Hi, welcome to the poll, wher ya been?

Lollapalooza.

haha... there is no 'Ryche vote as far as I'm concerned. Can't really stand the band outside of Empire. I realize this is blasphemy to pretty much every somb metalhead other than myself.

Assholes who like more than one riff in a 5 or 6 minute song. I'm alright with a couple black album tracks, but those two are plodding crap.

Both OTM, which is why I only voted for Psalm 69 and ICYDFLSU.

"Would' from the 'Singles' soundtrack didn't chart? Thought that was AIC's big break

it did, but AMG doesn't list it as a charting single from the album (probably because it also appeared on Dirt--maybe first? I dunno which came out before the other)

ROFL

I seem to recall the "Singles" soundtrack preceded Dirt, but I could be wrong.

i thought it was said in the singles thread that this wasn't, in fact, a single. ah, this is so good. oh well. that singles list was tough enough anyway.

#150.



PJ Harvey - Rid of Me

Year: 1993

US Chart Position: #158

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #6 (year), #59 (decade), #344 (all-time)

AMG Says: "Dry was shockingly frank in its subject and sound, as PJ Harvey delivered post-feminist manifestos with a punkish force. PJ Harvey's second album, Rid of Me, finds the trio, and Harvey in particular, pushing themselves to extremes. This is partially due to producer Steve Albini, who gives the album a bloodless, abrasive edge with his exacting production; each dynamic is pushed to the limit, leaving absolutely no subtleties in the music. Harvey's songs, in decided contrast to Albini's approach, are filled with gray areas and uncertainties, and are considerably more personal than those on Dry. Furthermore, they are lyrically and melodically superior to the songs on the debut, but their merits are obscured by Albini's black-and-white production, which is polarizing. It may be the aural embodiment of the tortured lyrics, and therefore a supremely effective piece of performance art, but it also makes Rid of Me a difficult record to meet halfway. But anyone willing to accept its sonic extremities will find Rid of Me to be a record of unusual power and purpose, one with few peers in its unsettling emotional honesty."

Ranked Highest By: Citizen (#17)

Amazon Link

Yeah, but I never liked the former's "na, na, na"'s, so I don't mind the latter too much.



Great album, but I REALLY wish he dropped "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and "Eisenhower Blues." They just KILL the momentum, especially the former, it just plain sucks. It's a long album so it's not like dropping those two would make an unreasonably short album.

#149.



The Flaming Lips - In a Priest Driven Ambulance

Year: 1990

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

AMG Says: "In a Priest Driven Ambulance ranks as the first truly brilliant Flaming Lips album; the first effort to feature guitarist Jonathan "Dingus" Donahue, it's a loose concept record that brings Wayne Coyne's long-standing obsessions with religion bubbling to the surface. The thematic glue creates a structural framework unlike anything found on previous albums, resulting in a newfound sense of cohesion and depth: songs like "Rainin' Babies" and "Five-Stop Mother Superior Rain" offer unforeseen levels of poignancy, while guitar freak-outs such as "Unconsciously Screamin'" and "Mountain Side" slash and burn with remarkable potency. For the Lips, the future begins here."

Ranked Highest By: Pavement Ist Rad (#4)

Amazon Link

Course they have more than one riff, you weirdo.

Guess you've not been introduced to the likes of Sunn(o))) and Khanate just yet...

#148.



Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes

Year: 1992

US Chart Position: #54

UK Chart Position: #14

Charting Singles: "Silent All These Years" (#65 / #27 Modern Rock US, #26 UK), "Crucify" (#22 Modern Rock US, #15 UK), "Winter" (#25 UK)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #8 (year), #77 (decade), #430 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Albums List: #223

AMG Says: "With her haunting solo debut Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos carved the template for the female singer/songwriter movement of the '90s. Amos' delicate, prog rock piano work and confessional, poetically quirky lyrics invited close emotional connection, giving her a fanatical cult following and setting the stage for the Lilith Fair legions. But Little Earthquakes is no mere style-setter or feminine stereotype -- its intimacy is uncompromising, intense, and often far from comforting [...] Though her subsequent albums were often very strong, Amos would never bare her soul quite so directly (or comprehensibly) as she did here, nor with such consistently focused results. Little Earthquakes is the most accessible work in Amos' catalog, and it's also the most influential and rewarding."

