Rock Evolution – The History of Rock & Roll - 1998 - (page 271)

My kids were teenagers in this year and would constantly tell me of a 'great new band'. It was they that introduced me to Nirvana and this year I remember settling down on the couch to listen to new bands to me Oasis and Blur. I would often be an old fart and tell them 'pa...thats not as good as XYZ from 74' but not this time. I immediately thought Blur were very clever and Parklife was a very good album. I liked but was a little more sniffy about Oasis but couldn't deny that Definitely Maybe was a fine album. I followed their careers with interest and still favoured Blur during the 95 battle of the bands (the rest of the family were firmly in the Gallagher camp). Funny how your tastes change. I cannot remember the last time I listened to Blur but still don't mind a blast of DM. I didn't see either band in the 90's but last year three generations of us watched Oasis at Murrayfield. My Daughter, Grandaughter and sadly my lad who was the biggest Oasis fan couldn't go due to his long covid.

Anyway, sitting in the lounge listening to the music when first released still is a vivid memory for all of these tracks:

Cigarettes and Alcohol - Oasis
Girls and Boys - Blur
Zombie - The Cranberries
Whats the Frequency Kenneth. - REM
 
@FogBlueInSanFran if you still have your notes on Loser it would be a good read! Definitely one of the best songs of the year and I think we all know that there's differences between when it's recorded/released etc.

I think Loser would rank as one of my top 10 songs of the decade. It just blew me away when I heard it. He's such a clever musician!
 
GoatersLeftShin said:
@FogBlueInSanFran if you still have your notes on Loser it would be a good read! Definitely one of the best songs of the year and I think we all know that there's differences between when it's recorded/released etc.

I think Loser would rank as one of my top 10 songs of the decade. It just blew me away when I heard it. He's such a clever musician!
Click to expand...
Loser — Beck

The song of the year by nearly any white man’s account, it pushed the indy envelope to the edge with lyrics that simultaneously confused, surprised and delighted you as you — and everyone else — sang along. In fact, I recall being over at a neighbo(u)rs' house some years after this tune came out, getting plastered on pinot noir, singing along to this on their in-home karaoke. I mean this song is a meme in and of itself, and every line is a meme in and of itself too. So clever, so catchy, so funky and so ridiculous. An unkempt wimp goes hypersonic with a tune that anyone could have recorded in their basement if one were talented enough. But few are, and thus this unlikely genius magically comes up with a Gen X anthem nearly as meaningful as Smells Like Teen Spirit. One of my favo(u)rite 20 songs of all time.
 
As foggy has mentioned the birth of the TV show ‘Friends’ in his write up, it seems apt to nominate some “Friends” music.
I first saw this band being lauded by Danny Baker on his late night tv show,
I was immediately struck with Darius Ruckers voice and went out a bought the album and went to see them live at The International.
Another song I played and sang for my wife
Hootie and the Blowfish ‘ONLY WANNA BE WITH YOU’
 
First pick for me will be You & Me Song by the Wannadies. MrsBelfry and I first danced to this at our wedding in 1999. Although like many songs of this era I don't think it became popular until it appeared on the Romeo 'n Juliet soundtrack. Also famously used in Coronation Street when Richard Hillman drive his family into a canal. I've not seen either of those pop culture moments though so it will always be my wedding song. Despite the romantic feelings I still hold towards my wife my favourite Wannadies song is Hit followed by Shorty but that should not diminish this track even though it's third favourite.

One of my great joys in life is seeing MrsBelfry enjoy dancing to songs she enjoys. I'm too self conscious to join in these days but as we soon celebrate our middle child's 18th in a couple of months I'm mentally preparing myself to join in and party like I used to when I was younger. Many happy memories of getting into a nightclub early and dancing with MsBelfry as no one called her before we were married. She's not a particularly graceful dancer. She tends to favour her elbows but she will throw a high kick in every now and then particularly to Sabotage by the Beasties.
 
My Iron Lung is perfect early Radiohead. Sounds like the Beatles but has the beautiful ugly loud dynamics that perhaps are super cliche but it's a song I love. Coming after Pablo Honey it had the familiar sound but with doomsday guitar solos that leaves me breathless. Perhaps they are over rated but I love it anyway. Of course it appeared on The Bends which was released in 1995 which gives me a chance to nominate it then. Instead I'll nominate a track from the My Iron Lung EP released in 1994 and that is Lewis - Mistreated. I'm tricky like that.

It's a pretty simple indie rocker that could have been released by any number of bands around the time and does feature a generic lyric about how miserable it is to work in an office written by a miserable person in the band not noticing the irony but the guitar tone is gooooooood and Yorke gives a great performance. I think his voice is massively underrated by those who think he's a misery merchant. Sure he's not Robert Plant but there is a care he takes that is maybe not best exemplified by this track but is evidenced by what was kind of a throwaway. It is possibly even a Radiohead song that foggy might like when he emerges from his curmudgeonly hipster period. You could call it generic but I prefer the term classic
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Loser — Beck

The song of the year by nearly any white man’s account, it pushed the indy envelope to the edge with lyrics that simultaneously confused, surprised and delighted you as you — and everyone else — sang along. In fact, I recall being over at a neighbo(u)rs' house some years after this tune came out, getting plastered on pinot noir, singing along to this on their in-home karaoke. I mean this song is a meme in and of itself, and every line is a meme in and of itself too. So clever, so catchy, so funky and so ridiculous. An unkempt wimp goes hypersonic with a tune that anyone could have recorded in their basement if one were talented enough. But few are, and thus this unlikely genius magically comes up with a Gen X anthem nearly as meaningful as Smells Like Teen Spirit. One of my favo(u)rite 20 songs of all time.
Click to expand...
Abso-fucking-lutely brilliant that mate! Couldn't have put it better myself and love that story as well!

