Most of the tracks in this ’31 Numbered Songs’ series fall into one of two categories: songs I’d never heard of or songs I already knew very well.
Today’s SOTD is the lone representative of a third group: songs I knew very well once upon a time but had forgotten about entirely.
Gin Blossoms’ New Miserable Experience is a touchstone of one of my most formative years, 1992. That’s the year I met my wife, and a half dozen or so alternative rock albums soundtrack that era for me to this day.
My readers are clamoring for another installment of “In the Year of…” and who am I to deny them?
I started this series by looking at my birth year, 1972, highlighting my top five albums of the year and ten records (new to me) that received critical acclaim. I then jumped forward a decade and gave the same treatment to 1982, discovering a few gems along the way.
Now I’ll skip ahead another ten years and spend the next four weeks on 1992.
If I had to pick one album that best captures my musical memory of the 90s, it may well be Gin Blossoms’ New Miserable Experience. Released in 1992, the year I met my wife-to-be, it (along with a few others on this list) formed the soundtrack of that summer and fall.
This song would have fit very well in my theme week on my courtship with my wife. It and the album on which it appeared (New Miserable Experience) were in frequent rotation on my car stereo the summer of 1993.
I know a group that has just one great song is called a one-hit wonder, but what about a group with just one great album? New Miserable Experience is best remembered for this song and another hit, ‘Hey Jealousy,’ but it was strong from start to finish. And it holds up quite well today. That early 90s alterna-pop sound (see also: Toad the Wet Sprocket) was a good one, and is dated only in the literal sense.
Meet Me In Montauk 