Best Album on OUR Favourite Albums of......1992

Dirt

FNM v Darkthrone v Aphex v Pavement

Likely Afx, possibly Waits in the hope of increasing his stock.

Rage Against the Machine should definitely be on there, pace the naysayers.

Would've also liked to see

Anouar Brahem - Conte de l'incroyable amour
At the Gates - The Red in the Sky Is Ours
Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade
Catherine Wheel - Ferment
Incantation - Onward to Golgotha
Noir Désir - Tostaky
Various Artists - Artificial Intelligence

Soul Kiss (Glide Divine)
Ov Biospheres & Sacred Grooves
Flying High

From the list, probably Spiritualised.

Also the Sea Nymphs s/t, although that didn't exactly have a general release until a few years later.

Voted LGM as imagine SAW will get lots of votes anyway

Pavement, S+E - an all time favourite

also bubbling under:

lou reed- magic and losee

MBM vs The Prodigy

These albums should have been in the poll since they are better than everything else on it aside from the two I called out:

Tool - Opiate
altern 8 - full on mask hysteria
shut up & dance - death is not the end
Ice cube – the predator
Sade – love deluxe
The cure - wish

Probably listened the most to S & E that year but now would come down to Jesus Lizard or Come

you've had a nightmare picking Peggy Suicide for the 1991 poll but not the vastly superior Jehovahkill for this one. would have had a tough fight against Heaven Born And Ever Bright for my vote

also lamentably absent is Thunder Perfect Mind but I guess you'll have the chance to correct that error when Of Ruine is up

also where's Ride? XTC? you are literally missing my 5 or 6 favourite albums of that year. to the extent where I'd have to vote Faith No More if I wanted to vote, which I don't

while we're at it, why aren't all MY favourite albums of 1992 on your list of favourite albums of 1992???

Lol

the whole point of these threads is to whine and argue

sorry, carry on

Wow, a bunch on here that I was obsessed with at the time, but hardly listen to anymore. Spiritualized and Sugar are the ones I listen to most now. Feeling Sugar the most today.

I think Copper Blue and Beaster both hold up really well

I heard Check Your Head for the first time in years the other day and it blew me away.

Here are some that would have made my list:

Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca and the Soul Brother
Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain
Denim - Back in Denim
Stereolab - Peng!
Rocket From the Crypt - Circa: Now!

also never forget

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3d/GordonBarenakedLadies.jpg/220px-GordonBarenakedLadies.jpg

"Circa Now" is good but I preferred "paint as a fragrance" more.

"Peng" has some good tunes but it doesn't really hold up as an album. I might feel differently now. Its a long time since I listened to it. I used to have it on cassette.

Of the pollable albums, these are the ones I listened to a lot in '92:
Belly – star
Jayhawks - Hollywood Town Hall
Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray
Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
PJ Harvey - Dry
Screaming Trees - Sweet Oblivion
Sonic Youth - Dirty

Belly, Pavement, and PJ Harvey I still revisit frequently.
Others I listened to a lot but hardly do so now: Freedy Johnston - Can You Fly, Tragically Hip - Fully Completely, Magnapop - Magnapop, David Byrne - Uh-oh, Charlatans - Between 10th and 11th, Gavin Friday - Adam & Eve

Off the top of my head, Bettie Serveert - Palomine, Lou Reed - Magic & Loss, Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend, Suzanne Vega - 99.9°F, Chills - Soft Bomb, Walkabouts - Scavenger, Kronos Quartet - Pieces of Africe, Stereolab - Peng are personal favorites I'm missing.

Popular hiphop back then that's not on the list: The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy - Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury, Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of.... Neneh Cherry - Homebrew

my two favs from this year are the self-titled P-Model album and Suffocating the Bloom by Echolyn, why aren't THOSE on the list!??!??

?!

I look at the poll options and I'm reminded why 1992 was the year I dived headlong into rave/breakbeat; most of those albums either do nothing for me or actively irritate me (hi dere Psalm 69, you have always sucked and you will always suck)

Just bubbling under
The Pharcyde – Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde

noooooo

the lyrics on the chronic haven't aged well, but the beats still bang, and it's such a monumental album in my life and in rap history that i can't vote for anything else.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C98sV1vXcAE32Cs.jpg

ditto voodoo chili

Sugar cast a long shadow over my listening in 1992. Still love Bob's righteous anger.

