Top 75 of 1998

1998 was the year I left my teenage years behind, it was the year I started my final year at university, it was the year where the number of gigs I went to took a slight downward turn and never really recovered following my most prolific year in 1997.  That was probably partly influenced by Middlesbrough Arena, during the mid-90s every Friday you could find 2nd and 3rd division indie (and occasional rock) bands interrupting the indie disco. So either those gigs started fading along with Britpop or it was my interest that was fading as the new bands I was listening to were increasingly coming from the heavier end of the spectrum.

Looking at some of the songs included here, I would definitely have started frequenting Blaises in Middlesbrough more than the Arena, which had a rock/metal room that I preferred as well as another room that was more like the Arena.  A lot of my favourite bands from earlier in the decade had either split up or changed, Senseless Things & Faith No More were no more, Max had left Sepultura, Manics and Pearl Jam were on pretty different paths to what hooked me in, so the way was open for something new to come along.

In that respect, three of the best albums of the year were debuts (The Haunted, System of a Down and Carrie), another contender for best album of all time was from a band I'd only discovered a year earlier (Cradle of Filth) and another future favourite band contender introduced themselves (Dark Funeral). It was a line in the sand of sorts in my record collection.

My gig list for the year was only 12-strong, the full list is below:

17/01/98 Catatonia, Derrero (@Middlesbrough Arena)

14/02/98 Catherine Wheel, Feline, Radiator (@Middlesbrough Arena)

11/04/98 Dust Junkys, Bullyrag (@Middlesbrough Arena)

18/04/98 China Drum, Pecadiloes (@Middlesbrough Arena)

28/04/98 Tura Satana, Will Haven, Psycore (@Middlesbrough Cornerhouse)

14/05/98 Symposium, A (@Middlesbrough Arena)

30/05/98 Carrie, Feline (@Middlesbrough Arena)

25/09/98 Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, Olivia Tremor Control (@Middlesbrough Arena)

13/11/98 Gold Blade (@Middlesbrough Arena)

20/11/98 Delakota (@Middlesbrough Arena)

04/12/98 Miles Hunt and Malcolm Treece (@Middlesbrough Arena)

14/12/98 Manic Street Preachers, Catatonia (@Newcastle Arena)

Two of the highlights were actually the support slots from Will Haven and A, a blisteringly intense (and very loud) performance from the former and some further familiarisation with the latter to set them on the way to what would end up being 3rd favourite band status.  The Manics gig was notable for two things - James introducing Tsunami as 'Toon Army' with it being Newcastle and all and the performance of Clash cover Train In Vain being used later on as a B-side to You Stole The Sun From My Heart.

In terms of my own music, 1998 was a pretty barren year in terms of actually finishing anything, just the one EP from The Personnel completed with my brother.  That highlighted two things - I was taking more care with writing the next Beneath Utopia album and also I had less time for such things moving into my final year at university.  The Underdog album wouldn't see the light of day until May 99, but moved on leaps and bounds from the two previous releases in songwriting terms, even if the sound was still a bit shoddy.

But back to chart matters, the shortlist was shorter than usual, possibly reflecting the fact that while there were still some great songs released in 1998, they were from a more select cast of characters.  This time the only bands that made the list but not the chart were Covenant, A, Pulkas, Spineshank and Sepultura, the latter highlighting that dip in quality after Max's departure.

