Comments

Wow, great rundown of songs today, prefab! Excellent write-ups too. Thanks! And Pulp! "Babies" was my first exposure to them; they were on a 99-cent Island Records comp I bought at the used record store (remember those?) in college. Honestly at that time I was feeling stifled by churning grunge, rap I struggled to get into and weak, toothless radio pop. Outlets for other music were few. Then there was Pulp, a revelation, a signal from a distant star that synth-pop was still alive. And as great as "Babies" is, they have multiple masterpieces to come.

… And Out March 1, 1993: “Looking Through Patient Eyes” by P.M. Dawn, from The Bliss Album…? (Vibrations of Love and Anger and the Ponderance of Life and Existence) I love P.M. Dawn, and The Bliss Album easily earns its name. As Tom and others have highlighted so well, album closer “I’d Die Without You” is luminous; we’re better humans for having heard it. Like playful Motown ghosts drifting through an ethereal landscape of funk and lounge and ambient, Prince Be’s sighs swell with symphonic synths. Hit music rarely gets silkier with yearning. Second single “Looking Through Patient Eyes” leans on “Father Figure” more than I’d like—as in it reminds me I’d rather hear the lush majesty of the real thing. But if you’re going to reference a song, why not one of the ’80’s best singles? https://youtu.be/UulZ7D5yvsY I’d have picked a different follow-up single. The Bliss Album has several bangers to go with third single/diss-response “Plastic.” “When It’s Raining Cats and Dogs” is thriller movie soundtrack material, wet bass creeping through an empty house. “So On and So On” is a jubilantly funky New Jack rave-up. The “Norwegian Wood” cover betters the original (blasphemy?) with its shuffling, chiming beat. My pick would be “About Nothing (For the Love of Destiny)”—pure pop magic with a weighty stomping beat, house-adjacent pianos and a joyous, beautifully snaking melody. It has an early-’80s-esque bounce while living comfortably in the ’90s. When the synth accents the way you talk about nothing in the chorus, it’s a glimmering lens flare of feeling. https://youtu.be/6lgUZs6f88Q

rollerboogie, so sorry to hear about your loss. I'll be there soon. It sounds like the love your mom had for her family is evident in the love you find in music that touches you. I never met your mom, obviously, but I think she'd be proud of that. Stay strong and take care, my friend. Your TNOCS community is here for you.

...make that masterwork...!

… And Out Feb. 23, 1993: 19 Naughty III by Naughty By Nature “Daddy Was a Street Corner” opens with a bracing scene, cops busting a low-level criminal operation and the panic that ensues—and Naughty By Nature take us jarringly away from “O.P.P.” With affecting imagery, confessional anger and beats that kill, “Daddy” boasts an excellent, rumbling circular bass figure accented with synth-guitar effects for emphasis as a player reflects on how it all went wrong. An underappreciated gangsta-era mastwork. https://youtu.be/lFZjBpDH8tM

… And Out Feb. 16, 1993: Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z…. by 2Pac You want to imagine the best alternate futures for artists you love who died too young. Michael Hutchence could’ve had a Nick Cave-like career. Kurt Cobain could’ve been the second coming of Neil Young. Did you know in my alternate reality Amy Winehouse is working with Burial? It’s technically true! Tupac Shakur could’ve been a politician, a gifted advocate, an Oscar-winning actor. (Look at his incredible charisma in Poetic Justice; he commands the camera (Janet certainly holds her own) even if the script ultimately lets them (and us) down.) Tupac had a unique and rare depth in his gaze—sensitive and soulful with an unflinching sense of reality. In “Keep Ya Head Up,” he puts The Five Stairsteps’ 1970 “O-o-h Child” to outstanding effect while recognizing what women (Black women especially) go through in such an unforgiving world. “Keep Ya Head Up” is heavy in its hard truths, truth to power and backdrop of “Things’ll get brighter”—a statement both hopeful and ironic. Compare it to anything new on the radio today. https://youtu.be/V69C37noXyk

