Best music of 1997

See “Best of 2008” for a general introduction.

As I wrote in my “Best of 2000” entry, you’ll see that as I move backward in time I am starting to run out of a good stock of records from these years that I have memories and opinions and any sort of knowledge or interest in. With the possible exception of Natalie Imbruglia’s Left of the Middle, albums from 1997 that I like would have been listened to years later. I was only 12 and so my formative years weren’t quite upon me yet.

1997 had plenty to be famous for, with records like Radiohead’s OK Computer, Daft Punk’s debut Homework, Björk’s (best album) Homogenic, The Prodigy’s The Fat of the Land, Deftones’ Around the Fur, Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s F# A# Infinity, and Foo Fighters’ The Colour and the Shape still being raved about (in niche Facebook groups or mainstream music magazines) today.

Dream Theater’s fourth album Falling Into Infinity was meant to be a bit more commercial sounding. I suppose it is, but I still have a lot of affection for a lot of the tracks on it, although it doesn’t feature anywhere the top of a DT album ranking.

Mogwai’s debut Young Team is generally considered their magnum opus, but I don’t personally agree.

The Verve’s Urban Hymns was everywhere I seem to remember, with more than a couple of very strong songs.

Metallica’s Reload was the companion to 1996’s Load and is the weaker of the two, but along with the black album it was one of the first I got in to, so I don’t dismiss it all that readily. Songs like Fuel and The Memory Remains have endured in Metallica setlists, Fixxer is not a bad epic, and I really don’t hate The Unforgiven II, however we might feel about the original or song sequels in general.

AFI’s Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes is the purist’s choice for inclusion in AFI’s ‘great trilogy’ meaning that Sing the Sorrow is not. I don’t associate SYMAOYE with a time and place quite so much, although it is perhaps a summery album in a way the more gothic later albums are not. It’s quite short and raw, and while it does have the what was standard-for-a-while intro track, and there are plenty of standout moments, it’s not crafted like what came after. Note the reoccurrence of the number three in the track names (it was their third studio album) – Three Reasons, Third Season, Three Seconds Notice, Triple Zero.

The debut LPs from both At the Drive-In and Limp Bizkit hinted at what would come later but neither are without merit on their own. Depending on your point of view, perhaps. Similarly, Machine Head’s sophomore The More Things Change… gets lost in the shuffle a little, but many would hold it up next to Burn My Eyes.

In the same way that In Utero is not as slickly produced as Nevermind, I thought for many years that The Offspring’s Ixnay on the Hombre came before Smash. As often happens, I was wrong about that. The Meaning of Life is one of my favourite Offspring songs, though.

The Melvins’ Honky was the first album following the Atlantic trilogy (alas they were not the Nirvana II the major label was hoping for, and grunge died) and is one of the more experimental ones. I’m OK with that in general but it’s still not one of my favourites.

And that’s all I have to say really about records that aren’t in my top…14 this year. Which are:

Björk – Homogenic

Probably her best album and definitely the most consistent front to back. Very strings and beats driven, even James Bond-y at times (put Björk up with Caro Emerald as suggestions for bond theme singers). While it’s clear how marmite Björk is, this CD made me a convert for life. Fun fact: the track Unravel has featured at least twice in Late Night Tales compilations – in The Flaming Lips’ and Midlake’s, if not others.

Bob Dylan – Time Out of Mind

I get a bit of a kick out of the fact that given Robert Zimmerman has both hot streaks and periods of barrel scraping, one of the former happened in the 90s of all decades. Well, it started in the 90s anyway, with nothing less than his 30^th studio album. I have posited in the past that Dylan’s music isn’t exactly beautiful per se but there are several exceptions to that – songs like Lay, Lady, Lay, and Sara, for instance. And Not Dark Yet from this. Gives me chills.

Coalesce – Give Them Rope

I have previously written that I don’t find things ‘too heavy’ anymore. Given the recent likes of Lorna Shore pushing heavy vocals to the limit, I might have to revise that. But at one time I would have found the relentless metalcore assault of Coalesce to be approaching that limit. But in a sweet spot that makes it eminently enjoyable and even listenable, albeit perhaps at the expense of variety. There was a 2011 CD reissue that came with a little piece of rope in the case, which was a cool little touch.

Deftones – Around the Fur

Suffers at the end from the 90s CD fashion of making a 40-minute album 70 minutes long but to be fair the non-silence secret song Damone is worthy of being a proper track. There was a time when I found White Pony not heavy enough and so this was my favourite Deftones’ album. I’ve probably grown out of that, but it is apparently Chino’s own favourite. Debut Adrenaline has perhaps not dated that well, but AtF certainly has, and the tracks My Own Summer (Shove It) and Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) could never be overplayed.

