10. Manic Street Preachers - Generation TerroristsManic Street Preachers' first few albums featured crunchy guitars and raw and aggressive singing. Generation Terrorists is a strong debut album, but the melodies and songwriting are not quite where they should be. Motorcycle Emptiness forecasts the future success of the band even though the sounds are still very 80's sounding. This album isn't yet brit-pop as we are used to call it. This album is more closely linked to American alternative music scene. The sounds on this album are not that polished and it sometimes sounds a bit like a demo. The guitar solos on this album are played really skilfully. Generation Terrorists give some first tastes of Manics' talent, but it's not quite there yet and therefore it's only number 10 on this list. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Spiritualized has always been that band which makes kind of good music, but they always lack that final touch to make their music phenomenal. Their debut album features minimalist melodies and some sounds that may be described as space rock. This album is more about the atmosphere than individual songs. The electronic sounds over easygoing band instruments offer nice hypnotism, but they cannot offer songs that would be memorable enough. If I Were Here With Her Now comes closest to making a hit with it's bouncy bass lines, horns and clean guitars. The album cover art is great! When it comes to sounds, this album has got a lot to offer, but when it comes to songs, it's not quite there. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Nick Cave has never been one of my favourites. I think his horror singing is a bit ridiculous. he has managed to make a few really good songs, but the whole albums are usually not good enough. Henry's Dream works other way around. It does not have well-known hit songs, but it manages to be a fairly good album. The songs have that familiar sound with horror, dark melodies and roaring vocals. The beauty is driven to the background though. Pianos and vocal harmonies could make these songs a lot better, if only the songs were a bit differently produced. The road-side billboard in the cover illustrates the music fairly well, since the music sounds like it wouldn't be meant for big cities, but rather for car trips to the middle of nowhere. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Ride is not known to many these days. It is one of the best bands of the early 90's combining alternative rock n' roll with crunchy guitars, shoe-gazing and improvised long solos. Going Blank Again continues the same kind of sound as the band's debut album Nowhere. The musicians in the band are really talented, but the songwriting could be better. Now the technical playing rises to the main part with the expense of melodies and playing together. There is a lot good in this album though. It's a musical journey with skilful playing, inventive hooks and rock n' roll attitude. People who enjoy bands such as Jesus & Mary Chain or Echo and the Bunnymen might enjoy Ride a lot. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Your Arsenal is one of the most aggressive Morrissey albums. The sounds are more raw and the songs are pure rock n' roll. It has some of the best Morrissey humour such as the lyrics in You're the one for Me, Fatty. The album cover is one of the most homoerotic album covers of all times. I love the title of the song We Hate it When Our Friends Become Successful. It describes Morrissey's views quite funnily. Your Arsenal is not by far the best album by Morrissey, but it includes some great songs and that is enough to make it one of the best albums in 1992. Alain Whyte and Boz Boorer, who have composed most of Morrissey's solo career songs are already here on this album. They make Morrissey's solo career sound more like a band's effort. Listen to the album on Spotify.
Kingston Wall's first album let's everyone know right from the first notes, that this is a highly talented band. The trio plays difficult songs with quite heavy sounds. Sami Kuoppamäki is a phenomenal drummer, which becomes especially clear in the cover version of Jimi Hendrix classic Fire. Petri Walli's guitar solos and Jukka Jylli's bass lines also make an impression. The album ends in epic, over 20 minute song Mushrooms, which consists of eight different parts. Kingston Wall is one of the best Finnish bands there ever was. It's a shame they never made it globally. They had all the right tools for a global success, but I guess their promotion wasn't up to their musical level. It's hard to categorise Kingston Wall, better to just listen to it yourself. Listen to the album on Spotify.
The Lemonheads play enthusiastic and sunny power pop with often amusing lyrics. It's a Shame About Ray could be called their breakthrough album, since it was their first album on a major label and it had few well-known hits. The title track and Alison's Starting to Happen were played in radios. Their biggest success came though with a cover version of Mrs. Robinson, which they added to the re-issue. Eventually they became bored of playing that cover because of the huge success it received and they stopped playing it on gigs. That version may be remembered from the film Wayne's World II. At least I was really impressed by that song as a beginner guitar player. The title track is my favourite though. Listen to the album on Spotify.
For me, the most well-known Cure albums have been the first albums in the late 70's and early 80's. Their biggest hit may still be Friday I'm In Love, from this album. Wish is one of the poppiest albums of The Cure. The horror sounds and deep melancholy are present in many of the songs, but there are songs with proper radio hit potential as well. The sounds are still very 80's in some parts. The clean guitars and light mood in High and Friday I'm In Love attract also people who do not like The Cure's scary melancholia. Wish is my favourite Cure album after their first three albums. Even if you're not a big fan of the band you might find yourself enjoying these phenomenal songs. I think with more time this album might even raise it's position on this list. Listen to the album on Spotify.
R.E.M. became one of the biggest bands in the world in the 90's. Their best albums were made in the late 80's and early 90's. Automatic for the People is one of the most well-known and most appreciated R.E.M. albums. It includes hits such as Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight, Everybody Hurts, Man on the Moon and Nightswimming. Rest of the album is as good. Melodic songs and Michael Stipe's nasal voice were already known from their previous albums, but Automatic for the People was more produced than the previous albums. It's got a lot of strings added on top of the traditional band instruments.The album cover is an example of what CD did to album art. As a vinyl, the cover looks really good, but on cd, it looks like broken plastic. Listen to the album on Spotify.
This year's number one was a surprise even to myself. I really haven't listened to Gin Blossoms a lot before. Their debut album is a great piece of work, full of up-beat and melodic songs for sunny days. Doug Hopkins, the band's guitar player, was fired from the band before the release of this album due to his alcohol problems. He ended up committing a suicide afterwards. This is a shame. Hopkins was the songwriter behind most of the songs on the first album and in my opinion the band never succeeded in making as good songs later on. Hey Jealousy was the biggest hit from this album and I can totally see why. Some parts in the song remind me of Bruce Springsteen. Gin Blossoms, at least to me, remained a band with one good album, but that one album is a damn good one. Listen to the album on Spotify.
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