Face the Music

Everyone's a fan of lists. Channel 5 in particular. List shows seem to have spawned from programmes such as 'I love 1973', and the public's love of nostalgia in general. They started with the ten best films, or albums, which seemed fair enough. Suddenly ten wasn't enough, and we moved into the top 100 best..., and the categories became rather more desperate too. I'm pretty sure I've spent a Sunday night watching the countdown of the 'Top 100 love scenes in family movies from the 1980s starring Molly Ringwald'. Whereas the original list shows meant that some pretty big decisions needed to be made, nowadays it's more tricky just finding enough examples to cram into the list. What's left to do? 'Top seven days of the week'? 'Top 100 colours'? I, for one, am on the edge of my seat.

This all acts as an introduction to this particular entry, which is a list about albums. Ten year's worth of albums in fact. Starting in 1991, purely for the fact that it's a palindrome, and for someone as 'curious incident-y' as me, that's where you need to start.

In a bid to remove all controversy, these aren't necessarily those albums that I think are the best of that year, simply the ones I reckon I've listened to most often. They're probably the albums that I liked most in each particular year, though I seem to remember that as an angsty 15 year old, music was one of the main ways that you fitted in, and if you carried round a vinyl copy of 'blood sugar sex magik' in an Andy's records bag, a reasonable amount of cool would be heaped upon you even before you opened your zit-encrusted mouth in front of a moderately attractive girl.

1991 - Nirvana, Nevermind
1992 - Tie: Pavement, Slanted and Enchanted and Sonic Youth, Dirty
1993 - Suede, Suede
1994 - Portishead, Dummy
1995 - Oasis, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (of course)
1996 - Cake, Fashion Nugget
1997 - Tie: Prodigy, The Fat of the Land and Ben Folds Five, Whatever and Ever Amen
1998 - Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane over the Sea
1999 - Moby, Play (and may I be forever damned for this, especially given the number of times I played porcelein)
2000 - The Avalanches, Since I Left You

What a very depressing list. I wasn't aware that I'd spent my time from the age of 15 to 24 desperately trying to fit in with the crowd, though my listening tastes would suggest differently. 1998 represents a high point, with 1999 the nadir.

When I've recovered from my despond, I shall compile a 2001-2010 list, which will hopefully be less predictable and formulaic.