Let me just start by saying that whenever so-called rock critics get together and make lists they always try to force feed you bands and tell you they are great when they are really just ok, or worse. In fact, my single biggest problem with rock critics is when they try to act like they know something you don’t. Like you, me, or anyone can’t listen to music and know whether its horrible, good or great. NPR clearly got some of the them right: Nirvana, Beck, Soundgarden, Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam belong on there no matter what song you choose as your personal favorite. And the individual songs “Song 2,” “Shine” “Enter Sandman,” “Doo Wop” and “Steal My Sunshine” are solid choices, but PJ Harvey, Sebadoah, and Cornershop, the best songs of the 90s, really? Every time a 90s list is made somebody inevitably puts bands like Pavement, PJ Harvey, Sebadoah, Bjork, Moby & Prodigy on there. No offense to these bands, but none of them are great. Let’s keep it real and say what needs to be said – these bands are critics darlings who nobody in the real world actually likes.
Where is “What I Got” by Sublime? Where is “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind? Where is any song from Green Day’s “Dookie”? How about “Under The Bridge” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers? These songs all changed the landscape of music in the 90s. I’d even go farther and ask where are The Refreshments, Tonic, Urge Overkill & Blind Melon? Every one of those bands had classic 90s songs, and albums that were solid from front to back. Just because something is a commercial success doesn’t make it a bad song, and not every commercially successful song is musical masterpiece, but come on fellas.
John & Court have hit some very important points: Stone Temple Pilots, Cake, Weezer, Dr. Dre & Rage are key omissions. The hip-hop songs included are almost laughable, but let me tell you what you all missed: 2Pac. “All Eyez On Me” is still one of the best albums of all time, and it produced several classic 90s songs such as “California Love.”
I could go on and on, and I’m sure I missed some, but I think I’ve said enough…Tell you what NPR, I'll give you PJ Harvey if you give me Red Hot Chili Peppers - deal?
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I think you've hit on some key bands that we all missed. Certainly the Red Hot Chili Peppers deserve mention; "Under the Bridge" demonstrated a new level of musical maturity for a band that went on to make the decade their own. Green Day indeed merits mention, and 2Pac is worthy as well, although I personally was more into Dre and Snoop.
ReplyDeleteI do feel like I need to speak up in defense of music critics. Yes, you do get the sense that music critics think they know something you don't. And of course we all know a good song from a bad one when we hear it, just as you say. But that's just the point: In the 90s, most of us still listened to music that was played on the radio. It was before iTunes and Sirius and all of that. And given the choice between what the music critics of the 90s were praising and what the radio program directors were playing, I'll take the critics, thank you very much. The program directors tended to have a much more narrow musical worldview in my mind -- choosing to play only what's commercially viable and not always what has musical merit. Consequently, the pool of songs is that much smaller.
The big joke about even the cool radio stations like Washington's WHFS was the call letters stood for "We Have Four Songs" because that's all they ever played. I for one am thankful we now live in a world where we can hear great music in a lot more venues -- online, on satellite radio etc. -- than we ever dreamed of hearing back then.