A blog for those classic hard rockers and metal heads out there.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Top 5 Albums of the Grand Ole 90s
Man, have I been on a 90s kick lately. It's a little odd, but I tell ya, I dig it. Oh, the 90s...you just HAVE to love them. It was the decade of Beanie Babies, "Friends," and JNCO Jeans. But, it was also the decade that metal honestly started taking a bit of a downfall. I mean, when some of the biggest metal bands of the 90s include Korn and Limp Bizkit, that's definitely a downfall for metal. Before the 90s, metal had CAJONES. Hell, even Poison has more cajones than the ever shitty Chimp Dickzit. When the 90s came around, the metal started getting...for the lack of a better word, weird. Rap started to get thrown into the metal mix, along with electronica. That's not metal to me. The closest thing to rap metal I'll ever listen to is Anthrax/Public Enemy collaborations. But, there were a few diamonds in the roughness that was metal in the 90s, which leads me to my list of the top 5 metal albums of the 90s. Most of these albums are from the early 90s, when metal was starting to transcend into the "nu metal" bullshit, but still had some balls. So, here she blows:
5. Faith No More - "Angel Dust"
This is a band that I've been getting really into the past week. I have known about them, mostly because of their one huge hit, "Epic." But, I never really delved any further into their discography or any of their other songs until recently. What I have found is that this group is beyond talented and are very, very diverse. They can pull just about anything off and make it really kick ass, whether it be lounge music, funk, death metal, or industrial. FNM put their own spin on these genres and make them very much listenable. A wonderful example of all of this is 1992's "Angel Dust." This album is unbelievably diverse. You've got some damn near death metal tunes in "Caffeine" and "Malpractice." You've got some lounge-ish tracks in "RV" and "Midnight Cowboy." You've got some smooth R&B with their cover of the Commodores' "Easy." You've got some melodic tunes like one of their biggest singles, "Midlife Crisis" and "A Small Victory." Basically, you've got quite the smorgasbord of tunes on this record. This album, to me, is where FNM really shown their true colors. 1989's "The Real Thing" was sort of a getting-settled time for FNM, having just got their ridiculously talented lead singer Mike Patton into the band. "Angel Dust" was where they were able to really sound like Faith No More.
Not many of the so-called "glam" bands of the 80s got "heavier" as time went on. In fact, a lot of them got pretty fucking soft or even more horrible than they were before. Or some would even just fall off the face of the Earth. Skid Row unfortunately got lumped in with these so-called "glam" bands when, in fact, they were far from "glam." They got lumped into that scene because of their hair and the fact that their ballads were huge hits. ("18 and Life," "I Remember You) But, aside from those two ballads, which weren't too bad honestly, they were gritty, tough, and ballsy. They would soon add fucking heavy to that list with 1992's "Slave to the Grind." This band did the exact OPPOSITE of what was expected from them. People thought they'd go soft, but they said, "Hell no! We're going to smash your face in and rock your balls off!" That's a pretty big and ballsy move on their part, but it is also pretty rad, because "Slave" was a smasher of a record. The title track really hits you in the gut with its near speed metal-ness. Tracks like "The Threat," "Living on a Chain Gang," "Get the Fuck Out," and "Riot Act" really kicked you in the balls and made you bang your head furiously. Even the so-called "ballads" in "Quicksand Jesus" and " Wasted Time" were tougher than a usual ballad. This, to me, is Skid Row's masterpiece. From start to finish, it really grabs you, headbutts you, caresses you for a few minutes, then slaps you around. You know you got a good record when it does that to you.
Bonzo Brad's Choice Tracks: "Slave to the Grind" "The Threat" "Quicksand Jesus" "Living on a Chain Gang" "Riot Act"
3. Pantera - "Vulgar Display of Power"
These thrashin', groovin' boys from Tejas (Texas in espanol) got people talking in 1990 with "Cowboys from Hell," an album that found Pantera reinventing themselves from a glam metal-esque band into a heavy metal powerhouse. 1992's "Vulgar Display of Power" left Pantera's mark on the metal world, and boy was it quite the mark! Yeah, "Cowboys from Hell" was pretty ferocious. But, "Vulgar Display of Power" was just downright lean and mean and ready to kick your ass over, under, sideways, and down. Nothing was quite this heavy at the time this was released. In fact, the heaviest album at the time was the album mentioned above this one. ("Slave to the Grind," for you slow ones) "Vulgar" would supply Pantera with their biggest hit at the time with "Walk," which thanks to Avenged Sevenchoad and Monday Night Football, is overplayed to shit. It's a shame too, because it is a damn good song. But, I have found that their are many, many other heavy kick ass tunes on this album. I mean, c'mon?! "Mouth for War?!" "A New Level?!" "FUCKING HOSTILE?!!" These songs were meant to be played during a gang fight and/or a night of heavy, decadent drankin'. This album is really one of the heaviest albums of all time, probably in the top 5, because it's that heavy and ferocious.
