#46: "Enter Sandman" - Metallica Release Date: 1991 Director:Wayne Isham Fun Fact: This is the first of SIX videos by Metallica that have been directed by Wayne Isham!
Also, Wayne Isham directed the "Sweating Bullets" video by Megadeth, which got to #64 in the list. This is only Metallica's second music video, after "One" was made two years prior. The song and the video work together perfectly. Basically it's about this kid who is having nightmares about this old man, who is known as The Sandman. In his nightmares he can't escape from The Sandman, and is having horrible visions of near death experiences (or even, death experiences), such as falling from the top of a building, being covered in deadly snakes, falling down a hillside and being chased by a large truck. All the while The Sandman watches this boy throughout the video, and even watches while the boy recites a prayer. This video is almost overlooked nowadays. There's two reasons for this. The primary reason is because it's overplayed BIG time on music TV channels like Kerrang and Scuzz. And secondly, the flickering of the lighting throughout the video (which comes with an epileptic warning) sometimes means you're not quite watching the video closely to appreciate it. Seriously, watch the video again properly if you can, I'm sure you'll appreciate its greatness once more. Note: This is the second and last video from the year 1991 in this list.
Here's the video for your enjoyment!
Click here to see #45 on the list or here for #47!
#64: "Sweating Bullets" - Megadeth Release Date: 1992 Director: Wayne Isham Fun Fact: The term to "sweat bullets" means that you're incredibly anxious or nervous. Dave Mustaine was thought of to be a schizophrenic, and while he denies it, he found the topic interesting so wrote this song!
I actually remember seeing this video when I was a young lad but completely and utterly forgotten about it until I was an adult. I remember all the camera panning from one asylum door to another, and it resonated with me.
Watching the video as an adult makes me love the video even more. Naturally when I was a kid I had no idea what dementia was, what's schizophrenia was. Now that I know, and know that I've been around people who have had one or the other, I completely and utterly sympathise with these people who have to deal with all of this mental trauma. This video is a fantastic symbol of dementia, and mental health in general, and the video stands stronger and stronger each day and each year as each passing moment, the world is starting to become more aware of mental health and how to help people who truly struggle to help themselves.
If you like Megadeth or not, please, watch this video, it's just a fantastic way of using imagery to describe what people really go through, who can't cope with their minds, thoughts and feelings.
Here's the video for your enjoyment!
Click here to see #63 on the list or here for #65!
On Thursday I posted the third of seven parts of the Mercyside 100, counting down the 100 songs I played more than any other on my personal media player. This show is the first time we have an artist appear more than once on a show. It happened twice; we had two Nine Inch Nails tracks and two songs by The Lonely Island. Don't forget you can hear this list of songs as part of a DJ show here:
So here is the third part of the Mercyside 100, from #70 to #56!
#70: My Wall
Artist: Korn (feat. Excision and Downlink)
Album: The Path of Totality
Released: 2011
#69: Closer
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Album:The Downward Spiral
Released: 1994
#68: I'm on a Boat
Artist: The Lonely Island (feat. T-Pain)
Album:Incredibad
Released: 2009
#67: Bad Girls
Artist: M.I.A.
Album:Matangi
Released: 2012
#66: Last Child
Artist: Aerosmith
Album:Rocks
Released: 1976
#65: White Limo
Artist: Foo Fighters
Album:Wasting Light
Released: 2011
#64: Fishfingers
Artist: The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
Album:Horse of the Dog
Released: 2002
#63: Holy Wars... The Punishment Due
Artist: Megadeth
Album:Rust in Peace
Released: 1990
#62: Fukken Über Death Party
Artist: Hanzel und Gretyl
Album:2012: Zwanzig Zwolf
Released: 2008
#61: Jus' a Rascal
Artist: Dizzee Rascal
Album:Boy in da Corner
Released: 2003
#60: Death by Diamonds and Pearls
Artist: Band of Skulls
Album: Baby Darling Doll Face Honey
Released: 2010
#59: Slipping Away
Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Album:Things Falling Apart
Released: 2000
#58: Fire Like This
Artist:Hardknox
Album:Hardknox
Released: 1997
#57: Go Kindergarten
Artist:The Lonely Island (feat. Robyn)
Album:The Wack Album
Released: 2013
#56: Crying Lightning
Artist:Arctic Monkeys
Album:Humbug
Released: 2009
...next week I'll be posting #55 to #41 so passing the half way mark so stay tuned, either here or directly at Mixcloud!
The Mercyside 100: #70 to #56: 23/1/14 Track listing: My Wall (feat. Excision and Downlink) - KoRn Closer - Nine Inch Nails I'm on a Boat (feat. T-Pain) - The Lonely Island Bad Girls - M.I.A. Last Child - Aerosmith White Limo - Foo Fighters Fishfingers - The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster Holy Wars... The Punishment Due - Megadeth Fukken Über Death Party - Hanzel und Gretyl Jus' a Rascal - Dizzee Rascal Death By Diamonds and Pearls - Band of Skulls Slipping Away - Nine Inch Nails Fire Like This - Hardknox Go Kindergarten (feat. Robyn) - The Lonely Island Crying Lightning - Arctic Monkeys Total running time: 01:05:43
Hey guys. Sorry it's a bit late updating you all about this show. I did upload it five days ago. This is a special show. Special because it's an "audition" show, as I attempt to get a slot on a Northern Irish radio station. I haven't heard yet whether or not I've been successful. Even if I'm not successful it's probably the most successful show I've done, reception wise. I've had fantastic feedback from the show, from many different people. I have put a lot of content into it, to showcase my style and to show what I can do. Of course I'm not 100% happy with it, and I can definitely improve, but I'm so happy where I've come, in the past two months, in doing this. Being a radio DJ is a possibility as a career for me, but I have a long long way to go and have to get much better, and get better equipment, if I want this ambition to become a reality. So yeah, have a listen to The Metal Hour below! Give me feedback, positive, or constructive negative, I thoroughly appreciate it!
