Over what will likely be the next few years I’m going to be ranking and reviewing the top 5 albums - plus a fair few extras - according to users on rateyourmusic.com (think IMDB for music) from every year from 1960 to the present. If you want to know more, I wrote an introduction to the ‘challenge’ here. You can also read all the other entries I’ve written so far by heading to the lovely index page here.

Here we are in 1998, the the penultimate year of the 90s. Besides containing France 98, the first World Cup I can remember, it’s also the year that: the Kosovo War broke out, the Good Friday Accord was reached in Northern Ireland, members of the EU agreed on a single currency, and President Clinton got himself into bother with that whole affair scandal. Also, the Game Boy Color was released (it pains me to write colour like that).

But onto the music. Here’s a list of what rateyourmusic.com users think were the top five albums of the year:

#1 Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
#2 OutKast - Aquemini
#3 Massive Attack - Mezzanine
#4 Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
#5 Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

And I’ll grab this lot from further down:
#6 Duster - Stratosphere
#7 Elliott Smith - XO
#8 Gang Starr - Moment of Truth
#16 Refused - The Shape of punk to Come
#18 Silver Jews - American Water
#21 PJ Harvey - Is This Desire?

And from NPR’s best female albums of all time list, a couple are already represented above, but I’ll also grab Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel, and Cat Power - Moon Pix.

Let’s go

“From the Choirgirl Hotel is the fourth studio album by American musician Tori Amos. In contrast with the sparse, minimalist sound of Amos's previous albums, From the Choirgirl Hotel features a greater emphasis on full band arrangements. Additionally, the album sees Amos integrate elements of electronica, trip hop, and dance music.

From the Choirgirl Hotel was commercially and critically successful. It peaked at number 5 in the US, becoming Amos's second straight top ten album in her home country, and reached number 6 in the UK. "Spark", the album's lead single, reached number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100, her highest position on the chart.” - Wikipedia

From the Choirgirl Hotel’s productions are packed to the rafters, but the song writing at its core isn’t as consistent or interesting as her previous records we’ve had on this challenge. There are undoubted bright spots like the masterful Jackie’s Strength, which brilliantly conveys an empathy with Jackie Kennedy following her husband’s brutal assassination. It’s haunting, perfectly performed, and sticks with you more than any of the other tracks. The opener Spark is another highlight, with Amos’ ghostly vocal, conveying another fantastic chorus as Amos’ sings of her denial of a recent miscarriage ‘you say you don’t want it, again and again, but you don’t really mean it’ as the piano cries along. There are other strong moments, Cruel and liee for example, and the high moments really are high, but there’s a few too many tracks that don’t do much for me, blending into the background and meaning I can’t quite call the album great - only good.

Song Picks Spark, Jackie’s Strength, Cruel

6.5/10

“XO is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith and Smith's first solo album on a major record label. XO was well received by critics upon its release. Mark Richardson of Pitchfork wrote, "Smith's songwriting continues to improve, as each of [the album's] fourteen tracks displays his inarguable mastery of the pop song structure more clearly than ever." - Wikipedia

Another great indie-pop album from Smith, who continues to up the production around his efficient songwriting. Smith knows how to craft effective pop-songs, and the productions tastefully add to his knack for evocative melodies. There’s also enough variation in the instrumentation to take it well above the average ‘singer songwriter with a band’ album, and though it loses some its intimacy when compared to earlier, less busy recordings, there’s still plenty of space, and the instrumental melodies play well with Smith’s. It’s one of those albums that pretty much anyone can enjoy; doing what it does with a seasoned maturity, while never being particularly challenging.

Song Picks: Bled White; Waltz, No. 2; Baby Britain

8/10

“Stratosphere is the debut studio album by American slowcore band Duster. In the years following its release, Stratosphere developed a cult following among online message boards.The album has since been cited as an influence on artists and bands such as Ricky Eat Acid, Peaer, Girlpool, Hovvdy, Ovlov, and Alex G.” - Wikipedia

It all unfolds at a tempo reminiscent of someone who woke up 5 minutes ago, and grabbed the guitar by their bedside. The fuzzy strums, the barely audible mumbles, the lazy melodies. It’s impossible not to be lulled into its relaxing and gently evocative mood within the first few songs, and I always find myself doing everything just that little more slowly and presently for many hours after its final notes.