Beck makes things effortlessly cool and makes it look easy, but it most certainly isn't easy!!
 
Saddleworth2 said:
My kids were teenagers in this year and would constantly tell me of a 'great new band'. It was they that introduced me to Nirvana and this year I remember settling down on the couch to listen to new bands to me Oasis and Blur. I would often be an old fart and tell them 'pa...thats not as good as XYZ from 74' but not this time. I immediately thought Blur were very clever and Parklife was a very good album. I liked but was a little more sniffy about Oasis but couldn't deny that Definitely Maybe was a fine album. I followed their careers with interest and still favoured Blur during the 95 battle of the bands (the rest of the family were firmly in the Gallagher camp). Funny how your tastes change. I cannot remember the last time I listened to Blur but still don't mind a blast of DM. I didn't see either band in the 90's but last year three generations of us watched Oasis at Murrayfield. My Daughter, Grandaughter and sadly my lad who was the biggest Oasis fan couldn't go due to his long covid.

Anyway, sitting in the lounge listening to the music when first released still is a vivid memory for all of these tracks:

Cigarettes and Alcohol - Oasis
Girls and Boys - Blur
Zombie - The Cranberries
Whats the Frequency Kenneth. - REM
Click to expand...
Thank you for selecting my favourite Oasis track. I do love its T.Rex vibe.
 
We had tickets to see Nirvana at the G-Mex I think it was. Obviously we didn't get to see them, but what a band Nirvana are/were. Cobain was a seriously good songwriter and jeez that band could play as well. Their ability to be soft and slow one minute then blow the speakers apart the next is something else. Not many bands will ever write albums as good as Nevermind, In Utero, Bleach and Incesticide.

I remember being out the night he died when my mate came into the fairly empty pub we were in, to deliver the news. It felt era defining really that it was all over. As good as the other bands in the Grunge scene were, none of them had that searing energy Nirvana had. Our hair started to get a bit shorter - the longer Grunge locks were going and the new Britpop haircuts started to appear...

Anyway, here's some nominations:

Voodoo People - The Prodigy

Dance music was mainly about individual tracks in the early 90s but The Prodigy were one of the first bands that changed that. This album saw them turn away from maybe some of the 'jokey' tracks they'd done and the result is superb.

Whilst it's maybe hard to hear it now, but the sampling of electric guitars on the album opened them up to new audiences. The fact this album 'works' is a testament to their ability and it still sounds powerful to this day.

I could also nominate 'Their Law' with PWEI - "fuck em and their law" with regards to the 'anti-rave' laws enacted at the time. As I've said before, dance/rave music was constantly in the news with huge numbers of people attending raves and the govts laughable attempts to stop them.

Buddy Holly - Weezer

This song was played in every indie club I went to! It's such a clever pop song and the 'Blue Album' is a classic of the 90s.

Portishead - Sour Times

Dummy is one of the best albums of the 90s and this is the best track on it. Again, it's hard to describe just how different it sounded back then - literally no one else sounded like them. Soulful yet intensely polished.

Parklife - Blur

This album just seemed to appear from nowhere! I knew a few Blur songs but they weren't great but when this arrived it was like a new band had been formed. It's one of the best of the 90s and has to be included as in the next year it sets up for the "Battle Of Britpop"!
 
I'm not nominating them just yet because I have some other choices I'm mulling over but if you'd asked me what my favourite genre of music was in this period I'd have said 'b sides'. Oasis had Do You Want To Be A Spaceman? and Half the World Away. Blur took a different tack with Supa Shoppa but I think I played that song more than the Park Life album. We are about to see lad culture emerge but there was some great stuff coming out in the next few years
 
Two nominations left to pick from some songs I love and also stuff by Gene. I might wait a bit and hope someone else nominates but I'm missing @BlueHammer85 as he might have taken some of picks.

Probably out of all the years we've been though this is my favourite so far so if I get excited over the next few days please forgive me
 
Because I could just pick a thousand indie rock bangers by terrorvision, supergrass, elastica, pulp, dodgy etc I'm going to instead pick a song that kind of also is reflective of what music was coming to the fore at this time. We saw tracks like I Like to Move It, Come Baby Come, You Don't Love Me, Murder She Wrote, Original Nuttah and Them Girls Them Girls but I'll nominate Incredible by General Levy. My brother and I also tried to get this song turned into a chant

"Boyata, Boyata, Dedryck is massive". It never took off because of that red card at Arsenal but in another world it would have been a terrace banger.

Now I have to think really hard about my final pick. Love is All Around has some bad memories associated with it.
 
mrbelfry said:
Because I could just pick a thousand indie rock bangers by terrorvision, supergrass, elastica, pulp, dodgy etc I'm going to instead pick a song that kind of also is reflective of what music was coming to the fore at this time. We saw tracks like I Like to Move It, Come Baby Come, You Don't Love Me, Murder She Wrote, Original Nuttah and Them Girls Them Girls but I'll nominate Incredible by General Levy. My brother and I also tried to get this song turned into a chant

"Boyata, Boyata, Dedryck is massive". It never took off because of that red card at Arsenal but in another world it would have been a terrace banger.

Now I have to think really hard about my final pick. Love is All Around has some bad memories associated with it.
Click to expand...
:D :D :D :D

Absolutely brilliant!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top