Because I was a teenager through the 1990s, my relationship with the decade’s music is a little different; I’d probably appreciate bands like Oasis and Nirvana more if I wasn’t saturated with them. I also think that mainstream rock largely ran out of steam, and the most interesting music is on the fringes or in other genres.
The advent of the Compact Disc was also problematic – CDs allowed for longer running times, but often 40 minutes is the optimum running time for an album. Many albums in the early 1990s dragged on for over an hour.
Major acts that I enjoy and plan to review include Beck, Massive Attack, PJ Harvey, and The Flaming Lips.
Born Myra Ellen Amos, in North Carolina, Tori Amos took her stage name when a friend's boyfriend told her that she resembled a Torrey pine. Her family moved to Maryland...
It's not an overstatement that Jeff Buckley was one of the most singularly talented musicians of his generation; blessed with a beautiful and athletic voice, a more than adequate guitar technique...
Sheryl Crow was already on the wrong side of 30 when she released her debut album. After attending the University of Missouri with Brad Pitt, Crow spent her twenties working...
Faith No More's origins go right back to 1979 when the rhythm section of Mike Bordin and Billy Gould formed a band. By 1982 keyboard player Roddy Bottum joined and...
Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood met at Williams College in Massachusetts. They formed Fountains of Wayne, christening themselves after a garden furniture and statuary store in Wayne, New Jersey. Although...
Richard X. Heyman started his career as a backing musician, drumming for Brian Wilson, Link Wray, and Jonathan Richman, and playing keyboards for Ben E King. A one man band,...
San Francisco's Jellyfish were underappreciated during their existence in the early 1990s, but have since gained a devoted following. Their power-pop is fun and sometimes bombastic, but is often also...
Freedy Johnston seems destined to be remembered as a one-hit wonder for 1994's 'Bad Reputation', a critically acclaimed but commercially marginal figure. This semi-obscurity isn't necessarily surprising - popular music is...
San Francisco quartet the Red House Painters (named after the Tennesseean painting crew, The International League Of Revolutionary House Painters) made their debut with 1992's Down Colorful Hill on the 4AD...
This page was largely written by a guest reviewer - I wrote the introduction and the review of The Holy Bible. Manic Street Preachers formed as a high school band...
IntroductionGrant McLennan Album ReviewsWatershedFireboyHorsebreaker StarIn Your Bright RayIntermission (Grant McLennan disc)10 Best Grant McLennan Songs Introduction Grant McLennan was taught to play and drafted into The Go-Betweens by Robert Forster....
Tired of making art by committee, Natalie Merchant left the 10,000 Maniacs in 1993. She wasn't yet 30, but had served as lead singer for the alternative band for more...
Pavement's debut album Slanted and Enchanted was recorded in 1991 and swansong Terror Twilight was released in 1999. Because their recording career so neatly covers the 1990s, Pavement are a very...
Pearl Jam grew from the remnants of Mother Love Bone, whose singer Andrew Wood overdosed. Rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament started a new band with Mike McCready on...
Not to be confused with the Sun Records boss of the same name, Sam Phillips started her career in 1980s Christian pop. She used her birth name, Leslie Phillips, in...
Portishead formed in the city of Bristol, where a vibrant, multi-cultural music scene spawned trip-hop in the early 1990s. Trip-hop took the beats from hip hop, and slowed them down,...
Named after a Talking Heads song, Radiohead are the most critically acclaimed band to emerge in the 1990s. They convened informally in 1986 as teenagers while attending Abingdon School in Oxford,...
IntroductionRage Against The Machine Album ReviewsRage Against The MachineEvil EmpireThe Battle of Los AngelesRenegades10 Best Rage Against the Machine songs Introduction Rage Against the Machine were surprisingly successful in the...
Britt Walford and Brian McMahan met in their pre-teens, and joined the punk band Squirrel Bait while still in their teens. Walford, a drummer, left Squirrel Bait after the band's...
After leaving Hüsker Dü, Bob Mould released a couple of solo albums, before forming another power trio. Unlike Hüsker Dü, where Grant Hart was an important songwriter and vocalist and...
1990s power-pop star Matthew Sweet was born in Nebraska - also the home of Josh Rouse, Conor Oberst, Randy Meisner, and JoJo Siwa. After finishing school he moved south to...