… And Out Feb. 11, 1993: Duran Duran by Duran Duran Duran Duran get transcendent, at least for me. Talking about Faith No More’s “Midlife Crisis” recently in this comment section, I mentioned my two best friends driving up to my fast-food job in 1992 to give me the cassingle for my birthday. Not too long after one of those friends died; a car crash broke his neck. He was a track star, a more handsome Adrien Brody, homecoming king. Got me into Prince with countless bootlegs and concerts and b-sides. (Chaos and Disorder highlights to come.) Confident and funny, Nick could’ve been a state representative by now and hopefully one of the good ones. I don’t remember how I got word of his death—someone called me—but I had to escape my parents’ home that night. I drove to a convenience store pay phone to call my ex-girlfriend, who loved Nick too. (This of course was before cell phones.) Next I needed to tell my other friend who’d come to see me with that Faith No More single. It had to be in person. I got to his apartment complex and just sat in my car, oaks and palms casting the parking lot in nighttime shadows. What do you think when something like air has been ripped away? How do you deal with being stunned stupid, facing a human-shaped cut-out of a whole missing person? It tears at gravity. I turned on the radio and…“Ordinary World” comes on. And it spoke to me somehow with exactly what I needed to hear at a moment. It didn’t need to say anything profound—only that this thing I felt was different from what was real. For sure, it was real…but I needed to know another normal was out there. Less crushing. I just needed someone—voice on the radio, Simon LeBon, etc.—to put it into words. The Wedding Album is the closest Duran Duran get to Exile on Main Street, and there are far worse things to aspire to. From the jumpy funk of opener “Too Much Information” to the closing sweep of “Sin of the City” and its blistering commentary on poor laborers killed in a fire, it’s a great album; it could perhaps be cut down and clubbed-up a little but maybe not. And I don’t know exactly how, anyway. The idea of an “ordinary world” may be all but gone. If we were searching for it in the Nineties, what hope do we have of finding it now? Amid lilting chords and holy war? But at a particular moment that night, and at various moments after, I needed a song that looked me in the eye and said something meaningful. I could even provide the meaning if needed. And that’s exactly what I got and continue to love. https://youtu.be/FqIACCH20JU

… And Out Jan. 11, 1993: Surfing on Sine Waves by Polygon Window Quality techno from Richard D. James, AKA Aphex Twin. Here’s an album you couldn’t go wrong with if you needed atmospheric dance in 1993. (I had no idea it existed at the time.) Not that it’s all pure “fun”: the mood is more like grimly precise robots in mating season. “Portreath Harbour” is disorienting, off-kilter pop, cryptic hand-claps and silicon sliding underneath. A little slice of 1993 I like, so I thought I’d share it here: https://youtu.be/C4Ljlhfy7mc

… And Out Jan. 2, 1993: “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)” by Us3 “Funky, funky!” Who can argue with that? Us3 give us an outstanding, rolling piano groove that anticipates mid-/late-’90s cocktail-electro. If this song had come out 10 years later it would’ve been strictly commercial fodder (as in the first time I heard Grizzly Bear was in a car commercial). But no, this is free-roaming bliss, the outward-facing identity of an era. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)”—as long as you don’t find it annoying, it’s kind of perfect. If I needed a wake-up soundtrack for each repeated day of my life a la Groundhog Day (released Feb. 12, 1993), this will do fine (beats “I Got You, Babe”, at least): https://youtu.be/gn1mkdGmpQ4

Maadlus, I see this, hear it (the sounds, especially the bass, are so crisp!) and I love it. What an unexpected treat. Thank you!

Love right back atcha for this, ozcorp -- great writeup! Thanks!

That's a great way to characterize it, prefab! I love that. I wonder if "Taste It" could qualify as Prince-esque. It's underrated for sure. Thanks for highlighting it!

