Tied To The 90s: Part 1

The 1990s were a time when I bought what can only be described as "an absolute shit-load of music". And I mean a shit-load. In 1990 I was still one of the last lot of students who had any hope of leaving university without a massive overdraft and a huge loan to repay. The student grant was a wonderful thing, and mine was spent vigorously in the record shops of Coventry and Rhyl.

September 1991 to June 1992 was spent working and studying in Germany and thanks to the failure of a Czech student to turn up for the course I was on, I managed to assume his identity and receive an EU grant on his behalf. Yay identity theft!!

The record shops of Brauschweig and Wolfsburg profited from this and some classics were bought during this time: Buffalo Tom's Let Me Come Over, Bandwagonesque, Screamadelica, Foxbase Alpha, Trompe Le Monde, Dry, Slanted & Enchanted, Lazer Guided Melodies, Diamonds & Pearls... I could go on for some time.

And then after uni that leaves 6 years of working to build up a pretty reasonable (predominantly indie-rock orientated) CD collection. And that's really only taking the albums into account. There wasn't a week that went by when I wasn't scouring the new release CD singles at Our Price, Woolworths or Kavern Records for the 99p first week bargains. Of course being the multi-format sucker that I was I often ended up with 2 (occasionally 3 - see Orbital's Satan (Live)) versions of the same single.

So yes, a shit-load of music. In retrospect, my quality filters did slip up occasionally, and some things haven't held up to the ravages of time, but I make no secret of the fact that this decade is easily my favourite time in music.

And that's why the challenge of making a top 50 albums of the 90s list has been a pretty big job. Big insomuch as the sheer volume of stuff to pick from was pretty daunting, and the original long-list was particularly long.

When you think about it, 50 for a whole decade is pretty ridiculously restrictive. I mean, 5 per year? Especially when you consider 1997 has 7 albums I couldn't really live without. Thankfully when I looked at it I thought "Well first of all I'd better pick the definite ones" and ended up with 51 ticks (sorry to the War Child Help! collection).

Some of you (I'm kidding! I know no-one's reading this!) may remember that I did a top 50 albums of all time list last year. I warn you now that if you're comparing that list to this one you'll find that they don't necessarily correspond with their chart placings. I haven't checked back on that previous list, I've just winged it based on my gut feeling this week. There's an element of both "loved it then" and "love it now" in the selections, but they're all corkers and that's what counts.

As ever I hope you find something you didn't know and look it up. I've only written up 7 so far so that's what you get for now...

50. Throwing Muses - Red Heaven

I'm pretty sure that the first time I heard Throwing Muses it was from a cassette my friend Eifion had of Hunkpapa. The disjointed rhythms worried me slightly, but I remember enjoying Dizzy particularly.

The Muses became one of my favourite bands over the years. The album was the first they released after the departure of founding member Tanya Donnelly. Tanya always had a slightly poppier sensibility than Kristin Hersh so I wasn't sure how I would feel about this when it was released but I needn't have feared anything.

From the single Firepile, to the Bob Mould Duet Dio and the unbelievable Pearl this album is chock full of great songs.

I bought this from one branch of HMV in Coventry and then went up to the other branch and exchanged it because they had the version with the live solo acoustic show bonus disc. And let's face it, a live acoustic solo Kristin Hersh set of Throwing Muses songs is pretty much the best thing you could ever want to hear.

49. The Stone Roses - Second Coming

I liked it.

48. The Amps - Pacer

Pretty much the most rocking Breeders album there is.

47. Buffalo Tom - Birdbrain

You know when you first start going to gigs and you get to see your favourite bands in person for the first time? I went to see The Wedding Present in Leicester De Montfort Hall with my good friend James in May of 1991. Seamonsters was newly released so the boy Gedge was at the height of his powers and we were geared up to immerse ourselves in the our first bit of real hero-worship (although I *had* seen Prince once and Frank Sidebottom twice by this stage). The last thing either of us expected was to be completely blown away by the unknown support band.

Don't get me wrong, The Weddoes were amazing that night. I  mean PROPERLY amazing, but both James & I left the show understanding that we had just discovered a band that could go on to great things.

The following day we walked into a record shop in Leicester city centre and saw this album on vinyl. Of course this was 1991 and *no one* bought vinyl. So we walked out again.

In the end I didn't end up buying it until I was in Germany over a year later, and by this time Let Me Come had also been released. I don't remember which I bought first, although I'm pretty sure I got them both (and also the eponymous debut eventually) in the same shop.

Over the years Buffalo Tom have been consistently in my top 10 bands of all time, along with Gedge & his lot, so when James & I had the opportunity to see them play in Manchester in 2011 we were front and centre from start to finish, and to talk to and get autographs from two of them after the show was a big thrill.

I took this picture. I was pretty happy with my point of view. Bill Janovitz is a bona fide rock star in my eyes.

46. the Mountain Goats - Full Force Galesburg

You know by now that this is my favourite band, but I didn't get into them until about 2001. Some of their earlier stuff isn't as accessible as the records that got me hooked on them, but Full Force Galesburg is chock-full of great tunes and is my favourite early-period tMG album.

45. Money Mark - Push The Button

The first album in the list that I bought on cassette. Not quite sure why that is because I've got Mark's Keyboard Repair on CD. I  guess at this stage I must have still chosen my format based on my budget. It's a cracking little album too. Having discovered Mark through his work on The Beastie Boys' Ill Communication album I found Mark's Keyboard Repair a little too keyboard-noodly but while this one has its fair share of noodle, it also has proper hit singles.

44. Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque

Right, remember that shop in Germany where I bought those Buffalo Tom albums? We'll be returning there quite regularly on this journey.

One of the first things I did when I got to Germany was to take out a subscription to the NME. Back in '91/'92 it was still worth buying the NME and especially in Germany where the radio options were the local chart pop station (Radio FFN!) and BFBS (although you did get Peel once a week). I had to really rely on reviews to give me some clues about what I might want to buy. Thankfully it was pretty difficult to go wrong in 1992.

I knew nothing about Teenage Fanclub prior to reading NME's rave review of Bandwagonesque  but bought it, possibly at the same time as Lazer Guided Melodies, and from the opening "She wears denim wherever she goes / Says she's gonna get some records by the Status Quo" I was hooked. A friend had asked me to copy his CD of Nevermind onto a cassette for him and I remember telling him that it was "a bit too metal for my taste". I think Bandwagonesque filled the grungy niche in my collection, and although I would later come to see the error of my ways about Nevermind, it still never overtook this neon pink & yellow wonder in my eyes.