Ranked Highest By: The Luscious Phil (#4)

Amazon Link

I do remember the 'Would?' video had clips from the film in it.
<p>
...Found it!
<p>
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HOuUmaj4KoM"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HOuUmaj4KoM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

#147.



Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Sessions

Year: 1988

US Chart Position: #26

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: "Sweet Jane" (#5 Modern Rock US)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #15 (year), #161 (decade), #865 (all-time)

AMG Says: "Who says you can't make a great record in one day -- or night, as the case may be? The Trinity Session was recorded in one night using one microphone, a DAT recorder, and the wonderful acoustics of the Holy Trinity in Toronto [...] along with Low, the Cowboy Junkies were the only band at the time capable of playing slower than Neil Young and Crazy Horse -- and without the ear-threatening volume. The Timmins family -- Margo, guitarist and songwriter Michael, drummer Peter, and backing vocalist and guitarist John -- along with bassist Alan Anton and a few pals playing pedal steel, accordion, and harmonica, paced everything to crawl. That said, it works in that every song has its own texture, slowly and deliberately unfolding from blues and country and drones [...] For most, this was the Cowboy Junkies' debut -- Whites Off Earth Now!! was re-released in the States a few years later -- and it established them firmly in the forefront of the "alternative" scene with radio and MTV. As an album, it's still remarkable at how timeless it sounds, and its beauty is -- in stark contrast to its presentation -- voluminous and rich, perhaps even eternal."

Ranked Highest By: Vurt (#14)

Amazon Link

The year for this should be 1992.

The fact that it made one of Billboard's auxiliary charts doesn't mean it was a single, although I don't know if "Drown" was or wasn't. I think much of the Modern Rock chart and its brethren were based mostly on airplay.

In fact, as the '90s wore on, more and more songs made the Hot 100 singles chart (e.g. Len's "Steal My Sunshine," I believe) without an official single release -- the labels would just say, "OK, here's the track we're pushing at radio," and that was the track Billboard tabulated. So in many cases, singles were no longer actually singles. That, along with emerging alternative delivery systems like downloads, should make the '95-'04 survey nice and chaotic.

#146.



Bark Psychosis - Hex

Year: 1994

US Chart Position: n/a

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: n/a

Acclaimed Music Ranking: n/a

AMG Says: "A masterpiece of unrivalled beauty and complexity, Bark Psychosis' Hex channels the experimentation of the group's prior singles into a more controlled setting; a series of atmospheric set pieces, the songs find a common ground between accepted musical formulas and avant innovation -- at first glance, tracks like "Big Shot" and "Eyes & Smiles" appear tightly structured, yet they avoid the dynamics of conventional songcraft like choruses and solos with remarkable dexterity. Similarly, both "The Loom" and "Fingerspit" are too melodic and finely honed to pass as mere ambient soundscapes, leaving the record best ascribed to a force not unlike alchemy -- Hex begins with base musical materials, but transforms them into something mysterious, haunting, and breathtakingly visionary."

Ranked Highest By: Pray4Mojo (#11)

Amazon Link

There was a promo "Drown" single sent to radio that included a much shorter radio edit.

#145.



Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine

Year: 1989

US Chart Position: #75

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: "Sin" (#10 Dance US, #35 UK), "Down In It" (#16 Modern Rock US), "Head Like a Hole" (#17 Dance US)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #9 (year), #81 (decade), #499 (all-time)

AMG Says: "Virtually ignored upon its 1989 release, Pretty Hate Machine gradually became a word-of-mouth cult favorite; despite frequent critical bashings, its stature and historical importance only grew in hindsight. In addition to its stealthy rise to prominence, part of the album's legend was that budding auteur Trent Reznor took advantage of his low-level job at a Cleveland studio to begin recording it. Reznor had a background in synth-pop, and the vast majority of Pretty Hate Machine was electronic. Synths voiced all the main riffs, driven by pounding drum machines; distorted guitars were an important textural element, but not the primary focus [...] His lyrics were filled with betrayal, whether by lovers, society, or God; it was essentially the sound of childhood illusions shattering, and Reznor was not taking it lying down. Plus, the absolute dichotomies in his world -- there was either purity and perfection, or depravity and worthlessness -- made for smashing melodrama. Perhaps the greatest achievement of Pretty Hate Machine was that it brought emotional extravagance to a genre whose main theme had nearly always been dehumanization."

