Magnet Magazine's Top 60 Albums, 1993-2003

dropsonde said:
This is a challenging generalization. I can think of many female solo artists female-fronted bands popular in this era that were taken as seriously as their male counterparts.

To name a few, certainly The Breeders, Tonya Donelly/Belly, Hole, Sleater-Kinney, Liz Phair, 50-Foot Wave, Elastica, Veruca Salt, Juliana Hatfield, Magnapop, PJ Harvey, L7, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Donnas...I could keep going.

I guess I would like to see examples of journalists who wrote about bands like these condescendingly with respect to gender.
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Taken just as seriously as their male counterparts? Based on this list, obviously not...
 
Based on the time (2003), this US-centric, white college/indie rocker bro magazine pretty much hit everything that I expected.

I think a lot of people have mentioned some important missing artists. I am not surprised that Sleater Kinney is not here. Their stature grew after this period. I am shocked that both Liz Phair and Bikini Kill are not here. Especially BK.

A few artists/album that I think should be here as well (please note I am too lazy to see if some of these were actually in the original list):
  • Cornershop
  • Rachel's
  • Suede
  • Flying Saucer Attack
  • Unrest
  • Sunny Day Real Estate
  • Mogwai
  • Marah
  • Drive-by Truckers
  • Anything Will Oldham related
  • Mazzy Star
  • Zumpano
  • Richard Davies / Eric Matthews related
 
dropsonde said:
This is a challenging generalization. I can think of many female solo artists female-fronted bands popular in this era that were taken as seriously as their male counterparts.

To name a few, certainly The Breeders, Tonya Donelly/Belly, Hole, Sleater-Kinney, Liz Phair, 50-Foot Wave, Elastica, Veruca Salt, Juliana Hatfield, Magnapop, PJ Harvey, L7, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Donnas...I could keep going.

I guess I would like to see examples of journalists who wrote about bands like these condescendingly with respect to gender.
Click to expand...

www.rollingstone.com

Q&A: Alanis Morissette

Alanis Morissette on being single, cleanliness, and 'Under Rug Swept.'
www.rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com

That is a good example, for me, of how female women were treated like "entertainers" and not "artists". I know, it's Rolling Stone, but that's the kind of approach I usually noticed on interviews to female artists.
Again, and I cant stress this enough, this is just my point of view and how I felt it was during those decades.
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
Based on the time (2003), this US-centric, white college/indie rocker bro magazine pretty much hit everything that I expected.

I think a lot of people have mentioned some important missing artists. I am not surprised that Sleater Kinney is not here. Their stature grew after this period. I am shocked that both Liz Phair and Bikini Kill are not here. Especially BK.

A few artists/album that I think should be here as well (please note I am too lazy to see if some of these were actually in the original list):
  • Cornershop
  • Rachel's
  • Suede
  • Flying Saucer Attack
  • Unrest
  • Sunny Day Real Estate
  • Mogwai
  • Marah
  • Drive-by Truckers
  • Anything Will Oldham related
  • Mazzy Star
  • Zumpano
  • Richard Davies / Eric Matthews related
Click to expand...

Cornershop! Yes -- When I Was Born for the 7th Time for sure. And they're still bringing it! I'm loving England is a Garden.
 
Here is my (longish) list of favorite albums I'd consider for my list from the perspective of a middle-aged white guy looking back through a 2020 lens. I may have wandered outside the genre boundaries of Magnet's list with some of these choices -- they didn't include a lot of electronic stuff, for example -- but what the hell. Most of these I found by skimming the digital files of my music collection from this era. But since this is viewed through a 2020 lens, trust me when I say I left a lot on the cutting room floor if you know what I mean. Some I couldn't narrow down to just one title from a band so I included two. In no particular order:

