order and Electronic songs, just never actually bought them

Voted Regret

Shine 7 had Burden in My Hand by Soundgarden on it, think they always chucked in some token American rock on those things

Which one was Regret?

Only one of these I paid for was Parklife, on the album. Was more of a grunger/metaller.

Burden in my hand is a tuuune, but it shares a late 60s psychedelic sensibility with some of this stuff.

the one I'm most likely to actually listen to today is probably Elastica tbh. I still love that album

i remember when this fucker and it's probable sequels was on the jukebox in every pub you went in

For a long time they were they Abba Gold of compilations, they just stayed in there forever. There aren't many CD jukeboxes left but I bet you the vast majority of those remaining still have at least one Shine comp on them. There are probably some sitting in actual landfill with the Shine compilations still inside.

Don't think I ever owned one of the Shine comps but did have a few of the (slightly) superior Indie Top 20 comps.

Fair play to Shine though, they were up to volume 7 by the end of 1996 and six of them had a Shed Seven song on it

I had loads of Indie Top 20s at one point

though i was pretty much 100% indie and deeply invested in britpop at this point, I never felt the need to own a shine or an indie top 20, suppose I already had all the tracks i wanted and was familiar with the rest from the radio.

my cousin otoh had a collection of all the shine cds up to 8 i think

Burden in my hand is a tuuune, but it shares a late 60s psychedelic sensibility with some of this stuff.

― chap, Thursday, 10 September 2020 14:34 (twelve minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

An exhilarating vocal turn from the big man and no mistake

Regret was kind of inexorably linked in my mind as the soundtrack to depressing score draws in the then-Endsleigh League division 1 on Sundays on ITV

My indie hell continues:

I did own Shine 2, although tbf to myself, I bought it for a couple of quid in a second hand shop because it had I think 2 songs on it I liked and it was cheaper than buying the singles

truly the pre-Napster era was another country

some of these are brilliant, but none of these are indie

unless, as i strongly suspect, the word "indie" means something different across the pond

it is 2020, let us contemplate the strange case of what Indie means

This is very much what I think of as indie.

1995 UK definition of "indie" was definitely different from 1995 North American definition of "indie" but I feel like the present-day North American definition of "indie" has actually become closer to the British one. I don't expect lo-fi production and noisy guitars when someone refers to a contemporary band as "indie".

the word "indie" means "signed to a subsidiary of warner music group"

These compilations didn't even exist in the country I was living at the time, so the only choice was to buy albums (singles tended to only be available on import - and buying an import CD single could be as expensive as buying a cassette anyway; it was only something you'd do for a band you *really* loved).

I'm still kind of o_0 at how much disposable income I spent on music during this period (and that's even with a staff discount, when they weren't outright promos) - the thought of spending this much money on music just feels alien to me now, in fact I feel kind of outraged at the price bubble around these small pieces of plastic in the early 90s. Like, if I overspent on albums, I would end up living on ramen noodles the last week of the month - and yet I did do it routinely. Yikes.

yeah the term hasn't had any logical or factual meaning behind it anywhere since around 1990... it's just a vibe maaaaan

the word Indie, since at least the release of these CDs and actually long before, refers to this kind of music as played by Indie DJs at Indie discos and of course you can sit like King Canute trying to hold back the tide of 30 plus years of usage but, well, i wouldn't bother

so for non UK-ers, the competing compilation brand was The Best... Album In The World... Ever! series which ran from 95-98... volume 1 is

Supergrass – "Alright"
Blur – "Girls and Boys"
Elastica – "Waking Up"
Ash – "Girl From Mars"
Oasis – "Whatever"
Edwyn Collins – "A Girl Like You"
The Charlatans – "The Only One I Know"
Pulp – "Do You Remember the First Time?"
McAlmont & Butler – "Yes"
Morrissey – "Everyday Is Like Sunday"
Radiohead – "High and Dry"
The Cranberries – "Zombie"
The Smashing Pumpkins – "Today"
Manic Street Preachers – "La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)"
James – "Sit Down"
The Boo Radleys – "Wake Up Boo!"
Suede – "Animal Nitrate"
The Verve – "This is Music"
Inspiral Carpets – "I Want You"
Therapy? – "Screamager"

The Smiths – "This Charming Man"
The Jesus & Mary Chain – "April Skies"
Oasis – "Supersonic"
The Stone Roses – "Fools Gold" (Original version)
Stereo MC's – "Connected"
The Prodigy – "Out of Space"
The Shamen – "Destination Eschaton" (Beatmasters 7" remix)
New Order – "True Faith '94"
The Chemical Brothers – "Leave Home"
Fluke – "Bullet"
Primal Scream – "Loaded"
EMF – "Unbelievable"
Jesus Jones – "Real, Real, Real"
Depeche Mode – "Personal Jesus" (7" version)
Blur – "Chemical World"
The Levellers – "15 Years"
The Auteurs – "Lenny Valentino"
Skunk Anansie – "I Can Dream"
Dreadzone – "Captain Dread"
The Future Sound of London – "Lifeforms"

some of these songs were released on indie labels fwiw (at least in the UK) so it's not "none"

but yeah, welcome to 1990!

weird how much overlap there is actually... that pumpkins/manics bit RULEZ

ah yeah I had that one too. some nice indie-dance crossover selections too

A lot more good tunes on that one.

my god following the majesty of McAlmont & Butler with moz... the humanity...

