My thoughts today are vacillating, straying from the ire that normally courses through my veins. I’m going home for the weekend to catch Slint’s one-time-only reunion tour as it arrives in New York City. I find myself continually focusing on the performance. The prospect of seeing one of the most important bands of my lifetime has inspired me to put together a list of the ten greatest albums that have been recorded since my birth in 1983. Unfortunately, my writing skills suffer immensely when I try to discuss music. For some reason I have a hard time relaying my own feelings and interpretations about the art form. Please, bear with me.
The Top Ten Albums Recorded Since 1983
10) Spacemen 3 The Perfect Prescription (1987) – In 1998 I saw this band called Spiritualized open for Radiohead and they floored me. It wasn’t until a few years later I uncovered Jason Pierce’s pre-Spirtualized band, Spacemen 3. This beautiful minimalist concept album focuses on a drug-induced trip from ascent to brutal comedown. What commences with bright and optimistic opener “Take Me to the Other Side” ends uneasily with the desperate finale “Call the Doctor.” After I heard The Perfect Prescription, I felt like a lousy drug addict. it’s like trainspotting for your ears.
9) Sonic Youth Daydream Nation (1988) – Regarded by many as the quintessential album of the ’80s, Daydream Nation is Sonic Youth’s masterpiece. And I hated it. I didn’t get it, and I thought it was boring. It took a few years and long stretches of ignoring the album before I realized its power. The album ebbs and flows between instrumental drones and disorderly, chaotic crescendos. Abetted by an interest in alternate tunings, each track offers a unique experience.
8) Pavement Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994) – When I was in middle school, I refused to listen to Pavement, on the grounds that Billy Corgan didn’t like Stephen Malkmus. I transcended this invisible barrier by the time I reached high school, and fell in love with CRCR when it was gifted to me by a friend whose brother moved to LA and left his record collection behind. From the first notes of “Silence Kit,” I was hooked. The jagged, sloppy transitions, and Malkmus’ oblique lyrical delivery were immediately engaging. The ability to poke at the then-burgeoning alternative rock scene and pen heartfelt, accessible songs strikes a perfect balance between playful and earnest.
7) Radiohead OK Computer (1997) – I had this Scottish camp counselor who I greatly admired, and he got me hooked on bands from the UK including Radiohead, Blur, Oasis and several lesser acts (Manic Street Preachers or Sneaker Pimps, anyone?). When OK Computer was released in the summer of 1997, I had someone to relate to when trying to quantify the greatness of this record. Finding individual moments on which to focus when you’re dealing with a masterwork is impossible. Even “Fitter Happier” serves a purpose. I couldn’t say exactly what that purpose is, but so what? I’m proud to say that this album was glued to my CD player for well over two years. Everywhere I went during that time, whether it was by car or plane, this album was all I cared to listen to. I guess retrospectively it’s counterproductive to listen to such pessimistic songs laying on a beach or taking a bus tour in some foreign land, but whatever, it was my favorite.
6) Nirvana In Utero (1993) – Nevermind will forever be remembered as the album that ushered in a new era of rock music. I can still remember visiting a close family friend in the hospital just before she died. I was eight years old walking through the bowels of the hospital with my tiny AIWA Walkman blasting “In Bloom”. Yet, as far as the quality of the songs and the overall sound of the album is concerned, In Utero is the best Nirvana had to offer. The brute force of Dave Grohl’s drumming and sharp guitar tone are a glimpse of what the band truly sounded like stripped bare. Kurt, heart on sleeve, harps on his cynicism towards media and culture, while also interspersing the blind optimism and wry humor that made him such an indelible icon.
5) Neutral Milk Hotel In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998) – Jeff Mangum’s tour de force is a spectacle of sonic exploration and an unparalleled performance that forces your attention on it for the duration. The first I heard of Neutral Milk Hotel was a cassette tape in Ilya’s car, and I couldn’t tell if it was just a bad recording or if that was the desired effect. “This guy must take a lot of drugs,” was the topic of conversation while Mangum laid bear what sounded like an embarrassingly tortured soul. The raw emotion of the lyrical spinning and guitar playing, the picaresque imagery, it’s sensation overload. “Oh Comely” is stunning. There’s a strange, unfathomable force lurking beneath the surface of this album, and it will continue to haunt you long after you first experience it.
4) My Bloody Valentine Loveless (1991) – The most I can say about this album is, it’s an absolute juggernaut of noise. MBV allow lush melodies to interact with ugly noise in a series of aural assaults. I had an unhealthy obsession with the Smashing Pumpkins growing up, from elementary school through high school, and once I discovered Loveless I became convinced that the Pumpkins I knew and loved probably would never have even existed if it weren’t for this album. It was the first time in my life I could truly hear the influence one band had on another, and completely altered the way in which I listened to music. Someone once told me the drumming sounded like shit, and I told him to shut his mouth and never say anything bad about My Bloody Valentine ever again.
3) Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy I See a Darkness (1999) – I still have problems listening to this album in the company of others. It’s so bleak and morbid. It scares me. Even if the words are intended to be comical, I can understand how some listeners become lost in the mire and forget the singer is actually attempting to be comical. I found this record during my freshman year at the University of Vermont, and of all the albums on this list, it’s probably the one that has inspired my own musical endeavors the most.
2) Jeff Buckley Grace (1994) – I was one of the many who was turned on to Jeff Buckley after his death. I was in High School, and someone offered to send me some mp3s from Grace. It changed my life. The stunning vocal range, the impressive (and often overlooked) guitar work, and the purveying themes of love and death struck a chord. Let’s not forget, this was his debut album. The talent he displayed on Grace raised the bar for I would chose to listen to in the future. On a totally “Emo” aside, I still get emotional when I watch the “Live in Chicago” video, and I think (read: definitely) I cried the first time I saw the extended solo rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” that concludes the performance.
1) Slint Spiderland (1991) – Somewhere between my time at Livingston High School and this very moment, I became fascinated with Steve Albini. I was looking at articles he had written, when I came across a review he had written about this band called Slint. Albini had recorded the band’s first album Tweez, and the way he wrote about Spiderland was so intense that I didn’t even get to the end of the article because I had to go out to buy it. I lay down in bed, pressed play and listened intently. Six tracks, roughly forty-minutes, and a whole new form of music I had never imagined existed until that moment. Britt Walford’s ability to shift dynamics defies drumming logic. Brian McMahan’s lyrics and whisper/scream delivery is chilling. I still don’t even know what he means, but I love it. It’s like spying on someone writing down the most intimate details of his psyche. And it’s palpable from the opening song, “Breadcrumb Trail.” You’ve still got five more songs to go. The most frustrating thing about this record is, it made re-defining rock and roll look easy. Where else can the genre go from here?
