24th September 1991

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 Boomer Doomer 24 Sep 2021

Today (24th September) is the 30th anniversary of perhaps the most influential day in modern music. On this day in 1991 three all time classic albums were released.

Blood, Sugar Sex, Magik - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Every track on this album is a banging! It's a masterpiece and in my opinion the best album of the nineties by some stretch, which is a big call with the likes of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, RATM, Metallica, Megadeth, Smashing Pumpkins, Blur, Oasis etc, all producing their best. It blew me away from the first moment I heard it. Could have gone for any track, but went for the classic track...

youtube.com/watch?v=GLvohMXgcBo&


Nevermind - Nirvana
Lounge Act is my favourite song on this album, but I went for another classic... "And I swear that I don't have a gun"! 🤭

youtube.com/watch?v=vabnZ9-ex7o&


Screamadelica - Primal Scream
Could have picked "Loaded" from this album, but had to go with this... "my life shines on..."

youtube.com/watch?v=SnkjvECEQr4&

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 Andy Clarke 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Boomer Doomer:

Good call. And to think that on a recent thread someone was lamenting the 90's as the beginning of  a decline in popular music! Screamadelica and Nevermind are certainly two albums that justify the overworked terms seminal and iconic. But I'm interested in what date marks the beginning of "modern" music for you. (Only so that I can amuse myself trying to think of a more influential day!)

3
 broken spectre 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Boomer Doomer:

There was a Primal Scream remix that had the lyrics "You've got a heart of gold, You can't be bought or sold, You've got a heart of gold, Baby" riffing over the top of it. I remember it being compulsive listening but don't know who mixed it or what it was called (Soz for the slight derail)

EDIT: Found it  youtube.com/watch?v=raBtLEkeeW0&

Post edited at 12:53
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OP Boomer Doomer 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Andy Clarke:

Of course the history of music is an ever evolving timeline. But I guess for me modern music started somewhere in the mid-sixties, but then I'm a rock/metal fan at heart (though not exclusively), so I guess I would think that. I kind of agree that the nineties almost seems like a Francis Fukuyama moment when it comes to music... or maybe I just became an old git after the turn of the millennium? Having said that I'm a huge fan of some modern music... Dorfmeister and Kruder, Emancipator, Tosca, Tycho... so maybe it was just a decline in rock music?

Here's an article that details similar dates. Perhaps you feel some are of more importance?

https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/whats-the-greatest-date-for-album-relea...

OP Boomer Doomer 24 Sep 2021
In reply to broken spectre:

It's slightly earlier than Screamdelica and obviously they used the horn part in "Loaded".

youtube.com/watch?v=Y3ixEzKA4k0&

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 NorthernGrit 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Boomer Doomer:

Can't believe you haven't included ATCQ - The low end theory.

OP Boomer Doomer 24 Sep 2021
In reply to NorthernGrit:

Not really my scene, though I'll admit it is at the higher end of the hip-hop genre and maybe even huge within that genre. The Pixies also released an album on this day, though not a classic. That's the point really... the albums in the OP are huge by anyone's standard.

Post edited at 15:14
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OP Boomer Doomer 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Andy Clarke:

Thinking about it, 1991 wasn't a bad year! Added to the above:

Massive Attack - Blue Lines
Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
Metallica - Metallica ("none more black")
R.E.M. - Out of Time
Pearl Jam - Ten
Smashing Pumpkins - Gish

Perhaps "seminal" works for all of those bands?

In reply to Boomer Doomer:

> The Pixies also released an album on this day, though not a classic.

How dare you! That album includes Alec Eiffel, U Mass, and Motorway to Roswell. Some of the Pixies finest work and that is a high bar.

 Andy Clarke 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Boomer Doomer:

> Here's an article that details similar dates. Perhaps you feel some are of more importance?

Interesting article. I suppose for me the only multiple release that comes close to today is Blonde on Blonde/Pet Sounds. I guess their period is the birth of the album as an art form, so there may well be not be similar days from the rock n roll era.

