Whatever

When you're watching a teen drama, there are moments when a girl discovers her boyfriend cheated on her, or a boy finds out he missed the Varsity team, or a boy, and his friends are caught getting drunk at a party. Now, after these moments of conflict, you know that music that plays when the characters are trying let the moment sink in right after we see it happen on screen? As a reminder, it's usually some acoustic guitar, and the wailing voice of a woman that puts you in a happy-sad mood That's this album in a nutshell. Favorite Track: "Jacob Marley's Chain".

Avril Lavigne for the Gen X.

Coffee house drivel

This was pretty basic as far as 90s female singers. She has a great voice and I enjoyed a few of the songs, but overall fairly boring and unremarkable.

This falls into the generic, alternative female singer songwriter 90s bin. Interchangeable with many others and nothing to make it stand out from the pack.

She's a nice singer, but her tendency to write songs in a too-high key leaves her sounding strained through songs that are otherwise pleasant (except for "Jacob Marley's Chain," which is a terrible gimmick song)

My 1 star review of Sheryl Crow was: “Perfect for anyone who thinks the music in your local garden centre is too edgy.” Aimee Mann is for people who think Sheryl Crow is still too edgy.

I just found a post-it note stuck to the side of my head. It read: “Hi Stresshead! I just spent ninety minutes breathing, singing, playing around your ears and you barely noticed me - I totally could have killed you and stole all your bread! Lucky for you I’m Aimee Mann so all you get is this quirky note.” I am a fan of how her music was used in “Magnolia”. Maybe I was just having a bad day

Live, laugh, love, ughhh

Choosing this as the one Aimee Mann album on the list is straight up bizarre, but the song craft is solid and it’s fun to hear early Jon Brion production flourishes surrounded by more overtly nineties touches.

Pretty good pop album here

Bueno

Back in the 90s we had to sing just a little badly sometimes to prove our authenticity. This had a few okay songs but mostly I didn't like it.

Inderdaad "whatever", saai

2,5

This album is fantastic. Has a very Brandi Carlisle vibe. I had never heard anything by her before. The songs have a lot of depth lyrically and interesting stuff going on sound wise. Definitely one of the better surprises so far of this whole experiment! Not exactly my type of music that I seek out, but I have no problem putting this on. It’s good stuff. Rating: 9/10 Stars: 5/5

I finished listening to this 15 minutes ago, I already can't remember it. There was singing? And instruments, too, probably. Lyrics, for sure. But, gun to my head, that's about all that I can tell you. Truly a contender for blandest thing on this list, as well as most baffling inclusion.

Not as amazing as the Magnolia stuff, but fun to hear

Found her because of Magnolia and never went backward into her catalog, so this is a fun choice.

Pleasant enough but she did better solo work later

I mean, like, it's okay I guess ... Whatever ...

大人のポップって感じ。AORとは全然違うけど、洗練はされてると思いました。好きな人はまじでめっちゃいいんやろうな、と思いました。スザンヌ•ヴェガとかにも近いかも。

Was quite interested to listen to this one. Know the name, couldn’t name a single song of hers though. Christ, what a disappointment, turgid, and had to fast forward some of the songs I found them so bad or grating. Ended up not finishing it. Talk about expectations being completely wrong.

This iwas a nice suprise - I'd not heard of her before but I'll definitely look out for more from her.

Beautiful album

A few songs on this really stood out to me - overall a great listen, it built a nice cozy vibe that somehow made me feel nostalgic

I could see myself loving this in another life. Like change .000001% of my dna and im all for it. Just without caring about lyrics im missing out on a large part of this. But what I do hear is nice. Its nice little singer songwriter stuff. She has a nice voice. She picks good backing instrumentals. I just dont get enough from that. It reminds me of some other stuff weirdly. Some specific song I can't remember sounds alot like that werid English on the persona 4 soundtrack. Bonkers connection but I cant unhear it. Its ok to even great but I just didnt get much out of it. Maybe something else she's done hut this is just meh

Quite nice for an album for angsty teen girls 3/5

I don’t think that I’ve come across this artist previously but I may have as she has come from that secret production line of safe but slightly edgy female singers that they have in the USA. Sounds just like the rest. Another case of ‘What the hell’s this album doing on the list!’

Inoffensive but dull. heard it all before.

I couldn’t get into this. Aimee Mann may be a fantastic song writer, but her music is boring.