Ranked Highest By: Dogear (#25)

Amazon Link

And Dero's Dream pops up for the first time. Stay tuned.

Hit to Death in the Future Head was #202

is it true that SFTBC already placed andrew?

What, you're all Downward Spiral lovers?

yep. That album is kinda not good.

#189

weak sauce.

#144.



Prince - Parade

Year: 1986

US Chart Position: #3 / #2 R&B

UK Chart Position: #4

Charting Singles: "Kiss" (#1 US, #6 UK), "Mountains" (#23 / #2 Dance US), "Anotherloverholeinyohead" (#63 / #10 Dance US, #36 UK), "Girls and Boys" (#11 UK)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #11 (year), #107 (decade), #646 (all-time)

AMG Says: "Undaunted by the criticism Around the World in a Day received, Prince continued to pursue his psychedelic inclinations on Parade, which also functioned as the soundtrack to his second film, Under the Cherry Moon. Originally conceived as a double album, Parade has the sprawling feel of a double record, even if it clocks in around 45 minutes. Prince & the Revolution shift musical moods and textures from song to song -- witness how the fluttering psychedelia of "Christopher Tracy's Parade" gives way to the spare, jazzy funk of "New Position," which morphs into the druggy "I Wonder U" -- and they're determined not to play it safe, even on the hard funk of "Girls and Boys" and "Mountains," as well as the stunning "Kiss," which hits hard with just a dry guitar, keyboard, drum machine, and layered vocals. All of the group's musical adventures, even the cabaret-pop of "Venus de Milo" and "Do U Lie?" do nothing to undercut the melodicism of the record, and the amount of ground they cover in 12 songs is truly remarkable. Even with all of its attributes, Parade is a little off-balance, stopping too quickly to give the haunting closer, "Sometimes It Snows in April," the resonance it needs. For some tastes, it may also be a bit too lyrically cryptic, but Prince's weird religious and sexual metaphors develop into a motif that actually gives the album weight. If it had been expanded to a double album, Parade would have equaled the subsequent Sign 'o' the Times, but as it stands, it's an astonishingly rewarding near-miss."

Ranked Highest By: Throughsilver (#4)

Amazon Link

#143.



Suede - Dog Man Star

Year: 1994

US Chart Position: #35 Heatseeker

UK Chart Position: #3

Charting Singles: "Stay Together" (#3 UK), "We are the Pigs" (#18 UK), "The Wild Ones" (#18 UK), "New Generation" (#21 UK)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #23 (year), #143 (decade), #723 (all-time)

AMG Says: "Instead of following though on the Bowie-esque glam stomps of their debut, Suede concentrated on their darker, more melodramatic tendencies on their ambitious second album, Dog Man Star. By all accounts, the recording of Dog Man Star was plagued with difficulties -- Brett Anderson wrote the lyrics in a druggy haze while sequestered in a secluded Victorian mansion, while Bernard Butler left before the album was completed -- which makes its singular vision all the more remarkable [...] As it stands, Dog Man Star is a strangely seductive record, filled with remarkable musical peaks, from the Bowie-esque stomp of "New Generation" to the stately ballads "The Wild Ones" and "Still Life," which are both reminiscent of Scott Walker. And while Suede may choose to wear their influences on their sleeve, they synthesize them in a totally original way, making Dog Man Star a singularly tragic and romantic album."

Ranked Highest By: MitchellStirling (#6)

Amazon Link

#144.
Prince - Parade



Is that true? "Originally conceived as a double album"???

As of right now, lots of great albums are to be found within the last few pages of this thread.

OTM!!!

#142.



