1996

03.
Morcheeba
Who Can You Trust?

Okay, so Morcheeba have long since become a rather bollocks pop band, but back in 1996 they made my favourite of all the great trip-hop albums of the early/mid ‘90s. Admittedly, they were standing on the shoulders of giants: Massive Attack, Portishead and the like paved the way for this, but for me Who Can You Trust? (along with, to a slightly lesser extent, its 1998 follow up, Big Calm) took all that was good about these bands and just moved it to the next level. Lovely slide guitar, spot on (but restrained) beats and Sky’s pure, sexual voice combined to make this album floaty and caressing and great for the soul. Perfect music to kiss a pretty girl to.

02.
Metallica
Load

Still my favourite Metallica album, despite what ‘proper’ fans and pretty much everyone else has to say on the matter. Load poos all over its sister album, Reload. ‘Ain’t My Bitch’ still kicks like a mule, and ‘King Nothing’ has one of the best (if most simple) bass lines of the 1990s. Add to that the incredibly un-Metallica-esque ‘Ronnie,’ the smack in the teeth that is ‘Wasting My Hate’ and Metallica’s best ever track (the phenomenal) ‘Bleeding Me’, and you have an album that is pretty darn awesome. Take that, you naysayers!

01.
Tool
Ænima

I didn’t know this album in 1996. Somehow it passed me by. I found Tool at some point in 2000, and yet this was still their most recent release. This is post-metal, or prog-metal, or whatever you want to call it, of the very highest order. Track after ingenious track, Tool crack out riffs like there was no tomorrow and are heavy as fuck, but make sure that every single thing they do has depth and invention. No point in being loud for the hell of it; be loud when it is the right time to be loud. All three of the musicians are beyond exceptional (I think Danny Carey may be the best working drummer in the world) and their craft is topped off neatly by Maynard’s insanity. Fuck singles, three minute songs and being accessible to a wide audience. Isn’t it better to make an album that those who are willing to invest a little bit more in will still be discovering elements of 10 years later? ‘Forty Six & Two’ has one of the best riffs in metal, and ‘Ænima’ itself thumps you with a true hatred for modern quick fix trivialities that manifests itself both musically and lyrically. And then ‘Hooker With A Penis’ points out with heaps of self-deprecation that everyone sells out in the end. Everyone. Tool just made sure that they sold out on their own terms. An artistic, cultural and musical masterpiece.