The Nicsperiment's Top Nine Albums of 1999
I consider 1999 as the best year of my life, the best year in cinema, and the
pinnacle of human culture (just like the machines did in The Matrix).
However, I've never really considered it the greatest year in music...until I
compiled this list. Now, I am at least ready to say this: 1999 might be my
favorite year in music. Here are my nine favorite 1999 albums, except
with ties, it's 16 albums because I just couldn't narrow it down any less than
that.
What a year!
TIE 9. Sigur Rós -- Ágætis byrjun
Mystical, elvish, alien, magical music, utilized by long and drawn out songs, sung by some strange pixie phantom. Transports the listener to a soaring, fantastic Nordic realm, though I must admit, for decades of my life, this second of Sigur Rós' albums might have made the top of this list. I guess, the older I get, the harder it is to connect to my mystical, elvish, alien side. Maybe that's why my favorite moments here remain Ágætis byrjun's most concrete. Still a unique and wonderful album.
TIE 9. Godspeed You! Black Emperor-- Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada
Continuing down the "this drawn out, self-indulgent music doesn't quite hit how it used to" route, I find I don't quite have the patience for Godspeed's meandering symphonic rock songs like I used to (I don't even feel like typing out their full name anymore), but Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada is the most direct and immediate of their works. Slow Riot's two songs might add up to 30 minutes of music, but the found sound apocalyptic speeches set up these blistering works perfectly, and the crashing payoffs feel earned and cathartic.
8. Filter-- Title of Record
Filter frontman, Richard Patrick, seems to really be feeling himself here, that this is his moment, and he's going to grab it. His band blends industrial rock and hard rock with some magnificent atmospherics, as well as a brilliant grasp of quiet-to-loud dynamics, to create a brilliant sound the band have been chasing ever since.
TIE 7. blink-182 -- Enema of the State
Huge sounding punk songs, full of attitude, but also injected with a remarkably commercial sense of melody that does nothing to dull their impact. Immature, juvenile, and infectiously catchy, featuring dashboard smashing drums, and two co-frontman that go together like peanut butter and jelly, I couldn't get enough of blink-182's Enema of the State when it hit the shelves and the airwaves. Released just two months before my senior year of high school, Enema of the State soundtracked many of the most fun moments of that particular period of my life, and I still have fun throwing it on 25-years later.
TIE 7. Pavement -- Terror Twilight
I promise Terror Twilight is the last album on this list that I'll mention doesn't quite click with me like it used to. I still really love it, though. Like many of the albums on my list, it's the given band's black sheep, this time because producer, Nigel Godrich, actually made this slacker band actually try to make great music. His efforts payoff, and these jaunty, laid back, atmospheric rock songs actually go somewhere, and as sequenced on the original release, actually build up to a moment of darkness before exploding in a moment of cathartic, "everything is gonna be alright" confetti. The reason this great album doesn't move even further up my list in 2024 is Stephen Malkmus' lyrics. It's not just that they're completely stream-of-conscious nonsense, but that several strings of lyrics are deviant in ways I no longer find clever or amusing. Still, Terror Twilight lowkey jams, and I don't use "lowkey" in the modern slang fashion here...the album is lowkey...and it jams.
TIE 6.Foo Fighters -- There Is Nothing Left to Lose
While Foo Fighters have easily cranked out memorable rock single after memorable rock single throughout their career, producing an album that's fully satisfying has often alluded them. However, that isn't the case with their third full-length, There Is Nothing Left to Lose. Operating as a three-piece here, Foo Fighters sound like they're just hanging out and having fun while healing up after some traumatic events (frontman, Dave Grohl, was coming off a breakup), and this set of songs is more satisfying and cohesive than on any other full length they've released in their extensive career. Strangely enough, There Is Nothing Left to Lose also works as a post-millennium "We made it through Y2K and everything is going to be okay" album, as well, even though it was released two months before the clock hit midnight on the 20th Century.
