Post subject: MeccaLecca Starts New Music Diary To Forget to Keep Up With
This may turn out to be a regular thing, or not. Hard to imagine it'll remain consistent.
I've been relatively inactive on BEA over the past couple of years, but BEA continues to have a strong place in my heart. It's the best internet-based music community I've come across. I feel bad about my inactivity.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been digging into the 1990s, one year at a time. So I figure this might be a good place to convey some of my thoughts about individual years, and figuring out how they fit within the overall story of popular music.
1990
Caught between the monster releases from 1989 and 1991, this appears to be a transitional year, but it's not without its standouts.
The template for perfect dream pop was written in 1990 with the release of both Cocteau Twins' "Heaven or Las Vegas" and The Sundays' "Reading, Writing & Arithmetic." I first heard these bands via a mixtape my brother gave me sometime in the mid 90s. Since that moment, they've remained in steady rotation. Impressively, despite many imitators, both albums continue to sound fresh over 30 years later.
The 80s were hip hop in its infancy. The genre was fresh and exciting, but it was still really developing. In 1990, A Tribe Called Quest debuted with "People's Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm", the first record in their perfect 3 album run. They took the jazz-informed socially conscious style of De La Soul to an entirely new level. Meanwhile, NWA's Ice Cube stepped out on his own and released one of the early essential gangster rap records, and Public Enemy flexed their muscle with Fear of a Black Planet. Not to be overshadowed, the year also saw solid released from Erik B & Rakim, the Geto Boys, LL Cool J, Digital Underground and Kool G Rap. The floodgates of hip hop were just beginning to open, and before long hip hop would dominate MTV and the radio.
Revisiting Daniel Johnston's "1990" - It's more fine-tuned than his 80s output, without losing the charm and sincerity. I'm not sure Johnston ever released a better set of songs. For my money, the songwriting on 1990 is on par with the best works of Cohen and Dylan, which is insane.
Speaking of songwriters, The Good Son is a classic by Nick Cave. It's Cave at his most tender, abandoning the sinister post-punk of his 80s output for soaring ballads.
As a nerdy, sort of joke pop rock band, They Might Be Giants often get shrugged off by serious critics but goddamn this is one hell of a record. You'd be hard pressed to find another band who could pull this off better.
With tensions between Kim Deal and Frank Black rising, and Deal recording The Breeders debut, The Pixies' Bossanova marked the band's transition to essentially being all about Frank Black. The resulting record might not reach the highs of Doolittle or Surfer Rosa, but I'd still rather listen to it than almost any alt/indie rock record ever released. The Breeders' Pod was also a fantastic start to something special. Deal deserved to have the opportunity to take the primary role in a band, and she shined.
The Chainsaw Kittens remain one of my personal favorite now-forgotten rock bands of that era. They weren't groundbreaking, but they had a sound that was uniquely their own.
Thanks y'all (I'm living in the southeast now, so I need to address people as y'all).
Getting some feedback is inspiring. I hope to get another post about 1990 in this week/month.
For reference, I was 8 years old in 1990, when these records came out. Having teenage brothers, and already being hooked on MTV, some of these records made an impact on me at the time.
I was really into "Been Caught Stealing" when it came out, and I'd have to say that Jane's Addiction's Ritual De Lo Habitual has aged so much better than I'd expect, especially in relation to the Red Hot Chili Peppers discography. For all the bands they inspired, no one really managed to take their style and improve upon it.
Similarly, "Enjoy The Silence" was an MTV staple that hit me hard in that time period. I never owned a copy of Violator until much later on, so I don't have a nostalgic connection to most of the songs. 30 years later, and it still sounds relatively fresh.
Living Colour was huge back then, but their biggest record hasn't really had the staying power of Ritual De Lo Habitual or Violator. For what it is, it's still a really tight record, showing funky riff rock at its peak. It's just a sound I'm never in the mood for.
Check out the ridiculous fashion of that era. It's like late 2000s hipster but over a decade sooner.
"Mama Said Knock You Out" was another inescapable hit during that era. I enjoyed it at the time, but never spent much time with that record until recently. I was pretty surprised just how good it is.
