Top 10 Albums of 1991

20 years ago there were a LOT of solid albums. In fact, when looking back at the 70s to present, I can't think of a better year for music with the exception of maybe 1994 which, while close, still falls short of 1991. It was the year that Nirvana changed the face of music (which that in itself makes it a great year of music). I've listed what I think, in my opinion, are the top albums of that year. Feel free to add your own.

10. Slint - Spiderland: Easily the most unknown album making the top 10 here, but Slint's Spiderland is often considered as revolutionary as Nirvana's Nevermind. Listening for the first time now might not evoke as much emotion as it did when it was first released in 1991, but Spiderland is a chilling record from start to finish.

Best Tracks (in order): Good Morning Captain, Breadcrumb Trail, Nosferatu Man

9. R.E.M. - Out of Time: An album that surprisingly got a lot of negative reviews from critics, Out of Time in my opinion ranks as R.E.M.'s best album besides Automatic for the People.

Best Tracks (in order): Losing My Religion, Shiny Happy People, Radio Song

8. Smashing Pumpkins - Gish: The Pumpkins debut album gets a significantly less amount of attention then their follow up Siamese Dream (which had the huge hit "Today"), but Gish is a great album and an incredible debut. Not as good as Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, but a very good album nonetheless.

Best Tracks (in order): Rhinoceros, Siva, I Am One

7. Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill: There were many good rap albums released in 1991 (including Ice-T's O.G. Original Gangster and Ice Cube's Death Certificate), but the only one to make the top 10 is the best rap release of the year (and maybe the decade); Cypress Hill's self-titled album. It's remarkable how this is a debut album.

Best Tracks (in order): The Phuncky Feel One, Hand on the Pump, How I Could Just Kill a Man

6. Metallica - Metallica: Metallica's Black album was not only their most successful album, but one of the biggest albums in hard rock history. In my opinion, it's not as good as Master of Puppets, but it's the second best album in their entire catalog.

Best Tracks (in order): Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven, Nothing Else Matters

5. U2 - Achtung Baby: U2's One from Achtung Baby is often considered one of the best songs from the 90's, but U2's Achtung Baby is a great album as a whole. Not as good as The Joshua Tree or War, but their 3rd best album which, given their extensive catalog, is pretty impressive.

Best Tracks (in order): Mysterious Ways, One, Zoo Station

4. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik: The four studio albums RHCP released prior prior to Blood Sugar could no way anticipate people for the brilliance of this album. Although a lengthy album, it never gets tiresome to listen to and remains easily the best album RHCP has ever released.

Best Tracks (in order): Under the Bridge, Give it Away, Breaking the Girl

3. Guns 'N Roses - Use Your Illusion I: The better of the duo (Use Your Illusion I and 2). Not as good as Appetite for Destruction, but a remarkable hard rock album from of the best bands in the genre.

Best Tracks (in order): November Rain, Don't Cry, Coma

2. Pearl Jam - Ten: While Pearl Jam has many good albums in their catalog, none reaches the brilliance of Ten. Ten is a solid hard rock album from start to finish and includes a handful of Pearl Jam's best songs.

Best Tracks (in order): Black, Jeremy, Alive

1. Nirvana - Nevermind: Nirvana's Nevermind changed the face of music by bringing grunge into the mainstream. A lot of albums that are considered "life changing" tend to be slightly overrated and fail to stand the test of time, but Nirvana's Nevermind has held up and is an awesome record that is not only the best of 1991, but one of the best in history.

Best Tracks (in order): Smells Like Teen Spirit, Lithium, Come as You Are

Honorable Mention: Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese

10 Most Underrated Sublime Songs

As most music fans know, Sublime has gotten back together with Rome taking on the responsibility of frontman. Given the fact that Sublime is my all time favorite band and think that Bradley Nowell was mucho talented, I have mixed feelings about this (especially given the fact that Sublime concerts these days are flooded with 15 year old kids who weren't even born when Bradley Nowell was alive). Anyway, Sublime to me was more than just "What I Got" and "Santeria". They had a ton of great songs that helped influence a lot of modern music such as Pepper, Slighty Stoopid,and Dirty Heads. If you're attending a Sublime concert in the near future and are only familiar with the singles, it will be worth checking out these top 10 underrated songs by Sublime (and their entire catalog for that matter). Songs that are disqualified from the list due to their popularity are: Date Rape, Smoke Two Joints, What I Got, Santeria, Wrong Way, Caress Me Down, Badfish, April 29, 1992 (my favorite song by them), and Doin' Time. Click on the song name to hear it


1. Seed - Nothing tops Sublime when they are in full out punk rock mode and Seed is them at the top of their game. The song includes one of Bradley's all time best guitar solos.

2. Saw Red - One of the most popular of this list, Saw Red is a track from the highly underrated Robbin' the Hood album featuring guest vocals from No Doubt's Gwen Stefani. Bradly Nowell and Gwen Stefani complement each other's voices very well and come up with one of Sublime's all time catchiest songs. Be sure to check out Bradley's guest appearance on No Doubt's Total Hate (pre Tragic Kingdom days).

3. 40oz to Freedom - The title track from Sublime's debut, in my opinion, encompasses all of the musical intricacies of Sublime. The song combines reggae, ska, punk, and alternative rock into one of Sublime's best songs.

4. Doin' Time (Uptown Dub) - I'll count one of the Doin' Time remixes as being different from Doin' Time (after hearing it you'll see why). A song from the b-side Secondhand Smoke album, Doin' Time is a fantastic remix of of the classic Doin' Time song.

5. Steppin' Razor - The first cover song to make the list (and the second Robbin' the Hood song), Sublime takes Peter Tosh's classic and gives it an 80's dancehall makeover.

6. Ebin - Most people think Ebin is one of the weaker songs from 40oz to Freedom, but I think it's one of the best. A very catchy number featuring another great guitar solo.

7. 5446 That's My Number / Ball and Chain - The second cover to make the list, 5446 That's My Number is an awesome track from the 40oz to Freedom album and one of the few Sublime songs to feature the saxophone.

8. Same in the End - Same in the End falls into the same category as Seed (punk) although a little cleaner.

9. What Happened - Another Sublime song featuring the saxophone, What Happened attempts to recount Bradley Nowell's night of getting wasted in an amusing and catchy way.

10. Scarlet Begonias - A great, great cover of the Grateful Dead classic with Bradley Nowell rapping for the song's bridge.

Honorable Mention: Under My Voodoo

Top 7 Worst Rappers Ever

Insipred by a post I saw on Reddit, I decided to compile a list of the worst rappers ever. These were extracted by recommendations in the aforementioned comment thread. These guys suck...to say the least.

1. I Don't Care Who You Are U Tube



2. Speak the Hungarian Rapper



3. Eli Porter the #1 Freestyle Battle Emcee



4. Bangs - My Life is Hard



5. Boostalk - We Gon Rock



6. Denny Blazin Hazen



7. It's So Cold in the D

10 Best Albums from the 90's

A while back we did a blog post entitled "10 Best Albums from the 90's". It is only fitting that a post dedicated to the best albums from the 90's is created as well. The 90's music scene shifted from the New Wave era into the grunge / post grunge era as bands like Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Bush ruled the radio. While the ten albums below might not all fall under your top 10 list, there is no arguing their popularity and their influence on modern music.

10. Live - Throwing Copper: Throwing Copper was the best "Nirvana influenced" album of the 90's. When listening to the current (horrible) albums that Live has released, it is surprising that they ever put a great album like this. Nevertheless, Throwing Copper is a great record that doesn't include a filler track.

Best Track: Lightning Crashes

9. Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory: I've listened to "Definitely Maybe" nearly as much as this album and I think the Morning Glory is the better album tune for tune. Oasis is hardly originial or innovative, but they take the music of their influences (primarily The Beatles) and turn it into a flawless pop album. Every track on this album is ridiculously catchy from the opener "Hello" all the way to the closer "Champagne Supernova".

Best Track: Champagne Supernova

8. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik: The first four releases from the RHCP were all very good (with the exception of maybe their debut), but they really came into their own on Blood Sugar Sex Magik. This album might be very long, but it is always enjoyable throughout. No other band was playing music like the Chili Peppers at the time and Blood Sugar Sex Magik illustrates why they were one of the best of the 90's.

Best Track: Under the Bridge

7. Pearl Jam - Ten: There is no question that this is a great album, but what makes Ten even more impressive is that it was a debut album. Eddie Vedder did work on other projects prior to Pearl Jam (Temple of the Dog), but that doesn't take away from the fact that this album is incredibly impressive for a debut (or any album for that matter). Pearl Jam did release other great albums during their still ongoing career (Vitalogy, Vs, Yield), but none have come close to the nearly perfect Ten.

Best Track: Black

6. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream: I almost put "Mellon Collie" here instead. Even though "Mellon Collie" has some of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins tunes, the double album has too much filler to make the list. Siamese Dream, on the otherhand, is nearly a flawless album. Even though this piggy backed off of the success of Nirvana's Nevermind, it still had a huge influence on the post-grunce music scene.

