Tuesday, March 21, 2006

My Five Favorite Albums of the Early 90s






Icky Mettle (1993) - Archers of Loaf
Gentlemen (1993) - Afghan Whigs
Bee Thousand (1994) - Guided By Voices
There's Nothing Wrong with Love (1994) - Built to Spill
Tastes Like Chicken (1994) - Meices

Not quite post-Nirvana nor pre-Weezer, these five albums nevertheless stand alone in my mind as a clarion call of what great rock could be. No radio standards, of course, and not much play on MTV, which had not quite completely sucked yet, these albums represented the zenith of my early-90s listening experience.

Icky Mettle saved my fucking life one day. Gentlemen darkened my heart, which was a bit too white anyway. Bee Thousand blew up my mind. There's Nothing Wrong with Love taught me just that. Tastes Like Chicken reminded me that louder doesn't always mean dumber.

They were the last of what I can remember of non-ironic indie rock. I hadn't been so affected by what I saw as a musical movement since the Second British Invasion of a decade earlier. Perhaps it was only marketing or coincidence that group these albums under one heading in my mind.

Or just being in the right place at the right time. And the right space. And the right mind.

And there's a chance that things'll get weird.
Yeah, that's a possibility.
Although I didn't do anything,
No, I didn't do anything.

- "Web in Front" by Archers of Loaf

2 comments:

Brian Kunath said...

I seem to recall you buying that Archers of Loaf CD in Calabash. Is that right?

I shamelessly used "I Am A Scientist" for the end credits of one of the videos we showed at our screening. The sketch was like five minutes and there were two minutes of credits. Didn't want the song to end.

MO'SH said...

Yes, Archers was a Calabash purchase. You might also recall me blaring it from behind closed doors. Endlessly. Until I got Jim Croce's Best Of...