Would actually have paid money for that The Best... Album In The World... Ever! one - but we've already established I have a pavlovian response to all that indie-dance crossover stuff - hahaha I mean it has EMF's Unbelievable, but the Shamen track is ridiculous.

the word "indie" means "signed to a subsidiary of warner music group"

Tbf, it never referred strictly to the status of labels on either side of the pond. I don't think a bluegrass artist on an independent label (itself a vague concept) would have been what I'd expect if someone told me about an indie band in 1995. I wouldn't even expect a progressive metal band on an independent label if someone told me about a new indie rock band.

Stuff like Dreadzone makes me quite fondly nostalgic, even though I was indifferent at best at the time.

If there is only one vote for Jesus Jones, it me.

Although not the most anachronistic inclusion, I'm more than a little baffled at the inclusion of a track from Doubt on a compilation from 1995. Jesus Jones felt like they'd happened eight million years ago at that point, IIRC.

Unless the hits from that album had just kept on a-rollin' in the UK? They most certainly did not in the US.

unfortunately there were only 8 Brilliant Indie Hits in 1995 so the numbers had to be made up

From worst to best

The Cranberries - "Zombie"
Shed Seven - "Speakeasy"
The Wonder Stuff - "The Size of a Cow"
Electronic - "Getting Away with It"
James - "Sit Down"
Green Day - "Welcome to Paradise"
Jesus Jones - "International Bright Young Thing"
The Farm - "All Together Now"
Dodgy - "So Let Me Go Far"
The House of Love - "Shine On"
Inspiral Carpets - "Dragging Me Down"
Oasis - "Cigarettes & Alcohol"
The Charlatans - "Weirdo"
Blur - "Parklife"
Dinosaur Jr. - "Feel the Pain"
Suede - "Animal Nitrate"
New Order - "Regret"
The Smiths - "How Soon Is Now?"
Elastica - "Connection"
Pulp - "Do You Remember the First Time?"

this kind of music as played by Indie DJs at Indie discos

is this a thing that happened in the u.s.? probably accounts for the different usage of the word on either side of the ocean

maybe it would help if you think of it like indie (UK) = alternative (US)?

ah yeah I had that one too. some nice indie-dance crossover selections too

Oh god, you've just reminded me I owned this one

https://img.discogs.com/QalHdwQrg9jhgMsf5S1VRGghFag=/fit-in/504x492/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-895370-1185321628.jpeg.jpg

https://img.discogs.com/VuCoc9kUWLZ0pHePTpfm-lEbo8g=/fit-in/564x439/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-895370-1185321658.jpeg.jpg

I had Happy Daze vol 2. tbh there are some classics on that one fuiud

to give it it's strictest definition, if you can tippex the band name on a pencil case AND find it in camden market on a badge BUT NOT A WOVEN PATCH then it is indie, anything else is pop or metal and not for you.

i hear some College Rock wasn't made by Colleges either

A ha hahahaha, great - totally on Fran's side here, TBH!

xp would this have been somewhere round Muswell Hill/East Finchley? when I lived in Muswell Hill around '04-07 my landlord (who seemed to own half the street) told me someone from Travis had been a tenant of his

FYI the 'Greatest Album In The World Ever' series was huge here too. I'd sooner have sawn my arm off than even glance at one but that's neither here or there.

Cl Poo - in my admittedly flaky memory it's Crouch End, so not far off...

I always wanted this Volume CD but couldn't ever find it

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Sharks-Patrol-These-Waters-The-Best-Of-Volume-Part-2/release/590105

that is a decent comp. always liked the comedy Mindless Drug Hoover song

feel like I saw that one a lot in 2nd hand shops at the time. I only had one of those, Volume 13

I looked for it in Magpie and HMV and Andy's at least once a week, no joy :(

used to see the various Trance ones and always was tempted as the track listings were always impressive, but never did.

i did pick this one up a couple of years ago in a charity shop, and its bloody brilliant, especially the Orb mix :

https://www.discogs.com/Darren-Emerson-Alex-Paterson-TEXtures/master/22621

Oh, I had that "Sharks" one, a bunch of great tracks - Possibly the best Sleeper one.. And so on, ymmv, and ...

xps discogs has different details on Shine 7 but yeah there was a point c1997 where Britpop split into AOR tedium and more progressive OK Computer/Vanishing Point type stuff

― Specific Ocean Blue (dog latin), Thursday, September 17, 2020 8:18 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Well, by then it had already split into songs that sound like showtunes and madchester-informed dadrock a couple of years prior.

