Top 75 of 1992

The last chart representing 1991 was the one where a whole new world of music opened up, there was something beneath the top 40 that was being fed to me and I dived in, discovering some new bands and sounds in the process.  I bought albums by The Farm, EMF and Flowered Up and dipped my toes into something more guitar-heavy with Extreme.  I taped a whole host of songs from the Evening Session and bought a few 7"s and cassette singles too.

In reality, quite a few of the albums that had songs featuring in the 1991 chart were albums I bought in 1992.  I'm talking Pearl Jam's Ten, Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Blood Sugar Sex Magik to mention a few, which was more of a representation of where my tastes were going in 1992.  The indie that I'd initially started with in 91 was more me taking on elements of my older brother's developing music tastes, 92 was more me finding what I wanted to listen to.

The first album I bought in 92 was Airhead's Boing, carrying on the indie theme of the previous year.  I then turned 14 in May 92 and I remember receiving Manic Street Preachers' Generation Terrorists on cassette and the white vinyl 12" of Pearl Jam's Even Flow for my birthday.  The Manics had played Middlesbrough Town Hall earlier that year and sadly I wasn't allowed to go as I was too young, my first gig still yet to happen.

Things took a different turn with my next two albums, Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine and KMFDM's Money, quite a strange leap into some of the lighter side of industrial.  Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and the Black Crowes followed as American rock bands started to creep into my collection, as well as the latest albums from some of my original crop of bands, The Farm, Extreme and EMF.

My favourite band in 1991 had been The Farm, but their 1992 album Love See No Colour didn't quite live up to expectations and only ended up with one song featured in this chart.  The Senseless Things took over as my favourite band, The First of Too Many cassette that I own may have even been my brother's that he gave to me as I liked it so much,  He definitely gave me his Got It At The Delmar cassette single and his Easy to Smile 12" (complete with Jamie Hewlett art print).  If you're wondering where they are in this chart they only released a couple of singles, which will be counted towards the 1993 chart as part of their Empire of the Senseless album.

I also started recording a rock and metal programme on TV, which was on in the middle of the night, called Raw Power.  On there was a feature about the Red Hot Chili Peppers, What Hits was duly purchased and a back catalogue would follow gradually over the next couple of years.  Raw Power exposed me to even heavier sounds which intrigued me, however I wasn't quite ready to delve even deeper yet.  I saw videos like Sepultura's Arise, Napalm Death's Mass Appeal Madness and Suffer the Children, Carcass' Corporal Jigsore Quandary, Obituary's The End Complete - I kept them on my video (filling the gaps between them with songs from The Chart Show) but they were kind of like weird curios, things I was interested in but not sure I actually liked.

Even though I couldn't quite reach the more extreme bands yet, my tastes got a little bit heavier still over the year.  Purchases of Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction and Faith No More's Angel Dust were important stepping stones.  Nine Inch Nails' Broken and Fixed took it even further, Fixed in particular being especially harsh on these 14 year old ears.

But as you can see from the chart entries, it wasn't all about the pursuit of heavier music.  Peppered with the likes of Mega City Four, The Frank and Walters, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Carter, Blur, Inspiral Carpets and Thousand Yard Stare there was plenty of room for the 1991-style indie contingent.  In fact there were quite a few more among those that made my shortlist but didn't chart, the full list being: The Fall, Electronic, The Shamen, Swervedriver, Young Gods, Ludicrous Lollipops, Eat, Catherine Wheel, Charlatans, Natural Life, Napalm Death, Murder Inc, Ride, Therapy?, White Zombie, Fatima Mansions, Screaming Trees, Skid Row, Extreme, The Cure, 2 Die 4, James and Obituary.

So 1992 ended up being a great year for music, riffs in particular being a massive part of this chart, with Pantera, Rage Against the Machine and Helmet being responsible for a lot of them.  And in their cases not only massive riffs but riffs that groove.  It was also a year where I was properly acquainted with the debut album by the band that would always remain my favourite......although I didn't quite know it yet, that would happen in 1993.......

1. Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark

2. Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

3. Nine Inch Nails - Wish

4. Manic Street Preachers - Stay Beautiful

5. Manic Street Preachers - Motorcycle Emptiness

6. Rage Against The Machine - Know Your Enemy

7. Rage Against The Machine - Killing in the Name

8. Pantera - Walk

9. Brutal Truth - Walking Corpse

10. Manic Street Preachers - You Love Us

11. Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade

12. Mega City Four - Stop.

13. Helmet - Unsung.

14. Helmet - In the Meantime.

15. Pantera - Mouth For War

16. Manic Street Preachers - Little Baby Nothing

17. Manic Street Preachers - Condemned to Rock 'N' Roll

18. Rage Against The Machine - Bullet in the Head

19. Rage Against The Machine - Bombtrack

20. Carter USM - The Only Living Boy in New Cross

21. The Farm - Mind

22. Lightning Seeds - The Life of Riley

23. Helmet - Turned Out

24. Rage Against The Machine - Wake Up

25. Nine Inch Nails - Gave Up

26. Manic Street Preachers - Slash N' Burn

27. Faith No More- Everything's Ruined

28. Pulp - Babies

29. Pantera - A New Level

30. The Levellers - 15 Years

31. Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Intact

32. Faith No More - A Small Victory

33. Alice in Chains - Would?

34. Faith No More - Jizzlobber

35. Pantera - Fucking Hostile

36. Manic Street Preachers - Repeat

37. Manic Street Preachers - Love's Sweet Exile

38. Manic Street Preachers - Born To End

39. Frank & Walters - This Is Not A Song

40. Nine Inch Nails - Happiness In Slavery

41. Megadeth - Symphony of Destruction

42. Paradise Lost - Pity the Sadness

43. Alice in Chains - Them Bones

44. Pearl Jam - State of Love and Trust

45. Faith No More - Land of Sunshine

46. EMF - They're Here

47. Manic Street Preachers - Nat West-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds

48. EMF - Search and Destroy

49. Manic Street Preachers - Another Invented Disease

50. Blur - Popscene

51. Rage Against The Machine - Take the Power Back

52. Helmet - Give It

53. EMF - Getting Through

54. Stone Temple Pilots - Plush

55. L7 - Everglade

56. Stone Temple Pilots - Sex Type Thing

57. Lemonheads - It's a Shame About Ray

58. Mega City Four - Shivering Sand

59. Spin Doctors - Little Miss Can't Be Wrong

60. Ugly Kid Joe - So Damn Cool

61. Pantera - This Love

62. Pantera - Hollow

63. Pantera - Regular People (Conceit)

64. Manic Street Preachers - Crucifix Kiss

65. Thousand Yard Stare - 0-0 aet

66. Airhead - Scrap Happy

67. Spin Doctors - Two Princes

68. Black Crowes - Sting Me

69. KMFDM - Money

70. Ministry - Hero

71. KMFDM - Bargeld

72. Ministry - Jesus Built My Hotrod

73. Bolt Thrower - Dying Creed

74. Bolt Thrower - Celestial Sanctuary

75. Inspiral Carpets - Two Worlds Collide

Top 50 of 1988

In 1988 I turned 10 and at the time I think I owned 4 albums and about 10 singles.  So it's kind of nice that a song from one of those albums managed to make it to number 1 this time around and break the Metallica/Iron Maiden stranglehold of the three previous charts.

This chart is the first year to break out on its own, given the previous ones were 1970-82, 1983-85 and 1986-87.  And to be honest there wasn't a massive depth of quality in my collection to choose from.  As in previous charts the golden years of Iron Maiden and Metallica had seen them dominate and with 1988 being the last year that their big hitting albums coincided in the same year, this (coupled with my expanding record collection in future years) will mean this will never happen again in future charts.

The number of bands included here seems much smaller and as an example of quality I had Senseless Things songs hitting the top 20 here that didn't even make their own top 50!  That's not to say that all the songs included here aren't very good, they are.  But compared to other charts, the pop had kind of dried up and turned into Stock/Aitken/Waterman-type stuff (which admittedly I liked at the time but most hasn't stood the test of time well) and all of the metal, rock and indie bands that I own releases by were really just getting started, dipping their toes into the water, their best work yet to come.  So watch this space for 1989 and onwards, the competition is going to get a lot tougher........