TIE 6. Newsboys- Love Liberty Disco
And for my first WAIT, WHAT?! entry into this list, it's Newsboys' black sheep, Love Liberty Disco. An ode to 80s pop rock, featuring only small dashes of actual disco, Newsboys' 1999 album is full of a shocking amount of pain and heartache, shirking off silly singalongs and doing absolutely nothing to presage the band's later commercially successful (but massively disappointing) 00s foray into streamlined, corporate worship. Featuring relatable lyrics about everyday life, but going incredibly deep when it touches upon spiritual matters, Love Liberty Disco even features dive bar interior artwork that feels like it's at the service of a completely band than both current and later fans were and would become accustomed to. The album essentially died upon release for all but a tiny handful of listeners, but it came to me at a moment of pain, and provided a healing balm of reassurance, one that dwelled in that pain with me, and Love Liberty Disco still resonates with me today
5. Echo and the Bunnymen -- What Are You Going to Do With Your Life?
In 1999, I'd never heard of Echo and the Bunnymen, and had no idea that year's What Are You Going to Do With Your Life? was controversial. The album eschews the band's previous theatrics for a straightforward, laid-back rock sound, by what feels like a comforting uncle who hangs out with you when you're down and worried about the future, but reassures you, with some authority, that "everything's gonna be alright." This is a beautiful album that knows exactly what it wants to do, does it perfectly, and doesn't overstay its welcome 25 years later, Today, I own the entire Bunnymen discography, and I still come back to the this one the most, even if there isn't a hint of gothic, post-punk to be found.
5. Face to Face -- Ignorance Is Bliss
Speaking of getting into a band through a controversial album, it's arguable that 1999's Ignorance Is Bliss permanently stunted the career of punk stalwarts, Face to Face. Apparently, long-time fans expected fast punk music, but received an album chock-full of atmospheric rock...atmospheric rock that blew turn-of-the-century The Nicsperiment's mind. These 13 well-sequenced, incredible songs (incredibly drummed by Pete Parada) show just how strong of a songwriter Trever Keith is, losing none of his acerbic lyrical edge or vocal delivery in the stylistic change. I only discovered this music through Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but also found I enjoyed the band's earlier punk rock sound too...just not as much as this soaring set of songs.
4. The Dust Brothers-- Fight Club/John Williams -- Star Wars - Episode 1: The Phantom Menace/James Newton Howard -- The Sixth Sense/Thomas Newman -- American Beauty and The Green Mile
1999 was not only a banner year, and possibly the best year for cinema, but one for film music, as well. I've included my five favorites in this ranking, but truthfully, I could have included many more. The Dust Brothers essentially incorporate all of the 20th Century's musical traditions into their electronics and sample-focused score, creating something funky, dingy, and eternal, while Williams' did some of his career best work in The Phantom Menace, featuring memorable themes and soaring, glorious orchestral and choral music. Meanwhile, Newton Howard's work on The Sixth Sense fuses beautiful, emotional orchestral work with chilling horror movie textures, and Newman pushes the artform of film scores forward with percussive, yet gorgeous work on the otherwise poorly aging American Beauty, then incorporates some of that flavor into a beautiful, yet achingly sad score for The Green Mile. What a year!
3. Creed-- Human Clay
Look, I don't care that it's Creed. Older millennials and younger Gen-Xers were oblivious to late 90's/early 00's Boomer/Rolling Stone propaganda against new rock music that wasn't a direct throwback to their music. Why else would they publish stories like "Can The Strokes Save Rock and Roll?" while giving actual seminal rock albums from the time like Deftones' White Pony three-star reviews and describing the music as "skater punk?" Meanwhile, poor Creed, who made incredibly earnest, dynamic music, backed by talented musicianship (this is objective--listen to the guitar, bass, and drums on this album and tell me with a straight face that they are badly played), got the worst of it. Earnestness was not exactly cool in the late 90's, and the radio overplayed a schmaltzy, string-infused version of Human Clay's "With Arms Wide Open" that didn't help Creed's hipster cred one bit. On the album, though, a very non-strings-infused version of "With Arms Wide Open" acts as a quiet moment of optimistic hope after several darker songs, and then as an excellent lead-in to the explosive positivity of "Higher." Sure, Scott Stapp uses some words incorrectly, but he sings like a marble-throated angel (go back and watch Woodstock '99 and show me someone else who stays as on-pitch and on-key as Stapp), and he's singing about lofty moral topics instead of about banging groupies and doing drugs, the latter topics probably ones that would have given him brownie points with Rolling Stone, as that's all their generation of critics and their idols really cared about. Am I saying that the corporate Boomer media brainwashed you into hating Creed? Yes! Because Human Clay is awesome!