A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders

Year: 1993

US Chart Position: #8 / #1 R&B

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: "Award Tour" (#47 / #1 Dance), "Electric Relaxation (Relax Yourself Girl)" (#65 / #13 Rap US), "Oh My God" (#2 Dance)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #16 (year), #163 (decade), #834 (all-time)

AMG Says: "Though the abstract rappers finally betrayed a few commercial ambitions for Midnight Marauders, the happy result was a smart, hooky record that may not have furthered the jazz-rap fusions of The Low End Theory, but did merge Tribe-style intelligence and reflection with some of the most inviting grooves heard on any early-'90s rap record. The productions, more funky than jazzy, were tighter overall -- but the big improvement, four years after their debut, came with Q-Tip's and Phife Dawg's raps [...] A Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders was commercially successful, artistically adept, and lyrically inventive; the album cemented their status as alternative rap's prime sound merchants, authors of the most original style since the Bomb Squad first exploded on wax."

Ranked Highest By: Big Pink (#6)

Amazon Link

No, I can't stand any operatic metal, though I do feel guilty about it.



Yancy, you let down the world of Prong in the singles poll. Maybe it's not too late to vote, since Andrew won't be rolling that out for a few days...?

Love this photo. It makes me feel like I'm actually listening to "Absent Friend."

Sometimes, you just know when you are going to see your own name. Debut (and Debut which was high on my list) finishing above this, please.




Eh?

Shit yeah, this is one I'm pleasantly surprised at seeing!

And that blurb is bollocks. Album's miles better than the bloated Sign 'O' The Times. Read my review instead. Needs some fine-tuning, but what can you do.

Yeah, I love it too, it made my list for this poll, but Sign O' The Times is so much better than Parade...

hm, guess I always just sorta assumed "Stay Together" was on DMS. Wonder why that is.

I admit it's been a while since I listened to Sign..., but there just seemed to be - as with most double albums - too much of it. Plus, Parade has nothing as poor on it as 'Housequake'.

He's a legend, though, so I'm not gonna spend too much time splitting hairs on him.

Now, I wonder, is Around The World In A Day going to feature?

throughsilver opens mouth, blithely tosses non-metal cred out window...

Didn't even know I had metal cred...

Yeah, I should've just cast aspersions on your Prince cred. But if you ain't hip to the rare housequake: shut up, already. Damn.

#141.



Suede - Suede

Year: 1993

US Chart Position: #14 Heatseeker

UK Chart Position: #1

Charting Singles: "Metal Mickey" (#7 Modern Rock US, #17 UK), "Animal Nitrate" (#7 UK), "So Young" (#22 UK)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #8 (year), #97 (decade), #521 (all-time)

AMG Says: "Borrowing heavily from David Bowie and the Smiths, Suede forge a distinctively seductive sound on their eponymous album. Guitarist Bernard Butler has a talent for crafting effortlessly catchy, crunching glam hooks like the controlled rush of "Metal Mickey" and the slow, sexy grind of "The Drowners," but he also can construct grand, darkly romantic soundscapes like the sighing "Sleeping Pills" and the tortured "Pantomime Horse." What brings these elegant sounds to life is Brett Anderson, who invests them with bed-sit angst and seamy sex. Anderson's voice is calculatedly affected and theatrical, but it fits the grand emotion of his self-consciously poetic lyrics. Suede are working-class lads striving for glamour, and they achieve it by piecing together remnants of the past with pieces of the present, never forgetting the value of a strong hook in the process. And while the sound of Suede frequently recalls the peak of glam rock, its punk-influenced passion and self-conscious appropriation of the past make it thoroughly postmodern. Coincidentally, its embrace of trashy pop helped usher in an era of Britpop, but few bands captured the theatrical melancholy that gave Suede such resonance."

Ranked Highest By: BobtheSquid (#13)

Amazon Link

#140.