The Metal Hour: 20/1/14 Track listing: Symphony of Destruction - Megadeth Dead Souls - Nine Inch Nails Fire it Up - Black Label Society Orion - Metallica Bounce - System of a Down Los - Rammstein Pro-test - Skinny Puppy Thieves - Limp Bizkit Pussy All Night - Mindless Self Indulgence Get to the Gone - Static-X Everything Ends - Slipknot I am the Warlock - Probot (feat. Jack Black) Total running time: 01:00:00 Other entries you might want to read: My Top 50 Favourite Video Game Villains - Listing The Mercyside 100 - DJ Show 2013 Special Show (3/1/14) - DJ Show
For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!
Hey everyone, welcome to the ninth edition in a series of
reviews of a year in music. So far I have covered all the 2000s together as the
Noughtie series,
and so far 1999,
then 1998,
followed by 1997
and 1996,
1995,
1994, 1993 and 1992.
Just in case you’re not familiar with it, here’s the format.
It will be done in five parts. I'll do a brief history of what happened in that
year, followed by my five favourite albums of the year, then what I think the
five best videos are. I'll then do a Top 10 most impactful (still refraining
from using the word important) songs from that year. To wrap it up, I'll do my
favourite songs in a mixtape format. So now that you know where I'm going with
this, let's get to it!
1991 was an odd year for music. Probably until September, when “you know what” got released by Nirvana, it pretty much felt like the old guard getting rusty from the eighties. Times were changing, the people who found success in the eighties were struggling to take to this change, and people wanted something new, something fresh. Nirvana and the grunge movement brought that, but it didn’t really come to full effect until 1992. So what we have here is a mixture of good and… okay. Enjoy the review!
Brief History of the
Year 1991 in Music
Nirvana
release "Nevermind", one of the, if not the biggest album
released since, and the grunge genre movement explodes to the mainstream
Lead
singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury, dies of AIDS.
Oasis
form, becoming probably the biggest British band of the nineties.
Metallica
release their self titled album (also called The Black Album), their most
successful album in their 31 year career.
Rage
Against the Machine form, starting the nu-metal era of metal, and become
one of the most outspoken and controversial bands of the nineties.
Talking
Heads, one of the biggest post-punk and new wave bands of all time, disband.
They would only play one more time together, in 2002, when they were inducted
into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
My Top 5 Albums of
1991
#5 – “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Released: 24/9/91
Rating: ***3/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: “Breaking the Girl”, “Give it Away”,
“They’re Red Hot”
I
love the Chilis. They’re a great band. They make music like no other artist out
there. There are have been a few bands that have tried to put their spin on the
funk rock sound that the Chilis have perfected but none have had anywhere near
the success that the Red Hot Chili Peppers have. But my problem with the Chilis
is that their album material is usually a step down from their singles. Quite
consistently in their career. Now I’m sure there are many people who disagree
with me on that of course. It’s just me, I know. Blood Sugar Sex Magik is a
great album though, I thoroughly enjoy listening to it. I mean, it’s the same
pattern, the singles are by far the best songs on the album, but the
non-singles are fun too. If I were to recommend one Chilis album, it’d probably
be this.
#4 – “Out of Time” by R.E.M.
Released: 12/3/91
Rating: ***3/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: “Losing My Religion”, “Shiny Happy
People”, “Radio Song”
Why the Radio Song is not on any Greatest Hits album R.E.M.
have released is beyond me. What a cool track that is.
Anyway, “Out of Time” is an R.E.M. effort that I forgot
about, until I made this article for your pleasure. It surprised me a little
with how good it is. I mean I do prefer “Automatic for the People”, but I take nothing
away from this album, it’s a cracker. One of my favourite non-singles is
“Country Feedback” a song really pulls at the heartstrings, and was so good
that it was released on R.E.M.’s final release of compilation tracks. Michael
Stipe has also called that his favourite ever song, which is quite the
statement. There’s a lot of gold on “Out of Time”, and deserves a lot of
respect as one of R.E.M.’s finest albums.
#3 – “Look Mom, No Head!” by The Cramps
Released: November 1991
Rating: ****1/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: “Bend Over, I'll Drive”, “Dames, Booze,
Chains and Boots”, “I Wanna Get in Your Pants”
Look at Poison Ivy. Man, she was so hot.
Anyway,
I love The Cramps. I don’t swear often on this site but it deserves it here. I
fucking love The Cramps. If I were to list you a set of bands that deserve more
attention for their discography The Cramps would be very high on that list. The
Cramps are a band that started a genre. Psychobilly wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t
for The Cramps. They’re so good, and while their songs going into the nineties
were slowly losing quality, this is their last great effort. There are some
absolute gems on this album; those three songs above are there for starters.
They only released one single off it with “Eyeball in My Martini”, which is
pretty good, but some of the other non-singles are brilliant. Just look at
those song titles. Aren’t they brilliant? You know what you’re going to get
with The Cramps, dirty yet sexy licks, with funny innuendo in their lyrics.
They’re just a band that really deserves more attention; please PLEASE check
them out if you’ve never heard them before. You’re missing out!