Bit meh rly

the solo debut album of aimee mann, a musician who co-founded new wave group 'til tuesday. she wrote a lot of material during her time in the band and right as she split from them; she had been trying to break her contract with epic records for a frustratingly long amount of time before finally venturing off to do her own thing. compared to the group's new wave endeavors, her solo work is more guitar pop than anything else. initial critic reviews were generally positive, but commercial success was modest. well, let's see. the album has a bright and poppy sound, but a lot of the lyrics are blunt, direct and pretty straightforward. i feel like if i wrote pop music, the lyrical content could be similar to how she does it. sometimes the music gets a little folksy. truth be told it sounds like just about any pop rock album that could come out 20 to 30 years ago. little flavor, little zing... there's a little bit of something, but there's a good amount of nothing. feels like something that could play at my mcdonald's. this music doesn't really challenge me as a listener.

Not really sure why this is on this list. The album isn't bad or anything, but there are so many other 90s alt rock ladies who were more influential and do many other albums that were more interesting. Low 3, I got bored.

uh no. not a must listen

3.5

Im having a hard time determining what it is that makes this any different than any of the other "alt girl" early 90s albums other than the fact that we knew Aimee from the 80s in 'Till Tuesday. Similar songs with mid tier vocals. Honestly this sounds like the band from a bar scene in any 90s movie I dont understand the critical love for Aimee and this is no different. I dont dislike it, I dont like it. After today I will forget this exists. 2 stars.

Aimee Mann is an exceptional lyricist. Her songs are full of vulnerable people whom others are attempting to break.

Aimee Mann's first album after the dissolution of Til' Tuesday is lighter and brighter than the album title would lead you to believe. Whatever, partially co-written with then boyfriend Jon Brion, was a critical darling at the time and stood in stark contrast with pop culture trends that were shifting from grunge and alternative rock (like the still popular acts Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and The Smashing Pumpkins) to hip-hop (Wu-Tang Clan and Snoop were on the rise). As it didn't really fit in with the zeitgest, Aimee Mann's debut was met with lukewarm sales and flew under the radar. Thankfully she wasn't discouraged and continued on to be a prolific, award winning songwriter. Some of that future greatness is present on Whatever but is often obscured by busy production, leaving the more stripped down tracks to do the heavy lifting. It's positioned more as a stepping stone in her discography rather than a destination.

I really like Aimee Mann's other stuff but this feels like a work in progress, the songwriting is not as sharp and the hooks don't hit as well as her later material

Decent album, not sure who she reminds me of really, not unique, but ok

It makes no sense that this is on the list. Offensive through its inoffensiveness

Good Lord, this is BAD; like, "should we do something to help the nice lady stop embarrassing herself in public?" bad. And that sucks because she seems like a kind hearted, interesting person. She should’a just stuck with cleaning houses in Portland.

A pretty decent album with no really weak songs. 4 stars or B-.

10/8/26. Couldn't get into this one much either. Some interesting lyrics, but thought a lot of the music blended together in a way that it became a little exhausting.

a classic from my early 20s

Fun, nothing special though

Great songwriting (sometimes in what would maybe considered the alt-country/roots vein these days, which kind of surprised me based on what I know of Aimee Mann's other work) and trademark observant, witty lyrics.

i liked this. the lyrics were cool, the sound was very 90s, but in a good way

Ekassa biisissä oli jotain koukkua mutta muuten äärimmäisen tylsä albumi. Aivan keskinkertaista ysäri-pop-rockia. En keksi, miksi tämä albumi on listalla. 2/5

Приятный поп альбом, встречал я в этой подборке альбомы куда хуже

Not for me. 1/5

Saturday, 3 October, 2036 Great record! Could have cut four songs and fit u see 40 mins.

This is a great debut that is pretty special to me. It shows off her songwriting and voice and features Jon Brion as producer. His gift for arrangements and interesting instrumentation elevates everything. This is the most Beatlesque of her albums and has an XTC or Squeeze feel to it on many of the songs. Really not a bad song on it. It's my favorite of hers by a pretty wide margin.

Mann's voice is a pleasure to listen to, resonant and warm and impossibly clean sounding. Lots of evocative lyrics and credit to whoever's on guitar, nothing earthshaking but lots of perfectly placed little solos and riffs that complement so well.