The split that interests me was, at what point did dance music and indie stop being seen as ~stuff consumed by the same people~? Because I can remember in the start of the 90s, when I first started reading Select Magazine, they’d be as likely to cover the KLF or the Shamen as Ride or Slowdive - both Mark Gardener and Richard D James were pin-ups in their pull-out section. And when they first started playing around with the idea of what would become ‘BritPop’ - they named St Etienne alongside Suede.

A ton of these early indie comps do have dance-rock and even dance - FSOL being on one of them noted above!

At what point did that stop, bcz by the end of the 90s, it was all guitars?

Was the dividing line the moment that him out of Kula Shaker did a track with The Prodigy? Was that the moment people decided they had to pick a side?

I'm guessing the wheels fell off that particular utopian idea around 99 with trance and UK garage dominating the dance scene here and a general post Britpop lull. But it was sort of illusory as well throughout the 90s.

The moved closer together and diverged in terms of audiences throughout the next decade, first with electroclash and DFA etc and then again around 07-09.

Take this can of worms to the "what would you rather eat" thread?

idk, after Oasis "britpop" splinters off into enough disparate directions that it's a fairly useless term for talking about music made at the end of the 90's.

From what I recall, Select was always very favourable to dance music, or at least electronica, big beat, IDM etc. They also did a four pager about the Spice Girls when they first came out. But as Matt DC says, that magazine, the scene and its fans, we're opposed to the commercial excesses of Ibiza trance and pop-garage for some reason.

*cough* for some reason *cough*

Was the dividing line the moment that him out of Kula Shaker did a track with The Prodigy? Was that the moment people decided they had to pick a side?

― Grebo Jones (Branwell with an N),

Dividing lines are really blurry. There may be more of a split along provincial/cosmopolitan lines than indie/dance. OTOH by 1996 or so John Barry's influence was a key marker of "Britishness" across multiple styles. The Texas and Robbie Williams territory mentioned above, but also the Manic Street Preachers, Massive Attack and Space etc. Everything on the radio had a fucking orchestra, Even Ash did a song called Goldfinger.

Think for a lot of indie kids those big beat hits prominently featuring guitars/Oasis/Crispian Mills might have been the moment they realized they didn't want to pick a side. The dance ppl who might have said 'we told you so' said "big beat sucks" iirc.

At the end of the 90's the fashion was to mix it up though wasn't it?

dont think so, there was lots of mixing it up in the early 90s but it felt very tribal by late 90s, despite many crossovers

probably due in part to the fact Tim Burgess just was t born to sing on a dance tune

like that whole "let's get this Britpop singer on a big beat track" craze felt forced, a bit "if we must" rather than "this is our artistic calling". late 90s attempts to fuse rock and dance often made a hash job of mashing the weakest elements of both into each other

these last posts are both true, but also Life Is Sweet is a tune.

you'd often get distorted power riffs forced over these lolloping groove break loops and they just didn't work together. also:
Ash recruited a full time turntablist to scratch awkwardly over their songs.
The Prodigy earnestly tried to reinvent themselves as edgy punk rockers, but they came off more clownish and infantile than they ever had.
I agree that Soulwax, LCD, DFA etc going back to new wave and disco for inspiration a few years later was when indie-dance started working again. Having trouble trying to think of very much crossover stuff from 97-01 that did it particularly well... Gorillaz I guess? Never really got them though

I don't hate Life Is Sweet or even that Noel Gallagher one he did with CBros but neither project felt necessary beyond 'we need something to please the indie rockers'

A whole bunch of shitty guitar bands trying to ~go Radiohead~ and then Radiohead going fully IDM, haha?

hey ho .. and there was me loving DiV and their need for crappy vocals.

Having trouble trying to think of very much crossover stuff from 97-01 that did it particularly well... Gorillaz I guess?
― Specific Ocean Blue (dog latin)

Certainly 'Guerrilla'

I had completely forgotten DiV ever existed.

I am clearly confused. (Also vibrating!)

*not a murderer tho

there seemed to be a real sense in the late 90s that the whole idea of searching out unexpected influences was pretentious and wanky, and that being 4 lads with lead / rhythm / bass / drums was the authentic way to make music. as ever I blame John Harris for this.

Xxp The Juantrip album on F Communications was another. Capitol K etc

This reminds me of the p4k britpop albums list where they prefaced half the entries with a disclaimer of "this isn't really a britpop album, but..."
And it's no wonder I mean no way we're there 50 good britpop albums. There may not have been 20 good britpop albums. Still, I attribute at least some of the confusion to the first name that ppl associate with the style also being the band that killed it off almost instantaneously.

Xxp The Juantrip album on F Communications was another. Capitol K etc

sorry, but do not get how that's relevant here.
one of the most strange dance infused psych excess albums ever.

Oh right, I forgot he was French. Nevermind. Not that strange a record tho imo.

He sings like John Lennon doesn't he? Can't understand a word of it but as I recall it's all gibberish anyhow 😅