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Song of the Day #6,576: ‘Fast Car’ – Tracy Chapman

Continuing my list of best debut albums (with quite a few caveats)…

Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman (1988)

I was 15 when Tracy Chapman’s self-titled debut came out, and I first heard it when my next-door neighbor, a friend from school, lent me his cassette. I thought he had purchased the single, ‘Fast Car,’ which was getting a lot of MTV airplay, but it turned out the be the whole record.

I took to it immediately, because how could anyone not? It’s beautiful and melodic, but with bursts of real acoustic muscle, and it’s aching and romantic, while clear-eyed and hard-nosed about injustice in America. It’s a true marvel.

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Song of the Day #6,575: ‘Ringfinger’ – Nine Inch Nails

Continuing my list of best debut albums (with quite a few caveats)…

Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine (1989)

You know an album is great when you love it despite it being in a genre you otherwise don’t like. That was true of Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as well as the debuts by Sade and Violent Femmes. And it’s definitely true of Nine Inch Nails’ Pretty Hate Machine.

This is an industrial rock album featuring aggressive electronic beats and discordant soundscapes. Trent Reznor (the one-man band behind NIN) snarls out his angry, lovesick lyrics like a man possessed and pissed off about it.

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Song of the Day #6,574: ‘Soap Star Joe’ – Liz Phair

Continuing my list of best debut albums (with quite a few caveats)…

Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville (1993)

The album I most enjoyed revisiting for these posts was Liz Phair’s classic indie rock debut. I’ve long loved this record but giving it a spin for the first time in a long time reminded me of just how special it is.

The seeds of Exile in Guyville started on a trio of cassette tapes Phair recorded in her childhood bedroom using the name Girly-Sound. Eleven of Guyville‘s 18 tracks appeared on those lo-fi recordings, which were passed around in her native Chicago and led to her first contract.

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Song of the Day #6,573: ‘Holding Back the Years’ – Simply Red

The week of July 5, 1986, found Billy Ocean holding on to the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘There’ll Be Sad Songs.’ At #2, a week before its own one-week stint at #1, was Simply Red’s ‘Holding Back the Years.’

This was the first of two #1 hits for the English pop/soul band. Their second, a cover of ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now,’ topped the chart in 1989.

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Song of the Day #6,572: ‘Afternoon Delight’ – Starland Vocal Band

Throwing back to the week of July 4, 1976 — the nation’s bicentennial — we find Wings’ ‘Silly Love Songs‘ holding on to the top spot.

Right behind it was a 70s one-hit wonder, Starland Vocal Band with the deceptively promiscuous ‘Afternoon Delight.’ The song reached #1 the following week, its “skyrockets in flight” chorus a perfect match for the summer of America’s 200th birthday.

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