Song Picks: Topical Solution, Heading for the Door, Gold Dust, Stratosphere

8/10

“Moon Pix is the fourth album by Cat Power, the stage name and eponymous band of American singer-songwriter, Chan Marshall. Much of the album was written in a single night, following a hallucinatory nightmare Marshall experienced while staying at a farmhouse in South Carolina. Prior to that, Marshall had intended to retire from music. Released to modest acclaim, the album has since been described as Cat Power's "magnum opus" and "one of the Nineties great singer/songwriter triumphs." In 2022, it was ranked at number 66 in Pitchfork's "The 150 Best Albums of the 1990s" list.

Marshall woke from her nightmare, and daren’t fall back to sleep, so she went into another room of the barn she was staying in, and played her guitar to a tape-recorder for 60 minutes. Or so the story goes. Though the recordings here aren’t the ones from that tape recorder but more professionally produced ones, the integrity of the originals seems to have been kept. These arrangements are incredibly sparse - often involving a slowly picked guitar changing between two chords for the duration. When Mick Turner and Jim White join in on bass and drums on tracks like Moonshiner - it’s done in a way that gently seasons Marshall’s central guitar and vocals, rather than overdoing it. Moon Pix sounds like we’ve stumbled into that barn, and Marshall is singing to herself - oblivious to our presence. It’s an album that sounds like dark nights I’ve spent unburdening my own soul to the sound of my guitar, just a whole lot better.

Song Picks: Moonshiner, American Flag, Colour and the Kids

8.5/10

“Mezzanine is the third studio album by English electronic music group Massive Attack. For the album, the group began to explore a darker aesthetic, and focused on a more atmospheric style influenced by British post-punk, industrial music, hip hop and dub music. Mezzanine topped the charts in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand, becoming the group's most commercially successful album to date. It has appeared on multiple "best albums" lists, and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s.” - Wikipedia

I’m not sure there’s a more low-key iconic start to an album than the bass rumble and taps that open Angel. Mezzanine is a walk down a corridor in the future, from the known to the unknown. You’ve been sent by the world, to save the world. You’re probably carrying an array of futuristic laser weaponry, and you’ve no idea what awaits, at some point - around when the sublime vocal on Teardrop comes in, everything disintegrates and you’re just floating through nothingness. And it’s glorious.

Seriously though, Mezzanine is a dark, brooding, unforgettable album; a perfect example of how an album can be a mood piece, while still containing tracks that are iconic in their own right.

Song Picks: Angel, Teardrop, Mezzanine

8.5/10

“Is This Desire? is the fourth studio album by English musician PJ Harvey. It marked a move away from Harvey's earlier guitar-driven rock style into subtler, quieter, atmospheric soundscapes and mood pieces based around keyboards, bass and electronics.” - Wikipedia

I’ve read some criticism of Flood’s production on this, but I disagree. It’s heavily compressed and electronic sounding, but I think that blends really well with Harvey’s vocals on this one, creating a stark and somewhat industrial atmosphere underneath her very un-industrial vocals. It’s all wonderfully bleak, and there’s a slight Radiohead feel to it - if less complex. It’s the tracks where Flood’s production choices are perhaps the most extreme that I like the best. For example, on My Beautiful Leah, where Flood distorts the bass to within an inch of its life, so its left struggling to splutter out the death march it plays. On A Perfect Day Elise, where the heavier-than-lead riff both manages to sound like its coming out of a tin can and stratospheric at the same time. When Harvey sings the song’s perfect chorus the whole thing sounds utterly humongous, setting us up wonderfully for her going full Nick Cave on the comparatively gentle, Catherine and Electric Light. On perhaps the album’s most maligned track, Joy, the lead instrument is so crushed it’s hard to tell what it is. Distorted bass? Guitar? Piano? Who cares? Whatever it is I think it sounds glorious - marching along as Harvey howls above it creating a tapestry that sounds like liquid catharsis. I think Is this Desire? is yet another glorious album from one of the most consistent artists of the decade.

