Best Decade Tournament - 90s - Numbers wins!

[Lament]

I just get the impression that this board's concept of obscure is "I don't know it" as opposed to "very few people in the world know it."

[ABNorman]

Out of curiosity, I googled "Top UK bands of the 90s" to see if Google would produce another black bar at the top. It did, and this is who was on it...

Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, Pulp, Suede, The Rolling Stones, The Happy Mondays, Manic Street Preachers, Primal Scream, Elastica, Five, Supergrass, Slowdive, Belle & Sebastian, Stereophonics, Inspiral Carpets, Lush, Travis, East 17, The Cocteau Twins

I would have a hard time considering any of these bands "obscure" if they come up as one of the most discussed results for a pretty generic search term.

Fair point. Digging a bit sees "blur band" and "oasis band" bringing up over 15 million hits to "Supergrass" - 500,000 or "Stereophonics" - 800,000, but that just takes us straight back to our points regarding the USA's influence.

To be clear: I fully support somebody picking a team that's personally significant to them. I just think there's a pressure on people at RM - and other "musically knowledgeable" sites - to seek out lesser known bands for kudos.

Also, I got drunk last night, got way too little sleep and have been cranky all day - I don't mean to come across as a total ass.

[koopee27]

imagine if i (only european in this tournament) had gone with a number of northern european acts?
even if i live in finland, US/UK music has always been fed to us by force. some good, some bad..
in these tournaments i just dont have the balls enough to go on some weird stuff that i am positive that none of you have heard, maybe in the future though

kp

[Lament]

I don't mean to come across as a total ass.

Don't worry, you're not. I hope I'm not either. I really don't mean to. I actually appreciate how civil this has remained considering we're on RM.

I dunno, this was a point I kinda wanted to make in the 80s tournament, but shied away from, so I hope you don't think this is all being targeted at you, because it's not. There's such a skewed perspective on what constitutes "obscure" on this board. I mean, if someone would have picked Hard to Imagine, no one would have batted an eye, but if someone would have picked Yes by McAlmont & Butler someone would probably say they were taking the "obscure" route, even though Yes is an iconic song to the 90s UK alternative generation and Hard to Imagine is an obscurity that even a lot of self-identified Pearl Jam fans might not know. I don't know a lot of the music Heathen talks about, but I wouldn't classify it as obscure, especially if he were to tell me they were iconic songs from their respective genres. I'd just say "Huh, well...I really don't know anything about that genre." Same thing if you were to pick stuff that was huge in South Africa but nowhere else. I wouldn't call that obscure. I'd just say "well, there's a big gap in my music awareness...that's on me."

imagine if i (only european in this tournament) had gone with a number of northern european acts?

Are you really the only European in this? Why did I think there were others?

[LetMeSleep]

I considered Amorphis, Koopee.

Btw I used to work on Viisi and a few other Finnish channels. That's all.

edit: and Voice Finland. It was the better of the 5 Voice channels as it wasn't just top 10 shite. It was nice to see some metal still on music tv.

[ABNorman]

I'm technically European. Got the passport and living in the UK. Though continental Europe is a strange, separate and wondrous place.

[epilogue]

To Lament's point: that's what I was so blown away by Manic Street Preachers. I thought at first it was some really obscure band, but soon learned it was a gap in my knowledge and that's what blew my mind about it. I totally see what Lament is talking about.

[koopee27]

imagine if i (only european in this tournament) had gone with a number of northern european acts?

Are you really the only European in this? Why did I think there were others?

maybe i'm wrong, but i really think i'm the only one.
in the forthcoming 00s tourney seems to be a fellow european signed up...

I considered Amorphis, Koopee.

really?? too metal for this crowd, i say. I love Amorphis though, not my favorite finnish metal act though..

kp

[koopee27]

To Lament's point: that's what I was so blown away by Manic Street Preachers. I thought at first it was some really obscure band, but soon learned it was a gap in my knowledge and that's what blew my mind about it. I totally see what Lament is talking about.

like i have said before, i've seen them live at least 10 times, and they always blow me away. they do sometimes perfect versions of Nirvanas Pennyroyal Tea or Rihannas Umbrella. Love'em.

kp

[koopee27]

I'm technically European. Got the passport and living in the UK. Though continental Europe is a strange, separate and wondrous place.

i figured, by your avatar, that you are true red white and blue yankee doodle dandy

kp

[Lament]

they do sometimes perfect versions of Nirvanas Pennyroyal Tea or Rihannas Umbrella. Love'em.

Their cover of Been a Son is easily my favorite Nirvana cover by anyone.

[Jorge]

Heathen is Europeathen.

[ABNorman]

I wouldn't call that obscure. I'd just say "well, there's a big gap in my music awareness...that's on me."

Good point - I do realise now that I'm judging "obscure" through a lens, though it comes from what I thought of as pretty solid evidence: radio and TV play, anecdotal evidence in SA, the UK and the US that people are largely aware of similar 90's bands (certainly within the "alternative rock" umbrella), and any number of those "Best of" lists that are all over the net/music channels and are fun to either scoff at or nod in sage agreement. It is fun to discover the massive gaps in my knowledge via RM, though.

I do think the fact we're all big enough fans of Pearl jam to be on this forum speaks to at least somewhat of a common musical background, though. Like, nobody seems to have to be told who AIC, Soundgarden, Radiohead, etc are.

[Lament]

I remember being over at the Pit last year and reading some thread where people were trying to figure out a way for Pearl Jam to add a second Wrigley show and all these people were distraught about Jason Aldean having a show there the next night and every other post seemed to be "WHO EVEN IS THIS GUY? LITERALLY NO ONE IN THE WORLD KNOWS WHO HE IS!" even though the dude spent all of 2013 selling out football stadiums, ampitheatres, and arenas all over America.

[ABNorman]

I remember being over at the Pit last year and reading some thread where people were trying to figure out a way for Pearl Jam to add a second Wrigley show and all these people were distraught about Jason Aldean having a show there the next night and every other post seemed to be "WHO EVEN IS THIS GUY? LITERALLY NO ONE IN THE WORLD KNOWS WHO HE IS!" even though the dude spent all of 2013 selling out football stadiums, ampitheatres, and arenas all over America.

Country music is one of the few things that are massive in the States and seemingly very rarely successful elsewhere. Awards season rolls around and I'm always surprised that Garth Brooks is still going, or that there's a bunch of hugely successful new artists I've never heard of.

Which is a pity, because if there's one sub-sub-genre of music that revs my engine, it's dark, narrative, semi-mythical country death songs (ala Ghost Riders in the Sky).

[Lament]

It is absurd how massive pop-country is in America.

[PryTo]

I listened through PryTo's team with the expectation of totally despising it but was for the most pleasantly surprised.

Thanks, man. That was the whole point of my 90s team. And big ups to those who voted for my rapapalooza. We won't take home any trophies this year, but we were one hell of a team. [sobs]

[PryTo]

Country music is awesome. It's like any other genre of music. 95% crap and 5% mind-blowingly great. Garth Brooks and Dixie Chicks were robbed in this tournament.

[Lament]

"I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)" by Alabama is better than any Garth Brooks song there is.

.

[ABNorman]

Country music is awesome. It's like any other genre of music. 95% crap and 5% mind-blowingly great. Garth Brooks and Dixie Chicks were robbed in this tournament.

Those two, Taylor Swift and Johnny Cash are about the extent of my country music knowledge.