March 31, 2022 by A.S. Van Dorston

The final top three are Kyuss, Tom Waits and The Jesus Lizard. Bubbling under the top 31 are Pavement, Unrest, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Ride, Polvo, and Dead Flowers.

1. Kyuss – Blues for the Red Sun (Dali)

On June 30, 1992, Kyuss dropped the big one with Blues For The Red Sun. This time around, the recordings, with the help of Chris Goss, captured their thundering sound perfectly. Garcia sounds bigger than life, and Homme’s guitar, fed through a bass amp, is appropriately sunbaked, bombed out. Some press took notice, but what would become one of the most influential rock albums since Black Sabbath, only sold 39,000 copies at the time. Despite the whole Nirvana success, that still was considered not that bad at the time for most bands. But Kyuss would not get to enjoy the fruits of their legendary status while they were together.

2. Tom Waits – Bone Machine (Island)

I often see criticisms of Tom Waits’ authenticity based on the mundane facts that he grew up middle class in L.A. and wasn’t actually born a beat poetry slurring drunken hobo. Go figure. Sure, he’s an actor who landed some great character roles, and arguably was method acting a character his entire career. But you can’t fake the ability to craft tunes that rival Kurt Weill, an affinity for experimental approaches to instrumentation and arrangements from Harry Partch to Captain Beefheart, and his genius as a storyteller. His career is packed with solid albums, with several all-time classics like Small Change (1976), Rain Dogs (1985) and now Bone Machine, his most unforgivingly harsh, bleak, yet darkly funny work. I always thought Tim Burton should do a video for Waits with decayed corpses clacking their bones to the intro of “The Earth Died Screaming,” a song that mirrors Beefheart’s ecological concerns. “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” was covered by the Ramones, and “Goin’ Out West” is a hilarious character sketch — “I know kung fu, karate too/I got hair on my chest, I look good without a shirt on.” This could easily have been a final curtain call, his twelfth album in two decades, but he continued with a run of more great albums, starting with songs he wrote for a Robert Wilson play, The Black Rider (1993) that got even more spins than Bone Machine. It’s already been 11 years since Bad As Me (2011), but I suspect he isn’t done yet. But be careful, too much Tom Waits at once is like wiping too often with rough toilet paper.

3. The Jesus Lizard – Liar (Touch and Go)

It seems that most boys are overwhelmed by an excess of testosterone in their late teens and early 20s. Some deal with it by becoming complete drunken pricks who get in fights. Others take a more healthy outlet and writhe about in a pit with other sweaty boys (and occasional woman, though I don’t blame most for being repulsed by the sight) to the aggressive noisy sounds of their favorite loud band. My band of choice in that era was The Jesus Lizard, who I saw over a dozen times between 1990 and 1994. They were the perfect live band at the time as they fused the depravity of 80s noise rock (Big Black/R@p_man, Scratch Acid, Amphetamine Reptile bands) with post-hardcore attack and the precision of well-lubricated post-punk in the best rhythm section (bassist David Wm. Sims and drummer Mac McNeilly) this side of Fugazi.

David Yow’s arsenal of hollars, moans and gurgles were completely original, and also reveled in the absurdity of it all, staggering on a balance beam between drunken loutishness and clever dadaist humor (ex: Yow’s balls take the mic for the instrumental “Tight ‘n’ Shiny”). Goat (1991) was their most accessible, but Liar continued their peak, with other bands attempting anything similar (Mr. Bungle, Therapy?) sounding like a weak substitute. Nirvana admired their power and precision, releasing a split single with the band in 1993 featuring the Lizard’s “Puss” and Nirvana’s “Oh, The Guilt,” and the Jesus Lizard’s influence can be heard on the Steve Albini-recorded In Utero (1993). Just as Nirvana’s midas touch helped the Melvins get a major label deal, The Jesus Lizard ended up on Capitol for their fifth and sixth albums. It didn’t really make any sense, like putting a dragon in a petting zoo, as the band could not write a mainstream crossover song if their lives depended on it. Nevertheless it was a great run, at least for their first four albums.