Pretty underwhelming. Maybe just had to be in the right mood for it, but when I listened I couldn't get into any of it (felt like I should've been in coffee shop). Slightly annoyed at how often "Jacob Marley's chains" was sang

Aimee Mann is one of those artists that everyone has heard of, but nobody can name a single song by her. She's been around for ages, so presumably she continues to sell and have fans, but nobody is really sure why. It seems silly then that someone like, say, Natalie Imbruglia isn't on the list. Her debut was a massive smash hit, and while far from her best album, it's certainly the one you would include when considering 'must hear before you die'. There's a couple of songs in the middle of the album I'll happily listen to again, but ni standouts, nothing that grabbed me like a pop song should, or stuck with me like something with more substance should. In short, it's fine. It's an album by a person. Some good lyrics, her voice is okay if unremarkable, and the music is tame, pleasant enough, MOR fare. I don't know enough about Mann to say how importsnt or influential she has been - she's basically a non-entity over here outside of her appearance in Buffy, but even that would have had more impact if anyone cared about her or her music.

I had to quickly get acquainted with which part of the 90s music scene we were in with this one, and after I adjusted, I found this okay. I think I expected a different vibe based on the cover. Aimee's voice isn't necessarily my favorite, but her songwriting skills are pretty great for a solo debut. Still, there was something about the clash between hard rock guitars & her vibrato that just didn't totally work for me. It felt a little too disparate, in the same way that I sometimes have issues with artists similar to this. I really want to like this kind of 90s music, but I'm not quite there yet. Favorite tracks: Could've Been Anyone, Put Me On Top, Say Anything

Anonymous alt rock with colorless singing, this bloated relic of the 90s is the very definition of inconsequential. In addition, Mann dooms her already threadbare songs by bringing on Jon Brion to co-write and co-produce, ensuring that any possible spark is extinguished by Brion's overwrought approach.

Nice 90s adult contemporary. Your Meredith Brooks, Liz Phair, Michelle Branch type. Not a lot to say- it’s pleasant, if a bit long. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

More boring sheryl crow

Whatever indeed

I've heard of Aimee Mann before. She co-founded the Boston-based new wave band 'Til Tuesday with their hit single, "Voices Carry", before disbanding it to pursue a solo career. She was more interested in playing "acoustic guitar music" than the new wave stylings of 'Til Tuesday, and that attitude is apparent on her debut, Whatever. To be clear upfront, as someone who has listened to numerous female singer-songwriter records before, this album isn't anything new or striking to me. Sure, Aimee is fully capable of writing some decent hooks here, and her singing voice is rather pleasant. Plus, her stories of heartbreak, rejection, and dealings with the music industry aren't as straightforward, making use of some nice imagery; invoking the 1939 New York World's Fair to highlight how things haven't gone well for her and her partner in "Fifty Years After the Fair" is a good example of that. But given how prevalent female singer-songwriter music of this stripe had been at this point - this came out the same year as Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club and Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville, both also included in the 1001 Albums books - I can't in good conscience say this album particularly stands out, aside from maybe the Beatles-esque horn and ornate piano accompaniment on the closing track "Way Back When", followed by noodling around with flutes on the brief hidden track. It's at least something different. I still had a good time with Aimee Mann's solo debut, and I know she continued to develop as a solo singer-songwriter, if the songs off the Magnolia film soundtrack are anything to go by.

God this was boring I did not at all like this. Can't even bring myself to say much more other than it wasn't the absolute worst thing.

Whatever

It was fine, nothing outstanding tho

Mysalbum som mest gled i bakgrunden. Inte riktigt något speciellt bra eller dåligt. Ganska standard album men som det var ju inte liksom inte dåligt

This is lovely but forgettable.

★★½

I really didn't enjoy this. too long and lame

This list is so heavily in favour of males, even the female acts have to be called Mann

Ah mannn! I wished this had a bit more bite and a bit more edge. It kind of went me by. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't very memorable.

I’m not sure what I was expecting but I kinda of had a false impression from the album cover. I struggled to get into a lot of these songs, just didn’t find a lot interesting about this. Appreciate the musicianship but not for me. Abit suprised to see this on the list.

nisam preodusevljena

I love a lot of Aimee Mann songs and albums but have never heard this one. It's interesting to hear her first album. She has definitely grown as a musician and songwriter and this isn't as good as most albums that follow it. Still glad I sat down and listened to it.

