Time to choose what has been the best album of the last 20 years fellas, it's been narrowed to nine top quality albums and here they are.......
Voting opens once videos are up
The Case For Stone Roses
What the band thought about it
Ian: "It's timeless. It still sounds fresh. I think if it came out this week, it would still make an impact. I remember finally finishing the LP and John Leckie saying to us, 'You're going to do really well, you know'. And we just said, 'Yeah we know'. And we did. We just felt it. He was taken aback by our confidence. But we did know we were good".
Mani: "That LP sold something like three and a half million and I've never seen a ****ing penny. But in the first place it was never about money. Still money ****ed us up in the end. The best bands - Big Star, Love, the MC5 - never concern themselves with those things. But they never get paid either".
Released on 2 October 1995 in the UK, the album was Oasis' most enduring commercial success, charting at number one in the UK (staying there for 10 weeks) and number four in the U.S. The album sold 347 000 copies in its first week in the UK and has so far sold over 18 million copies worldwide. It is the third biggest-selling album in UK chart history (with 4.3 million copies sold), behind Queen's Greatest Hits and The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band respectively. The album has gone 4x platinum in the United States (4 million+ sales)
OK Computer reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and marked Radiohead's highest entry into the American market at the time, debuting there at number 21. The album expanded the band's worldwide popularity, and as of 2007, it has been certified triple platinum in the UK and double platinum in the US.[3][4] OK Computer received considerable acclaim at the time of its release, and it has since been listed by music critics and listener polls as one of the best albums ever recorded.
Both Surfer Rosa and Steve Albini's production of the album have been influential on alternative rock, and on grunge in particular. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain cited Surfer Rosa as the basis for Nevermind's songwriting.[34] When he first heard the album, Cobain discovered a template for the mix of heavy noise and pop he was aiming to achieve. He remarked in 1993 that he "heard songs off of Surfer Rosa that I'd written but threw out because I was too afraid to play them for anybody."[35] Cobain hired Albini to produce Nirvana's 1993 album In Utero, primarily due to his contribution to Surfer Rosa.[36] The Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan described Surfer Rosa as "the one that made me go, 'holy ****'. It was so fresh. It rocked without being lame." Corgan was impressed by the album's drum sound, and acknowledged that The Smashing Pumpkins used to study the record for its technical elements.[26] Indie musician PJ Harvey said that Surfer Rosa "blew my mind," and that she "immediately went to track down Steve Albini.
Moon Safari is an eclectic mix of synth-pop, acoustic guitars and string arrangements. The tone ranges from retro tracks, such as "Kelly Watch the Stars", "Sexy Boy" and "Remember" to laid-back ballads, such as "Ce matin là" and the tracks featuring Beth Hirsch. Much of the album has a detached, hypnotic, retro feel. Also of note is the plethora of instruments used by Godin and Dunckel such as Moog synthesizers and vocoders. The band also used recording equipment to give Dunckel the soprano voice on "Sexy Boy".
Californication produced several hits for the band, including "Around the World", "Otherside", "Californication" and the Grammy Award–winning "Scar Tissue". Californication peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200. It is the Chili Peppers' most commercially successful album to date, selling more than fifteen million copies worldwide;[1] a revitalization in comparison to their previous album, One Hot Minute. The record marked a change in style for the band; Rolling Stone's Greg Tate noted that "while all previous Chili Peppers projects have been highly spirited, Californication dares to be spiritual and epiphanic."[
Nevermind not only popularized the Seattle grunge movement, but brought alternative rock as a whole into the mainstream, establishing its commercial and cultural viability.[60] Nevermind's success surprised Nirvana's contemporaries, who felt dwarfed by its impact. Fugazi's Guy Picciotto later commented: "It was like our record could have been a hobo ****ing in the forest for the amount of impact it had. [...] It felt like we were playing ukuleles all of a sudden because of the disparity of the impact of what they did".[61] In 1992, Jon Pareles of The New York Times described that in the aftermath of the album's breakthrough, "Suddenly, all bets are off. No one has the inside track on which of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of ornery, obstreperous, unkempt bands might next appeal to the mall-walking millions". Record company executives offered large advances and record deals to bands, and previous strategies of building audiences for alternative rock bands had been replaced by the opportunity to achieve mainstream popularity quickly.