#2 – “Metallica” by Metallica
Released: 12/8/91
Rating: ****1/2 stars
Stand-out tracks: “Enter Sandman”, “The Unforgiven”, “Sad
But True”
There are two albums from the year 1991 that probably get
more recognition and praise than any other. It doesn’t matter who you are, what
music you like, or anything else, there are two albums that trumped everything
else in terms of attention and longevity. These two albums are to put simply,
two of the greatest albums of all time.
First
is “The Black Album”, or the self titled “Metallica” album. That’s got to be
one of the coolest album covers ever. I’m not the biggest Metallica fan, especially for their albums, but if you love metal, it doesn’t
matter what type of metal you like, you have to listen to this. It goes without
saying. It’s just from the first track to the last, pure quality in the metal
genre. The Black Album oozes brilliance throughout. It’s amazing how fucking
good this album really is. And as I said, I’m not a huge Metallica fan, and
it’s still damn good. You simply, can’t call yourself a metal fan until you
appreciate this album. It’s a true classic, a true piece of legendary music that
will go down in history as one of the finest albums ever recorded. It’s that
simple.
It’s probably not a surprise that this is my favourite album
from 1991. But what you may find surprising is that I found it very hard to
give this a star rating of ****1/2 stars. It’s one of those albums that for me
is between ****1/4 and ****1/2, but because of the nostalgia, the impact and
the significance of the album, I gave it the latter rating.
This isn’t my favourite Nirvana album. In fact, a case can
be made that it’s my least favourite Nirvana album. But no one can dispute that
this album is great. It’s a fantastic album. It annoys me when a lot of people
talk about this album being crap. It’s not. It’s far from it. But… it was
overplayed. Nirvana as a band, we’re overplayed, overhyped. I wouldn’t say
overrated, but they got so much attention and it was shoved in everyone’s
throats for a long long time. Nevermind was played so much during the nineties,
especially “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. And as I say, rightfully so in a certain
way as it is a great album. But enough was enough.
If
you take away all the hype and attention away and strip this album down to its
core and listen to it, it’s a great effort. It’s not the best, but it’s damn
good. There are some fantastic songs on here, and the music singles were
awesome too. They’re just not my favourite tracks on the album. But if,
somehow, you haven’t heard this album, I do recommend you listen to it at least
once. Regardless of your taste in music, if you like metal, rock, grunge, pop,
dance music, RnB, it doesn’t matter. This is an album that strips musical
barriers, and appeals to a vast audience. Simply at its core, “Nevermind” is a
legendary album that is an album you have to hear before you die. It’s as
simple as that.
My Top 5 Music Videos
of 1991
#5 – “Give it Away” by Red Hot Chili Peppers
I have to be honest 1991 wasn’t really that great for videos
but one that always stands out is “Give it Away” by the Chili’s. How can a
video where half naked men in shiny pants and make up in a black and while
video be considered so popular? It’s beyond me in some ways but no one can deny
how this video became iconic. You have to give credit to the director as the video
matches the song perfectly, it’s lively, it’s a little crazy and it actually
looks fun to direct. Just like the song “Give it Away” is all of those things
to a certain extent. “Give it Away” is just a video you have to see to
understand, and to experience.
#4 – “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana
It may be an odd choice but this was a great music video.
It’s not the best music video in the world, and it doesn’t have much artistic
direction, but it’s so iconic. It’s a legendary music video. And yes, it is
purely because of the attention the song and the band got, but regardless, this
is a good music video. It shows what Nirvana do best, play music in a raw and
hostile environment. I love all the shots of the dirty gymnasium, the greasy
hair, the playing hard, the cheerleaders, everything. It’s just a music video
that does exactly what music videos are supposed to do, promote the song and
promote the band. And it does both of these things perfectly.
#3 – “Shiny Happy People” by R.E.M.
I forgot how hot Kate Pierson is in this video, and at the
age of 43 as well. What? What can I say? I love redheads! Anyway, I can’t help
but love this video. I think it’s just because band members are all trying
their hardest to look happy but all still look discretely despondent, with the
exception of Kate Pierson anyway, of the B52’s, whose smiles just gleam the
video camera lense. The video is just great, it’s just totally watchable
despite not much really happening apart from the above, in front of a large
painting of childrens drawings of ‘happy people’. It’s just an awesome video.
Oh and one more thing, Michael Stipe’s incredibly brown suit and cap turned
sideways is another amazing highlight of the video.
#2 – “Black or White” by Michael Jackson
If you’re wondering once again I’m including Michael Jackson
when I don’t include pop artists as a rule it’s because I think Michael Jackson
is above and beyond genre dividing. Michael Jackson is a member of an elite
elite ELITE set of musicians of probably 5 to 10 bands or performers that are
untouchable.
“Black or White” is possibly an odd choice for some of you.
There’s, of course, the debate about the message of the video anyway,
considering the weird change of skin colour of Michael Jackson throughout the
eighties and nineties. But take that situation out of the way for a moment and
you have a very cheesy, yet entertaining music video.
Macaulay Culkin plays as the kid who loves rock music and
pisses his father off, and when getting told off, retorts by cranking his electric
guitar volume to a ridiculous level, and the father gets blown away by the
noise to what looks like Africa, where Michael Jackson is dancing and singing
the song (so weird to say that sentence). It’s very cheesy but behind the
cheese is a very serious message about equality and diversity amongst the races
of humanity. At the end of the video was quite memorable and innovative at the
time, is loads of people’s faces of different skin colour and complexions
morphing from one person to another. This type of imagery and technology was
rarely used before Michael Jackson used it in this video, so it was pretty
cool. This video is pretty good but cheesy.