FNM vs Prodigy. I remember being excited by a lot of these albums as a young teenager.

this is between angel dust and saw 85-92 for me, though i also sorta feel like voting for copper blue. would've voted for love deluxe no question

a blaze in the northern sky is an important album but both under a funeral moon and transilvanian hunger are better

oh fuck, Check Your Head vs. Imperial ffrr, maybe I just won't vote

At the time it would have been S+E but now would be Bizarre Ride II or Le Jardin de Heavenly.

These lists are getting less interesting (for ME anyway!) by the year now. It’s The Chronic for me here, simply because I don’t see any other relevant options. On the bubbling under list at least there’s Love Deluxe and the Pharcyde debut, and I wish I could stan for Mary J Blige’s What’s The 411?, but alas.

Update:

Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - Mecca and the Soul Brother

imperial frrr, liar, and copper blue are my runners up

and bizarre ride and mecca too, damn

Pearl Jam - Ten

this came out in August 1991

Nevertheless it's important it appear in this poll so that nobody can vote for it again.

Th’ Faith Healers – Lido
The Orb – UF Orb

when I saw these had missed the cut I was going to sulk and boycott this but hey, it's already hard enough to decide between Belly, Pavement, Aphex and Unrest

I thought Star came out in 1993?

SAW 85-92 vs. Lazer Guided Melodies, impossible

This would usually be Automatic for the People vs Dirty for me but since you had the amazing good sense to include Moonshake, I will cast my vote in their direction

Pavement, probably

I look at the poll options and I'm reminded why 1992 was the year I dived headlong into rave/breakbeat; most of those albums either do nothing for me or actively irritate me (hi dere Psalm 69, you have always sucked and you will always suck)

― brigadier pudding (DJP), Wednesday, July 10, 2019 9:11 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Replace "rave/breakbeat" with "New Orleans brass band" and this is me. There were a number of albums on the 1991 list that I acknowledge the importance of, even though I don't own or listen to them (ended up voting Nevermind,) but this one holds almost nothing for me. There are some cuts on the Meat Beat Manifesto I liked at the time.

I thought Star came out in 1993?

Good point.

I saw Fred Abong live this year (as in 2019, not 1992) and his work on Star and subsequent semi-disappearance made him one of the great "what ifs?" of music for my nostalgic-for-1993 self, along with... Fyfe Ewing of Therapy?.

Maybe he'd like to play live next in my not very exciting small city! Maybe I should throw "Nurse" my probably-oughtn't-vote-for-Star vote.

(prob not, prob Sugar if not one of the above, but hey, those ringing trebly snare fills on Fyfe-era Therapy?...)

oh damn I missed Honey's Dead in the also-ran list, that album is also incredible

It's not like I exclusively listened to vacuum cleaners during this time period but, as the honorable mention list shows, most of the stuff I held near and dear to my heart that wasn't directly affiliated with glowsticks felt like it wasn't held in as high esteem by wider non-pop culture as the stuff in the poll. Like, that PJ Harvey album is great but I never gelled with it the way everyone else did; I didn't jump full bore onto that train until To Bring You My Love. And then there are things I actively dislike, like the Ministry and Pavement albums.

Big drop off from 91, from the list between Lemonheads, REM and Spiritualized. Though if it was there would vote for Ingenue by kd Lang. Arrested Development is a big miss, listened tomit a few weeks ago and it’s dated much better and sounds fresher than I expected.

‘to it’

erm oops!

