1995

                So if I’ve got an overall theme for 1995, it’s The Year of the Follow-Up.  Not a lot of really new acts (though a few, esp. Elastica and a clutch alt-country bands), not a lot of career peaks (though a few, esp. Pulp’s, and arguably the Smashing Pumpkins’ and Oasis’s).  But what you do get is a lot of bands following up big records, in both the US and UK.  1993 and especially 1994 saw some massively big or important records for bands, and 1995 is when those bands start to really get down to the business of following them up.  Some (like Pulp) will better themselves.  Some (like Blur and the Red Hot Chili Peppers) will repeat themselves with somewhat diminished returns.  Both the Smashing Pumpkins and the Wu-Tang Clan will elect to flood the marketplace with product of varying quality.  But overall, another very good year, even if already the peak moment of US alt-rock may be starting to fade.

                The world of Brit-pop, on the other hand, probably hits its peak in ’95, exploding, as I indicated last year, in a whole lot of different directions, but largely backward-looking ones.  It does so even as the two leading bands of the scene, Blur and Oasis, put out albums that are more consolidations of past strengths than real expansions.  For Blur, this is a step back, but if you include the B-sides they also release this year, ’95 is probably Oasis’s peak.  Definitely Maybe is stronger than Morning Glory, but Morning Glory plus b-sides as good as “Acquiesce” and “Talk Tonight” is a more compelling case.  Still, what really makes Brit-pop exciting this year is everything else that’s happening.  The third of the Big Three of Brit-pop, Pulp, hit their peak a year after Blur & Oasis, but it’s a damn good peak, if too synth-y and lyrically dense & cynical to ever rival the other two on the pop charts.  Dated sonically, though, sounding like a Ray Davies for the mid-80s, as opposed to the 60s-focused Blur and 70s-aping Oasis. 

                This is a general theme for Brit-pop, which is oddly both of-the-minute and solidly backward-looking.  No band embodies this so much as the Super Furry Animals (whose Welsh-language debut EPs are this year): they started as a techno band, but mutated into a 60s-focused psych band.  Elastica too is backward-looking in their sounds, leaning hard on the artier end of Brit-punk (and getting successfully sued by the Stranglers and Wire for their slightly-too-on-the-nose homage).  But they’re dense, tight, and somehow more modern-sounding (if slighter) than Pulp.  Even older bands that jump on the Brit-pop sound embrace this odd streak of conservatism: the Charlatans, for instance, have kept the late-60s psychedelic rock (esp. the Stones and Pink Floyd) but ditched the dance beats. 

                It’s not all backward-looking, though, esp. on the margins of what you’d really call “Brit-pop.”  Cornershop, for instance, go from aping the punk-era Mekons to adopting a big Fall influence, but within the context of tighter pop-song construction: the overall effect is not unlike the Flaming Lips’ contemporary stuff.  There’s also Black Grape, ex-Happy Monday Shaun Ryder’s new band, which unlike the Charlatans are Madchester survivors who emphatically keep the dance in their sound.  To be fair, the Stone Roses did too, though otherwise radically altered their sonic template; for better or worse, Black Grape sound a lot like the Happy Mondays, albeit with better songs and tighter playing.  You can despair at the professionalism of it all, but honestly, It’s Great When You’re Straight is a better actual party record than anything the Mondays ever did (what with actually keeping a beat and all).  It also presages Odelay-era Beck to a remarkable degree, with similar rhythms and Big Audio-esque sampling “solos.”  Also, the Happy Mondays never had a chorus as good as “Jesus was a black man//No Jesus was Batman//Fuck! No that was Bruce Wayne.” 

Though the best Batman-related song, and really the best thing about Batman Forever, is U2’s glammy “Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me.”  It keeps their new style of deliberately “superficial” artifice going in fine style, and certainly smokes Prince’s limp “Batdance” (though otherwise Batman is in every way superior to Batman Forever). 

                This is finally a year where I start to hear links again between the US and UK scenes.  Both the SFA and Cornershop recall the junk-shop eclecticism of the Flaming Lips, while Black Grape lay out Beck’s template for next year.  The Rentals (a Weezer spin-off), like Elastica and Pulp, look to New Wave synth sounds for inspiration, albeit with a lot more sweetness than the cynicism of either British band.  David Bowie leans heavily on Nine Inch Nails’ industrial sounds on his first Eno collaboration since the Berlin records.  Some of these similarities, however, are probably more coincidence and less influence.  Matthew Sweet, for instance, shares an interest in classic 3-minute pop-rock, and has a big Beatles influence, so sounds pretty good next to the Britpoppers, but otherwise is a poor fit.  Another solid record from Sweet this year, though, and a return to the Girlfriend sound after the more country-rocking Altered Beast.  Similarly Rancid owe a lot more to Brit-punk than the American version (roots in Op Ivy notwithstanding), but are totally detached from the modern British scene.  Very good this year, though, again a case of a band expanding on their previous record’s breakthrough, but this expansion is a real growth rather than just a doubling-down.  Also I suppose you could make a case that US pop-punk filled a similar role as UK Brit-pop: an upbeat, rockin’, but backward-looking antidote to the dour downtempo sounds of grunge.

