"God loves his children, God loves his children..."

The latest installment of the Stylus I Love The 1990s series, featuring contributions from Nick and myself - this year, 1997. Boy did I relish the opportunity to wax lyrical about OK Computer and sound off about Jay Kay...

Part One: 'South Park', 'Bittersweet Symphony' - The Verve, the Chicken Soup books, Marilyn Manson
Part Two: Spice Girls, Hanson, 'Boogie Nights', Puff Daddy, 'Pop-Up Video' / 'Behind The Music',
Part Three: Lilith Fair, 1-800 numbers, 'Daria', big beat
Part Four: 'Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery', 'Virtual Insanity' - Jamiroquai, UK Championship Manager, ska revival
Part Five: 'Titanic', 'Ally McBeal', 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer', Beanie Babies, Radiohead - OK Computer

Elsewhere on Stylus this week:

Nick Southall reviews the new Tom Waits LP - "not a departure for Waits inasmuch as it’s another album of febrile, canine blues / country wrought by a madman who is actually saner than anyone who would call him ‘mad’ in the first place";

Mark Edwards refuses to believe Razorlight's self-propagated hype and actually listens to the record - "I feel like a school teacher writing this, but Johnny Borrell and company need to stop banging on about how fab they are and put their energies into the music. This is a good debut album—no more, no less. The second album could very well be as good as they think this one is. But they’re going to have to wait a while before they get what they so desire";

and Todd Burns assesses the latest offering from The Blood Brothers - "for the past few years, the group has been one of the most forward-looking and exciting bands to emerge from this underground, unafraid to take chances and to sound different from their contemporaries. This time around they seem to be consolidating those differences rather than exuberantly flouting them, but Crimes is nonetheless a strong document of post-hardcore experimentation".