The P&J poll would not see such a widely mocked #1 finisher until a subset of voters saw Merriweather Post Pavilion with its arms crossed and nodding seventeen years later. Sincere, liberal, and incapable of making its sentiments stick, 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of… has competition, just not at this level. I mean, what were voters thinking when they swooned over The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy? Raps as leaden as Consolidated’s on Friendly Fascism absent the discord. Freedy Johnston, another critics’ fave, is capable of eloquent songs but hamstrung by a voice as phony as John Hiatt’s (and bizzers for life revere Hiatt too).
The usual miscellany ruled in 1992. Peak Leonard Cohen, as he discovered ways of extending the experiments in tonal irony wrought by the dinkiest keyboards. Tom Waits, too: the flophouse as happy house, sentimentalized by Marc Ribot’s licks and the inventiveness of rhythm tracks as polyphonic as multi-tracked vocals, in my judgment what Rain Dogs‘ successors had failed to achieve. I’ll leave Harvest Moon, Check Your Head, and 10 in the care of friends who’re better litigants. Polly Jean Harvey made herself a subject worth following. Madonna and Sonic Youth discover CD bloat but released good work anyway. Bob Mould reinvented himself with a guitar sound as big as Minnesota and a formal distance severe enough to turn Colin Newman into Jeff Buckley. But the year’s succès d’estime came from a quintet of shamblers whose crunchy, crumbly tunes, found poetry, and gnomic insights about lies, betrayals, and fruit-covered nails won critics’ hearts by synthesizing The Fall, Pixies, and John Ashbery.
The Hague
The Black Crowes – The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion
Meh
Bruce Springsteen Lucky Town
Lou Reed – Magic and Loss
Freedy Johnston – Can You Fly
The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy – Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury
Arrested Development – 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of…
The Jayhawks – Hollywood Town Hall
Sound, Solid
Body Count – Body Count
Prince and the New Power Generation – Love Symbol
Beastie Boys – Check Your Head
Lindsey Buckingham – Out of the Cradle
Neil Young – Harvest Moon
Lyle Lovett – Joshua Judges Ruth
k.d. Lang – Ingénue
Ice Cube – The Predator
Soul Asylum – Grave Dancers Union
Pearl Jam – 10
Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes
The Roches – A Dove
Mary J. Blige – What’s the 411?
Good to Great
Madonna – Erotica
Sugar – Copper Blue
Sonic Youth – Dirty
R.E.M. – Automatic for the People
PJ Harvey – Dry
Tom Waits – Bone Machine
Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted
Neneh Cherry – Homebrew
Faith No More – Angel Dust
L7 – Bricks Are Heavy
Leonard Cohen – The Future
Television – Television
En Vogue – Funky Divas
Morrissey – “Your Arsenal”
Los Lobos – Kiko
Lucinda Williams – Sweet Old World
The Jury’s Out
John Trudell – AKA Graffiti Man
Unrest – Imperial ffrr
Humanizing The Vacuum 