This is the second Random Weekend selection that I’d never heard before it popped up in my iTunes account.
So why do I own a Plain White T’s album I’ve never listened to, you ask? Well, like most people, I know and love the song ‘Hey There Delilah,’ which appears on another Plain White T’s album (All That We Needed). And when I saw both that album and its predecessor (Stop) on sale for a couple of dollars apiece at a company book and record sale, I figured I’d give them a shot.
When Coldplay debuted in 2000, I had a far different image of them than I would several years later.
My first exposure was through the video for the band’s first U.S. single, ‘Yellow.’ In that clip, lead singer Chris Martin walks around on a dreary beach looking like a cross between a heroin addict and Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. At least that’s how I remember it.
Here’s another of those great sophomore albums that improves on already impressive debuts.
I was a casual Garbage fan based on their self-titled first album, a sultry blend of hard-edged alternative techno that introduced the criminally charismatic Shirley Manson to the world. But I wasn’t prepared for the adrenaline rush of their follow-up record, Version 2.0.
Another 1992 release, Michael Penn’s Free-For-All is more evocative of that year than any other on this list.
This album is the soundtrack of the summer of Hurricane Andrew, and listening to it today in my car, I half expect to turn the corner and see a downed ficus tree or a procession of National Guard trucks, as I did for several weeks in my Coconut Grove neighborhood.
Three albums in my top 13 were released in 1992. As I’ve written more than a few times on this blog, that year was a musical touchstone for me in large part because it was a year of major life changes.
Two of the albums from ’92 that appear here are excellent in their own right but wouldn’t necessarily have earned a spot in the top 20 if they didn’t have such powerful personal associations. The third scores very high on both the personal and artistic scale, but I’ll get to that one in due time.
