1997 Classic or Dud?

Didn't anyone like the Portishead album? I was just re-listening to that, and wondered if I should have rated it higher way back when.

Then got on a kick and brought these out:

Laika - Sounds of the Satellites
Arto Lindsay - Mundo Civilizado
Finley Quaye - Maverick A Strike
Richard Horowitz & Susan Deyhim - Majoun
Labradford - Mi Media Naranja
Sixteen Horsepower - Low Estate
Orang' - Fields And Waves
Helium - The Magic City
Built To Spill - Perfect From Now On
Roni Size - Reprazent: New Forms
Mouse On Mars - Autoditacker

Most of it sounds good, there's definitely much more good music than what was mentioned. What a trip, I hadn't listened to some of these albums in over five years.

'97 = super for singles

semi-charmed life, everlong, bittersweet symphony, triumph, elektrobank, u make me wanna, put your hands where my eyes could see, volcano girls, hypnotize, if your girl only knew/one in a million, miss modular, deadweight

Hate to say it, but 97 for me remains:

along with this:

i am nostalgic for 1997 70s nostalgia.

1997, like the two years before it, was an excellent year. 1994-97 was the best part of the 90s, due to a lot of great Britpop and Britpop-ish music being influenced and becoming successful then.

geir, if you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends...

So I made a sequenced Spotify playlist of 120+ tracks from 1997:
http://open.spotify.com/user/seaworthyset/playlist/7stpSWSBIVaFri3GchWGaq

Not hugely comprehensive on a broad scale, but I think it's a good representation of what I was listening to (or aware of) at the time, along with a smattering of songs I've discovered since. Probably could use more R&B...

My favorite album of the year, btw, remains Dots and Loops.

Of course, I had to omit a number of songs not on Spotify: Dismemberment Plan, Broadcast, Jim O'Rourke, Future Bible Heroes, Flaming Lips, Arto Lindsay, Timbaland and Magoo, Mark Morrison, Sonic Youth, Pulsars, etc.

http://www.avclub.com/article/did-1997-contain-worst-two-weeks-music-history-258568?utm_content=Main&utm_campaign=SF&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing

I kept up with pop radio much more closely then than now, and my general recollection (plus a quick skim through Billboard Top 100s for the two weeks highlighted in the article above) is that it was a year like any other--positive feelings about the Spice Girls and "MMMBop" and "Your Woman" and Third Eye Blind and "Tubthumping" and lots else. Seems like a rather capricious premise.

I specifically remember during the summer of '97 thinking that pop music was taking a turn for the worse.

Every year has good and bad music, but 1997 particularly sticks out to me as one of those years that had a large amount of good stuff.

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

Freak Nasty's "Da Dip" single handedly makes 1997 an awesome year for music

and that video is 20 years ahead of its time

VR View Masters

"there’s probably someone who would say that The Mollusk alone redeems these two weeks."

It truly does. Or at least it saves them from worst-two-weeks-ever-status

Acclaimed Music Top 40 Songs from 1997 poll

i think our results were pretty OTM, still can't believe "Song 2" got no votes. these days my favorite albums from 1997 is either Perfect for Now On., Attack of the Grey Lantern or Radiator. of course Homework also come out this year.