1. Fear Factory - Resurrection

2. Cradle of Filth - Once Upon Atrocity/Thirteen Autumns and a Widow

3. The Haunted - Chasm

4. Symposium - The End

5. Pearl Jam - Given To Fly

6. The Haunted - Undead

7. Pitchshifter - Genius

8. Korn - Got The Life

9. Napalm Death - The Infiltraitor

10. Dark Funeral - Ravenna Strigoi Mortii

11. Shed 7 - Chasing Rainbows

12. The Haunted - Hate Song

13. Cradle of Filth - Lustmord and Wargasm (The Lick of Carnivorous Winds)

14. Emperor - A Fine Day To Die

15. The Gathering - Liberty Bell

16. Carrie - Breathe Underwater

17. Idlewild - When I Argue I See Shapes

18. The Gathering - Illuminating

19. Cradle of Filth - Beneath the Howling Stars

20. Dark Funeral - The Black Winged Horde

21. Pitchshifter - Please Sir

22. Cradle of Filth - Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids

23. Manic Street Preachers - Tsunami

24. Manic Street Preachers - The Everlasting

25. System of a Down - Suite-Pee

26. Bolt Thrower - Powder Burns

27. Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

28. Black Crowes - Kickin' My Heart Around

29. Bolt Thrower - No Guts, No Glory

30. System of a Down - War?

31. System of a Down - P.L.U.C.K.

32. Metallica - Turn the Page

33. Entwined - Shed Nightward Beauty

34. The Haunted - In Vein

35. Hammerfall - Legacy of Kings

36. Pearl Jam - Brain of J

37. Cradle of Filth - Desire in Violent Overture

38. System of a Down - Spiders

39. Manic Street Preachers - Ready For Drowning

40. Cradle of Filth - The Twisted Nails of Faith

41. Korn - It's On

42. Carrie - California Screamin'

43. Catatonia - Mulder and Scully

44. Entwined - Under A Killing Moon

45. The Haunted - Blood Rust

46. Bal Sagoth - Blood Slakes the Sand at the Circus Maximus

47. Hammerfall - Heeding the Call

48. System of a Down - Sugar

49. Rob Zombie - Superbeast

50. The Haunted - Bullet Hole

51. The Haunted - Shattered

52. Nightwish - Sacrament of Wilderness

53. Nightwish - Sleeping Sun

54. Korn - Dead Bodies Everywhere

55. Iron Maiden - The Clansman

56. Cathedral - Voodoo Fire

57. Dark Funeral - Vobiscum Satanas

58. The Haunted - Choke Hold

59. The Gathering - Travel

60. Manic Street Preachers - Nobody Loved You

61. Manic Street Preachers - Prologue To History

62. Cecil - Acres

63. Dark Funeral - Thy Legions Come

64. Carrie - Joseph

65. Catatonia - Road Rage

66. Divine Comedy - National Express

67. The Gathering - Great Ocean Road

68. Dark Funeral - Enriched By Evil

69. Cradle of Filth - Black Metal

70. Silver Sun - I'll See You Around

71. Metallica - Whiskey in the Jar

72. System of a Down - Know

73. Rob Zombie - Dragula

74. Fear Factory - Edgecrusher

75. Soulfly - Eye For An Eye

Top 75 of 1995

After 1994 had seen me delving further into the world of metal, 1995 carried on that trend.  After progressing through Sepultura and Pantera onto the Earache roster, bands that I'd previously maybe only heard one or two songs by released albums that made me sit up and take notice.

So, as shown clearly in the chart, the albums of the year ended up being Paradise Lost's Draconian Times and Fear Factory's Demanufacture.  White Zombie's Astrocreep received an honorary mention alongside non-metal albums like Shelter's Mantra, Life of Agony's Ugly and Silverchair's Frogstomp.  More established bands in my collection like Carcass, Faith No More, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Senseless Things all had good albums too, even if relatively speaking they all lost their way a little.

But it wasn't rock and metal all the way, I'd started my musical journey away from pop with indie and Friday nights at the Middlesbrough Arena allowed that journey to continue.  With Britpop bursting forth I didn't quite look the part with my long hair, black T-shirts and army trousers, but strangely of all the genres I've dipped into over the years, Britpop was the scene that I felt a part of.

As the Arena included gigs on Fridays too, there were a lot of up and coming bands passing through the doors at that time.  The ones I saw during 1995 are listed below, Skunk Anansie being the only one at the Arena that really moved on to bigger and better things, although there were others like O***s that played there that I was quite happy not to have seen.

03/03/95 Velo Deluxe, China Drum (@Middlesbrough Arena)

31/03/95 Snuff, Bulltaco, Star 69 (@Middlesbrough Arena)

02/06/95 Skunk Anansie, Honeycrack (@Middlesbrough Arena)

09/06/95 Boo Radleys, Swervedriver, Ed Ball (@Middlesbrough Town Hall)

21/07/95 Blameless, Bulltaco, Laxton’s Superb (@Middlesbrough Arena)

22/07/95 Pulp, Sleeper, Menswear, Salad, Powder, Chumbawamba, Skunk Anansie, 60ft Dolls, Blameless, Catatonia, Cecil + Marion, The Bluetones, DetRiMental (@Leeds Roundhay Park)

21/09/95 Shelter, Understand, Shutdown (@Middlesbrough Arena)

06/10/95 China Drum, Honeycrack, Reverse (@Middlesbrough Arena)

17/11/95 Rub Ultra, Fat (@Middlesbrough Arena)

01/12/95 Bullyrag (@Middlesbrough Arena)

The Roundhay Park gig was later dubbed Britstock and was my first festival of sorts, a who's who of up and coming British bands, many of whom would have chart hits.  Note the appearance of Blameless in Middlesbrough on 21/07/95 followed again on 22/07/95 at Leeds, a gap of only 15 hours or so between me seeing them.  Curios in that list come from Fat, who were a rap/rock band featuring Woody from Madness on drums (Downtime made the shortlist for this chart) and Bullyrag whose guitarist took to wearing what was basically a tea cosy over his entire face and head in the early days while staring out members of the audience.

