Top 10 Indie Rock Records 1990-1995

[Roy]

Primus sucks.

[homebrew]

Whoa, how did I miss this?

Early 90s was Superchunk, Braid, Promise Ring, pop punk and emo before they were cool. Jawbreaker, Nuisance, Pixies...

I had a band then that toured around the country a few times- it was some of the best times I've ever had in my life. Vans, couches, man it ruled.

[Jerrod]

Yeah I know Houdini was recorded on Atlantic but whatever

[Blake_T]

no one's mentioned Braid

The first Braid record didn't come out until '95 and aside from the hugs from boys 7", their sound didn't start really solidifying until '96 so i didn't think they made the cut for the timeframe (e.g. Frankiewelfareboyage5 wouldn't have made 10 best of 90-95) but i would have them near the top of the list for 1996-2000.

also, keep in mind at the time braid was considered part of the emo-core scene and most of their tours around that time were with bands like Mineral and Jimmy Eat World playing all-ages shows at venues known for hardcore acts moreso than the 21+ indie rock shows at bars.

[homebrew]

no one's mentioned Braid

The first Braid record didn't come out until '95 and aside from the hugs from boys 7", their sound didn't start really solidifying until '96 so i didn't think they made the cut for the timeframe (e.g. Frankiewelfareboyage5 wouldn't have made 10 best of 90-95) but i would have them near the top of the list for 1996-2000.

also, keep in mind at the time braid was considered part of the emo-core scene and most of their tours around that time were with bands like Mineral and Jimmy Eat World playing all-ages shows at venues known for hardcore acts moreso than the 21+ indie rock shows at bars.

That's true. Bob and Todd were good friends of mine back in the day. Haven't seen them forever. My band used to play with them and their side projects quite a bit in Champaign in the mid/late 90s.

[Blake_T]

cool, what band were you in?

i used to adore the champaign/urbana area bands back then

the only time braid played in/near a city i lived in i had a final the next day at 8 am and i skipped the show because my previous 8am final i overslept and walked in at 9:52 (it was scheduled from 8-10am) so i wasn't able to catch them until their reunion tour.

[keltik]

I was going to weigh in on this thread but all of my pre 95 faves have been pretty much covered. while thinking about my favorites aside from that I realized that most of what i call the good stuff was either pre 90 (the good Pixies albums) or post 95 (e.g. Modest Mouse's This is a long drive with nothing to think about). It's odd that a lot of my music library is missing stuff from this era. but I now have a good shopping list (this board has become a bit costly).

and since someone mentioned HUM I say we should put You'd Prefer an Astronaut on this list. so what if it was recorded at RCA. I fucking love that record. I think i'm going to go listen to it right now.

EDIT: I forgot The Amps - Pacer (the Amps are the Breeders with only Kim) that is a damn fine lo-fi album.

[Blake_T]

and since someone mentioned HUM I say we should put You'd Prefer an Astronaut on this list. so what if it was recorded at RCA. I fucking love that record. I think i'm going to go listen to it right now.

you'd prefer an astronaut is on the list. i'm probably the only one on the message board that has an actual real CD of their first album "Fillet Show" which is pretty godawful.

It's odd that a lot of my music library is missing stuff from this era.

i was digging really hard to find interesting indie rock stuff ~'95-97 and struggled badly which is when i discovered emo-core (that wasn't involved with members of Fugazi nor called Still Life) while trying to fill that void. it's a shame emo had to become such a dirty word.

it's pretty common nowadays to find people missing the 90-95 region. i consider all of that to be "pre-radiohead". things changed greatly in the indie rock scene after ok computer came out and not in a way that i liked very much.

[Working Stiff]

I suppose I remember this all wrong.

The 80's were slammed full of Indie Rock, mostly because the labels wouldn't touch anything but a hair metal guitar band. So Black Flag, Bad Brains, Husker Du, Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth, The Replacements, Dinosaur Jr. and a ton of other great bands wandered about the countryside on independent labels.

