Unfortunately, that's exactly what is going to be :lol:...I think the whole point of this poll was to engage most of you and pick a year for the next edition. That way it gives everyone opportunity to send something they love from that year, which in my opinion will be great, because we won't focus only on one music genre. It's going to be great!!!

 

I'm all for that. B-)

There's something to enjoy in all of the years, but I've gone for 1995 and 1996. Britpop at it's peak and lots of diversity in the big hits.

I went for 90, 91, 92, 94, 95, 97 and 98 :lol:

 

1990 is special for me because it was when I really started to get into music as a kid. It's possibly not as great from an unbiased point of view but there were some fantastic early dance tracks, plus the likes of Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys releasing great albums, and Madonna still flying high off of the Like a Prayer era and the Immaculate Collection.

 

1991 and 1992 both continued to see the progression of electronic music into the chart and I loved the way it began to take over, and in retrospect there are lots of amazing dance tracks from these years (including some all time faves from Orbital, Massive Attack etc) - also loved the Shamen, KLF, Enigma, Utah Saints etc that still hold really special memories for me now.

 

1993 was far too reggae, no time for that thanks.

 

1994 and 1995 were both great, I was really getting into indie music then and britpop was being born at exactly the time when I was hitting my teens and ready to rebel a bit. Couple that with the biggest dance acts moving into territories where they would produce some amazing albums (Music for the Jilted Generation, Exit Planet Dust, Leftism etc) and it was just such an exciting time to be immersed in music. Plus I really got into Tori Amos, PJ Harvey and Bjork etc during these years.

 

1996 - I liked it at the time but in retrospect a lot of the britpop stuff got quite derivative and the arrival of big pop bands wasn't really to my taste either.

 

1997 I chose because it was amazing for albums. Dig Your Own Hole and OK Computer are two of my top 5 of all time... we were starting to see the arrival of big beat with Fatboy Slim and Propellerheads etc and French house with Daft Punk, also I was really starting to pay attention to trance music which would define the next few years for me.

 

1998... and trance continued to build for me with lots of my all time faves being released or re-released that year, plus trip hop was really becoming a big favourite of mine too. Tori Amos and Madonna released two of my all time favourite female led albums too.

 

1999 was okay but I didn't vote for it. Too pop for my liking at the time and, whilst it is probably remembered as being the year for trance, the tracks weren't as good as the previous couple of years for me - some great singles aside, there wasn't much released that I still listen to now.

for me the weakest is 1990, only one great album (Sinead's).

Also not a fan of 98-99, I associate the late 90s with the rise of the piss-poor boy bands with Westlife and Boyzone etc

Any more voters? There is a tie at the moment.

98 and 99. Yes there were the rise of boybands etc but for me there was a lot of great nostalgia.

The tie has been broken so I'm declaring 1997 as the winner.

 

THE POLL IS NOW CLOSED

1997 it is :clap:

1991: The Year Punk Broke, as they say. Or if you prefer it was the height of the Indie Wars... and we started to feel like we were going to win. So much had been bubbling up from the UK and US underground and was just starting to gain traction against a chart dominated by crap dance music, tedious old farts who'd not been interesting for years and the arse end of the SAW era. The excitement of Madchester had imploded in to dire Baggy rip offs and self parody.

 

Acts like Pixies, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, KLF, R.E.M., Pop Will Eat Itself, Massive Attack, 2Pac, My Bloody Valentine, Metallica, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Manics, Hole, Faith No More, Mudhoney, Pulp, Tribe Called Quest, The Orb, Nine Inch Nails, Levellers, Prodigy, Rage Against the Machine, Jane's Addiction etc were all starting to to be mentioned in the the wider media or actually break though to a wider audience. Reading 1991 had one of the greatest one day lineups ever for those in the know and added a massice dose of Hip Hop to its roster. If the late 80s Madchester scene had gently prised open a crack in the previously locked door of success for Indie and Alternative music, in November Nirvana kicked in the whole rotten facade, launching an era of unparalleled success for Alternative US Rock, forcing Metal to look to the already emerging new styles instead of the turgid LA scene, and inadvertantly helping to kick start Britpop.

 

The mainstream may have been as tedious as ever but the scene in 1991 felt like an ever growing wave that threaten to sweep away all the crap. For a while after 1991 things continued to surge with Britpop kicking off proper in '92, Metal finding itself a new direction, Hip Hop reaching even greater heights and dance music learning to add intellect to its beats. Industrial, Dance, Rap, Metal, Hip Hop and Indie all began to blend their different sounds together and the possibilities seemed endless but by the end of '97 both the US and UK scenes had become pale imitations of past glories. Hijacked by corporate major labels trying to tell us that the watered down dross they were feeding us was the future. The Indie Wars had been lost. Bought out by the Major labels.

 

Leading lights like Kurt Cobain, Tupac Shakur, Biggie and Richey Edwards were gone along with many of the best bands and most of those still going were embarking on the slow decline. Those no longer with us were to be replaced by less interesting alternatives in a scene that was beaten in to mediocrity by the Pop steamroller of boy and girl groups and the rise of Nu Metal. A few odd new acts aside (Eminem, Slipknot, Muse) and some genuine survivors (Blur, Radiohead, Oasis) it wouldn't truly find its vibrancy and diversity again until the arrival of The Strokes and The Libertines in the early 2000s

 

1991 may not have had the outright best albums but it was the moment it felt like something was really, actually happening and it was an exciting time, making it my top choice. A time when the future of the scene looked so bright, so diverse and so promising. And it was for a good five or six years before the rot set back in.

 

What a post to analyse!!

 

So true about the charts in 89-91 and the corporatisation by 1997. This always happens when major labels get involved, same following punk in 1976!