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jude111 
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 Topic: Is Nirvana's Nevermind the best album of 1991?
Posted: May 06 2013 at 19:45 |
Is Nirvana's Nevermind really such a great and important album? 1991 was a phenomenal year for music, and in my opinion, it wasn't even close to being the best album of the year, let alone the decade. Furthermore, musically it's quite conservative compared to the innovations other bands were exploring at this time, such as My Bloody Valentine, Primal Scream, Massive Attack, 808 State, Talk Talk, and even U2.
Personally, I see a large gap between the British bands, many of them experimenting with electronics (e.g. the Orb, 808 State, the KLF, Orbital, Coil), and the (white) American bands, which were basically recycling classic rock but repackaging it as something 'new'... (At least there were some great rap records in '91, and Sharrock's fusion masterpiece.) Not that I don't like indie - those are quite good records by the Pixies, Mercury Rev, and Throwing Muses (The Real Ramona, not here on list) for example.
(I don't dislike Nirvana; I was quite into them for a long while. Their album, as well as Hole's Pretty On the Inside, are great. I just don't think Nevermind eclipses everything else, and there are albums i think that are more innovative and important.)
But that's just my opinion. How well will Nevermind fare against the other great (and not so great) albums of '91, I wonder... (If Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica or Guns n Roses even come close to winning, I might just have to jump off a high building... :-)
I could listen to Massive Attack's Blue Lines all day; Achtung Baby is a perfect electropop album, Screamdelica's awesome, Talk Talk made a moody masterpiece, and I'm getting into 808 State lately, and wondering how I missed out on their music all this time... But still, I have to go with My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, quite possibly my favorite album of the 1990s. (OK Computer might give it a run for the money.)
Edited by jude111 - May 07 2013 at 11:26
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smartpatrol
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Posted: May 06 2013 at 19:47 |
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I think so.
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Horizons
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Posted: May 06 2013 at 19:47 |
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Tribe Called Quest... aww yeaa
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Crushed like a rose in the riverflow.
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HolyMoly
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Posted: May 06 2013 at 19:57 |
Nice to see Mercury Rev in a poll. That's one mindfrick of an album there.
My vote will go to Laughing Stock, though. I'm also a big fan of the Pixies' "Trompe le Monde", which is actually the only album by them I can still listen to.
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Man With Hat
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Posted: May 06 2013 at 22:01 |
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I doubt it's the best.
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Dig me...But don't...Bury me
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Fox On The Rocks
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Posted: May 06 2013 at 22:27 |
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Man, jude you're killing me this one. There are so many favourites on this list, it's ridiculous. One of the best years for music for sure.
1. Talk Talk
2. My Bloody Valentine
3. Massive Attack
4. Orbital
5. Primal Scream - Could of sworn this one was a lot earlier.
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Sagichim
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Posted: May 07 2013 at 01:43 |
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Blood Sugar Sex Magik is a masterpiece.
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Slartibartfast
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Posted: May 07 2013 at 02:31 |
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I like Nevermind but there is nothing else in your list that I have. Here's a partial list of my favorites from 1991 that you missed out on (either recorded or released in that year):
Belew, Adrian Inner Revolution
Budd, Harold By the Dawn's Early Light
Budd, Harold with Zeigeist She is a Phantom
Djam Karet Burning The Hard City
Djam Karet Suspension and Displacement
Fleck, Bela & the Flecktones Flight of the Cosmic Hippo
Howe, Steve Turbulence
Jackson, Joe Laughter & Lust
McLachlan, Sarah Solace
Pere Ubu Worlds In Collision
Porcupine Tree On the First Sunday of Life
Primus Sailing The Seas Of Cheese
Rhodes, Happy Warpaint
Wyatt, Robert dondestan (revisitied)
XTC Nonesuch
It's kind of funny, I wasn't interested in Nirvana in 1991 and I count five albums on my list I was actually listening to in that year.
Edited by Slartibartfast - May 07 2013 at 02:38
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Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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Eria Tarka
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Posted: May 07 2013 at 02:37 |
 Horizons wrote:
Tribe Called Quest... aww yeaa |
good... yes, very good
I'd go with Bungle's debut, but from this list... hmm Loveless I guess
Edit: To address the question; no, I don't think Nevermind was the best album of '91 
Edited by bytor2112 - May 07 2013 at 02:39
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Stool Man
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Posted: May 07 2013 at 02:43 |
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I voted for The Orb, but Massive Attack, The KLF, Mercury Rev, & Primal Scream also released great albums that year.
Also, Julian Cope's "Peggy Suicide" is great
One of my fave live albums was released that year
http://www.allmusic.com/album/arc-mw0000270987
Edited by Stool Man - May 07 2013 at 02:49
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rotten hound of the burnie crew
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Slartibartfast
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Posted: May 07 2013 at 02:44 |
I've got the Bungle debut, too. Inner Revolution, Solace, and Nonesuch mark the year most for me. 
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Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Aussie-Byrd-Brother
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Posted: May 07 2013 at 02:55 |
Stool Man, I too voted for the wonderful Orb double album! 
`Nevermind' the best album of 1991?? God, no...not in a million billion years!