Just in case you were wondering, the original video was
quite controversial as it had racial graffiti all over it, but this isn’t the
version I’m placing at #2 in my list, but the revised version now found all
over music channels that cuts this section out.
#1 – “Enter Sandman” by Metallica
What can I say about “Enter Sandman”? It’s just one of the
best music videos of the early nineties. What it lacks in technological quality
it makes up in vivid imagery. The video pretty much follows the lyrics song,
and deals with a child who can’t sleep properly and dreams vividly of the
Sandman, who, in the video, is a very strange old man that is haunting the
little girl. The girl falls from the top of a building, gets covered in snakes,
gets chased by a truck and falls from a mountain while trying to escape the
truck, all the while the Sandman lurks in and around her dreams throughout the
video. And while all of these events are happening, the band is playing in
parts and throughout the entire time, the screen is flickering, only showing
you in parts what’s happening. It’s just a truly magnificent video, especially
when it aired in 1991, and one that really needs to be seen if not seen before.
The Top 10 Most
Impactful Songs of 1991
As I said, I'm NOT calling it the 'important' list, although
it's more than just popularity as well. Anyway, here are the 10 songs of the
year. It's an unbiased list.
By trade this is a pop song of course, but it’s status is
legendary as a one-hit wonder of a balanced feeling of cringe and awesomeness.
I mean that. This song is absolutely awesome, but it’s cringe-worthy at the
same time. It’s just a truly remarkable song of cheese, slime and facepalmingly
bad lyrics but I dare you not to like it. This track got to #2 in the UK
charts, but it’s never gone away. It’s too bad not to go away. Right Said Fred
has made a career from this song and you will like it, if you like it or not.
That didn’t make sense. In summary, you love this song so don’t deny it!
Getting to #3 in the UK charts, this GnR song was their highest
charting single in our country until they released “Knockin’ On Heavens Door” a
year later, and the video promoted the classic film “Terminator 2: Judgement
Day”, one of my favourite films ever. It’s tainted nowadays by arguably better
songs like “Paradise City”, “Welcome to the Jungle” and “November Rain”, but
for Guns ‘n’ Roses to get a #3 hit was quite a big deal, and kudos to them for
that. Sorry, I’m not a big fan of Guns ‘n’ Roses or this song! But yeah, you
can’t argue facts, and facts are that in 1991 this was a big hit. A very big
hit.
Probably by today’s standards this song isn’t that popular
in comparison to other U2 songs, but this song got to #1 in the UK and at the
time showed a very different side to the band, a slightly harder edge. The song
is probably more famous for being the song that knocked Bryan Adams’
“Everything I Do (I Do it for You)” off the #1 spot after a 16 week stay up
there. That being said it’s only U2’s second #1 single in the UK, and they’ve
had seven. It definitely showed that U2 are capable of branching their sound to
different genres so kudos to them for that.
#7 – “There’s No Other Way” by Blur
Before the days of “Girls and Boys”, “Parklife”, “Country
House”, “Song 2” and “Coffee and TV” came “There’s No Other Way”, only Blur’s
second single, and the single that brought them huge mainstream attention. The
rest of Blur’s career speaks for itself, but if it weren’t for this song, life
would have been a lot more difficult for the Britpop band that made such an
impact over the course of this decade. It’s one of Blur’s more simple songs,
but it’s still exceptionally catchy, and got to #8 in the UK.
If there’s any song by Queen that’s tragic on a personal
level it’s probably this. The song got to #16, and was written primarily by
legendary guitarist Brian May, and speaks volumes of the pain that Freddie
Mercury was going through in the final year of his life. So much in fact, there
were many concerns whether or not Freddie Mercury could actually sing the song,
but in Brian May’s words, despite all his struggles, Freddie Mercury “he went
in and killed it, completely lacerated that vocal”. So strong is Freddie’s
performance in this song you’d be hard to believe he had any problems at all,
but that was the strength of the man. This was Queen’s last single in the life
of Freddie Mercury. He died six weeks later.
#5 – “Black or White” by Michael Jackson
It may have got to #1 in the UK (and in no fewer than
fourteen other countries) but this song has really tainted over time as a song
that is considered a great Michael Jackson song. It’s not bad don’t get me
wrong, but over his entire career his nineties work is really not taken in high
regard, and even when compared to his other songs of the nineties, this song
still doesn’t really shine ‘brilliance’. Maybe it’s due to the fact that
Michael Jackson is asking us all not to judge a man or woman by the colour of
their skin, yet the mysteries of his skin colour changing over time definitely
questions that logic. Regardless of is Michael Jackson had skin pigmentation
surgery or not, this song and its ethic and moral message, is still important,
and obviously the song had a fantastic impact in 1991.
It was initially hard to choose between “Give it Away” and
“Under the Bridge” as the Chili’s song from the classic “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”
album but after a deeper thought it became very obvious that this song had to
be included in a list of songs that created the most impact. Sure, on a
commercial level, “Give it Away” is the cooler, funkier, more mainstream track,
but deeper down, on a personal level for Anthony Kiedis himself, and as a song
that has created more for the band long term, there’s barely no dispute that
this is one of the Chili Peppers’ finest moments in their illustrious career.
What a song this is. Getting to #13 in the UK, it’s only one of two songs in
the entire Chili’s discography to go platinum in the US (the other being the
far inferior “Dani California”). It’s just a beautifully sad song that deals
with loneliness and depression, and is one of Kiedis’ finest pieces of music.
#3 – “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M.
