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So folks the oft quoted “peak year of alternative rock” has hit 30…

So many great albums came out this year…

The Downwards Spiral
Far Beyond Driven
Betty
Grace
Dummy
Down
Stoner Witch
The Holy Bible
Troublegum
The Blue Album
Superunknown
Weight

I could go on.

PS I should note this is a very specific Gen X alternative rock… other styles are available

PPS 1984 = Crap, not the year 1984

^ Incredible list. The last few years of the 90's don't hold a candle!

A quick look at 1984 (which might be a joke here but just in case):

The Smiths- S/T
Echo and the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
REM- Reckoning
Metallica -Ride the Lightning
Husker Du - Zen Arcade
The Replacements -Let It Be
Minutemen- Double Nickels
The Fat Boys - Fat Boys

Gramsci wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2024 7:40 am So folks the oft quoted “peak year of alternative rock” has hit 30…

So many great albums came out this year…

The Downwards Spiral
Far Beyond Driven
Betty
Grace
Dummy
Down
Stoner Witch
The Holy Bible
Troublegum
The Blue Album
Superunknown
Weight

I could go on.

PS I should note this is a very specific Gen X alternative rock… other styles are available

What's amazing about 1994 is that my initial list would be completely different but just as extensive. One of the peak years for indie rock.. Pavement, Guided by Voices, Sebadoh, Built to Spill all released (arguably) their best albums that year.

Yeah, 1994 was NC.

Just read the post about 1984, though. Oof, there are some great ones there, too.

PS yes 1984 was a joke. As in the book, meaning bad…

What was that about if you need to explain a joke

Music for the Jilted Generation
Burn My Eyes
Selfless
Welcome to Sky Valley
Deliverance
Scratch the Surface
In the Nightside Eclipse
De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas
Nailbomb
Amorica
Dubnobasswithmyheadman
File Under Easy Listening
Illmatic
Dog Man Star
World Demise

Goes on and on and on.

There was certainly some good music in 1994. I was way into Polvo's Celebrate the New Dark Age, Caspar Brötzmann Massaker's Home, and Timco's Friction Tape (but hugely disappointed by Cop Shoot Cop's Release and relatively underwhelmed by Unsane's Total Destruction) at the time, and it was also the year I formed my first band that wasn't a short-lived mess.

But I was also getting the impression that independent rock was fraying into far less appealing (to me, anyway) commercial and/or niche (electronic, so-called post-rock, free noise) directions.

On the other hand, 1984, man. I was too young to hear any of these until later in the '80s, but I still listen to all of them now, while rocking relatively little from 1994 w/any degree of regularity:

Swans: Cop
Spike in Vain: Disease Is Relative
No Trend: Teen Love EP (12" version)
Scratch Acid: s/t EP
Sonic Youth: Sonic Death
Live Skull: s/t EP
Einstürzende Neubauten: 2x4
High Rise: Psychedelic Speed Freaks
Flipper: Gone Fishin' + Blow 'N Chunks
Naked Raygun: Flammable Solid EP
Man Sized Action: Five Story Garage
Black Flag: My War
Hüsker Dü: Zen Arcade

A_Man_Who_Tries wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2024 8:03 am Nailbomb

Holy shit yes.

Yank Crime

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2024 8:16 am On the other hand, 1984, man. I was too young to hear any of these until later in the '80s, but I still listen to all of them now, while rocking relatively little from 1994 w/any degree of regularity:

True of me too. Not a judgment of one year over the other, just that I played a lot of the '94 stuff out at the time.

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2024 8:16 am But I was also getting the impression that independent rock was fraying into far less appealing (to me, anyway) commercial and/or niche (electronic, so-called post-rock, free noise) directions.

I think there is little doubt that there was a significant faction of indie rock that was getting less weird by 1994. For a 17-year-old like I was at the time, though, it was a sweet spot.