Tuesday 6 April 2021

Generic list post: can you believe 1991 was 30 years ago? (part 2)

Was 1991 as good a year for Other Genres™ as it was for Rap? This is the post where I prove that, yes, it was even tough that damn Bryan Adams song from Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves was utterly inescapable for most of the year.

LFO - We Are Back
Nirvana - Breed
SL2 - Way In My Brain
Massive Attack ft. Shara Nelson - Unfinished Sympathy
Slint - Nosferatu Man
Prince & The New Power Generation - Cream
Second Phase - Mentasm
Teenage Fanclub - The Concept
ESG - Erase You
Junior Reid - Banana Boat Man
Paperclip People - Oscillator (Electronic Flirtation Device)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away
808 State - In Yer Face
A Guy Called Gerald - Sunshine
Soundgarden - Rusty Cage
Aretha Daye ft. MC Chan - No More (Making Love)
Talk Talk - Ascension Day
Jodeci - Treat U
Electronic - Getting Away With It
Cajmere ft. Dajae - Brighter Days
Helmet - Sinatra (Peel Session version)
Shades Of Rhythm - Sound Of Eden
Genesis - I Can't Dance
K-Klass - Rhythm Is A Mystery
Seaweed - One Out Of Four
The Ragga Twins - Hooligan '69
The Brand New Heavies ft. N'Dea Davenport - Never Stop
Metallica - Enter Sandman
The Source ft. Candi Staton - You Got The Love (1991 mix)
En Vogue - You Don't Have To Worry
The Todd Terry Project - Never Give Up (Melody Mix)
Thee Headcoats - Girl Of Matches
The Prodigy - Your Love
Madonna - Justify My Love
The House Crew - Keep The Fire Burning
My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow
Crystal Waters - Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)
Fugazi - Steady Diet
2 Bad Mice - Bombscare
Sounds Of Blackness -
Optimistic
Moby - Go (radio edit)
Throwing Muses - Counting Backwards
Altern-8 - Activ-8 (Come With Me)
Monster Magnet - Snake Dance
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam - Let The Beat Hit 'Em
Born Against - Jock Gestapo
Shabba Ranks - Trailer Load Of Girls
Future Sound Of London - Papua New Guinea
Guns N' Roses - You Could Be Mine
Masters At Work - 69 Steps

Bonus thoughts:

Amazing year for British dance music or wot? Arguably the first year where the U.K overtook the U.S for sheer quantity of quality choonage.

Of course the best song from Massive Attack's first album was the one which didn't feature any Bwistolian whisper stoner wap vocals by 3D or Tricky.

I hate the Red Hot Chili Peppers but Give It Away is a legit 10/10 jam and if it's good enough for Pimp C then it's good enough for me.

I also hate Metallica but Enter Sandman is another legit 10/10 jam and if it's good enough for an entire country squeezed into a field then it's good enough for me.

Seaweed's One Out Of Four was the Generation X teenage skater boi's equivalent of the Brand New Radicals' You Get What You Give.

Madonna's Justify My love was a late 1990 song which didn't fully blossom until 1991.

I only discovered Masters At Work's 69 Steps a couple of weeks ago but it's a killer choon which is way better than the other 1991 MAW track which became a U.K Rave classic when played at 45 RPM.

24 comments:

d said...

Lolol i was 100% gonna slag the chilli pepper inclusion til i read further

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

You can disagree with me, but you can't disagree with Pimp C.

Fred said...

Plenty of stuff I don't know in there, need to get on with the program and do a deep dive into some of those songs.

I spotted Born Against on there but if we're gonna go for hardcore/metal stuff then I'd like to add:

Leeway - Kingpin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N__5W7ouSYk
Maybe my favorite song off my favorite album of theirs. NYHC street groove + thrash metal + melodies = winning combo for sure.

Bolt Thrower - Cenotaph: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjyQUGQRPd8
You know it, Coventry's heaviest going hard in the paint.

Integrity - Judgement Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIMnhmu1GaQ
Micha might be the more iconic track off that LP but this song is my fave for sure.

Pittbull - Don't Make Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnwG-GSo1-o
Angry Detroit stuff, great and underrated LP.

Judge - Storm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgd5GkblIHM
There will be quiet, after the storm! Brooding stuff to ride alone at night to.

There's a few more I could add but I'm gonna stop here for now, 5 songs might already be enough for most readers haha.