My own music remained mostly in the indie and punk arena too, mostly down to my playing skills.  Me and my brother recorded 3 albums and 2 EPs as Pyf Belly Machine as well as the extended incarnation of that band playing a gig at my college in February 95.  We were the least talented in terms of playing, but the only band that went to the college that were playing original songs.  And we were all right as well, rough around the edges but I still think we had some decent songs despite the constant instrument swapping.

Solo I recorded 2 albums and 2 EPs as Marvin (later to become Spraypaint), one each of which were recorded on my brother's new 4-track Portastudio.  The increase in sound quality coincided with an increase in songwriting quality and despite the constraints in playing produced one of the best songs I've ever written in One of These Days.

I also did an album and an EP as Uranium, which was my first attempt at rock music, although there were a fair amount of keyboards on there too as I was really attempting to be Guisborough's answer to Nine Inch Nails.  Results weren't amazing but I'd hone it a little in subsequent years.

As with last time I'll give a shout to the bands that made the shortlist but not the chart, so commiserations to Chemical Brothers, Carter USM, Schtum, Smashing Pumpkins, Lightning Seeds, Napalm Death, Presidents of the USA, Rocket From The Crypt, Sleeper, Bal-Sagoth, Charlatans, Saint Etienne, EMF, Die Krupps, Fat, Primus, Marilyn Manson, Extreme and Silverchair.  Maybe next time?

1. My Dying Bride - The Cry of Mankind

2. At The Gates - Blinded By Fear

3. China Drum - One Way Down

4. Life of Agony - Let's Pretend

5. Anathema - A Dying Wish

6. At The Gates - Slaughter of the Soul

7. Paradise Lost - Forever Failure

8. Ash - Girl From Mars

9. White Zombie - Electric Head Pt 1

10. Red Hot Chili Peppers - My Friends

11. Paradise Lost - The Last Time

12. Paradise Lost - Once Solemn

13. Pulp - Disco 2000

14. Fear Factory - Self Bias Resistor

15. Paradise Lost - Hallowed Land

16. Cathedral - Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)

17. Fear Factory - Replica

18. Paradise Lost - Enchantment

19. Fear Factory - Demanufacture

20. Fear Factory - H-K (Hunter-Killer)

21. Paradise Lost - Shadowkings

22. Pulp - Common People

23. Shelter - Message of the Bhagavat

24. China Drum - Barrier

25. Faith No More - Ugly in the Morning

26. Faith No More - Digging the Grave

27. White Zombie - Super-charger Heaven

28. Fear Factory - Body Hammer

29. Misery Loves Co. - Need Another One

30. Life of Agony - Lost at 22

31. Shelter - Here We Go

32. Elastica - Blue

33. Ugly Kid Joe - Milkman's Son

34. The Gathering - Strange Machines

35. My Dying Bride - From Darkest Skies

36. Paradise Lost - Yearn For Change

37. Senseless Things - Something to Miss

38. White Zombie - Electric Head Pt 2

39. Faith No More - What a Day

40. Foo Fighters - I'll Stick Around

41. Senseless Things - 16.18.21

42. Senseless Things - Touch Me on the Heath

43. Elastica - Stutter

44. Blur - Country House

45. Black Grape - Reverend Black Grape

46. Boo Radleys - Wake Up Boo!

47. Faith No More - Ricochet

48. Pearl Jam - I Got ID

49. Boo Radleys - Find the Answer Within

50. Life of Agony - Seasons

51. Life of Agony - Damned If I Do

52. The Gathering - In Motion #1

53. Shed 7 - Where Have You Been Tonight?

54. Sugar Ray - Mean Machine

55. Rancid - Time Bomb

56. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Warped

57. Skunk Anansie - I Can Dream

58. Faith No More - The Gentle Art of Making Enemies

59. Faith No More - Cuckoo For Caca

60. Carcass - Keep On Rotting in the Free World

61. Cathedral - Utopian Blaster

62. Paradise Lost - Shades of God

63. Paradise Lost - I See Your Face

64. Shelter - Civilized Man

65. Rancid - Roots Radicals

66. Menswear - I'll Manage Somehow

67. Reef - Good Feeling

68. Reef - Choose To Live

69. Menswear - Stardust

70. Menswear - Being Brave

71. Supergrass - Alright

72. Senseless Things - Wanted

73. Green Day - Stuck With Me

74. Iron Maiden - Man On The Edge

75. The Gathering - Eleanor

Top 75 of 1994

After the years of musical discovery of the 1990s so far I'd moved through the indie of my brother's initial record collection through rock and grunge and found that I was being drawn more and more to heavier music.  I was still listening to the other styles of course, but new music was now coming more and more from the heavier end of the spectrum.

This was partly due to me venturing out into the world of music magazines myself, previously I had nabbed whatever my brother had bought, mostly Melody Maker, NME or Select, and browsed the features of interest.  But later in 1994 I started buying RAW, which was fortnightly if I remember rightly, I think the first issue I bought had Scott Weiland on the cover and came with a load of stickers which I later stuck to the bass that I got for Christmas that year.