3. P.O.D. -- The Fundamental Elements of Southtown
Similarly, the Boomer-led, music snob rush to call nu-metal "white boy frat music" feels particularly disingenuous when it is aimed at a band whose singer is Mexican-Hawaiian, bassist is black, guitarist is Chicano, and drummer has DNA from all over the world. P.O.D. draw from countless musical influences on 1999's The Fundamental Elements of Southtown,, melding hard rock with hip hop, reggae, indigenous music, and atmospheric rock, among others. The singles all hit hard, but ALL of the songs here could be singles, and they're sequenced perfectly to create a powerful and supremely satisfying album flow. A classic.
2. Moby -- Play
Moby's Play combines repurposed gospel tracks set to beats, and great songs featuring original material by Moby himself, giving the Melville-monikered DJ his biggest moment in the sun, resulting in the most universal electronic album ever made, and a greatly spiritual work.
TIE 1. Zao-- Liberate Te Ex Inferis
Storied metal stalwarts, Zao, have several great albums to their name, but I love none more than 1999's Liberate Te Ex Inferis. Shrouded in a hellish darkness, given a Dante's Inferno theme after it was recorded, Liberate is an incredible musical statement, transporting the listener to another world, and holy cow can Zao play.
What a year!
* * *
TIE 9. Sigur Rós -- Ágætis byrjun
Mystical, elvish, alien, magical music, utilized by long and drawn out songs, sung by some strange pixie phantom. Transports the listener to a soaring, fantastic Nordic realm, though I must admit, for decades of my life, this second of Sigur Rós' albums might have made the top of this list. I guess, the older I get, the harder it is to connect to my mystical, elvish, alien side. Maybe that's why my favorite moments here remain Ágætis byrjun's most concrete. Still a unique and wonderful album.
TIE 9. Godspeed You! Black Emperor-- Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada
Continuing down the "this drawn out, self-indulgent music doesn't quite hit how it used to" route, I find I don't quite have the patience for Godspeed's meandering symphonic rock songs like I used to (I don't even feel like typing out their full name anymore), but Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada is the most direct and immediate of their works. Slow Riot's two songs might add up to 30 minutes of music, but the found sound apocalyptic speeches set up these blistering works perfectly, and the crashing payoffs feel earned and cathartic.
8. Filter-- Title of Record
Filter frontman, Richard Patrick, seems to really be feeling himself here, that this is his moment, and he's going to grab it. His band blends industrial rock and hard rock with some magnificent atmospherics, as well as a brilliant grasp of quiet-to-loud dynamics, to create a brilliant sound the band have been chasing ever since.
TIE 7. blink-182 -- Enema of the State
Huge sounding punk songs, full of attitude, but also injected with a remarkably commercial sense of melody that does nothing to dull their impact. Immature, juvenile, and infectiously catchy, featuring dashboard smashing drums, and two co-frontman that go together like peanut butter and jelly, I couldn't get enough of blink-182's Enema of the State when it hit the shelves and the airwaves. Released just two months before my senior year of high school, Enema of the State soundtracked many of the most fun moments of that particular period of my life, and I still have fun throwing it on 25-years later.
