Jamwise #40 · Years · 1992 (Part 2)
Best Albums of 1992 (Part 2)
More of the best albums of 1992 — Alice in Chains, The Cure, PJ Harvey, Stone Temple Pilots, Aphex Twin, and Arrested Development. Four legendary debuts in one issue.
It’s going to be hard to find another year as jam-packed with classic albums as 1992. In part 2 alone we’ve got 4 legendary debuts - legends who were somehow left out of the RS top 500 list - not to mention some of the key 90’s grunge-heroes whose albums lined the walls of my childhood basement / music dungeon. OK, fine, it wasn’t a dungeon, it was a semi-finished basement where I was banished when I was practicing my guitar and playing my silly CD’s. OK, OK, you got me, I wasn’t banished, I went down there so nobody had to hear me feverishly trying to figure out the guitar riff to “Down In A Hole” for the ten thousandth time. And I had a pair of $4 headphones and a Walkman so I wasn’t disturbing anybody.
And on top of all that, there’s another pile of 1992 albums that deserve a nod, I just didn’t have enough time to listen to them all. I may never make it out of 1992. Oh well.
Part 1’s selections can be found here.
Dirt — Alice In Chains
Crawling, grimy, oily, grungy metal. I find the constant harmonization an unusual choice for metal, but it works adding a droning, atmospheric effect to the crunchy guitar and pounding drums.
Wish — The Cure
It’s a shame that the silliest song on this album is the one everyone knows - I associate the Cure with “Friday I’m In Love,” and that song, when taken out of context, just makes them sound like an insipid and unserious pop group.
Selected Ambient Works 85-92 — Aphex Twin
Widely considered a major inspiration (or copypasta) for Radiohead’s Kid A, by an artist who doesn’t like Radiohead. I feel kind of justified in my, shall we say, infinite confusion about the near-universal love of Kid A after hearing this album.
Dry — PJ Harvey
Another insanely impressive debut. PJ Harvey’s first album is the definition of raw energy.
Core — Stone Temple Pilots
STP’s debut is straightforward and purified grunge rock - this might be what they’d put next to the encyclopedia entry for Grunge if encyclopedias still existed.
Dirty — Sonic Youth
You can almost hear the sound of grunge seeping into their signature tone. This album has such a different sound from Goo - a fact most people chalk up to the pop-leaning production and more polished sound than many of the band’s previous releases.
3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of… — Arrested Development
Living in the southern US is a complex blend of emotions. This album, by a group from Atlanta, deep in the heart of the south, captures many of the less discussed aspects of the south beautifully.
Read the full review of 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of… →