As this was now MY magazine I could read it cover to cover and absorb everything, new bands to look out for, more detail about bands I liked that wouldn't be featured in the indie papers etc.  This was pre-internet of course though, so actually hearing the bands still meant watching out for a clip on The Chart Show or Noisy Mothers or waiting for a free cover-mounted tape, I wasn't in a position yet to just take a punt on a band I'd never heard.

In 1994 I turned 16, so I finished school with a decent 2 A*s, 1 A, 5 Bs, 2 Cs and a D and started college where I selected A levels in Maths, Chemistry and Computing and a one year GCSE in Media Studies.  In college you could wear your band shirts with pride and see other people's allegiances at the same time.  I think my early shirts consisted of Senseless Things, Pantera, Sepultura, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Extreme and The Farm, so a varied selection.  My hair had also been growing out for about a year by then too and sporadic bouts of not shaving my chin kicked off the occasional appearance of my later permanent goatee.

1994 saw an explosion in recording my own music, still just primitively layering instruments over each other on a simple tape recorder, so the results weren't amazing.  I did two albums and an EP of my own music under the name of Marvin, all pretty bad, but the main concern of Pyf Belly Machine with my brother were even more prolific, 6 albums or about 7 hours worth of material over that year period.  After starting college, two of my mates hooked up with us to make it a "proper" band, the official lineup was my brother Peter on guitar/vocals, me on bass/vocals (or the top string of an acoustic guitar until Christmas when I got my bass), Gord on guitar and Darren on drums, but we swapped instruments a lot, I was probably the most guilty in that respect.

At the back end of 1994 we ended up playing a couple of gigs in Gord's garage (he had a big house with a triple garage, swimming pool and a sauna.....quite possibly room for a pony, if your mind was heading that way), we mostly played our own songs from the 2-piece version of the band's albums but also did covers of Girls and Boys, Everything About You and Jump Around.  I'd start the gig on drums, move to bass and a bit of singing, then guitar, back to bass before finishing on drums again.  About 20 college mates turned up to watch, let's just say if the other two weren't in the band we probably wouldn't have persuaded anyone to come.

That was a bit more background than usual......but I was enjoying myself remembering, anyway, music from 1994.  There were some pretty dark albums that came out that year, The Holy Bible being most prominent given the Manics were my favourite band, but The Downward Spiral was also up there too, given I'd been a Nine Inch Nails fan for around 3 or 4 years at that point.  Both incredibly dark albums, both giving the impression of decay in very different ways.  A few years later I would also discover the self-titled debut from Korn, taking a similar dark path but from a different angle.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, punk stirrings were felt across the Atlantic in the form of Green Day's Dookie and Offspring's Smash mainly, both featuring here.  Although interestingly Smash ended up with a lot more entries, not something I would have imagined beforehand with Dookie being the preferred album in my head.  There were also the beginnings of what would become Britpop, in particular with the release of Blur's Parklife.  This links in with me starting to go out for the first time, mostly to Middlesbrough Arena with it's indie club night on a Friday and second and third division indie bands playing often.  After my first gig experience in 1993, I had two more in 1994, seeing my beloved Manic Street Preachers for the first time in the February at Middlesbrough Town Hall, followed by Blaggers ITA at Middlesbrough Arena in the December.

But as mentioned before, my record collection was starting to take a metal turn.  One CD in particular helped this along a more extreme path, the Earplugged compilation on Earache records.  Two songs each from Bolt Thrower, Carcass, Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, Entombed, Cathedral and Godflesh - I would take a big interest in the first 3, some interest in the others, but I liked every song on there.  This, coupled with my choice of magazine and the emergence of bands like Machine Head putting metal back at the forefront, would lead me in to new unexplored avenues of music in subsequent years.

A quick note on bands that missed out as competition was fierce this time around and some good albums surprisingly didn't make the cut.  The full list of bands making the shortlist but not the chart were as follows: Godflesh, At the Gates, Shed 7, Ash, Carter USM, The Almighty, Stabbing Westward, Prong, Pro-Pain, The Farm, China Drum, Bad Religion, Stone Roses, Senser, Gun, Black Crowes, Spin Doctors, Sick of it All and Sultans of Ping.  Some of those I was particularly disappointed to see them not make the cut.....but you have to go with the best songs!

