Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)

Neutral Milk Hotel was an American rock band formed in Ruston, Louisiana, by musician Jeff Mangum. The band's music featured a deliberately low-quality sound, influenced by indie rock and psychedelic folk. Mangum was the band's lyricist, and wrote surreal and opaque songs that covered a wide range of topics, including love, spirituality, nostalgia, sex, and loneliness. He and the other band members played a variety of instruments, including nontraditional rock instruments like the singing saw, zanzithophone, and uilleann pipes.

Neutral Milk Hotel began as one of Mangum's home recording projects, and in 1994, he released the song "Everything Is" on Cher Doll Records. The single's exposure convinced him to record more music under this name, and in 1996, he worked with childhood friend Robert Schneider to record the album On Avery Island. The album received modest reviews, and sold around 5,000 copies. After the release of On Avery Island, Mangum recruited musicians Julian Koster, Jeremy Barnes, and Scott Spillane. Neutral Milk Hotel's second album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, was released in 1998, and received mostly positive but not laudatory reviews.

While on tour, the band's newfound stardom through the Internet had a negative effect on Mangum, and his mental health began to deteriorate. He did not want to continue touring, and Neutral Milk Hotel went on hiatus shortly after. During the hiatus, Neutral Milk Hotel gained a cult following, and the critical standing of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea rose tremendously. Several music outlets such as Pitchfork and Blender called In the Aeroplane Over the Sea a landmark album for indie rock, and one of the greatest albums of the 1990s. Many indie rock groups such as Arcade Fire and The Decemberists were influenced by Neutral Milk Hotel's eclectic music and earnest lyrics. Neutral Milk Hotel reunited in 2013, and underwent a reunion tour before another hiatus in 2015.