TIE 7. Pavement -- Terror Twilight
I promise Terror Twilight is the last album on this list that I'll mention doesn't quite click with me like it used to. I still really love it, though. Like many of the albums on my list, it's the given band's black sheep, this time because producer, Nigel Godrich, actually made this slacker band actually try to make great music. His efforts payoff, and these jaunty, laid back, atmospheric rock songs actually go somewhere, and as sequenced on the original release, actually build up to a moment of darkness before exploding in a moment of cathartic, "everything is gonna be alright" confetti. The reason this great album doesn't move even further up my list in 2024 is Stephen Malkmus' lyrics. It's not just that they're completely stream-of-conscious nonsense, but that several strings of lyrics are deviant in ways I no longer find clever or amusing. Still, Terror Twilight lowkey jams, and I don't use "lowkey" in the modern slang fashion here...the album is lowkey...and it jams.
TIE 6.Foo Fighters -- There Is Nothing Left to Lose
While Foo Fighters have easily cranked out memorable rock single after memorable rock single throughout their career, producing an album that's fully satisfying has often alluded them. However, that isn't the case with their third full-length, There Is Nothing Left to Lose. Operating as a three-piece here, Foo Fighters sound like they're just hanging out and having fun while healing up after some traumatic events (frontman, Dave Grohl, was coming off a breakup), and this set of songs is more satisfying and cohesive than on any other full length they've released in their extensive career. Strangely enough, There Is Nothing Left to Lose also works as a post-millennium "We made it through Y2K and everything is going to be okay" album, as well, even though it was released two months before the clock hit midnight on the 20th Century.
TIE 6. Newsboys- Love Liberty Disco
And for my first WAIT, WHAT?! entry into this list, it's Newsboys' black sheep, Love Liberty Disco. An ode to 80s pop rock, featuring only small dashes of actual disco, Newsboys' 1999 album is full of a shocking amount of pain and heartache, shirking off silly singalongs and doing absolutely nothing to presage the band's later commercially successful (but massively disappointing) 00s foray into streamlined, corporate worship. Featuring relatable lyrics about everyday life, but going incredibly deep when it touches upon spiritual matters, Love Liberty Disco even features dive bar interior artwork that feels like it's at the service of a completely band than both current and later fans were and would become accustomed to. The album essentially died upon release for all but a tiny handful of listeners, but it came to me at a moment of pain, and provided a healing balm of reassurance, one that dwelled in that pain with me, and Love Liberty Disco still resonates with me today
5. Echo and the Bunnymen -- What Are You Going to Do With Your Life?
In 1999, I'd never heard of Echo and the Bunnymen, and had no idea that year's What Are You Going to Do With Your Life? was controversial. The album eschews the band's previous theatrics for a straightforward, laid-back rock sound, by what feels like a comforting uncle who hangs out with you when you're down and worried about the future, but reassures you, with some authority, that "everything's gonna be alright." This is a beautiful album that knows exactly what it wants to do, does it perfectly, and doesn't overstay its welcome 25 years later, Today, I own the entire Bunnymen discography, and I still come back to the this one the most, even if there isn't a hint of gothic, post-punk to be found.
5. Face to Face -- Ignorance Is Bliss
Speaking of getting into a band through a controversial album, it's arguable that 1999's Ignorance Is Bliss permanently stunted the career of punk stalwarts, Face to Face. Apparently, long-time fans expected fast punk music, but received an album chock-full of atmospheric rock...atmospheric rock that blew turn-of-the-century The Nicsperiment's mind. These 13 well-sequenced, incredible songs (incredibly drummed by Pete Parada) show just how strong of a songwriter Trever Keith is, losing none of his acerbic lyrical edge or vocal delivery in the stylistic change. I only discovered this music through Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but also found I enjoyed the band's earlier punk rock sound too...just not as much as this soaring set of songs.