Depeche Mode – Ultra

The last in an absolutely incredible 5-album run. It is perhaps the 5^th out of those 5 but Freestate is one of my favourite deep cuts for sure. Unlike every DM record that came after, this record is definitely non-filler heavy, although it’s quite dreamy so I think works better as a whole than necessarily having standout moments (the aforementioned aside).

Elliot Smith – Either/Or

I’m listening to this right now to try to come up with something more to say about it other than “I think it’s a good record and I like it a lot”. So far I’m reminded that while it isn’t just one man and a guitar, it is still just one man (Smith played every instrument – making him the Dave Grohl of indie/folk? Not that such a comparison is needed). Sad but also optimistic, three of the songs featured on the Good Will Hunting soundtrack (along with another Smith song, Miss Misery), and the album quite rightly features on many publications’ all-time best-of lists.

Foo Fighters – The Colour and the Shape

It’s tempting to say that it begins and ends with Everlong, and certainly that song is worth the price of admission alone, but luckily there were two other quality singles in Monkey Wrench and My Hero, plenty of decent deep cuts, and a sense of cohesive progression through the album.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – F# A# Infinity

I think I’ve placed the ! historically incorrectly, given that’s where it is now but perhaps it came after emperor back then? It’s like Panic! At the Disco all over again. Well anyway, Canadian post-rock/avant-garde collective (I think given the heavily left wing politics it actually is a collective rather than me just trying to find another word for band) make the sort of music that is so awesome, in the biblical sense of the word, that people who wouldn’t generally go in for singer-less field-recording laden 20 minute epics will gladly make an exception. The Sad Mafioso section of East Hastings is sublime enough as it is, but seeing/hearing it from the stage alongside the live visuals is positively transcendental.

Incubus – S.C.I.E.N.C.E

Perhaps a little patchy and immature (and the most ‘nu metal’?) compared to something like Morning View but probably still my 3^rd favourite after that and Make Yourself. It’s definitely more rock than the funk that preceded it, the 90s hidden track stuff is actually quite enjoyable even after several listens, it has the DJ-driven companion track Magic Medicine to Make Yourself’s Battlestar Scralatchtica, Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song) has a lovely sax solo, New Skin is one of my favourite Incubus tracks (including the percussion at the end), and the lyrics are some of Brandon Boyd’s cleverest.

Radiohead – OK Computer

As experimental as it is, it’s still heavily guitar driven and has some great riffs and incredible vocal tunes. And probably the best lyrics of any Radiohead album. These days I probably revisit Kid A and In Rainbows more, but many purists will still swear by this and The Bends as peak Radiohead. I used to be able to play Karma Police on drums, which isn’t saying much but there is an awesome little fill towards the end.

Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen we are Floating in Space

Once upon a time I wouldn’t have touched this with a barge pole, but it’s actually more space rock and experimental than it is ‘indie’ so fair enough. I even went to a whole-album show of it at the Barbican, where my companion and I got vomited on by a patron in the row behind. That never happened to me at a metal gig!

Stereophonics – Word Gets Around

I had Performance and Cocktails first, then on a trip to Cologne on the German exchange we went to a music shop and I spent some of the spending money my parents had given me, on Garbage’s self-titled debut (again, I had album number 2 already) and Stereophonics’ debut. It’s definitely a rawer sound, particularly Kelly Jones’ voice, which is surely an acquired taste. It works though. I haven’t listened to either Stereophonics album in many years (I didn’t get any more) but I recently found myself adapting the tune of Check My Eyelids For Holes to something to do with my daughter’s toileting (“check your nappy for poo” if you must know. Sorry Kelly).

The Notorious B.I.G – Life After Death

I’m not super into mainstream hip hop, but I like Eminem and Dr Dre as much as the next person, but [Biggy Small’s] second album, as presciently titled as his debut Ready to Die (he died…) is hard not to like (usual gripes about double albums aside). Especially the beautiful triple white vinyl package available as part of Record Store Day (thanks very much).

The Prodigy – The Fat of the Land

The dance album beloved by metalheads across the globe, it almost drips with darkness and dread and menace. It’s not exactly an album of deep cuts though – the singles (Smack My Bitch Up, Breathe, and Firestarter) and Mindfields (I wanna say this was used in The Matrix?) are probably still the best tracks on it.

