#21: "Starfuckers, Inc." - Nine Inch Nails Release Date: 2000 Director:Robert Hales Fun Fact: The song is a dig at image-obsessed vain celebrity musicians; Trent takes a stab at loads of artists in the song and in the video, the best example is when he throws balls at plates with musician plates on them. Some of these celebrities mocked include Marilyn Manson, Courtney Love of Hole, David Lee Roth, Michael Stipe of REM, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit!
The story behind this video and song is what makes this one of my favourite music videos of all time. Basically, Trent has issues with image-obsessed celebrities; he's quite old fashioned in the respect that if you're a musician your main priority should be about the music, and your status as a celebrity is not important. He has issues with a lot of people, and he decided to take his frustrations out on these people in one single song and music video. And what a music video it is. Trent rides in a limousine with a sexy young lady who's face is hidden, before going to a circus. At the circus he takes part in some games, namely throwing balls at plates with the faces of these celebrity musicians, he also sees a rather obese lady sitting on a tank full of waste. She resembles Courtney Love. He throws the ball at the switch which makes her fall into the disgusting waste tank. At one point he's throwing music albums into a toilet, one you can clearly see is "Mechanical Animals" by Marilyn Manson. Trent Reznor's issues with Marilyn Manson go back a long way and they still don't see eye to eye now. But the plot twist in the entire video is that Marilyn Manson is actually the "sexy young lady" in the limousine with Trent! It was a fantastic plot twist that no one sees coming! Trent and Manson briefly made amends in the year 2000, released this music video, did a short tour together... before falling out again. They've never seen eye to eye again since. But the fact that for one moment, these two amazing metal legends rekindled their friendship, to shit on all of these celebrities together, including themselves, creates one of the most magical music videos of all time. In my opinion of course. Seriously watch this video if you haven't seen it before, it's a brilliant "diss" video, if you want to use rap slang! Note: This is the third and last video from the year 2000 in this list.
Here is the video for your enjoyment!
Click here to see #20 on the list or here for #22!
#48: "Tonight, Tonight" - Smashing Pumpkins Release Date: 1996 Director:Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris Fun Fact: The video was inspired by a 1902 French silent film called A Trip to the Moon! They had difficult finding decent costumes for the video because of the making of the Titanic movie!
This song and video is critically acclaimed and is found on many "best videos of all time" lists and rightfully so. It's just a beautifully crafted music video in every sense of the word; the costumes (which, credit to them because of the fun fact above) look brilliant, the artistic direction is flawless and exceptionally executed, and the band, even though they're kind of separate from the plot of the video, don't look out of place at all. This is simply just one of those music videos you have to see before you die. Regardless of if you like the Smashing Pumpkins or the genre of music this band play, it's just one heck of a music video that you truly have to see.
Here's the video for your enjoyment!
Click here to see #47 on the list or here for #49!
Hello again. I've just done another show, which I can promise is weirder and has more requests than any other show so far. The Rock and Metal Double Feature Show (or it split into two parts) will be my regular show going forward. It mixes everything I love, music wise, and it's enough variety for you guys to put in your song requests. Any feedback is appreciated if you listen to the show, the link is below!
The Rock and Metal Double Feature Show: 14/12/13 Track listing: The Rock Hour It's No Game - David Bowie Since You've Been Gone - Rainbow Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones Iron Man - Black Sabbath While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles November Rain - Guns 'n' Roses Going for Gold - Shed Seven If Your Dad Doesn't Have a Beard, You've Got Two Mums - The Beards Crazy Bitch - Buck Cherry Panic Station - Muse Smooth Sailing - The Queens of the Stone Age
The Metal Show The Great Destroyer - Nine Inch Nails Insane in the Brain - Cypress Hill Going Under - Evanescence Ha Ha You're Dead - Green Day Ava Adore - Smashing Pumpkins Martyr No More - Fozzy Through Glass - Stone Sour 5 Minutes Alone - Pantera Shout at the Devil - Motley Crue Obsessive Time Directive - Azure Emote Sulfur - Slipknot Seize the Day - Avenged Sevenfold Total show running time: 02:00:00 Other entries you might want to read:
Hey everyone, welcome to the ninth edition in a series of
reviews of a year in music. So far I have covered all the 2000s together as the
Noughtie series,
and so far 1999,
then 1998,
followed by 1997
and 1996,
1995,
1994, 1993 and 1992.
Just in case you’re not familiar with it, here’s the format.
It will be done in five parts. I'll do a brief history of what happened in that
year, followed by my five favourite albums of the year, then what I think the
five best videos are. I'll then do a Top 10 most impactful (still refraining
from using the word important) songs from that year. To wrap it up, I'll do my
favourite songs in a mixtape format. So now that you know where I'm going with
this, let's get to it!
1991 was an odd year for music. Probably until September, when “you know what” got released by Nirvana, it pretty much felt like the old guard getting rusty from the eighties. Times were changing, the people who found success in the eighties were struggling to take to this change, and people wanted something new, something fresh. Nirvana and the grunge movement brought that, but it didn’t really come to full effect until 1992. So what we have here is a mixture of good and… okay. Enjoy the review!
Brief History of the
Year 1991 in Music
Nirvana
release "Nevermind", one of the, if not the biggest album
released since, and the grunge genre movement explodes to the mainstream
Lead
singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury, dies of AIDS.
Oasis
form, becoming probably the biggest British band of the nineties.
Metallica
release their self titled album (also called The Black Album), their most
successful album in their 31 year career.
