10 Greatest Final Rock Music Albums Of The 1990s
7. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
As well as having an absolutely hilarious cover featuring a woman with a drum for a face, Neutral Milk Hotel's 1998 album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was also a watershed moment for the indie rock genre.
Two years after their debut release, On Avery Island, the band were back in the studio eager to expand on the lo-fi sound of that record. Vocalist and guitarist Jeff Magnum wanted to avoid using studio effects on the record, so developed a new recording technique that resulted in a high-quality, yet intentionally fuzzy end product.
This breakthrough in studio magic captured the imaginations of underground music fans, and legend of the album grew and grew, thanks in part to the rise in Internet culture.
This fame became too much for Magnum in the end, as he would retire from the public eye later that year, taking Neutral Milk Hotel's recording career with him.
For its innovation and importance to what is now a blockbuster genre, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea deserves a lot of praise, even if that is precisely what killed the band in the first place.