top 12 songs of 1991

[BookerT]

a few great ones came on my shuffle, so i assembled this rather quickly and pretty much only with stuff that's in my itunes, so i'm sure some are missing. good year for tunes! yours? i know someone will probably throw "only shallow" on there, but eh.
 
 1. girlfriend -- matthew sweet
 2. drain you -- nirvana
 3. dalliance -- the wedding present
 4. valerie loves me -- material issue
 5. the freed pig -- sebadoh
 6. debris slide -- pavement
 7. seed toss -- superchunk
 8. the concept -- teenage fanclub
 9. cherry cream on -- unrest
 10. gun -- uncle tupelo
 11. by tomorrow -- black tambourine
 12. u-mass -- the pixies

[bearman🐻]

I think My Bloody Valentine's Loveless LP can safely take up most of those, but good golly there was a TON of great music in 1991. I still think the Pixies' Trompe le Monde is their most underrated LP. I'm a sucker for all the shoegazey stuff that came out that year too: Ride's "Today Forever" EP, Chapterhouse, not to mention Electronic's first LP (a classic). And then of course the song "East Easy Rider" by Julian Cope.

[HoyaSaxa03]

just from my itunes:
 
 A Tribe Called Quest:  "Scenario"
 Billy Bragg:  "You Woke Up My Neighborhood"
 Del tha Funkee Homosapien:  "Dr. Bombay"
 Guns N' Roses:  "November Rain"
 Massive Attack:  "Safe From Harm"
 Matthew Sweet:  "Girlfriend"
 My Bloody Valentine:  "When You Sleep"
 Nirvana:  "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "In Bloom", "Come As You Are"
 Pearl Jam:  "Alive"
 Phish:  "Split Open and Melt"
 The Pixies:  "Head On" (who cares if it's a cover)
 REM:  "Near Wild Heaven"
 Red Hot Chili Peppers:  "Give It Away"
 Sebadoh:  "Violet Execution"
 Slint:  "Spiderland" (I can't choose one song off that album)
 Superchunk:  "Throwing Things", "Seed Toss"
 Teenage Fanclub:  "Star Signs"
 Tom Petty:  "Learning to Fly"
 U2:  "Mysterious Ways"
 Uncle Tupelo:  "Gun"

[ggw]

I would add 1952 Vincent Black Lightning by Richard Thompson
 
 And something off of "God Fodder" - either Grey Cell Green or Kill Your Television......or Throwing Things or Happy

[thingsfallapart]

Primal Scream "Loaded"

[Lazer Guided Melodies]

Or what about Nothing Like or Until You Find Out from God Fodder

[vansmack]

Originally posted by BookerT:
  a few great ones came on my shuffle, so i assembled this rather quickly and pretty much only with stuff that's in my itunes, so i'm sure some are missing. good year for tunes! yours? i know someone will probably throw "only shallow" on there, but eh.
 
 1. girlfriend -- matthew sweet
 2. drain you -- nirvana
 3. dalliance -- the wedding present
 4. valerie loves me -- material issue
 5. the freed pig -- sebadoh
 6. debris slide -- pavement
 7. seed toss -- superchunk
 8. the concept -- teenage fanclub
 9. cherry cream on -- unrest
 10. gun -- uncle tupelo
 11. by tomorrow -- black tambourine
 12. u-mass -- the pixies

Hindsight is so 20-20, because you know back in 1991, your real top 12 was....
 
 1. R.E.M. - Losing My Religion
 2. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit  
 3. Jesus Jones - Right Here, Right Now
 4. EMF - Unbelievable
 5. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Kiss Them for Me
 6. Right Said Fred - I'm too sexy (might have been #1 for you)
 7. Seal - Crazy
 8. Big Audio Dynamite II - Rush
 9. U2 - Mysterious Ways
 10. School of Fish - Three Strange Days
 11. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give it Away
 12. The Divinyls - I Touch Myself
 
 Honorable Mentions: Blur - There's no Other Way, Public Enemy w/ Anthrax - Bring the Noize, The La's - There She Goes, The Farm - All Together Now, Violent Femmes - American Music, Nine Inch Nails - Down in It, Smashing Pumpkins - Rhinocerous, Primus - Jerry Was a Racecar Driver, Pearl Jam - Alive, everything else off of Aughtung Baby, Out of Time, and Nevermind.

[Lazer Guided Melodies]

School of Fish:  Three Strange Days.  I have not heard that in years.  Nice one.

[vansmack]

Originally posted by Lazer Guided Melodies:
   Nice one.

All Credit to my up bringing:
 
 KROQ in LA
 
 91 X in San Diego

[BookerT]

Originally posted by vansmack:
  Hindsight is so 20-20

well duh, that's the whole point of the exercise. i probably didn't even know what the word hindsight meant in 1991. vansmack's list is like most episode's of "the alternative" on vh1 classic. they play "kiss them for me" and "three strange days" ALL THE TIME. "three strange days" is a pretty excellent song, though, and "rush" probably was my actual favorite in 1991. interesting year for "alternative" music since there was the end of the pre-grunge/college rock stuff, the onset of grunge, the rise of lo-fi indie rock, the arguable peak of shoegaze, etc.

[thirsty moore]

Three Strange Days.  I haven't even thought of that song for at least 10 years.

[Venerable Bede]

Originally posted by econo:
  Three Strange Days.  I haven't even thought of that song for at least 10 years.

east coaster.