Rage
Against the Machine form, starting the nu-metal era of metal, and become
one of the most outspoken and controversial bands of the nineties.
Talking
Heads, one of the biggest post-punk and new wave bands of all time, disband.
They would only play one more time together, in 2002, when they were inducted
into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
My Top 5 Albums of
1991
#5 – “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Released: 24/9/91
Rating: ***3/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: “Breaking the Girl”, “Give it Away”,
“They’re Red Hot”
I
love the Chilis. They’re a great band. They make music like no other artist out
there. There are have been a few bands that have tried to put their spin on the
funk rock sound that the Chilis have perfected but none have had anywhere near
the success that the Red Hot Chili Peppers have. But my problem with the Chilis
is that their album material is usually a step down from their singles. Quite
consistently in their career. Now I’m sure there are many people who disagree
with me on that of course. It’s just me, I know. Blood Sugar Sex Magik is a
great album though, I thoroughly enjoy listening to it. I mean, it’s the same
pattern, the singles are by far the best songs on the album, but the
non-singles are fun too. If I were to recommend one Chilis album, it’d probably
be this.
#4 – “Out of Time” by R.E.M.
Released: 12/3/91
Rating: ***3/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: “Losing My Religion”, “Shiny Happy
People”, “Radio Song”
Why the Radio Song is not on any Greatest Hits album R.E.M.
have released is beyond me. What a cool track that is.
Anyway, “Out of Time” is an R.E.M. effort that I forgot
about, until I made this article for your pleasure. It surprised me a little
with how good it is. I mean I do prefer “Automatic for the People”, but I take nothing
away from this album, it’s a cracker. One of my favourite non-singles is
“Country Feedback” a song really pulls at the heartstrings, and was so good
that it was released on R.E.M.’s final release of compilation tracks. Michael
Stipe has also called that his favourite ever song, which is quite the
statement. There’s a lot of gold on “Out of Time”, and deserves a lot of
respect as one of R.E.M.’s finest albums.
#3 – “Look Mom, No Head!” by The Cramps
Released: November 1991
Rating: ****1/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: “Bend Over, I'll Drive”, “Dames, Booze,
Chains and Boots”, “I Wanna Get in Your Pants”
Look at Poison Ivy. Man, she was so hot.
Anyway,
I love The Cramps. I don’t swear often on this site but it deserves it here. I
fucking love The Cramps. If I were to list you a set of bands that deserve more
attention for their discography The Cramps would be very high on that list. The
Cramps are a band that started a genre. Psychobilly wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t
for The Cramps. They’re so good, and while their songs going into the nineties
were slowly losing quality, this is their last great effort. There are some
absolute gems on this album; those three songs above are there for starters.
They only released one single off it with “Eyeball in My Martini”, which is
pretty good, but some of the other non-singles are brilliant. Just look at
those song titles. Aren’t they brilliant? You know what you’re going to get
with The Cramps, dirty yet sexy licks, with funny innuendo in their lyrics.
They’re just a band that really deserves more attention; please PLEASE check
them out if you’ve never heard them before. You’re missing out!
#2 – “Metallica” by Metallica
Released: 12/8/91
Rating: ****1/2 stars
Stand-out tracks: “Enter Sandman”, “The Unforgiven”, “Sad
But True”
There are two albums from the year 1991 that probably get
more recognition and praise than any other. It doesn’t matter who you are, what
music you like, or anything else, there are two albums that trumped everything
else in terms of attention and longevity. These two albums are to put simply,
two of the greatest albums of all time.
First
is “The Black Album”, or the self titled “Metallica” album. That’s got to be
one of the coolest album covers ever. I’m not the biggest Metallica fan, especially for their albums, but if you love metal, it doesn’t
matter what type of metal you like, you have to listen to this. It goes without
saying. It’s just from the first track to the last, pure quality in the metal
genre. The Black Album oozes brilliance throughout. It’s amazing how fucking
good this album really is. And as I said, I’m not a huge Metallica fan, and
it’s still damn good. You simply, can’t call yourself a metal fan until you
appreciate this album. It’s a true classic, a true piece of legendary music that
will go down in history as one of the finest albums ever recorded. It’s that
simple.
It’s probably not a surprise that this is my favourite album
from 1991. But what you may find surprising is that I found it very hard to
give this a star rating of ****1/2 stars. It’s one of those albums that for me
is between ****1/4 and ****1/2, but because of the nostalgia, the impact and
the significance of the album, I gave it the latter rating.
This isn’t my favourite Nirvana album. In fact, a case can
be made that it’s my least favourite Nirvana album. But no one can dispute that
this album is great. It’s a fantastic album. It annoys me when a lot of people
talk about this album being crap. It’s not. It’s far from it. But… it was
overplayed. Nirvana as a band, we’re overplayed, overhyped. I wouldn’t say
overrated, but they got so much attention and it was shoved in everyone’s
throats for a long long time. Nevermind was played so much during the nineties,
especially “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. And as I say, rightfully so in a certain
way as it is a great album. But enough was enough.
If
you take away all the hype and attention away and strip this album down to its
core and listen to it, it’s a great effort. It’s not the best, but it’s damn
good. There are some fantastic songs on here, and the music singles were
awesome too. They’re just not my favourite tracks on the album. But if,
somehow, you haven’t heard this album, I do recommend you listen to it at least
once. Regardless of your taste in music, if you like metal, rock, grunge, pop,
dance music, RnB, it doesn’t matter. This is an album that strips musical
barriers, and appeals to a vast audience. Simply at its core, “Nevermind” is a
legendary album that is an album you have to hear before you die. It’s as
simple as that.