Bonzo Brad's Choice Tracks: "Mouth for War" "A New Level" "Fucking Hostile" "No Good (Attack the Radical)" "Regular People (Conceit)"
2. Metallica - "Metallica"
Boy, hasn't this album gotten heat from fans and metalheads alike. I really don't understand why. But, I can also see why they would give it such slack. The "Black Album" was Metallica's most commerical record, at the time (1991). But, also, this was a pretty heavy and hard rockin' record for it being commercial. Hell, it was definitely heavier than the radio rock shit of today. Why is that? It's because it's fucking METALLICA. Yeah, they play this album to death on hard rock radio now a days. Well, it's mostly it's five singles that came off of this record. But, the other half of the record? IT FUCKING RULES! There are some pretty heavy, thrashy, yet still commercial tracks like "Holier than Thou," "Through the Never," and "The Struggle Within." Then, there are some pretty killer straight up classic heavy metal tracks like "The God That Failed," "Don't Tread on Me," and "Of Wolf and Man." Those songs alone are why I put this album in this position on the list. But also, this album is a heavy metal classic. It's one of those albums that everybody and your mother has, like "Back in Black" and "Appetite for Destruction." The other tunes, as in the "singles," are awesome too, especially "Sad but True" and "Wherever I May Roam." But, "Enter Sandman" gets played way too fucking much EVERYWHERE from baseball games to bar mitzvahs. "Nothing Else Matters" is...different. "The Unforgiven" is actually really good too, reversing the whole ballad scheme they had before with a light verse and heavy chorus, but flipping it around for this song. All in all, this album really kicks ass. Yeah, it's not as good as their first 4 albums, especially "Ride the Lightning," but it still kicks major ass, because, well...it's simply METALLICA!
Bonzo Brad's Choice Tracks: "Holier than Thou" "Don't Tread on Me" "Through the Never" "Of Wolf and Man" "The Struggle Within"
1. Guns N' Roses - "Use Your Illusion"
Hands down, the most ambitious, creative, killer, uber-fantastic album of the 90s. I mean, c'mon?! It's Guns N' FUCKING Roses! These guys were on top of their game at this point. They just released one of the best debut albums of all time, along with having that said album sell like fucking hotcakes. These dudes were thinking, how the HELL do we up the ante here? Why, of course! Make a double album full of diverse, epic, heavy, hard rockin' tunes. That's what! No one was expecting this from Guns at all. With "Appetite for Destruction," the album mentioned earlier, it was very straightforward gritty, dirty hard rock. With "Use Your Illusion," (which, by the way, I view as a double album, not two separate albums) they were still a bit dirty and gritty, but no so straightforward. At this point, they felt they could do whatever the fuck they wanted. They knew they'd sell a shit ton. They'll record whatever the fuck they please. Honestly, this album really does rock as hard as "Appetite." The only differences is that it has slicker production and there is a little bit more variety. They had tunes that were leftover from "Appetite," like "November Rain," "Don't Cry," "You Could Be Mine," and "Back Off Bitch." Then, they had really fucking epic tunes like "Coma" (the most underrated song by G N' R, I have figured out after many listens) and "Estranged." They also had Izzy Stradlin (representin' my hometown, Lafayette, IN, along with W.A.R.) singing a few tunes, like "Double Talkin' Jive," "Dust N' Bones," and "You Ain't the First." Duff sings some too, with "So Fine" being his time to shine. "Use Your Illusion" is the most epic album I've ever heard. It's their "Exile on Main Street," that's for sure. Yeah, it's no "Appetite," but god damn it, it still fucking rules and has many killer tunes on it. There are, out of this whole double album, like, 2 songs that are pretty weak. But, overall, this album is just insane and chock full of absolutely awesome tunes. No one makes albums like this anymore, at least, ones that are THIS creative, diverse, AND good, all at the same time.
Bonzo Brad's Choice Tracks: "Right Next Door to Hell" "Perfect Crime" "Bad Obsession" "Coma" "Double Talkin' Jive" "Dead Horse" "Garden of Eden" "Civil War" "Get in the Ring" "Shotgun Blues" "Locomotive" "Pretty Tied Up" "Knockin' on Heaven's Door""Breakdown"
Bonzo Brad's Honorable (But Kick Ass) Album Selections:
Kyuss - "Blues for the Red Sun"
Soundgarden - "Badmotorfinger"
Ozzy Osbourne - "No More Tears"
Alice in Chains - "Dirt"
Corrosion of Conformity - "Deliverance"
Slayer - "Seasons of the Abyss"
So, there ya be! That's my 2 cents on the 90s and their kick ass metal albums. Check these albums out if you haven't already, or go revisit these records if you do have them, because trust me, they kick mucho asso.
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