1992
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[Album 984 – 989 / 1001]
Of the ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die,’ 26 are from the year 1992.
I’ve reviewed all but 6 of them (Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92, Koffi Olomide – Haut de Gamme: Koweit, Rive Gauche, Morrissey – Your Arsenal, Baaba Maal – Lam Toro, R.E.M. Automatic for the People, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Devotional Songs) already.
Which 1992 albums are the most essential to hear again?
Ranked by their essential-ness, here’s how I’d prioritize revisiting these 26 albums, enjoy!
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26. Pantera – Vulgar Display of Power. What did you say? Are you talking to me?!
25. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Devotional Songs.
24. Koffi Olomide – Haut de Gamme: Koweit, Rive Gauche.
23. Baaba Maal – Lam Toro.
22. Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92.
These rankings likely/probably/surely say more about me than the albums/artists themselves.
And when a new-to-me album doesn’t rank higher, I’ve realized in most cases, my ’emotional bandwidth’ at the time of listening was a big factor.
Since these final 100 albums or so were experienced during the pandemic / often during an extended online learning period, that’s a suboptimal listening context, and certainly impacted my initial impressions &/or desire to revisit.
Perhaps in an alternate timeline, these would be at the opposite end of the revisiting order?
21. Dr. Dre – The Chronic. One of three “Doctors” with debut albums & questionable medical credentials on the 1001 list!
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20. Sonic Youth – Dirty. Their 5th of 5 appearances on the 1001 list.
19. Stereo MCs – Connected. Having the album helps its percentages – having the album on cassette, maybe doesn’t help it quite as much!
18. Ministry – Psalm 69. Cheers to my friend Jeff for lending me his CD.
17. Arrested Development – 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of…. Some terrific singles (Everyday People, Tennessee, Mr. Wendel)
16. The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury.
15. The Pharcyde – Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde.
A solid year for hip hop.
13. Spiritualized – Lazer Guided Melodies. Like the music, love the 4-song suite album idea!
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12. Sugar – Copper Blue. A good mix of Sugar / Copper / Blue elements.
11. kd Lang – Ingenue. Her second of two.
10. Alice in Chains – Dirt. Them Bones especially.
9. Tom Waits – Bone Machine. His 5th of 5.
8. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Henry’s Dream. His first of a bunch of solo appearances.
7. PJ Harvey – Dry. Her first of three. Or as an artist of the week clue…
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6. Rage Against the Machine – Rage Against the Machine. Bombtrack, what an opening riff.
5. Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes. Fabulous debut (and what a run of albums she had in the 90s).
4. Lemonheads – It’s A Shame About Ray. Bit Part has some of my favourite lyrics from the decade.
3. Morrissey – Your Arsenal. It’s getting more challenging to separate the solo artist from the art.
2. R.E.M. – Automatic for the People. Man on the Moon / Nightswimming / Find the River, what a closing trifecta!
1. Pavement – Slanted & Enchanted. Their first of two on the list. I gather they’ll be playing some shows in Europe in 2022, hoping they keep the momentum going and make a stop or two in Canada!
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Verbalize the Positive
1992 – Fully Completely! Wish! Smeared! New Miserable Experience! What a year!
1001albumsin10years 
That’s a good year. I don’t mind Dirty as second to last either.
It’s funny as I imagine many would consider Pavement & Sonic Youth as comparable artists – but Pavement usually ends up near the top of these lists for me, Sonic Youth, less frequently!
They both kind of have a slacker vibe, but Pavement are more concise and accessible I think.
92 an interesting year for sure Geoff. Had a good chuckle when you wrote about the Dr having questionable medical credentials lol
Cheers, Deke – this ’92 – ’97 window is my favourite, as we talked about a bit the other night, such a great era for Can Con!
Can Con did rule back than…that is an episode in itself..we should consider that as well… Treblecharger, Static In Stereo, IME, so many to pick from…
Absolutely – and I was definitely a fan of all of the above, especially early treble charger!
I remember that post well with the 3 doctor comparison. One of my favs (the post, not the album). Strange year as it is a very eclectic bunch there, but some really good ones (R.E.M.).
My thanks, John – and I’ve enjoyed having Automatic on in the car recently (ironically, in our car that does not have automatic transmission!)
You have a stick? Wow, didn’t know they still make those kind a cars.
I should note, it’s not exactly a new car!
Ha!!
LOL I had to know you’d slot Pavement #1! Top 5 for me are Rage, Waits, Alice In Chains and Pavement. Order tbd.
If Fully Completely had made the list, it would have been #1 naturally – but as a plan B, Slanted & Enchanted ain’t bad either!
That FC isn’t in the book calls the entire book into question.
Oh, 1992 was the year that Def Leppard’s ‘Adrenalize’ and Bon Jovi’s ‘Keep the Faith’ were released!
A couple of solid albums, Lana – I had Keep the Faith on recently, it was good to be back!
Yeah, it’s my favorite Bon Jovi album!
that makes two of us – big fan of ‘in these arms’ and ‘dry county’ in particular!
‘Keep the Faith’ is your favorite Bon Jovi album too? That’s awesome! I love “Dry County” and “In These Arms.” “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” is my favorite song from that album.
Also a solid tune, Lana!
That’s awesome we like some of the same stuff!