My Top 5 Music Videos
of 1991
#5 – “Give it Away” by Red Hot Chili Peppers
I have to be honest 1991 wasn’t really that great for videos
but one that always stands out is “Give it Away” by the Chili’s. How can a
video where half naked men in shiny pants and make up in a black and while
video be considered so popular? It’s beyond me in some ways but no one can deny
how this video became iconic. You have to give credit to the director as the video
matches the song perfectly, it’s lively, it’s a little crazy and it actually
looks fun to direct. Just like the song “Give it Away” is all of those things
to a certain extent. “Give it Away” is just a video you have to see to
understand, and to experience.
#4 – “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana
It may be an odd choice but this was a great music video.
It’s not the best music video in the world, and it doesn’t have much artistic
direction, but it’s so iconic. It’s a legendary music video. And yes, it is
purely because of the attention the song and the band got, but regardless, this
is a good music video. It shows what Nirvana do best, play music in a raw and
hostile environment. I love all the shots of the dirty gymnasium, the greasy
hair, the playing hard, the cheerleaders, everything. It’s just a music video
that does exactly what music videos are supposed to do, promote the song and
promote the band. And it does both of these things perfectly.
#3 – “Shiny Happy People” by R.E.M.
I forgot how hot Kate Pierson is in this video, and at the
age of 43 as well. What? What can I say? I love redheads! Anyway, I can’t help
but love this video. I think it’s just because band members are all trying
their hardest to look happy but all still look discretely despondent, with the
exception of Kate Pierson anyway, of the B52’s, whose smiles just gleam the
video camera lense. The video is just great, it’s just totally watchable
despite not much really happening apart from the above, in front of a large
painting of childrens drawings of ‘happy people’. It’s just an awesome video.
Oh and one more thing, Michael Stipe’s incredibly brown suit and cap turned
sideways is another amazing highlight of the video.
#2 – “Black or White” by Michael Jackson
If you’re wondering once again I’m including Michael Jackson
when I don’t include pop artists as a rule it’s because I think Michael Jackson
is above and beyond genre dividing. Michael Jackson is a member of an elite
elite ELITE set of musicians of probably 5 to 10 bands or performers that are
untouchable.
“Black or White” is possibly an odd choice for some of you.
There’s, of course, the debate about the message of the video anyway,
considering the weird change of skin colour of Michael Jackson throughout the
eighties and nineties. But take that situation out of the way for a moment and
you have a very cheesy, yet entertaining music video.
Macaulay Culkin plays as the kid who loves rock music and
pisses his father off, and when getting told off, retorts by cranking his electric
guitar volume to a ridiculous level, and the father gets blown away by the
noise to what looks like Africa, where Michael Jackson is dancing and singing
the song (so weird to say that sentence). It’s very cheesy but behind the
cheese is a very serious message about equality and diversity amongst the races
of humanity. At the end of the video was quite memorable and innovative at the
time, is loads of people’s faces of different skin colour and complexions
morphing from one person to another. This type of imagery and technology was
rarely used before Michael Jackson used it in this video, so it was pretty
cool. This video is pretty good but cheesy.
Just in case you were wondering, the original video was
quite controversial as it had racial graffiti all over it, but this isn’t the
version I’m placing at #2 in my list, but the revised version now found all
over music channels that cuts this section out.
#1 – “Enter Sandman” by Metallica
What can I say about “Enter Sandman”? It’s just one of the
best music videos of the early nineties. What it lacks in technological quality
it makes up in vivid imagery. The video pretty much follows the lyrics song,
and deals with a child who can’t sleep properly and dreams vividly of the
Sandman, who, in the video, is a very strange old man that is haunting the
little girl. The girl falls from the top of a building, gets covered in snakes,
gets chased by a truck and falls from a mountain while trying to escape the
truck, all the while the Sandman lurks in and around her dreams throughout the
video. And while all of these events are happening, the band is playing in
parts and throughout the entire time, the screen is flickering, only showing
you in parts what’s happening. It’s just a truly magnificent video, especially
when it aired in 1991, and one that really needs to be seen if not seen before.
The Top 10 Most
Impactful Songs of 1991
As I said, I'm NOT calling it the 'important' list, although
it's more than just popularity as well. Anyway, here are the 10 songs of the
year. It's an unbiased list.
By trade this is a pop song of course, but it’s status is
legendary as a one-hit wonder of a balanced feeling of cringe and awesomeness.
I mean that. This song is absolutely awesome, but it’s cringe-worthy at the
same time. It’s just a truly remarkable song of cheese, slime and facepalmingly
bad lyrics but I dare you not to like it. This track got to #2 in the UK
charts, but it’s never gone away. It’s too bad not to go away. Right Said Fred
has made a career from this song and you will like it, if you like it or not.
That didn’t make sense. In summary, you love this song so don’t deny it!
Getting to #3 in the UK charts, this GnR song was their highest
charting single in our country until they released “Knockin’ On Heavens Door” a
year later, and the video promoted the classic film “Terminator 2: Judgement
Day”, one of my favourite films ever. It’s tainted nowadays by arguably better
songs like “Paradise City”, “Welcome to the Jungle” and “November Rain”, but
for Guns ‘n’ Roses to get a #3 hit was quite a big deal, and kudos to them for
that. Sorry, I’m not a big fan of Guns ‘n’ Roses or this song! But yeah, you
can’t argue facts, and facts are that in 1991 this was a big hit. A very big
hit.