 TobyA 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Boomer Doomer:

I've ripped this straight off my Facebook from a couple of nights ago when I was thinking about Nevermind: I keep hearing a trailer on Radio 4 (yes, I know...) for a programme on Friday: Nevermind at 30. Yep, Nevermind was released on 24th of September 1991. That album, along with 9 Inch Nails's Pretty Hate Machine, was the soundtrack of that autumn and winter when I was working at Kidderminster McDonald's. Us 'lads', under assistant manager Kev, always got stuck on the 'close' shifts, I think because we were expected to handle the drunks who would roll in at pub-throwing-out time to have a late night snack and sometimes abuse some poor fast food worker on three quid an hour. Anyway, once the store closed - midnight back then I think - and as we cleaned and reset for the morning, it was the one time we could play our own music. There must have been some of the Stourbridge indy scene played, considering where we were (I was already a big Ned's and Carter fan by then) but I mainly remember Nirvana and NIN being on hard rotation. It just makes me feel so Generation X (and old)! Radio 4 have even got Douglas Copeland to present the documentary. Anyways, I then found this Guardian article on why Gen X drank so much - it's really interesting. Spoiler: because the 80s were totally depressing for many, then 1991 comes around and it looks like we're not all going to die in a nuclear war after all, so let's go get shit-faced to celebrate! We had a sixth form barbecue at work last week, it was, shall we say, VERY different from my somewhat hazy memories of sixth form discos and parties I went to!  Gen Z really do seem generation sensible in comparison. The kids are alright. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/sep/22/generation-x-heavy-drinkers...?

OP Boomer Doomer 24 Sep 2021
In reply to cumbria mammoth:

Trompe Le Monde is indeed a great album... but as with "The Low End Theory" is it recognised far and wide as being a benchmark release?

 TobyA 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Andy Clarke:

It is interesting, particularly that autumn of 1991 seems so busy! I didn't know that Bandwagonesque and Loveless (still two of my favourite albums) were released on the same day! 

Funnily enough I bought bootleg copies of those two albums, along with Nevermind and Blood Sugar Sex Magik and some others in Bangkok early 1992. I had gone "traveling" on my year off and for some reason decided not to take a Walkman with me. It took about 3 weeks to realise I couldn't live without music after all, so I bought a Walkman somewhere and started carting lots of tapes around with me! An afternoon drinking beers and chatting on a Kathmandu rooftop cafe with an unbelievably beautiful and cultured (or so it seemed to my 18 year old small town eyes - she was probably 21 and wrote for some minor student rag!) Australian music journo, both had a big impact on music I've listened to ever since and made me fall in love a bit!  

If anyone knows the album Submarine Bells by the Kiwi band The Chills (one of her recommendations) they'll know that it is 45 minutes of pure pop perfection.

OP Boomer Doomer 24 Sep 2021
In reply to TobyA:

Yeah... despite my handle I'm firmly a "Xoomer" as well. Man... Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Carter USM... that brings back some memories!

I was born under a wandering star
In the second council house of Virgo
Forcibly removed from the belly of my ma
And raise on milk and Pernod
(Say no more re the Guardian article!)

Still love NIN and still a regular on the old gramophone.

 Sam Beaton 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Boomer Doomer:

Troupe Le Monde is the worst Pixies album. But it's still better than most other bands' best albums.

No-one's mentioned the best album of that era yet. Copper Blue by Sugar.

 Iamgregp 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Boomer Doomer:

It's definitely huge within that genre, regularly appears in the higher places of "Best Albums Ever" (or similar) lists.  It's widely regarded as being one of the influential and important Hip Hop albums of all time and transcends the genre.  As important as the three in the OP (all of which I love, btw).

I appreciate this isn't really your scene, but if you do ever want to listen to a little Hip Hop then this is a good place to start... 

 TobyA 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Sam Beaton:

Pretty certain I saw Sugar in concert at the Barrowlands, my first year at Uni - so either 92 or 3? It's a great album.

 Andy Clarke 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Sam Beaton:

> No-one's mentioned the best album of that era yet. Copper Blue by Sugar.

Gorgeous album. But everything by Sugar is excellent. And the Beaster mini-album is properly dark and offers quite a contrast to Copper Blue.

 Sam Beaton 24 Sep 2021
In reply to TobyA:

I'm jealous. I've seen Bob Mould solo a few times, but never saw Sugar. And I was far too young to see Hüsker Dü live unfortunately

 Sam Beaton 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Andy Clarke:

Absolutely. I've got pretty much everything Bob Mould has ever recorded. I think he's criminally underrated and overlooked. Nirvana et al wouldn't have existed without him

Post edited at 19:39
OP Boomer Doomer 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Iamgregp:

Yeah I checked out a bit of that album today and I have to admit I was quite impressed... it would be a good place to start.

 LakesWinter 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Boomer Doomer:

RHCP are awful!!

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 Iamgregp 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Boomer Doomer:

Awesome news!  Really glad you enjoyed it! 

Post edited at 21:05
 Andy Clarke 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Sam Beaton:

> Absolutely. I've got pretty much everything Bob Mould has ever recorded. I think he's criminally underrated and overlooked. Nirvana et al wouldn't have existed without himl

Completely agree. I was lucky enough to catch Sugar live, in Wolverhampton, my home town. Great night.