Bubblin’ Under

Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted (Matador)

In many ways, Pavement were a case study in style triumphing over substance, and a leak building up to an unusual amount of hype years before the Internet played a part in the hype machine. In 1991, various versions of cassette dubs of their upcoming debut were floating around, one of which garnered a rave Spin review. It certainly worked on me. I wanted that damn album, but could not get it. Instead I bought their first three EPs, which included an occasional jangle pop gem (“Box Elder,” which was covered by The Wedding Present in 1989), and a lot lo-fi noise rock heavily influenced by The Fall and Swell Maps, to some ears a load of hipster bullshit. The 3Ds, Unrest, Grifters, Polvo and Guided By Voices were doing very similar things, and it’s amazing the raves they got by sparingly sprinkling a few melodic hooks around. Perhaps Royal Trux could have gotten similar acclaim if they could only have written a few catchier tunes. The album disappointed me when it came out, as I liked less than half of it. But the critical raves just kept piling up, and I figured I just needed more time with it. I saw them at the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis around that time and it was a good show, giving some of the more indulgent masturbatory noise tracks a fuller, more energetic sound live. I remained a fan but full of doubts, and 30 years later, it just doesn’t hold up as top 5 or even top 30 material, despite it continuing to top various lists of 90s albums. Eventually Pavement got more consistent but less cool which is fine by me. I dunno, there are worse musical crimes committed in the early 90s one could be embarrassed by than being a fan of lo-fi “slacker” rock. Remember funk metal?

Unrest – Imperial f.f.r.r. (No. 6 Records)

One of the albums that nearly eclipses Pavement’s debut, Unrest had actually been kicking around the D.C. indie scene since 1983, and released six wildly inconsistent albums leading up to their career highlight. They veered between post-hardcore punk, noise and a remarkable approximation of Felt on “Christina” (1988). After inheriting bassist Bridget Cross from Velocity Girl, Mark Robinson snapped to relatively sharp focus, strumming furiously to sexy jangle pop tunes like “Suki” and “Cherry Cream On,” and on the British edition, “Yes She Is My Skinhead Girl.” After one last album, Perfect Teeth (1994), they broke up.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Henry’s Dream (Elektra)

After achieving a towering peak on his fifth album with the Bad Seeds, Tender Prey (1988), Nick Cave lost me with his Leonard Cohen/Scott Walker style crooning on The Good Son (1990). It speaks to his talent that the stiff, samey Henry’s Dream, while not as good as his earlier work, nor the much more fiery Let Love In (1994), is still a very good album. At some point most Nick Cave fans learn to just give in and absorb everything he does, because it’s all worthwhile. Except maybe that pretentious chore of a movie, 20,000 Days on Earth.

Ride – Going Blank Again (Sire/Reprise)

In the aftershocks of My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless (1991), it was hard not to think of most shoegaze-adjacent bands after the fact pretty irrelevant. But just as one can’t just party on Robitussin all the time, you eventually crave variety. Of the many bands dipping their hands in dream pop, noise pop, psych pop and jangle pop as well as shoegaze, Ride was one of the best of that era. Nowhere (1990) was influential in it’s own right, and Going Blank Again beefed up the sound, a highlight of a scene that balanced indie, post-punk and polished alt rock in a most diverse, colorful way since 1986 (Swervedriver, Revolver, Catherine Wheel, The Darling Buds, The Boo Radleys, The House of Love). Too bad Britpop destroyed it all.

Polvo – Cor-Crane Secret (Merge)

Seeing Chapel Hill’s Polvo live was like going to church for guitar worship, with the dual guitarists Ash Bowie and Dave Brylawski. They were an acquired taste, having more roots in prog rock than indie, though Sonic Youth was a key influence. They remained underground enough that they were often left out when influencers were credited/blamed for math rock, but they were certainly an important band. I keep waiting for a belated rennaissance where they’re duly recognized as such, but they’re hampered by unnecessarily harsh and dismissive treatments by the likes of Deborah Sprague in the Trouser Press Guide.