Probably by today’s standards this song isn’t that popular
in comparison to other U2 songs, but this song got to #1 in the UK and at the
time showed a very different side to the band, a slightly harder edge. The song
is probably more famous for being the song that knocked Bryan Adams’
“Everything I Do (I Do it for You)” off the #1 spot after a 16 week stay up
there. That being said it’s only U2’s second #1 single in the UK, and they’ve
had seven. It definitely showed that U2 are capable of branching their sound to
different genres so kudos to them for that.
#7 – “There’s No Other Way” by Blur
Before the days of “Girls and Boys”, “Parklife”, “Country
House”, “Song 2” and “Coffee and TV” came “There’s No Other Way”, only Blur’s
second single, and the single that brought them huge mainstream attention. The
rest of Blur’s career speaks for itself, but if it weren’t for this song, life
would have been a lot more difficult for the Britpop band that made such an
impact over the course of this decade. It’s one of Blur’s more simple songs,
but it’s still exceptionally catchy, and got to #8 in the UK.
If there’s any song by Queen that’s tragic on a personal
level it’s probably this. The song got to #16, and was written primarily by
legendary guitarist Brian May, and speaks volumes of the pain that Freddie
Mercury was going through in the final year of his life. So much in fact, there
were many concerns whether or not Freddie Mercury could actually sing the song,
but in Brian May’s words, despite all his struggles, Freddie Mercury “he went
in and killed it, completely lacerated that vocal”. So strong is Freddie’s
performance in this song you’d be hard to believe he had any problems at all,
but that was the strength of the man. This was Queen’s last single in the life
of Freddie Mercury. He died six weeks later.
#5 – “Black or White” by Michael Jackson
It may have got to #1 in the UK (and in no fewer than
fourteen other countries) but this song has really tainted over time as a song
that is considered a great Michael Jackson song. It’s not bad don’t get me
wrong, but over his entire career his nineties work is really not taken in high
regard, and even when compared to his other songs of the nineties, this song
still doesn’t really shine ‘brilliance’. Maybe it’s due to the fact that
Michael Jackson is asking us all not to judge a man or woman by the colour of
their skin, yet the mysteries of his skin colour changing over time definitely
questions that logic. Regardless of is Michael Jackson had skin pigmentation
surgery or not, this song and its ethic and moral message, is still important,
and obviously the song had a fantastic impact in 1991.
It was initially hard to choose between “Give it Away” and
“Under the Bridge” as the Chili’s song from the classic “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”
album but after a deeper thought it became very obvious that this song had to
be included in a list of songs that created the most impact. Sure, on a
commercial level, “Give it Away” is the cooler, funkier, more mainstream track,
but deeper down, on a personal level for Anthony Kiedis himself, and as a song
that has created more for the band long term, there’s barely no dispute that
this is one of the Chili Peppers’ finest moments in their illustrious career.
What a song this is. Getting to #13 in the UK, it’s only one of two songs in
the entire Chili’s discography to go platinum in the US (the other being the
far inferior “Dani California”). It’s just a beautifully sad song that deals
with loneliness and depression, and is one of Kiedis’ finest pieces of music.
#3 – “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M.
Once again, another song by another band has been more
successful (this time it’s “Shiny Happy People”) but is omitted for a song that
may not have charted as high, but has had a far larger impact on the career of
the band long term. “Losing My Religion” got to #19, their second biggest hit
in the UK at the time (“The One I Love” got to #16). The song’s lyrics deal
with pining for someone who doesn’t really feel the same way, a feeling I’m
sure we’re all very familiar with. But the song is much more famous for the
riff on the mandolin, an instrument Peter Buck, the guitarist was only starting
to learn at the time. It’s such a beautiful instrument and is the key to why
this song is so memorable. What a song.
#2 – “Enter Sandman” by Metallica
Getting to #5 in the UK is no easy feat for a metal artist,
but Metallica did just that with this blistering effort (they also did it a
second time with “Until it Sleeps”). It’s arguably one of, if not the biggest
Metallica song ever. The lyrics are infamous, the music video memorable, but
nothing can beat the opening intro of the song. It’s absolutely sublime; it’s
one of the best openings to a song ever. “Enter Sandman” is responsible for
turning heads to how good metal can sound, and then “The Black Album”
solidified that foundation. It’s such a huge track, such a brilliant song, and
it’ll forever go down in history as one of metal’s finest efforts.
#1 – “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana
It’s not really a dispute about what was the most
“Impactful” song of 1991. You can easily make a case that this song made a bigger
impact than any song of the nineties. But that’s a conversation for another
day. For today, is the day we celebrate “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, THE song of
the year 1991.
My opening paragraph talks about how the old guard of the
eighties were losing their hold on the change in music. Something was needed to
shake music up, but nothing new was really coming. Until September. “Smells
Like Teen Spirit” changed music history forever.
I don’t even know how or why. It’s not as if it’s the most
amazing song. Nirvana have made much better songs than this. I mean, I really
like “Teen Spirit” but I prefer other songs. But something happened, something
clicked, a bond was made between audience and song, and it changed Nirvana
forever. It changed grunge forever, alternative rock and music changed.
Suddenly bands who were previously considered uncool became cool and it changed
the pop charts for a good amount of time. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is
responsible for that change, and if you like the song or not, you have to
appreciate what impact this song had. It may have only got to #7 in the UK, but
it simply changed everything.
The Year 1991 Mixtape
Just in case you didn't know by now...
"A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or
era. The list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with
further recommendations if some of the songs aren’t to your taste. Remember
kids, downloading is wrong!"
