I'd struggle to get to 50 albums from the 90s that i care for, and only two of that list would be among them.
Going by a lot of those choices, it's like their editorial department got partly taken over by Clear Channel/iHeartMedia programmers.
I have most of these albums and can definitely live with this list. Nice to see Cocteau Twins - Heaven and Las Vegas so high. Also good to see Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Tortoise, Slint, Talk Talk and other post-rock marvels represented. Mogwai should have been in the list as well though.
Loveless is a good choice for the best album of that decade. The worst omission I've noticed is Bob Mould's Copper Blue.
Somehow worse than their selection of the top 250 "decade defining" songs of the 90's list. The top 25 is filled with Pop and Rap/hip-hop. And the zoomers and hip geriatrics on this forum still have the nerve to say that we're paranoid for noticing this blatant revisionism.
Hole over Nirvana?! No! I absolutely agree with No. 1 My Bloody Valentine - Loveless though. One Genius and ageless record.
Hole ahead of Nirvana is hilarious. I've got nearly all of those early Wu-Tang albums and ODB should be nowhere near this list. Neither should Life After Death. No metal? Vulgar Display of Power? Korn? The Black Album?! BloodSugarSexMagik? Jeff Buckley way down there?! Yuk. Good Night.
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and Exile in Guyville have become sooooo overrated. Everybody already forgot about the Lauryn Hill album, and Exile in Guyville only looks good these days against what came after it, IMO. Low End Theory sounds so boring and dated now... I love the '90s and think it was a very diverse decade for great albums, but there are few of them in that top 10.
I never care about lists nor the opinions of Pitchfork. But I can go for Loveless at number 1. Then I will move Violator up from 136 to number 2. A few favorites of mine show up here and there. And a lot of meh and blah. But that is how things go.
Critics were falling over themselves in love with Exile in Guyville from the beginning. What stands out more now is how much they have grown to love Fiona Apple after so long. Her career arc of doing nothing for long stretches might help, like it did for Daft Punk.
While I might disagree with some of the relative placements, I could easily see anything in the top 50 being someone’s absolute favorite album of the decade. Overall, I like this list a lot more than I liked than their list of singles. Yes, there are some omissions, but really, it reminded me how much good stuff came out in the 90s.
Some glaring omissions Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness Pearl Jam - Vs Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible Faith No More - Angel Dust Morrissey - Vauxhall and I Suede - Dog Man Star Alice in Chains - Dirt Jane's Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual The above albums didn't get in but Toni Braxton and Boys II Men did? Some other thoughts Violator should be at least in the top 20 It's good to see Fear of a Black Planet and Last Splash get (fairly) high positions. I'll never understand the love for Loveless. I find it such a dull album to listen to and it just sounds like Kevin Shields showing off his guitar pedal collection for forty-five minutes.
I like Loveless but your review may be the best I’ve ever read of it. It really is a guitar feedback wank isn’t it?
I got one paragraph in and the fact that they said a new release CD was $20 in the 90s makes me think they weren’t really there. MSRP was almost always $18.99 and most retailers didn’t charge that on hot new titles…
I'm also surprised that the Twin Peaks soundtrack didn't make it in. I feel like that’s been a very influential album especially in the last ten years or so.
Working in a record store throughout the 90s, the titles here were definitely many of the more popular ones at the time. Personally I'm a fan of only a handful of them but happy to see Sarah McLachlan's "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" get a mention, one of my faves from the 90s and one whose brilliance I feel is too often overlooked. Great list overall.
Obviously not enough electronic music for me there. I have 89 of these but they lose me with the pop garbage like Destiny’s Child or whatever.
CDs costed that much if you only shopped at the most expensive corporate retailers and had no awareness of independent shops, or were unfortunate only to live in an area with a mall that had like one Sam Goody or something.
A single jazz album (Sonny Sharrock Ask The Ages) in the entire list? David S Ware, Charles Gayle, Joe Lovano, Henry Threadgill, Arcana etc. Plus Isotope 217. I would have put Patti Smith's Gone Again in - as fine a comeback album as anyone has made. Also a bit surprised at the Tortoise choice - TNT instead of Millions Now Living...? And The Necks...critical darlings recently...but no space for one of their earlier albums like Hanging Gardens.
Yeah and I don’t think Sam Goody was even that insane. I remember buying Blur 13 on release for like 15.99 and that was not on sale, just because the local Best Buy and Cheapo records were sold out (they were usually cheaper)
