10 Most Underrated Songs Of The 90s: Part 2

I’m in the process of sticking up for the 1990s, a much maligned decade (probably too recent to be cool yet). Here’s part two of the most underrated songs from the 90s..

  1. Teenage Fanclub – Everything Flows: Bandwagonesque was the album that was going to make them stars, topping most Album of the Year charts when it came out (beating Screamadelica & Nevermind in many cases). But this slice of melodic feedback from their debut album, A Catholic Education, with it’s heart-wrenching lyrics, is surely their finest moment to date. Absolutely beautiful.
  2. Happy Mondays – Dennis & Lois: Pills ‘n’ Thrills & Bellyaches was, for me at least, the album of the decade. And whilst (the rather weak) Step On is the track that everyone remembers, this twisted little tale from Shaun Ryder, with its amazing blend of Italian house-style piano, baggy guitars & Carribean rhythm is a truly awesome track. This album saved U2’s career as it allowed them to pinch all the ideas and make Achtung Baby.
  3. Tricky – Hell Is Round The Corner: This probably doesn’t really count as underrated, but it certainly wasn’t as popular as it should have been. Coming out at the same time as Portishead’s track Glory Box (which used the same Isaac Hayes sample), it didn’t get the same amount of acclaim. Yet in many ways it’s much better; more inventive, more soulful, just more! And exactly the same comparison could be made between the respective albums they came from. Portishead’s Dummy – hugely successful, really only one song repetated several times over. Tricky’s Maxinquaye – amazingly inventive, cult hit. Oh well..

I’ll be back with the final installment of this muli-part post, soon… (part 3 is now here, whilst part 1 is here)

3 comments

  1. A great list, some corking tracks in the 10 especially Everything Flows, one of my fave tracks. The 90s was a really good time for music. Aside from the obvious classic albums I think my favourite of the time is Beth Orton’s Trailer Park- a stunning William Orbit produced modern folk album.

  2. Yep – love that Beth Orton album. I remember seeing The Stone Roses do an all-nighter at Brixton on the Second Coming tour. One of the support acts was a young woman, accompanied only by an acoustic guitar. My friends & I heckled her mercilessly and I’ve since come to the conclusion that it was Orton. Yes, I feel bad.

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