All this week on Soundcheck, we've been looking back to the summer of 1993 and delving into the music and culture that helped define that time. For many of us here on staff -- whether we were in grade school, high school, or post-college adults -- it's been nostalgic to revisit the songs of our youth and hear them with fresh ears. And, in the case of one of our impossibly young interns, discover for the first time.
But let's face it: As much as we might pretend otherwise, few of us were hip to every single album when it originally came out. Maybe we were listening to other things; maybe some albums took longer to percolate into wider acceptance; and maybe we were simply too young to know better.
With this list, Team Soundcheck comes clean and reflects on a few of the albums that we missed the first time around, but have come to love and adore.
PJ HARVEY, RID OF ME
Released: May 4, 1993
Must-Hear Track: "Legs"
It wasn't until Polly Jean's third album, To Bring You My Love in 1995 that I became aware of this English singer, songwriter, and force of nature. I've always loved music that has a darkness to it -- without being melodramatic and obvious about it, and her songs fit the bill. Rid Of Me sees PJ Harvey at her dark and twisted best. She's angry, hurt, possibly homicidal, and we guys are great big piles of deceitful crap who deserve every minute of it.
The songwriting is first rate, but she almost dares you to conclude that, what with the microtonal shadings and often extreme registers of her voice (listen to her keening “you were going to be my life” in the song "Legs"), and the unexpected shifts in volume and/or rhythm. The album includes another early Harvey classic, "Dry," as well as the aural fakeout of the title track and the queasy, avant-garde string effects on "Man-Size Sextet." And a Bob Dylan cover. And some of the most raw and minimal production -- courtesy of the noted Steve Albini -- that you'll ever hear on a big label release. (John Schaefer)
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SLOWDIVE, SOUVLAKI
Released: May 17, 1993
Must-Hear Track: "40 Days"
I had only just turned two in January of 1993 and I don't think I was cognitive enough to really even understand what music was then. Fast forward to 2010 and I'm in my first year of college in a town that I was already way too bored with. There are few live music options for a music junkie like me, and the house shows that did happen were packed with bands part of Arizona’s anti-folk scene; a scene that is mostly charming but not for me. So when Record Store Day finally rolled around that year, some friends and I made our way to the only record store in town, a tiny institution with few options in exclusive releases. I settled for the "5 CDs for $2" bin and began exploring.
When I came across the jewel case for Souvlaki, I held it up to get a closer to look. I'd never heard of Slowdive so I couldn't tell which was the band name and which was the album title! But they looked so cool in their washed out, white photograph. I remember my friend coming over and flippantly saying, "Slowdive? They’re pretty cool I guess." Souvlaki ended up being my soundtrack that summer as I navigated the lonely, disenchanted end of my teenage years that no one ever really warns you about. (Alexandra Martinez)
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THE ROOTS, ORGANIX
Released: May 19, 1993
Must-Hear Track: "Anti-Circle"
I fell in love with The Roots in the early aughts. "The Seed 2.0" led me to Phrenology, which in turn led me to rapidly consume every previous Roots album I could get my grubby teenage hands on. But the one Roots record I couldn't find was Organix, which the group self-released in May of 1993. I couldn't find it in my local Tower Records, and when I located it online, my parents proved cagey about giving their credit card to some rando on eBay.
These days, you can easily find Organix on Amazon, Spotify, or really, anywhere online. The record is a true joy to listen to. The laid-back jazz influence from the group's early years seeps through, yet the members' youth is the heaviest characteristic of the album. For one, they’re a lot more playful than they'd be in their subsequent releases, clowning around on "Pass the Popcorn," discussing how they like their breakfast in "Grits," and even teasing the Inspector Gadget theme in "Anti-Circle." Elsewhere, on "Essawhamah?," the group jams out to Black Thought's call-and-response scatting and is much less serious than its reboot on Do You Want More?!!!??!’s "Essaywhuman?!!!??!" (So much punctuation?!!!??!) That's ultimately why this record is so great, and why the why the band works so well on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: It's all about having fun. (Alex Kapelman)
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LIZ PHAIR, EXILE IN GUYVILLE
Released: June 22, 1993
Must-Hear Track: "Divorce Song"
In the summer of 1993, I geared up for my senior year of (alternative) high school by consuming a steady diet of blunt-force noise from Amphetamine Reptile, the Minneapolis-based label that gave the world three of my favorite bands: Helmet, Hammerhead and -- goodness, I'm getting a little misty here -- Cows. So, I didn't completely miss Exile in Guyville. I worked in a restaurant kitchen all summer, and "Never Said" was in pretty heavy rotation on Twin Cities radio. Also, my friend and bandmate Geoff bought the cassette, and I even listened to it at his house.
