Jonathan's 1990s; Part 2, 1991

My Bloody Valentine – Only Shallow

In all honesty, I expected a lot of songs to be here ahead of MBV, but here they are nonetheless. MBV are an Irish group almost solely responsible for creating shoegaze. I am not an avid MBV fan. And I’m certainly not one of those devout fans who headed out to rediscover the old days of shoegazing (a pastime now being perfected by emos so fucking depressed they can’t stare beyond their footwear – what is the footwear choice of the emo?) whilst still believing that MBV are the greatest band to grace this planet when they recently went back on tour. Their live performances are renowned for being ear-splitting and listening to some of the material from their two albums, that hardly requires a stretch of the imagination. There are only a few tracks I truly enjoy listening to by MBV and admittedly I bought the albums on the strength of what I had heard about MBV, rather than what I actually heard, musically speaking. However, I am still here with the aim to justify my decision, ahem. Underneath the layers of distortion and reverb you find some wonderfully ear-catching melodies, and no more than in Only Shallow, the opening track on Loveless. I love the Sonic Youth style overkill on the distortion, then adding masses of reverb to provide the layered soundscapes that makes MBV simultaneously suffocating and airy. This is the kind of track you would only hear at weird indie nights full (?) of people whose only friend is the Internet (back then comics or Dungeons and Dragons) or are seriously considering serial killing as a hobby, or both...hobbies are healthy. It’s not an immediate track, in fact, MBV through their choice of production seem to try to test the listener, alienate them and make it a difficult record to swallow. They are a bit of a ‘marmite’ band, but if you persist, there is a rough diamond to be polished. Perhaps the critic got the better of me. I really do like the song and I love the melodies and the driving rhythm, how the song hovers, swoons and dives, but in comparison to others here in my top 50, it’s one of the runts of the litter, but a classic runt of my litter.

Jonathan's 1990s; Part 1: 1990

Gun Club – Humanesque

I have decided to kick off my 90s with a track that truly harks back to the previous decade as so many early 90s tracks did. For me, Gun Club are and were one of the best bands of the 1980s, having had their most outstanding moments back then, but personally I feel they deserve to get a track in the 90s too. Jeffrey Lee Pierce is one of the greatest lyricists of all time and Humanesque is littered with great lines. JLP managed to churn these out like a great lyrics factory for around sixteen years, before his timely/untimely (delete where appropriate) death. JLP was already suffering from serious health problems, all of them pretty much of his own making, and therefore it was surprising he had made it to the 90s, dragging himself through the haze of sour whisky and cheap drugs like the true veteran of the music world that he was. Humanesque doesn’t have the ferociousness of early Gun Club albums, the grandeur of the Las Vegas Story nor the accomplished sound of Mother Juno; but it’s still a beautifully layered track and a great demonstration of JLP’s talent when his health was failing.

Jonathan's 1990s - The tracklist

My favourite 50 of the 90s