Yes
The Cranberries are a Top50 band in History
- Thread starter Crannadict
- Start date
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
Would rather be cran buried, ta
The problem is that you were born 15 years too late to really know what music actually mattered in the 90s. You have a retrospective view based on musical tastes that were formed after the event and were not part of the cultural context within which the music existed at the time. You were “not there, man.” You have no gut feel for how bands did or didn’t infiltrate the cultural consciousness.
I was the exact age when music matters most during the 90s — 13 when they started and 23 when they ended. Some music really mattered at the time and was really part of the collective zeitgeist. It wasn’t necessarily the best music, it wasn’t necessarily music that still gets played, it wasn’t necessarily the music that in retrospect I think was that great. It wasn’t even necessarily the music that sold the most at the time. Unless you were off the age in the place, you can’t judge it.
I was the exact age when music matters most during the 90s — 13 when they started and 23 when they ended. Some music really mattered at the time and was really part of the collective zeitgeist. It wasn’t necessarily the best music, it wasn’t necessarily music that still gets played, it wasn’t necessarily the music that in retrospect I think was that great. It wasn’t even necessarily the music that sold the most at the time. Unless you were off the age in the place, you can’t judge it.
That's a very odd view of history - can someone only judge what was important if they experienced it 'live'? You can judge only what mattered to you, your peer group and the media you were exposed to and your view of what mattered is, of course ,still being influenced by what we collectively remember about the 90s. Someone who spent the 90s dancing in fields round the M25 would necessarily have a different view of things to someone who only listened to what was playing on Radio 1 during the day.
Yes, in terms of thing’s cultural resonance on lived experience. You can make all kinds of aesthetic and cold judgements after the event but the only way to understand the experience is to live the experience. It’s a subjective understanding that derives from a cultural subjectification, that can’t be understood from a third-person perspective. The evidence of this is precisely in Cranadict’s stance that this band had some huge importance in the cultural backdrop, in stark contrast to everybody that was actually there at the time, who are saying, “er, wot?”
Exactly. You can only judge what mattered to you and your peer group at the time. It’s situated temporally and geographically. There’s no objective position from which one can look from the outside. I would equally be making the argument against somebody saying that Nirvana mattered to everyone just because it mattered to them. But Cranadict has gone even further than that, and judged the whole of an era without even being within that generation at all. Whatever the specifics of different subcultures, 90s music was made by Gen X for Gen X. A millennial can’t come along after the fact and understand the resonance of that. (Then we have the bit I haven’t even got to yet, which are the geographical and subculture elements, because I don’t want to overcomplicate the point).
I barely remember the Cranberries, but I guess they did have a big cultural impact at the time. They were and are huge just from a glance at the figures. Surely that's not just zoomers rediscovering 90's rock. That I neither get it or remember it doesn't meant that it wasn't significant for a swathe of the population.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
They're big among people who use Spotify anyway
Other truly massive sellers included Dido, James Blunt and David Grey. Everybody needs a few albums they can stick on in the background whilst they chat.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
I'd be interested to see what people listened to / had inflicted on them when they were out in the 90s. But I don't suppose any jukebox stats or club playlists will ever be forthcoming from that time.
And youtube if you want to check. If I can be bothered I'll check their sales. Objectively they're massive.
I find them bland but they're not really background music. Dolores isn't a singer you'd want in the background and a song like Zombie is pretty in your face.
I’m not sure what you’re trying to claim here. Is the point that they had a massive cultural impact at the time or that they have one today? If it’s the former then the number of listens they get 25 years later is irrelevant. If it’s the latter then I’m going to take more convincing than being given YouTube numbers to think that The Cranberries have ongoing influence today. If anything, it’s a clear example that YouTube numbers are a bad indicator of actual real-world influence!
In the background is exactly where I mostly heard the Cranberries in the 90s. They are excellent background music. Until this thread, it never really crossed my mind that anybody would view them differently.
seeformiles
Lost in the wood
They’re no Hawkwind though.
seeformiles
Lost in the wood
How about some Strawberries for a change?
Of course they had a massive cultural impact at the time. You and I just ignored it. I doubt they had any lasting influence but I don't doubt they were important to a lot of people at the time. Same with all the brit pop bands. Bland rock/pop that people were into at the time and then they got bored and it stopped but there's still the nostalgia following.
I'm trying to think of big impact rock bands with lasting influence from the time. There's Nirvana and arguably The Pixies of course and a bit more niche, Nine Inch Nails. That's about it isn't it?
Fwiw I was listening to Doctor Nerve and Ground Zero at the time. Something like Pearl Jam was toe curlingingly plain, populist and non descript for me. But the more mature me recognises that there's real skill making music that people generally like and find easy to listen to. The more lightweight side of things can still have big cultural impact and it's no use looking down your nose at it.
And "in your head"....
It's a rainy day, sunshine girl
Or
It's a rainy day, sunshine cow
Depending on how you put the accents. The ping ying is ambiguous.
And yet Dolores's voice is still present in millions and millions of people, that you decided to listen to The Cranberries in the background or ignore them does not mean that the rest did.
Assume reality, that The Cranberries are a mythical band from the 90s, a great band that you decided to ignore and from which you have never heard a complete album. A band that you classified as anodyne without ever having been given the opportunity, and that now you try to make us believe that it is not a great band of its time because "I listened to other things"
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
This self's experience was that they seemed to be on the radio all the time, along with The 4 of Us, The Stunning, and to a lesser extent, bands like Something Happens. Was more into Whipping Boy, when it comes to the homegrown stuff. But, yeah, in terms of the first C*********s album, can't really fault it.
Most international stuff we listened to in the 90s was a real mixed bag. Dance/reggae/global/ambient/rock and much more.
No one band/artists was better than any other, although we'd all argue our favourites. Until, y'know, it didn't really matter anymore.
It mattered much more in the 80s when we were younger and put posters on the walls of our bedrooms and might have had less eclectic tastes. Which is what's teens do. And fair enough.
Most international stuff we listened to in the 90s was a real mixed bag. Dance/reggae/global/ambient/rock and much more.
No one band/artists was better than any other, although we'd all argue our favourites. Until, y'know, it didn't really matter anymore.
It mattered much more in the 80s when we were younger and put posters on the walls of our bedrooms and might have had less eclectic tastes. Which is what's teens do. And fair enough.
hitmouse
so defeated, thinks it's funny
I think this is why I never got into them, I only really like bands that can be proven to have existed myself.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Like ruddy yurts, dog on a rope and erase today
krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
Yeah, it's a bit hit and myth, really
Explain that
editor
hiraethified
Can you stop going on and on and on about this fucking band that the majority of people on this forum don't give a flying fuck about? Thanks.
hitmouse
so defeated, thinks it's funny
It's a tricky question tbf - who does sing worse out of Pulp or Pulp?
Similar threads