Song Picks: A Perfect Day Elise, Joy, My Beautiful Leah

9/10

“The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts, often shortened to The Shape of Punk to Come, is the third album by Swedish hardcore punk band Refused. Although Refused broke up only months after the album's release, The Shape of Punk to Come has since found an audience for the band and largely contributed to their posthumous fame, as well as inspiring many later artists in a wide range of genres. Kerrang! magazine listed The Shape of Punk to Come at #13 on their 50 Most Influential Albums of All Time list in 2003.

This album marked a sharp and conscious departure from Refused's earlier work. The philosophy of the album was that punk and hardcore music could not be anti-establishment by continuing to package revolutionary lyrics in sounds which had been increasingly co-opted into the mainstream. The sound of the record challenged existing punk sensibilities.” - Wikipedia

The Shape of Punk to Come was as prophetic as its title suggested, influencing many of the hardcore punk bands we still see today, so much so that it still sounds fresh in 2024. Swirling from riff to riff as Lyxzén sounds like he’s ripping his throat out, TSoPtC is notable for its abandoning of the ‘3 chords and the truth’ approach that many earlier punk bands took, instead crafting songs with great rhythmic complexity, aided by Sandström’s great, off-beat but clockwork, drumming which makes those riffs hit harder when he sets into a standard 4/4 groove (see the brilliant Refused are Fucking Dead). The Shape of Punk to Come keeps you on your toes, focusing as much on innovative musical parts as anti-establishment lyrics. in an album that contains a whole heap of the decade’s most bouncy and crushing riffs.

Song Picks: Refused are Fucking Dead, New Noise, Summerholidays vs Punkroutine

9/10

“Moment of Truth is the fifth studio album by American hip hop duo Gang Starr. It is widely regarded as Gang Starr's magnum opus, and one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

In a year where we have two hip-hop albums teetering close to the 80 minute mark they both somehow don’t overstay their welcome. Moment of Truth is relentlessly smooth, and the beats remind me of Nas’ Illmatic (the highest compliment that can be paid to a hip-hop album) in the way they put a pep in my step whenever I put the album on. DJ Premier’s productions are not as varied, or indeed as interesting as Outkast’s in the other lengthy hip-hop release this year, but they are so infectious it barely matters. Blend this with Guru’s (and his guests’) gliding vocals, and the album provides one of the chillest, most enjoyable hip-hop albums I’ve ever experienced. The title track deserves a particular shoutout for being absolutely heavenly.

Song Picks: Work, Above the Clouds, Moment of Truth, B.I. vs Friendship

9/10

“Aquemini is the third studio album by the American hip hop duo Outkast. The title is a portmanteau of the two performers' Zodiac signs: Aquarius (Big Boi) and Gemini (André 3000), which is indicative of the album's recurring theme of the differing personalities of the two members. Aquemini expands on the previous record's outer space-inspired compositions by incorporating live instrumentation and drawing on 1970s funk, southern soul, gospel, country, psychedelic rock, and other influences.

Aquemini has gone on to be considered one of the greatest hip hop albums ever made, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked the album number 500 on its list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In a 2020 updated list, it was moved up to number 49.” - Wikipedia

An endless rotation of session musicians helps to create one of the most musically interesting hip-hop albums ever created. That spacey sound on Da Art of Storytelling’ (Pt.1), the funky strummed guitar on the infectious Rosa Parks, I could list all the interesting instrumental touches here that add to the album’s rich tapestry, but we’d be here all day. Safe to say pretty much every song sucks you in with a fresh sound. The rapping ain’t bad either - bouncy flows, energy, diverse topics - but it’s the superlative beats that elevate the album to greatness.