So here we go! My favourite songs from the year 1991. Yes,
this is a biased list.
You can now listen to this playlist on YouTube! Just click here!
And there we go! The year 1991 in review! Next month
naturally I’ll be covering the final year in the nineties, 1990, and continue
my descend into music history. What we your favourite songs and albums from
1991? Any other comments or queries? Raise them below. Thanks for your time.
For the latest updates on my work, 'like' me on Facebook here!
Note: I've added that second paragraph below when someone corrected me about the term 'Industrial'. I apologise if I offended anyone, hopefully the rectification makes sense.
Hey
there and welcome to another one of my Mixtapes. Now, this Mixtape was really hard to compile, that's why it's a day late. Why? Because Industrial music is really hard to tab down. There's so many influences that helped made the genre, and there are so many influences from Industrial music that helped shape music today.
The roots of Industrial music started in the seventies and with the Industrial Records company, but they weren't really successful, nor was the sound. But it inspired the "Post-Industrial" genre, what we now know as Industrial music. So if you're an Industrial purist, you could say that the list below is not Industrial music, but Post-Industrial music. I will continue to consider this Mixtape and the songs and sound as Industrial music, but let's not be ignorant to the original genre of the seventies.
So what have I defined as Industrial below? Well, after the seventies Industrial Records scene, Industrial (or Post-Industrial) roots back to the early eighties. Arguably the first Post-Industrial band was Skinny Puppy, but of course, there were bands that influenced Skinny Puppy to make the sound they made, and there were a few bands around that time that while aren't Industrial as a sole genre, they also helped to the rise. Bands like Killing Joke, Bauhaus, Ministry, KMFDM and Kraftwerk are all bands that in some way, shape or form, helped Industrial music to become what it has been in the eighties, nineties and naughties.
But, and you can argue I'm biased in saying this, but to me, the band that pioneered Industrial music is Nine Inch Nails. A lot of the 1980s Industrial lacked melody, it sounded great but it was repetitive and became almost brainless music. But Nine Inch Nails added melody, added quality vocals and also started using ground breaking electronic metal music to add to the machinery sound that was Industrial music. As I said, I could be biased, as Nine Inch Nails are my favourite band.
Not familiar with my Mixtapes? Here are the rules.
A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or era. The
list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with further
recommendations if some of the songs aren't to your taste. Remember kids,
downloading is wrong!
This list you'll see below
isn't just Industrial music. It's a celebration of the sound, and the
sounds that have been influenced by Industrial music. Industrial music
has been used in so many genres since the boring machine sound of the
eighties, it's used in dance music, techno, alternative rock, indie,
metal and most recently, dubstep. You name the genre, chances are
Industrial had an assist in there for making the genre what it is today.
So there's a lot of bands here that aren't Industrial. But I've
selected certain songs by those bands, that have roots from the
Industrial genre, and have them showcase how good the sound can be when
done perfectly. I have some eighties industrial, nineties industrial, some electronic dance music and some heavy industrial metal. Enjoy my homage to Industrial music.
So I hope you enjoy this list. As I said, some of these bands are not Industrial, but I hope you understand their inclusion in the list. They have roots from the genre, and like to implement it into their modern sounds.
For the latest updates on my work, 'like' me on Facebook here!
Hey everyone, welcome to the seventh edition in a series of
reviews of a year in music. So far I have covered all the 2000s together as the
Noughtie series,
and so far monthly, the year 1999,
then 1998,
followed by 1997,
and 1996,
1995 and then last month, 1994.
Just in case you’re not familiar with it, here’s the format.
It will be done in five parts. I'll do a brief history of what happened in that
year, followed by my five favourite albums of the year, then what I think the
five best videos are. I'll then do a Top 10 most impactful (still refraining
from using the word important) songs from that year. To wrap it up, I'll do my
favourite songs in a mixtape format. So now that you know where I'm going with
this, let's get to it!
This is an important year for me personally. This is
probably the first year that I genuinely am unsure if I remember much that
happened when I was actually a four year old boy. I know for a fact that I
heard some of these songs when I was a little older, but as a four year old,
who knows? 1992 is a definite no that’s for sure.
On a minor note, this is my landmark 200th post on the site. Here's to 200 more!
Brief History of the
Year 1993 in Music
KoRn
form, becoming one of metal's greatest and biggest acts of all time.
Guns
'n' Roses end their tour in July. It's the last time the original band has
played together.
Depeche
Mode release the album "Songs of Faith and Devotion" and gets to
#1 in the US, the first alternative British act to achieve top spot across
the pond.
Daft
Punk form, transforming electro and house music forever.
Brit-pop
band Suede release their debut album and it becomes the fastest selling
debut album in the UK at the time.
In
pop, Michael Jackson is accused of child molestation, accusations that
were never disproved or proved and haunted the rest of his career.