Grant Cohn said...

Wow. Thank you so much for this.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Top one, nice one, get sorted.

xanax fantasia said...

please elaborate about the chilli peppers lmao

do you even remotely enjoy any of their other songs?
how do you get past anthony keidis' "rapping" ?


interestingly i believe they were lil peep's favorite band of all time
p.s. thanks for editing horsehead off of "girls"

Spartan said...

Some of my lot:

Massive Attack feat. Shara Nelson - Unfinished Sympathy
Urban Shakedown feat. Micky Finn - Some Justice
True Faith - Take Me Away*
Rebel MC (Featuring Tenor Fly) - The Wickedest Sound
M.A.N.I.C. - I'm Coming Hardcore
Nicolette - Waking Up
SL2 - Way In My Brain
The Ragga Twins ‎– Wipe The Needle
Rum & Black ‎– Wicked
Altern-8 - Activ-8 (Come With Me)
N.R.G. ‎– The Terminator
The Prodigy - Your Love
Bomb The Bass - Winter In July
Future Sound Of London - Papua New Guinea
Young Disciples - Apparently Nothin'
Lenny Kravitz - Always On The Run
Prince & The New Power Generation - Gett Off
Guns N' Roses - You Could Be Mine

* Not sure when that cam out.

Yohan said...

Clicked on that Prodigy link hoping to find a cool unreleased 1991 solo track of Mobb Deep's Prodigy, instead found some weird electronic crap. NOT COOL.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Spart, great calls on Some Justice and Wicked. Winter In July was one of my honourable mentions.

Xanax, I hate everything else by them ever. Sometimes the stars align and awful artists accidentally make something glorious. Give It Away is kinda like the O.G Thizzle Dance in that it has me pullin' Thizz faces and involuntarily doin' stupid dances. My body is a mere conduit for the music.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Yohan, that's the 2nd best Prodigy song by the 2nd best Prodigy.

The 1st best song by the 2nd best Prodigy is of course Out Of Space.

Yohan said...

^ Poor man's attempt to flip the negative Amazon reviews of Prodigy solo albums.

Spartan said...

"The 1st best song by the 2nd best Prodigy is of course Out Of Space."

That is correct.

L.A said...

Give It Up is incredible. I quite like the RHCP version of Higher Ground too lol.

Nostalgia Rule said...

I'd love to have been 18 in 1991. But I was 6. The upside being that I'm not yet approaching 50.

Anyway, I dunno if it's just toddler goggles but it seems like everything was better back then.

The biggest difference is encapsulated in that sounds of blackness tune. There was some sort of optimism in the air which is completely nonexistent now, for obvious reasons.

Molloy said...

My 7 year old self got introduced to a couple of these jawns on the Now 20 compilation, which was always good for a couple of left field bops between the cheese.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

I was in my third year of high school in '91, which meant I was too old for Do The Bartman and I'm Too Sexy but old enough to be able to appreciate Ice-T, Naughty By Nature, Nirvana and all the big Rave choonz in the Top 40.

Side note: Give It Away was the only song of 1991 which could satisfy all the social groups in my high school common room. Even Gideon the Jehovah's Witness kid liked that song.

xanax fantasia said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
noah said...

Playlisted and sequenced by yours truly.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcnHLItwCf8ZicINTWV18sqJLpPUYFv6a

Dropped in a couple from the comments and a few of my personals.

Happy listening.

Jmil843 said...

Whatever genre the Aretha Daye, Brand New Heavies, Cajmere and Sounds of Blackness songs are I love it and need more of it!!

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Xanax, I thought he was straight edge, m8?

Cheers, Noah. Gah, just noticed I linked a couple of wrong songs in the list -I put the Dwarves instead of Thee Headcoats and Infest instead of Born Against 😳

Jmil - Cajmere is Chicago House, the Aretha Daye and Sounds Of Blackness are Street Soul, and the Brand New Heavies is Acid Jazz. You might know the equally excellent remix of the Cajmere song?

AK said...

Red Hot Chili Peppers are an absolutely garbage band but if you take out the singer the instrumentals slap.

https://rhcpstuff.bandcamp.com/album/bssm-instrumental

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

Lolz.

L.A said...

Don't front on Under The Bridge too lol

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

I'd rather take a bulldozer to that particular bridge tbh.