The album that showed up the most in my research of 1992’s most critically-acclaimed records is one I’d never heard of — Copper Blue by Sugar. This is the debut album by the band, which was founded by Bob Mould, former Husker Du frontman.
I guess the fact that I don’t know anything by Husker Du, either, explains why this one is totally new to me.
I haven’t given much thought to the film Once in the eight years since its release. While I certainly appreciated it at the time, it never grabbed me the way my favorite films do.
That’s a bit surprising, because the movie should be right up my alley. It has the low-budget, real-life romantic vibe of Richard Linklater’s Before series and it features a number of beautifully staged musical moments (Marketa Irglova’s late-night battery run, for example).
Of the three White Stripes albums I own, 2005’s Get Behind Me Satan is my favorite (the other two, for those keeping score, are 2003’s Elephant and 2007’s Icky Thump.
This record eases off of Jack White’s usual guitar-heavy sound and introduces new flavors such as the marimba that’s heavily featured on today’s SOTD.
Anybody who took a peek at notable releases from 1992 won’t be surprised to see R.E.M.’s Automatic For the People at the top of my list of that year’s best new music. This is arguably the best album by one of my very favorite bands.
It also framed the summer I met my wife and became the unofficial soundtrack to our budding romance, so it has that going for it.
My #2 album of 1992 probably wouldn’t be in this spot if this list was less subjective. I don’t mean that as a slight to Michael Penn, whose sophomore album Free-For-All is a folk pop gem, but it’s hard to make an argument for this record being revelatory or important or any of the other highbrow things that land albums on lists like this.
But my list is entirely subjective, and Free-For-All was the soundtrack of one of the most important summers of my life, so damn it, here it is.