Wow, that album cover is false advertising. This sucks! Sorry, but, yeah. It’s ruing my already bad day. An accomplishment. Saved from a 1 by production value. Yesterday I gave Aerosmith a 4 and saw all the reviews literally insulting the intelligence of anyone who might do so. But I will say, straight up, I would rather listen to Steven Tyler describe his member in detail for an hour than have to listen to this drivel. And just to be clear, I am a woman. 2 Boolean: FALSE - really, no, I didn’t need to hear this. Wtf?

Better than I expected. Some lovely bass lines, and a nice bit of life to this album. I wasn't gone on the production as the vocals didn't seem to sit right with the music.

Very 90s soft rock/pop, but I am enjoying it more than anticipated. Feeling 3 or 4

Aimee Mann is one of our most underrated musical treasures but while this is a decent outing it’s not even her best album

Yeah, whatever.

It's arguably an album that I might not have enjoyed quite so much years ago, but I've been really taken by it listening to it for the first time now. Some really great songsmith-ing, smart lyrics, catchy... yes, it's very safe but that's not always a bad thing. I'm pretty convinced that a young Fiona Apple would have relished this... just brought her own sound and harder edge to proceedings. Still, fantastic, accomplished stuff.

6/10

I adore Aimee. While this isn't my favorite of her albums (Bachelor No. 2), it is still a banger of a listen.

Impeccable vibes. At first glance, the sound is a bit "basic", but that's because so many singer-songwriter albums since have used the same formula -- and for a reason. Great lyrics (some of my favorites were "Fifty Years after the Fair", "4th of July", "Jacob Marley's Chain"), amazing personality, and the instrumental arrangements make very proficient nods to both classic and contemporary rock.

Empezó guay pero se me ha hecho un poco de bola al final. Creo que se podrían recortar como 15 minutillos y no pasaría nada.

Mann’s first album after leaving Til Tuesday shrines her as a songwriter that is worthy of a solo career. Just an excellent lesson.

Aimee Mann has a distinct and gorgeous voice. I'm glad that her voice is in our world. I only wish these songs had more strength to them, something that would help me remember them.

I am a fan of Aimee Mann, and I went into this album expecting to chalk up a baseline 4 with a possible 5. The odd thing is, I did enjoy listening to the album as far as it goes. And surprise surprise, it was immediately forgettable. She is a wonderful artist with a profound voice (vocals and artistic), but at the end, I kind of just felt like "whatever." In retrospect, I do think Aimee's music works better in context of a film like Magnolia, or scaled down in an acoustic set or in moments.

An album filled with songs that want to be acoustic but are forced to be electric for some reason (likely commercial). Mann has a beautiful voice but it's too soft in the mix here and the subtleties that she could bring to the album are lost in competition with basslines that are overplayed and layers of instruments that feel superfluous and stifling and well...dated. When you're making music with thoughtful lyrics and sensitive soul, less is almost always more. As it is, we get "I Know There's a Word", "Jacob Marley's Chain", and "Mr. Harris" which are great but actually serve to illustrate what we're missing instead of highlighting what we actually have. I suspect if this album had come out a year later on the heels of MTV Unplugged, Mann would have been given the space she needed to breathe. I enjoyed this album but I can't help but think what might have been if things had been dialed back a bit on the rockier numbers.

Forgettable 90s pop

I did like this album a little bit, the vocal harmonies are quite nice and it’s beautifully recorded, but there really are moments that make me go “whatever”

It's rare for an album to sound exactly like its name, but this achieves that. It feels a bit bland and generic, which does nothing for my ears. I can see why people would like this, because it does have a pleasant sound but yeah not for me.

That was sick! Hadn’t heard of this artist til now, very pleased with this first listen. Also pretty sure she’s wearing docs in album art, that guarantees a 5. Standouts are I Should’ve Known, Fifty Years After The Fair, Could’ve Been Anyone, Put Me On Top, I Could Hurt You Now, I’ve Had It and Way Back When. Damn thats like half the album, was hard to pick for this one.

First listen Saved 2/13 Top track: I Should've Known

The album cover looks like 'Til Tuesday. The music sounds like christian rock. I was disappointed.

I had not really heard any Aimee Mann before, but I enjoyed these.

I was pretty non plussed by the album. It was fine, but it didn't grab me. If I was going to describe it, I'd probably describe it as an album that thinks it is too cool for school but is not really

1,5/5

Perhaps will like after a few listenings

Quite the dreg. Hopefully the next one is much better!