Poll: Bandwagonesque v. Nevermind v. Loveless

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

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.

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.

love's secret domain was so goddamn great

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

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.

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.)

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.

lovelsess by so much

Nevermind

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)

In what way is 'Just for a Day' better than 'Nevermind'?

while it may be difficult to objectively argue that it's "better" i'd much rather listen to jfad than nevermind

But would you rather listen to JJ Fad than Nevermind? JFA?

yes

Poll is broken. Loveless x 1000.

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.

Voted Nevermind but if Screamadelica had been on here I would have had to think about it really hard.

And probably would have voted for B.A.D. II The Globe over either, but this I recognize as an idiosyncrasy.

surely screamadelica should be included in this as well.

1991 albums better than nevermind:

No, and no.

Without question, this are the 3 best albums of 1991. Good poll.

these*

Okay.. I might put The Low End Theory over Bandwagonesque, but 3 out of the top 4 is not bad.

no and yes. between this thread and that stones throw poll, scott seward = REAL TALK xxxpost

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 you struck me as potentially a big Jesus Lizard fan but I guess not!

and the talk talk is like better than all three in this poll combined

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.

"Nevermind"

"Grand Prix" >>>> "Nevermind" though.

ILM must have changed a lot for this not to be obvious

i'm not saying that's a good or bad thing BTW

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.

surely screamadelica should be included in this as well.

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.

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

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.

^ OTM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjT58fvDpVk

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.

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.

do you ever think some ppl are fronting with this whole OMG WEEN/BOLT THROWER/COWS IS BETTER THAN NEVERMIND shit nowadays?

yup absolutely

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.

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.

do you ever think some ppl are fronting with this whole OMG WEEN/BOLT THROWER/COWS IS BETTER THAN NEVERMIND shit nowadays?

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.

^^^ 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.

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

Shields isn't that fat.

Louis means that he's thinking of how much better Yeats is than any of these guys

He's talking about The Importance of Being Earnest, John.

blah blah blah

lol. Still hoping Bandwagonesque makes a respectable showing (I've given up the ghost on it winning).

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I like all three of these, but I gotta go with Loveless

I actually just bought my CD copy of Bandwagonesque a few months ago, replacing an old tape copy.

if it was a catholic education v bleach v isn't anything it would be more straightforward

Actually that would be much harder for me!!

Never got the love for A Catholic Education, but it sounds like the kind of album I should like. Must try again, I guess.

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.

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?

or everything flows vs love buzz vs you made me realise

hmmm.. now there's a poll!

I like all three of these, but I gotta go with Loveless

― da croupier, Monday, 13 July 2009 02:09 (4 hours ago) Permalink

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

loveless. no contest.

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.

I missed this thread because I've been hiking the Appalachian trail for the last few weeks

You might have missed something else.

Insert appropriate ironic emoticon here.

:^I

he was really in south america with his mistress.

"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.

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>.

will i ever those ilx tags?

will i ever learn i meant, sorry.

Ooh, one hour to go! Exciting!

voted Nevermind, MJ's death has made me re-examine my roots

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

i have learned from all this that all three album titles are compound words, and the one with the least letters won

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).

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.

as they should since all 3 are amazing

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

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!

Yeah it's out of print, sadly. Saw it for $500+ on Amazon!

Classic album though!

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).

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.

100% OTM. this album makes me feel young.

mon frere

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!?!

talk talk - laughing stock

This is a work of genius. However, comparing it to Nevermind is like comparing apples and giraffes.

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

talk talk - laughing stock
eh

bathory - twilight of the gods
Is this their Viking stuff? No thanks

slowdive - just for a day
this is fine

jesus lizard - goat
dude’s voice = no

slint - spiderland
dude’s voice = no

paradise lost - gothic
lol no

mercury rev - yerself is steam
dude’s voice = no

the field mice - for keeps
some of this is amazing but some of it is terrible

cows - cunning stunts
haven’t heard

neil young - arc
fuck yes

coil - love's secret domain
I am too lame to enjoy Coil but I love the idea of them or whatever

ween - the pod
sounded great when I was 21 and trippin

massive attack - blue lines
not a massive attack fan

the rest of those albums are pretty good to great. sorry for all that.. eeesh

I really hope you lot are all confusing Arc with Weld.