With all of last month’s end-of-year fun still very much in our minds, we decided to take a look back at some of our favorite albums from year’s past. You know, before 2007, or when CoS was officially up and running.Thus, we tapped David Buchanan to takle a look at the Top 10 Albums of 1996 in our newest edition of List ‘Em Carefully…

Somewhere between Whitewater and Deep Blue, Electronic Freedom and welfare reform, the formation of Apocalyptica and the demise of Jawbreaker and Sublime (Bradley Nowell, R.I.P), there was music in 1996.  Clinton and Gore gained another term and we had begun to toy with an awkward mid-decade crisis before the world first learned of a Backstreet fan girl, before boy band phenomena swept the nation sans NKOTB, and before we could sic Eminem on them all. We had crossed through the glory of [The Offspring's] Smash and the ad nausea mourning of Kurt Cobain in ‘94. We suckled upon The Bends and Collective Soul until the dying breath of ‘95.

So what was it in 1996?  Shania Twain killed country music, and I was still in middle school during the latter half of the “angry white boy” era. This countdown embraces the early adolescence in me, and one hopes it can center you with the same crash and clatter I received. To anachronistically semi-quote the aforementioned Slim Shady: “Will the Class of ‘96 please stand up?”

10. Tori Amos - Boys For Pele

Essentially a lengthy multi-instrumentalist piece for the pride of femininity, this was Amos’ first attempt at producing her own album. Hot off splitting with boyfriend and co-producer Eric Rosse, Boys For Pele represented the strength of being a woman and the complexities inherent to it. Imperfections are married to layered sounds with the profound acoustics found inside churches in New Orleans, LA and Ireland. Amos believed there was power and texture in the American South, but this is not easily grasped in the critically-bashed, difficult, and cryptic poetry. This was challenging airplay unit shifting and indeed marked the start of her playing producer on every consecutive release afterward, cementing a place for Tori Amos as a free- spirited woman in a man’s world.

9. Primitive Radio Gods - Rocket

While few know the band, many know the single “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand” from its heavy radio play and prevalence in the dark comedy, The Cable Guy . While few remember the lyrics to this lengthily titled track, everyone knows the music and the sample from B.B. King’s “How Blue Do You Get?”.  Everyone who is not familiar with the entirety of Rocket, it is on this list because it is by far as unappreciated as Pearl Jam’s 1996 tour-killer, No Code. It’s a phenomenal record considering the overall production started when Chris O’Connor took a ‘69 Ampex and $1000 to the test, resulting in demos later converted to this ‘96 sleeper.

8. Current 93 - All the Pretty Little Horses

Complemented by it’s bookend albums (Where The Long Shadows Fall and The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home), this atmospheric release by English band Current 93 contains multiple references to Patripassianism, death, pain and the “inmost light” or soul. Dense layers of loops and haunting vocals are delicately intertwined, creating a wide array of images. Think of this as a dark and dreary day in the Catholic church, accentuated with beautiful artistic value, while not being so overly pushy in its religious subtexts.  Unlike the album before or after it, the whole recording is not a single track but could almost be mistaken for one due to the seamless flow of sounds encompassing it.

7. Soundgarden - Down On The Upside

After Superunknown, Soundgarden embarked on a tour supporting it before tensions within finally began hitting new highs. The more experimental Down On The Upside was sadly the last release from a band who probably would have went sonically downhill anyway had they continued on. Leaving the music scene at their peak was a smart move, only second to recording this album prior to Soundgarden’s dissipation.  While Chris Cornell did go on to Audioslave, develop a real asshole ego and make a crappy 2008 solo CD, we can be thankful for his pre-douche offerings, “Pretty Noose” and “Blow Up The Outside World” via Soundgarden.

6. Jay Z - Reasonable Doubt

It is said that Jay-Z is a master at freestyles in the studio. It is also said that this debut release from “Tha ROC” can be hailed as a true classic of hip-hop culture. The Source ranks it among the 100 greatest albums of all time, and one could definitely see why  this record is looked so highly upon within the scope of its genre. Rap got a ride with an album packed to the brim, featuring smoothly delivered lyrics and guest appearances that include Memphis Bleak and Jay’s fellow Brooklyn bad ass Notorious B.I.G. Popularizing the Mafioso rap game alongside Biggie’s ‘94 debut Ready To Die, Jay-Z cemented his future status with Reasonable Doubt.