Dead Flowers – Moontan (Mystic Stones)

How many bands like this have I missed or will never find? This is a late, late, addition, via a mention from someone on a YouTube comment. Formed in 1987, they were latecomers to the mid-80s UK psych revival, not releasing their first album (Smell the Fragrance) until 1991. Like Monster Magnet, their space rock elements owe much to Hawkwind, and while their second album shares the name of Golden Earring’s 1973 album, they’re less rockin’ and more floatin’ along the lines of early Pink Floyd or Tangerine Dream (“Gaia’s Love Hole” approximates being returned to a sack of amniotic fluid). A pretty exciting artifact from a year that sorely lacked that kind of music.

Best of the Rest

There’s a lot of artists I’d nearly forgotten scattered throughout the list that I enjoyed revisiting. Paul K & the Weathermen, H.P. Zinker, The Darling Buds, Earwig. I could continue my deep dive and keep shuffling things around, but this rundown gives a decent snapshot of both albums that were meaningful at the time, and ones that grew more important as the decades rolled by.

Disappointment

It was hard to watch the decline of one of my all-time favorite heavy metal bands, Iron Maiden. Grunge had nothing to do with metal’s fall from favor. They could have made better albums, but they didn’t. In retrospect, it all seemed meant to be let the weak ones die off, the others have members leave for a while then come back nearly as strong as ever.

