BoTB 90s Style Week 3: O Canada! (And Iceland Too)
Give or take a Joni Mitchell, this week features the three biggest female artists to ever come from Canada. Two are responislbe for two of the biggest albums of all time (Come on Over and Jagged Little Pill), while another created arguably THE festival of the 1990s in Lilith Fair. On the absolute flip side of that, this week is the first to embrace the alternative side of 90s music, with Bjork, The Pixies and Sleater-Kinney all playing. Let's get started!
Graphics will be up later - but don't let that stop you. Let me know if any of the songs don't work. For anyone new to the game, here's how we play it - download/listen to all ten songs above, and then comment on them. At the end of your comments, give each song a ranking - ten being your favorite song, one being your least favorite.
Monica
NSYNC
SWV
P.J. Harvey
Fatboy Slim
Jay-Z
The Goo-Goo Dolls
Christina Aguilera
The Smashing Pumpkins
Toni Braxton
Note - if you're voting for Christina, plese be advised that all votes for Come On Over Baby will be for the album version, and NOT the single remix - that was done in 2000, making it ineligible.
For newcomers: Send me, via PM, a list of your four favorite songs from however many artists you choose to vote for next week - 1 is your most favorite song, 4 is your least favorite. DUE WEDNESDAY.
Monica
Like This or Like That
One of Dem Days (Don't Take it Personal)
Before You Walk Out of My Life
(let's try to keep things to her first album, and not her second ...)
SWV
Weak
Right Here (Human Nature Remix ONLY)
I'm So Into You
Anything
You're the One
Use Your Heart
Toni Braxton
Let It Flow
You're Making Me High
7 Whole Days
You Mean the World to Me
Breathe Again
I had no choice but to love this song. I'm not even a huge Alanis fan, but she already won me over, in spite of my best efforts to find fault with this track. Bonus points for the back and forth key changing between verse and chorus. (10)
Tupac Changes
Tackling important issues with the help of a serendipitously befitting Bruce Hornsby chorus. This is effective and sensible sampling at its best. (9)
Bjork Big Time Sensuality
Listening to Bjork's guttural and generally indecipherable vocals can be a very frustrating experience. I have to be in the perfect mood to enjoy any of her music. I'm feeling in the mood this week... big time. (8)
Shania Twain You're Still the One
There's something endearing about the Twain variety of cheeses. Shania's work might verge on simple-minded from time to time, but there's an honesty in her music that I totally appreciate. This is a straight-forward tribute to enduring love that manages to survive against all odds (or survives for ten years after you pen a song about enduring love if you are Shania and Mutt Lange). Sure, she certain to visit every corny moment along the way, but she doesn't hide behind unnecessarily flowery lyricism about waterfalls or angels unfolding their wings. With the help of former-husband Mutt "The One" Lange, Shania built a healthy discography of relatable and to-the-point country-pop hits. They're all amazing, for the most part. (7)
Sarah McLachlan I Will Remember You
Your Aunt Becky has requested that this song be played during her funeral. The "Rachel Berry" of your class performed a moving rendition of this during your high school graduation. After the feelings of hurt and embitterment subsided, this became your go-to track of healing when you ended things with your highschool sweetheart. THIS SONG IS PERFECT FOR EVERY SITUATION! Except it's really only applicable to one of the above scenarios and is somewhat inappropriate when used elsewhere. (6)
Soundgarden Black Hole Sun
I most appreciate the nods to 60s/70s psychedelia. I see that particular influence as a justification for the meaninglessness of the lyrics. A song this trippy doesn't even need a concept. Sure? I guess? (5)
Sleater-Kinney The Drama You've Been Craving
I prefer alternative lesbians with more of a subdued/folky sound, but this isn't so horrible. (4)
The Pixies Velouria
This is perhaps the most intriguing track of the entire week. I can't quite wrap my head around this melody and the lyrics seem a bit cryptic. This is a baffling, though not entirely unenjoyable, work. (3)
Prodigy Smack My Bitch Up
"THAT VIDEO IS SUCH A TRIP, RIGHT?!" It's not that I'm against 90s breakbeat or distorted TB-303 synthesizers, but aside from the possibly misogynistic/controversial elements at play (were this released just a few years later, neither video or song would have generated more than a tiny wave of controversy), I find little of this track particularly interesting. And ok, perhaps I'm annoyed because I've had a few too many conversations with self-proclaimed techno lovers who view The Prodigy, and this song in particular, as the best of the best in terms of techno music; "techno" being their preferred term to classify any song of an electronic nature. I'm jaded. (2)
Robbie Williams Angels
A whole lot of fluffy drivel. Guy Chambers is better than this. Robbie Williams is better than this... sometimes. (1)
10. Shania Twain, performing You're Still the One
The song that made me fall in love with Shania back in 1998. If I had to do a ranking of my favorite songs of the 90's this song would be easily in my Top ten. Just epic
9. Robbie Williams, performing Angels
This is Robbie's signature song and my favorite of him. I love the lyrics and the melody is really beautiful.