My Top 5 Albums of
1993
#5 – “Black Tie White Noise” by David Bowie
Released: 5/4/93
Rating: ***1/2 stars
Stand-out tracks: “Black Tie White Noise”, “Looking for
Lester”, “Jump They Say”
“Black Tie White Noise” isn’t David Bowie’s best work, in fact,
it was probably the beginning of the end for good quality Bowie efforts. While
I prefer some of Bowie’s mid nineties work to it (although as an album
“Earthling” is horrendous, “I’m Afraid of Americans” remixed by Trent Reznor
and “Little Wonder” were decent tracks), “Black Tie White Noise” is a good
middle ground between what was and what was to come for Bowie. In the eighties,
Bowie changed (yet again) his image and sound, and starting to merge into a new
wave sound along with bits of jazz, rhythm, blues and soul music (a lot of this
is in the fantastic instrumental “Looking for Lester”). He keeps certain parts
of those genres in this effort; put it this way, trumpets in this album are
aplenty. But there’s a certain ambiguity evident in this album, and that was
the next attempt of an image and music transition, and that was into industrial
music, inspired by the rise of Nine Inch Nails. It was ultimately unsuccessful,
but this transition between the eighties Bowie and the nineties Bowie, was a
decent effort. It’s not great but it is good, and it’s worth a listen if you
enjoy the many faces of Bowie, and if you like some or all of the genres
mentioned above.
#4 – “Pablo Honey” by Radiohead
Released: 22/2/93
Rating: ***3/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: “Creep”, “Anyone Can Play Guitar”, “Stop
Whispering”
Along with the newest effort “The King of Limbs”, this is my
least favourite Radiohead effort, but that’s not an uncommon opinion amongst
most fans of the band. “Pablo Honey”, the debut album, seemed confused about
its musical direction and influence, and ended up a mixture of indie, grunge, alternative
rock and the beginnings of Brit-pop. But it’s still a decent listen, and
“Creep” is still one of the biggest and best indie anthems of all time, Johnny
Greenwood’s almost lightning bolt sounding guitar is as iconic a sound in music
as anything in the past 20 years. But the rest of the album falls relatively
flat; they’re not bad songs but there’s barely anything great here either.
“Anyone Can Play Guitar” has some great snarling lyrics by Thom Yorke and “Stop
Whispering” has a nice melody and is the barebones basis on which most softer
Radiohead songs would sound like. “Pablo Honey” is a decent yet unspectacular
listen if you’re interested in the roots of Radiohead’s emergence.
I have a confession to make. I’m not that big on the
Smashing Pumpkins’ albums. I like the Pumpkins and have for sometime, but their
singles are usually very good, their albums are often a step downwards in terms
of quality. While my feelings on “Siamese Dream” are similar, the difference in
quality between singles and album tracks is a lot shorter. The singles are very
good, not quite as good in my opinion as some of the other tracks they were to
later release (like “Ava Adore” and “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”) but the
album tracks are pretty damn good. Very good in fact. One thing I would like to
say however; “Disarm” is a belter of a track and is the first truly stellar
Pumpkins song in my opinion. “Siamese Dream” is definitely an album to start
with, if you’re interested in getting into this band, that’s clear.
#2 – “Everybody Else is Doing it, So Why Can't We?” by The
Cranberries
One thing I keep doing when I’ve been going back in time to
review these years is forgetting the true quality The Cranberries have. The
thing is, I hadn’t listened to the band for so long because of personal
reasons; they were my father’s favourite band and I’m happy to say I’ve not
seen him for nine years. Let’s leave it at that.
But as for The Cranberries, I’ve slowly listened to these
albums again and remembered how good they were. “No Need to Argue” is my
favourite effort by the band, but probably on par in second place with “To the
Faithful Departed” is this cracker. It’s a great album, in the early to mid
nineties there was probably no other band consistently making great music
(Radiohead are a good contender mind). “Everybody Else is Doing it, So Why
Can’t We?”, the debut album, got the band some recognition before being shot
the Irish band into superstardom, with “Linger” getting lots of praise from
critics and it being a huge hit too. The rest became history, as The
Cranberries were to become THE Irish band at the time.
Huzzah! I can have my say on a Nirvana album! I’ve been
doing this yearly music review for 7 months now and my time has come!
I’ve always gone through phases in terms of what my
favourite Nirvana release is; it started off at Nevermind, as it did for a lot
of people. It then discretely went to Bleach, before I loved Incesticide more
than anything else despite it being a rarities and covers album. But for the
past three or four years it’s been In Utero, and I think it might stay that way
in all honesty. “In Utero” lacks the polish that Nevermind unintentionally has.
It’s funny to say that Nevermind has polish, but the album and its songs have
been played and talked about so religiously that’s how it feels. In Utero,
because it’s never played any where near as much, feels raw and venomous, and I
say that with praise. “In Utero” is Kurt Cobains “fuck you world” album, before
he unfortunately gave his life up because he couldn’t cope anymore. And it’s
bold, it’s brash, and it oozes excellence, “Scentless Apprentice” is possibly
my favourite Nirvana song as it contains everything that made the band great;
the excellent drums, the distorted guitars and Cobain’s wailing vocals. “In
Utero” is full of this and sounds as amazing in 2012 as it did 19 years ago.
It’s a true classic and is by far the best album released in 1993, in my
opinion.
My Top 5 Music Videos
of 1993
#5 – “Losing You” by Jan Terri
Okay, I’m kinda putting this in as a joke but to be fair,
there weren’t many ‘great’ videos in 1993. But this baby, seriously, you have
to watch it above. Jan Terri’s video for “Losing You” does everything bad about
making videos and crams it into one huge mess. She’s lip synching badly, she’s
wearing some pretty bad looking leathers, all she does in the entire video is
leave a hotel, go in a cab, ride her motorcycle and pose next to a sewage pipe,
then goes back home. And while all of this is happening, the whole thing looks
like it’s done on a camcorder, and the person filming keeps zooming either to
her face a little closely, or worse, away from her and to the skies… and then
back in her direction. It’s an incredible display of incompetence on camera and
that’s why it’s one of my Top 5 videos of 1993. Honest. No I’m joshing but you
seriously have to watch it, it’s very funny and disturbing at the same time!