Best Track: Today

5. Jimmy Eat World - Clarity: This is where all my credibility goes out the window right? For people who first heard Jimmy Eat World from the song "The Middle" (or future hits), you really need to give this release a listen. Clarity is completely different from the band's other releases. It is, without question, the best emo album of all time.

Best Track: Lucky Denver Mint

4. Sublime - Sublime: What's frustrating to me about this album (Sublime's best release) is that lead singer Bradley Nowell died shortly before it's release; never, in my opinion, reaching his peak as a songwriter. Nevertheless, this album is truly one of the best ones released during the 90s. No other band had mixed reggae, rock, pop, and alternative music nearly as well as Sublime did. This album (along with 40oz to Freedom to a lesser extent) helped to influence modern bands such as Pepper and Slightly Stoopid.

Best Track: April 29, 1992

3. Nirvana - Nevermind: Nevermind completely changed the face of music. Nobody was making music like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Lithium" and if they were, it certainly wasn't ruling the radiospace like Nirvana's tunes were. This album is hyped a lot due to Kurt Cobain's death, the fact that it was "different" than other music at the time, and because of how many bands this album influenced. This album is one of the rare ones that is just as good as the hype and even after 18 years (can't believe it's been out this long), it still continues to have an impact on newer generations from their very first listen.

Best Track: Smells Like Teen Spirit

2. Radiohead - Ok Computer: Even with the brilliance of "The Bends", nobody anticipated a release quite like this from Radiohead. Every single track on this album (with maybe the exception of "Fitter Happier") illustrates why this band is in a league of their own. This album almost always appears in people's top 3 for best 90's albums and rightfully so.

Best Track: Paranoid Android

1. Green Day - Dookie: Many would argue that while this is certainly worthy of the "top 10", it should not be in the number 1 spot. Green Day's Dookie, however, has had just as much impact on modern music as Nirvana's Nevermind and Radiohead's Ok Computer. This album, in my opinion, is not only one of the best albums from the 90's, but also one of the best of all time. Every song on here is an instant punk classic. Bands throughout the 90's and the new millenium tried to replicate the success of Dookie, but none have even come close. Green Day continues to make great music, but none of their future releases could compare to that of Dookie.

Best Track: Longview

Effective Ways to Promote Your Music

It is no secret that the road to becoming a "famous musician" is no easy task. Becoming a well known musician does not only take an enormous amount of time, but is extremely difficult given the amount of competition that is out there. There are steps that you can take, however, to help increase your chances of "getting the word out" about your music.

1. Upload Your Music Everywhere Possible: By joining http://www.ourwave.com, http://purevolume.com, and http://myspace.com you are definitely on the right path of increasing your exposure. Take it one step further and upload your music on any website that allows you to do so. Most of them are free, and you never know who will stumble across your profile page.

2. Play at Shows as Often as You Can: Touring is a highly effective way in getting your music the recognition that it deserves. If you have an opportunity to play anywhere (no matter how big or small..no matter how much you get paid for it), TAKE IT. You never know who will be attending. One influential person can have a huge impact on your band.

3. Use the Internet to Your Advantage: Now, more than ever, there are millions of interactive websites that exist that are FREE to use. Why not take advantage of them? Upload all of your music videos to video-sharing websites such as YouTube, MetaCafe, and Break. Create a profile on Twitter and "tweet" about what's going on with you / your band. Make a Facebook Fan Page / MySpace profile. You get the deal. Will everything substantial;y increase your exposure? Probably not, but you never know what will. Yes it can be time consuming, but the end results could be well worth it.

4. Give Away Demos for Free: Not everyone has the budget for this, but if you can, distribute your music for free. People are more inclined to "give your music a shot" if they don't have to invest anything into it.

5. SWAG it Up: SWAG, for those of you who do not know, stands for "stuff we all get". Get some t-shirts, hats, buttons, pins, stickers, bumper stickers, etc. and give it out at your show. People naturally like free things. If somebody wears a t-shirt showing your band / musician name it might spark some curiosity, thus increase your overall exposure. Make sure to include your website so people can find you easier!

6. Connect with other Musicians: Whether it is Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter find some musicians within your area and try to hook up with them (specifically ones that play a similar genre of music as you do). Building a relationship this way can help get your foot into the door in regards to playing in shows that you normally wouldn't have played.

7. Ask for Help: You have friends. Use them to your advantage. Ask them to send a shout on Twitter for you, e-mail a couple of buddies, send a request to your Facebook page..whatever it is. Most people will be glad to help.