… And Out Nov. 25, 1992: Watery, Domestic EP by Pavement Wasting no time since Slanted & Enchanted earlier in 1992, Pavement continue working overtime to convince us they seriously—no really—don’t give a shit. They hit you with waves of staticky guitar as you make sense of the melody (and it’s good). Stephen Malkmus has a deadpan middle-manager delivery but yes, he does raise his voice; today he should be singing deadpan to a multigenerational audience about supply-chain issues. On this well-titled EP, “Frontwards” has a completely charming guitar riff at 1:34—this is a song that could be covered, I swear, by Enya. It would be full of longing, synthy sighs and ethereally twinkling piano. And it would sound nothing like Pavement, but it would be their excellent song. (Shower thoughts brought to you by Ace of Mom’s Basement.) https://youtu.be/i2eYo433JRA

"Juno's Quiet Determination" is incredible -- thanks again for sharing this! Vangelis is an absolute master. Ambient, otherworldly perfection.

I love this, Maadlus -- thank you! Over the top is great; never any complaints there (my #1 bridge of the '90s is "No More Tears"), if that helps to mention. There are so many ways this particular track could punctuate a moment in a movie or series. I'm so glad you shared it.

ozcorp, thank you!! I haven't heard this in forever and it's a thing of crushingly perfect beauty. It suggests a slightly more thriller-paced movie than the one we got but I don't even know if that's true, as I went to see Blade Runner with my wife and father-in-law right before the pandemic and it was riveting from start to finish.

… And Out Nov. 3, 1992: Astronauts & Heretics by Thomas Dolby Thomas Dolby’s back—and here’s Eddie Van Halen! “Eastern Bloc (Europa and the Pirate Twins Part II)” is a gem of rollicking overlooked pop excellence from an outstanding album, as Maadlus highlighted so well on Friday. In a neighborhood called The End of the Cold War, “Eastern Bloc” lives within walking distance of “Right Here, Right Now” and “Industrial Disease,” closer to the latter. The sweet-tart melody just keeps ramping up, pre-chorus and chorus taking over in major-key beauty. Eddie Van Halen, meanwhile, brings guitar fireworks to a whimsically soaring bridge. As a sequel, “Eastern Bloc” rises above its predecessor, “Europa and the Pirate Twins,” from Dolby’s 1982 debut The Golden Age of Wireless (home of synth-pop royalty “She Blinded Me With Science”). A decade later, Dolby summons the full force of his pop powers for a shoulda-been charting single. https://youtu.be/dAF7wdNcYDU

… And Out October 1992: Up In Downsville by A Certain Ratio Manchester post-punks from the 1970s clamber into 1992 with a solid tribal groove in “Wonder Y.” Bands like ACR and songs like this fell through the cracks in the early Nineties and that’s a shame: this one would’ve seemed wildly out of place on corporate rock radio (and corporate rock radio would’ve been better as a result). Here’s an exquisite electronic undercarriage, beats and background vocals that mark “Wonder Y” as the distinct property of 1992 and I see no problem with that. https://youtu.be/DLhpDjpJFuE Elsewhere, if you have the patience to let the groove open up, “Salvador’s Fish” works similarly: https://youtu.be/Ol8Jpcy4BuA

… And Out Sept. 22, 1992: Broken by Nine Inch Nails Trent Reznor knows he has to go hard and he does, keeping the commitment to hooks that put him a cut above Industrial peers. A career trajectory comes into view on Broken. I had friends at the time who saw this as a threateningly heavy ramp-up from Pretty Hate Machine and to an extent that’s true. But nothing seems off; this is an excellent set of songs. Is there another EP after a great debut as interesting as this one? And did the Youth of America get this angry on their own, or did the music help them along? https://youtu.be/kuoFiIFkdAA

… And Out Sept. 11, 1992: Blade Runner (Director’s Cut), by Ridley Scott (soundtrack by Vangelis) In 1982, Blade Runner was compelling sci-fi with disappointingly few spaceships and laser battles for nine-year-old me. (It had Harrison Ford, after all!) In 1992 its re-release was magnificent neon-noir with the best soundtrack ever. The Blade Runner Director’s Cut of 1992 is where things find their proper shape, with the voiceover and artificially happy ending gone. Instead we get the more ambiguous clutter of shifting realities and new meaning for beat-downs on crowded sidestreets and characters juxtaposed in a backlit nicotine glow. Just incredible filmmaking on a shot-by-shot basis. Gliding over Los Angeles is a top-10 Eighties film sequence. Movies back then did more with fewer shots; they got the film grain and light and running time right with indelible images to spare. And the soundtrack! Synth has rarely been so immersive and otherworldly, wistful and heart-tugging with resignation. https://youtu.be/YnwKeiJflBw