#4 – “Cannonball” by The Breeders
It’s not the best of videos in terms of quality and artistic
movement, but nevertheless “Cannonball” is a distinctively memorable video. The
nice calm verses usually have the band playing and sitting in a bedroom, where
as the angry choruses tend to show the band in a frenzy. There are shots of
lead singer (and bass player of The Pixies) Kim Deal singing under water and of
a huge cannonball rolling down the street. As I said it’s not the flashiest
video, but it fits the song perfectly and grabs your attention at the same
time. Also, it was an early Spike Jonze effort, the man who would be one of the
best music video directors of all time.
#3 – “Big Time Sensuality” by Bjork
How can you not like Bjork in this video? She’s so cute! Set
in New York, the video was actually inspired bizarrely, by “Give it Away” by
the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Bjork liked the black and white video and how it
looked, and wanted it for this video. So the video is basically her singing and
dancing on the back of a large truck that’s moving through the streets of New
York. It’s not much more than that, but it’s still a striking video, and
Bjork’s facial expressions are great. It’s just one of those videos that is
hard to keep your eyes off. There’s not much else to say really.
#2 – “Heart-Shaped Box” by Nirvana
The video for “Heart-Shaped Box” is a visually stunning
piece of work. Kurt Cobain had his own imagination and imagery for how he
wanted the video to look and worked with director Anton Corbijn closely to get
it as close to the idea in Cobain’s head as possible. From what has been said
Cobain was really happy with the overall product and is probably his favourite
Nirvana music video. A lot of the video doesn’t seem to make much sense unless
you try to analyse it properly and has mixtures of a terminal man in hospital
going to a dream-like location and climbing up a ladder to a cross. There’s a
lot of references to the human foetus and birth as well, probably all from Cobain’s
widely reported anxiety of the birth of his baby daughter at the time. There’s
a lot more, a young girl dressed up as a member of the Ku Klux Klan and a large
woman wearing a costume that has internal organs painted on it. It’s just a
dream-like artistic masterpiece, one that shows the true visions of Cobain’s
complex mind, but for us music fans, it’s a truly stunning piece of work to
watch and try to interpret.
#1 – “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M.
Not many videos are as perfect for the song they represent
as “Everybody Hurts” is. Explaining what happens in this video is simple, but
the imagery, the interpretation of what happens, is as strong a message as the
song itself. A huge traffic jam happens on a very long road, and throughout the
first two thirds of the video everyone’s thoughts are displayed on screen. Some
people are contemplating life, or what people think of them, or motives they
have that are too strong to be said in person. It’s a multitude of people with
different backgrounds all thinking different things, but all ultimately,
negative. All of a sudden everyone starts leaving their cars and walk off into
the distance.
The video is open to interpretation but to me, it’s all of
these people, deciding, “fuck it”, and moving on with their lives. It’s
everyone with different motives and problems, and they all decide to leave
their problems behind and “hold on”. It’s a strong video, one of the most
memorable videos of the decade and all time, and more than worth seeing if you
haven’t before.
The Top 10 Most
Impactful Songs of 1993
As I said, I'm NOT calling it the 'important' list, although
it's more than just popularity as well. Anyway, here are the 10 songs of the
year. It's an unbiased list.
#10 – “Big Time Sensuality” by Bjork
While “Play Dead” did get higher in the charts, “Big Time
Sensuality” for me is the song that really gave Bjork a strong following as an
artist, particularly in the States. “Debut” was a big album for the Icelandic
singer, and she was seeing some success already, but this song solidified her
as an artist of the future. It had the right mix of oddity and cuteness to be
expected by the small yet fiery lady, and the video was iconic for its time
too. Getting to #19, it set the tone for a lot of Bjork’s immediate future
releases, although she was naturally to change her style and artistic direction
as the new millennium was approaching. Still “Big Time Sensuality” was a great
track, and was a taste of what was to come.
#9 – “Today” by the Smashing Pumpkins
It’s amazing looking back to the year 1993 that “Today”
wasn’t the lead single of “Siamese Dream”, but “Cherub Rock” did. It was
debated what should be the lead single and Billy Corban used the latter, yet
it’s barely remembered or considered as an impactful Pumpkins song. “Today” was
a sleeper hit, and remains one of the Smashing Pumpkins’ finest singles for
both critical and commercial success. The relatively optimistic sounding lyrics
and music is in deep contrast to the suicidal tendencies that Billy Corgan was
going through and writing about when making this song. The lyrics are probably
intentionally ironic to the darkness that Corgan was engulfed in, and it’s
often got fans confused about what the song’s lyrics are about. Regardless,
getting to #44 in the UK charts isn’t that great, but it’s remembered more than
most of the songs that charted higher since.
#8 – “Cannonball” by The Breeders
It may have only got to #40 in the UK charts but this song
will live forever as one of the best indie songs of all time. The Pixies bass
player Kim Deal’s band only really had this one hit, although it didn’t chart
well, before she went back to the Pixies later on in her career. But what a
song it is. It’s a great track and as previously stated the video is excellent
too. “Cannonball” packs a lot of punch with it’s buzzing guitars and quietly
sung verses, and screams ‘girl power’ before the Spice Girls even existed.
#7 – “Insane in the Brain” by Cypress Hill
I’m very selective when it comes to rap, hip hop, dance,
techno and other non rock related genres, but this is a hip hop classic.