1997, a playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2uclLpCBhHkXFxv6F7lWFd?si=gwLKfFQsTGOJK6sELF8yVA

AFI – A Single Second
At the Drive-In – Ticklish
Ben Folds Five – Battle of Who Could Care Less
Björk - Joga
Bob Dylan – Not Dark Yet
Coalesce – Have Patience
Daft Punk – Around the World
Deftones – Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)
Depeche Mode – Freestate
Dream Theater – You Not Me
Elliott Smith – Between the Bars
Foo Fighters – Everlong
GY!BE – East Hastings
Incubus – New Skin
Limp Bizkit – Faith
Machine Head – Ten Ton Hammer
Melvins – Lovely Butterfly (not on Spotify)
Metallica - Fixxxer
Mogwai – Katrien
Natalie Imbruglia – Torn
Radiohead – Electioneering
Sick of it All – Built to Last
Spiritualized – Cop Shoot Cop
Stereophonics – More Life in a Tramps Vest
Texas – Halo
The Notorious B.I.G – Mo Money Mo Problems
The Offspring – The Meaning of Life
The Prodigy – Breathe
The Verve – Weeping Willow

Will Smith – Men in Black

Best music of 1998

See “Best of 2008” for a general introduction.

As I wrote in my “Best of 2000” entry, you’ll see that as I move backward in time I am starting to run out of a good stock of records from these years that I have memories and opinions and any sort of knowledge or interest in. Like for 2000, I only have 31 albums on my longlist for 1998. Of these, I was into precisely one at the time – Garbage’s Version 2.0 (maybe The Cardigans – Gran Turismo too, but that could well have been the year after). I would have been aware of a few others, at least the singles on the radio, but that’s all. Everything else is retrospective!

There are a few classics from this year that I certainly recognise as such, albeit they’ve passed me by a little too much or just haven’t quite made the top cut. Or really, any of the long list could form a credible shortlist. Things like UNKLE’s Psyence Fiction, Elliot Smith’s XO, Botch’s American Nervoso, Hole’s Celebrity Skin, Beastie Boys’ Hello Nasty, Raised Fist’s debut Fuel, Fatboy Slim’s You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby, Massive Attack’s Mezzanine, and Air’s Moon Safari.

I’m not sure Faithless (Maxi Jazz RIP) were ever much of an album band, although I might be wrong. 1998’s Sunday 8PM features such enduring classics as God is a DJ and Bring my Family back. Placebo’s Without You I’m Nothing is also home to some of their greatest songs – not least Pure Morning, the title track, and Every Me, Every You.

Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane over the Sea is from this year. I’ve tried it a couple of times and it is yet to take. Pearl Jam’s Yield features one of my favourite songs in Brain of J. but the rest of it is merely OK.

Manic Street Preacher’s This is my Truth tell me yours has some of their greatest songs on it, but there aren’t many album tracks that hold their own against the singles, and it feels a song or two too long overall.

Some great nu-metal from Soulfly (their debut following Max’s departure from Sepultura), Pitchshifter, and the underrated One Minute Silence.

One year before the release of Mos Def’s solo debut Black on Both Sides, he collaborated with Talib Kweli on Black Star. Two of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, in two years, then.

Finally, this was the year of Offspring’s Americana. While Pretty Fly for a White Guy was kinda cringy I guess, most of the rest of it was on par with Smash, I’d say. I certainly prefer it to Ixnay on the Hombre.

On to a top 11, then:

At The Drive-In – In/Casino/Out

A bit simpler than Relationship of Command, perhaps – certainly rawer, given it was recorded live (meaning all together rather than individual, but still in the studio) – but another fantastic ATDI album nonetheless. Plenty of punk with clever chords, and Napoleon Solo is one of the most beautiful things they ever did. The two-guitar interplay between Omar and Jim is just sublime. The lyrics almost make sense too.

Boards of Canada – Music has the right to Children

An old friend had probably played this in the flat, but it wasn’t until 2013’s Tomorrow Harvest that I got there myself (what a stunning album that is). I believe MHTRTC, the Canadi…Scottish Electronic duo’s debut album is generally considered their magnum opus, and features on several non-genre best-of lists, but the entire output is worthy.

Cave In – Until Your Heart Stops

My introduction to Cave In was via 2003’s melodic indie record Antenna. It was quite some time before I explored outside that, but before the rather gorgeous 2013 Record Store Day release on double vinyl. Despite the somewhat emo title, UYHS is raging metalcore, and it’s astonishing.

Garbage – Version 2.0

The album where it all began. I had the Spice Girls’ first two albums on cassette, plus some singles, but the first two CDs I ever bought were Natalie Imbruglia’s Left of the Middle and Garbage’s 2^nd album Version 2.0. I think Texas’ White on Blonde was third. A friend who knew how much I loved this record wandered into my room at university once to tell me he’d heard on the radio that…Colin Murray…I think…had suggested this as an example of a disappointing follow-up to a classic debut album. As amazing as self-titled is, that sentiment is just incredibly wrong. While the production is certainly very slick, once again Shirley shines through as an imperfect (and therefore perfect) rock star as she sings, croons, whispers, and spits her lyrical witticisms. Push It (not to be confused with Salt N Pepa or Tool’s songs of the same name, although the former got a writing credit for similarity – Brian Wilson got more for the sample of Beach Boys’ Don’t Worry Baby) was the universe’s way of letting me know I was going to be into heavy rock music and The Trick is to Keep Breathing is a real tearjerker (the book on which it’s based is a fine piece of Scottish literature. Incredibly depressing, mind). But really the whole thing is a marvellous ride.

