Top 50 Dance Albums of the Nineties?

Kent

Member
I know this is normally reserved for rock music but has anyone attempted to compile a definitive list of top 50 dance albums of the nineties? And by dance I mean electronic, drum n bass, jungle, trip-hop, techno etc… basically all the various sub-genres.

It’s a tough one because 90’s dance music was largely a singles genre but I’d be interested to know if any such list exists or if anyone here is up to the challenge of putting one together.

A few early suggestions:

Tricky - "Maxinquaye"
Underworld - "Dubnobasswithmyheadman"
Goldie - "Timeless"
Massive Attack - "Blue Lines"
 

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
Here's my personal top 50

1. Prodigy - Music For The Jilted Generation
2. FSOL - Lifeforms
3. Goldie - Timeless
4. Massive Attack - Blue Lines
5. Leftfield - Leftism
6. 808 State - Ex:El
7. Marvellous Cain - Gun Talk
8. Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman
9. Lamb - Lamb
10. Portishead - Dummy
11. Banco De Gaia - Last Train To Lhasa
12. Orbital - Brown Album
13. Prodigy - Experience
14. The KLF - Chill Out
15. D*Note - Criminal Justice
16. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
17. Pet Shop Boys - Very
18. Tricky - Maxinquaye
19. The Orb - The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
20. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
21. Lil Louis - Journey With The Lonely
22. Alec Empire - The Geist Of Alec Empire
23. Coldcut - 70 Minutes Of Madness
24. Insides - Clear Skin
25. Fluke - Six Wheels On My Wagon
26. Ian Pooley - Meridian
27. FSOL - Lifeforms (Remixes)
28. Bjork - Debut
29. Origin Unknown - Sound In Motion
30. Bomb 20 - Field Manual
31. Plastikman - Consumed
32. Daft Punk - Homework
33. Autechre - Incunabula
34. Susumu Yokota: Image 1983-1998
35: No U Turn - Torque
36: Basement Jaxx - Remedy
37: 808 State - Don Solaris
38: The KLF - The White Room
39: James Hardway - Welcome To The Neon Lounge
40: Luke Slater - Freek Funk
41: Two Lone Swordsmen - Stay Down
42: New Decade - Narrow Minds
43: Rebel MC - Rebel Music
44: BT - ESCM
45: The Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
46: Yoshinori Sunahara - Take Off And Landing
47: Jonny L - Sawtooth
48: FSOL - ISDN
49: Super_Collider - Head On
50: Birchville Cat Motel - Siberian Earth Curve
 

hamarplazt

100% No Soul Guaranteed
Well, without going too much into detail (I'll never be satisfied with the ranking anyway), my favorite "dance"-albums of the 90s:

1. Biochip C: Biocalypse
2. The Mover: Frontal Sickeness (1+2 double pack)
3. Alec Empire: Limited Editions 1990-94
4. Spicelab: Spy vs. Spice
5. Like A Tim: Boogie
6. Patric Catani: The Horroible Plans of Flex Busterman
7. Frankfurt Trax vol.II
8. The Prodigy: Experience
9. Counterforce - a Collection of Deep Beats
10. µ-ziq: In Pine Effect
11. Speed Freak: Destruction by Speed
12. Bay B Kane: Guardian of Ruff
13. Polygon Window: Surfing on Sine Waves
14. Third Eye Foundation: You Guys Kill Me
15. Orbital: Green Album
16. Autechre: LP5
17. 3 Phase: Schlangenfarm
18. Req: One
19. Air Liquide: Nephology
20. LFO: Frequencies
21. Aphex Twin: Classics
22. Panacea: Low Profile Darkness
23. The Black Dog: Parallel
24. Alec Empire: Hypermodern Jazz 2000.5
25. Time Modem: Transforming Tune
26. Nitrate: LAB 71 (aka Acid Stucker)
27. FSOL: Accelerator
28. Mouse on Mars: Niun Niggung
29. 808 State: 90
30. Speedy J: Ginger
31. RIC: Distance
32. Spicelab: Lost in Spice
33. 4 Hero: In Rough Territory
34. Two Lone Swordsmen: Stay Down
35. Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works 85-92
36. Drax: Mental Doors
37. Christian Vogel: Beginning to Understand
38. Alec Empire: Generation Star Wars
39. Ken Ishii: Jelly Tones
40. Orbital: Brown Album
41. Nasenbluten: 100% No Soul Guaranteed
42. Alter Ego: Alter Ego
43. The Orb: Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
44. Patric Catani: Harmdasher
45. Techno Trax (Techno Drome compilation)
46. Acid Rain III: Meteor Showers
47. Hardfloor: TB Resuscitation
48. Christoph de Babalon: If You're Into It, I'm Out of It
49. EBI: Zen
50. Depth Charge: Nine Deadly Venoms


Would be interesting to see some lists withs peoples 50 favorite EPs, I think. Maybe I'll do it myself when I get some more time, and get less ill.
 

