10. Screaming Trees - Buzz Factory
Mark Lanegan is a familiar name for many indie fans of today. Fewer people, however, know that he was one of the figures behind grunge's birth. Screaming Trees is a less familiar grunge band from Ellensburg, Washington. Music is a mixture of heavy sounding experimental guitars and grunge trademark raspy singing. The bass lines are exceptionally great. The album cover is beautiful, a good example of an album as a work of art. Buzz Factory is the band's fourth album and in my opinion it's their greatest one. In addition to traditional grunge sounds, this album features psychedelic guitars resembling those of Velvet Underground. This mixture of psychedelia and grunge is a great piece of music. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Jesus and Mary Chain was one of the greatest band's of the 80's. Their guitar-driven alternative rock dodged the worst sounds that many other bands fell into. their music can be seen as an opening stage for the early 90's brit-pop. This Scottish band's third album Automatic is a step away from their golden years, but it still manages to include some great songs. The opening track Here Comes Alice is an instant hit. Some of the songs on the album come too close to 80's pop-rock to be taken seriously, but all in all, Automatic is a good album. The album cover is fairly awful and is a sign of the downfall of album art with the introduction of CD. Jesus and Mary Chain is a really cool band which was there to help to make 80's music more bearable. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Alice Cooper is one of the superstars of hard rock. his horror rock had some really good tracks already in the 70's, but 80's brought the right kind of studio techniques that helped him to perfect his pop-melodic hard rock super hits. Trash is a brilliant album full of hits. The only reason, it's not higher on this list is that I sometimes have troubles taking him seriously. The lyrics are a bit ludicrous. This album proofs that Alice Cooper is a master of hit making. Poison, Spark in the Dark, Bed of Nails and House of Fire could all have been no.1 hits on any radio station. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of hard rock genre, this album was a must purchase for me. And obviously the vinyl is the only way to go. Listen to the album on Spotify.
The 80's music was mostly about studio techniques and therefore only few bands made music with authentic sounds using acoustic instruments. Indigo Girls' self titled album is a fresh and beautiful album full of folk/country songs. The absolute highlight of the album is Kid Fears, in which Michael Stipe, one of the biggest superstars of the time, makes an appearance. This melancholic folk ballad is among the best songs of the late 80's. The two women's harmonic singing is beautiful and skilful and the pure metal-string acoustic guitars give an impression of a camp fire out in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, the whole career of Indigo Girls is not as good as this album, but fortunately there's this album to appreciate. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Pixies is one of the godfathers of alternative guitar rock. Their noise-filled indie sounds have been an inspiration for many later bands. Sometimes I'm a bit annoyed by the noise in Pixies albums, but behind that noise, there are great pop-rock songs. Doolittle is probably the band's best album. There are enough good songs to make the album a classic. The bass sound is full of treble, which reminds me of early 80's post-punk, although the music is a lot more upbeat and not nearly as melancholic. I could see many of these songs as hit tracks in indie discos. I see a wave of cool people jumping up and down to these tunes. i think I need to listen to Pixies a bit more to make them more meaningful for me, but I think there's something worth listening to. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Disintegration is one of the best selling albums from the Cure. It's also appraised by the critics. I can see why. these dark and melancholic songs carry with them enormous amount of emotion. Best example, and in my opinion the best song, on this album is Lovesong, which could be blamed for bringing the youth down with it's sadness. In my opinion this song is almost a perfect pop-song. The melody is beautiful and innovative, the lyrics talk about love, which must be the most common topic in music. The album is, however, full of great songs. Robert Smith's off-key vocals don't bother me at all here, since there's no other way, this album could ever have more emotion. Listen to the album on Spotify.
In 1989 Finnish band 22-Pistepirkko was mostly unknown even in Finland. bare Bone Nest, however, is a great album and should therefore be introduced to later generations and other countries. The opening track Frankenstein is one of the band's most brilliant songs. Psycho-rock with super good sounding electric guitars and singer PK's nasal singing voice concoct together a perfect rock-pop song. Shot Bayou is an amazing hypnotising ballad with sound of waves on the background. If the whole album would manage to stay in the lines of these two songs, it would be the best album by the band. Rest is however not as amazing, although it's really not bad either. This album is definitely worth its place on this list. Listen to three songs on Youtube.
Nirvana was mostly unknown outside Seattle at the time of the release of their debut album. Bleach is the rawest and most brutal Nirvana album. The sounds are amazing. Sharp and piercing guitars, treble-filled bass and authentic drum sounds are more old-school punk than later buzzing grunge. Kurt Cobain's voice is already what it was throughout the whole career. About the Girl is arguably the most well-known song from this album. I can see why. It's got a catchy melody and even some harmonic vocals. The album cover illustrates the attitude perfectly. I don't know if one could have imagined that this was to become one of the biggest bands in the world in few years, but all the possibilities were there. Listen to the album on Spotify.
I was almost prepared to do something extraordinary while making my list for the year 1990. i almost included a soundtrack album. Twin Peaks TV-series had amazing songs and I wanted to acknowledge that fact. I was, however surprised to find out, that there is a proper album with all of these great songs. Singer Julee Cruise, composer Angelo Badalamenti and the director David Lynch (as the writer of the lyrics) made a whole album of beautiful dream pop, of which quite a few songs are heard on the TV-series. This is not just for the fans of the programme. The album is a masterpiece in mellow and beautiful dream pop. Cruise's singing voice is hypnotisingly beautiful. Listen to the album on Spotify.
If you're a frequent reader of my blog, you'll know how much of a brit-pop fan I am. you could say that The Stone Roses started the whole genre. Obviously bands like The Smiths had paved way for the sound, but The Stone Roses were the first band to lift British pop-rock back to massive audiences. Their psychedelic melodies, danceable rhythms and amazing songwriting come together perfectly in their debut album. unfortunately their second coming few years later was unsuccessful in making a same kind of impression. This album is, nevertheless, a classic that is one of the best albums of the whole 80's. This was a great way to end 80's and move towards a new decade. I don't want to mention any single tracks, because the whole album is phenomenal. Listen to the album on Spotify.
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