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Best group of the late 80s/ 90's

Hey...I know these threads are kinda cheesy...but hey...kills time at work...know what Im sayin? also...if artists had albums that started in the 80s and lapped over...thatz cool too...enjoY!

1.The Jesus Lizard...with a string of great albums on touch n go produced by Steve ALbini...and a world class bass/drum section...plus a very unique, insane frontman...David Yow...the Lizard were the lastest and best version of the legendary AUssie b-day party...a killer live band to boot...bonus points for David You wearin a cowboy hat,Indiana Univ. V-neck sweater with protruding hairy chest,white trash tight jeans,cowboy boots,and lickin those dollar bills at the door of the Uptown bar in mInneapolis

2.Fugazi...politics aside....Fugazi consistently made some of the best, passionate music of the 90s...and they have a video documentary that actually shows they have a sense of humour(which their records lack)...at any rate...a band on their own terms that still only charges $5 for one of the best live shows u will ever see...

3.Jesus and Mary Chain...probably more of a candidate for best of the 80s due to their landmark masterpiece "psychocandy"...the Chain still released some great records later on...including "Automatic" which sounded like a Jane Fonda workout tape filtered through some throwaway T-rex riffs with Sammy Hagger producing...and "Honeys Dead"...

4.The Wedding Present...a small brit band with a big guitar sound...The Weddoes sound like a garage version of the smiths... David Gedge's gruff,slightly off-key vocals remind me of a Brit rail station during rush hour in central Leeds...throw on lyrical themes about romantic betrayal,obsession,etc...and these are the best angst ridden love songs ever written

5.The Fall..Mark E smith is such a spoiled English egg...ranting,slurring,and generally cantankerous as hell...the Fall created a genre i have dubbed "abstract rock"..still...like Lou Reed...one of the best singer non-singers to bless us...arrogant,uncompromising,and difficult...sounds like my mother in law!
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13 responses Add your response
mcmillan
7 posts
 
I nominate the Pixies. Raucous, off-the-wall, breathe some life into rock and roll music. Dissonant, drive your parents crazy music that was still ruled by melody. First album released in 87 and broke up in 92, I believe, but hasn't dated a single day. In my book and to my ears, its hard to fit the criteria better than that.
lazarus28
339 posts
 
that's funny - did either of you know that the pixies did a cover of 'head on' by the jesus and mary chain?

and yeah, psychocandy is great, but darklands and honey's dead are my favorite.
twl
3,251 posts
 
The later Level 42 stuff with Mark King and Alan Holdsworth.
Just those 2 guys alone have more talent than the rest of the late 80s and early 90s bands put together. I don't think that the Level 42 material was the best they could do, but at least we got to hear them together.

If anyone out there doesn't know who Alan Holdsworth is, he's a virtuoso extreme guitatist, who also taught Eddie Van Halen, and gave him guitar lessons even after EVH made it big.

Mark King is simply one of the best ever.
meisterkleef
146 posts
 
Phish. Although they were more mid-80s. Really got on their
roll in the '88 - '92 time frame. Saw some unbelievable
shows in that period. Still a great live band but their past
few studio recordings have not done it for me. Picture of
Nectar is still my fave.
slipknot1
1,423 posts
 
A second on Phish. Amazing live, luke warm in the studio.
Phish's 12/14/95 show at the Broome County Arena in Binghamton, NY is still fresh today. I was there and taped the show, Phish has released it as part of the Live Phish collection - Highly recommended.

Dave Matthews Band. Like them or not, they have consistantly made very good studio recordings (save the last couple - IMHO). Always a treat live, great jams over the course of 2.5 hours. If you can get past their obnoxious fans.
jposs
99 posts
 
Wow, I could spend days on this, but I wont.

1. New Order
They put out some of the best music ever between 1980 and 1989. I know everyone always counters that Joy Division are better, but I dont, nor will I ever buy it. They were not only groundbreaking and influential, but wholly entertaining and moderately commercially succesful, while never losing a touch of integrity. Add that to the gorgeous visual art that was their album covers and its just hard to beat. Plus if you cheat and add all of the side projects, Electronic, Revenge, Monaco, and the Other Two, there is absolutely no question, and this takes care of the 80s and 90s.

2. Echo and The Bunnymen

Once again people are going to argue that their early stuff was so much better, but they put out two fantastic albums in the 90's; What Are You Going to Do With Your Life, and Flowers. Add these to their already impressive catalogue and you have a fantastic canon.

3. Love and Rockets

They made a fantastic transition from post punk goth in Bauhaus all the way through transcendental rock with Express through smooth pop with their eponymous all the way to fantastic electronica with Lift in the late 90s. A wonderful ride by a wonderful live act.

4. The Trash Can Sinatras

Probably the very best underappreciated band of all time. It is fantastic pop music with incredibly tight arrangements coupled with intelligent, witty, and wistful lyrics with incredible sounding recordings to boot. Their three albums Cake, Ive Seen Everything, and A Happy Pocket will stand up to ay three albums put out in the 90s. Period. If you have never heard them, do yourself a HUGE favor and visit trashcansinatras.com or email me for a compilation.

Everyone else is tied for 5th, hehehe

Justin
meisterkleef
146 posts
 
Saw some terrific DMB shows at Trax while doing my gradute
work at UVa '90-'96. They used to play every Tuesday for $5
in '92-'93. It was great until the word-of-mouth started
getting out and the shows became like fraternity-row-remote.
Stopped going in late '93. Too crowded.

Taped a couple of those shows off the board (SV-3700). I
like Dave but not that much. Don't have any of his studio
stuff, just a few boards. Was a big fan of Boyd's before
he joined Dave. He used to play often with the C-ville
All-Stars around town before Dave. Man that cat can play!

Saw some *KILLER* Phish shows at Trax. The 7/16/91 show with
the horns was just crazy. Taped that bad boy. Too bad they
were only allowing "friends" to patch in to the board at
that time. I only saw a single cassette deck (I think it
was a D-5) on the board at that 7/16 show. But there were so
few people there (couldn't have been more than 50 or so), my
FOB audience tape came out incredibly clean (AT4051s). Glad
I have a nice tape of that show.
meisterkleef
146 posts
 
Sorry that should have been 7/24/91...
emh
31 posts
 
This one's easy- The Replacements.
tok20000's avatar
tok20000
608 posts
 
I am not sure who is the 'best' group. But I will offer the group that made probably the biggest mark on Rock music during the 90's:

Nirvana

I will not admit to being a big Nirvana fan, but these guys created songs that has inspired much of music for the last decade (and probably years to come).

There is something about their music that touches a raw emotion in people that few groups have ever been able to duplicate. And I am not a big Nirvana fan at all. But I can appreciate their composition.

Nirvana was like Queen was in the 70's. Queen in the 70's really influeced pop music through the 80's. The late 70's songs We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions stuck a nerve similar to the nerve that Smells Like Teen Spirit struck in the 90's.

KF
tweakgeek
76 posts
 
Massive Attack
ohlala
1,235 posts
 
As a connoisseur specifically of this period of rock, I have to claim My Bloody Valentine; 'Isn't Anything’ and especially ‘Loveless’. It wasn't too tough to find one, but there were a lot of great bands.
richingoth
326 posts
 
The Mission UK without a doubt is still my favorite group. Released their first record in 1986 and still going strong, received my limited edition "Aural Delight" cd yesterday (UK released 12/02/2002) giving some tunes a make over. Have every release except the Japanese 4cd set, on vinyl and cd even saw them 6 times too in NYC/LI.
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