Kyuss – Blues For The Red Sun (Dali) | USA
The Comsat Angels – My Mind’s Eye (Caroline) | UK
Tom Waits – Bone Machine (Island) | USA
The Gits – Frenching The Bully (Broken) | USA | Buy
PJ Harvey – Dry (Too Pure) | UK
Sleep – Holy Mountain (Earache) | USA | Bandcamp
The Jesus Lizard – Liar (Touch And Go) | USA | Bandcamp
Walt Mink – Miss Happiness (Caroline) | USA
Beastie Boys – Check Your Head (Capitol) | USA
God – Possession (Caroline) | UK
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Love & Devotion (Real World) | Pakistan | Bandcamp
Catherine Wheel – Ferment (Mercury/Polygram) | UK
These Immortal Souls – I’m Never Gonna Die Again (Mute) | Germany | Bandcamp
Buffalo Tom – Let Me Come Over (Beggars Banquet) | USA | Bandcamp
Melvins – Lysol (Boner) | USA
Uncle Tupelo – March 16-20, 1992 (Rockville) | USA
Solitude Aeturnus – Beyond The Crimson Horizon (Roadrunner) | USA
Afghan Whigs – Congregation (Sub Pop) | USA | Bandcamp
Spiritualized – Lazer Guided Melodies (Dedicated) | UK | Bandcamp
Trouble – Manic Frustration (American) | USA | Bandcamp
Into Paradise – Down All the Days (Setanta) | Ireland
Sheila Chandra – Weaving My Ancestors’ Voices (Real World ) | India/UK | Bandcamp
The Young Gods – TV Sky (Play It Again Sam) | Switzerland
Black Sabbath – Dehumanizer (EMI) | UK
R.E.M. – Automatic For the People (WB) | USA
The Wedding Present – The Hit Parade (RCA) | UK
Heavenly – Le jardin de Heavenly (Sarah) | UK | Bandcamp
Ed Kuepper – Black Ticket Day (Hot) | Australia | Bandcamp
Luna – Lunapark (Elektra) | USA
Ride – Going Blank Again (Sire/Reprise) | UK | Bandcamp
Danzig – Danzig III: How The Gods Kill (American) | USA
Morphine – Good (Rykodisc) | USA
Rocket From the Crypt – Circa: Now! (Interscope) | USA
Snatches Of Pink – Bent With Prey (Caroline) | USA | Bandcamp
Pavement – Slanted And Enchanted (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
And Also The Trees – Green Is The Sea (Normal) | UK | Bandcamp
Sonic Youth – Dirty (WB) | USA
Jayhawks – Hollywood Town Hall (American) | USA
Th Faith Healers – Lido (Too Pure/Elektra) | UK
Souled American – Sonny (Rough Trade ) | USA | Bandcamp
Moonshake – Eva Luna (Too Pure) | UK
Nick Riff – Freak Element (Delerium) | USA
Bark Psychosis – Scum EP (3rd Stone) | UK
Alice In Chains – Dirt (Columbia) | USA
Stereolab – Peng! (Too Pure) | UK | Bandcamp
Godflesh – Pure (Earache) | UK | Bandcamp
Lunachicks – Binge And Purge (Safe House) | USA
Seam – Headsparks (Homestead) | USA | Bandcamp
Red Red Meat – Red Red Meat (Perishable) | USA | Bandcamp
Babes In Toyland – Fontanelle (Reprise) | USA
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Henry’s Dream (Elektra) | Australia
The Cure – Wish (Fiction/Elektra) | UK
Kitchens Of Distinction – The Death of Cool (A&M) | UK
Hector Zazou – Sahara Blue (Crammed) | France
Blind Mr. Jones – Stereo Musicale (Cherry Red) | UK
Screaming Trees – Sweet Oblivion (Epic) | USA
The Telescopes – The Telescopes (Creation) | UK | Bandcamp
The Jesus And Mary Chain – Honey’s Dead (American/Blanco y Negro ) | UK
Bored! – Junk (Bang!) | Australia
Swallow – Blow (4AD) | UK
Red House Painters – Down Colorful Hill (4AD) | USA
Paul Weller – Paul Weller (Go!) | UK
Sugar – Copper Blue (Rykodisc) | USA
P-Model – P-Model (Polydor) | Japan
Darkthrone – A Blaze In The Northern Sky (Peaceville) | Norway | Bandcamp
Sentenced – Shadows of Past (Thrash) | Finland | Bandcamp
Bolt Thrower – The IVth Crusade (Earache) | UK | Bandcamp
The Apartments – Drift (Talitres) | Australia | Bandcamp
INXS – Welcome to Wherever You Are (Mercury) | Australia
Ministry – Psalm 69 (Sire/WB) | USA
Lida Husik – Your Bag (Shimmy Disc) | USA
3Ds – Hellzapoppin (Flying Nun) | New Zealand | Bandcamp
Big Chief – Face (Sub Pop) | USA | Buy
Magnetic Fields – The Wayward Bus (Merge) | USA | Bandcamp
Faith No More – Angel Dust (Slash) | USA
Dead Moon – Strange Pray Tell (Music Maniac) | USA | Bandcamp
Soda Stereo – Dynamo (Columbia) | Argentina
The Church – Priest = Aura (Arista) | Australia
Yo La Tengo – May I Sing With Me (Alias) | USA
Th’ Faith Healers – L’ (Too Pure) | UK
Malevolent Creation – Retribution (Roadrunner) | USA
At The Gates – The Red In The Sky Is Ours (Deaf) | Sweden
The Flaming Lips – Hit To Death In The Future Head (WB) | USA
Guided By Voices – Propeller (Scat) | USA | Bandcamp
Whipping Boy – Submarine (Liquid) | Ireland
Praxis – Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) (Axiom/Island) | USA | Bandcamp
XTC – Nonsuch (Virgin) | UK
John Lee Hooker – Boom Boom (Virgin) | USA
Overwhelming Colorfast – Overwhelming Colorfast (Relativity) | USA
Cannibal Corpse – Tomb of the Mutilated (Metal Blade) | USA | Bandcamp
The Aints – Autocannibalism (Hot) | Australia
Papa Sprain – May EP (H.ark!) | UK
Moonshake – Secondhand Clothes EP (Too Pure) | UK
The Band of Holy Joy – Tracksuit Vendetta (Rough Trade) | UK | Bandcamp
Helmet – Meantime (Interscope) | USA
Kingston Wall – Kingston Wall (Trinity) | Finland
Kendra Smith – The Guild of Temporal Adventurers (Fiasco) | USA
Popsicle – Lacquer (Telegram) | Sweden
Juliana Hatfield – Hey Babe (Mammoth) | USA
Gallon Drunk – Tonight, The Singles Bar (Rykodisc) | UK | Bandcamp

Posted in: Listicles, Reviews, Videos/Singles

Tagged: Best Albums of 1992, bestalbums1992, Dead Flowers, Kyuss, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Pavement, Polvo, Ride, The Jesus Lizard, Tom Waits, Unrest