I certainly learn things doing these ‘Decades’ posts. For example, I’d never heard of the “shoegazing” genre, which began in the U.K. in the late 80s.
Named after the playing style of band members who stood motionless onstage staring at the floor while playing, but referring as well to the mix of distortion and feedback typical of their songs, “shoegazing” sounds like the soundtrack of Hell.
I’ve heard of the Cocteau Twins but this is the first time I’ve ever consciously listened to their songs. Two Scottish trio released their seventh, and most acclaimed, album — Heaven or Las Vegas — in 1990.
The band’s style is described as dream pop, which apparently means unintelligible lyrics over a bed of ambient sound.
Now that I’ve counted down the (very few) 1990 albums that mean something to me, I turn my attention to the ones I don’t know, or don’t know well.
I scoured as many critics’ lists as I could and narrowed the list down to ten albums that appear on all or most of them.
THe album that showed up the most, by far, was Depeche Mode’s Violator. The seventh studio album by the British New Wave act was not just a critical hut but also the best seller in their 35+ year career.
As I wrote at the beginning of the week, I had a hard time coming up with five 1990 albums for this list. But I had no problem coming up with my #1, Paul Simon’s The Rhythm of the Saints.
Following up the all-time classic Graceland four years later was no easy task, but Simon delivered, creating an album that similarly married world music with his plaintive melodies.
My second favorite album of 1990 is Sinead O’Connor’s sophomore release, the worldwide smash I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got. This was O’Connor’s second album, following the fierce The Lion and the Cobra, but the first impression many of us had of this remarkable talent.
Who can forget that impossibly beautiful porcelain face and bald head singing ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ against a black background on MTV?
Meet Me In Montauk 