100 Albums has less entries from 1993 than it did from 1992 (or will from 1994); truthfully, it’s a transitional year. Just as I graduated from high school and began my first semester at Marquette, for me, new music felt stuck between 1992’s idyllic known quantities and, as we’ll see, 1994’s eventual, inevitable mainstreaming of modern rock.
Truthfully, I spent more time in ’93 discovering and cultivating an appreciation for older music than actively seeking out new stuff (I didn’t hear any of the four albums I wrote about until at least the following year). Thus, many of the selections on my ’93 mix are obscurities I stumbled upon: Mekons’ irony-drenched, Sally Timms-sung ode to sugar daddies, Teenage Fanclub’s drone-pop with its genius dumb outro repeating the same four measures sixteen times, Terence Trent D’Arby’s unclassifiable stab at Beatles-esque psych pop, Gutterball’s jaunty little comic noir. I first heard that last one via a friend who also introduced me to “Ugly On The Outside”, perhaps the most ebullient, non-sappy love song of its era–it should have been as big as “Linger” (which itself holds up rather nicely, by the way.)
Elsewhere, a mix of the usual suspects (later singles by Kate Bush and Jellyfish) and at least one band only a few slots away from their very own 100 Albums entry. If anything, this year’s mix gives me an excuse to keep a few long forgotten favorites alive (“Your Town”, “Kite”, “Lords of the New Church”) and continue featuring still-played perennials such as “Feed the Tree”, “Big Time Sensuality” and “Laid”.
Click here to listen to my favorite tracks of 1993 on Spotify:
1. Belly, “Feed The Tree”
2. Suede, “Metal Mickey”
3. Bjork, “Big Time Sensuality”
4. Blur, “For Tomorrow”
5. Urge Overkill, “Positive Bleeding”
6. The Juliana Hatfield Three, “My Sister”
7. Aimee Mann, “I’ve Had It”
8. Lenny Kravitz, “Heaven Help”
9. The Judybats, “Ugly On The Outside”
10. Nick Heyward, “Kite”
11. Saint Etienne, “Mario’s Cafe”
12. James, “Laid”
13. Jellyfish, “The Glutton of Sympathy”
14. Mekons, “Millionaire”
15. Black 47, “Maria’s Wedding”
16. Liz Phair, “Divorce Song”
17. Terence Trent D’Arby, “Penelope Please”
18. Gutterball, “One By One”
19. Teenage Fanclub, “Hang On”
20. Morphine, “Cure For Pain”
21. Pet Shop Boys, “Can You Forgive Her”
22. Kate Bush, “Moments of Pleasure”
23. Deacon Blue, “Your Town”
24. The Cranberries, “Linger”
25. Tasmin Archer, “Lords Of The New Church”
Haunted Jukebox 