1. Bush - Comedown

2. Pearl Jam - Better Man

3. Bolt Thrower - ...For Victory

4. Machine Head - Davidian

5. Manic Street Preachers - This Is Yesterday

6. Inspiral Carpets - Saturn 5

7. Manic Street Preachers - Faster

8. Bush - Little Things

9. Stone Temple Pilots - Interstate Love Song

10. Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

11. Offspring - Genocide

12. Nine Inch Nails - Heresy

13. Weezer - Buddy Holly

14. Manic Street Preachers - Yes

15. Pantera - I'm Broken

16. Pantera - 5 Minutes Alone

17. Bush - Machinehead

18. Pulp - Do You Remember the First Time?

19. Blur - Girls and Boys

20. Pearl Jam - Spin the Black Circle

21. Green Day - Basket Case

22. Pearl Jam - Nothingman

23. Bush - Glycerine

24. Green Day - Welcome to Paradise

25. Manic Street Preachers - Archives of Pain

26. Megadeth - A Tout Le Monde

27. Cradle of Filth - The Forest Whispers My Name

28. Nine Inch Nails - March of the Pigs

29. Nine Inch Nails - Hurt

30. Emperor - I Am The Black Wizards

31. Offspring - Gotta Get Away

32. Offspring - Smash

33. Soundgarden - The Day I Tried To Live

34. Machine Head - Old

35. Manic Street Preachers - PCP

36. Therapy? - Screamager

37. Green Day - When I Come Around

38. Offspring - Self Esteem

39. Offspring - Nitro (Youth Energy)

40. Blur - Parklife

41. Manic Street Preachers - Judge Yr'self

42. Manic Street Preachers - Revol

43. Bush - Everything Zen

44. Blur - End of a Century

45. Nine Inch Nails - Closer To God

46. Dog Eat Dog - Who's the King

47. Nine Inch Nails - Ruiner

48. Manic Street Preachers - 4st 7lb

49. Korn - Faget

50. Therapy? - Trigger Inside

51. Soundgarden - Fell On Black Days

52. Cradle of Filth - To Eve The Art of Witchcraft

53. Cradle of Filth - The Principle of Evil Made Flesh

54. Bolt Thrower - When Glory Beckons

55. Machine Head - A Thousand Lies

56. NOFX - Leave It Alone

57. Offspring - Come Out and Play

58. Offspring - Bad Habit

59. Offspring - Something to Believe In

60. Bolt Thrower - Remembrance

61. Bolt Thrower - Lest We Forget

62. Pantera - Becoming

63. Dog Eat Dog - No Fronts

64. Rollins Band - Liar

65. Cradle of Filth - Summer Dying Fast

66. Emperor - Cosmic Keys to my Creations & Times

67. Soundgarden - Like Suicide

68. Korn - Ball Tongue

69. Korn - Blind

70. Filter - Hey Man Nice Shot

71. Therapy? - Nowhere

72. Helmet - Wilma's Rainbow

73. Obituary - Don't Care

74. Napalm Death - Plague Rages

75. Brutal Truth - Choice of a New Generation

Top 75 of 1993

Compared to the years of musical discovery that were 1991 and 1992, looking back at the albums and songs in my collection from 1993 there were a lot of strong contenders but not as much in terms of volume.  There were some excellent albums released in 1993, but it didn't seem as though there were that many of them.  Hence this chart is dominated by a few prominent releases.

Back in 1992, through the influence of The First of Too Many album and the Easy to Smile single, Senseless Things had established themselves as my favourite band.  I got background information in the form of newsletters (no internet back then of course) and wore my blue Pop Kid shirt with pride, they were MY band.

But in 1993 I sent off for and received a pack of goodies from another band who, through a flurry of singles and a great debut album, had also got my attention big time the previous year.  I'd already read the interviews in my brother's Melody Makers, NMEs, Selects etc. but now I was reading uncut manifestos, background information, lyrics, I had badges, stickers and a membership card.  Impressive stuff for a 14/15 year old.  And then came the second album which impressed me even further, time has pegged it a little further back in their overall album rankings but then it was fresh and new.....and of course that band was the Manic Street Preachers.  1993 saw them become my favourite band and they're unlikely to ever be dislodged from that status.

I suspect, as with 1992, that I was catching up a little in terms of the previous year so some of the albums I bought in 93 would have been from 92.  But those I did buy that year were the aforementioned Gold Against the Soul by the Manics, Senseless Things' Empire of the Senseless, Pearl Jam's Vs and Sepultura's Chaos AD, all on cassette (my dad had a CD player in 93 but I didn't, meaning that I could only ever play my only CD - Rollins Band's Tearing single - downstairs).

Another major first from 1993 was something that happened on the 5th October at Middlesbrough Town Hall - my first gig.  Headliners Carter USM were obviously the main draw but support band Sultans of Ping FC were also well known to me at the time through Where's Me Jumper and Stupid Kid and to be honest I think I ended up enjoying them more.  The first band on were called Blink, pretty unremarkable although I imagine they were the Blink that caused Blink 182 to add the 182 onto their name.