Sad to say, this 18-song masterpiece was totally lost on 16-year-old me. I didn't understand the title's nod to The Rolling Stones or the Chicago scene references. And I didn't yet know the friends (including my future wife) who would explain why Phair's album was so important to them. In hindsight, I should have liked it. There’s plenty of blunt force in the stories on Guyville. I do remember approving of all the swearing. But for the next couple of years, I was all about noise. (Joel Meyer)
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FUGAZI, IN ON THE KILL TAKER
Released: June 30, 1993
Must-Hear Track: "Returning The Screw"
In the summer of 1993 I had just finished my freshman year of high school, and was just learning to pillage my mom's closet for the cool sartorial remnants of her teenage hippie years: fitted collared shirts, velvety clogs, colorful polyester dresses. Music-wise, I was a bit less in vogue. I'd made friends with Danny, whose tastes were squarely Brit-pop. And Bryan, who liked Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Fishbone and Pink Floyd. But I kept hanging in the space between middle school teenybopper offerings and grunge, and not really knowing where I fit in. So Fugazi was the furthest thing from my ears.
Years later, in 2001, I would join the band Cursive -- a band whose angular arty rock owes more than a little bit to Fugazi. And one of the first songs I recorded with Cursive was "Sink To The Beat," which pays direct homage to the post-hardcore DC godfathers. By then, I knew about Fugazi, but going forward I made it a point to make sure I really knew them. I added a pile of Fugazi LPs to my record collection, including the band's third studio album, In On The Kill Taker -- the one that many cite as the group's "breakthrough" release. Fugazi then became a major touchstone for the next few years of my musical life.
Ian McKaye's raw yowl and pointed observations, Guy Picciotto’s crunching, searing guitars, and Brendan Canty's inventive drumming eluded me in 1993, inspired me in 2001, and now, two decades on, it's a record I still play, and turn up loud. (Gretta Cohn)
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BJORK, DEBUT
Released: July 5, 1993
Must-Hear Track: "There's More To Life Than This"
The summer of 1993 was a time of good changes for me. Deep into a relationship with my future husband, I had an opportunity to share a Hoboken apartment, making it easier to travel to Manhattan where he lived. And my WFMU radio show -- where I was discovering all kinds of wonderful back catalog -- moved from Thursday evenings to a more positive slot on Friday mornings. July and August was spent whittling down possessions to get ready for the Labor Day Weekend move. I was listening a lot to Red House Painters' self-titled album and American Music Club's Mercury, a little PJ Harvey, Scrawl, Giant Sand, Shrimp Boat, The Bats, Robert Wyatt, and lots of jazz Peter was turning me on to.
Maybe because of all this I missed out on Bjork's Debut when it first came out. At that point, Bjork hadn't really settled into a unifying style yet, and I liked a track here and there. Putting the album aside for a few years, it wasn't until about the time of Homogenic that I went back and rediscovered this gem among her earlier albums. Debut is a mixture of dance music, jazz and atmospherics, and a hint of what was to come from the enigmatic musician. My two favorite tracks from the album are "There's More To Life Than This," which I interpret as an intimate aside to partying listeners, and a gorgeous cover of the old standard, "Like Someone In Love." Several of the songs are nicely threaded together as well. While Debut is not my favorite Bjork album, it's definitely way higher on my list than when I first heard it. (Irene Trudel)
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SMASHING PUMPKINS, SIAMESE DREAM
Released: July 27, 1993
Must-Hear Track: "Today"
When I finally managed to guilt-trip my parents into buying me an entry-level Fender Stratocaster in middle school, the first song fragments I got under my still-clumsy fingers were the twangy James Bond theme, the opening riff from Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love," and the shimmering guitar part from Smashing Pumpkins' "Today." It was 1994 afterall, and even a year later that song -- from Smashing Pumpkins' still-new-to-me instant classic Siamese Dream -- was all over the Lawrence, Kan. college rock station I was obsessed with at 11 and 12. I couldn’t wait to learn it.
Smashing Pumpkins' sneering club-filling guitars, thick mess of blissful distortion, and Billy Corgan's bleak, pent-up emotions spoke to my sullen adolescent angst like few bands could. A majority of Siamese Dream's songs reflect on depression, isolation, disillusionment and violent impulses, which could all come off as a touch melodramatic to younger ears now. And yet, in songs like "Disarm" or "Luna" the Pumpkins' beauty and melodic depth make those swirling conflicted feelings seem romantic and majestic. And even 20 years later, these songs remain universal, and the record's complex swell of sounds are as timeless and influential as ever. (Michael Katzif)
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SHERYL CROW, TUESDAY NIGHT MUSIC CLUB
Released: Aug. 3, 1993
Must-Hear Track: "No One Said It Would Be Easy"
During the summer of 1993, I don't remember listening to much beyond the Suzuki Cello Book 2 cassette tape and the creepy as hell David the Gnome theme song. But here's what I was doing: Having a totally sick Mickey Mouse 7th birthday party, pocketing $4.50 on a car trip to Cape Cod because I only hit my brother twice on the way there, and puff-painting seven t-shirts, a very stylish visor and two pairs of canvas shoes.
Clearly, I was much too busy to have picked up on Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club. And apparently, a lot of other people missed it that summer as well -- the two big singles from the album, "All I Wanna Do" and "Strong Enough," didn't peak on the charts until 1995. I stole a dusty copy of the album from my parents' CD tower probably eight or nine years later, and it was quickly on heavy rotation in my Discman. Yes, I may have failed to catch Sheryl Crow's lyrical references to Aldous Huxley and Larry Parker, but I reveled in the album's bluesy guitar licks and rough-edged vocals -- a sound that spoke to me at 16, and continues to appeal to my ears today. (Katie Bishop)