Pitchfork publishes a new 150 Best Albums of the 1990s list
Pitchfork's best music of the 1990s week continues. Yesterday, they posted a list of the best songs of the '90s (their second version of this list, having also done one in 2010), and today they've put up a new 150 Best Albums of the 1990s list, their first time revisiting the topic since ranking the decade's 100 best albums in 2003. There are of course some changes from the original list; OK Computer topped the 2003 version and now drops to #3, and the 2003 top 10 included The Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin, Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Pavement's Slanted & Enchanted, DJ Shadow's …Entroducing, Pavement's Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and Guided by Voices' Bee Thousand, which are all on the new list but much lower. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's I See A Darkness came in at #9 in 2003 and isn't on the new list at all.
As for what else cracks the new top 150: Bratmobile, Whitney Houston, Fugazi, Boyz II Men, Three 6 Mafia, Toni Braxton, American Football, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Jeff Buckley, Jonathan Richman, Maxwell, Tom Petty, Modest Mouse, Tori Amos, Garbage, Sarah McLachlan, U2, Selena, Green Day, Gang Starr, Elastica, Mary J. Blige, Smog, Tortoise, Digable Planets, Wilco, Built to Spill, The Smashing Pumpkins, Primal Scream, Ice Cube, No Doubt, Beck, Weezer, Sonic Youth, DJ Screw, Spiritualized, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Slint, DMX, The KLF, Yo La Tengo, De La Soul, Pulp, Bob Dylan, Beastie Boys, Cat Power, MF DOOM, Tricky, R.E.M., Juvenile, Mariah Carey, JAY-Z, Slowdive, Mobb Deep, Madonna, Sade, Aphex Twin, Alanis Morissette, Elliott Smith, DJ Shadow, Fugees, Sleater-Kinney, UGK, Destiny's Child, Stereolab, Le Tigre, TLC, Nine Inch Nails, 2Pac, Lil' Kim, The Breeders, Talk Talk, Lucinda Williams, Mos Def, Public Enemy, Boards of Canada, and much more.
Read Pitchfork's full list with commentary here and check out the top 25 below:
25. Belle and Sebastian: If You’re Feeling Sinister (1996)
24. Dr. Dre: The Chronic (1992)
23. Elliott Smith: Either/Or (1997)
22. Nas: Illmatic (1994)
21. Silver Jews: American Water (1998)
20. D’Angelo: Brown Sugar (1995)
19. Fiona Apple: When the Pawn… (1999)
18. Cocteau Twins: Heaven or Las Vegas (1990)
17. Erykah Badu: Baduizm (1997)
16. PJ Harvey: Rid of Me (1993)
15. Aaliyah: One in a Million (1996
14. The Notorious B.I.G.: Ready to Die (1994)
13. Daft Punk: Homework (1997)
12. OutKast: Aquemini (1998)
11. Portishead: Dummy (1994)
10. Nirvana: Nevermind (1991)
9. A Tribe Called Quest: The Low End Theory (1991)
8. Hole: Live Through This (1994)
7. Janet Jackson: The Velvet Rope (1997)
6. Björk: Homogenic (1997)
5. Wu-Tang Clan: Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
4. Liz Phair: Exile in Guyville (1993)
3. Radiohead: OK Computer (1997)
2. Lauryn Hill: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)
1. My Bloody Valentine: Loveless (1991)