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Drowned in Sound
As i was but a nipper during the 90s, the only indie i heard was stuff like Dodgy, Babybird, Mansun, Gene, the Manics post-Richey, the Supernaturals, Space, Oasis, Suede etc

Did the 90s really suck soooo much? Please tell me they were merely the Keanes and Embraces of their day!

And recommend some good mid-90s indie bands too, if there were any.



  • Re: The 1990s

    pulp - mmmmmmm, lovely



    • Re: The 1990s

      Yep, Pulp, good one. Radiohead (obvious but still good). Hell, I even thought the first two Verve albums were really good.
    • Re: The 1990s

      Ha - that's funny, I was suffering a complete mental block apart from Pulp! Umm, some other bands that I saw around the mid to late 90's:

      The Stone Roses
      Primal Scream
      PWEI
      The Bluetones
      Dodgy
      Menswear
      Blur
      Ocean Colour Scene
      Spiritualised
      Sleeper
      Elastica
      The Verve

      That really hurt my brain, I think I'm suffering from memory loss.
      • Re: The 1990s

        Menswear! I actually have their first (and only?) album. And how could I forget Spiritualised? Weren't Ocean Colour Scene terrible (says he with a Menswear album in his collection)?
        • Re: The 1990s

          I've only heard one menswear song, "daydreamer" which was okay. Breathe deeper *da da dada da* daydreamer...
      • Re: The 1990s

        i got a pwei album for 3 quid from select a disc the other week and it's really good!
    • Re: The 1990s

      Bamos is gonna kick your ass for slagging off Mansun. I owned records by a lot of the bands you mentioned, although most of them are in a box in the loft now. It was the mood of the time - maybe it hasn't aged well, but I loved all that stuff back then, Supergrass, Bluetones, Menswear, Elastica, Boo Radleys, Suede, Blur etc. Britpop was cool for a while. I think a few of those records still stand up - I should Coco, Giant Steps, Elastica, His n Hers etc. Funny how Pulp, the one band who have actually split from the 'big' britpop bands have in time become thought of as the best of the bunch.
      • Re: The 1990s

        i HATED mansun, especially that song they did about cocaine.

        maybe i just didn't get on with the 90s...
        i'll get soulseek on the case anyway.
      • Re: The 1990s

        Oh Supergrass - I LOVED them, still do actually big time, totally forgot about that bouncy bouncy fun!! Ocean Colour Scene were dull as fuck. I really liked Menswear but it's an album I've lost and have no real urge to find again! It is weird that Pulp have come to the forefront coz at the time they were just part of the mix, they weren't my favourite. I think the music has stood the test of time better. Plus Jarvis is eternally cool. In my book anyway.
      • Re: The 1990s

        "It was the mood of the time - maybe it hasn't aged well, but I loved all that stuff back then, Supergrass, Bluetones, Menswear, Elastica, Boo Radleys, Suede, Blur etc."

        Couldn't agree more. Of course, ten years on people tend to pretend they didn't like any of it. Mind you I never could stand Menswear. Or sodding Mansun.

        Even Pulp got a backlash, though - look at how much of a slagging everything post-Different Class got. I reckon We Love Life's the best of a very good bunch, meself. They were also one of the few bands of that time who were actually entertaining to watch live, thanks, of course, to Jarvis.
  • Re: The 1990s

    OK, just off the top of my head:

    Pavement
    Sebadoh
    Afghan Whigs
    Boo Radleys (pre Wake Up Boo)
    Auteurs
    Adorable

    and probably loads more I can't think of at the moment.
    • Re: The 1990s

      pulp were good, and i like the pavement lp i downloaded,

      i'll look at some of what you suggested ^

      cheers!

      i just have horrid memories of ugly badly dressed blokes doing undanceable gurning beatles and bowie impressions on TOTP...aaargh!
    • Re: The 1990s

      Boo Radleys were good all the way through. I think i'd argue that C'mon Kids is their best record. So there.
  • Re: The 1990s

    fugazi!
    at the drive-in!
    • Re: The 1990s

      Shellac!
      • Re: The 1990s

        apparently a new shellac record on the way at some point, see the interview at www.markprindle.com

        Jamie
    • Re: The 1990s

      I had a major crush on Gary Stringer! I think I saw Reef about 4 times, went off them the last time I saw them and he chucked his bottle of water off the stage and it smacked me on the head. They were also the first gig I ever went to on my own!
      • Re: The 1990s

        Fugazi et al don't count!

        and Reef were so unbelievably shit...
        i remember being at this summer football camp when i was 9/10 and some footballers went along - some kid asked Ian Wright to sing Place Your Hands and he had no idea what they were talking about. It was moderately hilarious.
        • Re: The 1990s

          I haven't listened to them for ages, will go home and play some to see what it was that got me.
          • Re: The 1990s

            hairy neanderthal men!
            • Re: The 1990s

              :o)

              maybe.....!
              • Re: The 1990s

                i-deserve-to-be-in-your-band! Dont be dissing Reef! Or I'll start banging on about Bloc Party and The Smiths again, and I'll tell me Pedo ex-housemate where you live!
              • Re: The 1990s

                How can anyone slag off the nineties? For me that was the golden age of my musical experience! Anything that came on was pretty much without exception listenable to, and there were a few really really good bands!

