Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral (1994)
How to take a great, big, dirty, ugly riff and turn it into something that pulsates and pleasures with lustful melodies and frantic percussion. Choice cut – Closer.
Abrasive and arrogant and a defining moment of 90s Britain. Choice cut – Live Forever.
Their first real brush with the mainstream, and an immediately accessible alternative rock album that is still unafraid to digress and experiment within the constrains of the traditional rock band make up. Choice cut – Cut Your Hair.
Pixies – Doolittle (1989)
Frank Black shouts his way through creative prose that sounds so destructive with brash guitars thunderous percussion. One of the alternative rock greats. Choice cut – Debaser.
Gosh, 1994 was a pretty tasty year musicwise, wasnt’ it? NIN, Pavement, Oasis and this work of unmatched sinister gloom and heartbreaking vocals. Massive Attack may have intiated the whole trip hop thing, but this was where it peaked, with an album that manages to both menace and comfort with little regard for convention. Choice cut – Roads.
Too funky for its own good, this is Prince beating Michael Jackson at his own game, and coming up with an epic in pop proportions that will last forever. Choice cut – When Doves Cry.
Far too big an influence and inspiration on the ska scene to even comprehend, these are 24 of his most appreciated works. The master of a genre. Choice cut – Al Capone.
Bass! Choice cut – Bring the Noise.
Pulp – Different Class (1995)
When Britpop matured into an era in music that became something worth talking about. Intelligent, with a huge pop sensibility. Choice cut – Common People.
Radiohead – OK Computer (1997)
From Britpop’s greatest long player, to the one that killed it off. Showed more ambition than anything heard in over 10 years, with just enough pessimism for the emo kids to appreciate it too. Choice cut – Let Down.