… And Out Sept. 4, 1992: Copper Blue by Sugar After Hüsker Dü and a solo excursion, Bob Mould gives us perhaps the power-pop album of the Nineties. One could highlight any track on Sugar’s 10-song debut (all worth listening to) but my favorite is the epic “Hoover Dam,” a strummed masterpiece with backward-shuffling beats, the whole production nearly as majestic as that monumentally curving sandstone fortress in the West. Here it’s an interpersonal analogy with conscience-defining consequences. Cascading synth with weight like this in rock, in the fall of ’92, was a revelation. https://youtu.be/p39oPw45tbE

Love it blu cheez! Thanks so much for the wonderful writeup!

… And Out August 3, 1992: Welcome to Wherever You Are by INXS INXS reach a make-or-break moment. Music has changed; how can they recapture the love of Kick while remaining relevant? They bring in effects and pedals for a strong if imperfect set of songs that deserve more love. I played this CD constantly when it came out. Listening now, I feel Welcome could’ve done more; despite its ambition, it feels curiously reined-in. Album closer “Men and Women” is a dirge that should’ve blossomed into a major-key saxophone gospel riot or something. But luminous bright spots easily outnumber missteps. The singles—“Heaven Sent” coming out of the meditative ambient/Middle Eastern album opener “Questions,” the touchingly sweet “Beautiful Girl,” the sweeping sentimental warmth of “Not Enough Time”—all get the job done. Some of the album tracks are stronger. “Back On Line” is beautifully twinkling synth empowerment for a pinball factory worker. Perhaps the album’s statement of purpose, “Communication” percolates with synth and sharp guitar curled around each other, samples and striking images: https://youtu.be/kUmEJZ9uNzc “All Around” is a barnburner of a rock song, full of coiled momentum; it would’ve been a gangbusters Stones or Strokes single. Love the descending guitar line that drops twice, skips a beat and reappears as an ascending slash. Minor detail but a major one. https://youtu.be/clr7-CNsFKE August 1992 is also when Hutchence got into a fight with a taxi driver while out with partner Helena Christensen in Copenhagen. His fractured skull (and its delayed medical attention) seemed to usher in a dark new reality, depression that perhaps contributed to his death in ’97. Who would Hutchence be if he was still alive? Would INXS own the legacy tour circuit at U2 levels? Would they be like Duran Duran, a new album every 2-3 years with at least a banger or two? Would Hutchence’s acting career have progressed with the gravitas of age? Not enough time, sadly, to find out.

… And Out July 27, 1992: Moby by Moby Moby’s debut is so great you can sort of forgive the annoying things that came later. “Help Me to Believe” is a thing of beauty with its simple but hummingly haunting melody and Boards of Canada-esque textures with breathy synths, bass twitching beneath and effects writhing on the surface. On the same album as the Twin Peaks-sampling “Go,” it stands out. https://youtu.be/__Ce6sP8Ek0

… And Out July 14, 1992: Psalm 69 by Ministry Ministry reaffirm a fascinating career progression with Psalm 69 and single “Jesus Built My Hotrod.” Unrelentingly the Nineties demanded updates to Eighties sounds. Thus as Talk Talk went from synth-pop to pastoral, post-rock folk, Ministry went from synth-pop to hardcore industrial—the latter an arms race of sorts, cred based on being ever harder and heavier. (The asteroid that helped destroy the world’s Wingers?) “Jesus Built My Hotrod” has a non-bearded Al Jourgensen in the video, car-crash alpha-male churning; your mileage may vary: https://youtu.be/GXCh9OhDiCI Compare that to where Ministry were a decade earlier, like a flashback to a friendlier alt-history or a harbinger of Depeche Mode’s journey into a mirror universe, complete with goatees. Irony and angst needed time to settle in. https://youtu.be/EgujmMQQpT8