1. Aha - Stay On These Roads

2. Iron Maiden - Moonchild

3. Metallica - Blackened

4. Metallica - One

5. Bathory - A Fine Day to Die

6. Iron Maiden - The Evil That Men Do

7. Aha - You Are The One

8. Iron Maiden - The Clairvoyant

9. Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

10. Aha - Touchy!

11. Aha - The Living Daylights

12. Aha - Out of Blue Comes Green

13. Aha - This Alone is Love

14. Iron Maiden - Can I Play With Madness

15. Senseless Things - When You Let Me Down

16. Senseless Things - Passions Out of Town

17. Senseless Things - You Don't Want Me

18. Iron Maiden - Only the Good Die Young

19. Metallica - The Shortest Straw

20. Metallica - Breadfan

21. Senseless Things - I Want to Go Back

22. New Order - Blue Monday 88

23. Pet Shop Boys - Heart

24. Metallica - The Frayed Ends of Sanity

25. Metallica - Dyer's Eve

26. Metallica - To Live is to Die

27. Megadeth - In My Darkest Hour

28. Inspiral Carpets - Keep the Circle Around

29. Slayer - Mandatory Suicide

30. Pet Shop Boys - Left to my Own Devices

31. Stone Roses - Elephant Stone

32. Rollins Band - What Am I Doing Here?

33. Slayer - South of Heaven

34. Senseless Things - I've Lost My Train

35. Senseless Things - Where the Secret Lies

36. Wonder Stuff - A Wish Away

37. Carter USM - A Sheltered Life

38. Happy Mondays - W.F.L.

39. Metallica - The Prince

40. Senseless Things - The Only One

41. Metallica - Harvester of Sorrow

42. Metallica - ...And Justice For All

43. Rollins Band - Wreck-Age

44. Iron Maiden - Infinite Dreams

45. Napalm Death - Unchallenged Hate

46. Napalm Death - Mentally Murdered

47. Soundgarden - Flower

48. Megadeth - Hook in Mouth

49. Rollins Band - If You're Alive

50. Rollins Band - Burned Beyond Recognition

Top 50 of 1970 to 1982

While I was trying to think of which band should be the next to receive the top 50 treatment, I hit upon the idea of doing a top 50 per year.  Now I don't actually own a lot of albums from before I was born, so the initial part of doing that would probably prove problematic.....no bother, I'll group the first few together I thought, culminating in this first chart covering 1970 to 1982.

The 1970s are a period that I associate with my dad's record collection, the stuff that stuck in my head were some of the more rocky albums like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and a load of prog stuff, even though I don't think he actually owns that many albums by the aforementioned bands.  No matter, I'm only counting things that I own anyway and for this time period that mainly consists of the first 3 Iron Maiden albums, a host of best ofs, the odd 80s compilation and a few random selections creeping in here and there.  Certainly where Maiden are concerned that shows and I make no apology for it, it's just the way the chart falls!

Some of the selections were difficult to rank due to some pretty different genres battling for attention.  There was also a much smaller window for knowing the songs at the time (given that I was born in 1978), although Madness and Adam and the Ants are two that stand out here where that was the case.  So most of these entries come from the "before my time" school, revisiting older classics in later years to see what all the fuss was about.  Some stand the test of time well, others can never be the same without the context of "being there".  However, this is only the start, and "being there" will play a huge part in the coming charts as my musical journey continues.....

1. Iron Maiden - Hallowed Be Thy Name

2. Iron Maiden - Phantom of the Opera

3. Jeff Wayne - The Eve of the War

4. Motorhead - Ace of Spades

5. Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills

6. Ramones - Sheena is a Punk Rocker

7. Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden

8. Misfits - Last Caress

9. Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast

10. Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop

11. Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant

12. Jeff Wayne - The Artilleryman & The Fighting Machine

13. Duran Duran - Rio

14. Ultravox - Vienna

15. Madness - House of Fun

16. Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen

17. Misfits - Halloween

18. Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK

19. Duran Duran - Girls on Film

20. Misfits - Astro Zombies

21. Madness - Our House

22. Ramones - Rockaway Beach

23. Deep Purple - Speed King

24. Motorhead - Overkill

25. Iron Maiden - Running Free

26. Iron Maiden - Prowler

27. Iron Maiden - Sanctuary

28. The Teardop Explodes - Reward

29. Chas & Dave - The Sideboard Song

30. Iron Maiden - Wrathchild

31. Adam and the Ants - Stand and Deliver

32. Killing Joke - Follow the Leaders

33. Duran Duran - Planet Earth

34. Rainbow - Since You've Been Gone

35. Black Sabbath - Paranoid

36. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

37. Joy Division - Transmission

38. Chas & Dave - Margate

39. Iron Maiden - Children of the Damned

40. Iron Maiden - Charlotte the Harlot

41. Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen

42. Deep Purple - Black Night

43. Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

44. Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

45. Iron Maiden - The Prisoner

46. Iron Maiden - Invaders

47. Iron Maiden - Murders in the Rue Morgue

48. Madness - Baggy Trousers

49. Motorhead - Bomber

50. Led Zeppelin - Black Dog

The next chart will be 1983 to 1985.