Once again, another song by another band has been more
successful (this time it’s “Shiny Happy People”) but is omitted for a song that
may not have charted as high, but has had a far larger impact on the career of
the band long term. “Losing My Religion” got to #19, their second biggest hit
in the UK at the time (“The One I Love” got to #16). The song’s lyrics deal
with pining for someone who doesn’t really feel the same way, a feeling I’m
sure we’re all very familiar with. But the song is much more famous for the
riff on the mandolin, an instrument Peter Buck, the guitarist was only starting
to learn at the time. It’s such a beautiful instrument and is the key to why
this song is so memorable. What a song.
#2 – “Enter Sandman” by Metallica
Getting to #5 in the UK is no easy feat for a metal artist,
but Metallica did just that with this blistering effort (they also did it a
second time with “Until it Sleeps”). It’s arguably one of, if not the biggest
Metallica song ever. The lyrics are infamous, the music video memorable, but
nothing can beat the opening intro of the song. It’s absolutely sublime; it’s
one of the best openings to a song ever. “Enter Sandman” is responsible for
turning heads to how good metal can sound, and then “The Black Album”
solidified that foundation. It’s such a huge track, such a brilliant song, and
it’ll forever go down in history as one of metal’s finest efforts.
#1 – “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana
It’s not really a dispute about what was the most
“Impactful” song of 1991. You can easily make a case that this song made a bigger
impact than any song of the nineties. But that’s a conversation for another
day. For today, is the day we celebrate “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, THE song of
the year 1991.
My opening paragraph talks about how the old guard of the
eighties were losing their hold on the change in music. Something was needed to
shake music up, but nothing new was really coming. Until September. “Smells
Like Teen Spirit” changed music history forever.
I don’t even know how or why. It’s not as if it’s the most
amazing song. Nirvana have made much better songs than this. I mean, I really
like “Teen Spirit” but I prefer other songs. But something happened, something
clicked, a bond was made between audience and song, and it changed Nirvana
forever. It changed grunge forever, alternative rock and music changed.
Suddenly bands who were previously considered uncool became cool and it changed
the pop charts for a good amount of time. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is
responsible for that change, and if you like the song or not, you have to
appreciate what impact this song had. It may have only got to #7 in the UK, but
it simply changed everything.
The Year 1991 Mixtape
Just in case you didn't know by now...
"A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or
era. The list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with
further recommendations if some of the songs aren’t to your taste. Remember
kids, downloading is wrong!"
So here we go! My favourite songs from the year 1991. Yes,
this is a biased list.
You can now listen to this playlist on YouTube! Just click here!
And there we go! The year 1991 in review! Next month
naturally I’ll be covering the final year in the nineties, 1990, and continue
my descend into music history. What we your favourite songs and albums from
1991? Any other comments or queries? Raise them below. Thanks for your time.
For the latest updates on my work, 'like' me on Facebook here!
Hey everyone, welcome to the eighth edition in a series of
reviews of a year in music. So far I have covered all the 2000s together as the
Noughtie series,
and so far monthly, the year 1999,
then 1998,
followed by 1997
and 1996,
1995,
1994
and then last month, 1993.
Just in case you’re not familiar with it, here’s the format.
It will be done in five parts. I'll do a brief history of what happened in that
year, followed by my five favourite albums of the year, then what I think the
five best videos are. I'll then do a Top 10 most impactful (still refraining
from using the word important) songs from that year. To wrap it up, I'll do my
favourite songs in a mixtape format. So now that you know where I'm going with
this, let's get to it!
I’m
really happy with the way 1992 in Music turned out. I definitely don’t remember
this year from my birth, I was three years old. There was no way I could. But
the Mixtape is fantastic, this was a really good year for music singles and I
thoroughly enjoyed making the Mixtape you’ll see at the bottom of this page.
Brief History of the
Year 1992 in Music
Nirvana's
"Nevermind" gets to #1 in the US and is partly responsible for
the huge surge of interest in the Grunge genre. Lead singer Kurt Cobain
and lead singer of Hole, Courney Love, get married.
"November
Rain" by Guns n Roses becomes the longest running song to enter the
Top 20 in the US charts, and also is the most expensive music video ever
(at the time).
Irish
alternative singer Sinead O'Connor controversially rips up a picture of
The Pope on "Saturday Night Live".
Weezer
form, becoming one of the biggest alternative rock bands of the past 20
years.
A
tribute concert to the late lead singer of Queen, Freddy Mercury, is held
at Wembley Arena, England.
Influential
lead guitarist John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers leaves the band. He
returned six years later.
My Top 5 Albums of
1992
#5 – “Kerplunk” by Green Day
Released: 17/1/92
Rating: ***1/4 stars
Stand-out tracks: “Welcome to Paradise”, “2000 Light Years
Away”, “My Generation”
Albums were not that good in 1992 in my opinion; very little
came out was that great. This is the first album to get a ***1/4 star rating
and make the Top 5 of a list so far in my Yearly Music Review, and this
emphasises on that point. “Kerplunk” isn’t a great album. It’s not a bad album
either, Green Day on a bad day are a listenable modern punk band, especially
their older stuff. This album is full of that type of material, passable modern
punk licks. There’s very little else to say about it. Even if I were to do a
full album review on this it’d be a struggle because in honesty, it’s just
mediocre. “Welcome to Paradise”, even in its early stages though, sounds quite
good and is definitely the best song on the album. If you like Green Day’s
basic sound you’ll like this, otherwise, avoid it because there was definitely
more to come from this band in the future.
