Possibly Controversial Opinion: the 3 best musical acts of the last 40 years are...

[Bamboozled]

yeah what the fuck do you guys listen to? I'm all for people listening to whatever but generic alternative is just short for alternative to good

What makes them the best music acts? I don't get it.

 

[Daverisimo]

OP do you like Burial? With you liking both Massive Attack and BoC it seems to me that you would like Burial

Absolutely. Untrue is definitely in my top 5 albums of the 00's. I'd put it well behind Kid A and Vespertine, but that's about it IMO

 

[Mattola]

Tool(Not Biased), Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple, himself), Metallica(80s only).

So Many others i would argue for, but I Will limit myself.

 

[Madmick]

I couldn't be bothered to respond to this earlier, but I'm drunk and bored now, so fuck it.

So, Massive Attack is my pick that I'm the least attached to. In retrospect, I could've replaced them with Radiohead or Bjork. Still, they released two perfect 10/10 albums (Blue Lines and Mezzanine), so I'm still pretty attached to then.

Second, Boards of Canada. Sure, Aphex Twin released some solid IDM (Autechre was better in that respect though), but BoC actually made it something more than pretentious wankery. They took IDM and made it something that transcends the cerebral and actually tugs on you fucking heart.

Lastly, Swans. This is the only one of the three that I'm 100% ride or die for. I honestly think they are these only rock band to emerge within the last 40 years that actually matters, and one of the few artists, in any genre of music, to truly advance music as an artistic medium.

This was the right answer.


Pablo Honey



The Bends





OK Computer

 

[Madmick]

Kid A






Amnesiac

 

[Madmick]

In Rainbows





King of Limbs (The Basement Sessions)





A Moon Shaped Pool

 

[Hellowhosthat]

In terms of the actual question. I have no idea. My probable contenders would be Bjork, Boris, Radiohead, Fishmans, Converge, Scott Walker, Pixies and Fiery Furnaces. But it's a hard choice.

 

[moreorless87]

I absolutely love Mezzanine but I find Massive Attack inconsistent outside that.

Honestly I find them one of the most consistent acts of the last 30 years although obviously progressively less active with time, they have shifted alot in style though. Blue Lines and Mezzanine are the two classics but outside of that they've always been at least very good with a few great tracks on each album.

Maybe Micheal Head/Shack? Waterpistol, Magical World of the Strands, HMS Fable, Heres Tom WIth The Weather and On the Corner of Miles and Gil all great albums for me plus some good work either side of them. Never that sucessful but honestly that probably helped keep the quality up as he could never fall back to a hardcore fanbase.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Honestly I find them one of the most consistent acts of the last 30 years although obviously progressively less active with time, they have shifted alot in style though. Blue Lines and Mezzanine are the two classics but outside of that they've always been at least very good with a few great tracks on each album.

Maybe Micheal Head/Shack? Waterpistol, Magical World of the Strands, HMS Fable, Heres Tom WIth The Weather and On the Corner of Miles and Gil all great albums for me plus some good work either side of them. Never that sucessful but honestly that probably helped keep the quality up as he could never fall back to a hardcore fanbase.

I dunno I guess it's just a taste thing really. Mezzanine is this outstanding work that probably sits somewhere in my all time top 200 albums and their other stuff just doesn't connect with me the same way. I listened to Blue Lines again after this thread and thought it was pretty good in parts, but nowhere near Mezzanine overall.

 

[moreorless87]

I dunno I guess it's just a taste thing really. Mezzanine is this outstanding work that probably sits somewhere in my all time top 200 albums and their other stuff just doesn't connect with me the same way. I listened to Blue Lines again after this thread and thought it was pretty good in parts, but nowhere near Mezzanine overall.

Again they did cover alot of ground musically, if you want the kind of darker less hip hop more guitar focused sound of Mezzanine your probably better off with the albums after that.

Jason Pierce did have quite a long good run with Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized in the 80's and 90's albeit not soley responsable for the formers work.

Just on quality alone Talk Talk/Mark Hollis would probably be in the running, the last two Talk Talks albums and his solo album would all be in a top 100 of that period for me, the former two quite high in it.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Again they did cover alot of ground musically, if you want the kind of darker less hip hop more guitar focused sound of Mezzanine your probably better off with the albums after that.

Jason Pierce did have quite a long good run with Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized in the 80's and 90's albeit not soley responsable for the formers work.

Just on quality alone Talk Talk/Mark Hollis would probably be in the running, the last two Talk Talks albums and his solo album would all be in a top 100 of that period for me, the former two quite high in it.

Yeah, I do tend to like the darker side of Trip Hop. Portishead were my favourite group from that scene, but they're probably too lazy in terms of making albums to make the list, but the three they did release are all very good.

Spiritualized are a maybe. Not sure why they've reminded me of them but I'm also thinking maybe Stereolab deserve a shout.

Not actually heard the Mark Hollis solo album (it's on my to-listen to list) but as well as the post rock stuff, I also think Talk Talk's synthpop records were really good.

 

[moreorless87]

Yeah, I do tend to like the darker side of Trip Hop. Portishead were my favourite group from that scene, but they're probably too lazy in terms of making albums to make the list, but the three they did release are all very good.

Spiritualized are a maybe. Not sure why they've reminded me of them but I'm also thinking maybe Stereolab deserve a shout.

Not actually heard the Mark Hollis solo album (it's on my to-listen to list) but as well as the post rock stuff, I also think Talk Talk's synthpop records were really good.

I do think 100th Window especially was a bit underrated at the time, if you like Portishead that should probably be more up your street than the first two albums.

Spiritualized alone I wouldnt say so but if was impressive the way Jason essentially had two very good runs with Spacemen 3 and then them, normally I would say you expect about 5-10 years of really great work from someone.

The Hollis solo album is basically a more acoustic version of the last couple of Talk Talk albums, again I think very underrated, the joke was always that Hollis became so minimalist that he didnt actually retire, silence was his output. I'd agree the earlier Talk Talk stuff does hold up well and Colour of Spring would be considered a career highlight for alot of bands.

 

[Jose Beehive]

Ween

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The Cleaners From Venus

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The Cure

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For me I think.