4. The Dust Brothers-- Fight Club/John Williams -- Star Wars - Episode 1: The Phantom Menace/James Newton Howard -- The Sixth Sense/Thomas Newman -- American Beauty and The Green Mile
1999 was not only a banner year, and possibly the best year for cinema, but one for film music, as well. I've included my five favorites in this ranking, but truthfully, I could have included many more. The Dust Brothers essentially incorporate all of the 20th Century's musical traditions into their electronics and sample-focused score, creating something funky, dingy, and eternal, while Williams' did some of his career best work in The Phantom Menace, featuring memorable themes and soaring, glorious orchestral and choral music. Meanwhile, Newton Howard's work on The Sixth Sense fuses beautiful, emotional orchestral work with chilling horror movie textures, and Newman pushes the artform of film scores forward with percussive, yet gorgeous work on the otherwise poorly aging American Beauty, then incorporates some of that flavor into a beautiful, yet achingly sad score for The Green Mile. What a year!
3. Creed-- Human Clay
Look, I don't care that it's Creed. Older millennials and younger Gen-Xers were oblivious to late 90's/early 00's Boomer/Rolling Stone propaganda against new rock music that wasn't a direct throwback to their music. Why else would they publish stories like "Can The Strokes Save Rock and Roll?" while giving actual seminal rock albums from the time like Deftones' White Pony three-star reviews and describing the music as "skater punk?" Meanwhile, poor Creed, who made incredibly earnest, dynamic music, backed by talented musicianship (this is objective--listen to the guitar, bass, and drums on this album and tell me with a straight face that they are badly played), got the worst of it. Earnestness was not exactly cool in the late 90's, and the radio overplayed a schmaltzy, string-infused version of Human Clay's "With Arms Wide Open" that didn't help Creed's hipster cred one bit. On the album, though, a very non-strings-infused version of "With Arms Wide Open" acts as a quiet moment of optimistic hope after several darker songs, and then as an excellent lead-in to the explosive positivity of "Higher." Sure, Scott Stapp uses some words incorrectly, but he sings like a marble-throated angel (go back and watch Woodstock '99 and show me someone else who stays as on-pitch and on-key as Stapp), and he's singing about lofty moral topics instead of about banging groupies and doing drugs, the latter topics probably ones that would have given him brownie points with Rolling Stone, as that's all their generation of critics and their idols really cared about. Am I saying that the corporate Boomer media brainwashed you into hating Creed? Yes! Because Human Clay is awesome!
3. P.O.D. -- The Fundamental Elements of Southtown
Similarly, the Boomer-led, music snob rush to call nu-metal "white boy frat music" feels particularly disingenuous when it is aimed at a band whose singer is Mexican-Hawaiian, bassist is black, guitarist is Chicano, and drummer has DNA from all over the world. P.O.D. draw from countless musical influences on 1999's The Fundamental Elements of Southtown,, melding hard rock with hip hop, reggae, indigenous music, and atmospheric rock, among others. The singles all hit hard, but ALL of the songs here could be singles, and they're sequenced perfectly to create a powerful and supremely satisfying album flow. A classic.
2. Moby -- Play
Moby's Play combines repurposed gospel tracks set to beats, and great songs featuring original material by Moby himself, giving the Melville-monikered DJ his biggest moment in the sun, resulting in the most universal electronic album ever made, and a greatly spiritual work.
TIE 1. Zao-- Liberate Te Ex Inferis
Storied metal stalwarts, Zao, have several great albums to their name, but I love none more than 1999's Liberate Te Ex Inferis. Shrouded in a hellish darkness, given a Dante's Inferno theme after it was recorded, Liberate is an incredible musical statement, transporting the listener to another world, and holy cow can Zao play.
TIE 1. The Dismemberment Plan-- Emergency & I
The first time I heard a song from The Dismemberment's Plan's Emergency & I, driving in my car on a late night in late 1999, I knew it was for me. No one that I knew listened to The Dismemberment Plan's special brand of rock, but Travis Morrison felt like the voice of my generation. 25 years later, Emergency & I holds up marvelously. Morrison's oxymoronically flippant, yet heartfelt vocals serve his incisive lyrics, which also oxymoronically bridge the personal with the universal. Joe Easley's drums similarly stand out, high-energy, urgent, skippy, nearly like some sort of DnB metronome. The Casio keyboard shines too, oxymoronically dating the music as specifically 1999, and yet giving it a timeless quality. None of this would matter if the songwriting wasn't high caliber, but this quartet is operating at an insanely high level in that department. A perfect album.
