1990 in music.

The Cure's Disintegration won 1989. Let's see who wins 1990.

Billboard chart-topping albums of 1990:
Phil Collins - But Seriously (cont. from '89)
Milli Vanilli - Girl You Know It's True (cont. from '89)
Paula Abdul - Forever Your Girl (cont. from '88)
Bonnie Raitt - Nick of Time (cont. from '89)
Sinead O'Connor - I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
MC Hammer - Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em
New Kids on the Block - Step by Step
Vanilla Ice - To the Extreme

Billboard chart-topping singles of 1990:
Phil Collins - Another Day in Paradise (cont. from '89)
Michael Bolton - How Am I Supposed to Live Without You (cont. from '89)
Paula Abdul - Opposites Attract (cont. from '89)
Janet Jackson - Escapade (cont. from '89)
Alannah Myles - Black Velvet (cont. from '89)
Taylor Dayne - Love Will Lead You Back (cont. from '89)
Tommy Page - I'll Be Your Everything
Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U
Madonna - Vogue
Wilson Phillips - Hold On
Roxette - It Must Have Been Love
New Kids on the Block - Step by Step
Glenn Medeiros - She Ain't Worth It
Mariah Carey - Vision of Love
Sweet Sensation - If Wishes Came True
Jon Bon Jovi - Blaze of Glory
Wilson Phillips - Release Me
Nelson - Can't Live Without Your Love and Affection
Maxi Priest - Close to You
George Michael - Praying for Time
James Ingram - I Don't Have the Heart
Janet Jackson - Black Cat
Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
Mariah Carey - Love Takes Time
Whitney Houston - I'm Your Baby Tonight
Stevie B - Because I Love You

What are your top three albums for 1990? We will keep a running tally and eventually have some sort of bracket. For me it would be:
1. Ride - Nowhere
2. Sonic Youth - Goo
3. Entombed - Left Hand Path

What are some of the forgotten gems from the year? What is overrated? What did you discover at a young age and what did you discover later?

YEARS IN MUSIC • forum.chorus.fm

 

rest of the top 10:
4. uncle tupelo - no depression
5. pixies - bossanova
6. the breeders - pod
7. fugazi - repeater
8. the la's - the la's
9. jane's addiction - ritual de lo habitual
10. alice in chains - facelift

other honorable mentions:
afghan whigs - up in it
bad religion - against the grain
black crowes - shake your money maker
bob mould - black sheets of rain
danzig - ii
galaxie 500 - this is our music
helmet - strap it on
judas priest - painkiller
mark lanegan - the winding sheet
megadeth - rust in peace
mother love bone - apple
the replacements - all shook down
slayer - seasons in the abyss
superchunk - superchunk

stuff to check out:
cocteau twins - heaven or las vegas
cowboy junkies - caution horses
depeche mode - violator
eric b and rakim - let the rhythm hit em
goo goo dolls - hold me up
ice cube - amerikkka’s most wanted
jeff lynne - armchair theatre
living colour - time’s up
mazzy star - she hangs brightly
mc hammer - please hammer, don’t hurt ‘em
nick cave - the good son
prefab sprout - jordan: the comeback
public enemy - fear of a black planet
rosanne cash - interiors
sinead o’connor - i do not want what i haven’t got
suicidal tendencies - lights camera revolution
teenage fan club - a catholic education
a tribe called quest - people’s instinctive travels and paths of rhythm
the waterboys - room to roam
yo la tengo - fakebook

 

1. A Tribe Called Quest - People’s…
2. Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
3. Fugazi - Repeater

 

i doubt we have a runaway winner this year. hard to identify one. maybe goo.

 

Zero records from this year I’ve spent a lot of time with (which is odd, since it’s my birth year). Going to have to do some serious exploring!

 

craig you’d love nowhere. andy (one of the singers and guitarists) played bass for oasis from heathen chemistry on and wrote a handful of songs on those handful of albums

 

one of the best songs of the 90s/ever

 

1. Depeche Mode - Violator
2. LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
3. Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas

 

1. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Mustt Mustt
2. Sonic Youth - Goo
3. Fugazi - Repeater

I can't remember where I heard Mustt Mustt the first time, but it absolutely blew me away. Nusrat is a Pakistani musician who makes Qawwali music. This record is an accessible fusion record with sharp production and 4 minute songs instead of 20. His voice is incredible, an absolute force, really remarkable.

Goo is my favourite Sonic Youth album, a perfect blend of their chaotic nature, with a bigger recording budget and slightly poppier sensibilities. Opener Dirty Boots is one of the all time great album openers, and Kim Gordon's tracks are the best she ever wrote. Killer album cover too.

Repeater is the first "proper" Fugazi record, and just absolutely brilliant and consistent from start to finish. It's complicated, jagged punk that really helped move punk / emo / post hardcore into new and interesting directions.

Honourable mentions;

Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas: Cocteau Twins are probably the best discovery or new artist I've heard in the last couple of years - hadn't heard them until relatively recently, like ~2018 or something, and now I'm a huge fan. This was the first record of theirs I heard, and I love the whole atmosphere of it. Beautiful, shimmering songs.

Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet: Public Enemy's follow up to It Takes a Nation of Millions, and this is a fantastic, incendiary album, that's hugely political (obviously), but great songwriting. Burn Hollywood Burn is one of the best PE tracks.

Paul Simon - The Rhythm Of the Saints: Simon following up Graceland with an album of samba-infused folk music, featuring musicians from Brazil and South America. Great fun.

