NME TOP 100 BRITISH ALBUMS EVER

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 6:51 am

Wow, that's hard to answer! One version might be that, a bit like the English novel, the music has got a bit too parochial and insular. Then again you might say it's got more context-specific and less understandable elswhere, but that would probably be bollocks because look at, say, The Kinks. Fashion? Less interest from the music industry in breaking UK bands? Oasis were an interesting case. We are all mad for them, kind of, and yet they just couldn't take off in the US. Partly cos they were too limited to have much impact (though I do rate the first two LPs, and Live Forever is a classic). We've always heard that for bands to really 'break America' they had to just tour and tour and work their arses off, but Oasis pretty much did that and didn't get too far. what made Depeche Mode so huge there? It often seems a but random. What was that band with Gavin Bush in, Gwen Stefani's bloke? I and my son can't even remember, and yet they were/are huge in the States. But there has been great music since the 80s, Pulp for example. And I think a lot of the current bands are pretty good. I'm with you on New Order, I'm a huge fan, and their legacy is huge. I never dug the Happy Mondays that much, though you could well argue that they were more mucially innovative than Stone Roses.

Needless to say, all this focussing on the latter has led me to put the CD on again, and it still sounds fantastic. It's such a shame they never fulfilled all that promise. Just listen to the amazing coda to the fabulous I Am The Resurrection to hear how they could have become the best rock band since Led Zeppelin in terms of visceral musical thrills.

hollyh · Post by **hollyh** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 2:39 am

I'm a huge Kinks fan so you can't be "too English" for me. Maybe it is a thing of music biz economics...or maybe the US has such a glut of new bands right now there's no room to promote other artists. But then how does that explain Coldplay breaking through? I love their sound, but after you hear it song after song you start to figure out there's no there there. Franz Ferdinand broke through, and I do like them immensely.

Well, part of me wants to get a sampler of all these bands now and figure it out -- which ones are being unfairly neglected in the US, and which ones are being irrationally overvalued in the UK.

But then I haven't got enough time to listen to all the music I already own. The hard drive is reaching capacity....

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:05 am

Holly, which bands from the 90s on that list have you never heard of? I haven't heard all their music, but Ride is the only band there that if somebody mentioned them to me, I wouldn't be able to say, "Oh yeah, that's a British band from the 90s, their best album is supposed to be _____." Then again, I was a teenager in the 90s...

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:53 am

and that Ride album - Nowhere - should be about 20 places higher at least - fantastic record.

hollyh · Post by **hollyh** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 3:29 pm

I'd absolutely never heard of Julian Cope, Supergrass, Happy Mondays, Beta Band, Cornership, Elastica, Spiritualized, or Massive Attack. But then I was not a teenager in the 90s.

Several others I'd heard the names (who could forget the name Super Furry Monkeys?) but I doubt I ever heard the music.

Radiohead, Oasis, Blur, Teenage Fanclub, Morrissey are the only ones whose music I'd actually heard and liked enough to buy.

Tell me -- which, if any, of these bands were a serious omission?

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 5:24 pm

Supergrass are fantastic and I Should Coco would make my top 100 easy.

Julian Cope? Ho hum. Kilimanjaro by Teardrop Explodes (his band) was pretty cool for it's time and Treason was a great single.

Happy Mondays were fun at the time and made great dance singles. I'm not sure that I'd go out of my way to buy an album though.

Don't know enough about the rest to comment.

Agree with Mike though. Ride's album is a great (almost) forgotten gem.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 6:50 pm

Don't know it or them at all! must look it up. Treason is one of my absolute all-time favourite pop singles ever, just perfect. Julian is a nutter now (druid priest type with incredible knowledge of ancient sites and books on them), but I'm glad he's around. Happy Mondays name is well known, surely in the US too. Beta Band are more obscure. Can't define them. Cornershop are just about the only Indie band with an Indian-origin lead singer. Interesting, left-field, that's a good LP, most famous for the souped up dancefloor classic Brimful Of Asha, which seems to be the song that gets people, at least those in their 30s and 40s, most readily to their feet at parties. Elastic were very mid-90s angular guitar indie, with gorgeous Justine Frischmann, ex of both Damon Albarn and Brett Anderson. Never rated them that highly though they had a couple of good songs. Spiritualized make big, epic, soundscapes with a druggy/dancy basis, or something like that. never really got into them. Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space is a great title. Massive Attack are a big name with several excellent LPs, style of trip hop, very Bristol-focussed, the sound of people who smoke shitloads of weed and have the paranoia to prove it, edgy, dark, musically inventive, I only know Blue Lines well, and it was groundbreaking and hugely listenable, a recommended purchase. It's Super Furry Animals, by the way. One time EC-board regular Shabby Doll was a massive fan of theirs, and American to boot. Great live, sing in Welsh and English, some great songs.

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 7:27 pm

Jackson Monk wrote:
Julian Cope? Ho hum.

Well said, sir. And the album they mention - Jehovahkill - very ho hum.

King Hoarse · Post by **King Hoarse** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:17 pm

Super Furry Animals are weird in that I think their album Rings Around The World is pretty much flawless and they were great live on that tour but their other stuff despite sounding sorta similar hasn't grabbed me. I did like the all-Welsh album, but wouldn't listen to it once a week.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:20 pm

That's the one I saw them touring, Hawkwind influences and all. Great stuff. The last one got rave reviews.

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:26 pm

I only have the one Spiritualized album, the Live at the Albert Hall one, and its fucking great - when they get that whole massed choir, guitar rave up cranking they are really something. Jason from Spaceman 3's group - they are really worth a good listen. Their version of "Oh Happy Day" is ace - druggy gospel.

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 9:28 pm

Happy Mondays "Pills and Thrills and Bellyaches" is great too and so is "Bummed" though rather more raw.

VonOfterdingen · Post by **VonOfterdingen** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 5:29 pm

It's not that wrong with Stone Roses as No 1.