pitchfork is dumb (#34985859340293849494 in a series.)

since this whole exercise is theoretical anyway i'm more interested in the question of what a list would look like if you reverse engineered it based on the artists in 1996 that shaped the next 25 years of music. like not what ppl would have said at the time but what would be accurate in retrospect, bcuz i feel like those would be two largely different lists

i think they should have predicted bands that are yet to exist

xpost Would be a good thread. Who would have possibly guessed Screw and Dilla back then

LJ approved R&B made the list .. always a good sign..

its weirdly missing both mainstream rap and r&b

like ... no chloe bailey, brent faiyaz, EST Gee, Babyface Ray... RIP poptimism lol

In April 1996, SPIN published a feature titled The Alternative to Alternative, which feels similar to what Pitchfork is trying to do here:

"This section honors artists who represent the best way out of the alternative morass: genuine experimentation that acknowledges the bars of orthodoxy, then wiggles through whole. ... The best alternative to alternative provides a perch for the future."

It wasn't a list so much as a series of short profiles, but here's who made the cut:

-Afghan Whigs
-James Carter
-Cornershop & Cibo Matto (paired for some reason)
-Fugees
-Will Oldham
-Mo'Wax (label)
-Scott Walker

the first mention of Screw in SPIN afaik is in a 2000 sidebar on "HIP-HOP'S NEW HOMEMADE HIGH: SYRUP"

ftr the fugees were busy outselling tupac and oasis and shania twain and metallica

people are so weird about what alternative means when it comes to rap

Tbf, The Score was released in February 1996 and didn't hit #1 until May. When that issue was going to press, their only hit was "Fu-Gee-La," which had just cracked the top 40.

Also they were just done being like an East Coast Pharcyde

since this whole exercise is theoretical anyway i'm more interested in the question of what a list would look like if you reverse engineered it based on the artists in 1996 that shaped the next 25 years of music. like not what ppl would have said at the time but what would be accurate in retrospect, bcuz i feel like those would be two largely different lists

― J0rdan S

I’m blanking out. There’s albums from 1996 that still feel influential to me but couldn’t name what artists from 2021 they are still influencing… maybe they’re not.

Anyways:

Outkast - Atliens
Everything but the girl - walking wounded
Ground Zero - Pekinese Opera V. 1.28
Aphex Twin - Richard D James
Fiona Apple - Tidal
Dr. octagon

And La Macarena obvs

Big Boy - mis ojos lloran por ti

Would have been a massive spot on choice for 1996 as it’s pretty much proto-reggaeton.

Jay-Z
2Pac
UGK
Korn
Three 6 Mafia
Sleater Kinney
Aaliyah

Is Korn influential in 2021?

I mean I found this article… so maybe?

https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-most-exciting-new-sound-of-2020-is-nu-metal

wyd moka

Three 6 Mafia and UGK are accurate

Sorry lol

Listening to some of the artists I had never heard before and they’re great. I think saying any of them will be influential for the next 25 years is a big IF but they’re making cool music for sure.

The fans-artist relation is best described as a "community" now ? In the religious or social sense ?

many of the people who grew up around nu-metal but were turned off by its hypermasculinity and adoption by teenage boys with bad attitudes can now safely listen to the music they wanted to...and also, the older teens are deep in the nostalgia of the turn of the millenium, if my friends' very artsy and fashionable kids are any indication

There's a piece on L'Rain in the new issue of The Wire.

an example of an experimental musician influence by nu-metal, among other things: https://fire-toolz.bandcamp.com/album/eternal-home

everything but the girl is one that i feel like would not have been tabbed in a 1996 version of this list but is completely accurate in retrospect

they were in the '95 Spin Guide

Which struck me as prescient because "Missing" hadn't even taken off.

shout out to spin

anyway, it should be a new thread

SPIN really was a not-terrible mainstream music mag for a while there, sort of half-way between Rolling Stone and CMJ in their coverage

make one dawg xp

I learned a fuckton from the stable of writers in the '90s xpost

Yeah Spin (I think even in the same issue!) introduced me to Basic Channel and Neil Hamburger, can’t be all bad.

xpost: speaking of new threads. This thread deserves to be archived and continued in a new thread. It's a pain to open it and show all messages on mobile. There's 18,000+ posts right now.

no locking this thread til the number of posts matches the number in the thread title

the 34,985,859,340,293,849,494th pitchfork post celebration and physical fighting thread

Spin in the early 90s was my Bible

And the Source, a golden age!

This isn't Pitchfork-specific, but re: their new feature in which musicians name their favorite albums of the past 25 years:

Hamilton Leithauser

Royal Trux’s Accelerator (1998)

(...)On Accelerator, they really struck a remarkable balance between structure and chaos. Every single song is good… I would say it is a “no-skipper.”

This translated to the live show as well. I’ve seen them more than any other band, and the Accelerator tour show at the Cooler in NYC was undoubtedly the top.(...)

I hadn't heard of Hamilton Leithauser (just looked him up), but thought this was a funny/cool detail. I was at that show, and there are comments on the YouTube vid (that someone uploaded), with others saying that they were there... it was a fairly packed room, but I didn't guess at the time it would be one of those "I was there!" shows, like Woodstock, lol

i liked this one by far the best, bun b on ok computer and esp zach hill on the mighty u.s. maple's acre thrills

Hamilton Leithauser isn’t really my style but he has some cool music in him.

Kudos for giving Royal Trux the respect they deserve.

This feature is good. Someone should poll these selections.

Would also be interesting to see how ILXers respond to the prompt

ahh right on ham, accelerator rules! that’s cool!

Pitchfork readers are dumb too!

https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/peoples-list-25th-anniversary/

If Radiohead doesn't make top ten 200 I'm done with these guys

The top 20 is similar to every single “haul” post on vinyl subreddits (aside from older albums of course), and that demographic is younger. So nothing is shocking me here.

wait why do pfork's archives only go back to 1999?

to get to the other slide

xxp very apt