1995: What Were The 5 Best Albums?

Feeling nostalgic? Well, today I’m featuring 5 of the Best Albums of 1995. 1995 was the year that South Africa hosted and won the World Cup, O.J. Simpson was found “not guilty” of double murder and Toy Story was released. It was also a year that saw some amazing music releases.

Here are 5 of the Best Albums Of 1995:

1. Oasis – (What’s The Story) Morning Glory

(What’s The Story) Morning Glory? was released on the 2nd of October 1995. It was Oasis‘ second album. The album recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales in May & June 1995. It was produced by Owen Morris and Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher.

Noel Gallagher gave his most controversial quote ever during a promotional interview for the album. He said he hoped Blur‘s Damon Albarn and Alex James would “catch AIDS and die”.

To date the album has sold 5.1 million copies in the UK (and more than 22.4 million wordwide). It’s the fourth best-selling album of all time in the UK. The album spent 10 weeks at number 1 in the UK and reached number 4 on the Billboard 200 in the USA.

6 singles were released from the album: “Some Might Say”, “Roll With It”, “Morning Glory”, “Wonderwall”, “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Champagne Supernova”.

The album was voted the best album of the last 30 years at the 30th Brit Awards in 2010. Host Peter Kay was left unimpressed with Liam Gallagher. He threw the statuette along with his microphone into the audience.

2. Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness

Melon Collie and The Infinite Sadness was released on the 23rd of October 1995. It’s one of my favourite albums of the 1990s. To date the album (which was produced by Alan Moulder, Billy Corgan and Flood) has sold more than 11 million copies.

The 28 track album made its debut at number 1 on the Billboard 200 (thanks to the first single “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”. 5 other singles were also released from the album: “1979”, “Zero”, “Tonight, Tonight”, “Muzzle” and “Thirty-Three”.

Melon Collie and The Infinite Sadness earned Smashing Pumpkins seven Grammy Award nominations in 1997, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year (“1979”), as well as 9 MTV Music Video Awards nominations, 8 of which were for “Tonight, Tonight”, including “Video of the Year”.

3. Radiohead – The Bends

The Bends was released on the 13th of March 1995. It was Radiohead‘s second studio album and I listened to this on repeat at one stage inmy life.

The album was produced by John Leckie and engineered by Nigel Godrich. The Bends reached number four in the UK and stayed on the chart for 160 weeks. The album changed people’s perceptions of the band as a one-hit wonder.

The album’s lead single “My Iron Lung” was written the day Radiohead were forced to pull out of Reading & Leeds Festival in 1993. They pulled out because Thom Yorke struggled with his vocal cords.

“Just”is the result of a competition between Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. They tried to “get as many chords as possible into a song”. Actor Dorian Lough got a dodgy wrist “for about 7 years” after they had to film numerous takes of him tripping over in the video for “Just”. Lough maintains that he’s stopped by Radiohead fans to this day, desperate to know what was said in the video.

“Fake Plastic Trees” owes its finesse to Jeff Buckley. Yorke had been struggling with the track. He took a break to go to Buckley’s concert. When he returned to the studio, he burst into tears and perfected the track. Yorke told Melody Maker the album’s title track was “completely jokey, completely taking the piss. None of that stuff had ever happened to us when we wrote it.”

4. Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill

This album was released on the 13th of June 1995. It was Alanis’ third studio album and the most successful album of her career. The album was produced by Glen Ballard and released via Maverick (a record label that was co-founded by Madonna).

The album has no title cut, but the title phrase appears in “You Learn” (which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top 40 in June 1996). The track “You Outghta Know” features the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea on bass and Dave Navarro on lead guitar.

Jagged Little Pill reached number 1 in thirteen countries. The album has sold more than 33 million copies to date. It was nominated for 9 Grammy Awards (and won 5) in 1996. Morisette was only 21 years old back then. That’s pretty damn impressive (if you ask me).

5. Leftfield – Leftism

Leftism was released on the 30th of January 1995. It was Leftfield‘s debut album. It was produced by Leftfield and featured guest spots from musicians not associated with dance music at the time. This includes John Lydon (from Public Image Ltd and Sex Pistols) and Toni Halliday from Curve.

I know that it’s the only electro album on this list, but it was really groundbreaking at the time it was released, so I thought that I’d throw it into this list. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this when it came out and I still enjoy listening to it now.

According to NME: “Leftfield’s debut was aimed at undermining the architectural security of any building you were in. The house skank of ‘Release The Pressure’ was the party-starter, ‘Original’ with then-indie queen Toni Halliday (of Curve) the moody excursion and the startling John Lydon-led ‘Open Up’ the single for the ages.”

Well, there you have it, 5 of the Best Albums That Were Released in 1995. Which one of these was your favorite? Which 1995 albums should be on this list? Leave a comment and let me know.

Watch this space for updates in the Music category on Running Wolf’s Rant.