Music: Best Albums of the Year series: 1991

[Saturated Fats]

It's an option in the poll, friend

 

[Langdon Alger]

Add Cypress Hill in there.

Someone ordered the London Symphony Ochestra. Possibly while high.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Loveless, Laughing Stock, The Low End Theory.

 

[VC]

1. Nirvana 'Nevermind'
2. Cypress Hill 'Cypress Hill'
3. Metallica 'Metallica' (The Black Album)
4. Pearl Jam 'Ten'
5. Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik'
6. Black Sheep 'A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing'
7. A Tribe Called Quest 'The Low End Theory'
8. Guns 'N Roses 'Use Your Illusion I/Use Your Illusion II'
9. Del the Funky Homosapien 'i Wish My Brother George Was Here'
10. 2Pac '2Pacalypse Now'

HM: Digital Underground 'This Is an EP Release' (2Pac debut)
Public Enemy 'Apocalypse '91 - The Enemy Strikes Black'
Compton's Most Wanted 'Straight Checkn 'Em'
Main Source 'Breaking Atoms' (Nas debut)
De La Soul 'De La Soul is Dead'
Ice Cube 'Death Certificate'

Slept-on: Temple of the Dog 'Temple of the Dog'
Grew up on Seattle grunge era music and never heard this supergroup album. For shame.

 

[ghostnights]

Nirvana
Soundgarden


Easy

 

[plank]

1. Still Feel Gone - Uncle Tupelo
2. Ten - Pearl Jam
3. Nevermind - Nirvana
4. Into the Great Wide Open - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
5. Whenever We Wanted - John Mellencamp
6. The Missing Years - John Prine
7. s/t - Widespread Panic
8. s/t - Temple of the Dog
9. s/t - Metallica
10. On Every Street - Dire Straits
11. Rumor & Sigh - Richard Thompson

 

[Stylizer1]

One of the best years for Hip Hop.

A Tribe Called Quest - Low End Theory
De La Soul - De La Soul is Dead
Gangstarr - Step in the Arena
Naughty by Nature - Naughty by Nature
Main Source - Breaking Atoms
Leaders of the New School - A future without a past
Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill
Public Enemy - Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black
Black Sheep - A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Del The Funkee Homosapien - I Wish My Brother George Was Here
Ice Cube - Death Certificate
Organized Konfusion - Organized Konfusion
2Pac - 2Pacalypse Now
Scarface - Mr. Scarface Is Back

 

[Langdon Alger]

I'd bet on Metallica.

Guess that didn’t work out.

 

[Ouroboros]

Am I out of touch with popular consensus?

 

[Ozz]

OZZY: No More Tears

 

[Langdon Alger]

Am I out of touch with popular consensus?

No, it’s the children who are wrong.

 

[Saturated Fats]

I'll post 1977 on Sunday.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I'll post 1977 on Sunday.

It's a pretty bad year IMO.

 

[Eisen]

Other:

Skid Row - Slave to the Grind

great hard, heavy trash metal album that people incorrectly associate with hair metal

I don't know why hair metal has such a bad reputation. There are a couple of enjoyable bands.

 

[Mescaleroman]

I'll post 1977 on Sunday.

Looking forward to it , will be one of my top three years so far with some HM's .

 

[Roo Returns]

1991 might be the best year for recorded music in our species history. I always make mention September 24th, 1991 being the single greatest release day of all time, but the entire year from start to finish is beyond impressive.

 

[Roo Returns]

I don't know why hair metal has such a bad reputation. There are a couple of enjoyable bands.

Hair metal was notoriously uncool for about ten years and then it became niche. Now it's just happy sounding hard rock. I'll take hair metal any day over modern hip hop which isn't musical at all. I love old hip hop and there is still some great stuff but the modern sound with the mono beat and vocals drowned in autotune is nonsense.

 

[Roo Returns]

Kind of a weak year overall IMO

WHAAAAAAAATTTT?!!!!!! Then what's a strong year?

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

WHAAAAAAAATTTT?!!!!!! Then what's a strong year?

As I said, and it's only my opinion, 1991 had a lot of immensely popular major releases, so maybe it's a strong year in quantity, but apart from Mr. Bungle the top-end was rather poor.

Going by the years we've done with these polls, 2004 was way better, but also '88 and '73. 1969 was of course 100x better too.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

I always make mention September 24th, 1991 being the single greatest release day of all time

An iconic day. The best rock album of the year ("Nevermind") and the best rap album of the year ("The Low End Theory") released on one day. Plus notable albums from Soundgarden and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

EDIT - the other album worth highlighting, not included in the poll, is 2Pac's debut (the brilliantly named "2Pacalypse Now"). If you're only familiar with 2Pac rapping about West Side, drugs and women, etc., this shows a completely different side to him. "Brenda's Got a Baby" and "Part Time Mutha" (which is based upon a Stevie Wonder song) are unflinching stories about teen pregnancy - smart and poignant. Other songs, like "Trapped", "Violent" and especially "Words of Wisdom" are about his frustrations with society, delivered with just the right mix of anger and insight. (The latter was the first rap song I ever heard that spoke critically of Dr. Martin Luther King - obviously a controversial position to take). There's some filler, and the production isn't great (often sounding quite dated), but this is a much more political version of 2Pac, which has largely been forgotten in favour of the West Coast lifestyle he'd soon spend most of his time talking about.