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Bush
Sixteen Stone
1994, Supposedly Dave Grohl once said or joked that Bush were the most Nirvana sounding post-Nirvana band. I was never sure if that was a putdown or a complement. But Sixteen Stone was one of those albums that it felt like everyone in my high school owned. Don't get me wrong, the Nirvana (and Pixies) influence was obvious, but yeah this was definitely also aimed a lot more towards radio. But whatever, the songs here are certainly catchy enough. All the big singles: "Everything Zen," "Little Things," Machinehead," "Come Down" and of course "Glycerine" were obviously hits for a reason. There's nothing new here; certainly nothing challenging. If anything this is an album playing it safe. But dammit if there aren't a bunch of hummable hooks. And even if the lyrics can come off a bit nonsense, they still remain highly quotable in a post-Nirvana 90's kind of way. I'm sure that Bush feels less cool in retrospect, but I can't deny that this is a damn catchy record. I still like it.
The Lemonheads
It's A Shame About Ray
1992, I saw the video for the title track on 120 Minutes back in the day and was just in love with this band. I spent much of high school tracking down all their albums and singles and t-shirts and guitar tab books and stickers and anything else I could find. Maybe living so close to Boston made that slightly easier. They certainly weren't the most popular band in the world. But my obsession began with this album right here. It's one of those albums that I know every word of. It's fun and poppy and slightly rocky but mostly mellow. It's got a gorgeous ballad about drugs sang with Juliana Hatfield ("My Drug Buddy"). It's got a song with no rhymes from Hair ("Frank Mills"). It for a second looks back to the transitional punk-to-pop era of Creator or Lick on "Alison's Starting To Happen." Yeah yeah, that cover of "Mrs. Robinson" was later tacked on as a bonus track. But this album is way better than that. I love it.
Pixies
Bossanova
1990, Never a band to stay in one place for too long, Bossanova gets way more into surf rock than the Pixies had before. Opener "Cecilia Ann" is a great instrumental take on The Surftones. "Veloria" is a gorgeously epic piece that feels like a power ballad filtered through the ears of this crazy band. "Ana" by contrast is a pretty straight forward surf ballad about a surfer girl. I mean... that's pretty damn Beach Boys, at least on paper. I guess "Dig For Fire" would be the big single here. It's still catchy as hell. Then there's "Is She Weird" which I've always loved, but like much of the material from this album that was re-recorded during BBC sessions, I really prefer those recordings over the album cuts. But still there's some great stuff here. "The Happening" is kind of a weird droney thing about an alien sighting, and then the closing of "Stormy Weather" and "Havalina" really keep to the surf theme. It's a good beach day album I guess. It's not quite the top tier that is most Pixies albums. But even the worst Pixies album is really damn good.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Mother's Milk
1989, The first Chili Peppers album with John Frusciante is a step in an awesome direction. It's a definite bridge between the overly funky early work, and the more rhythmic material that would follow. Their take on Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" was really the first time many mainstream ears were introduced to the band - and for good reason. All these years later it still rocks hard. Likewise for their cover of Hendrix's "Fire." But the originals here have plenty of personality as well. "Knock Me Down" and "Sexy Mexican Maid" are certainly standouts, as is the instrumental "Pretty Little Ditty." My one complaint would be that there is still a bit too much of Anthony's overdone hyper-fast rapping style of songs here, but the stuff that steps outside of that box points to some very awesome new directions.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Blood Sugar Sex Magik
1991, After Mother's Milk the band was smart enough to keep Frusciante around. They hired Rick Rubin and moved into a haunted mansion where they'd manage to assemble their masterpiece. Blood Sugar Sex Magik - silly title and all - is kind of the third album in this sort of 1991 trilogy in my mind. Thinking back, it's incredible that this, Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten were all released in the stretch of about a month. Those are three very different albums from three very different bands, but these three albums ruled MTV and defined 1991 to a certain demographic. Blood Sugar finds a band that is far more comfortable together than Mother's Milk. These songs feel lived in. Of course there's the big singles: the glorious "Under The Bridge," the bouncy "Give It A Way," the rocking "Suck My Kiss" and the acoustic cacophony of "Breaking The Girl." But there's so much more great stuff here. Fans of the funk will be happy with the likes of "Funky Monks," "The Power Of Equality," "Sir Sexy Psycho" and so on. But then you've got moments as diverse as a frantic run through Robert Johnson's "They're Red Hot," and the absolutely stunning ballad of loss that is "I Could Have Lied." This is really a great album.
The Smashing Pumpkins
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
1995, This was another one of those albums that felt like standard issue in my high school. To my memory it must have been my first double album. And it's crazy to hear the giant leaps and bounds from Siamese Dream to this album. And while it's a double, there was still plenty of self-editing considering the amount of material that was actually recorded. This is certainly the most over-produced, well known and played (on radio) SP albums, but none of that can seem to diminish how good it actually is. Somehow even under all those layers of strings on "Tonight Tonight" there's some solid guitar playing and insane drumming going on. And I can't pretend that "1979" isn't still one of my favorite Pumpkins' songs. But like any good double album this gives the band license to stretch out; to revisit their heavier side on "Zero" or "Bullet With Butterfly Wings;" to get super twee on "Stumbline" or proggy on "We Only Come Out At Night." This is one of those albums where you're hit with so many well written songs that you forget how many there are. I'm still taken aback by "Muzzle" and lulled by "Thru The Eyes Of Ruby."
Weezer
The Blue Album
1994, What an introduction! Weezer's first of many self-titled albums is no doubt a classic. And one that never stops feeling fresh to me. Right from the acoustic picking of "My Name Is Jonas" through the masochistic torture of "The World Has Turned And Left Me Here;" the hipster-embrace of "Buddy Holly;" or the boredom with the status quo on "Undone," Weezer manages to channel equal parts math geek and Kiss cover band. There's so much confidence in this record that it's hard to believe it's a debut album. Taking the lyrical content of "Say It Ain't So" and deciding to fit it to a somewhat reggae influenced rhythm guitar - such an interesting choice. This is a band who one minute is only happy when they are literally hiding from the world "In The Garage" one minute, but then ending the album on what is truly meant to be performed in front of an audience with "Only In Dreams" a few songs later. It's almost as if they knew that this was too big to keep a secret for too long.
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