1993 was also the year I first started making music, if you can call it that.  In the March, a couple of months shy of my 15th birthday, I recorded 6 solo tracks under the name of Listy.  Predominantly recorded on keyboard they were pretty awful, one track even just consisting of me singing alternative words over the top of Shadow by The Lurkers (the actual song itself, not a cover), renaming it Neale James is a Saddo after the radio DJ.  In May me and my brother teamed up to record Totally Spontaneous Masterpieces under the name of Sludge From the Bottom.  A list of pre-planned song titles based on TV and in-jokes were created off the cuff using a keyboard, a guitar and our voices.  Filling a one hundred minute tape.  Let's just say I don't listen to it very often.

October and November saw a slightly higher standard of improvisation, although still pretty dire, as our main 90s collaborative band was born - Pyf Belly Machine.  Best of 93 Sessions and Forks Brain Cake by the Lake Near Cirencester were the titles......it could only go up from here.....

But enough of that, back to the proper music.....a smaller number of bands made the shortlist this time but didn't get in the final 75.  Those bands consisted of Primus, KMFDM, Brad, My Dying Bride, Duran Duran, Saint Etienne, Thousand Yard Stare, New Order and Clawfinger.  I've always had the feeling that after Stone Gossard was part of the Brad album that he was never the same again in Pearl Jam.  His songs became less frequent, maybe even less interested and given his songs were some of the classics on the first two Pearl Jam albums that was a shame (no pun intended surprisingly).

One of the possible reasons for the lack of new album buying in 93 could have been that in terms of media I was still only reading my brother's indie papers and magazines, while I was moving further and further into rock and metal territory in terms of what I was listening to.  So, as shown with the Manics, Senseless Things and Pearl Jam, I was largely sticking to what I already knew.  In 1994 I started buying my own magazines, which blew everything apart, but that's for next time.

1. Paradise Lost - Embers Fire

2. Manic Street Preachers - From Despair to Where

3. Pearl Jam - Rearviewmirror

4. Paradise Lost - True Belief

5. Senseless Things - Too Much Kissing

6. Die Krupps - Fatherland

7. Carcass - Heartwork

8. Sepultura - Territory

9. Sepultura - Refuse/Resist

10. Manic Street Preachers - La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)

11. Manic Street Preachers - Sleepflower

12. Smashing Pumpkins - Today

13. Pearl Jam - Go

14. Life of Agony - This Time

15. Pulp - Lipgloss

16. Skyscraper - Choke

17. Senseless Things - Primary Instinct

18. Mega City Four - Iron Sky

19. Life of Agony - Through and Through

20. Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock

21. Die Krupps - Crossfire

22. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Soul to Squeeze

23. Faith No More/Boo-Yaa Tribe - Another Body Murdered

24. Tool - Sober

25. Senseless Things - Hold it Down

26. Senseless Things - Too Much Like I Know You

27. Manic Street Preachers - Donkeys

28. Carcass - Rot 'N' Roll

29. Manic Street Preachers - Life Becoming a Landslide

30. Manic Street Preachers - Roses in the Hospital

31. Carcass - This Mortal Coil

32. Sepultura - Slave New World

33. Sepultura - Biotech is Godzilla

34. Senseless Things - Homophobic Asshole

35. Manic Street Preachers - Patrick Bateman

36. Sultans of Ping FC - Stupid Kid

37. Sultans of Ping FC - You Talk Too Much

38. Life of Agony - River Runs Red

39. Pearl Jam - Animal

40. Pearl Jam - Daughter

41. Type O Negative - Black No. 1

42. Senseless Things - Keepsake

43. Suede - Animal Nitrate

44. Blur - For Tomorrow

45. Suede - So Young

46. Blur - Advert

47. Manic Street Preachers - Symphony of Tourette

48. Manic Street Preachers - Yourself

49. Paradise Lost - Widow

50. Paradise Lost - Dying Freedom

51. Pearl Jam - Glorified G

52. Carcass - Blind Bleeding the Blind

53. Sepultura - Propaganda

54. Carcass - Death Certificate

55. Cathedral - Midnight Mountain

56. Paradise Lost - Colossal Rains

57. Utah Saints - Something Good

58. Manic Street Preachers - Drug Drug Druggy

59. Manic Street Preachers - Gold Against the Soul

60. Pearl Jam - Leash

61. Die Krupps - Bloodsuckers

62. Sultans of Ping FC - Where's Me Jumper?

63. Blaggers ITA - Stresss

64. James - Sometimes

65. Napalm Death - Nazi Punks Fuck Off

66. Paradise Lost - Christendom

67. Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box

68. Senseless Things - Runaways

69. Kingmaker - 10 Years Asleep

70. Inspiral Carpets - How It Should Be

71. Breeders - Cannonball

72. Senseless Things - Tempting Kate

73. Pulp - Razzmatazz

74. Carter USM - Lean On Me I Won't Fall Over

75. Jesus Jones - The Devil You Know

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 75 of 1991

All of the previous charts were looking back in a way.  Even though the last one covering 1990 had some songs in it that I liked at the time it was still mostly looking back, even if in some cases it was just a year or two.