Top Ten Places for Musicians to Promote Themselves Online

Ten years ago, the prerequisite to being a successful musician was signing with a record label. Fans raced to stores to purchase the debut albums of their favorite bands or solo artists and the compact disc was the trendiest music medium. Today, CD sales have dropped and numerous fans have learned that downloading their music, either legally or illegally, is the ideal method for obtaining the music they love. Despite hindering the sales and profits of some of the world’s most famous musicians, this Internet phenomenon has opened a giant window of opportunity for up-and-coming musicians to gain exposure. Below are the top ten places on for musicians to promote themselves online

1. iLike.com – iLike is the Internet’s leading social music service where over 45 million people share music recommendations, playlists and concert alerts. Many artists use iLike’s Universal Artist Dashboard to reach fans and spread their music virally while managing their presence across multiple channels. These channels include some of the Web's leading names in social networking such as Facebook, Ask.com, Orkut, Bebo and hi5. Industry experts estimate that more than 200,000 leading artists from every genre are now using iLike’s multimedia blogging tools to gain exposure across the Web and communicate directly with their fans.

2. MySpace Music– MySpace is one of the biggest social networking sites for people who live for music, providing a remarkable opportunity for musicians to gain online exposure. Using a MySpace Music profile, musicians are free to upload their music for their fans to discover and download. Essentially, MySpace Music creates a gateway for music to spread virally throughout its social network, where other MySpace members can explore the music videos, featured playlists and top artists of the MySpace community. Having a presence on MySpace is a great way for musicians to make a name for themselves and can open a number of doors to the heart of the music industry.

3. Last.fm – Last.fm is also one of the world’s largest and most respected social music platforms for upcoming artists to get their brand seen by a giant online community of music lovers. Last.fm operates under a system of “scrobbling,” where the name of the song a member listens to is sent to Last.fm and added to their music profile for others to see. Millions of songs are scrobbled every day, helping fans figure out which songs they listen to the most while helping artists spread their music at the same time.

4. OurStage – Thousands of listeners visit OurStage.com every day to discover the best new sound in music. OurStage lets the fans vote and decide which songs and musicians deserve to rise to the top. Any musician can earn the popularity points required to gain recognition in one of the Web’s most visited online music communities. Besides the exposure, musicians with the most votes are also eligible to win prizes, which serves as an added incentive to upload music to OurStage.

5. MP3.com – MP3.com is a tremendously popular place for musicians to promote their music online, where the chances of artists getting loads of traffic directed towards their music are always in their favor. Musicians who upload their albums and songs to MP3.com attract tons of new fans looking for a free outlet to their favorite artists and bands. Word spreads rather quickly throughout this online source for digital music, opening a number of doors for any musician seeking recognition.

6. OurWave –OurWave.com offers a unique way of helping new artists gain exposure for their music, by featuring every artist in the OurWave community on the front page of the website. OurWave attributes the power of this fascinating feat to a randomly selected system that alternates the promotion of different musicians over time. Members of this emerging community are free to create an artist profile, upload their songs and notify friends and fans when they are planning to attend an event or posting new songs, providing even greater publicity.

7. PureVolume – Music aficionados developed PureVolume for two sole purposes – to help emerging artists promote their songs and to help die-hard fans find them. Together, these missions evolved to form one of the Internet’s most widely recognized social music sites where musicians, listeners and fans can create profiles enabling them to interact with each other and share the music they love. Each artist on PureVolume has a profile containing basic information, music updates, photos and music for streaming, and each of the songs on an artist’s profile is available for download at no cost.

8. Facebook –Musicians can literally advertise themselves on Facebook by making their own band page and having fans join their page as “Facebook fans.” This popular method of self-promotion helps musicians reach over 200 million active Facebook users by creating a presence that connects and engages fans through downloadable music. A Facebook page is a public profile enabling musicians to upload and share their songs with a growing online community that works in conjunction with Facebook Ads to spread the word even further. This is definitely a powerful tool for online promotion.

9. iTunes – Although many musicians use this method to promote themselves or their band, iTunes may not be the best place for an emerging musician to start. The reason for this is that despite having the ability to upload songs and sell them on iTunes’ distribution network, it can take a long time before a musician gets approved and accepted to the network. Granted, iTunes remains on our list as the top ten places for musicians to promote themselves, mostly because iTunes pays musicians for the songs they sell, as opposed to just spreading them across the Web. Musicians should always keep in mind that iTunes does take $.35 for every $.99 song a musician sells.