Song Picks: Return of the “G”, Rosa Parks, Skew it on the Bar-B, Synthesizer, Da Art of Storytellin’ (Pt. 1), Liberation

9/10

4. Music Has the Right to Children

Boards of Canada

“Music Has the Right to Children is the debut studio album by Scottish electronic music duo Boards of Canada. The album continued their distinctive style of electronica, featuring vintage synthesisers, degraded analogue production, found sounds and samples, and hip hop-inspired rhythms that had been featured on their first two EPs. The album received critical acclaim upon its release, and has since been acknowledged as a landmark work in electronic music, going on to inspire a variety of subsequent artists. It has been included on various best-ever lists by publications such as Pitchfork and Mojo.” - Wikipedia

As this Pitchfork review so eloquently says, nothing on Music Has the Right to Children is completely new, but the way it’s all combined is. The sound palette is cohesive, they’re not introducing 33 new sounds every track like many electronic albums, and yet the creativity within this palette is immense. The delicate layers of Sixtyten and An Eagle in Your Mind are great examples of the way Boards of Canada know exactly how to fill the gaps, and which gaps to leave, whether that be in time or in the frequency spectrum. The way that bouncy bass, sandy snare, and conga like rat-a-tat-tat play off each other on Sixtyten is nothing short of majestic, and magical moments like that are spread throughout the album, and interspersed with textures so lush the whole thing feels like the musical equivalent of rolling around in the finest silk bedding. Music Has the Right... is one of those albums that it’s very difficult to find any fault with, it’s the most intricately woven journey, and yet one that has a seductive simplicity.

Song Picks: Bocuma, An Eagle In Your Mind, Rue the Whirl, Aquarius, Pete Standing Alone

9.5/10

3. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill

“The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo studio album by American rapper and singer Lauryn Hill. Recorded after the Fugees embarked on a hiatus, the album was almost entirely written and produced by Hill. It is a concept album about learning love, with lyrical themes encompassing relationship complexities, interpersonal conflicts, motherhood, and faith. Predominantly a neo soul and R&B record, it incorporates genres such as hip hop, reggae, and soul.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was met with unanimous critical acclaim and became one of the most acclaimed albums of 1998, with most praise directed towards Hill's presentation of a woman's view on life and love, and her artistic range. A substantial commercial success, the album debuted atop the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 422,000 copies, largest for a female artist at the time. At the 41st Annual Grammy Awards (1999), it won Album of the Year and Best R&B Album, while Hill broke records for most nominations and wins in a single ceremony for a woman. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is among the best-selling albums of all time. Despite its immense success and achievements, it remains Hill's sole studio album.” - Wikipedia

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the perfect example of that late 90s pop-sound. Hill’s vocals are consistently superb, and show a range both melodically and stylistically that many of her contemporaries could only wish for. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill has the soul and personality that many other 90s pop seemed to lack, as a kind of clean sound was seemingly prioritised above all else, and the genre became increasingly formulaic (I’m looking at you Steps, All-Saints and S-Club 7). It’s not that the production isn’t clean here, it is, but it’s also interesting, layered and rich. You’re continuously kept on your toes, both because things slide effortlessly between influences (see unexpected reggae number Forgive them Father), but also because the infectious energy demands you get off your heels and bop-around. I’ve not heard many people drop the Stevie Wonder comparison, but I think it feels apt here, with the added dimension that Hill can rap with attitude. Basically, she’s very, very good.

