Favorite Album of the 90's

[southern81]

some one posted about it so i looked and its funny
Istanbul - Tiny Toons

[liisawinklergirl]

sorry im a little pop chick so EROTICA by Madonna ranks up there for me hehehe

[Prospero]

Every decade in the history of popular music has its own characteristics – but all build upon the music that came before. The 1950s laid the bedrock of most of what followed (though the blues and country music that informed rock and roll started far earlier. The first recorded appearance by a bluesman in the UK was Champion jack Dupree in the 1940s). The 1960s synthesised all sorts of elements from the 1950s and introduced new ones (especially once pop musicians started to experiment with hallucinogenic drugs and discovered “world” music) and revitalised the rock music that had grown bland and anaemic by the end of the 1950s. (All those Bobbys and rickys).

By the 1970s some of that energy had produced the bloated and silly music of the progressive rock era and that bred a resurgance of pure rock in the shape of punk and also the birth of re-energised black music in the forms of rap, hip hop etc. It also saw the beginners of new forms – from figures such as David Bowie and the music of 1960s bands like the Yardbirds and Cream harden into the birth of heavy metal. Led Zeppelin bred a million imitators. In the 1980s the Punk moment had lost its impetus became somewhat decadent with glam rock and such musical/fashion movements (in the UK) as the new romantics with performers as Boy George and his imitators.

For individuals coming of age in these decades each era presented them with fresh sounds as the background to adolescence. But the music of the previous era still survived – sometimes in a anaemic form. So Elvis for instance played on into the 60s and 70s, but seldom achieved the raw heat of his 50s rock’n’roll. The solo Beatles never achieved that élan that marked their group music. The Stones thundered on becoming an ever more comedic version of themselves.

But mElvis Costello offered a unique new songwriting talent. ajor new artists emerged in all genres. Springsteen in the 1980s revitalised rock. Grandmaster Flash and Public Enemy were (for me) the best that rap ever offered – politicised and white hot. Punk striped away the banal pomposity of progressive rock to offer lean, clean and abrasive music – the Clash, The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, Television, Talking Heads and – for me – the finest music of all – Patti Smith.

This same retrenchment and resurgance and remaking continues apace. With new forms always emerging into the light.

So the 1980s? Best albums? Some of my favourites

Time out Of Mind – Bob Dylan
American Recordings Vol 1 and 2 – Johnny Cash
Automatic For The People –REM
Bone Machine - Tom Waits
The Black Rider – Tom Waits
Mule Variations –Tom Waits
The Juliet Letters –Elvis Costello
Painted from Memory – Elvis Costello
Dummy - Portishead
Murder Ballads – Nick Cave
Weird Nightmare – a tribute to Charlie Mingus produced by hal Wilner
Diamonds and pearls – Prince
Yellow Moon – The Neville Brothers
Forget about it – Alison Krauss
Magic and loss – Lou Reed
Last of The Independents – The pretenders