#4 – “La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1” by White Zombie
Released: 17/3/92
Rating: ***1/2 stars
Stand-out tracks: “Black Sunshine", “Thunder Kiss ‘65”,
“Welcome to Planet Motherfucker/Psychoholic Slag”
White Zombie finally found some commercial success with this
effort, their third of four albums, but for me it still lacks a lot of quality,
quality that was found in abundance on their final effort, and even more so,
when Rob Zombie embarked on a solo career. The two singles, “Black Sunshine”
and “Thunder Kiss ‘65”, their debut singles oddly enough despite them releasing
two albums prior, are by far the best things on this album, and everything else
pales in comparison. I’m surprised by a lot of the experimenting they did on
this album; there’s a certain psychedelic force turning the cogs of the
machine, and a mixture of heavy metal and early glimpses of the inevitable
industrial metal route that would force Rob Zombie into a more successful time
of his career. Overall “La Sexorcisto” is a decent effort, one I’d recommend
you get if you like Rob and White Zombie, but otherwise there’s not a great
deal to find here other than the two great singles that were released off it.
#3 – “Automatic for the People” by R.E.M.
Released: 7/10/92
Rating: **** stars
Stand-out tracks: “Everybody Hurts”, “Man on the Moon”,
“Nightswimming”
I once read somewhere that “Automatic for the People” is the
album of choice for many different people to attempt to get into R.E.M. That’s
not a negative at all by the way, that’s a major positive. The reviewer said
that this isn’t R.E.M.’s best effort (although personally, I think it’s my favourite)
but it will appeal to the broadest audience. The reviewer is spot on.
“Automatic for the People” had six singles off it released, and some may argue
that’s too many, but in honesty, every one of those singles are different, and
appeal to a different branch of R.E.M.’s audience. There’s a lot of diversity
in this album but what it does best is bring all that’s good about R.E.M. into
one record, the slow songs, happy songs, sad songs, the songs with a slightly
harder edge than most. “Automatic” has everything, and I couldn’t recommend
this album enough.
The Jesus and Mary Chain are an awesome band. They were one
of my mum’s favourite bands and at one point or another I’ve heard all their
albums. Three albums come to mind when I think of their best work, their first
two albums and this one. Honey’s Dead is just a great album, and in terms of
both of the Reid brothers relaying song after song together, it’s arguably
their finest work. Jim and William Reid are both very good singers and Jim is
the main singer in the band, but William Reid sung a lot of the songs on this
album and for that there’s certain freshness to the album. That being said,
nothing tops Jim Reid’s “Reverence”, the main single and Top 10 hit in the UK,
which is a phenomenal track containing the lyrics “I wanna die just like Jesus
Christ/I wanna die just like JFK”. “Honey’s Dead” is an album you have to
listen to if you want to listen to the finest in the pre-Brit pop alternative
rock days.
#1 – “Rage Against the Machine” by Rage Against the Machine
Released: 10/11/92
Rating: ****1/2 stars
Stand-out tracks: “Know Your Enemy”, “Killing in the Name”,
“Wake Up”
Choosing three stand-out tracks on this album is a very hard
task because every single one of these 10 tracks is magnificent. Every song has
a purpose, every song has it’s own distinct sound, and somehow, every song is
balanced from start to finish in quality. Even the iconic, classic rebel anthem
“Killing in the Name”, one of the biggest, most important and best metal
anthems of all time, on this album doesn’t sound out of place. That track, and
I’ll go into more about it later, is grand in every way but it’s amazing to say
it but, it doesn’t sound that grand on this album, purely because all of the
songs that are on this album don’t sound inferior.
It’s
probably the best Rage album but they’re all good albums. The debut though, is
an album you must listen to, if you like metal. This album is a classic; it’s
one of the biggest and most important albums of all time, regardless of genre
of music. It’s a must listen.
My Top 5 Music Videos
of 1992
#5 – “Feed My Frankenstein” by Alice Cooper
1992 wasn’t a great year for music videos in honesty. I
struggled for videos that I like, and this one is one that I like. It helps
when you have an awesome twosome in Wayne and Garth from Waynes World in the
video, naturally, as this song was a feature in Wayne’s World 2. The video is
no big deal, just your typical live Alice Cooper stage performance with Wayne
and Garth. That being said, Alice Cooper’s live stage performances are pretty fricking
cool, so if you haven’t seen one, it’s well worth checking this video out. Man,
I’d love to see Alice Cooper live, even now.
#4 – “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-Lot
This video may not be classy, but man, it’s important. I
love this song, and this video gets the message across. I find the video quite
funny in honesty. But why is it in this list? Well, for both good and bad, it’s
probably one of the most important music videos in history.
How can I say that? Well simply, if it wasn’t for this
video, we wouldn’t have music videos the way they are now. This song put
everything on the table, and said, “I love big black bums!” Sir Mix-a-Lot said
something that had been said many times in music history before, but never this
bluntly, never in a music video that showed close ups of black women’s behinds.
And since then, well, look at any pop or RnB music channel, and you’ll see lots
of videos have a lot of ass in them. This song is a big part in making things
the way they are today. As I said, it’s for good and for bad; there’s far too
many raunchy videos on pre-watershed TV at the moment, and you can blame the
rise in promiscuous videos for that. But at the same time, it broke new ground
for music videos, and that’s pretty cool.
#3 – “Smells Like Nirvana” by Weird Al Yankovic
What needs to be said about this video? If you’ve seen it,
you’ll know what makes it a combine of greatness and tragedy at the same time.
Weird Al basically parodies the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video by Nirvana in a
way only he can. Cheerleaders with hairy armpits, the janitor (who is the same
janitor from the original video) eating
from his mop bucket, the hair flailing all over the place like the Nirvana band
members do in the original, and much more. It’s just a great parody, and it’s
not to be taken seriously. Kurt Cobain himself loved this parody and its video,
so if you don’t like it then that’s your loss!