The first time I heard a song from The Dismemberment's Plan's Emergency & I, driving in my car on a late night in late 1999, I knew it was for me. No one that I knew listened to The Dismemberment Plan's special brand of rock, but Travis Morrison felt like the voice of my generation. 25 years later, Emergency & I holds up marvelously. Morrison's oxymoronically flippant, yet heartfelt vocals serve his incisive lyrics, which also oxymoronically bridge the personal with the universal. Joe Easley's drums similarly stand out, high-energy, urgent, skippy, nearly like some sort of DnB metronome. The Casio keyboard shines too, oxymoronically dating the music as specifically 1999, and yet giving it a timeless quality. None of this would matter if the songwriting wasn't high caliber, but this quartet is operating at an insanely high level in that department. A perfect album.
TIE 1. Stavesacre-- Speakeasy
Stavesacre's previous full-lengths certainly aren't bad, but they do nothing to hint at Speakeasy's coming greatness. The third time is far more than the charm here, as Speakeasy is a perfect rock album, featuring flawless songwriting, a vast spectrum of emotions, and a perfect album flow utilizing those emotions. Mark Salomon's powerful vocals are singular, and each instrument hits perfectly, creating a unique atmosphere and sound that's not only unique to the rock world, but unique to this band. Stavesacre would unfortunately not be able to reach these heights again, but in these past 25 years, few if any other bands have.
NOTABLE RELEASES IN MY WORLD:
Beck's Midnite Vultures is utterly stupid, a whacked out, psychedelic, end of the millennium party, held by a musical genius acting the total fool, employing dozens of instruments at the expense of goofball kitsch anthems to inanity, showcasing lyrics like "I can smell the V.D. in the club tonight/excuse me please/Could you tell me how to get to the Soviet embassy?" Caedmon's Call's 40 Acres smooths away the grittier, denser folk rock of their debut for something decidedly poppier, more Nashville, and less enjoyable, though the title track, a downpour of beautiful harmonies and cathartic lyrics, is likely their finest song. Don Davis' energetic, bombastic score for The Matrix is integral to the success of that incredible, all-timer film, and I wish I could have included so many other film scores in the above list. The Dingee's Sundown to Midnight is a fun blend of a million genres, particularly ska, dub, reggae, and punk. Drive-By Truckers' Pizza Deliverance feels like a solid rock album from a young band who might one day be great. There was about a five year era where ska rockers, Five Iron Frenzy, could do nearly no wrong, and Proof that the Youth Are Revolting is a fun live document from early in that era. The type of eccentric indie-pop found on The Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin isn't exactly my bag, but the album has some great songs, particularly "Waitin' for a Superman," which I used to love to sit in my car and mope to during my Winn-Dixie lunchbreaks back in 1999. Furthermore's Flourescent Jellyfish is so much fun, a surreal slacker hip-hop album that sounds like you'd hear it playing over the speakers when you've fallen asleep at your Winn-Dixie cash register after 1 am. Kent's Hagnesta Hill features some great songs, but it's a step back from their previous album, Isola, and a bit overstuffed. Koji Kondo's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Hyrule Symphony puts a fun, orchestrated spin on that game's incredible soundtrack without losing its spirit. The Miscellaneous' Moth & Rust is one of the quirkier Christian alternative rock albums from the heyday of that scene, incorporating anything from light industrial to 70s rock into their music, but also to prove there was something in the air that year, check how similar the post-chorus of "Crumb" sounds to numerous musical cues