Screaming Trees - Sweet Oblivion
Morphine - Cure for Pain/Yes
Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
Faith No More - Album of the Year
Apples in Stereo - Fun Trick Noisemaker/Her Wallpaper Reverie (my fave E6 band)
Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain
Gorillaz - S/T
Broadcast - The Noise Made By People
Quicksand - Slip
DJ Krush - Strictly Turntablized/Kakusei (impossible to narrow down to just these two -- he had an amazing run over this decade)
Deerhoof - Apple O'
The Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbird's Bark
Low - Things We Lost in the Fire
Calla - Scavengers
Ulrich Schnauss - A Strangely Isolated Place
Man ... or Astro-man? - Project Infinity
Slowdive - Souvlaki
Biosphere - Substrata
Eels - Beautiful Freak/Electro-Shock Blues
Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley
Rocket From the Crypt - Scream, Dracula, Scream!
The Hellacopters - Payin' the Dues
 
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Waitressboy said:
www.rollingstone.com

Q&A: Alanis Morissette

Alanis Morissette on being single, cleanliness, and 'Under Rug Swept.'
www.rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com

That is a good example, for me, of how female women were treated like "entertainers" and not "artists". I know, it's Rolling Stone, but that's the kind of approach I usually noticed on interviews to female artists.
Again, and I cant stress this enough, this is just my point of view and how I felt it was during those decades.
Click to expand...

I appreciate you sharing the link to that interview. It is so bad, it was painful to read. I can only hope the writer was trying to go for humor, although he failed miserably. It’s a great example of your point — you wouldn’t see Kurt Cobain interviewed like this. I agree, it’s all about our perspectives. I’m relieved I didn’t encounter much music journalism like this back when I read music magazines!
 
Trying to work on my list using the same parameters as them with the 1 artist from that decade, and can tell you 60 albums is a very tiny amount. It's pretty pointless to argue over what should and shouldn't be on there because Im well over 60 albums I love without even putting any thought into it yet.
 
CrazyDiamond84 said:
Trying to work on my list using the same parameters as them with the 1 artist from that decade, and can tell you 60 albums is a very tiny amount. It's pretty pointless to argue over what should and shouldn't be on there because Im well over 60 albums I love without even putting any thought into it yet.
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Look forward to your list.
 
This "Secret Stash - Lost Hits from the Decade" was an addendum to the list. (There's one more -- "Magnet Office Favorites" that I'll post as well.) For me, some of these are deep-cut enough that I've never heard of them. If anyone has thoughts/recommendations on the lesser-known titles, I'm interested.

Magnet-top-60-10.JPG
 
The final list to close it out -- "House Music, Magnet Office Favorites."

Motley group of titles. Lots of comps, Ennio Morricone, not sure how The Village Green fits on a 1993-2003 list but fantastic album, love love love Screaming Trees - Dust, and ... Tom Petty!

It's been a fun thread -- appreciate everyone who joined for the ride.

Magnet-top-60-09.JPG
 
Not sure if it warrants a new thread (probably not) but Paste’s very US-centric top 20 indie albums of 1995 is an interesting read. A few surprises (Air Miami?) and few glaring omissions (Royal Trux)
www.pastemagazine.com

The 20 Best Indie Rock Albums of 1995

Paste Magazine is your source for the best music, movies, TV, comedy, videogames, books, comics, craft beer, politics and more. Discover your favorite albums and films.
www.pastemagazine.com www.pastemagazine.com
 
jamieanderson1968 said:
Not sure if it warrants a new thread (probably not) but Paste’s very US-centric top 20 indie albums of 1995 is an interesting read. A few surprises (Air Miami?) and few glaring omissions (Royal Trux)
www.pastemagazine.com

The 20 Best Indie Rock Albums of 1995

Paste Magazine is your source for the best music, movies, TV, comedy, videogames, books, comics, craft beer, politics and more. Discover your favorite albums and films.
www.pastemagazine.com www.pastemagazine.com
Click to expand...
Always interesting to think about the differences between look-back lists made a few decades later and lists made in the moment.
 
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