Was it one of the most important, influential, popular albums of the 90's - Absolutely. In the same way that the first Spice Girls album and the Oasis album `What's The Story (Morning Glory) made Britain cool again....in the way people connected with that massively popular Alanis Morrisette album, etc etc.
But I'd take `Blood Suger Sex Magick' any day over it....probably the very first album I ever really got into. My friend and I still joke to this day how we both wore out and damaged our cassettes of it from playing it so much back when it came out! Then I bought it on CD.....and I don't think I've played it even once.
So I remember it from a particular moment of my youth, loved it to bits, but it's not meant much to me at all as I've grown up.
Edited by Aussie-Byrd-Brother - May 07 2013 at 02:56
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Dean
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Posted: May 07 2013 at 08:13 |
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What?
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Melomaniac
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Posted: May 07 2013 at 08:18 |
Best ? Not by a million miles.
Most historically significant and influential album of that year ? You bet your arse !
This album singlehandedly gave birth to (or put on the map) the grunge movement of the 90's.
Metal attitude without the chops.
Pearl Jam, RHCP and Metallica released way better albums that same year.
Metallica took thrash metal and put it in the mainstream. Even though at the time I didn't like the album, I do love it now. So Metallica gets my vote. So many great metal tunes on it !
Edited by Melomaniac - May 07 2013 at 08:20
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"One likes to believe in the freedom of Music" - Neil Peart, The Spirit of Radio
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HolyMoly
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Posted: May 07 2013 at 08:31 |
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1991 was also a turning point for me - the year I graduated from college and began living on my own, away from my parents. I find it an interesting coincidence that the musical landscape changed almost simultaneously with my own life change.
First I heard that a punk band had hit #1 with one of their new songs. Being a punk guy, I thought, "yay!" Then I saw them perform it on Saturday Night Live. I was quite impressed that kind of thing could actually be popular, and I liked the song. Bought the album, as did everyone else I knew. But I never saw it as a great album, more like a door that had opened, and a few great new tunes. I should have guessed that this door would then let in a bunch of crap bands, but hey, that's the price you pay for progress. Or regress, as it were. Back to the world of guitars. U2 and REM had been pretty popular by then, making guitar music, but it wasn't aggressive guitar music.
Rambling on... nevermind.
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My other avatar is a Porsche
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased.
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progbethyname
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Posted: May 07 2013 at 08:57 |
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I would vote for FATES WARNING's PARALLELS if it was on your poll; however it is not, so I'm voting for METALLICA's BLACK ALBUM. :)
Also, I can't stand a lot of GRUNGE music so NIRVANA's NEVERMIND ranks low for me.
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Gimmie my headphones now!!! 🎧🤣
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Earthmover
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Posted: May 07 2013 at 09:04 |
I couldn't get through Nevermind.
As for the best album of 1991, what is Spiderland?
A great year, for sure.
Edited by mister nobody - May 07 2013 at 09:04
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Prog Sothoth
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Posted: May 07 2013 at 09:11 |
Back in 1991 I remember the first time I heard Cypress Hill's debut. With the latin & early 70s funk vibes, that thing was cool, fresh and dangerous sounding. The pot-smoking references (as in "drugs make you feel good!") were unusual at that time as well. Crazy album, and one of the few rap records I still own.
They lost their edge right after that though when they started pandering to the suburban crowd.
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jude111
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Posted: May 07 2013 at 09:54 |
mister nobody wrote:
I couldn't get through Nevermind. As for the best album of 1991, what is Spiderland? A great year, for sure.
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I know; I found that I couldn't even fit all the excellent releases into the poll, there's more than 25 albums that year that are pretty excellent.
Prog Sothoth wrote:
Back in 1991 I remember the first time I heard Cypress Hill's debut. With the latin & early 70s funk vibes, that thing was cool, fresh and dangerous sounding. The pot-smoking references (as in "drugs make you feel good!") were unusual at that time as well. Crazy album, and one of the few rap records I still own. They lost their edge right after that though when they started pandering to the suburban crowd.
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I love their first two albums, as well as their contributions to the Judgment Night soundtrack (collabs with Sonic Youth and Pearl Jam - but my favorite track from that is De La Soul's "Fallin'," with Teenage Fanclub - it's one of those songs I could listen to over and over and over). They had such a great sound.
HolyMoly wrote:
Back to the world of guitars. U2 and REM had been pretty popular by then, making guitar music, but it wasn't aggressive guitar music.
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I quite like both bands though. U2 were at their peak at this time, and their move to electronica was as bold as Radiohead's - and they kind of set the template for that kind of radical change (although the Stones and Bowie also radically re-invented themselves too). (U2 had one more great album left in them: Zooropa. Then they really fell off, IMO. Sadly. I keep waiting for a return to their peak years...) REM's Out of Time was kind of a necessary step, leading to their excellent Automatic for the People.
Edited by jude111 - May 07 2013 at 10:08
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DisgruntledPorcupine
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Posted: May 08 2013 at 00:53 |
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Loveless is my favourite album of all time.
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Is Nirvana's Nevermind the best album of 1991?
