Top 10 Records of the 90's

 
Now that the 90's are definitely past, it's time to look back and remember the best music. These are my personal favourite records that came out in the 90's. I think that some of them should not be forgotten, when remembering the music of the 90's.
See also the current Hit Tip.


1990
Extreme II
Pornograffitti
Extreme's one and only hit that went around the world was called 'More than words' and was also featured on their second album Pornograffitti. But this song wasn't actually good publicity for this album, because their music was much more rock than their hit suggested. With melodic songs, mostly written by guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, and very powerful arrangments they showed just a blink of their talent at the beginning of the 90's. Unfortunately they didn't manage to continue any further on the same level.


1990
Pet Shop Boys
Behaviour
The Pet Shop Boys already had their big hits in the 80's. With their first album of the new decade they went a step further. With the help of producer Harold Faltermeyer they brought a new dimension to their music, which gave it more life and more feeling. This album might need several listenings to show its real beauty. But then it is truly exceptional.


1992
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine
1992 The Love Album
Carter were a very special group and had a very particular style. They mixed poppy tunes with punk guitars. This album showed them at the peak of their talents.


1994
Alphaville
Prostitute
Alphaville is another big 80's group from germany. But their 90's comeback album 'Prostitute' is just breathtaking. Only now they proved that there were in fact some reasons for their early succes. The songwriting is genius and varies between ballads, highlighted pop and reggae.


1994
Sparks
Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins
The Sparks have switched to a 6-year-rhythm for album releases. This was their 90's comeback, which was going to be the only proper album for the decade. When listening to the first single from the album 'When do I get to sing "My Way"' you might think this must be a Pet Shop Boys or OMD song. The ressemblence is astonishing. It's just that the Sparks did it all before and had started their career in the early 70's. Now they came back with an experimental, but very dancable record and the lyrics were just as ironic as the Pet Shop Boys'.


1995
Pulp
Different Class
The Pulp is a band that had been working for years, when they finally had their breakthrough with the album Different Class. There is absolutely no bad song on this album and with 'Common People' and 'Disco 2000' they also had two major hits throughout Europe. They are the most British band with the most British songs and the most British lyrics. 90's Brit Pop was at its peak.


1996
Electronic
Raise the Pressure
Electronic is Bernard Sumner from New Order and Johnny Marr, Ex-The Smiths. This says nearly everything about Electronic. On this, their second album together, they perfectly mixed synthesizer riffs and Marr's guitar playing with powerful arrangments.


1996
Prince
Emancipation
This is one of the most forgotten Prince records. This 3CD Box featured all the favourite music from Prince: Soul music with much feeling, funk produced with care for each detail, pop with catchy grooves, heartbreaking ballads, techno. He is a musical mastermind and on this album he celebrates his love for the music. The one who finds a better 90's-Prince-album, I'm interested.


1998
Nik Kershaw
15 Minutes
Nik Kershaw showed on his first album of the decade that he has not forgotten how to write beautiful songs. After several hits in the 80's ('Wouldn't it be good', 'I won't let the sun go down on me', 'The riddle') and a long pause he was back with the melodic, poppy songs we used to know from him. The synthesizers were more in the background this time, and the guitar made his music fit the times of Brit Pop as we knew it in the 90's.


1998
Manic Street Preachers
This is my truth tell me yours
The Manics' story was not always very easy. In the mid-90's their guitarist Richey Edwards went missing and has never showed up since. After this painful loss, they came back stronger than ever with the album 'Everything must go'. But then in 1998 they managed to do even better and had a huge impact with 'This is my truth tell me yours'. An album so perfect, beautiful and complete, which made them the 'Best act in the world today' at the Q awards.


04.07.2000, Patrick Ramer