Magnet Magazine's Top 60 Albums, 1993-2003

dropsonde

dropsonde

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While doing some deep-cleaning, I came across a photocopy of an old article from Magnet Magazine -- the Philly-based indie/underground/experimental music magazine -- covering its top 60 albums of the decade from 1993-2003. Why from 1993? That's when the magazine was founded. Definitely arbitrary but on closer examination it's an interesting cross-section of indie rock music history spanning from the end of Nirvana to the formation of The Black Keys.

Their list is an interesting read 17 years later. As far as I can tell this article isn't published or available online so I thought it would be fun to post scans of the pages in a countdown format for discussion and debate. What memories do these albums trigger? Which ones would you move higher or lower on your own list? Comments about the writers' blurbs for the albums?

I'll kick things off by posting the first page covering albums 60 through 56. It's a coin flip to pick whether Mass Romantic or Electric Version is my favorite The New Pornographers album. But I think I discovered them through Electric Version. What a great album -- the hooks, the harmonies, the energy, the lyrical quirkiness -- a power-pop classic. It would be hard for me not to move this higher on my top 60 list.

Magnet-top-60-01.JPG
 
Wow, I feel sort of special. I own the first 5. A friend always bought Magnet, often had some good interviews and I bought a few things based on their review. I think they hipped me to Pizzacato 5 or 5ive Style (or both)
 
I’ve got three of the five (no Jon Spencer or Grifters). Shins and New Pornographers aren’t surprising picks but Shellac and Grifters were inspired choices. Both are really great albums (and both from ‘94, right?) but not ones you’d see on your typical best-of-the-decade list. That sentence in the Grifters blurb about the “Captain Beefheart blooze,” “krautrock distortodelica,” “hairy-palmed Pavement fanboy,” etc had me LOLing.
 
whatwhatsaywhat said:
does magnet still exist? when i worked at a borders in the early 00s i used to read it cover to cover - it was a good read
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Not sure! Still exists as a Web entity And the writing looks current but not sure about print. The Breeders cover on the main Web page looks dated back to All Nerve so have my doubts.
 
Gotcha. Orange is a better all around album than Extra Width (1993 so maybe on the list as well), but EW has Afro which I think is his best song. All the swagger of Bell Bottoms but 10x the scuzziness
 
Not sure I'm with you guys on preferring Orange over Extra Width. Both are awesome but Extra Width's ragged edges speak to me more. Love "Afro" but my top two may be "Back Slider" and "Train #2."

JSBE is more interesting to me than a Black Keys or White Stripes. Big fan of Spencer’s Heavy Trash too -- any love?
 
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when the white stripes first emerged - or, really, when i first heard them on "de stijl" - i thought they were going to be the new jsbx

basically, a cult band that people loved that never really 'went' anywhere

got that one wrong!

black keys were always much hookier, and got progressively more approachable with each release - it was no surprise that they were able to churn out the sync'd hits
 
JSBX was one of the loudest gigs I’ve ever been to - uncomfortable even with earplugs. Now I Got Worry was my entry point, so it’s probably my favourite.

Stupidly, I missed the chance to see Heavy Trash in a small club. A friend was visiting and we were having a drink in the bar. Totally surprised when Jon walked past, and realised that HT were playing. Rather than jumping in to see the band I just bought my friend a 7” from the Merch then went home. Should have went.
 
Thackeraye said:
JSBX was one of the loudest gigs I’ve ever been to - uncomfortable even with earplugs. Now I Got Worry was my entry point, so it’s probably my favourite.

Stupidly, I missed the chance to see Heavy Trash in a small club. A friend was visiting and we were having a drink in the bar. Totally surprised when Jon walked past, and realised that HT were playing. Rather than jumping in to see the band I just bought my friend a 7” from the Merch then went home. Should have went.
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That’s a painful “if-only”!

Would have loved to have seen any of the Spencer projects live, especially JSBE in the mid-90s.
 
dropsonde said:
That’s a painful “if-only”!

Would have loved to have seen any of the Spencer projects live, especially JSBE in the mid-90s.
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Saw them on the Acme tour, and the tour around their most recent album - that was the loud one. I think they will be one of those bands that will always have "it", if you know what I mean, time hadn't dulled them. If we are able to go to gigs again and they come your way I'd recommend seeing them.
 
Thackeraye said:
Saw them on the Acme tour, and the tour around their most recent album - that was the loud one. I think they will be one of those bands that will always have "it", if you know what I mean, time hadn't dulled them. If we are able to go to gigs again and they come your way I'd recommend seeing them.
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Definitely hear you, no pun intended. There are some bands that experiencing live takes your appreciation to a whole new level. Sad that we have to consider a possibility of no more gigs!

Clearly I need to add at least Extra Width and Orange to the collection. Any pressings worth picking up? A quick Discogs search shows a lot of mixed feedback. Early- to mid-90s pressings are a crapshoot as the industry pivoted to CD.
 
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