Albums in My Life: 1995

In this next chapter of albums in my life, I take on 1995. This was my first year in school, and I'm starting to have actual memories of my life at this point. I can't remember a whole lot before that, but then again, I can hardly remember what I had for lunch yesterday.


No Doubt: Tragic Kingdom
Remember when Gwen Stefani was associated with good music? No Doubt was one of the more popular bands in the third wave ska revival, and for good reason. The players were pretty decent, and Stefani's lyrics brought a different perspective than most ska bands at the time; a female voice. I really enjoy the bouncy songs, and it's a little bit more polished than some of the more raw ska punk stuff that was around in the same So-Cal scene. Plus 'Don't Speak' is a stone cold classic.




Oasis: (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Being an American, I was really only exposed to 'Wonderwall' on the radio, but when some further digging is done, there's a lot more to this album. This is probably the high Britpop watermark, and Oasis definitely deserve to be in that best British bands conversation, based on this album alone. The band adds a little more psychedelia to its overblown guitar anthems here, and Noel Gallagher tightened up his songwriting to improve upon the already great formula they laid out on Definitely Maybe.




Radiohead: The Bends
I, for a long time, was a Radiohead holdout. The amazing amount of hype surrounding the band was a little annoying to me, and I never even gave them a chance. I eventually heard a couple songs here and there, thought they were pretty cool, and decided to check out some of their albums. Though I still can't get into anything past Ok Computer (too abstract and "artsy". If you want to say I don't "get it", Radiohead fanboys, I'm cool with that), their first three albums are pretty cool, and The Bends is definitely my favorite, blending rock guitars with some very melodic and sensitive material. Better than Kid A. Come at me, Radiohead fans.


The Smashing Pumpkins: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
I always go back and forth as to whether this or Siamese Dream is my favorite Smashing Pumpkins album, and that's really a testament to the band. The albums are quite different in approach. Whereas Siamese Dream is pretty cohesive and tight, Mellon Collie is a sprawling monstrosity that plays with tons of different genres and emotions. Billy Corgan described it as "The Wall for Generation X", but I see it much more as their White Album, or Exile on Main St. There's just so much material here, and though it makes for a somewhat cluttered product, it's a beautiful mess, and wouldn't capture the same magic if it were edited down.


Wilco: A.M.
I'm a bigger fan of Uncle Tupelo than I am of Wilco, but the debut by the latter has enough alt country flavor of the former mixed with alt rock to be intriguing. As Wilco drifted further and further from their alt country roots, I started to lose interest, but A.M. is still great. I first found this after I heard 'Passenger Side' played on How I Met Your Mother, and got me a little more interested in country music, as up until then I had avoided the genre entirely, my opinion soured by country radio crossover schlock that plagued the airwaves in the '90s to early '00s. An unlikely gateway drug for country music, but it was mine nonetheless.




In the next post, I'll be looking at some formative albums from the year 1996. I'm also currently working on my year end lists for 2018, so you'll have that to look forward to as well (as if someone is actually reading).




"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."