#2 – “Stay” by Shakespears Sister
I don’t know what you’ll think of this entry. In 2012 it’s
an odd choice of video to put in this list. But, I vividly remember this video
when I was a three, four, five year old boy. It gave me goosebumps. I couldn’t
keep my eyes off the video, especially when the song kicked in and Marcella
Detroit comes in looking all gothic and evil. Even now, it gives me goosebumps,
even if the video is a little silly by todays standards. But that’s what
childhood does to you, and for that reason, it’s still one of my favourite
music videos from 1992.
#1 – “In Bloom” by Nirvana
Videos
weren’t that great in 1992 either but this was brilliant. I love the video for
“In Bloom”. 1991 was the year of Nirvana’s rocket to superstardom and by
November 1992 (when this single was released) Kurt Cobain was really fed up of
how serious people were taking the band. The idea behind “In Bloom” was to show
that the band aren’t serious and can have a laugh as well. So they mocked a lot
of the hype and hysteria that was around in the 1960s rock ‘n’ roll scene, so
they all wore suits, played in black and white and played their instruments
like they did in the sixties. The crowd was full of screaming women, also like
the hype in the sixties. Towards the end of the video Nirvana trash the set, in
a way that they would on their actual live sets. The video isn’t that amazing
on the grand scheme of things, but it’s still a very well produced video, it
was very funny and I love the irony of them mocking the hysteria of the 1960s
when they caused a similar outbreak themselves, thirty years later
The Top 10 Most
Impactful Songs of 1992
As I said, I'm NOT calling it the 'important' list, although
it's more than just popularity as well. Anyway, here are the 10 songs of the
year. It's an unbiased list.
It’s weird going back in history sometimes. You associate
certain songs with certain eras and Def Leppard, being a hair metal band, I’d
associated this song with the eighties, remember I was only three when this
song came out so I didn’t remember it in ’92. So yeah, not only did this song
come out in the early nineties, but it got to a fantastic #2 in the UK charts,
and is arguably Def Leppard’s biggest hit in their career. They did have
another song that got to #2 but this is the daddy, this is the song that most
people will think of when they think of Def Leppard. And it was released in
1992, not 1985.
There aren’t an incredible amount of ‘metal ballads’ that
stand the test of time. This is one of the ones that did. It was huge at the
time, getting to #6 in the UK charts, their third highest charting in this
country (“Enter Sandman” and “Until it Sleeps” got to #5). A song about
guitarist James Hetfield’s love for his girlfriend, he wrote the basis of it
whilst he was on the phone to her. It’s since become one of Metallica’s most
well known songs, especially on the softer side of their iconic heavy metal
sound. But the song blew up in popularity even more seven years later, when a
live version was released as a single, this performance being done with the San
Francisco Symphony Orchestra, a beautifully crafted arrangement that contrasted
with Metallica’s generic sound, but with this being an exceptional metal
ballad, the contrasts meshed perfectly. It’s a phenomenal song.
Speaking of “metal ballads”, this song is another one that
hasn’t gone away and won’t go away anytime soon. “Easy” is actually a cover
version of the original by Lionel Ritchie’s band the Commodores, and the song
deals with a breakup with someone and the best way to deal with it is by
getting over it, “easy like Sunday morning”. The Faith No More version was a
surprise hit, and is their biggest hit in the UK getting to #3, even higher in
the charts than the original released in the seventies. Faith No More were not
known for their ballads and slow songs, more for their alternative metal, but
this is their biggest hit and most well known track.
#7 – “Jump Around” by House of Pain
Long before DJ Lethal began turning tables for Limp Bizkit,
he was turning tables for House of Pain. “Jump Around” was and is by far, their
most popular hit. Getting to #8 in the UK chart, it’s a hip hop classic in many
ways. I don’t often include hip-hop in these listings but this song is
completely justified in its inclusion onto this list as it’s such an awesome
song, it’s a classic and deserves a mention as not only one of the biggest
songs of 1992, but one of the biggest tracks of the nineties, especially in
hip-hop. What’s weird? They’re Irish. Irish hip-hop? I find that weird for some
reason.
I cap these lists for one song per artist. If I didn’t, you
would have found all three Nirvana releases in this top 10 because quite
simply, 1992 was the year of Nirvana. But if I had to choose one song between
“Come As You Are”, “Lithium” and “In Bloom” for its importance, its longevity
and its impact on music, “Come As You Are” wins by a tip of a nose. It was the
biggest hit of the three, getting to #9 in the UK charts (only “Smells Like
Teen Spirit” and “Heart-Shaped Box” charted higher), it’s probably played the
most of the three since 1992, and most importantly, there’s a horrible and
twisted irony in the lyrics “and I swear that I don’t have a gun” was a
potential precursor for Cobain’s suicide. There’s no proof of this of course,
but the link between these lyrics and what happened 2 years later will always
be made. Either way, onto positive things, this song is an alternative classic
and will be forever known as one of Nirvana’s finest music singles.