In 1997 Definitely Maybe was named the 14th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM.[10] In 2005 Channel 4's '100 Greatest Albums' countdown placed the album at number 6.[11] In 2006, NME placed the album third in a list of the greatest British albums ever, behind The Stone Roses and The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead.[12] In a recent British poll, run by NME and the book of British Hit Singles and Albums, Definitely Maybe was voted the best album of all time with The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band finishing second and Revolver third.[13] Q magazine readers placed it at five on their greatest albums of all time list in 2006 and in that same year NME hailed it as the greatest album of all time. In a 2008 poll by Q and HMV in 2008, Definitely Maybe was ranked first on a list of the greatest British album of all time
was widely acclaimed by a number of sources, garnering mostly positive reviews. Allmusic reviewer James Christopher Monger gave the album a rating of four and a half stars out of five. He described it as "brave, empowering, and dusted with something that many of the indie-rock genre's more contrived acts desperately lack: an element of real danger."[2] Rock critic Robert Christgau gave the album an A-, saying that Funeral was "...too fond of drama, but aware of its small place in the big world, and usually beautiful.
Well done on the overall competition presentation Jebus, I've found it very interesting :)
I went for OK Computer; eloquent layers of social cynicism and personal impotence expressed through powerful angst and beautiful music [:o]. The Roses will win it though and it will certainly be a worthy choice.
03/11/2008, 5:39 AM
Pauro 76
So it finally comes to an end, well done Jebus! Been fun doing this for the last few months. Voted for OK Computer. I actually rate the Bends a little higher but there are some beautiful songs on this such as Let Down and Exit Music still sends shivers down the spine. 2nd to Funeral and 3rd to Nevermind.
03/11/2008, 7:01 AM
stann
Had to think about this one.
Moon Safari is my personal favourite at the mo, but Stone Roses is probably the best candidate, and should and hopefully will win.
If it p***ed away with it I could vote for Air with a clear conscience, but I'd never forgive myself if Radiohead or Oasis blind-sided the Roses by one vote (yeah yeah should get out more I know) so had to vote somewhat tactically.
Like Jebus did in putting two Oasis albums through - divide and conquer, excellent work! :D
All joking aside, great work Jebus, big undertaking and you made good on your election promise. :)
You'll have your work cut out with the best song of the last twenty years poll though! :eek:
03/11/2008, 9:29 AM
jebus
Quote:
Originally Posted by stann
Moon Safari is my personal favourite at the mo, but Stone Roses is probably the best candidate, and should and hopefully will win.
If it p***ed away with it I could vote for Air with a clear conscience, but I'd never forgive myself if Radiohead or Oasis blind-sided the Roses by one vote
This was exactly what I thought. Would have loved to given Air my vote, but deep down I know Stones Roses do deserve this
Quote:
Originally Posted by stann
You'll have your work cut out with the best song of the last twenty years poll though! :eek:
A-Ha Take On Me, competition over :p
03/11/2008, 9:55 AM
noby
Quote:
Originally Posted by jebus
A-Ha Take On Me, competition over :p
Best song of the last 23 years perhaps. Though you'd still be wrong. Best video, granted.
03/11/2008, 10:30 AM
BohsPartisan
Quote:
Originally Posted by noby
Best song of the last 23 years perhaps. Best video, granted.
Not even. Two more competitions in the making?
Went for The Stone Roses too, not least because personally it changed the world for me at the age of 13. I don't think any of the other albums there could have done that, nor have they had any real impact on my life, though DM, and OKC are great albums.
03/11/2008, 11:51 AM
noby
Oh yeah, I voted for Stone Roses. I wanted to vote for 'Other' but Jebus forgot to include it in the poll.
Seriously, well done Jebus for seeing this through.
03/11/2008, 11:56 AM
GuisaSaigon
Stone Roses.
Of the others only Moon Safari would come close to my top 5.
03/11/2008, 12:28 PM
Wolfie
Fair play, Jebus - The Best Of's have been enjoyable and breathed new life into the Forum. We'll have to sustain it now.
Again, went for the obvious and deserving choice - The Stone Roses.
A record that means a lot to me personally. I heard it at 14 years of age and it just blew my mind. The bands attitude was a positive influence upon me in a number of ways beyond music. Life changing stuff.
03/11/2008, 12:48 PM
Magicme
Was torn between Pixies, Radiohead, Nirvana and Stone Roses, but going by the album that I pull most often out of my collection to still listen to I had to choose Stone Roses. Classic and epic. Music of my life.
03/11/2008, 2:01 PM
holidaysong
For me..
1. Pixies - Surfer Rosa
2. Stone Roses - Stone Roses
3. Radiohead - OK Computer
4. Arcade Fire - Funeral
5. Nirvana - Nevermind
I still can't believe there are two Oasis albums in the final... :eek:
