Yikes. Sorry about that. Do you mean you can't see the options? (They're images of the album covers).
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 5 July 2009 02:19 (fourteen years ago) link
surely screamadelica should be included in this as well.
― keythkeythkeyth, Sunday, 5 July 2009 02:28 (fourteen years ago) link
1991 albums better than nevermind:
talk talk - laughing stock
bathory - twilight of the gods
slowdive - just for a day
jesus lizard - goat
slint - spiderland
paradise lost - gothic
mercury rev - yerself is steam
the field mice - for keeps
cows - cunning stunts
neil young - arc
coil - love's secret domain
ween - the pod
massive attack - blue lines
pixies - trompe le monde
carcass - necroticism: descanting the insalubrious
n.w.a. - efil4zaggin
death - human
kmd - mr.hood
geto boys - we can't be stopped
ice cube - death certificate
the orb - the orb's adventures beyond the ultraworld
morbid angel - blessed are the sick
bolt thrower - war master
autopsy - mental funeral
swans - white light from the mouth of infinity
dismember - like an ever flowing stream
entombed - clandestine
matthew sweet - girlfriend
― scott seward, Sunday, 5 July 2009 02:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Not really familiar with Screamadelica, but I thought it was more of a departure from rock (into house, maybe?). Of Scott's list, I do think Laughing Stock would make sense in the poll (rock disc with massive influence). Matthew Sweet's disc is certainly great, but I kind of feel like it's a step down from Bandwagonesque, Nevermind, Loveless and Laughing Stock.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 5 July 2009 02:36 (fourteen years ago) link
But wow, maybe Screamadelica should have been an option:
There's no overestimating the importance of Screamadelica, the record that brought acid house, techno, and rave culture crashing into the British mainstream -- an impact that rivaled that of Nirvana's Nevermind, the other 1991 release that changed rock.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 5 July 2009 02:39 (fourteen years ago) link
love's secret domain was so goddamn great
― worm? lol (J0hn D.), Sunday, 5 July 2009 02:47 (fourteen years ago) link
i think i may have bought all three of these albums on the same day
couldn't tell you the last time i listened to any of em
― c.c. crabcock (electricsound), Sunday, 5 July 2009 03:09 (fourteen years ago) link
primal scream were such a bad band that made terrible music. you have to remember that. mudhoney peter fonda biker sample intro beats everything primal scream ever did.
― scott seward, Sunday, 5 July 2009 03:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Anyway, I love all three poll options. But I have a weakness for power-pop, so I lean toward Bandwagonesque.
(Sean's comment upthread is probably right, tho: Bandwagonesque will probably get steamrolled.)
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 5 July 2009 03:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Nevermind > Loveless > Bandwagonesque
I like Teenage Fanclub, but I never understood the appeal of this particular album. It's quite bad IMO. Grand Prix is about a million times better.
― Mike Crandle, Financial Analyst, Bear Stearns, New York, NY 10185 (res), Sunday, 5 July 2009 04:05 (fourteen years ago) link
lovelsess by so much
― unbandictionary (k3vin k.), Sunday, 5 July 2009 04:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Nevermind
― kornrulez6969, Sunday, 5 July 2009 07:23 (fourteen years ago) link
TF & Nirvana voters proudly announce themselves. Defenders of one or more of the ridiculous aggregation of brilliant LPs that dropped in 91 make their cases. Silent MBV voters tip the scale toward a massive landslide victory b/c this is ILX.
Went w/ Kev fwiw (yawn)
― Banned on the Fourth of July (Pillbox), Sunday, 5 July 2009 07:41 (fourteen years ago) link
In what way is 'Just for a Day' better than 'Nevermind'?
― Ismael Klata, Sunday, 5 July 2009 08:18 (fourteen years ago) link
while it may be difficult to objectively argue that it's "better" i'd much rather listen to jfad than nevermind
― c.c. crabcock (electricsound), Sunday, 5 July 2009 08:20 (fourteen years ago) link
But would you rather listen to JJ Fad than Nevermind? JFA?
― Bored on the Fifth of July (Pillbox), Sunday, 5 July 2009 08:25 (fourteen years ago) link
yes
― scott seward, Sunday, 5 July 2009 13:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Poll is broken. Loveless x 1000.