                Grunge, by the way, is basically done this year.  Mudhoney, as befitting their status as the Ramones of grunge, keep plugging away at it, and are as good at their version of grunge as they’ve ever been.  But the other major bands that came up in the grunge wave are really moving away from that sound.  Alice in Chains, for instance, have moved to incorporating both their electric, Dirt sound and the acoustic stuff they experimented with on Jar of Flies, bringing them closer to a pure 70s-style rock sound (and oddly sounding like they’ve been influenced by the Stone Temple Pilots rather than the other way around).  The truest “grunge” album not by Mudhoney this year might be by Blind Melon, of all bands, who have stripped out the hippie elements from their debut and come up with a massively overlooked gem of a record.  Soup failed to get any significant airplay, but it’s a really diverse set of gritty, well-done tunes, recalling the early pre-Nevermind days of grunge when it didn’t sound so different from Appetite-era Guns ‘n Roses.  I’ve called Soup-era Blind Melon “grunge for people who don’t like punk rock,” but even if you do like punk rock, it’s still an excellent record.

                The biggest shifts in sound are in the projects related to two of the Big Three of grunge (Soundgarden take the year off).  Nirvana is gone, obviously, and the lack of a center in US alt-rock makes it a sharp contrast to the UK scene, which is clearly focused around the Blur-Oasis axis.  Pearl Jam are still intact, and don’t put out an album this year, but are plenty busy anyway.  First of all, there’s Mad Season, the other grunge supergroup (which gets forgotten a lot more than Temple of the Dog), featuring members of Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Screaming Trees.  Then there’s perhaps their finest single, “I Got ID,” a structurally shifting little gem that was recorded at the same time as Pearl Jam served as a Crazy Horse stand-in on Neil Young’s Mirror Ball.  If you like, Sleeps With Angels was Young’s Nirvana record, and this is his Pearl Jam record.  It was apparently written and recorded in 2 weeks, so is as loose and jammy as you’d expect, but also overall quite excellent.  Another excellent rock album from Young, meaning the 90s are shaping up as his most consistent decade of them all.  As we’ll see next year, Young “broke” Pearl Jam, and they’d emerge a much less mannered and more swinging group next year. 

                If Nirvana is gone, and Pearl Jam is off on side-projects and collaborations, though, there are still several “big” bands at the center of the US scene this year.  Most obvious (but also most minor-sounding) is Dave Grohl’s new band, the Foo Fighters, whose first album remarkably demonstrates that Nirvana apparently had a second extremely talented songwriter kept under wraps (one wonders if Grohl ever commiserated with Lou Barlow and Kim Deal, who were similarly kept from songwriting in Dinosaur Jr. and the Pixies, respectively).  The Foo Fighers, to Grohl’s great credit, sound very little like Nirvana (though of all the post-Nirvana bands that would crop up, Grohl’s clearly had the most right to ape that sound).  On some of the side-two rockers, they do kick up a Nirvana-style racket, but mostly the dominant influence here is probably Sugar (or perhaps Hüsker Dü, though the Foos, like Sugar, are less deliberately abrasive). 

                The other major group active in ’95 in the US is the Smashing Pumpkins, who drop their massive double album this year.  It’s…impressive, but I have a hard time loving Mellon Collie.  There are a lot of good songs here, a surprisingly low number of throwaways, and a real stylistic evolution from Siamese Dream, incorporating elements of softer New Wave pop, stronger metal influences, and a surprising amount of prog (especially Rush).  But I have a hard time loving this record, probably because there’s just so much of it.  It’s not quite a classic “should-have-been-a-single,” as the problem isn’t a lack of enough good songs; it’s more just exhaustion.  Rather than being edited down, it maybe should have been released as two separate albums (ideally separated by a few months, and not Use Your Illusion/Lucky Town-Human Touch style).  Instead it was released as a massive double, and before you could even begin to process it, Billy Corgan dropped an additional 5-disc box set of affiliated b-sides.  Clearly this was Corgan’s big power-play to be THE big American rock band; after it failed to make that happen, he’d retreat back to far more minor or fringe projects. 