NME 1992

1. Copper Blue - Sugar
2. Automatic For The People – R.E.M.
3. Lazer Guided Melodies - Spiritualized
4. It's A Shame About Ray - Lemonheads
5. Henry's Dream - Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
6. Dry - P.J. Harvey
7. Dirty - Sonic Youth
8. Uf Orb - The Orb
9. Harvest Moon - Neil Young
10. Southern Harmony Etc... - The Black Crows
11. Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury - Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
12. Bone Machine - Tom Waits
13. The Rockingbirds - The Rockingbirds
14. The Predator- Ice Cube
15. Generation Terrorists - Manic Street Preachers
16. Back In Denim - Denim
17. Ingenue - K.D. Lang
18. Sex 'Symbol' - Prince & NPG
19. Your Arsenal - Morrissey
20. Psalm 69:How To Succeed & Suck Eggs - Ministry
21. Code: Selfish - The Fall
22. Magic And Loss - Lou Reed
23. Let Me Come Ove - Buffalo Tom
24. Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill
25. 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days.... - Arrested Development
26. Slanted And Enchanted - Pavement
27. Nerve Net - Brian Eno
28. Connected - Stereo Mc's
29. Accelerator - The Future Sound Of London
30. Up - Right Said Fred
31. Valhalla Avenue - Fatima Mansions
32. 1992 The Love Album - Carter Usm
33. XYZ - Moose
34. Fontanelle - Babes In Toyland
35. Hollywood Town Hall - The Jayhawks
36. Wish - The Cure
37. I Wish My Brother George Was Here - Del Tha Funkee Homsapien
38. Red Heaven - Throwing Muses
39. Bricks Are Heavy - L7
40. Play More Music - Consolidated
41. Eva Luna - Moonshake
42. Furthest From The Sun - The Family Cat
43. Play With Toys - Dcbasehead
44. 0898 - The Beautiful South
45. Asquarius - Cud
46. Doppelganger - Curve
47. Check Your Head - Beastie Boys
48. Hey Babe - Juliana Hatfield
49. Stigma - EMF
50. Everything’s Alright Forever - The Boo Radleys

Melody Maker End Of Year Critic Lists - 1992

Albums

1. Automatic For The People - R.E.M.
2. Slanted And Enchanted - Pavement
3. Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury - Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
4. Red Heaven - Throwing Muses
5. Eleven:Eleven - Come
6. Dry - P.J. Harvey
7. Henry's Dream - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
8. Down Colourful Hill - Red House Painters
9. Ten - Pearl Jam
10. Uf Orb - The Orb
11. Lazer Guided Melodies - Spiritualized
12. Let Me Come Over - Buffalo Tom
13. Fontanelle - Babes In Toyland
14. Rockin' The Forest - Sebadoh
15. 3 Years, 5 Months, 2 Days... - Arrested Development
16. Copper Blue - Sugar
17. Praise - Inner City
18. Hollywood Town Hall - The Jayhawks
19. It's A Shame About Ray - The Lemonheads
20. Valhalla Avenue - Fatima Mansions
21. Accelerator - Future Sound Of London
22. Psalm 69:How To Succeed & Suck Eggs - Ministry
23. Dirty - Sonic Youth
24. Back In Denim - Denim
25. Congregation - Afghan Whigs
26. Barely Real - Codeine
27. Double Dare Ya - Bikini Kill
28. ...Well? - Swell
29. Hit To Death In The Future Head - The Flaming Lips
30. Nurse - Therapy?

Select End Of Year Lists

1992 albums

1. Stereo MC's - Connected
2. Morrissey - Your Arsenal
3. The Orb - Uf Orb
4. Rem - Automatic For The People
5. Sonic Youth - Dirty Geffin
6. The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy - Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury
7. Julian Cope - Jehovahkill
8. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Henry's Dream
9. Sugar - Copper Blue
10. Consolidated - Play More Music Nettwerk
11. Spiritualized - Lazer Guided Melodies Dedicated
12. Pj Harvey - Dry Too Pure
13. Arrested Development - 3 Years... Cooltempo
14. Denim - Back In Denim Boy's Own
15. Beastie Boys - Check Your Head Capitol
16. Pavement- Slanted And Enchanted Big Cat
17. The Shaman - Boss Drum One Little Indian
18. Brian Eno - Nerve Net Opal
19. Boo Radleys - Everything's Alright Forever Creation
20. Flaming Lips - Hit To Death In The Future Head Wea
21. Future Sound Of London - Accelerator Jumpin' & Pumpin
22. Carter Usm - 1992: The Love Album Chrysalis
23. Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill Columbia
24. Inner City - Praise Ten
25. Ride - Going Blank Again Creation
26. Meat Beat Manifesto - Satyricon Play It Again Sam
27. Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray East/West
28. Therapy? - Nurse A&M
29. Eric B & Rakim - Don't Sweat The Technique Mca
30. The Jesus And Mary Chain - Honey's Dead Wea
31. Levitation - Need For Not Rough Trade
32. Momus - Voyager Creation
33. Epmd - Business Never Personal Columbia
34. Mudhoney - Piece Of Cake Wea
35. Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - I Wish My Brother George Was Here Island
36. Gang Starr - Daily Operation Cooltempo
37. Tom Waits - Bone Machine Island
38. Fatima Mansions - Valhalla Avenue Radioactive
39. Babes In Toyland - Fontanelle South Ern
40. Rollins Band - The End Of Silence Imago
41. The Cure - Wish Flction
42. Body Count - Body Count Wea
43. Silverfish - Organ Fan Creation
44. Spectrum - Soul Kiss (Glide Divine) Silvertone
45. Sugar Bullet - Unrefined Virgin
46. Superchunk - No Pocky For Kitty City Slang
47. Various - Volume 4 Volume
48. The Tyrrel Corporation - North East Of Eden Cooltempo
49. The House Of Love - Babe Rainbow Fontana
50. Various Guerilla - Dub House Disco