The early 90's was when the music machine tried to chew up and swallow Indie Rock. Bands like Husker Du and Sonic Youth got signed in the late 80's, then Nirvana hit the big time and suddenly every Indie Rock band had a contract with a label. A lot of bands like Hum ended up on major labels while everybody tried to come up with the next "alternative" hit. It was actually kind of fun, since every now and then you would hear a song on the radio at work that didn't suck. But it creates an artificial vacuum in hindsight. The scene that thrived on bands going from college town to college town in a van selling their own records at the show had those bands whisked away to tour buses and the summer Lollapalooza-wannabe festivals. Most of the bands that didn't get picked over sucked. A lot of the bands that did get signed sucked. A lot of good bands had their sound fucked with by the major label producers. You'd Prefer an Astronaut was a great album to me because the mix was a little off and the drums sound like he is whacking them upside your head. Other bands got the more "polished" sound, making them not sound "alternative" at all.

So to me the time frame you picked was one of the oddest times for Indie Rock. A lot of the "Indie" was gone at that point and the major labels had their hands in the mix, probably more than at any time that I remember.

FWIW, my favorite from that time frame was the Sugar EP Beaster. I love self-indulgent God-complex rock.

[Blake_T]

indie rock didn't really get a genre name until there was finally enough to distinguish it from alternative/college rock/grunge/punk/insert genre label here.

the late 80's suffered a bit since very few bands actually had enough money to record.

the thing that separated the early 90's from other periods that i can think of is that the major labels didn't exert a controlling interest in many of the things that were going on. yes, they took a chance on a lot of acts that likely would have ended up on indie labels in the past but there were still lots of smaller labels doing their thing and it took a while for the majors to step in.

merge records, matador records, alias records, sub pop, touch & go, teen beat, dischord, etc. were out there doin it the old fashioned way. a few of them were able to sell 49% of themselves to a major in order for the major label to get distribution rights to a handful of the records. a couple of others sold the labels outright to the major so that the major could get control of a particular band/record.

Rocket From the Crypt got signed to a major but each year they would put out a major label release and an indie release (sometimes sharing many of the same songs) with one having the more polished sound and the other being raw/low fi. it wasn't until 1996 that bands like superchunk were invited to lollapalooza.

many of those same bands were touring 200+ times a year in a van and making a living doing it. IMO, that was one of the best eras for music because the corporate machine had to delve into the indie world. they had to go sign Sonic Youth because they couldn't just make a new Sonic Youth like they could with hair metal. street cred dominated.

for every band that pulled some drastic change when they hit the spotlight (e.g. smashing pumpkins, live, etc.) there were many that stayed in a position where they could control their own destiny. mudhoney, hum, and seaweed are three bands that got royaly screwed by major labels.

[thedudeabides]

I chose to list some that I was listening to back then and still listen to today, because these would be my favorite bands from this era, so here goes,

Steel Pole Bathtub - Lurch, Tulip, Scars from Falling Down "Train to Miami" was used in video game commercial recently which brought up talk of a reunion, still waiting.
Jesus Lizard - Head, Goat, Liar, Down Anybody see any of the shows they did last year, they were kickin' ass just as hard as they ever have. What a great time.
Melvins - Gluey Porch treatments, Ozma Melvins are still making great music and playing pummeling live shows. If you haven't heard any recent material with the Big Business guys check it. Also Big Business rocks but that is another story.
fIREHOSE - Flyin' the Flannel and earlier albums. Yeah spin off from Minutemen but still awesome, and hey I was only 9 when D Boon died. Hurley and Watt are one hell of a rhythm section.
Don Caballero - Instrumental music at its finest.

These would have to be at or near the top because I still listen to something by these bands on an almost weekly basis, so there you have it.

[colombo117]

A whole lot of stuff released on Asian Man Records.

My favorite:

Slapstick - Lookit!

Timko, slapstick was great, you like Honor System and Lawrence Arms too? Bands that consist of Slapstick members.

[colombo117]

Leatherface: Mush 1993 English rough neck rock at its finest.
HotwaterMusic: Finding the Rhythms 1996 (one year off) Early HWM is where its at.
Modest Mouse: Sad Sappy Sucker Recorded in 1994 released in 2001. One of my favorite M.M. Albums
Jawbreaker: 24 hour Revenge Therapy and Unfun. Blake Schwarzenbach is one hell of a song writer.
Ramones Mondo Bizarro. The Ramones are the most under appreciated rock group ever. IMO

I gotta add Crack Rock Steady (1994) by Choking Victim to my list as well.

[ChUcK]

I don't know enough about music to make any intelligent statements on this thread, but after seeing a few Sunny Day mentions, I have to ask if anyone ever gave the Fire Theft album a listen.

I did. Once.