One of rap’s most influential albums was released in late 1992 — on my birthday, December 15, in fact.
Dr. Dre’s The Chronic was his first solo album after leaving NWA. It’s also the album that introduced Snoop Doggy Dogg to the world, rocketing him to superstar status before he’d even released a single of his own.
I must not have been paying much attention to the music scene in 1992. Usually I’m aware of the artists making a critical splash, even if I haven’t heard their music. But many of the acts dominating critics lists that year are completely new to me.
Take The Orb, a British electronic music band, whose album U.F. Orb showed up on many top ten lists from the year. I had no idea this band even existed. But they’ve released 15 albums since 1991, including this sophomore release that truly impressed critics.
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.
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.
Meet Me In Montauk 