 TobyA 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Sam Beaton:

When it comes to guitar based noise merchants who paved the way for Nirvana, perhaps because I didn't hear any Husker Du until after I heard Sugar, I always think of Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr more - both of whom I also got to see at the Barrowlands around the same time! Sonic Youth was something else, Moore 'playing' his guitar by sticking a screwdriver down behind the strings and ripping it back and forward until the strings or our brains broke! 

 Bobling 24 Sep 2021
In reply to Boomer Doomer:

Love this thread.  Great work everyone.

In reply to Boomer Doomer:

The fact that 1991 was bookended by Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss (1990) and Alice in Chains - dirt (1992) indicates that rock music was very much alive and kicking. Screamadelica and BSSM are bona fide classics.
Prob controversial, but I think half of the tracks on Nevermind are incredible with the other half a bit meh. Also the Black album marked Metallica’s long slow decline into ‘dad rock’. I guess they did ok considering they were handicapped by trying to play along with Lars’ ‘drumming’ 😂

 Iamgregp 25 Sep 2021
In reply to TobyA:

I think one of the things that makes Nirvana such an amazing bands is the breadth of the influences. 

Of course lots of 80s hardcore bands, American Indie like Sonic Youth but then also there's Sludge metal, classic rock and more melodic stuff like The Beatles or The Knack.  I mean Smells Like Teen spirit is basically a rip of the "More than a feeling" riff...

Nirvana took all of these influences and mixed them together to make a sound that had appeal beyond the underground scene they came from (of course Butch Vig's very commercial production on Nevermind helped too).

 TobyA 25 Sep 2021
In reply to Iamgregp:

Just listened to the R4 doc - really lovely although I'm sure that's just my prime Gen X-ness speaking (I turned 18 just a month and a few days before Nevermind was released). I don't think I realised or at least didn't remember that Nirvana were strongly pro LGBTQ long before it was cool. On the doc there is a gay man from a conservative background and a black trans woman who explained how important Nirvana's kicking back against the casual and normal homophobia of the time was.

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001036q

That year, finishing school then working at Maccy D's saving up to go traveling, I started going an indy night at a club in Worcester - Picasso's. It's where I first heard and danced to Nirvana (Bleach it must have been before September), Dinosaur Jr, Buffalo Tom, Pixies, Violent Femmes, Teenage Fanclub, Wedding Present, the Fall, and loads of others bands - as well as all of Stourbridge's finest - our local heroes, Ned's, PWEI, the Stuffies (and their 'grebo' friends like Carter who weren't lucky enough to have been born in the Black Country! ). But I remember being struck that the club was the place for anyone who didn't fit at the other Worcester clubs, which at least by reputation were full of young farmer and rugger types getting beered up and fighting. So at Picasso's you had gay kids, what then we thought of transvestites but from memory were completely stunning drag queens who looked amazing compared to us scruffy indy kids in our combats, docs and lumberjack shirts over band t-shirts! A few black and Asian kids too, in what back then must have been a very-white city. So like the man sang: Come as you are!

OP Boomer Doomer 25 Sep 2021
In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

LMAO... Lars and his snare drum! Even more ubiquitous than Kirk's wah-wah pedal.

You could also say 1991 was bookended by Megadeth's greatest work, Rust in Peace and Countdown to Extinction. RIP is my favourite metal album of all time... those riffs... and those solos!

In reply to Boomer Doomer:

> Trompe Le Monde is indeed a great album... but as with "The Low End Theory" is it recognised far and wide as being a benchmark release?

More for the fans maybe. 

Talking about Nirvana's influences, it should be mentioned that Smells Like Teen Spirit was a conscious attempt on the part of Kurt Cobain to replicate the sound of the Pixies.

In reply to Boomer Doomer:

> LMAO... Lars and his snare drum! Even more ubiquitous than Kirk's wah-wah pedal.

> You could also say 1991 was bookended by Megadeth's greatest work, Rust in Peace and Countdown to Extinction. RIP is my favourite metal album of all time... those riffs... and those solos!

Dave Mustaine’s gift was choosing next level drummers and guitarists, Marty Friedman, Chris Poland, Chris Broderick, and the current genius Kiko are all exceptional, then Gar Samuelson, Nick Menza, Dirk Verburen on drums. Even Vinnie played on one album. 
In Metallica, James Hatfield is one of the best chugger guitarists around, and I’m not going to bash Kirk, he’s  a great guitarist. They had the bass players too. At the end of the day, Lars wouldn’t get a job in another metal band, he just hasn’t got the chops, so he plays in his own band, and at least they produced Master of Puppets.