… And Out July 6, 1992: U.F.Orb by the Orb On the opposite end of the spectrum from “Baby Got Back” is U.F.Orb, a standout ’90s headphone album. It could be you’re parked on your couch as you ingest it, pleasantly intoxicated. Maybe you’re in your backyard looking up at the stars, imagining what alien life is up there, what the James Webb telescope might discover. Maybe you’re picking up nieces and nephews in a minivan; maybe you’re playing Metroid. You don’t think people should hate other people. The Orb, I think, agrees. https://youtu.be/J4-9ALbPQFo

… And Out June 26, 1992: Infinity Within by Deee-Lite “Let’s face it, it’s a pro-choice album”: Says the sticker on the CD cover. “Goodbye”: Say World Clique-caliber sales because America fears sensitive topics. Or is that just part of the story? Two things happening here. One is the Follow-Up-Album-Lacking-Transcendent-Single factor. (Though Infinity Within, on a track-by-track basis, is strong enough and certainly party-suitable, prefiguring mid-late-’90s electro acts like Groove Armada, Supreme Beings of Leisure and Basement Jaxx.) Then there’s the social-consciousness angle. Is it career suicide for a band to get that political? Would anyone—the Killers, Taylor, Drake, Charli, Eminem, Gaga—put out a “pro-choice album” now, when it’s more important than ever? Would labels let them? (Thinking no until proven wrong.) Give Deee-Lite some credit! I’m with Deee-Lite, a firm pro-choice supporter (raised staunch Catholic)—so of course the Supreme Court’s fundamentalism infuriates me. I mean what’s going on in the most Freedomy Nation of All™ as we scramble with some sudden, Prohibition-like need to take away a multigenerational freedom? Something most of us support? As a male, I can say with confidence I’d be livid to find out a medical procedure I needed was illegal. This is unacceptable and people of all genders who agree should speak out. (Libertarians, this is your calling! MGTOWs, I bet she’ll really see something special in you!) To pre-empt your next question: If I’m such a committed pro-choice proponent, does that mean I’d be in favor of my own abortion? Philosophically yes, but now we’re edging into the speculative sci-fi of a new series on Hulu featuring world-premiere music by Deee-Lite. “Pussycat Meow” is no “Groove Is in the Heart” while still working in its own way. Just sit back and enjoy 1992, it says to me now. 2022 will be here soon enough. https://youtu.be/zgs2IzFEgX8

Pauly, wow. I love it! In general I'm not really that nostalgic, but this just makes me want to murder someone to slip into the past. Great stuff. Thank you!

Thanks Pauly! I really appreciate this. As Pedunculated says above about Hannah & Gabi, Frank Mills is a wonderful song. I feel like there was a deceptively large amount of great, timeless music out around this time...and virtually none of it found its way to the top of the Billboard Top 40.

Great call, Pauly -- love it. What a well-rounded album. Thanks for this!

Yes! Love this, red! I always kind of heard this track as the "Underwater Love" of Angel Dust, that great keyboard intro giving way to a rush of guitars. Then it almost has a thriller feel, surging into the leadup to that terrific upbeat vocal hook. Really, a complex monster of a song when you think about it. Lyrically haunting, too. Is this about a prodigy kid that earns money for his parents until he doesn't? Thanks for this!

Looking forward to it, blu cheez! In my book there can't be too much talk about FNM. "Epic" aside, they really don't get enough love. I mean I can hear 3-4 RHCP songs on the radio at any given time but not even a single "Falling to Pieces"...!

In 1992 I was told I needed to be terrified that some stranger was going to step out from an alley or van and offer me drugs. It never happened and I grew disillusioned over time. Sometimes I think: surely this must've happened to at least one kid one time to be real? Also, can anybody take that stupid apostrophe out of 'It's' in my post above? I hate that. Thanks in advance!

I love King for a Day! It's abundant hardcore tracks illustrate an album that came out in the grunge wave. If it were my call I'd swap out at least a couple of them with a great cover like "Spanish Eyes" and an interesting B-side like "Absolute Zero." The title track, though, is top-tier FNM and "Ricochet" is vastly underrated. "Take This Bottle" is unexpectedly earnest and I'm OK with that. "Just a Man" is just waiting to appear in a movie or series. It's an underappreciated album!