Korn – Follow the Leader

Most of it hasn’t dated very well, and some of it is plain awful, but for a time this was peak Korn. Songs like Freak on a Leash and Got the Life, however, are enduring nu-metal classics.

Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of

Sometimes a record is so good it doesn’t matter what genre it is. This is one of them. I love everything about it – the singles, the deep cuts, the tunes, Hill’s voice, the skits, the concept, the musical quotations, and the spirit of collaboration (although Hill didn’t like to acknowledge this much outside of the named features).

Opeth – My Arms, Your Hearse

Another super-emo title of an album that isn’t. Progressive death metal, anyone? While Demon of the Fall is possibly Opeth’s best ever song, the rest of the album is nothing to sniff at, and it works well as a conceptual whole. In particular, each song’s lyrics end with the title of the next song.

Refused – The Shape of Punk to Come

This record is almost beyond reproach, being both easy to rock out to and ridiculously clever. I suppose it does wear its influences quite obviously on its sleeve, but ‘great artists steal and all that’ as I am very fond of parroting. The Ornette Coleman-referencing title and picture of John Coltrane on the cover are enough to make me delirious, but New Noise has got to be one of the greatest headbangers of all time. Nothing quite like it has been made since. To be fair to Refused themselves, they haven’t tried.

REM – Up

I don’t think many fans of REM at the time held this album in very high esteem. Even if it was OK, the absence of founding drummer Bill Berry was strongly felt. Even in spirit if not in sound (although drum machines are used at times). But it was one of the first REM albums I listened to, kindly handed down to me by a colleague at Waitrose at a time when I was branching out from just metal music. I relistened to it last year and I found once wasn’t enough, having it on repeat for several days. I just think it has a really high hit rate of good songs, Michael Stipe’s vocal melodies are lovely, and it gets better and better as it goes along.

System of a Down – s/t

Three of the bands I loved when I was getting into (nu-metal) music were Slipknot, 36 Crazyfists, and System of a Down. I was hooked by all three debut albums. Then, really strangely, the sophomore records came out and I didn’t like any of them. 36 CF’s A Snow-Capped Romance I grew to love but the other two I never did. Kerrang! recently asked for people’s unusual music opinions on Facebook and my comment that neither Toxicity nor Iowa are either band’s best work made it into their final ‘article’. I think I managed to avoid being called an edgelord in the comments, thankfully. Both records have stand-out moments but there’s a goodly amount of filler there too. SOAD’s self-titled, on the other hand, now that was a revelation. I hadn’t listened to it in years and worried that it wouldn’t have dated very well, Serj especially sounding a little too much 90s metal quirky (the Biffy Clyro of metal?), but no I think it holds up. The funny thing about the hate or indifference that a lot of those 90s metal bands get is how good a lot of them are as musicians. Whereas in, say, Limp Bizkit that accusation probably can’t be levelled at every member, in SOAD it can.

Tortoise – TNT

Chicago post-rock (with jazz and electronics) band Tortoise is one of those artists where I more or less got into all of it at once. Which means I generally listen to the entire back catalogue in one go, in chronological order. Nevertheless, TNT stands out. Even though its predecessor gets most of the accolades, I think TNT is the more consistent record front to back. Perhaps it’s not quite as innovative, but then why would it be?

1998, a playlist

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6FgdwwFhpb8L7UCRO1Gngl?si=lWhPAHaVSrmXfqQgygZt3Q

Air – La femme d’argent

At the Drive-In – Napoleon Solo

Beastie Boys – Intergalactic

Black Star – Re:Definition

Boards of Canada – Olson

Botch – Dali’s Praying Mantis

Cave In – Moral Eclipse

Elliot Smith – Waltz #2 (XO)

Faithless – God is a DJ

Fatboy Slim – The Rockafeller Skank

Garbage – Push It

Hole – Celebrity Skin

Korn – Freak on a Leash

Ms. Lauryn Hill – Doo Wop (That Thing)

Manic Street Preachers – If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

Massive Attack – Teardrop

Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

One Minute Silence – South Central

Opeth – Demon of the Fall

Pearl Jam – Brain of J.

Pitchshifter – Microwaved

Placebo – Pure Morning

Raised Fist – Monumental

Refused – New Noise

R.E.M. – Daysleeper

Soulfly – Bumbklaatt

System of a Down – Sugar

The Cardigans – My Favourite Game

The Offspring – The Kids Aren’t Alright

Tortoise – I Set My Face to the Hillside

UNKLE – Rabbit In Your Headlights