Iron Maiden Top 50

I probably first took notice of Iron Maiden around the 'No Prayer for the Dying' album when I was 12, I was still listening to a lot of pop music, but also starting to look elsewhere.  I had a tape of songs recorded from the radio which included 'Holy Smoke' among the other chart music and who was this band of long-hairs that dared to get to number 1 with 'Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter'?  I liked those songs but didn't really look any further, maybe keeping the videos for 'Be Quick or Be Dead' and 'Man on the Edge' from those I had taped on Raw Power/Noisy Mothers, but that's about it.

Then, after I had a couple of my own demo reviews published in Metal Hammer in 97 (one for my metal band Beneath Utopia, one for my pop-punk band Spraypaint, both 4/10 unfortunately), I was in contact with a local lad that ran a metal fanzine.  He was absolutely adamant that my bass style for the Spraypaint songs was influenced by Steve Harris (it wasn't, it was Morgan Nicholls from the Senseless Things), but despite my protestations I had to investigate further and picked up 'Best of the Beast' from HMV in Middlesbrough during a free period at university.

I could see where he was coming from.  But also to my surprise I actually recognised a lot of the 80s songs, some of the big singles had obviously seeped into my childhood brain without necessarily recognising who they were by.  Based on which songs I liked most on that album I plumped for 'Number of the Beast' first, then just gradually built up my collection until I had all the studio albums.

There are effectively four different eras (some might say bands) at play here - the Di'Anno years of the first two albums, the Dickinson/Smith years up to 'Seventh Son....' (in my opinion, and many others, producing the best songs), the Blaze years (poor Blaze did a decent enough job but there was little feeling or production on those two albums) and the current 3-guitar incarnation.  All represented in this chart, all have their classics, all have their duffers.  But on the whole one of the best metal bands that will ever walk this earth, hope you enjoy the chart!

1. Hallowed Be Thy Name

2. Fear of the Dark

3. Phantom of the Opera

4. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

5. Caught Somewhere in Time

6. Aces High

7. Run to the Hills

8. Moonchild

9. Iron Maiden

10. The Trooper

11. The Evil that Men Do

12. The Number of the Beast

13. Powerslave

14. 2 Minutes to Midnight

15. Stranger in a Strange Land

16. Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter

17. Rime of the Ancient Mariner

18. Heaven Can Wait

19. Wasted Years

20. Flight of Icarus

21. The Clairvoyant

22. De ja Vu

23. Alexander the Great

24. Running Free

25. Can I Play With Madness

26. Brave New World

27. Wrathchild

28. The Wicker Man

29. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

30. Afraid to Shoot Strangers

31. Man on the Edge

32. Murders in the Rue Morgue

33. The Prisoner

34. Children of the Damned

35. Sanctuary

36. Dream of Mirrors

37. No More Lies

38. Out of the Silent Planet

39. Prowler

40. Sign of the Cross

41. Be Quick or be Dead

42. Only the Good Die Young

43. Holy Smoke

44. When the Wild Wind Blows

45. Invaders

46. The Clansman

47. Infinite Dreams

48. Blood Brothers

49. Montsegur

50. Wildest Dreams

By Era

Iron Maiden 5

Killers 2

Number of the Beast 6

Piece of Mind 2

Powerslave 4

Somewhere in Time 7

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son 7

No Prayer for the Dying 2

Fear of the Dark 3

The X Factor 2

Virtual XI 1

Brave New World 5

Dance of Death 3

A Matter of Life and Death 0

The Final Frontier 1

By Songwriter

Harris 27

Smith/Dickinson 3

Smith/Dickinson/Harris 3

Dickinson 2

Gers/Dickinson/Harris 2

Harris/Dickinson 2

Smith 2

Smith/Harris 2

Bayley/Gers 1

Dickinson/Gers 1

Gers/Harris 1

Harris/Di'Anno 1

Harris/Murray/Di'Anno 1

Murray/Harris 1

Murray/Harris/Dickinson 1

or alternatively

Steve Harris 33

Bruce Dickinson 7

Adrian Smith 5.5

Janick Gers 2.2

Dave Murray 1.2

Paul Di'Anno 0.8

Blaze Bayley 0.5