* Bright and Early - Getting Through It EP * Sting - 25 Years: Best of (Compilation from the box set.) * Bill Mallonee - Last Days/Early Mars (free download think Summershine.) Recently released and not mentioned in last edition: But always dig deeper and you can find that the music scene really is alive and well and thriving with some innovative artists giving different and unique spins to the music that has come before, while breaking some new boundaries now and again. Of course, that’s not what we are here for, although I admit to listing some of the A.I. Cue the dawning of the age of American Idol. The band that would eventually break up into Jay Farrar’s stick-to-his-guns approach in Son Volt and the more experimental and widely popular Wilco led by Jeff Tweedy.Īnd if you go back 10 years from now to 2001, what stands out most? Does it come up something of a blank? Well, I can think of a few if I put my mind to it, Summershine by Vigilantes of Love for one, but mostly it seemed like a lot of Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson. The only exception would be Uncle Tupelo who I would discover a year or two later.

Part of the reason I made up this list is because of how almost all of these albums really stick out in my mind at the time they were being released. And some pivotal albums at the top with U2, R.E.M., Guns N Roses and Metallica all becoming mega-huge. These would have huge influence over what the 90’s would become. But some were right at ground and bubbling under such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Tori Amos, Live and Toad the Wet Sprocket. Pretty impressive, huh? I realize some of these were pretty below ground. Here’s the full list including U2 and Nirvana:īruce Springsteen - Lucky Town and Human Touch (actually released early 1992.) Let’s take a look at some other highly notable releases from the year 1991.

But what else came out twenty years ago? The answer: Quite a lot. An album that also brought a certain young, reluctant star Kurt Cobain to the national spotlight. While Nevermind brought the Seattle grunge scene front and center to the music listening world, all the while helping to dismantle the hard rock/heavy metal scene that had wildly blossomed out of control by 1990/91. A distinction which they really still pretty much have, especially if you saw them on their last gargantuan tour.

Achtung, Baby helped propel U2 into becoming the biggest band in the world. As we have seen on the list, there are a couple of big albums that are celebrating their 20th anniversaries this time of year and are being re-released in deluxe forms: U2’s Achtung, Baby and Nirvana’s Nevermind These were obviously both super big albums that had wildly divergent effects on two very different bands. I thought it might be fun to take a trip back in time for a moment. If you don’t know what the ‘rally squirrel’ is, this clip will tell you everything you need to know:

Son volt a retrospective rarity