Listed below are the best albums of 1999 as calculated from their overall rankings in over 58,000 greatest album charts. (Chart last updated: 3 hours ago).
"This is a very underated record by the lead singer of soundgarden.Its no secret that Chris Cornell has probably the most powerful voices of the last 30 years but for this record he experimented with more Beatle/Buckley esque melodies and really solid songwriting. His best solo record and a must l...""This is a very underated record by the lead singer of soundgarden.Its no secret that Chris Cornell has probably the most powerful voices of the last 30 years but for this record he experimented with more Beatle/Buckley esque melodies and really solid songwriting. His best solo record and a must listen."[+]Reply
"THEY COULD HAVE BEEN AS BIG AS.... DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE!!! Indie Rock used to be scary. I’m not shitting you. I was there! When bands like Jesus Lizard who would just as much fight you as play for you. At least it seemed that way. I mean the bass player would just give you this death stare for the...""THEY COULD HAVE BEEN AS BIG AS.... DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE!!!
Indie Rock used to be scary. I’m not shitting you. I was there! When bands like Jesus Lizard who would just as much fight you as play for you. At least it seemed that way. I mean the bass player would just give you this death stare for the entire concert. I never once saw that dude blink. Not once! And he was the sane one in the band. Yow would just randomly jump into the audience at times and start throwing punches. I’m not kidding. I was there! But, worse than his punch was the filthy sweat that used to come pouring off his body. You’d feel as if you’d been slimed. It was worse than playing shirts & skins basketball at high noon in August. You’d totally reek afterwards. Honestly, you never new what what he was going to happen. Going to an indie rock show was always part performance theater, part concert. It was a full on adventure. And that changed. This was before indie rock became synonymous with sensitive, over-educated college boys, and it was dominated by dudes on such labels as SST, Touch & Go, and Amphetamine Reptile. Bands like the Butthole Surfers and Big Black. These bands wanted to fuck shit up. I mean it was called Noise Rock for christ sake. And then the tides changed. Emo happened. And like a wild weed that gains root in an untended garden, it just took over everything. And indie rock became … gulp,… downright huggable & lovable. Adorable even. Garden State took over as the best representative movie of the scene as opposed to my beloved Repo Man. Sigh.
Annyways…. one of the key bands that played a role in that change were Death Cab For Cutie. And don’t get me wrong. I adore Death Cab! Well at least their first three albums. I really do. And then Ben Gibbard started writing songs as if he was soundtracking The O.C. or something.
But Pinback, whose debut came out just a year after Death Cab’s were every bit as good. If not better. They sounded so similar that some people (I won’t name names or anything) actually think that they pilfered Death Cab’s sound! Hogwash. Pinback have even gone on record saying that they had never even heard of Death Cab back in 1999. And I believe ‘em! I’ve noticed over the course of rock/pop history that eerily similar sounds often develop concurrently yet completely independently. It’s kind of fascinating. (Rate Your Music calls this shade of Indie Pop “Midwest Emo" for what’s its worth. I learned something new today! lol. )
Pinback's debut is chock full of stunning, resonant, emotive, catchy indie pop with their calling card being the beautiful entwined harmonies of Rob Crow and Armistead Burwell Smith IV. But just about every song has a subtle secret weapon as well. Whether it be the badass speed metal kick drums on “Chaos Engine” or the diabolical, lullaby worthy chorus on “Shag.” The subtle scratching on “Tripoi" & “Hurley.” Or the irresistible da da da dada harmonies on “Loro”. These subtle touches & details completely reward repeat spins. But of course what keeps you coming back for more are those harmonies… and the songs - those insanely catchy, hummable songs.
