I can’t write about the music of 1991 without mentioning Nirvana’s Nevermind, the smash hit that ushered in the grunge era and defined the sound of the decade to come.
I was never a Nirvana fan, though I do like the album’s four hit singles: ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ ‘Come As You Are,’ ‘Lithium‘ and today’s SOTD, ‘In Bloom.’ This might be the best of them.
Welcome to the early 90s and the latest edition of my Decades series, wherein I look at the albums released in a given year in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s. Most recently I’ve covered 1971 and 1981, which brings us to our current focus: 1991.
This is the year I turned 19, and a time when I was actively buying new music. It was also a very strong year for album releases in general. So I will spend more time than usual on 1991 releases — three weeks on my own favorites from the year and another two or three weeks on critically acclaimed albums I don’t know well.
This is the third Pavement song served up by the Random iTunes Fairy in the past two years, and not a one of them has been worth a damn.
That might be because the only Pavement album in my library is the extended two-disc version of their celebrated 1992 release Slanted and Enchanted, which contains 49 songs, most of which are outtakes and unreleased tracks.
Here’s a track from Don Henley’s 1984 album Building the Perfect Beast, best known for opening track (and bona fide classic) ‘The Boys of Summer.’
That song was written by Henley and Mike Campbell, but all but one other song on the album was written or co-written by Danny Kortchmar, a frequent collaborator of Henley’s. Kortchmar has the sole writing credit on today’s SOTD. He also co-wrote most of the tracks on Henley’s 1989 follow-up, The End of the Innocence.
Our final selection from the Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll is tied at #20 with Ariana Grande’s ‘No Tears Left To Cry.’ The Australian pop singer Troye Sivan closes us out with ‘My My My!’
The song appears on Sivan’s well-received sophomore album, Bloom. This is my first exposure to him (as far as I know) and it’s a nice one. Mellow but catchy.
Meet Me In Montauk 