Spin Albums Of The Year 1992

1. Pavement - Slanted And Enchanted
2. Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of...
3. Sonic Youth - Dirty
4. Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
5. Ministry - Psalm 69: The Way To Succeed And The Way To Suck Eggs
6. Sugar - Copper Blue
7. Neneh Cherry - Homebrew
8. Unrest - Imperial
9. Basehead - Play With Toys
10. Ween - The Pod
11. Mudhoney - Piece Of Cake
12. Urge Overkill - Stull EP
13. Tom Waits - Bone Machine
14. Lyle Lovett - Joshua Judges Ruth
15. Morrissey - Your Arsenal
16. En Vogue - Funky Divas
17. Babes In Toyland - Fontanelle
18. PJ Harvey - Dry
19. Prince - Symbol
20. Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction

Rolling Stone 1992 Critics

Albums

1. R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
2. Arrested Development - 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of...
3. Los Lobos - Kiko
4. Sonic Youth - Dirty
5. PJ Harvey - Dry

also VV poll:

1. Arrested Development: 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of . . . (Chrysalis)
2. Pavement: Slanted and Enchanted (Matador)
3. R.E.M.: Automatic for the People (Warner Bros.)
4. PJ Harvey: Dry (Indigo)
5. Beastie Boys: Check Your Head (Capitol)
6. Los Lobos: Kiko (Slash/Warner Bros.)
7. Sugar: Copper Blue (Rykodisc)
8. Sonic Youth: Dirty (DGC)
9. Tom Waits: Bone Machine (Island)
10. Basehead: Play With Toys (Imago)
11. Lucinda Williams: Sweet Old World (Chameleon)
12. K.D. Lang: Ingénue (Sire/Warner Bros.)
13. Neneh Cherry: Homebrew (Virgin)
14. Prince and the New Power Generation: Prince XV (Paisley Park/Warner Bros.)
15. The Jayhawks: Hollywood Town Hall (Def American)
16. Lou Reed: Magic and Loss (Sire/Warner Bros.)
17. Bruce Springsteen: Lucky Town (Columbia)
18. Neil Young: Harvest Moon (Reprise)
19. The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy: Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury (4th & B'way)
20. Soul Asylum: Grave Dancers Union (Columbia)
21. En Vogue: Funky Divas (EastWest) 187
22. Madonna: Erotica (Maverick/Reprise)
23. Chris Bell: I Am the Cosmos (Rykodisc)
24. Lyle Lovett: Joshua Judges Ruth (Curb/MCA)
25. Television: Television (Capitol)
26. Faith No More: Angel Dust (Slash/Warner Bros.)
27. Leonard Cohen: The Future (Columbia)
28. Freedy Johnston: Can You Fly (Bar/None)
29. Morrissey: "Your Arsenal" (Sire)
30. Mary J. Blige: What's the 411? (MCA/Uptown)
31. Body Count: Body Count (Sire/Warner Bros.)
32. L7: Bricks Are Heavy (Slash) 138 (16)
33. Lindsey Buckingham: Out of the Cradle (Warner Bros.)
34. Pearl Jam: 10 (Epic Associated)
35. Unrest: Imperial ffrr (TeenBeat)
36. Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes (Atco)
37. The Black Crowes: The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (Def American)
38. The Roches: A Dove (MCA)
39. John Trudell: AKA Graffiti Man (Rykodisc)
40. Ice Cube: The Predator (Priority)

I liked a lot of these, but going by memory, Bone Machine stood out for me. Tom Waits would always top one of these polls as far as I'm concerned.

