HGWTY leaves 1981 behind and turns the dial ten years forward to arrive at 1991, the year that grunge hit the mainstream and Bryan Adams topped the UK charts for 16 weeks for you, personally.
A reminder of the premise of the thread
After a number of days of posting and reminiscing, we’ll be rating the music of the year out of ten, based on the albums, singles, gigs, whatever that stand out for you that year, and voting for our favourite nominated albums and songs.
Everyone can nominate one album and one song from the year which will then be collated into side-polls two days before the thread closes - please make it clear when you post a nomination for the poll (as opposed to just posting clips or lists of songs and albums you like, which are very welcome).
Leaderboard
| Rank | Year | Rating | Top Album | Top Song |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1997 | 8.60 | Radiohead - OK Computer | The Beta Band - Dry The Rain |
| 2 | 1967 | 8.48 | Love - Forever Changes | Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Some Velvet Morning |
| 3 | 1992 | 8.29 | Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted | Pulp - Babies |
| 3 | 2013 | 8.29 | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Jubilee Street |
| 5 | 2019 | 8.14 | Self Esteem - Compliments Please | Big Thief - Not |
| 6 | 2004 | 8.10 | Madvillain - Madvillainy / Arcade Fire - Funeral | The Walkmen - The Rat |
| 7 | 1981 | 8.06 | The Cure - Faith | New Order - Ceremony |
| 8 | 2014 | 7.69 | FKA Twigs - LP1 | FKA Twigs - Two Weeks |
| 9 | 1970 | 7.61 | Neil Young - After the Goldrush | Curtis Mayfield - Move on Up |
| 10 | 1976 | 7.47 | David Bowie - Station to Station | Bob Dylan - Hurricane |
| 11 | 1986 | 7.42 | Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring | New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle |
| 12 | 2005 | 7.39 | Sufjan Stevens - Illinois | Amerie - 1 Thing |
| 13 | 1965 | 7.38 | The Beatles - Rubber Soul | Frank Wilson - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) |
| 14 | 2009 | 7.10 | Fever Ray - Fever Ray | Animal Collective - My Girls |
| 15 | 1974 | 6.95 | Neil Young - On The Beach | Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - The Bottle |
| 16 | 1985 | 6.53 | Tom Waits - Rain Dogs | Prince and the Revolution - Raspberry Beret |
| 17 | 1961 | 5.16 | John Coltrane - My Favourite Things | Roy Orbison - Crying |
1991 was the year the first website was published, the Gulf War was won by UN coalition forces, South Africa repealed apartheid laws, the Soviet Union was dissolved, $500m of paintings were stolen from the Van Gogh museum but found within the hour, and Alan Partridge made his debut, on On The Hour.
We said goodbye to Freddie Mercury, Miles Davis, Dr Seuss, Serge Gainsbourg, Graham Greene and Oona O’Neill and hello to Ed Sheeran, Tyler the Creator, Kevin de Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Pixie Lott.
How good was the music?
You have until Sunday 15th May to nominate one album and one song which will then go into a poll along with a number rating poll for year overall out of 10, which will close on Tuesday 17th.
Some lists for inspiration:
https://www.besteveralbums.com/yearstats.php?y=1991
https://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1991/
100 Greatest Albums of 1991 - DigitalDreamDoor
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/ratings/6-highest-rated/1991/1
NME's best albums and tracks of 1991
The 50 best albums from 1991 | Kerrang!
BBC - 19 albums that define 1991
100 Greatest Songs From 1991
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-30-best-songs-released-in-1991/
Nominations will be tallied here as the week goes on:
Album Nominations
Track Nominations