1991 was a full year's worth of immersing myself in music that I was finding myself.  Me and my brother were listening to the Evening Session on Radio 1, I think I used to listen on a Tuesday evening and he would probably listen to it every other night as well as some other radio stations.  Being the older brother he was into it more and listened to a wide range of indie from baggy to shoegazing and all points in between.  And of course I'd listen to some of those bands too from simply being there when he was playing songs, stuff like the Stone Roses, Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets to others like Lush, Slowdive and Chapterhouse were bands I was hearing second hand.  Some of it I liked, others I didn't (*cough*, Slowdive) and I was on the lookout for bands that I could claim as my own.

Albums number 10, 11 and 13 in my collection would become those bands - namely The Farm's Spartacus, EMF's Schubert Dip and Flowered Up's A Life With Brian, all on vinyl (if you're wondering what album number 12 was it was covered in the 1990 chart - Extreme's Pornograffiti).  Singles by all three of those bands were also added to my collection along with Nine Inch Nails' Sin and The Black Crowes' Seeing Things to bring my collection up to 29 singles and 13 albums by the end of the year.  So while I was listening to a lot of new music, I wasn't particularly prolific in my record-buying during that year (probably because I was still only 13).

There were a lot of bands that missed out due to a huge shortlist this time around and I'll take the unusual step of listing them all this time.  So here we go: The Prodigy, Primal Scream, Ride, Inspiral Carpets, Top, Anthrax/Public Enemy, The Wendys, Curve, Lawnmower Deth, 2 Unlimited, The Waterboys, Chapterhouse, Carter USM, Skid Row, Five Thirty, Napalm Death, Scorpions, Northside, Mock Turtles, Wonder Stuff, Teenage Fanclub, Cicero, KLF and The Shamen.  Many of the songs concerned would have got into the top 50s of previous years and in fact for some bands they did have inferior songs which had been in those charts.  It was just their luck to hit an overcrowded year full of great albums and songs.  One good example of this is in the Senseless Things top 50 I did previously - When You Let Me Down made only no. 48 in the Senseless Things top 50 but was as high as 15 in the 1988 top 50.  However, Ex-Teenager was 25 places higher at no. 23 in their own chart but didn't even get in the 75 here.

Of the bands that did make it, it tended to be the indie ones that I was actually listening to in 1991 itself.  The chart that I compiled at the end of 1991 can be found here and its noticeable that bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers etc. that take up a decent chunk of this chart are absent.  The rock and metal bands mostly caught up in 1992, in some cases because they took that long to become hits over here, but also because I started to search further afield than just what my brother was listening to and find my own tastes.

So 1991 was the year music blew apart for me, but 1992 would end up being the year where I really started finding my pieces in the resulting wreckage.....