                Early Oasis is still great, Pulp seam to get better and better the more i hear them (Jarvis for best lyricist of the nineties anyone?) and Urban Hymns is simply my favourite album of all time.

                The nineties were class...
                • Re: The 1990s

                  Reef? Dear god man, they were cunt!
                • Re: The 1990s

                  Ok I'll keep schtum about The Smiths this time, but I'm warning you. One more bad word said against the Reefers and I'll start an unending thread about Morrisey and The Smiths and how UNBELIEVABLE SHI....

                  *Ahem*

                  And no I dont keep in touch with pedo boy, but I do know his email address.
  • Re: The 1990s

    i forgot sonic youth, mudhoney - were they strictly 'indie', dunno.

    i also got a....nostalgia for gene, echobelly, the boo radleys... must dig out all my 'next big thing' compilations from vox...i feel a mix tape suggestion coming on.
    • Re: The 1990s

      i think sonic youth of being more 80s...same with mudhoney. actually i think of all american indie rock from 1985-1993/4 as being completely separate from anything english at all. but i love both all the same.

      Jamie
  • Re: The 1990s

    Cant believe that no one's mentioned the super furry animals yet.

    Oh and they werent the embraces of their day as embrace were in fact the embrace of their day (if you get what i mean)
  • Re: The 1990s

    Lush, Curve, the Catchers, Guv'ner were great.
    The Delgados, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, B & S, Drugstore had very good first records in the mid-90s.

    What will people think of the band of 2000-2005 in 10 years ?
  • Re: The 1990s

    just thought of another, the inspiral carpets. Really good early 90's indie
    • Re: The 1990s

      There's loads of stuff that I bet people didn't listen to at the time, but do now, like My Bloody Valentine.
      • Re: The 1990s

        I liked Supergrass and the usual Pulp/suede/ Blur/Oasis/manics but what the hell were Mansun? They're not good at all, I hate Little Kix and his voice annoys me. All I remember of Menswear were the nice but poncey clothes. Shed Seven weren't so bad. It's funny they were slated for being wannabe Oasis and now The Killers are slated for sounding exactly like them. Does that mean Oasis and The Killers sound alike? I think not. I think Dodgy were the Keane of the nineties, i used to catch myself singing In A Room.
        • Re: The 1990s

          every mansun fan agrees little kix was a barrel of seal-lite shite. just awful crap. however the first album had a certain charm to it, and there's also no other britpop record that really sounds like Six. i think they got unfair press a lot of the time, when actually they made a hell of a lot of interesting stuff (especially compared to your oasis's or charlatans). also a hell of a bsides band. actually just like suede most of their best songs were bsides.

          Jamie
      • Re: The 1990s

        true, i was about 7 during MBV's heyday.

        listen to far more eighties than nineties though.
  • Re: The 1990s

    I used to record tapes and tapes of indie off my local radio's premier indie-disco show (Jive alive rip!). These are some of the good (and bad!) uns':

    The Good:

    Happy Mondays
    Stone Roses
    Carter USM
    PWEI
    Jesus Jones
    Inspiral Carpets
    Charlatans
    Mock Turtles
    Wonderstuff
    Ride
    The Farm
    Boo Radleys
    The The
    Ned's Atomic Dustbin


    The Bad

    Fatima Mansions
    Ludricous Lollipops
    1000 yard stare
    Pele
    Natural Life
    Top
    Cud
    Chapterhouse

    The Ugly

    Shed 7
    Dodgy
    • Re: The 1990s

      I've just stumbled upon this thread and it's like opening a wonderful box of memories. I loved the 90's, I really did. I was looking through my 7" from 94-98 the other day, and there's some brilliant moments in there.

      Menswear (whoever dissed them...if I get hold of ya, I'm gonna bash ya heid)
      Elastica
      The Auteurs
      Mambo Taxi
      Teenage Fanclub
      Chapterhouse
      The Family Cat (oh yes)
      My Life Story
      60ft Dolls


      I've just realised my record collection is a laughing stock. Between this thread and the Confessions thread, I don't think I have any dignity left. Oh well. 'Would you staaay...on standby...because I need another alibiiiiii'
      • Re: The 1990s

        Hehehe

        These past two posts have dug up some great band names if nothing else.
      • Re: The 1990s

        Totally agree with you Bamos, the 90s were brilliant!

        I never really paid attention to music until about '95, so during that whole Britpop thing I just assumed that guitar music was the norm. Then it died on its arse and I was left a disullisioned wreck of a 16-year old.

  • Re: The 1990s

    mmmmmmbop
  • Re: The 1990s

    More:

    The Senseless Things
    Slowdive
    Therapy?
    Soup Dragons
    BMX Bandits
    The Wedding Present (I'm diving into C-86 territory, forgive me!)
  • Re: The 1990s

    The killers are shit compared to Oasis.

    Suede were great.

    For the record, Embrace were a ninties band, and so were an Embrace of their day. The Embrace.
  • Re: The 1990s

    "Did the 90s really suck soooo much?"

    They were better than the 1890's, that's for sure.