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The 5 most abrasive albums of the past 25 years
Monday 12th August 2013 | Daniel
5) U2 – Achtung Baby:
Perhaps not the most caustic entry on this list, but when you start to make comparisons with its predecessor (The Joshua Tree) then you begin to comprehend why this experimental masterpiece might have been considered sonically challenging back in the early nineties. The juxtaposition of The Joshua Tree’s euphorically glimmering guitar chimes set up against Achtung Baby’s Wha-Wha induced guitar riffs and incoherently distorted vocals can be considered breath-taking in itself. The album opens with the representative Zoo Station, which with the guitar soaked in fuzz and a metallic sounding drum beat, you feel as though you’re walking into a rave in East Berlin rather than listening to U2. Bono goes on to exclaim “are you ready?!”; a fitting questing with respects to the new sound of the band, the world could have just as fittingly reacted in bemusement as they did react in approval: the album still sits fittingly besides The Joshua Tree as very arguably the bands greatest achievement.
4) Radiohead – Kid A:
The year is 2000, Tom Yorke is only 31 and Radiohead have already been unanimously hailed as one of the greatest and significant groups of the 20th century. The world is waiting; a follow up to the masterful OK Computer is due and so what course should be taken in even attempting to trump their magnum opos? Turn left! Just as Bob Dylan did back in 1967, when you master a sound; and you’ve taken it as far as you possibly can, you don’t stagnate with the futile attempt at recreation, you endeavour on an entirely new path altogether. Well Radiohead were wise enough to take this route and conceive the avant-gard Kid A. With Jonny Greenwood taking up the Ondes Martenot in replacement of his trusted telecaster, Kid A is arguably the most experimental record ever to experience commercial success.
3) Eminem – The Marshal Mathers LP:
A list regarding abrasive artists simply wouldn’t be complete without arguably the most offensive MC to ever pick up the mic. When Eminem exploded onto the scene with the release of the Slim Shady LP back in 1999, Eminem didn’t just shock, he explicitly outraged. Well the Detroit rapper’s follow-up release The Marshall Mathers LP was no less depraved than what came before it. With production from Dr Dre and Eminem taking Slim Shady to the point of hilarity, The Marshal Mathers LP reveals Em at simultaneously his most sharp and most staggeringly comedic:
Cause if I ever stuck it to any singer in showbiz
It'd be Jennifer Lopez, and Puffy you know this!
I'm sorry Puff, but I don't give a fuck if this chick was my own mother
I still fuck her with no rubber and cum inside her
And have a son and a new brother at the same time
And just say that it ain't mine, what's my name?
2) Kanye West – YEEZUS
West has gone through several significant transformations since the release of 2004’s College Dropout, his breakthrough record was dominated by the very palatable sound of pitch-manipulated soul samples. His first few records were in-keeping with this style, being undoubtedly groundbreaking whilst appearing almost whimsical in their delivery. Well West and his ego have altered intentions in 2013; the sounds of pianos and strings have been replaced by aggressive synths and the familiar sound of a simple snare has given way to the ominous sound of heavy industrial drums. “The monster bout to come alive again” hubristically proclaims ‘Ye on top of a Daft Punk produced beat that sounds more like it was forged in a factory than produced in a studio. Yeezus has its most prominent theme dwelling in the outrageous; repeatedly entwining humorous sexual quips with imagery from the civil rights movement, my certain favorite taking form in “black girl sipping white wine, stick my fist in her like a civil rights sign”.
A mistake the audience repeatedly makes when interpreting West’s work is that his outrageousness is somehow entirely sincere and in no way contrived. Well that’s where the genius is lost in translation, West is completely aware of what he’s doing when he sings a song about an MDMA induced night on top of a sample of Nina Simone belting out a song on the subject of a lynching. This produces the highlight of the album, “Blood on The Leaves” is simply basking in complete and utter perfection. There’s little to be said about the track other than that each successive listen will leave you more hypnotised. The albums not even two months old, time will only tell how significant an impact this artistic achievement will have on the landscape of hip hop.
1) Nirvana - In Utero:
Kurt Cobain never wanted to be famous, I’m sure that being watched and scrutinized by the media was the definition of living hell for Cobain, eventually driving him to commit suicide in 1994. Personally even at their most commercial I don’t think Nirvana could ever be deemed the typicality of what is mainstream. However, following the unthinkable success of their 1991 album Nevermind, the trio sought to make an album so abrasive and antithetical to what could be found in the charts that it would relinquish them from “biggest band in the world” status. The band succeeded in one of their objectives; certainly producing an album with an undeniably harsh sound, but contrary to the best of their intentions they couldn’t prevent the masses from purchasing this abrasive masterpiece. The album reached number one even with a song entitled “Rape me” on the track listing.
Daniel Zartz