#5 – “Friday I’m in Love” by The Cure
Continuing the theme of songs released in the nineties that
I was sure that were released in the eighties, this song is one of The Cure’s
biggest and finest moments, yet it was released in 1992. The Cure’s legacy
speaks for itself, and most of it was written in the eighties, yet their early
nineties stuff is also really good, really popular and will be remembered for a
long time. “Friday, I’m in Love” got to #6 in the UK charts (only “Lullaby”,
released three years prior charted higher getting to #5) and is known to be one
of their most upbeat tracks. Not that this was supposed to be the case, Robert
Smith messed about with vari-speed on the tape before the recording. They
sometimes play the song live in its original intention, but it’s safe to say
that the messing about with the taping probably caused the song’s fortunes to
thrive. The fact that it’s so upbeat in comparison to other tracks is welcome
by most fans as it makes the song stand out in their discography. Either way
this is an awesome Cure song, one that’ll never go away and also be played
mostly on Fridays. No idea why.
I somehow missed this song when I started research for this
article, I don’t know how! This song is just epic in every way possible. It got
to #4 on the UK charts, and it’s the longest song to reach the Top 10 in
America (it clocks in at 8 minutes 57 seconds). The video is also incredibly
influential and a classic (it’s not in my Top 5 because I don’t like this song
or the video, but hell, I respect it). There’s a few Guns ‘n’ Roses songs that
are highly influential, classic, and will never go away, this is one of them. I
can’t say it’s THE GnR song, but it’s definitely up there. It’s just a song
that will never go away. Ever.
“One” is one of the most covered songs of all time. It’s
also considered one of the most important songs of all time, and considered one
of the best written songs of all time. I’ve put the Top 2 ahead of this simply,
because it actually, for all the accolades and reception, it doesn’t often get
played for whatever reason. It got to #7 in the UK charts and was written when
the band were close to breaking up. It’s just a song that will always be
around, and played on occasion, due to many people associating with it when
they fall out with people they love. It’s a very important song.
#2 – “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine
I was really close to putting this at #1. The Top 3 in this
list can all claim a justified stake for most impactful song of 1992 for
different reasons? This one? One word – rebellion.
All the proof you need is in the fact that this song was a
#1 hit… in 2009. I’m sure you know already but if you don’t, this song got to
#1 in 2009 because of the impact that X-Factor has in the UK. Every year
X-Factor was on TV, and the winner would be up for the running for the
Christmas #1 spot. And every year for four years in a row, the X-Factor winner
got the Christmas #1 spot. So many people were against this commercialised TV
show ruining Christmas #1s every year and decided to take action. Facebook was
used to gather support to get a song to outsell the X-Factor winner. The song?
“Killing in the Name”. And it worked, it got to #1, it outsold the X-Factor
winner and the band put all the moneys gained towards the movement to a free
live gig in the UK, and to charity.
It was an amazing achievement, and this song is about saying
“fuck you” to anything political or commercial that’s considered ‘too much’. And
even though this song got to #25 in 1992, it’s been this way for a long time,
twenty years in fact. It wasn’t just in 2009; it’s been this way since the song
has been released. The song is legendary; the song has made such an impact on
society, on music, like Rage have as a band. 2009’s Facebook campaign just
solidified its place in music history, that’s all.
#1 – “Creep” by Radiohead
As I said, I was close to putting #2 in the #1 spot but I
couldn’t. This song in my opinion, made a bigger impact, and means more to more
people than “Killing in the Name” does. It’s a dispute, a nice dispute, about
what song is more important, made a bigger impact, and will be remembered more
for years to come. If I were a betting man, “Creep” would be the song, if I had
to choose one.
“Creep” is a bittersweet song for Radiohead. The song means
so much to so many young teenagers and, still is, their most popular outright
song, despite making critically acclaimed albums and solid singles. While the
song didn’t sell well in the UK when first released (it only got to #78), it
started to gain momentum across Eastern Europe, New Zealand, Spain and
Scandinavia. It then got released in the States and was successful there too.
It eventually got re-released in the UK because of how well it did in other
countries afterwards, and got to #7.
The song is incredibly popular, and has been since 1993,
when it got re-released. But… it got too popular. Fans started to appear at
gigs only to hear this song, when it was a song that Thom Yorke didn’t think
too much about, especially after making in their eyes, better songs since its
release, songs from “The Bends” and then “OK Computer”. Eventually they refused
to play the song, and it was not played between 1998 and 2001. Now the song is
played, reluctantly, in some of the gigs on their tours.
But… despite all of that, and the feelings of the song by
Thom Yorke and co, this song simply is an incredible message, an incredible
song. The lyrics are simply by Thom’s later standards, but it’s the simplicity
of the message that makes so many fans relate to it. “I’m a creep, I’m a
weirdo, what the hell am I doing here, I don’t belong here”. It’s simple, it’s
a feeling many teenagers have, when they’re trying to find themselves, try to
understand the world around them and their place in it, and how many mixed
emotions that run through life, especially in adolescence.
So,
Thom shouldn’t be annoyed that this song is requested so often, Radiohead
shouldn’t be frustrated when it’s the song that they’re most remembered for.
Sure, Radiohead have made much better quality songs, musically and lyrically,
and no, they’re not as fondly remembered for them by a lot of fans. But it’s
sometimes the simple messages that carry the furthest. And “Creep” is proof of
this. This song will always be around, for the new sets of teenagers
questioning their roles in this weird game called life. And we have Radiohead
to thank for that.
The Year 1992 Mixtape
Just in case you didn't know by now...
"A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or
era. The list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with
further recommendations if some of the songs aren’t to your taste. Remember
kids, downloading is wrong!"
So here we go! My favourite songs from the year 1992. Yes,
this is a biased list.
You can now listen to this playlist on YouTube! Just click here!
And there we go! The year 1992 in review! Next month
naturally I’ll be covering 1991 and continue my descend into music history.
What we your favourite songs and albums from 1992? Any other comments or
queries? Raise them below. Thanks for your time.
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