8. Alanis Morrissette, performing Head Over Feet
Since the first time I listened to this song it always have been one of the highlights of Jagged Little Pill for me.
7. Sarah McLachlan, performing I Will Remember You
This song makes me feel a little nostalgic. Sarah's voice is so beautiful and the live version sounds even better. Her Grammy for the live version of this song was totally deserved.
6. Bjork, performing Big Time Sensuality
This song is one of my favorites from Bjork, it makes me wanna dance. The video is also really cool.
5. Soundgarden, performing Black Hole Sun
One of the classic songs of the Grunge era.
4. Prodigy performing Smack My Bitch Up
The beat is just pure fire
3. The Pixies, performing Velouria
First time I listened to this song and I liked their sound.
2. Tupac Shakur, performing Changes
This song is not bad but it didn't do too much for me. It's forgettable.
1. Sleater-Kinney, performing The Drama You've Been Craving
I heard this song like 3 times and I didn't like it at all to be honest.
10) Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
9) The Pixies - Velouria (I forgot all about this song! What an awesome tune.)
8) Tupac - Changes
7) Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up
6) Shania Twain - You're Still the One
5) Alanis Morrissette - Head Over Feet
4) Bjork - Big Time Sensuality
3) Robbie Williams - Angels
2) Sleater-Kinney - The Drama You've Been Craving
1) Sarah McLachlan - I Will Remember You
Sorry for my tardiness! I'm in finals mode right now and I've been pretty busy this week.
Alanis Morrissette, performing Head Over Feet: 10
I bought Jagged Little Pill for "Ironic," but "Head Over Feet" changed my life.
Tupac Shakur, performing Changes: 9
Fantastic sample, and one of the best choruses of the '90s.
Sleater-Kinney, performing The Drama You've Been Craving: 8
I'm surprised this ended up my third song for the week, but everything felt pretty middle-of-the-pack for me this week. Aside from the top two, there was nothing fantastic, and nothing terrible.
Robbie Williams, performing Angels: 7
I don't like his voice on the verses, but he sells those choruses.
Sarah McLachlan, performing I Will Remember You: 6
Undeniably lovely, but Sarah McLachlan has been a much more interesting artist than this.
Soundgarden, performing Black Hole Sun: 5
A good song slightly diminished by excessive length. It simply takes too long to build to that climactic ending.
Bjork, performing Big Time Sensuality: 4
This song has a hypnotizing quality, but I don't know how much I really enjoyed listening to it.
The Pixies, performing Velouria: 3
Has a couple of moments of spine-tingling awesomeness.
Shania Twain, performing You're Still the One: 2
Honestly, in it's own right, it's a pretty uninspiring song.
Prodigy performing Smack My Bitch Up: 1
At times, a great dance beat; at times, an annoying jumble of noises.
10) Shania Twain - "You're Still the One"
09) Tupac - "Changes"
08) Soundgarden - "Black Hole Sun"
07) Alanis Morrissette - "Head over Feet"
06) The Pixies - "Velouria"
05) Robbie Williams - "Angels"
04) Sara McLachlan - "I Will Remember You"
03) Bjork - "Big Time Sensuality"
02) Sleater-Kinney - "The Drama You've Been Craving"
01) Prodigy - "Smack My Bitch Up"
Compared to last week, this week was.... meh. Shania and Tupac are classics in their respective genres, Soundgarden was a pleasent surprise, while Sara McLachlan suffers a low ranking due to.... personal reasons.