For what it's worth, this is my updated chart for 1990. I'm finding it harder and harder to rank records these days. It's all subjective, based on whatever mood I'm in at the time. In the past I've cut charts down to only the records I'd deem essential, but that often cuts out fun lesser known records that someone else may stumble upon and really enjoy. It always gets muddy when dealing with groundbreaking albums that made a significant impact (that I don't necessarily love) vs albums that I simply love
For what it's worth, this is my updated chart for 1990. I'm finding it harder and harder to rank records these days. It's all subjective, based on whatever mood I'm in at the time. In the past I've cut charts down to only the records I'd deem essential, but that often cuts out fun lesser known records that someone else may stumble upon and really enjoy. It always gets muddy when dealing with groundbreaking albums that made a significant impact (that I don't necessarily love) vs albums that I simply love
Yeah. I try not to overthink it. Gods knows my attitude to particular albums shifts from year to year. Some albums rise and some fall. I look at as more of a fun game. I know my rankings are not even absolute for ME never mind culture at large. I know my rankings will change five years from now or even tomorrow with a fresh listen on some album I never really got before. For me, making charts is just a fun and creative process. And also a path for my own new discoveries. I like throw in some color - perhaps a power pop albums no one's heard of here followed by some universally lauded post-punk album over here. It's like creating a menu at great restaurant. You want to have fun with it. Have something on their for the adventurous but also some classics so people know they can trust you as their chef. And just as a chef would get bored making the same dish every night, I would get bored writing and listening about the same usual suspects.
With that said, I make damn sure that every dish is delish! If I give something a high place in a chart that I'm touting I really do love that album.
Change of plans. Inspired by the 1001 Album Club podcast, I've decided to listen to an album a day from Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Rather than start from the beginning and follow the same chronology as the podcast, I've decided to begin with my birth year (1982).
You can find the whole list here:
https://blacksunshinemedia.com/music/10...e-you-die/
It's good to be starting with an album I'm not exceptionally familiar with. From the start Lexicon of Love instantly takes me back to the early 80s. With this over the top, polished production, and early synthesizers, there's just no other time period that produced this auditory aesthetic. Every moment I'm ready to write it off as over-produced schlocky disco synth pop, there's just enough happening musically that I get pulled in. It's just such a conflicting record. Few other synth pop records were so ambitious with their composition, but it's also the synthetic orchestral flourishes that rub me the wrong way while listening. The killer funky bass provides memorable moments throughout the record. I can see this sounding as fresh in 1982 as it sounds dated in 2021.
If this album came on at a party, I could get down with it, but I can't connect with it on an emotional level to consider it essential listening
Good idea: I see that some really fine albums are coming your way.
1982 wasn't my birth year but in the middle of my youth and this ABC album and especially the hits were everywhere: you couldn't escape them so as more of a rock lover I had a bit of a love/hate relation with it (the other two comparable artists where Spandau Ballet and The Human League) but the songs were so good it was hard to hate them: I still have the same strange alienating feeling when I hear The Look Of Love as in my youth: I don't know why.
I haven't got the album in my year chart of 1982, I suppose because of the filler, but maybe I should reconsider.
I'll try to follow this thread of yours and give you my opinion on the albums you discuss.
Good idea: I see that some really fine albums are coming your way.
1982 wasn't my birth year but in the middle of my youth and this ABC album and especially the hits were everywhere: you couldn't escape them so as more of a rock lover I had a bit of a love/hate relation with it (the other two comparable artists where Spandau Ballet and The Human League) but the songs were so good it was hard to hate them: I still have the same strange alienating feeling when I hear The Look Of Love as in my youth: I don't know why.
I haven't got the album in my year chart of 1982, I suppose because of the filler, but maybe I should reconsider.
I'll try to follow this thread of yours and give you my opinion on the albums you discuss.
I definitely know what you mean about the love/hate relationship some artists from this era. Oddly enough, I might actually prefer the non singles from Lexicon of Love over the singles, so that might be something to look forward to, as long as you can get past the alienating feeling of hearing The Look of Love . _________________ http://jonnyleather.com
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