Cypress Hill have had higher charting songs but in terms of longevity nothing
comes close to how big this song is. It has many samples in it, and is actually
a diss song about how rapper Chubb Rock was mocking their music. Who would have
thought that it would become one of the most influential and highly regarded
hip hop songs of all time? It’s a cracker of a song and is favoured by fans of
many genres from pop to rock and metal. It’s that good a song.
I was debating whether or not to put this song in this list
being a pop song of sorts, but the band also produce dance music and are an
extension of the New Wave bands of the early eighties. Originally a song by the
Village People, the Pet Shop Boys took this song by the scruff of the neck and
made it their own. It’s not my genre of music but the fact that the song still
has a strong following nineteen years later, especially as a football anthem
says more than the fact that it got to #2 in the UK charts. Regardless of the
definition of the Pet Shop Boys representing any genre in particular, this song
is above that debate. It’s simply a classic.
#5 – “Walk” by Pantera
I’ve said it a few times but this list isn’t just about
success, it’s about longevity, it’s about the songs creating a legacy that will
more than likely live forever and become legendary tracks in music history. And
these credentials all fit “Walk” by Pantera to a tee. There aren’t many metal
songs in the past twenty years that are as universally as popular as “Walk”. It
was an instant classic, what with the amazingly heavy yet simple riff, the
‘walking’ riff as it’s known as that sounds absolutely badass. Then the Dimebag
Darrell guitar solo towards the end of the song completely contrasts the
simplicity of the main riff; it’s an incredible guitar solo. “Walk” only got to
#35 in the UK charts, but not many songs released in 1993 will be remembered as
fondly down the line, it’s just a true metal classic in every way.
#4 – “Linger” by The Cranberries
While “Zombie” is more likely to be the song that is most
widely associated with The Cranberries, “Linger” is a debated song to claim
that title as well. “Linger” was the band’s first major hit, getting to #14
here in the UK but it got higher in the Irish and US charts. It’s safe to say
that without “Linger”, The Cranberries probably wouldn’t be the band they are
today, and that is one of the biggest bands of the nineties, and probably THE
biggest band from Ireland in the past twenty years. “Linger” still gets decent
airplay today, along with “Zombie”, and they are both indie classics. I’m using
the word ‘classic’ a lot today huh? There are a lot of classic tracks from
1993, and here’s three more!
#3 – “Heart-Shaped Box” by Nirvana
Getting to #5 in the UK charts, this is Nirvana’s highest
charting single. Obviously a lot of the singles released off “Nevermind” made a
bigger impact and get more airplay, but “Heart-Shaped” box is still a classic,
and lyrically, one of Cobain’s finest efforts. Pressure was at an all time high
for Nirvana to replicate or surpass the legacy of “Nevermind”, and with the
release of “Heart-Shaped Box” and the album “In Utero”, I think Nirvana did as
good a job they could have to appease the fans and critics. “Heart-Shaped Box”
is another classic, a great song and one that like the band and Cobain himself,
will live forever.
Yeah, Meat Loaf. Most people either love him or hate him. I
lean towards the latter, especially musically, but you can’t deny the success,
the legacy and longevity this song has. I was torn between this and the song
below about what should be #1, they’re both huge huge songs for completely
different reasons. But this song in terms of grandeur is hard to beat, that is
in any song in any era of music. This song is just grand in every way. But it’s
funny how it all happened really.
In 1977 Meat Loaf released the highly acclaimed classic “Bat
Out of Hell” album with the music single of the same title. It’s gone 7 times
platinum here in the UK, 14 times platinum in the US and 24 times platinum in
Australia. While success was always there for Meat Loaf, he never reached those
heights, arguably ever again. But in 1993 he took a huge gamble. A really big
gamble. He made a sequel album called “Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell” and
this was the main single release. It’s a big risk because not many sequels,
album-wise, are good in music. They’re often frowned upon. But this song, not
necessarily the album, but the song surpassed anything Meat Loaf did 16 years
prior, and helped Meat Loaf get the album platinum 6 times here and 5 times in
the US.
The song was a #1 hit in no less than 28 countries. That’s a
huge feat. The music video and the song still get played today more so than
most other songs of the nineties. It’s a true classic if there ever was one.
But the song below, the song I put as the #1 song of 1993 surpasses this song
in different ways.
#1 – “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M.
No it didn’t get to #1 in 28 countries, in fact it got to a
decent #7 here in the UK. But this song is a modern heart wrencher. Aimed at
teenagers who are struggling with coping with the wears and tears of everyday
life and that they are not alone with their problems, “Everybody Hurts” did
more than that, it hit everyone in a way stronger than most people anticipated.
This song breaks genres and musical tastes. It’s more than a song about
teenagers struggling with their issues. It’s a song for the modern age, a song
about modern Western culture, where we all at different ages and social
backgrounds all struggle with life, for many difference reasons whether it’s
social, financial, emotional or mental issues. We all hurt. We all struggle.
And we all need to hold on. And that’s why this song continues to make an
impact now, nearly twenty years later and probably will for a long long time to
come. Everybody hurts sometimes.
The Year 1993 Mixtape
Just in case you didn't know by now...
"A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or
era. The list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with
further recommendations if some of the songs aren’t to your taste. Remember
kids, downloading is wrong!"
So here we go! My favourite songs from the year 1993. Yes,
this is a biased list.
You can now listen to this playlist on YouTube! Just click here!
And there we go! The year 1993 in review! Next month
naturally I’ll be covering 1992 and continue my descend into music history.
What we your favourite songs and albums from 1993? Any other comments or
queries? Raise them below. Thanks for your time.
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