R.E.M. - Green

Year: 1988

US Chart Position: #12

UK Chart Position: #27

Charting Singles: "Stand" (#6 / #1 Modern Rock US), "Pop Song '89" (#86 / #14 Modern Rock US), "Orange Crush" (#1 Modern Rock US, #28 UK)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #8 (year), #82 (decade), #500 (all-time)

AMG Says: "As far as major-label debuts by underground bands go, Green is fairly uncompromising. While it displays a more powerful guitar sound on "Get Up," "Turn You Inside Out," and "Orange Crush," it also takes more detours than Document, whether it's the bizarrely affecting contemporary folk of "The Wrong Child" and "You Are the Everything," the bubblegum of "Stand" and "Pop Song 89," or the introspection of the lovely "Hairshirt" and "World Leader Pretend." But instead of presenting a portrait of a band with a rich, eclectic vision, Green is incoherent. While its best moments are flat-out great, the band has bitten off more than it can chew; many of the songs sound like failed experiments, and its arena-ready production now sounds slightly dated. Nevertheless, half of the record is brilliant, and it certainly indicates that R.E.M. are continuing to diversify their sound."

Ranked Highest By: Elemeno P.T. (#24)

Amazon Link

#139.



Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas

Year: 1990

US Chart Position: #99

UK Chart Position: #7

Charting Singles: "Iceblink Luck" (#4 Modern Rock US, #38 UK), "Heaven or Las Vegas" (#9 Modern Rock US)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #16 (year), #191 (decade), #1028 (all-time)

Rank on Our All-Time Albums List: #498

AMG Says: "Deciding to scale back the overly pretty sound on Blue Bell Knoll while experimenting with more accessibility -- -- the Twins ended up creating their best album since Treasure. From the start, Heaven... is simply fantastic: on "Cherry-Coloured Funk," Guthrie's inimitable guitar work chimes leading a low-key but forceful rhythm, while Raymonde's grand bass work fleshes it out. Fraser simply captivates; her vocals are the clearest, most direct they've ever been, purring with energy and life. Many songs have longer openings and closings; rather than crashing fully into a song and then quickly ending, instead the trio carefully builds up and eases back. These songs are still quite focused, though, almost sounding like they were recorded live instead of being assembled in the studio [...] There are many moments of sheer Cocteaus beauty and power, including the title track, with its great chorus, and two spotlight Guthrie solos: "Fotzepolitic," a powerful number building to a rushing conclusion, and the album-ending "Frou Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires." Possessing the same climactic sense of drama past disc-closers as "Donimo" and "The Thinner the Air," it's a perfect way to end a near-perfect album."

Ranked Highest By: Tracy Jacks (#5)

Amazon Link

Crazier than 2-Pac in a flick called "Juice"...

I

AM

IRON

GODDDDDDD!!








(redrum)


#138.



Alice in Chains - Dirt

Year: 1992

US Chart Position: #6

UK Chart Position: n/a

Charting Singles: "Rooster" (#7 Mainstream Rock US), "Down in a Hole" (#10 Mainstream Rock US, #36 UK), "Would?" (#19 Mainstream Rock US, #19 UK), "Them Bones" (#24 Mainstream Rock, #26 UK), "Hate to Feel" (#27 Modern Rock US), "Angry Chair" (#33 UK)

Acclaimed Music Ranking: #14 (year), #145 (decade), #745 (all-time)

AMG Says: "Dirt is Alice in Chains' major artistic statement and the closest they ever came to recording a flat-out masterpiece. It's a primal, sickening howl from the depths of Layne Staley's heroin addiction, and one of the most harrowing concept albums ever recorded. Not every song on Dirt is explicitly about heroin, but Jerry Cantrell's solo-written contributions (nearly half the album) effectively maintain the thematic coherence -- nearly every song is imbued with the morbidity, self-disgust, and/or resignation of a self-aware yet powerless addict. Cantrell's technically limited but inventive guitar work is by turns explosive, textured, and queasily disorienting, keeping the listener off balance with atonal riffs and off-kilter time signatures. Staley's stark confessional lyrics are similarly effective, and consistently miserable. Sometimes he's just numb and apathetic, totally desensitized to the outside world; sometimes his self-justifications betray a shockingly casual amorality; his moments of self-recognition are permeated by despair and suicidal self-loathing. Even given its subject matter, Dirt is monstrously bleak, closely resembling the cracked, haunted landscape of its cover art. The album holds out little hope for its protagonists (aside from the much-needed survival story of "Rooster," a tribute to Cantrell's Vietnam-vet father), but in the end, it's redeemed by the honesty of its self-revelation and the sharp focus of its music. "

Ranked Highest By: Ronald Reagan (#13)

Amazon Link