A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm: I often get these and De La Soul muddled in my head, and this is a lovely golden age era hip-hop record, laid back and positive.

Jawbreaker - Unfun: Actually quite fun. Jawbreaker's debit, and while they'd do better pretty quickly after, this shows their potential and talent in hook filled pop punk, with introspective lyrics.

Björk Guðmundsdóttir & tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar - Gling Glo: Try pronouncing that... This is Bjork's jazz standards album, sung in Icelandic. Not one on regular rotation, but the production is great, and Bjork sounds great. Icelandic is a fun language to listen to, too.

Bad Religion - Against The Grain: Just a great, classic Bad Religion album.

Gray Matter - Food for Thought: A fantastic proto sort of emo band, making Dischord emotional post-hardcore music, that you'd hear throughout the mid 90s. (Edit - this was actually released in 1985, they were way ahead of their time!)

 

never heard of your first pick. adding to the list!

 

This sounds awesome.

 

ride is the poppiest/most brit-pop of the big shoegaze bands for sure, unless you consider the verve for the one album they did shoegaze

 

I can tell immediately from track 1 why Liam and Noel were eventually like "Yeah, let's call that guy."

 

that one was actually sang by the group’s other singer haha. but yeah, he’s one of the main songwriters. it became more even on other albums but the guy who joined oasis sang tracks 7 and 8 (the single)

 

This song makes me feel a lot of things.

 

i love to hear it

 

1. Ice Cube - Amerikkka’s Most Wanted
2. Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
3. Entombed - Left Hand Path

 

1. Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo habitual
2. Jellyfish - Bellybutton
3. Wilson Phillips - Wilson Phillips
4. Depeche Mode - Violator
5. Beats International - Let Them Eat Bingo
6. Paul Simon - The Rhythm of the Saints
7. Prince - Graffiti Bridge
8. Styx - Edge of the Century
9. George Michael - Life Without Prejudice Vol. 1
10. Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3
11. Fleetwood Mac - Behind The Mask

 

1990 mix

 

1. Mary Chapin Carpenter - Shooting Straight in the Dark
2. Heart - Brigade
3. Ride - Nowhere

Others I love:
Bruce Hornsby and The Range - A Night on the Town
Goo Goo Dolls - Hold Me Up
Garth Brooks - No Fences

Good ones:
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Dwight Yoakam - If There Was a Way
Prince - Graffiti Bridge
Black Box - Dreamland
George Michael - Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1
Dan Fogelberg - The Wild Places
Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
Depeche Mode - Violator
AC/DC - The Razor's Edge
Sinead O'Connor - I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
The Replacements - All Shook Down
Hindu Love Gods - Hindu Love Gods
Whitney Houston - I'm Your Baby Tonight
Steve Winwood - Refugees of the Heart
Alice in Chains - Facelift
Wilson Phillips - Wilson Phillips
Joshua Bell - Presenting Joshua Bell
The Sundays - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic
Blake Babies - Sunburn


Archival releases that would make the list:
Bix Biederbecke - Vol. 1: Singin' the Blues
Robert Johnson - The Complete Recordings

Targets for Listening:
Neil Young with Crazy Horse - Ragged Glory
Mariah Carey - Mariah Carey
The Lemonheads - Lovey
The Black Crowes - Shake Your Moneymaker
Dee-Lite - World Clique
Digital Underground - Sex Packets
Happy Mondays - Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches
Jane's Addiction - Ritual de Lo Habitual
The La's - The La's
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
Pixies - Bossanova
Shamen - En-tacts
A Tribe Called Quest - People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
The Allman Brothers Band - Seven Turns
MC Hammer - Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em
Paul Simon - The Rhythm of the Saints
Damn Yankees - Damn Yankees
Fugazi - Repeater
Pantera - Cowboys from Hell
Lou Reed and John Cale - Songs for Drella
Uncle Tupelo - No Depression
Steve Vai - Passion and Warfare
Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting
Jeff Lynne - Armchair Theatre
Brand Nubian - One for All
Cinderella - Heartbreak Station
Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass - Passages
Dave Stewart and the Spiritual Cowboys - Dave Stewart and the Spiritual Cowboys
Living Colour - Time's Up
Roseanne Cash - Interiors
The Shillls - Submarine Bells
Lisa Stansfield - Affection
Robin Holcomb - Robin Holcomb
Texas Tornadoes - Texas Tornadoes
Nusrat Fatteh Ali Khan - Mustt Mustt

 

You magnificent unicorn of a man. I don't even love Wilson Phillips, but I love it getting a vote.

How's that Styx album?

 

Honestly, I didn't even grow up with Wilson Phillips other than Hold On which is a magnificent song, but the whole album is actually really good, like shockingly so. I've never heard anything else from them, but I definitely dig it.

As for Styx, I don't even remember why this album was one of the two I have heard in full (the other is Paradise Theater), but it's pretty good cheese rock. Definitely fits a certain mood well

 

add the breeders to your targets list. it's kim deal from pixies and her sister. very good.

 

Nice! This one features one of my picks for underrated gem of this year. So much childhood nostalgia for me on this one, and what a beautiful voice she has.

 

This is my other pick for underrated, oft-forgotten gem. Anyone else recall this song?

I don't really know too much about the band other than that this is from their debut record, which I plan on checking out this week.

Also may be a bit of a stretch here but I can't help but hear a bit of this song in The 1975's "Me & You Together Song", particularly the jangly guitars. Love it.