# Best Pazz & Jop Critics Poll Album 1991 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2014, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037 "2014-12-12T16:19:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/1 "2014-12-12T16:19:07Z")
A return to form after the disappointing '90 list. No doubt the #1 pick on the list will win the poll, but it would only be 5th or 6th on my personal list. _Out Of Time_ has held up surprisingly well (aside from 2 tracks that were obvious boners even at the time), and the Mekons once again get screwed by being in the company of so many acknowledged classics (as does Matthew Sweet), but for me, the year belongs to My Bloody Valentine, who were arguably as influential as Nirvana - in any case, they influenced much better bands than Nirvana did. Happy voting. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/2 "2014-12-12T16:47:48Z")
No question for me: “Loveless.” But a good number of worthy contenders here. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/3 "2014-12-12T17:00:33Z")
_Achtung Baby_ is my favorite U2 album, and a much more interesting/diverse collection of songs than _Joshua Tree_. Gets my vote. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/4 "2014-12-12T17:11:07Z")
Yeah, wow. Will likely vote for Nirvana because Nirvana. I was never caught up in their impact, but see it all around me in the rock world to this day. The others on this list, like Loveless, Achtung Baby, Out of Time (not my REM, but respect it’s impact and durability), Metallica, etc… ETA: can I just say I love the song Girlfriend by Matthew Sweet? Really has stuck with me. Fun to play, too - I do a Stones/Crowes-y version in Open G tuning… ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/5 "2014-12-12T17:21:14Z")
Lloyd Cole, Robert Quine, Richard Lloyd, Ivan Julian - _Girlfriend_ is a great guitar album. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/6 "2014-12-12T17:38:41Z")
I’ll skip voting for “Out of Time” because I can (and will) vote for the superior overall “Automatic For The People” in the 1992 poll. “Achtung Baby” would have gotten my vote in weaker years (like 1990) but there’s just too much competition here. I’m not voting for “Metallica” for what is probably a stupid reason - the fact their previous three albums, all better than this one, failed to hit the top 15, so why vote here? Nirvana is, well, Nirvana, and certainly could get my vote. But I am going a different direction. Richard Thompson gets my vote here. “Rumour and Sigh” is a masterpiece. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/7 "2014-12-12T18:05:02Z")
“Rumour and Sigh”, because of **1952 Vincent Black Lightning**. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/8 "2014-12-12T18:12:30Z")
Richard Thompson. A pretty flawless album and I’ve felt a little guilty about not voting for him in some of those earlier polls ;). ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/9 "2014-12-12T18:31:35Z")
I voted for U2 in 1987, and have voted for their songs on the Alternative Charts. I have never voted for Nirvana, and while there are good albums on this list, for 1991 I will vote for the big game and not the underdog. Nirvana is 1991 and so it gets my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/10 "2014-12-12T18:46:51Z")
**Nirvana** because of the impact of that album (for better or worse). But I’ll be happy if **My Bloody Valentine** ’s _Loveless_ lands in the top 3. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/11 "2014-12-12T19:02:23Z")
I like Loveless best, but had to vote for Nirvana just on the impact it had on current music at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/12 "2014-12-12T20:41:58Z")
About time Richard Thompson got a little [love](http://youtu.be/XT-PhQ6GYmA). P.S. Yes, RT is Scottish-English. From England. But surprise, the album title is actually American-spelled _Rumor and Sigh._ ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/13 "2014-12-12T20:47:32Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > No question for me: “Loveless.” But a good number of worthy contenders here. Yeah, I still pull that record out for a listen. There’s no question in my mind that it’s the best one on the list. > [@WordMan](#): > > ETA: can I just say I love the song Girlfriend by Matthew Sweet? Really has stuck with me. Fun to play, too - I do a Stones/Crowes-y version in Open G tuning… I love that song, too. When it’s in someone’s collection, I know we probably have things to talk about. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/14 "2014-12-12T20:48:39Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Lloyd Cole, Robert Quine, Richard Lloyd, Ivan Julian - _Girlfriend_ is a great guitar album. Yes it is. That album was an explosion, but for some reason there are only a couple of songs I listen to from it now. > [@Shoeless](#): > > “Rumour and Sigh”, because of **Mother Knows Best**. This is one of his top 3 albums for me, and it has one of the top five songs I would love to learn to play on guitar (see above). The album is _slightly_ marred by “Psycho Street”, his Australian soap opera spoof, but no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/15 "2014-12-12T21:20:29Z")
Has to be _Loveless_. It still sounds like nothing from this planet. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/16 "2014-12-12T23:32:45Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Yeah, I still pull that record out for a listen. There’s no question in my mind that it’s the best one on the list. > [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Has to be _Loveless_. It still sounds like nothing from this planet. For me it’s a easy pick, because, along with _Pet Sounds_, those two albums have been consistently and easily my two favorite rock albums of all time for about a decade, with no other albums really offering any serious competition. So, I’m kind of set in my ways at this point, and they’re cemented in for me. They both still sound great and fresh. That said, if I was going by albums I had heard at the time (I didn’t get to _Loveless_ until about a decade later), I think Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend” was my favorite album from that year. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/17 "2014-12-14T12:47:06Z")
A terrific list for me (strange how certain years before and after leave me thinking “huh?”). The last U2 album I liked, a great Richard Thompson LP, an R.E.M. album that, while it isn’t their best, remains a sentimental favorite… …and they all bow before _Nevermind_. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1991/707037/18 "2014-12-14T12:52:28Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > About time Richard Thompson got a little [love](http://youtu.be/XT-PhQ6GYmA). > > P.S. Yes, RT is Scottish-English. From England. But surprise, the album title is actually American-spelled _Rumor and Sigh._ Someone had to restore balance to the universe after that Fleetwood Mac album you might have heard of. (Yes, I know FM contained a couple of Brits, but come on, they were as California as the Beach Boys).