Editor's Note: The working title of this article was Lee Vowell: CRACK ADDICT.
I am a sucker for musical lists. Good ones make me happy, bad ones make me angry, and then there's Lee Vowell's Drug Induced: Four Extremely Underrated 1990's Albums by American Bands. Arguably the worst music list ever created.
Let's start with his opening paragraph: "The 1990s were known for Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Celine Dion, among others. Each of those artists has some merit, more so than others maybe. But while the music of the 1990s was not quite as excellent as the 1980s, there was still plenty of goodness."
Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and....Celine Dion? By the end of the first sentence, I already knew Lee Vowell wasn't a hardcore music fan. As a matter of fact, I don't even understand how his tripe got published....
Here's Lee Vowell's 4 examples at Fansided with his commentary replaced by mine. He inexplicably chose these 4 "Extremely Underrated" Albums:
Grant Lee Buffalo's Mighty Joe Moon (1994) - Mighty Joe Moon was considered the highwater mark for Grant Lee Buffalo. Their singles received a ton of airplay on college radio and their videos were all over MTV. If I was being very, very generous, I would classify the album as "slightly underrated."
Cracker's Kerosene Hat (1993) - Kerosene Hat was considered the highwater mark for Cracker. It went Gold and was # 1 on the US Heatseeker's Chart.
Counting Crows' August and Everything After (1993) We are going to keep this one short and sweet. No album that has sold 7 million copies is underrated. NONE.
Dave Matthew's Band's Crash (1996) Crash ALSO sold over 7 million copies and was the band's best-selling album.
If I met Lee Vowell on the street today, I would fight him. His list is an abomination and should have been titled 4 Albums Every College Kid in the 90's Owned.
Here's what a 4 Extremely Underrated Albums of the 90's by American Bands List SHOULD have looked like.
1. Untidy Suicides of Your Degenerate Children by Alice Donut (1992): Untidy Suicides was the best punk album released beyond 1984. Was Alice Donut grunge? No. Was Alice Donut alternative? Not really. Alice Donut suffered because they were an original American Band in an era where every record executive was looking for a specific "sound." Alice Donut is one of only a handful of bands in contemporary history with no musical peers. An unmarketable album with a perfect listening experience.
2. fixed by Nine Inch Nails (1992): You say you're familiar with Nine Inch Nails? fixed was Nine Inch Nails' WORST selling effort from their origin until 2007's Year Zero. Why did it sell so bad? Because Trent Reznor was the master of fusing industrial music with rock and metal. fixed was the closest thing to pure industrial that Reznor ever released, and the sales reflected it.
3. Swandive by Bullet LaVolta (1991): Swandive was a nice little, alternative album, every bit as good as Mighty Joe Moon, but Bullet LaVolta was the victim of some really bad timing. It was released to no fanfare in September of 1991, within a week of Nirvana's Nevermind, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and Guns 'N' Roses' Use Your Illusion I & II. I remember lines out the door at record stores when Use Your Illusion I & II came out. It was one of the most hyped albums of the 1990's. Even if Swandive had a promotional budget, which it didn't, it would have arrived dead in the water. A disappointed Bullet LaVolta broke up shortly after the album's release.
4. Midwestern Songs of the Americas by the Dillinger Four (1998): This is still the most mind-boggling example on the list. The Dillinger Four should have been as big and Green Day or the Offspring, but instead of living in punk hotbeds on the West Coast, they lived in Minneapolis. I think their lack of monetary success, as a band, was as simple as they were forced to keep their day jobs. They were overshadowed on their own label by bands like Taking Back Sunday, Sum 41, and New Found Glory.
What is really going on here, you ask?
If Lee Vowell can make a living with his pablum, I must really be doing something wrong.
My website must really suck.
Editor's Note II: Speaking of Pearl Jam and Nirvana, I've been thinking of two of their songs a lot lately....
I Got Shit by Pearl Jam:
A lot of truth in that song.
Territorial Pissings by the Stormtroopers of Death:
Still surprised that cover ever got made.
And Celine Dion? Though we feel bad for her, as a human being, we pride ourselves, as a website. as having this paragraph being the first one we have ever written about her.
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