The Drama You've Been Craving: - Funnily enough Patty, none of these women are lesbians. I read somewhere that Sleater-Kinney is the bastard off-spring of The Go-Gos and the Pixies, which couldn't be more apt. I've lived with this song for a long time, and I'm so thrilled that it's playing. So short, and leaves you wanting more. 7
Head Over Feet: - Here's my twisted relationship with Jagged Little Pill:
When I was a kid, I was the younger brother of two teenage sisters, who played this album to death. One owned the CD; one owned the cassette. Whenever sister one lost her object, she'd steal it from sister two - and they'd get into actual fights. Needless to say, I have all twelve songs (don't forget the bonus track!) encoded into my DNA at this point.
Then I grew up. I went into college, and discovered things that I had been vaguely aware of, but never fully experienced - namely, Exile in Guyville. I soon realized that JLP, and Alanis herself, took everything that interesting that young white women were doing in alterna-rock in the early 90s, and, coupled with Glen Ballard, watered it down, crammed it with ... well, gibberish, and reaped the rewards of making something palatable for the mainstream. (Look no further than two years ago, when Britney AND Beyoncé both did You Oughta Know in concert - they wouldn't do that for **** and Run, would they?)
But, let's focus on the song. This is one of JLP's brightest melodies, that even Alanis' twelfth-grade poetry ****ery (and Ballard's subtle as a freight train production) couldn't obfuscate. This is a very tough week, however, so I reserve my score until later. 4
Changes: - ****. It may sound lame, especially as a black kid and child of the hip-hop generation, but this has always been the Tupac song that's effected me the most. It's pretty revolutionary to take a track from an eighties soft-rock king and turn it into the bedrock for his most impassioned sermon yet. Outside influences probably are at play; in 1997 Tupac said "we ain't ready to see a black president." I wish he was around now to see how right - and thankfully, how wrong - he was. 9
Big Time Sensuality: - QUEEN OF LIFE. QUEEN OF MY HEART. Like, this wouldn't even make my top ten of Bjork's 90s SINGLES - maybe a top fifteen - but it's still damn good. I love how this is SUCH a perfect choice of debut single as a solo artist; it sounds like life beginning. Only Bjork would pair such ultimately timeless music with a narrative of one unrushed, sexually charged weekend. 8
I Will Remember You: - Yeah, this isn't ranking high this week. Sarah's voice is rich and forlorn, but the production is so 90s coffeehouse, it makes me mad. If only the live version had played ... 3
Black Hole Sun: - Sorry Ryan. This is so much less impressive without the video. I ... actually stopped paying attention to it halfway through. Maybe I'm just not in the mood this week. 2
Velouria: - Best song of the week. Best song of life. Does the 60s influence thing so much better than anyone else. What a beautiful melody, and one of Frank Black's most multi-faceted vocals. Just gorgeous. 10
You're Still the One - I listened to this directly after Soundgarden, and this week proves that Shania and her ex worked some magic. Out of all the very, very 90s styles of production on display this week, this is the one that actually makes sense today. Very of its time, but, man, does it strike the right balance between cheesy and beautiful. Shania delivers a vocal of really well-judged restraint; that's the true moment of glory. 6
Angels: - Yeah, coming after Shania - what the ****. Man, UK adult contemporary pop in the mid-90s was not the business. Where's the bite? Why can there be no interesting nuances? It is of interest to hear Robbie sound so young; it's kind of a mind****. But - that transition into the second verse? WHAT THE ****. 1
Smack My Bitch Up: - Patrick, get into it sis! GET INTO THIS. YES.
But yeah, Prodigy were the furthest thing from innovative, weren't they? This has been a week of my confronting songs I hadn't heard in years; some have not held up well at all. Some have really surprised me, Prodigy falls in the middle of the track. 5
I soon realized that JLP, and Alanis herself, took everything that interesting that young white women were doing in alterna-rock in the early 90s, and, coupled with Glen Ballard, watered it down, crammed it with ... well, gibberish, and reaped the rewards of making something palatable for the mainstream.
