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The best album of the 90's - P.H.U.Q. vs Automatic for the People

Which is the better album?


  • Total voters
    20
  • Poll closed .

milo

Jack L. Jones
Our eleventh game of the first round sees the Wildhearts take on REM.

The Wildhearts - P.H.U.Q.

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P.H.U.Q. is the second full length album by British Rock band The Wildhearts, which was released on 22 May 1995 on East West Records and entered the UK Albums Chart at number 6.

Original guitarist/singer CJ was only present for some of the early recording sessions for this album and was later fired by group leader Ginger. Subsequently, some of the album's songs were recorded with only one guitar.

It was the band's original vision to follow up Earth vs the Wildhearts with a double album, to include longer, more intricate songs such as "Inglorious" and "Do The Channel Bop." However, lack of support from their record label, EastWest, meant that six songs written by that point were instead released as a fan club-only mini-album, Fishing for Luckies, prior to the release of P.H.U.Q.

Ginger has said the title of the album is pronounced "fudge" in the Ask Ginger section of the band's official website.

Vs.

REM - Automatic for the People

220px-R.E.M._-_Automatic_for_the_People.jpg


Automatic for the People is the eighth studio album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released in 1992 on Warner Bros. Records. Upon release, it reached number two on the U.S. album charts and yielded six singles. The album has sold 18 million copies worldwide and is widely considered one of the best records released in the 1990s.



 
PHUQ is an acquired taste, but it's one of my favourite albums of all time - genuinely like nothing else.

Automatic for the People is epitomises REM - some sweet moments (night swimming, everybody hurts), but in general it makes me want to smash things.... mostly REM albums.
 
I'm not a big REM fan but there is no denying that they can write a good song and there are plenty of them on this album. The WIldhearts are a bit too workmanlike for my tastes.
 
I love the Wildhearts, a criminally underrated band, I don't think anyone has managed to fuse punk, riffs and pop so successfully, there is something for everyone underneath lyrics of depth, feeling and wit.

This isn't even their best album IMO but it's one I've been regularly listening to for twenty years.
 
I love the Wildhearts, a criminally underrated band, I don't think anyone has managed to fuse punk, riffs and pop so successfully, there is something for everyone underneath lyrics of depth, feeling and wit.

This isn't even their best album IMO but it's one I've been regularly listening to for twenty years.
And still a quality live band

Sent from my Nexus 5X using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app
 
July 1993.

After work drinks and I'm smashed. Go home with a girl who I had got on with from the day I started. We stumble into her flat and she puts on Automatic for the People. Now whenever I hear 'Drive' I'm immediately back in that small flat with it's slight patchouli scent and random art/posters on the wall. She turned out to be my soul-mate and we were together for 10 years until we drifted apart, but still remain very good friends.

Wildhearts are good, but Automatic for the People is a defining moment of the 90s for me. And it is a fantastic album.
 
Automatic for the People is a bit of a gateway album for people finding alternative music.

Whilst that kind of thing is good for music as a whole and stops alternative music dying, I hated it at the time because it brought a lot of normals into what I thought of as my thing.

Looking back, it's a very, very good album. A little too pop for my tastes but a very well made one nonetheless.

Never really been able to get on with the Wildhearts, and if I could it probably wouldn't be this album.
 
Went for REM. Considering my personal taste in music, I'm surprised The Wildhearts never really grabbed me. Fond memories of REM from the Out of Time onwards era.
 
This is how it should be
REM for the populist masses
Wildhearts for the underground

I've never listened to PHUQ at work, I think I'm going to right now.
 
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