We were young, Turd! Things were still dirty and frightening. Unlike now...wait.

Agree fully with ursaminorjim -- outstanding! This is a thing of beauty; they've been using their time well. The bass and ambient backdrop are heavenly. Royksopp have an uncanny ability to stay great. This is very much in the vein of 2010's Senior, B-side companion to Junior and probably my favorite thing they've done; well worth checking out. Thanks for this, Rachel. Made my day!

… And Out June 2, 1992: It’s a Shame About Ray by the Lemonheads After people got tired of talking about Evan Dando’s looks and the nature of his relationship with bandmate (the great) Juliana Hatfield, some got around to the Lemonheads’ actual music—scrappy, jangly, wry and melodically solid. The Lemonheads had buzz in the post-Nirvana landscape that didn’t lead to the pinnacle of superstardom but it did bring attention to Ray and its “Mrs. Robinson” single. It’s a short, tight album with several options to highlight but one that sneaks an organ into the mix—and reminds me (of all things) just a tiny bit of Huey Lewis and the News in “Stuck With You” mode—is “My Drug Buddy.” https://youtu.be/DCOKAYIBmng

… And Out May 26, 1992: Kiko by Los Lobos While “La Bamba” is a great cover, it seems like it almost could’ve been a tossed-off B-side for a band that marks 50 years together in 2023. Kiko is rocking, folky and soulful. Rootsy storytellers who straddle that Mexican-American divide with impeccable playing, Los Lobos strut one moment and turn tender the next. There’s plenty of high-quality guitarwork here and it all adds up to a band that you know just kills it live. I was expecting more horns, but don’t miss their absence. “Wake Up Dolores” has a slashing guitar riff that would earn a fair number of younger bands a spot on alt rock radio. Speaking of covers, someone could do something outstanding with this one. https://youtu.be/IENeSnSuE6s

… And Out May 26, 1992: “Midlife Crisis” by Faith No More Angel Dust is addictive; I certainly got hooked. It’s hard to sum up how important this album and its lead single are to me. On my birthday in 1992, my two best friends showed up at the pizza restaurant where I worked to give me the “Midlife Crisis” cassette single (my first); I came outside on break and we hung out in the parking lot for a few minutes. (“This is like Metallica stuff,” one of my friends warned.) No girlfriend ever brought me a Faith No More cassette single during high school (but I’ve supposedly matured significantly since then). So had Mike Patton and his band by ’92. Crushing and melodic in equal measure, eloquent and eviscerating, Angel Dust had the misfortune to come out at peak-Nirvana (consider the oppositional nature of the band names!). Maybe hitting “Epic” highs wasn’t in the cards anyway; this is a darker, more sophisticated band. Patton tries on all manner of deliciously snarling, frequently hilarious, shredding vocals; he could’ve been a great actor. “My feet itch!” he complains at one point, in character, on the cowpunk-metal of “RV.” From the opening headlong carnival-rush of “Land of Sunshine” to the closing growl of their “Midnight Cowboy” cover, Faith No More deliver in every way on Angel Dust. And “Midlife Crisis”—like Gary Numan hopped up on perhaps the album’s titular drug (I haven’t actually tried it), chugging with Patton’s spiteful rasp, a gorgeous chorus hook that soars and resolves with perfection. The song’s epic—yes—bridge starts hip-hop-esque before blowing up widescreen to awe-filled apocalypse (I love the drama of Roddy Bottum’s symphonic push-in/pull-back synth figure), building and exploding back into the chorus. Brilliance. https://youtu.be/FoQIuDEHVng Patton recently stepped away from touring with Faith No More for mental health reasons; we should applaud him for this. Not wanting to jump the gun here, but when he’s better, does the band have another album in them? Sol Invictus, from 2015, was good but a little austere; I’d love this band to be a bit more gonzo. Between Patton’s sung-in-Italian opera records, Bottum’s New Wave leanings and a band committed to heaviness, I think we could still get more greatness. I have faith.

So glad you captured "Mama, I'm Coming Home," RJ! Chills puts it well. Kind of a timeless classic in terms of melody, succinctness and elasticity of theme, as you say. I love it too.