The sound of beautiful chaos — Angel Dust — Faith No More Reprise Records; Charted at #2 in the UK this week in 1992 Faith No More have a complicated history with lead singers. Their first frontman was usurped in a coup instigated by the rhythm section and briefly replaced with a young Courtney Love. …

Genre-hopping insanity from the best pals in rap — Check Your Head — Beastie Boys We, as a society, do not spend enough time discussing the sheer weirdness of the Beastie Boys. Like, what are they? Are they rappers? Are they an alt-rock band? Are they an early nu-metal band? None of these descriptors feels entirely accurate. The Beastie’s genre-defying nature was actually a problem…

Genre-hopping madness from an Irish legend — Valhalla Avenue — The Fatima Mansions Radioactive Records, charted at #52 on May 31, 1992 Cathal Coughlan, frontman of Microdisney and The Fatima Mansions, passed away last week at the age of 61. For me personally, it was a bit of a wake-up call because I realised I have spent over 30 years saying “I should…

An evolution in indie music — Peng! — Stereolab Too Pure; Released on May 26, 1992 In 1986, NME gave away a free cassette that would shake the world of indie. That cassette was titled C86 and contained some of the most exciting alternative artists in Britain at the time. Or, it was a bunch of shambling, self-indulgent jangle-pop…

Kids, eat your broccoli — Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury — Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy Hardly anyone has ever said anything bad about this record. Look it up, and you’ll find dozens of rave reviews in major publications. They give it five stars, 10/10, A+, they call it “important”. That word, “important,” appears in almost every review. This is an Important Record. One of the…

Music for sleepless uncles — 1992: The Love Album — Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine Chrysalis Records; Charted at Number One on May 10, 1992 I try not to read other people’s reviews when I’m writing about these old records, because I don’t want to simply regurgitate someone else’s opinions. But I found this comment on a web page about 1992: The Love Album and…

Somewhere between the Old Testament and the New — Henry’s Dream — Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds In 1992, a rapidly changing world presented all kinds of previously unthinkable possibilities. Could Russia become a democracy? Could South Africa have a Black president? Could Nick Cave be… happy? Everyone’s favourite outlaw junkie preacher gothic art rocker had gotten married, and now he lived in Brazil with his wife…

Friday I’m In Love is an outlier on a tired and emotional record — Wish — The Cure Fiction records; Charted at Number One on April 26, 1992 Disintegration turned out to be something of a self-fulfilling prophecy for The Cure. Almost as soon as that record was finished, the titans of soft-goth began the slow process of breaking up. Drummer Lol Tolhurst was struggling with alcohol, and…

How far would you go? — ‘Weekender’ — Flowered Up Something that’s changed — for the better — since the 90s is our relationship with celebrity. Stars are no longer these distant, ineffable beings. Thanks to the ceaseless Truman Show-esque nature of social media, we can peer into their lives and see that they really are just like us. And…