might be partially due to the fact that so many seem to have nostaligic attachment to this time period and the albums/bands that came out around that period. 1995 - 1997 is a big fucking haze to me. all i was doing during that time was drinking cheap vodka, jugs of wine, and listening to Too Short.

It was also a time when we all had limited money, and no internet, etc to allow us to "sample" aka steal new music.

So while I was aware of bands like Blur and Pulp, and even Ragioheag, I had to decide whether to spend my money of cds or on bitches, BLUNTS, and big screen TVs. Guess what won out?

A lot of this stuff I was never really exposed to aside from Rolling Stone, and if it wasn't in my direct wheelhouse, I probably didn't seek it out. And then when I was exposed to it, denied the context of the times, a lot of it didn't really stand up.

see: Pulp

For at least half of 1995 I lived in a place called Cow Town with no TV, newspaper or trash pickup and only a gigantic stereo, drugs, cheap beer and cigarettes to keep me company. We didn't even have any lights brighter than those 15W "party" colored bulbs.

I'd say the bulk of the CDs I bought from 1994-97 actually came from Columbia House/BMG intro deals. If I knew for a fact I really wanted something, I'd go pay $15-18 at Sam Goody or whatever it was called at that time (the name changed a few times, I remember).

I remember buying that Foo Fighters album and RHCP's One Hot Minute on the same day. Those and that Smashing Pumpkins album were probably the biggest things for me at the time. Maybe the Kids soundtrack, but I might not have gotten that until the following year. Pretty sure I didn't get a copy of The Bends until '96, when I'd already heard about half the songs on it various places and realized that I liked all of them a lot.

Anyway, I was 15. Most of the stuff I really love from this year I didn't hear until much later, including that Flaming Lips album.

There are at least 5 albums in this thread that were staples of cut out/used bins at the local record stores.

yep.

as far as the the weaker albums that we see... i won't argue. That Belly album is alright, but far from essential. But I really like to see everything, as it gives me a larger picture of the time and place - and in this particular case brings back good memories.

To do things otherwise we'd see a bunch of albums on the first page and another 4 pages of +1s.

I guess a fun side project of these threads would be "what was your personal top 5 or 10 at the time? (be honest)"

I don't get the attraction to Pulp either but then again with rare exceptions, I don't get the attraction to Britpop in general.

I think 1995 was a pretty good year, especially graded on a curve against other years in the 90's. There's plenty of crappy albums in this thread but I like my top 5 or so from 1995 more than my top 5 from most years.

too embarassing

I will buy in to the nostallgia thing. Because, for a large group of us on Obner -- those of us between 38 and 42 -- this is right in our wheelhouse, as to when we were going to shows and partying and enjoying the single life. So, of course, this is the music that we look back upon most fondly, and enjoy the most.
That said, I remember, even at the time, talking to my friends about what a fucking great year 1995 was for new music.
Eh.

As best as I can remember, it was probably something like:

1. Blind Melon - Soup
2. Pearl Jam - Merkinball (counting it b/c I can't get up to 10 otherwise)
3. Oasis - What's the Story
4. Foo Fighters - s/t
5. Kids Soundtrack
6. Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie
7. RHCP - One Hot Minute
8. Alice in Chains - s/t
9. Tricky - Maxinquaye
10. Beastie Boys - Aglio E Olio (silly, tossed-off punk EP)

So yeah, my love of this year doesn't have a whole lot to do with nostalgia since I wouldn't consider any of those other than the Kids soundtrack to be favorites anymore.

The whole college rock and alternative scene that is nostalgic for a lot of you is non-existent for me, as I was a kid in 1995. But this is undoubtedly one of the strongest years ever for rap and hip hop albums.

I listened to this one a lot in '95. If I remember correctly, one or two of the members were former members of Flaming Lips and it has that same sort of aesthetic, only without any of the goofiness. Makes it a little less endearing, but still a good listen.

OH!
And:

They ripped off riffs from just about every single British punk and pop band that came before them, (okay, so really, mostly Wire and The Fall), but they still made it sound real, real good to my ears. This album was one big hookfest, front to back. Plus, Justine Frishman's voice was the sexiest I had heard since Susanna Hoffs or Chrissie Hynde. And she had that tough hot chick look down pat. A one-album wonder. But I loved this album. Still do, when I think to put it on.

And see, I find it to be terrible. Particularly the albums specific to this year.

Then again, I never cared much for Wu Tang and their solo joints. Loog tried selling me on that Raekwon at one point but I just didn't like that East Coast era at all. I went straight from early 90's G-funk stuff to late 90's Dirty South stuff.

I think I liked that Bone Thugs for a minute but I'd hardly put it in best ever categories.

I was half-joking when I posted that. I remember mostly listening to that unwillingly when I was in other people's cars.

But I dunno, I might have to go listen to a bunch of Bone Thugs Youtubes this week.

If I'm being honest, these were the albums I played the most that year:













Amazon says the Aimee Mann and Golden Smog were released in '96, but my CDs and my memory say '95.

Amazon's pretty unreliable as a release date reference.

Some good west coast and down south stuff from 1995 that isn't in the backpack/laid back style:
Celly Cel - Killa Kali
The Click - Game Related
E-40 - In A Major Way
Eightball & MJG - On Top of the World
Goodie Mob - Soul Food
Tha Alkaholiks - Coast II Coast
Tha Dogg Pound - Dogg Food
Too Short - Cocktails
Twinz - Conversation
2Pac - Me Against The World

I'm sure I'm missing a bunch

Rancid
Matthew Sweet
Morphine
Gene
Foo Fighters
Oasis
Radiohead
Elastica
Smashing Pumpkins
Lloyd Cole
Teenage Fanclub
Luna

Oh I guess Celly Cel was 1996, bogus. Great shit

Yeah, I would have been listening to a bunch of rap, and even stuff like Paul's Boutique more than any album in this thread. I didn't buy What's The Story or Trace until I was driving between Athens and Conyers/ATL a lot to work at Burger's bro-in-law's useless beads and trinkets tent at the Olympics.

Plus, the first half of the year I was in HS, the second in college, so I would have been listening to The Butthole Surfers' Independent Worm Saloon a bunch around say, October...

Release years were more of an era at that time - as evidenced by people's memories of when they picked stuff up.

The most plays :

Son Volt
Sparklehorse
Wilco
GbV
Buckner
Teenage Fanclub
Blue Mountain - Dog Days
Springsteen - Tom Joad.

I came to appreciate PJ Harvey a little later.

Edit - I played the hell out of Aimee Mann / I'm With Stupid as well.

yeah, a lot of these albums I purchased a few years later after I graduated in 1997. in 1995 I was basically listening to what was being played around campus/in the dorms. what I remember is some good/some bad, but a lot of: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, all the other grunge off shoots (Candlebox and their ilk), Dr. Dre, Snoop, Everclear, Hootie, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Alanis Morrisette, Peter Gabriel for some reason, Too Short, The Cure, Matthew Sweet, Smashing Pumpkins, The Bends, Oasis, Blind Melon, Clueless Soundtrack for some reason, Counting Crows, tons of RHCP, The Dead.

I wish I could say this is true for me. I was in law school and the music scene that I followed and was a part of in high school and college was basically non-existent at this time of my life. CMJ was pretty much my only real connection to new music at the time, so a lot of the stuff in this thread I have, but got in later years.

well, my top 5 would be

moby
supergrass
teenage fanclub
matthew sweet
rancid

That RFTC album rules but I didn't hear it until a few years ago.