Probably my all-time "comfort band" ever; it's never not a good time for me to listen to their music. I didn't see any thread for them, or even so much as a mention of them on ETS, aside from that time @Lew mentioned his kid thought Michael had the worst voice in music or something. That made me laugh pretty good, I remember..
Their 90s run was nothing short of formidable, easily on par with the Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden for me. This was after an 80s college rock decade any indie band in history would die for. I remember sitting with a friend in Prague's Old Town Square when the news broke that they had disbanded, and I actually shed tears. I had finally gotten the opportunity to meet the band at a VIP event on their tour for Accelerate and they were the nicest guys you could ever hope to encounter. Michael told me I seemed nervous to be talking to him and that's how he knew I really liked them.
Their music videos -- especially from the 90s -- were always fun, abstract and incredibly complementary to whatever song they were supporting, the way music videos should be.
New Adventures in Hi-Fi is my favorite album of theirs. Monster, Up and Reveal are all classic af, too. It doesn't even need to be stated how fantastic and timeless Automatic For The People is, and it's released again today in a 25th anniversary edition.
I know it's cool to dislike them in the NIN universe (Starfuckers, Inc.), but I'm hoping at least a few others here love their stuff as much as I have..?