                Elsewhere in US alt-rock, eclecticism continues to rule.  The Red Hot Chili Peppers continue their funk-rock sound, albeit with Jane’s Addition’s old guitarist, and without the inspiration of Blood Sugar Sex Magic.  Following up on their big record, the Flaming Lips similarly continue in the same vein as earlier efforts, but to greater effect than the Chili Peppers.  They continue to sound like a quasi-influence on the rest of alt-rock, if only by being the most high-profile of jagged, whimsical pop-rock bands who manage to get alt-rock radioplay with their unconventional lyrics and sonic approach.  Here I’m thinking of the likes of the Presidents of the United States (who also have a big Pixies influence), and any number of other minor, sadly forgotten alt-rockers. 

                On the more underground side of things, both Pavement and Sonic Youth have moved in a somewhat mellower, jammier sound.  For Pavement, this is very much a transition between their earlier, anarchic period, and their late-period tight country-rock sound (and perhaps their most Zappa-inflected).  Some think Wowee Zowee is their best, but I prefer both the earlier and later stuff to this neither-fish-nor-fowl record.  I suppose Sonic Youth were always jammy, but this year they’re much more fluid, and less interested in abrasion.  They haven’t gone full jam-band or anything, but they do sound more interested in mellower sounds this year.  Apparently Thurston Moore was a bit of a Deadhead before he found punk-rock, and thinking of Sonic Youth as a Grateful Dead-punk fusion project makes a lot of sense; here they’re drifting more toward the mellower art-rock Dead-style jamming.  Also, this is as good a point as any to note that Phish put out their first live album this year.  Far from sounding Dead-like, though, Phish have never sounded more like Yes than they do here.

                The final big movement in alt-rock this year is the explosion of alt-country to finally include more than just the Jayhawks and Uncle Tupelo.  The Jayhawks are still kicking, and put out probably their best material in their early, more country-rocking phase.  I even heard “Blue” on the radio, though I didn’t think of it as alt-country at the time, just as more alt-rock, which I suppose says something about the eclecticism of radio at the time.  Uncle Tupelo, however, are gone, and the two post-Tupelo successor bands are here.  Neither are a big sonic departure from Tupelo yet, and you pretty easily could (like I’ve tried with the early Beatle solo records) mash up Trace and A.M. to project what the 5^th Tupelo album would sound like (which would be more rockin’ than Anodyne, but not a return to the punk-country of No Depression or Still Feel Gone).  Jay Farrar wins this round though: he’s always been better at writing roots-rock than Jeff Tweedy, and I think has the better singing voice besides (at least unambiguously has the better country voice, with his rasp stomping all over Tweedy’s rather thin croon).  But as I said, this is also the year you see a mess of additional alt-country bands, most prominently the Old 97’s and Whiskeytown, who apparently almost immediately fell into a bit of a feud.  Both, however, sound very close to the Tupelo template, with the Old 97s especially bringing a harder rock edge than any other alt-country band outside of the early Tupelo.  Also a bit of a Grateful Dead influence; or at least they have a similar taste for cowboy songs as Bob Weir.

                Not a lot to say about hip-hop this year.  Goodie Mob join Outkast in a growing Atlanta scene, gangsta continues to churn but is already getting a bit stale to my ears, and there’s a whole mess of Wu-Tang solo records.  In keeping with my overall theme of the year of follow-ups, rather than delivering a single follow-up record to Enter the Wu, they deliver a clutch of them.  This has the advantage and disadvantage, as with the Smashing Pumpkins, of dropping so much material (and mostly quality) that it’s easy to be impressed by the ambition but also to be overwhelmed by it a bit.  So the ODB had the best single (“Shimmy Shimmy Ya”), and Geniuis/GZA the best album (Liquid Swords), but it’s all a bit much to process.

                Finally, I’ve been writing this whole thing trying to fit Morphine in somewhere, and failing, so I’ll punt.  At the outer ends of alt-rock eclectism you find Morphine, who recall a little bit the jazz-funk of Soul Coughing, but were entirely their own, fascinating, proggy creature.  Yes is a fantastic record, probably their peak.  That is all.

Song of the Year:  One for the UK, and one for the US.  In the UK, “Common People” is a 3-minute distillation of everything good about Pulp: lyrical social commentary on the intersection of sex and social class, trashy synth-glam, fantastically biting lyrical delivery.  But in the US (and my actual pick for the song of the year) Neil Young (& Pearl Jam)’s “I’m The Ocean” is pretty much everything I love about electric Neil Young.  The band pounds out a grinding primitive groove like their lives depend on it, the lyrics are both evocative and deep (if Pulp’s song of the year is about sex and money, Young’s is about the third inevitable force in life: death), and most importantly, that wonderfully distorted guitar flares like it can burn away all the bullshit in life and leave only truth behind.  Quite probably not only my favorite song of 1995, but my favorite Neil Young song (which, as should be clear by now, says a lot).

Album of the Year:  Radiohead – The Bends.  Radiohead make their big breakthrough.  This almost fits in with Britpop, and will be a major influence on the later Coldplay/Travis/Keane version, but also stands apart, being both more US-influenced (with residual elements of big grunge guitar) and progressive (both in the sounding-like-prog-rock sense and in the pushing musical boundaries sense).