― Violent In Design (Masonic Boom), Sunday, 5 July 2009 13:21 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah. It looks fine to me, but apparently people without images turned on can't see the options (which are album covers, rather than text names). My bad; I'm not very tech savvy. I'll see if something can be done about it.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 5 July 2009 13:34 (fourteen years ago) link
Voted Nevermind but if Screamadelica had been on here I would have had to think about it really hard.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 5 July 2009 14:13 (fourteen years ago) link
And probably would have voted for B.A.D. II The Globe over either, but this I recognize as an idiosyncrasy.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, 5 July 2009 14:14 (fourteen years ago) link
No, and no.
― billstevejim, Sunday, 5 July 2009 16:32 (fourteen years ago) link
Without question, this are the 3 best albums of 1991. Good poll.
― billstevejim, Sunday, 5 July 2009 16:37 (fourteen years ago) link
these*
― billstevejim, Sunday, 5 July 2009 16:39 (fourteen years ago) link
Okay.. I might put The Low End Theory over Bandwagonesque, but 3 out of the top 4 is not bad.
― billstevejim, Sunday, 5 July 2009 16:41 (fourteen years ago) link
no and yes. between this thread and that stones throw poll, scott seward = REAL TALK xxxpost
― Matt P, Sunday, 5 July 2009 16:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Out of everything in that list I've heard, only The Pod and Orb's Adventures.. would come close. (That Matthew Sweet album is def not better than Nevermind, nor is Mr. Hood, the least impressive Pixies album, Blue Lines, or any Morbid Angel LP.)
― billstevejim, Sunday, 5 July 2009 16:49 (fourteen years ago) link
billstevejim you struck me as potentially a big Jesus Lizard fan but I guess not!
― Matt P, Sunday, 5 July 2009 16:50 (fourteen years ago) link
and the talk talk is like better than all three in this poll combined
― Matt P, Sunday, 5 July 2009 16:51 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm into Jesus Lizard, but I've only heard 3 songs from that album, and all of Liar.. Not especially into that Talk Talk album.. I've tried many times.
― billstevejim, Sunday, 5 July 2009 16:53 (fourteen years ago) link
"Nevermind"
"Grand Prix" >>>> "Nevermind" though.
― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 5 July 2009 17:13 (fourteen years ago) link
ILM must have changed a lot for this not to be obvious
― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Sunday, 5 July 2009 17:39 (fourteen years ago) link
i'm not saying that's a good or bad thing BTW
― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Sunday, 5 July 2009 17:41 (fourteen years ago) link
I assume you mean it will be Loveless? It's funny; when I first thought of the poll, it was going to be only Bandwagonesque v. Nevermind, because I remember people complaining about and/or laughing at SPIN Magazine for making Bandwagonesque -- instead of Nevermind -- their No. 1 album of 1991. But as I was putting the poll together, I read that article from Stylus (RIP), in which the author was all worked up that Bandwagonesque topped both Nevermind and Loveless. At that point, I remembered, "Hey, Loveless was from 1991!," and figured it would have to one of the choices. As I say, maybe Laughing Stock should have been a choice, too.
I'm just pointing out that it seems to me that Loveless (and Laughing Stock) came into its current status over a longer period of time.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 5 July 2009 17:46 (fourteen years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan, Sunday, 5 July 2009 17:58 (fourteen years ago) link
btw i voted bandwagonesque. as it took me such a long time to realise it's geniuzs. in the beginning i found it a bland and boring indie pop album.
― alex in mainhattan, Sunday, 5 July 2009 18:00 (fourteen years ago) link
how old you were in 1991 (and maybe whether you're a yank or britishish) will probably determine things here. big points to nevermind for being partially recorded in wisconsin. there are still stories in madison about a broke kurt and co hitting the bars around the capitol square
― kamerad, Sunday, 5 July 2009 18:07 (fourteen years ago) link
I was in my early 20s in 1991. Nevermind felt like it detonated over the music landscape. I still love it (and Loveless, too), but I seek out Bandwagonesque much more often. And it has my vote.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 5 July 2009 18:08 (fourteen years ago) link
^ OTM
― john. a resident of chicago., Sunday, 5 July 2009 18:29 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjT58fvDpVk
― billstevejim, Sunday, 5 July 2009 18:36 (fourteen years ago) link
23 y/o at the time these came out. Didn't like Nevermind much then (kept getting into arguments at work about whether to play an advance copy of that or Galaxie 500) and can't imagine listening to it now except for research. The massive success of that album still strikes me as a huge historical mistake, on par with the lionization of Daydream Nation.
Might listen to Loveless for fun, but again I've always prefered Isn't Anything and still don't get what the Loveless fuss was all about.
