1996....was it good to you?

For me 1996 seemed like peak year for buying tunes

Cryptopsy - none so vile
Cathedral - Supernatural Birth Machine
Iron Maiden - Best Of The Beast
R.L. Burnside - A Ass Pocket of Whiskey
Sons Of Otis – Spacejumbofudge
Kyuss - Into The Void/Fatso Forgetso
Fu Manchu - In Search Of...
Earth - Pentastar: In The Style Of Demons
Soundgarden - Down On The Upside
Boris - Absolutego
Kool Keith - Dr. Octagonecologyst

Those are just from that year I felt were notable, If I recall, plenty of good comps were released at that time too...maybe I'm just thinking according to my own taste, anyone else feel this was a sweet year?

 

'94 was better

 

I remember 1996 being a pretty light year as far as new releases I liked go compared to say 1991 or 1993/1994/1995.

 

seeing as i was born that year, there's no better year for me really.

 

Random 1996 memories from a UK perspective: how Britpop, football and politics gave the country a glorious, but ultimately doomed confidence boost:

Oasis hit number one in January with 'Don't Look Back in Anger'.

At the Brits, Liam Gallagher accepts an award, saying 'We'd like to thank all the people...' then breaks into song: 'all the people, so many people, and they all go hand in hand, hand in hand through their ****E LIFE' (he's 'quoting' Blur's Park Life')

Damon Albarn is repeatedly taunted as he walks around London, with people constantly winding down their car windows to blast Oasis out of their car stereos.

The song Three Lions hits number one as England make their way to the Euro 96 semi-finals.

England fans at Wembley are too uptight to sing both parts of Three Lions in unison (The 'It's Coming Home' part and the 'Three Lions on a shirt' part), even though it would have sounded magnficent.

Paul Gascoigne matches Liam's Brit Awards humour with his famous 'dentist's chair' goal celebration.

Tony Blair announces 'Labour's Coming Home' at the annual party conference.

As the year ends, Oasis, football and Blair seem to signal a golden age for Britain to rival the mid-60s. It didn't end well...

 

I just checked my new-music purchases for each year of the '90s, and 1996 was far and away when I bought the least new albums. (1994 was at the top.)

 

Oh yes, it was.

 

Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, Murder Ballads, Odelay, Endtroducing..., Boys For Pele, Being There, Millions Now Living Will Never Die... Yep, not a bad year by any means.

 

It was a good year... 60ft Dolls, Steve Earle, Whiskeytown, Suede, Wallflowers, Ride, REM, Westerberg, Perfect, Patti Smith, Michael Monroe, Ian Hunter, Jason and the Scorchers, Heavy Stereo, D Generation, Ash, Black Crowes, and a boatload of B-list Britpop artists all released good albums that year.

 

I was buying a lot of country albums in 1996, looking back.

Aside from new releases by Tina Turner, Sheryl Crow, George Michael and Karen Carpenter, it wasn't one of my biggest purchasing years.

 

Met my wife, so, yeah!

 

After a slow start, some of my favourite albums of the 90's came out in the latter half of 1996:

Wilco - Being There
R.E.M. - New Adventures in Hi-fi
Cracker - The Golden Age
Beck - Odelay
Fountains of Wayne
Grandaddy - Under the Western Freeway
Richard Thompson - You? Me? Us?
Silver Jews - The Natural Bridge
Robert Forster - Warm Nights
Eels - Beautiful Freak
The Wannadies - Bagsy Me
East River Pipe - Mel
The Blue Nile - Peace at Last
Sparklehorse - Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
Jason Falkner - ...presents Author Unknown

It wasn't a bad year for reissues/box sets either:

Warren Zevon - I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (Anthology)
John Cale - Island Years
XTC - Fossil Fuel
Velvet Underground - What Goes On
The Beatles - Anthology 2 & 3
The Go-Betweens - Reissue of their first 6 albums including first time on CD for Springhill Fair

 

trying to see what I got that year.
metallica-load
George jones- I lived to tell it all
johnny cash- unchained
alice in chains- unplugged
soundgarden- down on the upside
willie nelson- spirit
tool- aenima
def leppard- slang
pearl jam- no code
black crowes-3 snakes
Waylon Jennings- right for the timerem- new adventures in hi-fi

looks like a decent year to me

 

'96 was an exceptional year personally. The stuff I was listening to made it even better.

My top 3:

Deep Purple - Purpendicular
Kula Shaker - K
Eddie Kramer's In From The Storm (Hendrix tribute)

 

musically was fine, much preferred the first half of the 90s. Generally found 90s trends to be horrible.

 

1996 was the year the original members of KISS reunited.

On June 28, 1996 KISS played to a sold out show at Detroit Tiger Stadium to start off a world tour.

I was there!

 

Twenty Bowie gigs in eight different countries.

Don't remember much else, but I have no complaints.

 

I really enjoyed the mid 90s rock music

 

Sammy out of VH

 

First time I saw The Who: 29 June 1996 - Hyde Park London.

 

Lots of groovy 70s Euro and Italian library stuff started coming out in 1996.

 

Dominated by Entroducing, but there were good albums to be sure, and you didn't have to go searching for them either.

Auteurs - After Murder Park
Colfax Abbey - Drop
DJ Shadow Entroducing
Dodgy - Free Peace Sweet
Dr Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst
Eyehategod - Dopesick
Ghostface - Iron Man
Harvey Milk - Courtesy, Good Will Toward Man
Heads - Relaxing With the Heads
Helta Skeltah - Nocturnal
Jack - Pioneer Soundtracks
Jeru the Damaga - Wrath of the Math
Magnog - S/T
Main - HZ
Mainliner - Mellow Out
Melvins - Stag
Mobb Deep - Hell On Earth
Neurosis - Through Silver In Blood
Polvo - Exploded Drawing
Ras Kas - Soul On Ice
Redman -Muddy Waters
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives - Welcome to the Infant Freebase
Spiritual Beggars - Another Way To Shine
Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Strangeloves - Love and Other Demons
Suede - Coming Up
Super Furry Animals -Fuzzy Logic
Supreme Dicks - The Emotional Plague
Tortoise - Millions Now Living...
UGK - Riding Dirty

 

The Residents - "Bad Day On The Midway" CD-ROM!!!!

 

Oh My God, I was a junior in high school and got my driver's license in 1996...thanks for making me feel old!

 

Do you keep a spreadsheet?