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
Lots of Digital Hardcore - nice.

Strangely, I remember being so disappointed by 4 Hero's In Rough Territory when I got it that I threw it away (the only time I've binned music).
 

Chef Napalm

Lost in the Supermarket
Funny this should come up. I've been rediscovering Leftfield's Rhythm & Stealth recently. I don't see it in any lists yet tho.
 

straight

wings cru
think rhythm and stealths from 2000 bruv. i find it really hard going back to 90s music, i was a kid so i listened to an awful lot of crap metal and hiphop. i actually have quite fond memories of a lot of big beat stuff like lofi allstars and campag velocet, though i doubt id give them much time if i heard them now. MJ coles sincere was a favourite as well for some reason though all i remember is the title track.
 

hamarplazt

100% No Soul Guaranteed
Lots of Digital Hardcore - nice.
Um, I wouldn't really say that. There's only two records from DHR (Busterman and de Babalon), and they're both rather atypical. Maybe Harmdasher could count as well, even though Catani released it on his own Spite label. It's certainly the most DHR-sounding on the list. His best, and the best DHR-album of all IMO, Hitler 2000, is unfortunately just outside the time frame. All the Alec Empire-albums are from his experimental phase on Mille Plateaux, his real claim to genious. I never bought the general DHR-image, it seemed like such a forced attempt to be electronic punk. Quite a lot of good music on the label, though.

Strangely, I remember being so disappointed by 4 Hero's In Rough Territory when I got it that I threw it away (the only time I've binned music).
Well, maybe it's just a bit too long and one-dimentional, but I really like the rough and raw sound, as well as the cold bleep'n'bass-atmospheres. Maybe it shouldn't have been so high on the list. Parallel Universe, however, that was a real disappointment to me, when I finally got it. My favorite by 4 Hero is actually the Journey from the Light EP.
 

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
Well, maybe it's just a bit too long and one-dimentional, but I really like the rough and raw sound, as well as the cold bleep'n'bass-atmospheres. Maybe it shouldn't have been so high on the list. Parallel Universe, however, that was a real disappointment to me, when I finally got it. My favorite by 4 Hero is actually the Journey from the Light EP.

I think I chucked it because it wasn't hardcore enough for me at the time (probably in terms of the breaks).

I've got Parallel Universe, Two Pages, Jacob's Optical Stairway and the Tek 9 double cd thing - some parts of each are gorgeous/interesting, but I find a fair bit kinda dull. My faves are 'You Got To Slow Down' and 'A London Sumtin'.'
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Good choice of artists, mixed_biscuits, but for me Dead Cities has to be FSOL's finest hour (and ten minutes), and I'd take The Prodigy Experience over Jilted, I reckon.

*sends 'im to outer space* :D
 

mos dan

fact music
hamarplazt;80346I never bought the general DHR-image said:
the moment i finally DID buy into the dhr image was the first time i got hold of their newspaper. at the risk of sounding crass (pun intended), reading that you could really tell they meant it maaaaaan. it was the inkiest, dirtiest, punkiest zine i've ever seen, and it was massive, full of unintelligible guff about new world orders and adverts in german. brilliant.

so yeah, i'd definitely vote 'burn, berlin, burn' in alongside the undoubtedly brilliant alec empire solo stuff like generation star wars.
 

tom pr

Well-known member
Personally I think it's silly how much better Mezzanine is than Blue Lines, and how little it gets mentioned in these sorts of discussions...
 

michael

Bring out the vacuum
[insert lengthy thread here about how the spirit of dance music is captured by, if anything, singles, not albums (potentially with tangents about albums being too rock and some muddled use of a the term "rockist")]
 

labrat

hot on the heels of love
[insert lengthy thread here about how the spirit of dance music is captured by, if anything, singles, not albums (potentially with tangents about albums being too rock and some muddled use of a the term "rockist")]

:) SPOT ON my friend
 
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