Ever since I first heard about it, I’ve wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. I know I likely won’t so now I say “If I win the lottery, I’ll hike the Appalachian Trail.” Regardless, this is a dream. So I’m very happy to read a book about someone who tried to do it.
Category: 1998
°BSΩLE+e (1998) by Fear Factory
I have still not listened to all that much industrial metal in my life, given how much metal I’ve listened to, and so I can’t really say where this sits in the evolution of the genre. The only thing I can really say is that it sounds a whole hell of a lot better than …
Scraps at Midnight (1998) by Mark Lanegan
I got really annoyed with Lanegan’s Blues Funeral (which came out a while ago now) because of its title. I got annoyed because the title referenced the blues and the record didn’t much, as if I had some kind of deeper knowledge of the blues than Lanegan does. But I read a quote from him …
Good Morning Spider (1998) by Sparklehorse
This is one of the innumerable indie records of the 1990s wherein a guy poses as a band, and he records a lot himself and has the odd person fill in. Like many of those records, it is stylistically all over the place.
Black Music (1998) by Chocolate Genius
It’s pretty hard to talk about this record without talking about the title. Clearly, the title is intended as some kind of statement challenging the tendencies in media to characterize certain music as “black” music, because what’s here is, for the most part, not what would be associated with “black” music in 1998 – except …
Stunt (1998) by Barenaked Ladies
You can count me among the many (millions?) of Canadians who were shocked by the success of this record in the USA when it came out. To me, Barenaked Ladies were a comedy novelty act who had some funny songs and videos, which I had mostly grown out of by the time this record came …
Hello Nasty (1998) by Beastie Boys
If there is one hip hop album I’ve heard more than any other, it’s this one. Now, I’m not sure I’ve ever actually heard it all the way through, but my brother owned this one, I know a lot of it. Sure, I know the hits – a few of these were played on Much …
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
I have read so much about Lucinda Williams that by the time I heard her I was like “This is what she sounds like?”
System of a Down (1998)
I’ve come at this backwards – what else is new? – having heard all their albums but this one a number of years ago, and just getting to this now. Oops.
Munki (1998)
I have always found these guys overrated, so I am wondering what I am doing here, listening to a later album of theirs that even the fans are divided over. I’m not even speaking to the one Mary Chain fan I know about this record. So what am I doing?
Try Whistling This (1998) by Neil Finn
I don’t know much about Crowded House. I know I’ve heard a few of their songs just due to exposure, but I couldn’t even name them right now. So I have no context for this record. You’ve been warned.
The Good Will Out (1998) by Embrace
I am listening to this record for the third time, and about to talk about it on my music anniversaries podcast, and I’m wondering why the hell I bothered. I don’t like it, nobody requested it and it isn’t really a big deal, is it?
Peloton (1998) by The Delgados
This is some really solid indie pop, full of strong melodies with those classic boy-girl vocals that so many people love.
Leitmotif (1998) by dredg
Apparently these guys were Nu Metal once upon a time. You can sometimes hear that in the vocals – without actually knowing anything about Linkin Park, I’d say I hear a similarity in the way this guy sings – but on the whole the idea that this was a Nu Metal band on their EPs …
Navy Blues (1998) by Sloan
I thought this was the third Sloan album I’ve ever heard but apparently it’s actually the second. I saw Sloan before I ever heard an album. I saw them a very long time ago and they were fun. Some assholes in the crowd threw beer at them (it was frosh week) and they still persevered, …
Angels with Dirty Faces (1998) by Tricky
Note: For reasons I can only guess at, the version of this record I streamed on Google Play was missing the first two tracks but I didn’t notice until my final listen. Oops! (Maybe this is the google equivalent of when you were ripping a CD and the ripping program didn’t communicate with your disc …
Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest (1998) by Zao
The 1990s metalcore I’ve heard to date has been mostly from the hardcore punk side of things. But though the implication on RYM and on wikipedia is that this is from the hardcore punk side of things, to me it sounds considerably more from the metal side of things. Maybe that’s just due to the …
Rufus Wainwright (1998)
The first time I listened to Rufus Wainwright’s debut album, I was not a fan. A few listens later, I can identify a few reasons.
The Black Light (1998) by Calexico
A decade or so ago, I accidentally saw Calexico live. I had no idea who they were but they were opening for Wilco, who I was desperate to see after seeing them live on TV.
Consumed (1998) by Plastikman
I do not listen to a lot of electronic music though at this point in my life I am listening to far, far more than I ever have before. This recent experience is giving me at least some context when I listen to other stuff but I regularly find myself listening to a record released …
Shrink (1998) by The Notwist
I don’t know anything about this band but my understanding is that it’s a left turn from previous albums. That’s likely a good thing but, because I’ve never heard those previous albums, I’ve left with just this.
A Thousand Leaves (1998) by Sonic Youth
The first track makes me think of their early music, even though I haven’t heard anything earlier than their earlier than their fourth album, so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. But anyway the opening makes it sound like they’ve gone more experimental. (Actually a few tracks do.)
Version 2.0 (1998) by Garbage
Though I feel like Garbage songs were everywhere when I was in High School, I honestly don’t remember too many of them. (A couple here are sort of ringing some bells, I guess.) So I was genuinely surprised when I listened to the record and then I decided the title must have something to do …
Cruelty and the Beast (1998) by Cradle of Filth
I usually have no problem with weird voices. Sure, there’s the odd one that rubs me the wrong way but, more often than not, I can ignore or even enjoy a weird voice when I hear it if I like everything else about the music (and especially if that voice is talented).
From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998) by Tori Amos
I have only ever previously heard one Tori Amos album, her debut. So when I first listened to this there was just a little bit of shock that it didn’t sound like my expectations.
This Is Hardcore (1998) by Pulp
I think one of the things that distinguishes Pulp from their supposed contemporaries in Britpop is simply their experience – they’ve been making music so much longer than most of the other bands they’re lumped in with, they just know how to do things better. At least, that’s my theory as to why I like …
Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka (1998) by Nile
One of the things that I worry about with Death Metal (or Black Metal, for that matter) is that I am going to be confronted by 35-60 minutes of the same style of music and that doesn’t really float my boat. I just don’t want to listen to so many tracks where the style of …
Before These Crowded Streets (1998) by Dave Matthews Band
I have always been the kind of person to go left when everyone else was going right, when it comes to cultural things. If a song is everywhere, it’s pretty much guaranteed I won’t like it. If a movie is getting celebrated a little too much, I want to not like it. What does this …
Mezzanine (1998) by Massive Attack
Massive Attack is more towards the Hip Hop side of Trip Hop and for me that’s a bit of an issue since Hip Hop has never been my thing and the whole appeal of Trip Hop for me is the lack of rapping.
Music Has the Right to Children (1998) by Boards of Canada
I don’t listen to a ton of electronic music but I do listen to some, especially more recently, with my podcast about album anniversaries, with lost of major electronic music album anniversaries arising. So I do find it hard at times to put electronic music in context, though I think I’m getting better at it.