1. Manic Street Preachers - Motown Junk

2. Senseless Things - Easy to Smile

3. Pearl Jam - Alive

4. Pearl Jam - Black

5. Mega City Four - Words That Say

6. Metallica - Wherever I May Roam

7. Pearl Jam - Jeremy

8. Senseless Things - Got it at the Delmar

9. Metallica - Sad But True

10. Metallica - Nothing Else Matters

11. Metallica - Enter Sandman

12. Senseless Things - Should I Feel It

13. Manic Street Preachers - You Love Us

14. The Farm - Love See No Colour

15. Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Happy

16. Pearl Jam - Even Flow

17. Soundgarden - Jesus Christ Pose

18. Senseless Things - Everybody's Gone

19. James - Sit Down

20. Sepultura - Arise

21. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge

22. Pearl Jam - Porch

23. Pearl Jam - Once

24. Soundgarden - Rusty Cage

25. The Farm - All Together Now

26. Chesney Hawkes - The One and Only

27. Senseless Things - Can't Remember

28. New Fast Automatic Daffodils - Man Without Qualities One

29. EMF - Children

30. Nirvana - In Bloom

31. Sepultura - Desperate Cry

32. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

33. Pearl Jam - Why Go

34. Flowered Up - Take It

35. Metallica - Through the Never

36. Metallica - The Unforgiven

37. Temple of the Dog - Hunger Strike

38. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away

39. Rollins Band - Tearing

40. Smashing Pumpkins - I Am One

41. Smashing Pumpkins - Siva

42. Rollins Band - Low Self Opinion

43. Swervedriver - Sandblasted

44. Smashing Pumpkins - Rhinoceros

45. Carcass - Corporal Jigsore Quandary

46. Paradise Lost - Gothic

47. Nirvana - Lithium

48. Metallica - Of Wolf And Man

49. Paris Angels - Perfume

50. Blur - Bang

51. Manic Street Preachers - Sorrow 16

52. Jesus Jones - Real, Real, Real

53. Catherine Wheel - Shallow

54. Ugly Kid Joe - Everything About You

55. Guns N' Roses - You Could Be Mine

56. Nirvana - Territorial Pissings

57. Nirvana - Breed

58. The Farm - Groovy Train

59. EMF - I Believe

60. Nirvana - Come As You Are

61. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Breaking the Girl

62. Soundgarden - Outshined

63. Pearl Jam - Garden

64. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Suck My Kiss

65. REM - The One I Love

66. Senseless Things - Wrong Number

67. EMF - Unbelievable

68. Charlatans - Over Rising

69. REM - Losing My Religion

70. Red Hot Chili Peppers - If You Have to Ask

71. Red Hot Chili Peppers - I Could Have Lied

72. Ugly Kid Joe - Sweet Leaf/Funky Fresh Country Club

73. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik

74. EMF - Lies

75. Sepultura - Dead Embryonic Cells

Pearl Jam Top 50

When Grunge was king and Nirvana were the band of the moment, I was always a Pearl Jam man.  I can't remember when or where I first heard 'Alive' but it was the first song I heard and as you can see below, arguably the best.  I remember getting the 'Even Flow' white vinyl 12" on my 14th birthday and acting out the Eddie Vedder stagedive from my settee for a friend at my birthday party, winding myself in the process.  My white T-shirt with the cartoon version of the band on the front used to get a lot of comments, usually from strangers.....Pearl Jam are that kind of band.

'Ten' is one of my all-time favourite albums, pure and simple, and the A-side is still one of the best first halves to any album ever.  'Vs' kept up the pace to an extent with another array of great songs, but following that their press policy, spat with Ticketmaster and the general decline of the grunge movement following the death of Kurt Cobain turned them into a different band.

'Vitalogy' was like the bridge album, still holding onto some of the qualities that made them successful, but also a more stripped-down approach.  In my opinion this marked the shift from the Stone Gossard/Jeff Ament stranglehold on songwriting to Eddie Vedder becoming band leader.  The high quality of Stone's songs on 'Ten' in particular, coupled with his further involvement in his side-project Brad and a lower share of the songwriting later on suggest to me that he lost interest.  If that's true it was a shame (no Brad pun intended).  Subsequent albums were patchy, but still had their fair share of outstanding songs.  It seemed like on the whole they were content to produce albums that sounded like you were just dropping into their practice room, sometimes with great results, sometimes exactly how that sounds.

'Binaural' for me was a big return to form, with some real quality songs, but then it fell away again, the 'By Era' chart reflecting this.  I haven't long since owned 'Lightning Bolt' as I write this, but the fact that two of the songs made it into this chart already also gives me hope for the future.  All of that said, listening to the 50 songs listed below proves that Pearl Jam are an incredibly vital band and one that I had the pleasure of growing up with.

1. Alive

2. Better Man

3. Rearviewmirror

4. Black

5. Given to Fly

6. Jeremy

7. Even Flow

8. Porch

9. Nothingman

10. Go

11. Once

12. Animal

13. Yellow Ledbetter

14. Spin the Black Circle

15. State of Love and Trust

16. Why Go

17. I Got ID

18. Daughter

19. Nothing As It Seems

20. Light Years

21. Just Breathe

22. Garden

23. Corduroy

24. Thumbing My Way

25. Blood

26. Rats

27. Leash

28. Whipping

29. Glorified G

30. Not for You

31. Brain of J

32. Dissident

33. Hail Hail

34. Off He Goes

35. Insignificance

36. Last Exit

37. Release

38. Do the Evolution

39. Lightning Bolt

40. Getaway

41. Save You

42. Thin Air

43. Habit

44. WMA

45. Deep

46. Who You Are

47. Life Wasted

48. Got Some

49. Last Kiss

50. Alone

By Era

Ten 13

Vs 10

Vitalogy 7

No Code 4

Yield 3

Binaural 4

Riot Act 2

Pearl Jam 1

Backspacer 2

Lightning Bolt 2

Other 2

By Songwriter (Music only)

Vedder/Abbruzzese/Ament/Gossard/McCready 16

Vedder 10

Gossard 7

Ament 5

Gossard/Ament 2

McCready 2

McCready/Ament 2

Covers 1

Gossard/Irons 1

Gossard/Vedder/Ament/McCready 1

McCready/Ament/Cameron/Gossard/Vedder 1

Vedder/Gossard/Ament/McCready/Krusen 1

Vedder/McCready/Gossard 1

or alternatively

Eddie Vedder 14.2

Stone Gossard 12.7

Jeff Ament 10.9

Mike McCready 7.2

Dave Abbruzzese 3.2

Covers 1

Jack Irons 0.5

Dave Krusen 0.2

Matt Cameron 0.2