Adrian Brown
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adrianbrown.bsky.social
Adrian Brown
@adrianbrown.bsky.social
Digital archivist, erstwhile archaeologist, author, hedgehog hotelier, Director of Knowledge & Information at UK Parliament. All views my own.
#90sTop30
#MusicChallenge

Thanks as always to @tansleyjames.bsky.social for another great challenge
November 30, 2025 at 7:31 AM
#90sTop30
#MusicChallenge
Vaguely ranked

Day 30

Game Of Pricks
Guided By Voices - Tigerbomb (1995)
 
Arguably their best song - I’ve always preferred this one to the lower-fi ‘Alien Lanes’ version

youtu.be/HLINRoC4f1k?...
Guided By Voices - Game of Pricks (Tigerbomb version)
YouTube video by Cristhian R.
youtu.be
November 30, 2025 at 7:26 AM
#90sTop30
#MusicChallenge
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Day 29

Rock Music
Pixies – Bossanova (1990)
 
Your mouth’s a mile away - Pixies at their shoutiest, thrashiest best - from their last great album

youtu.be/vDVpJIidloc?...
Rock Music
YouTube video by Pixies - Topic
youtu.be
November 29, 2025 at 9:28 AM
The best album of their partnership - superb guitar even by Thompson’s standards, great vocals from both and, in ‘The End Of The Rainbow’, perhaps the most comically bleak song of his career. A dead cert for my #5debutalbums7074 list
November 28, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Her first and finest solo album, this is chock full of great, mainly original, songs and a strong contender for
#5debutalbums7074
November 28, 2025 at 6:29 PM
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#MusicChallenge
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Day 28

Loose Fit
Happy Mondays – Pills’n’Thrills And Bellyaches (1990)
 
An insistently, trippily danceable, loose-limbed rhythm section, overlaid by a guitar riff which is pure gold

youtu.be/RGVzR1x2y7E?...
Happy Mondays - Loose Fit [12" Version]
YouTube video by London Records
youtu.be
November 28, 2025 at 8:47 AM
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#MusicChallenge
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Day 27

Goldfinger
Ash – 1977 (1996)

A struggle to choose between this and ‘Oh Yeah’

youtu.be/35hDrzcHnIA?...
ASH - Goldfinger (Official HD Video)
YouTube video by Ash
youtu.be
November 27, 2025 at 7:43 AM
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#MusicChallenge
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Day 26

Mount Everest
Teenage Fanclub – Songs From Northern Britain (1997)

A standout track from an album that barely puts a foot wrong

youtu.be/5ou8v2Gd--Q?...
Mount Everest
YouTube video by Teenage Fanclub - Topic
youtu.be
November 26, 2025 at 6:44 AM
Reposted by Adrian Brown
Remarkable story, and demonstration of the things engineers grapple with unknown to most of the public. I remember the Northern line being closed for the London Brodge works but had no idea that was helping deal with this unique problem further up the line as well.
November 25, 2025 at 7:18 AM
#5debutalbums7074 offers the possibility of going full folk, with options from Anne Briggs, Clannad, Fotheringay, Steeleye Span, Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson (both with and without Linda) 🤔
November 25, 2025 at 7:29 AM
#90sTop30
#MusicChallenge
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Day 25

A.M. 180
Grandaddy – Under The Western Freeway (1997)
 
Bleepily addictive

youtu.be/jEtQzQQoZRE?...
Grandaddy - A.M. 180 (Live on 2 Meter Sessions)
YouTube video by 2metersessions
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 7:20 AM
#90sTop30
#MusicChallenge
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Day 24

Gee Angel
Sugar – File Under: Easy Listening (1994)

I can’t quite believe I’m actually going to finally see them live next year. This comes from as perfect an opening sequence of tracks as you’ll find on any album

youtu.be/lXFiycUbG3I?...
Gee Angel by Sugar
YouTube video by piper108
youtu.be
November 24, 2025 at 7:52 AM
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#MusicChallenge
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Day 23

Walking In The Great Shining Path Of Monster Trucks
Clutch – Transnational Speedway League (1993)
 
Here’s a pummelling live version - I could listen to that opening riff pretty much forever

youtu.be/vxdou0Wu69M?...
Clutch - In The Great Shining Path of Monster Trucks, Live @ 930 Club 8/3/01
YouTube video by digitaIIive
youtu.be
November 23, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Adrian Brown
Postbox bollards outside the Post Office. Absolutely delightful.
#WorldBollardAssociation 📮
November 22, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Adrian Brown
This is an exciting find: the remains of the building used by the House of Commons as its temporary chamber between 1835 and 1851. If you want to know what that building looked like, see our short article: historyofparliament.com/2025/09/25/t...
November 21, 2025 at 6:19 PM
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#MusicChallenge
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Day 22

Los Angeles
Frank Black – S/T (1993)

Probably the highlight of his ‘Teenager’ gig earlier in the year - the coda especially is sublime

youtu.be/fuLllNyfiHs?...
Frank Black.- Los Angeles (Official Video 1993)
YouTube video by Subbacultcha
youtu.be
November 22, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Just realised my lot really weren’t very imaginative with their titles…
#5debutalbums1014
Thanks Richard – another week hasn’t made it any easier, but let’s go with

1: Kvelertak – S/T (5 pts)
2: Tame Impala – Innerspeaker
3: Alvvays – S/T
4: Desperate Journalist – S/T
5: Drenge – S/T

#5debutalbums1014
November 21, 2025 at 7:33 PM
#90sTop30
#MusicChallenge
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Day 21

Quality Of Armor
Guided By Voices – Propeller (1992)
 
When British Invasion and garage rock collide

youtu.be/7MYbIdZqRtM?...
Quality Of Armor
YouTube video by Guided by Voices - Topic
youtu.be
November 21, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Another candidate for gig of the year - can’t remember ever seeing a band so obviously having so much fun, or going so hard without pausing for breath throughout…
November 20, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Reposted by Adrian Brown
We installed a new Jane Austen display case in time for Jane's 250th birthday in December. The display is available in the Treasures Gallery (free) at the British Library in London until 15 March 2026. Blogpost: www.bl.uk/stories/blog...
November 20, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Standing by for @bobmouldmusic.bsky.social at the Dome…
November 20, 2025 at 7:19 PM
#90sTop30
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Day 20

Skintrade
Bob Mould – The Last Dog & Pony Show (1998)
 
I’m off to see him live tonight, so this seems appropriate - this album was probably the best of his 90s solo output

youtu.be/79YmuqKwWFQ?...
Skintrade
YouTube video by Bob Mould - Topic
youtu.be
November 20, 2025 at 7:06 AM
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Day 19

Lay Lady Lay
Ministry – Filthpig (1996)

I’m not sure what it says about me that I always seem to prefer Dylan covers to the originals - the album version is great but the live performance here is even better

youtu.be/ExJymZl7z7k?...
Ministry - Lay Lady Lay - 10/2/1994 - Shoreline Amphitheatre (Official)
YouTube video by Wolfgang's Hard Rock
youtu.be
November 19, 2025 at 7:38 AM
#90sTop30
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Day 18

Safari
The Breeders – Safari EP (1992)

Great song, great video…

youtu.be/xT6oZGThwis?...
The Breeders - Safari
YouTube video by The Breeders
youtu.be
November 18, 2025 at 6:52 AM
The eyes of Chichester Cathedral’s early C17th weathercock suggest it’s seen a lot, having survived the collapse of the spire in 1861 and being strafed by the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain (as the machine gun holes in its tail attest), before finally being replaced in 1978
November 17, 2025 at 7:43 PM