Album Rating: 2.5

meh

Album Rating: 5.0

I struggle to believe music is higher quality now than the 90s.



Even the top 200 charts on this very site support that - the highest rated album last year would barely rank in a top 50 for any year of the nineties



Every week there was a 36 Chambers...a Mezzanine...a Grace...an OK Computer...could go on. A release of that impact. Sometimes more. Every week give or take.



What’s the big release this week? As much as I like the new Avey Tare it’s not going to be held in the regard of any of the top thousand albums of the nineties.



I do get that taste is more polarised but even then - surely you’d get an album everyone agrees about? Closest we’ve had is How to Pump a Butterchurn which is a good album but...,

Album Rating: 5.0

This decade has seen music improve from the 00s though - if anyone wants to direct any bile that’s the most deserving era, overall a bit weak



I’d take Nirvana over The White Stripes, The Strokes and The Killers any day. Arcade Fire? Bloc Party? QOTSA? No, still Nirvana.



Oh, and I rate them way above the Foo Fighters as if that even needs an explanation

Album Rating: 3.5

"Even the top 200 charts on this very site support that - the highest rated album last year would barely rank in a top 50 for any year of the nineties"



What kind of flawed logic is that ? Check the number of votes. The albums from the 90s have had more than a decade worth of votes and are also much more known since they're old classics that most people have heard.

Album Rating: 3.0

Way to miss the point, doof. This is about access and choice, freedom to pick what you're listening to.



Bet you're subconsiously glad you're living in this age in music everytime you hit play on a stream, Mr. Deep Dive.

Album Rating: 5.0

'they're old classics'



So what you're saying is the 'old classics' from last year will emerge down the line?



The flaw in your logic is the 90s classics were considered classics on arrival and are still considered classics :/

Album Rating: 5.0

Whether it is healthy that I have access to all this music enabling this level of obsession is open for debate ;D



Free access to music has its ups and downs - in terms of people recognising enduring classics I do think people are more in a rush and treat music as more disposable now maybe. It's like a fast track evolution - it's got ten times as ruthless, musical natural selection, only fallible humans are in charge rather than dependable mother nature.



Surprised the album format has endured this well under this level of duress tbh

Every week? Dam I wish I believed you. Actually, I will try and see if there was a release I loved every month of the 90s. Maybe you are right.

Album Rating: 5.0

I consider about two or three hundred 90s albums 4.5-5 stonewall classics and another thousand are top hundred of this decade sort of quality. How many weeks are there in a year? Odds are there was a near classic album most weeks of the 90s.



Saying that, I have actively trawled the nineties for more obscure stuff over the last year though, I haven't gone to that level with the other decades yet so I am biased.



My cheeky quote is I consider my top 100 albums of 1994 about the same quality of my top 100 albums of this decade...that's an exaggeration, but only a little bit. I've listened to approx 250 albums from 94. The GOAT year.

Album Rating: 3.5

I probably think this is their weakest overall too, but Lounge Act is a pretty strong contender for my favorite Nirvana song.

Album Rating: 5.0

'Lounge Act' is my favourite yeah on this and second or third favourite overall.

Also why mention The Killers and The white Stripes when you could of said Joanna Newsome, GYBE, Wilco, Interpol, The Avalanches, Conerge, The Microphones etc etc. All artists that are more revered amongst 'the music community'.

Album Rating: 3.0

"It's like a fast track evolution - it's got ten times as ruthless, musical natural selection, only fallible humans are in charge rather than dependable mother nature."

What does this mean?



He's talking about hits, Ghandhi. I think.

Well youth appreciation of art in general is decreasing so "the hits" are bound to suck more.

I think the albums that had hype amongst the music circles (on rym etc) the past 20 years are better on avg than those in the 90s.
Not because there are less people interested in music, but because more people are informed due to accesibility.

Album Rating: 3.0

Agreed, the best stuff is getting noticed more now than it ever did back in the mailorder days. I'm grateful for it.

Even if you're all wrong and have bad taste 😠

Album Rating: 5.0

'Also why mention The Killers and The white Stripes when you could of said Joanna Newsome, GYBE, Wilco, Interpol, The Avalanches, Conerge, The Microphones etc etc.'



I was naming similar mainstream 'rock' or 'guitar' bands. Interpol didn't seem quite as mainstream but they would be in there. Wilco are a '90s band or near enough! Again not quite as mainstream as The Killers or Nirvana.



'I think the albums that had hype amongst the music circles (on rym etc) the past 20 years are better on avg than those in the 90s.'



Was RYM around in the nineties :/



I dunno, I think relatively minor releases in the nineties (certainly at the time) like say 'Maxinquaye', 'Dummy', 'Welcome to Sky Valley', 'Yerself is Steam' or 'Grace' (covering a few genres here randomly) would be AOTY if they came out now. Maybe not.



MeWithoutYou and Dance Gavin dance it is!

Album Rating: 3.5

"The flaw in your logic is the 90s classics were considered classics on arrival and are still considered classics :/"



Aaah but it has the same problems as the movie industry and others.

The more things are out, the less original you can get and also the more competition you have.

You're nowadays competing with a lot more than back in the day...why ? Simple: Internet. Nowadays, everyone has access to everything and you find out about older bands you might never have heard of when they were at their peak or alive.

People don't have more money than they had before but there are more and more quality albums every day. They will eventually pick only classics if they don't have the funds for more recent, unproven bands.



So in a way, we agree that it's harder for albums and bands to be recognized nowadays. But is it because of quality ? I wouldn't say it is. Some of the best albums i've ever heard have been released in the last decade.

Also keep in mind metal isn't as popular as it was in the 90s...well at least not where i live.

Album Rating: 3.5

I mean, I think what you’re getting at is good music went from the mainstream to more niche channels, but by doing so genres and sub genres exploded, and now music as a whole is going in more directions than ever. I don’t see this as a bad thing.

Album Rating: 5.0

The absolute torrents of dross have stymied the scene. Everybody is a musician nowadays nobodies an artist.

Album Rating: 3.5

It’s the end times, agreed