Might listen to Bandwagonesque for light fun, and it was awfully catchy at the time...probably my favorite of the three in '91. I still think Spin got it right.
Today I look at that list and Talk Talk jumps out as the album I actually play because I want to hear it, with Swans and Pixies trailing slightly behind.
Personally speaking, the arrival of Chickfactor the next year was a much more significant event than any of these.
― dlp9001, Sunday, 5 July 2009 19:03 (fourteen years ago) link
I was 17 in 1991 - "Nevermind" definitely felt like a massive sea change to me at the time. After interminable 80's hair bands, generic indie, and rave/dance music, it was like someone had swept the chicken carcasses from the banqueting table. After losing a lot of interest in music between '89 and '91, Nirvana's album was one of the things that got me right back into it. I won't vote for it though. As the Tiny Mix Tapes review at the top of the thread mentions, it's badly sequenced on side two and just drags. OTOH I won't be voting for TFC, because "Grand Prix" >>>>>>> "Bandwagonesque". I'm not familiar enough with MBV to vote for "Loveless" either. So I guess that makes me an I-hate-fun-me curmudgeon, or perhaps someone who's just knocked out that I'm now more that twice the age I was when these albums came out.
― snoball, Sunday, 5 July 2009 19:18 (fourteen years ago) link
do you ever think some ppl are fronting with this whole OMG WEEN/BOLT THROWER/COWS IS BETTER THAN NEVERMIND shit nowadays?
― making plans for nagl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, 5 July 2009 19:24 (fourteen years ago) link
yup absolutely
― Kevin John Bozelka, Sunday, 5 July 2009 19:24 (fourteen years ago) link
i think loveless is probably the "best" of the 3 albums in the poll -- inventive, influential, thoroughly conceived and executed, etc. nevermind is undoubtedly the one i've listened to most, cumulatively, although if you limit it to the last 10 years it's probably a close call. bandwagonesque is nice but there's plenty of latter-day power-pop i like more.
― us_odd_bunny_lady (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 5 July 2009 19:25 (fourteen years ago) link
I voted Loveless without hesitation; the only '91 album that comes close to it is Julian Cope's Peggy Suicide.
Nirvana was important to me culturally - it made the freaks, weirdos and music geeks temporarily cool. I think Bleach and In Utero are both better than Nevermind, as is Incesticide. The last may just be a compilation, but it is sequenced better than Nevermind.
― EZ Snappin, Sunday, 5 July 2009 19:41 (fourteen years ago) link
actually no, and I think it's because how you feel about nevermind probably correlates heavily (with notable exceptions amongst the oldsters) along age lines. I think it had a massive impact on people who were in college and that it seemed like a terrific-not-timeless record to people who were a few years older. Exceptions aplenty amongst then-greying-now-greyer critics, I'm sure The Gun Club's Divinity did a lot more for me in '91 than Nevermind did, and so did the Swans & Death albums on Scott's list upthread. if it's challops to honestly report one's listening habits instead of saying "I TOO WAS THERE AND FELT THE LOVE" then I dunno, but then and since, it's been for me a fine album about which I don't really care and which I don't expect to ever listen to again. unlike mental funeral, which I still listen to at least once a month, because I enjoy it more.
― worm? lol (J0hn D.), Sunday, 5 July 2009 19:50 (fourteen years ago) link
^^^ Yeah. Bought Nevermind and Steady Diet of Nothing on the same day, played Nevermind pretty solidly for 3 months, got bored and ended up preferring Steady Diet. At least in the UK Nevermind wasn't this brain-sweeping force that cleared everything around it, it was just a really good album that got kinda inexplicably popular.
― Big Babby JeezHOOS (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 5 July 2009 19:54 (fourteen years ago) link
despite never having heard Nevermind or Bandwagonesque all the way through in one sitting, I can confidently state that this poll would be a lot more evenly-balanced without a certain Irish colossus decimating the opposition
― lynndie englisher (country matters), Sunday, 5 July 2009 20:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Shields isn't that fat.
― Big Babby JeezHOOS (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 5 July 2009 20:15 (fourteen years ago) link
that guy looks very stoopid. he isn't feeling very comfortable in his outfit. wtf is he doing with his hands in the second photograph? it looks as if he had lost his handcuffs. what a git.
― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 20:26 (fourteen years ago) link
he just happened to have the looks of a male model
Kurt was cute. But male model cute? Really? For one thing, he was too short (for the runway).
― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 7 July 2009 21:24 (fourteen years ago) link
blah blah blah
― soulDischarge_mxli, Saturday, 11 July 2009 02:51 (fourteen years ago) link
lol. Still hoping Bandwagonesque makes a respectable showing (I've given up the ghost on it winning).
― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 11 July 2009 02:56 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Sunday, 12 July 2009 23:01 (fourteen years ago) link
I like all three of these, but I gotta go with Loveless
― da croupier, Monday, 13 July 2009 02:09 (fourteen years ago) link
I actually just bought my CD copy of Bandwagonesque a few months ago, replacing an old tape copy.
― da croupier, Monday, 13 July 2009 02:11 (fourteen years ago) link
if it was a catholic education v bleach v isn't anything it would be more straightforward
― phillippa minge (electricsound), Monday, 13 July 2009 02:22 (fourteen years ago) link
Actually that would be much harder for me!!
― Sean Carruthers, Monday, 13 July 2009 02:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Never got the love for A Catholic Education, but it sounds like the kind of album I should like. Must try again, I guess.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 13 July 2009 03:02 (fourteen years ago) link
Not sure how one can list 28 albums supposedly better than Nevermind if you hadn't even heard it all. I loved Nirvana but when I heard it, I hated the production and some of the songs felt unfinished. I was all about Slint and MBV, Massive Attack, Talk Talk, Public Enemy and The Jesus Lizard. Nirvana grew on me later to sneak into top 10. I remember buying Bandwagonesque around Thanksgiving after seeing it in that Spin issue and like the Big Star-isms. But it barely made my top 25.
― Fastnbulbous, Monday, 13 July 2009 05:11 (fourteen years ago) link
if it was a catholic education v bleach v isn't anything it would be more straightforward - how about In Utero vs. Thirteen vs. that Wire cover?
― gayest flash mob pillow fight yet (Pillbox), Monday, 13 July 2009 05:40 (fourteen years ago) link
or everything flows vs love buzz vs you made me realise
― phillippa minge (electricsound), Monday, 13 July 2009 05:47 (fourteen years ago) link
hmmm.. now there's a poll!
― gayest flash mob pillow fight yet (Pillbox), Monday, 13 July 2009 05:59 (fourteen years ago) link
― da croupier, Monday, 13 July 2009 02:09 (4 hours ago) Permalink
― Bradolf Pittler (latebloomer), Monday, 13 July 2009 06:56 (fourteen years ago) link
how about omg! they're still making records? so boring! who cares? vs. kurt you fucker i can still barely listen to my nirvana records vs. who needs a sequel to Loveless? we have Belong now
― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 13 July 2009 07:56 (fourteen years ago) link
loveless. no contest.
― m the g, Monday, 13 July 2009 08:01 (fourteen years ago) link
I missed this thread because I've been hiking the Appalachian trail for the last few weeks. I went with Nevermind b/c I like pop music and it's the best pop album of the three (on that front, "Lounge Act" over "Alcoholiday" over "Sometimes" but all three are hot). Its mass success felt like vindication of...something...at the time but that was just a dream. Nowadays we can just talk about the tunes, though each album scratches different itches, ergo the kinda distracted discussion here. I'd like to read more pro-Bandwagonesque here, just b/c we've talked about the other two many times before. "Alcoholiday"'s "there are things I want to do but I don't know if they will be with you" just kills, such insouciant ambivalence.
― Euler, Monday, 13 July 2009 15:45 (fourteen years ago) link
I missed this thread because I've been hiking the Appalachian trail for the last few weeks
You might have missed something else.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 13 July 2009 15:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Insert appropriate ironic emoticon here.
― Euler, Monday, 13 July 2009 16:00 (fourteen years ago) link
:^I
― tylerw, Monday, 13 July 2009 16:04 (fourteen years ago) link
he was really in south america with his mistress.
― scott seward, Monday, 13 July 2009 16:09 (fourteen years ago) link
"Not sure how one can list 28 albums supposedly better than Nevermind if you hadn't even heard it all."
eh, i've heard enough. has there ever been a live through this -vs- nevermind poll? cuz i like that album a lot. that's probably the best grunge-related album there is.
― scott seward, Monday, 13 July 2009 16:13 (fourteen years ago) link
the poll should be bandwagonesque vs. loveless vs. seamonsters. nevermind is not only from a different continent but it also ha a totally different vibe. and speed of course. as an american poll there could be nevermind vs. gish vs. goat. and i would go probably for the wonderful tripping hard rock of <a href="http://musik.antville.org/stories/993832">gish</a>.
― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 13 July 2009 19:21 (fourteen years ago) link
will i ever those ilx tags?
― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 13 July 2009 19:25 (fourteen years ago) link
will i ever learn i meant, sorry.
― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 13 July 2009 19:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Ooh, one hour to go! Exciting!
― Mark G, Monday, 13 July 2009 21:40 (fourteen years ago) link
voted Nevermind, MJ's death has made me re-examine my roots
― sonderangerbot, Monday, 13 July 2009 21:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Monday, 13 July 2009 23:01 (fourteen years ago) link
i have learned from all this that all three album titles are compound words, and the one with the least letters won
― kamerad, Monday, 13 July 2009 23:15 (fourteen years ago) link
Hm. After having my expectations shaped by reading the thread, I was surprised by two things in the results: (a) it was closer than expected between Loveless and Nevermind (74 votes to 72 votes) and (b) Bandwagonesque did okay (36 votes).
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 14 July 2009 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, I was going to say - the order is exactly what I was expecting, but I was expecting Loveless to run way out in front, and was expecting Bandwagonesque to maybe languish in the teens. I'm glad all three were repped reasonably strongly.
― Sean Carruthers, Tuesday, 14 July 2009 00:17 (fourteen years ago) link
as they should since all 3 are amazing
― billstevejim, Friday, 17 July 2009 06:07 (fourteen years ago) link
1991 albums better than nevermind:* * * *coil - love's secret domain* * * *― scott seward, Saturday, July 4, 2009__________________________________love's secret domain was so goddamn great― worm? lol (J0hn D.), Saturday, July 4, 2009
* * * *
― scott seward, Saturday, July 4, 2009
__________________________________
― worm? lol (J0hn D.), Saturday, July 4, 2009
the album stream on youtube is making a convincing argument for this album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DewJHJlYOIU
can't find it for sale on itunes, bandcamp, or boomkat. obscure!
― Daniel, Esq 2, Saturday, 15 February 2014 23:57 (ten years ago) link
Yeah it's out of print, sadly. Saw it for $500+ on Amazon!
Classic album though!
― iFrankenstein (latebloomer), Sunday, 16 February 2014 06:44 (ten years ago) link
Bandwagonesque is the only album that doesn't sound dated to me 23-years-hence. Nirvana were never as good as their buzz and Loveless (Tremolo and Isn't Anything were far superior) was never as good as the ideals of the critics.
Fanclub's album is the only one of these that i might listen to when i turn 80, if only for it making me feel young.
Also, add Peggy Suicide (Julian Cope) and anything that Levitation put out in '91 for trix more involving than anything Nevermind had to offer (save, "Where Did You Sleep Last Nite", which is one of the smartest covers ever).
― bodacious ignoramus, Sunday, 16 February 2014 09:13 (ten years ago) link
100% OTM. this album makes me feel young.
― Daniel, Esq 2, Monday, 17 February 2014 00:14 (ten years ago) link
mon frere
― bodacious ignoramus, Monday, 17 February 2014 08:29 (ten years ago) link
gonna pop a bag of chicarrones and dig into this mighty thread. I do not get bandwagonsque at all, apart from the last track. Why did they waste the best hook on an instrumental!?!
― brimstead, Wednesday, 4 May 2022 23:59 (one year ago) link
This is a work of genius. However, comparing it to Nevermind is like comparing apples and giraffes.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 5 May 2022 00:02 (one year ago) link
comparing these albums is unfair, but if you could only keep one band's catalog (and the other two disappear from existence), ya gotta go w/ TFC
― alpine static, Thursday, 5 May 2022 00:10 (one year ago) link
talk talk - laughing stockehbathory - twilight of the godsIs this their Viking stuff? No thanksslowdive - just for a daythis is finejesus lizard - goatdude’s voice = noslint - spiderlanddude’s voice = noparadise lost - gothiclol nomercury rev - yerself is steamdude’s voice = nothe field mice - for keepssome of this is amazing but some of it is terriblecows - cunning stuntshaven’t heardneil young - arcfuck yescoil - love's secret domainI am too lame to enjoy Coil but I love the idea of them or whateverween - the podsounded great when I was 21 and trippinmassive attack - blue linesnot a massive attack fan
― brimstead, Thursday, 5 May 2022 00:22 (one year ago) link
the rest of those albums are pretty good to great. sorry for all that.. eeesh
― brimstead, Thursday, 5 May 2022 00:25 (one year ago) link
I really hope you lot are all confusing Arc with Weld.
― Mr. Snrub, Monday, 9 May 2022 08:19 (one year ago) link