My joint first for fave metal album are Rust in Peace, Killing is my Business, and Slayer’s Seasons in the Abyss

edit

of course I’m just talking about that era. The *greatest* metal albums of all time are from the inventors of the genre:

Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Volume 4

Post edited at 08:21
 TobyA 26 Sep 2021
In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

Oi! This is an indy kid thread for indy kid reminiscences! You funny haired metal types should be over there with all your testosterone, wild self confidence and sleeveless denim jackets (I mean why?). Leave us to gaze at our shoes, hide behind our floppy hair and enjoy our angst!

 Bottom Clinger 26 Sep 2021
In reply to Boomer Doomer:

Mudhoney - Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge.

Fav gig ever was Mudhoney supported my Leatherface from Sunderland and Joyriders from Edinburgh. Barrowlands gig, The guy whose flat I lived in at the time was bezzie mates with the singer from Joyriders (Murdo - saw him on TV last weekend coz I think they supported Nirvana on their first UK gig) whilst a close friend knew Leatherface really well (I saw Frankie Stubbs from Leatherface when he did some solo stuff and had a good few beers with him).  I was hard core back then - full on stage diving heavy drinking crowd surfing dope smoking mosher. The bouncers put a stop to the stage diving - pity really. 
Few years later saw Mudhoney in Manchester. The highlight was when they played this track from their spin off side project The Monkeywrench:

youtube.com/watch?v=dTizA7_V2YI&

Another fav was Soundgarden on Badmotorfinger tour. They was superb. Cris Cornell was an idol for me. 

And need to give a shout out to the early 1992 Congregation by The Afghan Wigs. A stunner. 

Post edited at 14:18
 Mike-W-99 26 Sep 2021
In reply to Boomer Doomer:

I’ll get burnt at the stake for this but despite buying it the day it came out I think screamadelica  is horribly dated. Bobby Gillespie droning on about his drug intake…

 DerwentDiluted 27 Sep 2021
In reply to Boomer Doomer:

This thread is a very happy reminder that my tinnitus isn't just tinnitus, this is M&S tinnitus.

 Iamgregp 27 Sep 2021
In reply to TobyA:

Yeah I think people forget just how ahead of their time Nirvana were at that time, very pro LGBTQ and indeed women's rights.  The Vaselines, one of Kurts favourite bands, were fronted by a gay man, one of their songs was called "Rory Rides Me Raw".  Brilliant stuff.

Yeah there was no alternative club in Durham, but there was a pub where you went if you didn't fit in with the "Townie" lifestyle.  Used to be a bikers pub, but then came the place for rockers, indie kids, skateboarders, drug users any kind of general weirdo.   Spent a lot of time there.

 Iamgregp 27 Sep 2021
In reply to Mike-W-99:

Pass me the matches

 SuperstarDJ 27 Sep 2021
In reply to Andy Clarke:

> Good call. And to think that on a recent thread someone was lamenting the 90's as the beginning of  a decline in popular music! Screamadelica and Nevermind are certainly two albums that justify the overworked terms seminal and iconic. But I'm interested in what date marks the beginning of "modern" music for you. (Only so that I can amuse myself trying to think of a more influential day!)

Side point probably but Bob Stanley (of St Etienne) in his book about British pop puts the end date of pop in 2001 when Napster started.  I think he's got a point - it 'broke' the business model, meant that people stopped listening to new music in the same way and started to delve into the back catalogues of bands instead.  And while a lot of brilliant albums have been made since 2001, have any really new genres emerged? 

 Andy Clarke 27 Sep 2021
In reply to SuperstarDJ:

> And while a lot of brilliant albums have been made since 2001, have any really new genres emerged? 

Interesting question. But I guess you could argue that the early 2000s were actually a very fertile and creative period in UK music. Many would see the emergence of grime as a genre as a very significant development. Not really my area of expertise though!

 Iamgregp 27 Sep 2021
In reply to SuperstarDJ:

>   And while a lot of brilliant albums have been made since 2001, have any really new genres emerged? 

Dubstep (although started pre 01) Drill, Trap, Footwork, Juke, Autonomic, Uk Funky...  Must be more? 

OP Boomer Doomer 29 Sep 2021
In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

You forgot the greatest Sabbath album of them all... Sabotage. 😉

 TobyA 30 Sep 2021
In reply to NorthernGrit:

> Can't believe you haven't included ATCQ - The low end theory.

Look at today's Guardian editorial! https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/29/the-guardian-view-on-...

In reply to Boomer Doomer:

You are right, my bad. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Heaven and Hell, and Dehumanizer would also be best albums for any band other than Sabs.


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