Grade: A. This is easily one of the best Indie Pop albums of the turn of the century. They’re every bit as good as Death Cab’s early albums if not a smidge or two better. It’s always interesting to me how some bands make it and others don’t. And if you yearn for Death Cab’s early days even a bit, then you need to check this platter out. They really should have been just as big. Maybe if they were just a bit cuter! Or new the executive producer of Dawson’s Creek was a fan. Anyways, I’m going to snuggle up with their adorable debut as it emotes its way all the way to number 14! "[+]Reply
"Red Alert and Always Be There had a lovely sound. Bingo Bango reminds me of Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag which is not an awful thing. Feels sweaty. Exciting to dance to. Keeps playing for a very long time. Good stuff indeed."Reply
"A great album to lighten up the mood. Most of the songs are silly but infectiously catchy, never dragging too much to be bothersome. It doesn't have a hit, a song I'd name fantastic, but it doesn't have any weak song either Best songs: Old Familiar Way, Nickee Coco, Neat Little Domestic Life, Tul...""A great album to lighten up the mood. Most of the songs are silly but infectiously catchy, never dragging too much to be bothersome. It doesn't have a hit, a song I'd name fantastic, but it doesn't have any weak song either
Best songs: Old Familiar Way, Nickee Coco, Neat Little Domestic Life, Tulip Baroo"[+]Reply
"This album's a little more serious, or sullen if you may, than their first two. Take "don't change your plans" which finds Ben Folds in the autumn of love sitting on his suitcase with the end of the relationship in sight, closing the song "i love you, goodbye". i love the tragic beauty of "mess",...""This album's a little more serious, or sullen if you may, than their first two. Take "don't change your plans" which finds Ben Folds in the autumn of love sitting on his suitcase with the end of the relationship in sight, closing the song "i love you, goodbye". i love the tragic beauty of "mess", with the line "But I don't believe in God / So I can't be saved / All alone as I've learned to be / In this mess I have made ". Ben's head is filled with utilizing his "most valuable possession" (his mind), "regrets" and general absentmindedness ("narcolepsy"). "army" is like a rockin' weird al song, starting "well, i thought a lot about the army. / dad said 'son, you're f*ckin' high'. / and i thought, yeah there's a first for everything / so i took my old man's advice." then "grew a moustache & a mullet, got a job at chic'fil'a. / citing artistic differences, the band broke up in May." with the piano of an old wild west saloon near the bridge. With that song and "your redneck past" you know he still brings some upbeat humor."[+]Reply
""Fanmail" threw chlli front-and-center the most. It worked well. "no scrubs" and "unpretty" are the standouts, but other strong songs include the attitude of "silly ho", the faux-romance of the near-porn "i'm good at being bad", "shout", the personal exorcism of "dear lie" and "love sick". Of cou..."""Fanmail" threw chlli front-and-center the most. It worked well. "no scrubs" and "unpretty" are the standouts, but other strong songs include the attitude of "silly ho", the faux-romance of the near-porn "i'm good at being bad", "shout", the personal exorcism of "dear lie" and "love sick". Of course, for a group whose first major hit was about begging for sex and their image sported a plethora of condoms (or is it a gaggle of condoms?), they don't let up on this album, declaring their "!@#$'s so tight, will make you c@m all night" in "i'm good at being bad" and close the album with a song called "don't pull out on me yet" (wink wink). "[+]Reply
"I haven't listened to it for years, and by my fanatism of the innovation of Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral came again in the last time, I was expecting that this record hadn't past the stood of time as many of the records I've heard. Suprisingly I was wrong. In this record Richard Patrick p...""I haven't listened to it for years, and by my fanatism of the innovation of Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral came again in the last time, I was expecting that this record hadn't past the stood of time as many of the records I've heard. Suprisingly I was wrong.
In this record Richard Patrick proofs that his band is not a shadow of their ex-band, Nine Inch Nails, but is criminally underrated. The tags of Post-Grunge, and even Industrial Rock is a little bit away from this band. It's just a standard Hard Rock with very heavy riffs showed in tracks like "Welcome To The Fold" and "It's Gonna Kill Me", catching-as-hell melodies (Richard Patrick is being a suprising singer here), amazing chord progressions in tracks like "Cancer", and amazing singles like "The Best Things" and the memorable "Take A Picture".
A record totally unappreciated, you should check out."[+]Reply