Artist Most Benefiting from Reevaluation:  Two this year: Blind Melon and the Foo Fighters.  Blind Melon I thought was great at the time, but largely forgot about afterwards.  It turns out I was right at the time.  Soup is an excellent, eclectic record, and probably the last worthwhile ‘grunge’ album (after this, the original grunge bands will abandon the sound and the less said about the Creed/Nickleback neo-grunge the better).  The Foo Fighters, by contrast, I dismissed at the time, basically for not being Nirvana.  That was unfair; right from the beginning Grohl showed that he could both write an excellent Sugar-style punk-pop song and that he was willing to step out of Nirvana’s shadow though he had every right not to (no wonder Courtney Love, who chose to remain in Nirvana’s shadow, hated him so much for succeeding outside of Cobain’s legacy).

Artist Most Diminished in Reevaluation:  Spiritualized.  Another of these bands that I used to think I just needed to give myself time to appreciate but now am prepared to admit are just dull.  Everything they do this year Radiohead do better (namely moody, Floyd-inspired sonic landscapes).

Album List

Belly - King

Big Audio Dynamite - Planet BAD: Greatest Hits

Big Joe Williams - Mississippi's Big Joe Williams and His Nine-String Guitar

Black Grape - It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah

Blind Melon - Soup

Blur - Great Escape B-Sides

Blur - The Best Of

Blur - The Great Escape

Bob Dylan - 6-15-95 Highgate, VT

Bruce Springsteen - 18 Tracks

Built To Spill - Caustic Resin

Cee-Lo Green - Closet Freak: The Best Of Cee-Lo Green The Soul Machine

Charlatans UK - Melting Pot

Cornershop - Woman's Gotta Have It

David Bowie - Best Of Bowie

Dinosaur Jr. - Ear-Bleeding Country: Best Of Dinosaur Jr

Dinosaur Jr. - This Is Fort Apache (U.S. CD)

Elastica - Elastica

Elvis Costello - Extreme Honey: The Very Best Of The Warner Bros. Years

Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters

Genius/GZA - Liquid Swords

Joy Division - Heart & Soul - Rarities

King Crimson - In The Studio 1995-2003

Matthew Sweet - 100% Fun

Michael Jackson - The Essential Michael Jackson

Morphine - Yes

Morrissey - The Best Of Morrissey

Mudhoney - March To Fuzz: Best Of...

Mudhoney - March To Fuzz: Rarities

Napalm Death - Greed Killing

Neil Young - Mirrorball

Nine Inch Nails - Further Down The Spiral

Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?

Oasis - B-Sides

Oasis - The Masterplan

Old 97's - Hit By A Train: The Best Of Old 97's

Ozzy Osbourne - The Ozzman Cometh

Paul Weller - Modern Classics

Pavement - Wowee Zowee

Pearl Jam - Christmas Singles

Pearl Jam - Merkinball

Phish - A Live One

Pulp - Different Class

Radiohead - Pinkpop

Radiohead - The Bends

Radiohead - The Bends B-Sides

Rancid - And Out Come The Wolves

Red Hot Chili Peppers - One Hot Minute

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness: Dawn To Dusk

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness: Twilight To Starlight

Smashing Pumpkins - Rotten Apples: Greatest Hits

Son Volt - Trace

Sonic Youth - Washing Machine

Spiritualized - Pure Phase

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Greatest Hits

Stone Roses - Misc.

Sugar - Besides

Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic [Bonus Tracks]

Super Furry Animals - Mwng

Super Furry Animals - Outspaced

Super Furry Animals - Super Furry Animals Songbook

The Beastie Boys - The Sounds Of Science

The Fall - 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong: 39 Golden Greats

The Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic

The Flaming Lips - The Fearless Freaks

The Jayhawks - Music From The North Country: The Jayhawks Anthology

The Jesus & Mary Chain - 21 Singles

The Mekons - I Have Been to Heaven and Back..., Vol. 1

The Mekons - Where Were You?

The Notorious B.I.G. - Notorious

The Presidents of the United States of America - Presidents of the United States

The Rentals - Return Of The Rentals

The Verve - A Northern Soul

U2 - B-Sides 1990-2000

U2 - The Best Of 1990-2000

V/A - Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters, Vol. 1

V/A - Kill Bill, Vol. 1

V/A - Russ's Punk Mix

V/A - This Is Fort Apache (U.S. CD)

V/A - Trainspotting

Wilco - A.M.

Willie Nelson - Revolutions Of Time...The Journey 1975-1993

Wu-Tang Clan - Wu: The Story Of The Wu-Tang Clan

Yo La Tengo - Prisoners Of Love