in Fight Club. There was about a five year era where punk rockers, MxPx, could do nearly no wrong, and At the Show is a fun live document from late in that era. Post-Hardcore/Punk/Everything-band Ninety Pound Wuss' frontman, Jeff Suffering, announced that the band's swansong, Short Hand Operation, would be the best record he'd ever record, and I thought that was a silly thing to say at the time, but every year that album sounds better and better to me. I think for most of its runtime, Pep Squad's Yrekabackery hang's with Pavement's Terror Twilight in high quality slacker alt-rock, but about 3/4 in, it falls apart a bit in a misguided attempt at disco. I don't think The Promise Ring's Very Emergency is a great album, but "The Deep South" is one of the best songs of the year. Running With Scissors is the only Weird Al album I've ever bought, and it's a pretty good time. Tom Waits' Mule Variations and its weirdo carnie glory might possibly be the best album of the year if you cut out the five weakest songs from its tedious 70 minute runtime. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Echo is a pretty middle of the road album, though the melancholy, yet defiant "Room at the Top" might be the best song they ever recorded, or at least my favorite. Likewise, Those Bastard Souls' Debt and Departure is an okay alternative rock album, but "Telegram" is one of the best songs of the year, and sounds about as 1999 as anything. Starflyer 59 is one of my favorite all-time bands, and I know Everybody Makes Mistakes is a fan favorite, but outside of the opening salvo of singles, it doesn't really do it for me. I much prefer Switchfoot's opening trio of indie rock albums over the later mainstream stuff that found them major label success, but New Way to Be Human is my least favorite of those three albums. Plumb's candycoatedwaterdrops starts off with a rad Bond theme-like rock song, then hits some major pop moments and never really lets up with the well-produced, well-written earworms--straight up pop is not really my genre, but I'd be lying if I said I don't throw this album on from time to time. The Sheila Divine's The New Parade is a very good rock album, featuring some stunning moments, though it drones on too long at the end. Likewise, Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile's first disc is a stunning industrial rock statement, but there's an entire second disc that's completely exhausting--in many other years, it may have still made the list based on the first disc alone, but in 1999, it can't quite crack it. Slipknot's self-titled debut isn't as diverse or sophisticated as their later stuff, but it still jams. Limp Bizkit's Significant Other is a Limp Bizkit album, but it's not like "Nookie," or "Break Stuff," or "Re-Arranged" don't rule, so quit lying to yourself. Yoko Kanno (and the Seatbelts) Blue soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop is a stunning work of genre-melding beauty, though I'm not sure what year to qualify it for; It's incredible work at the service of possibly the greatest television series ever created, one of the 90s crowning achievements, so in Blue's honor, I'll end this piece with its namesake track. There is only one 1999, the final, greatest year, of the final greatest decade. What a year.
Stavesacre's previous full-lengths certainly aren't bad, but they do nothing to hint at Speakeasy's coming greatness. The third time is far more than the charm here, as Speakeasy is a perfect rock album, featuring flawless songwriting, a vast spectrum of emotions, and a perfect album flow utilizing those emotions. Mark Salomon's powerful vocals are singular, and each instrument hits perfectly, creating a unique atmosphere and sound that's not only unique to the rock world, but unique to this band. Stavesacre would unfortunately not be able to reach these heights again, but in these past 25 years, few if any other bands have.