5. Tool - Aenima

Anyone who does not include this recording in a ‘96 Best Of music list is either a ridiculously stubborn hipster or just plain deaf. You do not have to be a “metal head” to appreciate the intricacies involved with Aenima (or for that matter, anything regarding Tool pre-10,000). Songs like “Hooker With A Penis” ferociously attack silly people who blindly follow trends alongside label executives who beg on their knees for a hurried single release. The title track itself is a creative and lengthy, evil laugh poking fun at Los Angeles, dictating the city’s own personalized doomsday with vivid imagery. If you need a good dose of elaborate progressive rock song structures that do not bore the bejesus out of you, go with this record.

4. Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar

Yes, you heard it here on this and every other ‘96 listing under the sun. Yes, we are going to include the band who in one foul (and we mean foul in every nice way possible) swoop made goths popular. Yes, we know the bandleader went repulsively “emo” on Eat Me, Drink Me.  Yes, we did a Dusting ‘Em Off piece for this particular record already, and you are probably asking why on Earth should we include it here?  That can be answered with two words and one definite article: “The Beautiful People”. Before Manson and Co. became household names, this magnum opus of theirs reigned as a must-have for every pissed off teenager whose mother would later warn them about Columbine copycatting. Face facts, Antichrist Superstar will never go away!

3. Anti-Flag - Die For The Government

Aside from a much sought after collectible demo EP, this is considered Anti-Flag’s debut album. I know someone is going to ask me why I picked this as opposed to Rage Against The Machine’s Evil Empire. Well, it seems to me that Rage gets a lot of credit as political rock but everyone keeps forgetting political punk.  Nothing says patriotism like Die For The Government, does it?  Sadly, bassist Andy Flag left after the release of this album, so perhaps the sound changed a teeny bit. In the end though, we all remember that “you’re gonna die, gonna die, gonna die for your government…die for your country” and that is shit! A strikingly simple opening to a phenomenal punk recording by a band that could trump the Sex Pistols any day (Yeah, I said it).

2. Sublime - Sublime

There were many deaths in the ’90s that hit music hard, but not unlike Cobain’s melodrama, Sublime is one of at least five groups who were destroyed before their 15 minutes barely clicked into start. Reggae/dub trio front man Bradley Nowell died of a heroin overdose before the ultimately successful Sublime hit stores. This eponymous record was their major label debut, breaking Sublime into public view. Furthermore, this album helped push the third-wave ska movement into national stardom, helping bands like Slightly Stoopid survive. I put this here as a testament to Nowell, Hoon, Williams, Wood and Strait: “Love is what I got.”

1. Weezer - Pinkerton

Some might claim that putting this at #1 is a silly fan boy attempt to gush wildly about Weezer. I want to note that this list is (yet again) not in any particular order. Secondly, Weezer took a ballsy step recording this album when they did. The artistic integrity overall shines more than the singles alone, yet it did not live up to their previous release, Weezer (The Blue Album), in terms of sales or charts. The concept being loosely based on Madam Butterfly, any cryptic allusions were partially lost on an unassuming public save for Weezer’s then-budding fan base. However, Pinkerton shed even more light on a group who would soon show a generation of geeks that even they can make a rocking themed album. Pinkerton is not the best of its kind, but it certainly belongs somewhere on the 1996 lists.

Finally, the honorable mentions…

The Olivia Tremor Control - Music from the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle
Tupac Shakur - The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory
Stone Temple Pilots - Tiny Music…Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop
Modest Mouse - This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About
Opeth - Morningrise
AFI - Very Proud Of Ya
Slipknot - Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.

Categories: Features, List 'Em Carefully, News
Tags: Anti-Flag, Current 93, Jay-Z, Marilyn Manson, Primitive Radio Gods, Sublime, Tool, Tori Amos, Weezer