Song Picks: Lost Ones, Forgive them Father, Every Ghetto, Every City; Everything is Everything

9.5/10

“American Water is the third studio album by indie rock group Silver Jews. Berman was struggling with drug addiction during the recording of the album. Lyrically, this is expressed in a sense of solidarity with the downtrodden. He described the album's sessions saying "I was taking a lot of drugs at that time. And there were a lot of drugs in the studio. And all these things that would have horrified indie rock people, that I would never want them to know. I wanted to make a record that wasn't some terrible, big, painful experience. I wanted to make records like other people make records, where you're having fun when you're doing it." - Wikipedia

Berman was apparently somewhat of an obsessive when it came to his lyrics, rewriting and crafting them endlessly until he was happy with them. In some ways it shows, this album is lyrically superb, but in other ways they seem more spontaneous than that makes them seem. There are endless lines on this album that I adore, and the almost spoken, and yet still melodic way that Berman delivers aids in their poetry.

Here’s a few:

“In 1984, I was hospitalized for approaching perfection/Slowing screwing my way across Europe, they had to make a correction.”

“I see you gracefully swimming with the country club women
In the Greenwood South Side Society Pool.
I love your amethyst eyes and your Protestant thighs.
You’re a shimmering socialite jewel.”

“Broken and smoking where the infrared deer plunge in the digital snake.
I tell you, they make it so you can’t shake hands
When they make your hands shake.”

“Is the problem that we can’t see, or is it that the problem is beautiful to me?”

“My ski vest has buttons like convenience store mirrors
and they help me see, that everything in this room right now is a part of me.”

“We’ve been raised on replicas. Fake and winding roads. and day after day upon this beautiful stage. We’ve been playing tambourine for minimum wage. But we are real.”

Ok that’s enough. But it’s not just Berman’s lyrics and his delivery, it’s the instrumentation too, which rather perfectly matches their tone while simultaneously making some songs catchy when they really have no right to be. American Water is so laid back, it literally demands no attention, and yet you can’t help but give it your full attention because it’s that good. It’s that kid in the corner who says nothing, and yet you just know they’re the most interesting person in the room.

Song Picks: Random Rules, Smith and Jones Forever, Night Society, Federal Dust

9.5

1. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Neutral Milk Hotel

“In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the second and final studio album by the American band Neutral Milk Hotel. The album is predominantly indie rock and psychedelic folk and is characterized by an intentionally low-quality sound. Traditional indie rock instruments like the guitar and drums are paired with less conventional instruments like the singing saw and uilleann pipes. The lyrics are surrealistic and opaque, exploring themes that range from nostalgia to love. An important influence for the album was The Diary of a Young Girl, a book of writings from the diary of Anne Frank.

Contemporary reviews were moderately positive; over time, however, the album developed a cult following. This negatively affected Mangum, whose mental health began to deteriorate; as a result, he withdrew from touring, and Neutral Milk Hotel went on hiatus shortly after. In the years since its release, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea has been described by music journalists as both a landmark album for indie rock and as one of the best albums of the 1990s and its critical standing has risen considerably.” - Wikipedia

Absolutely one of the best albums of the decade, Mangum’s vocals are consistently sublime, carrying emotional melodies while seemingly showing very little restraint - every song is sung as if it’s his last. The production is deliberately rough and over-compressed - leading to an iconic acoustic guitar sound in particular - but I wouldn’t call it lo-fi necessarily. What it does really well is keep the emphasis on Mangum’s vocals, almost sounding like a (very good and raucous) AI band following him as he expresses himself spontaneously. I’ve already gone on about Mangum’s vocals, but I need to go on about them some more; his lyrics are ‘opaque’ as Wikipedia notes, but they’re also friggin’ beautiful. Every listen I notice another line and go ‘now that’s a line and a half’. I don’t use this word often, but I think this album is vocally, both lyrically and performance-wise, perfect. I find both the expression and words riveting on every listen. Mangum makes tracks like Two-Headed-Boy sound bigger than the most intense Hans Zimmer score, using only a very harshly played acoustic guitar and his voice. He’s a magician, and this is his prestige. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is sprawling and fuzzy enough for anyone to relate to, and I think it’s one of those masterpieces that will mean so many different things to so many people. To me it’s just a gorgeous and confident expression of being, and what can be more beautiful than that?

Song Picks: King of Carrot Flowers Pt1 & 2, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Two-Headed Boy

10/10