Count me as another write-in vote for the Pharcyde.

as a track A Deeper Love by C&C Music Factory is still phenomenal

Possibly my favourite year after 1989, though strikingly one-note in that it's all white men with guitars for me, even the rap. For a Top 10, I'd go:

1. Lemonheads / 2. New Fast Automatic Daffodils - Body Exit Mind / 3. The House of Pain - s/t 4. Sonic Youth / 5. The Jesus & Mary Chain / 6. Pavement / 7. Tragically Hip - Fully Completely / 8. Buffalo Tom - Let Me Come Over / 9. Beastie Boys / 10. Drop Nineteens

with Smeared by Sloan, Sugar, REM, The Disposable Heroes and Bettie Serveert close behind.

At the time almost all of these were also among my favourites, but I would have ranked Buffalo Tom over the others back then - it will have been my most played album along with Ten by Pearl Jam. (To add to/resolve the release year controversy: it was definitely released world-wide in 1991 - see Discogs, and also because I actually remember Oor magazine reviewing it in the same issue as Nevermind (so late September 1991, probably). It may have been re-released early 1992, which is definitely when I bought it (February), and of course it will feel to many people as a 1992 album since it only really took off after the impact PJ had at the 1992 summer festivals.) I don't think I've played it in 20 years and doubt I'll feel the urge soon, but the memories are sweet.

It's a shame about Ray is possibly my favourite album of the 90s, and with my #2 not on the list this is not a hard choice.

Just throwing it out there: what about 2 polls for '93? Yay or Nay?

I prefer one poll, personally. I'd rather not pretend that it's possible to cover enough ground or that the bitching isn't part of the fun.

agree

i cant cut my list of 50 any further!

If it will magically give me the option to vote for Toni Braxton’s debut or Tevin Campbell’s I’m Ready, by all means do it, otherwise don’t bother.

...he said sternly.

Oor Neechy is a big Toni Braxton fan iirc

hah she certainly wrote some really sad songs

if you want hip hop pop and rnb then you better hope mike does a poll because I think you all know they're not my forte

looking over those contemporaneous lists, Arrested Development was a mass delusion the likes of which were unseen until Tune-yards. I bought it! And dropped it back off a few months later.

even moreso than Big & Rich?

Soul Asylum forgotten too

Oooohhh I could go for some Sloan and Bettie Serveert

I'd say prob my biggest sadface omission is probably Dadamah's This is Not a Dream, which always sounds to me like Roy Montgomery trying to do his own, more goth-drenched, version of The Clean

(but that's prob a little libellous tbh; Roy himself said the model was Red Krayola, which I can kinda hear also)

Tune-Yards is still good

hadn't heard the Dadamah - This is Not a Dream album before. it sounds great

Some really, really good records on that list. Voted for Spiritualized, just ahead of Aphex, Godflesh, the Young Gods and REM.

A pity Valhalla Avenue didn't make the list. It's maybe the best Irish album ever made.

looking over those contemporaneous lists, Arrested Development was a mass delusion the likes of which were unseen until Tune-yards. I bought it! And dropped it back off a few months later.

I bought it too. And you're right, it was painfully earnest. Kulkarni in Melody Maker called it rap for white people.

I did like the way they wilfully sabotaged their own career on the next album by giving it a completely incomprehensible title and having no tunes on it.

Darkthrone won out in the end.

I have enjoyed this series of polls. Honourable mentions for Aphex and Prodigy but Pharcyde all the way for me in this one.

Oops I see that’s only on the bubbling under list so voted Prodigy

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Cows

Voted for FNM in the absence of the seminal 'Totally Krossed Out' by Kriss Kross

their music may have lived on in all of our hearts but thankfully their penchant for wearing baggy jeans backwards never caught on

honestly haven’t heard much of this list

pavement

last chance to make sure albums you like dont get zero votes

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

come on

it wasn't in my list

Had no trouble voting, but “Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock” should have been an option too.

no compilations allowed iirc

I love Automatic so yay

Surprised that Godflesh didn't get a single vote. That's an incredible album.

Because I was transitioning fully into rave music at the time, I don't think I ever actually heard the entirety of that Godflesh album.

Damn just now realizing Kiko and The Lavender Moon was snubbed

You can't snub an album you've never heard of!

Because I was transitioning fully into rave music at the time, I don't think I ever actually heard the entirety of that Godflesh album.

It's amazingly single-minded in its whole sound. I love records that just zero in murderously on one thing and execute it to perfection.

Amen to the other Kyuss voter. I feel I should have chucked a vote to Trouble though.

I really like that whole period of Def America: Masters of Reality, Danzig, Jayhawks, Trouble, Black Crowes, Slayer, Red Devils, Flipper, Raging Slab. Can probably pass over Andrew Dice Clay.