10. GarageBand – GarageBand.com helps fans discover the music they love by allowing them to review the bands within the ever-growing community. With over 100,000 songs already reviewed by GarageBand’s members, musicians registered to the site are gaining a tremendous amount of exposure. GarageBand offers every registered musician the freedom to upload their tracks, have them reviewed by fans and use those reviews to climb to the top of GarargeBand charts. With enough positive reviews, bands and solo artists involved in the community also earn contest entries, so think of it as a bonus.

The Top Ten Underground Philadelphia Bands

We recently searched through phrequency, an affiliate partner of Philly.com, to find the ten hottest up-and-coming underground bands currently performing in the Philadelphia area. Read on to learn more and to find out who made our list.

Three Legged Fox – Winner of the University of Delaware’s 2006 Battle of the Bands, this up-and-coming rock band has shared the stage with recording artists Jeffrey Gaines, SOJA, John Brown’s Body, Ballyhoo and Passafi. Their music is comprised of a unique blend of rock, reggae and alternative roots, and Three Legged Fox has plans of starting their own national tour in support of their second album entitled “Not as Far.” The tour will feature their new hit song, “Soul Thief.”

Fruit Punch – A genuine blend of Ska, Surf, Rock, Punk and Metal, Fruit Punch is a political band from Philly, with members who are unafraid to scratch the surface on some rather “touchy” issues. Their lyrics embrace a dynamic mix of metaphors and sarcasm to express important topics ranging from Human Rights to nuclear apocalypse, backed with a unique sound unlike most rising bands today. Be sure to download their most popular track, entitled “Damage Done.”

Bound by Nothing – This modern rock band promises to deliver music that is beautiful, edgy and original, while remaining appropriate for audiences of all ages. Band members and writers Matt Clarke and Jim Dallett design their lyrics around sensitive topics of love, loss and inner conflict, all of which projected through a fusion of post-hardcore and alternative rock. Bound by Nothing demonstrates their heavy rock side with their hit song “Root,” but remain versatile in their ability to switch gears into power ballad mode.

Showin’ Tell – Showin’ Tell is another modern rock band making their way into the Philly scene, playing several times monthly at the Mazda Rev It Up Tour at the Philadelphia Racetrack, and hosting the monthly Jagermeister Original Music Party. The band’s music is about the excitement of “discovering something new,” which is the cornerstone of the beloved grade school activity that inspired the band’s name. Discover this up-and-coming band for yourself by listening to Showin’ Tell’s hit song, “RockStar.”

The Matt Noffsinger Band – Headed by lead singer and guitar player Matt Noffsinger, the Matt Noffsinger Band is quickly gaining popularity along the Jersey shore tri-state area. The band has adopted a diverse and unique style of classic and modern rock, and Noffsinger has been playing songs like “Set Me Free” up and down the Jersey shore for more than ten years.

Pawnshop Roses – Pawnshop Roses got their big break in 2005 when they were selected out of hundreds of bands by WMMR, a legendary Philly radio station, to open for Velvet Revolver and Hoobastank with their hit song “Fading Out.” Since then, Pawnshop Roses has been working on their first full length album that promises to be full of “heartaches, hangovers and hell fire.”

The Brakes – A genuine rock band at first glance, The Brakes reveal elements of folk, jazz and post-rock in their music, creating a unique sound intertwined with American culture. The band performs memorable songs with insightful lyrics, often switching instruments and trading places during their performance, including hit songs such as “Into the Ground.”

Jon DeLise – Born and raised to a family of classical musicians in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Jon DeLise was surrounded by music his entire life. DeLise wrote, performed and co-produced the hit song, “Two Steps Away,” which was recorded by Patti Labelle and released as a single on her album entitled, “Timeless Journey.” Jon then went on to perform the hit “Hold On” (also known as “The Piano Song”) for The Starting Line.

The Last Call – Originally assembled as a three-piece acoustic cover act, The Last Call put together a band in the spring of 2005 without the presumed need for a bassist and drummer. With the acquisition of talented drummer Chris McLachlan and bass, guitar, drum and vocal extraordinaire Jack Sparks in 2007, The Last Call became the “new sound” in the Philadelphia area, performing songs like “Kids” from their smash hit rock album.

Bojibian – Bojibian consists of band members Stephen Lorek, Niles Weiss, James Scullion and Dylan Mulcahy, who have been playing together for several years despite the fact that none of them are older than age 22. The group’s sound draws from many influences, including pop, post-punk, classic rock, post-grunge, Southern rock and arena rock, and they have been performing hit songs like “Still There” throughout the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, at World Café Live and the North Star Bar in Philadelphia.