NOTABLE RELEASES IN MY WORLD:
Beck's Midnite Vultures is utterly stupid, a whacked out, psychedelic, end of the millennium party, held by a musical genius acting the total fool, employing dozens of instruments at the expense of goofball kitsch anthems to inanity, showcasing lyrics like "I can smell the V.D. in the club tonight/excuse me please/Could you tell me how to get to the Soviet embassy?" Caedmon's Call's 40 Acres smooths away the grittier, denser folk rock of their debut for something decidedly poppier, more Nashville, and less enjoyable, though the title track, a downpour of beautiful harmonies and cathartic lyrics, is likely their finest song. Don Davis' energetic, bombastic score for The Matrix is integral to the success of that incredible, all-timer film, and I wish I could have included so many other film scores in the above list. The Dingee's Sundown to Midnight is a fun blend of a million genres, particularly ska, dub, reggae, and punk. Drive-By Truckers' Pizza Deliverance feels like a solid rock album from a young band who might one day be great. There was about a five year era where ska rockers, Five Iron Frenzy, could do nearly no wrong, and Proof that the Youth Are Revolting is a fun live document from early in that era. The type of eccentric indie-pop found on The Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin isn't exactly my bag, but the album has some great songs, particularly "Waitin' for a Superman," which I used to love to sit in my car and mope to during my Winn-Dixie lunchbreaks back in 1999. Furthermore's Flourescent Jellyfish is so much fun, a surreal slacker hip-hop album that sounds like you'd hear it playing over the speakers when you've fallen asleep at your Winn-Dixie cash register after 1 am. Kent's Hagnesta Hill features some great songs, but it's a step back from their previous album, Isola, and a bit overstuffed. Koji Kondo's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Hyrule Symphony puts a fun, orchestrated spin on that game's incredible soundtrack without losing its spirit. The Miscellaneous' Moth & Rust is one of the quirkier Christian alternative rock albums from the heyday of that scene, incorporating anything from light industrial to 70s rock into their music, but also to prove there was something in the air that year, check how similar the post-chorus of "Crumb" sounds to numerous musical cues in Fight Club. There was about a five year era where punk rockers, MxPx, could do nearly no wrong, and At the Show is a fun live document from late in that era. Post-Hardcore/Punk/Everything-band Ninety Pound Wuss' frontman, Jeff Suffering, announced that the band's swansong, Short Hand Operation, would be the best record he'd ever record, and I thought that was a silly thing to say at the time, but every year that album sounds better and better to me. I think for most of its runtime, Pep Squad's Yrekabackery hang's with Pavement's Terror Twilight in high quality slacker alt-rock, but about 3/4 in, it falls apart a bit in a misguided attempt at disco. I don't think The Promise Ring's Very Emergency is a great album, but "The Deep South" is one of the best songs of the year. Running With Scissors is the only Weird Al album I've ever bought, and it's a pretty good time. Tom Waits' Mule Variations and its weirdo carnie glory might possibly be the best album of the year if you cut out the five weakest songs from its tedious 70 minute runtime. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' Echo is a pretty middle of the road album, though the melancholy, yet defiant "Room at the Top" might be the best song they ever recorded, or at least my favorite. Likewise, Those Bastard Souls' Debt and Departure is an okay alternative rock album, but "Telegram" is one of the best songs of the year, and sounds about as 1999 as anything. Starflyer 59 is one of my favorite all-time bands, and I know Everybody Makes Mistakes is a fan favorite, but outside of the opening salvo of singles, it doesn't really do it for me. I much prefer Switchfoot's opening trio of indie rock albums over the later mainstream stuff that found them major label success, but New Way to Be Human is my least favorite of those three albums. Plumb's candycoatedwaterdrops starts off with a rad Bond theme-like rock song, then hits some major pop moments and never really lets up with the well-produced, well-written earworms--straight up pop is not really my genre, but I'd be lying if I said I don't throw this album on from time to time. The Sheila Divine's The New Parade is a very good rock album, featuring some stunning moments, though it drones on too long at the end. Likewise, Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile's first disc is a stunning industrial rock statement, but there's an entire second disc that's completely exhausting--in many other years, it may have still made the list based on the first disc alone, but in 1999, it can't quite crack it. Slipknot's self-titled debut isn't as diverse or sophisticated as their later stuff, but it still jams. Limp Bizkit's Significant Other is a Limp Bizkit album, but it's not like "Nookie," or "Break Stuff," or "Re-Arranged" don't rule, so quit lying to yourself. Yoko Kanno (and the Seatbelts) Blue soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop is a stunning work of genre-melding beauty, though I'm not sure what year to qualify it for; It's incredible work at the service of possibly the greatest television series ever created, one of the 90s crowning achievements, so in Blue's honor, I'll end this piece with its namesake track. There is only one 1999, the final, greatest year, of the final greatest decade. What a year.
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