It's tempting to write Ween off as a novelty band - their biggest hit single, 'Push th' Little Daisies', is gimmicky and stoned. But lurking beneath all the silliness is...
Americana artist Gillian Welch was born in New York and adopted by a pair of comedy music entertainers. Welch later learned that her mother may have grown up in the...
His work in the 1980s with the beloved Replacements left leader Paul Westerberg with colossal expectations to meet with his solo career. Despite some valiant attempts, Westerberg's never managed to...
Jeff Tweedy was always the junior partner in the pioneering alt-country band Uncle Tupelo. When the group split into two factions, all indications were that Jay Farrar's Son Volt would...
This page collects miscellaneous reviews for 1990s artists who I've just covered a handful of albums by: Eric Clapton | Dream Theater | Ben Harper | Various Artists: Heisei No Oto...
Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person.
Graham Fyfe is probably the only music blogger to appreciate both Neil Diamond and Ariana Grande. Based in Fleet Street (New Zealand), he's been writing this blog since around 2000. Aphoristic Album Reviews features reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
Review Pages
Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
R.E.M. emerged in the wake of punk from Athens, Georgia, and started their career as an insular Indie band, with cryptic albums that enjoyed a cult following. But gradually they beefed up their sound, experienced airplay, signed up to a major label, and became one of the most successful bands […]
This page collects album reviews for 2010s artists for whom I’ve only reviewed one or two albums. In 2018 I started covering new albums regularly, so this page is very heavy on the last couple of years of the decade. (Sandy) Alex G | Michaela Anne | Big Big Train […]
The members of The dB’s are all from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, also the birthplace of Mitch Easter (Let’s Active) and Ben Folds. As teens, future dB’s Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple joined Easter in a band named Rittenhouse Square, playing Wishbone Ash covers and recording a six-song album. Holsapple also […]
I enjoy the Acclaimed Music list of the top 50 artists based on albums – http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/top_artists/t0a.htm This is what I’ve covered from their top 50 artists: Already have a page1 The Beatles2 Bob Dylan3 The Rolling Stones4 David Bowie6 Neil Young7 Bruce Springsteen8 Radiohead9 R.E.M.10 Led Zeppelin12 The Velvet Underground13 […]
Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor was born in Auckland, New Zealand, the daughter of a poet and a civil engineer. She grew up immersed in poetry and literature. She built a profile through SoundCloud and talent shows, and in June 2013, her single ‘Royals’ topped the US charts. Aged 16, Lorde […]
Indie folk and Americana band Big Thief are based in Brooklyn, but their sound recalls the rustic feel of The Band, Gillian Welch, and Neil Young. Along with songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist Adrianne Lenker, Big Thief’s current lineup also includes Buck Meek on guitar and backup vocals, Max Oleartchik on […]
Blog Posts
I add new blog posts to this website every week. Browse the archives or enjoy these random selections:
I spent my teenage years enamoured by the pop tunes of Billy Joel. Joel has a touch of show-tune about his work, and his work has never been as critically acclaimed as his more celebrated contemporaries like Bruce Springsteen or Elvis Costello. Nevertheless, Billy Joel has plenty of natural assets […]
James Marshall Hendrix was born in Seattle. After his discharge from the army he became a musician, spending years gigging with acts like Little Richard, Sam Cooke, and Ike & Tina Turner. Despite his immense talent, it wasn’t until he was spotted by Keith Richard’s girlfriend and signed by former […]
Caroline Polachek has enjoyed a breakout year, enjoying critical adoration for her second solo album, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You. Her 2019 single, ‘So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings’ turned into a sleeper success via TikTok, paving the way. But she was already a veteran, first attracting attention […]
Joni Mitchell emerged at a time when the women’s rights movement was still building steam and had to fight for recognition as a serious artist. Her image was often defined in terms of whom she was dating – a Rolling Stone article dubbed her “The Queen of El Lay”. As Mitchell’s […]
Jackson Browne is the quintessential 1970s singer-songwriter, a sensitive individual who analysed his difficult relationships into songs. He was extremely well connected into the 1970s soft-rock scene – he dated Laura Nyro and Joni Mitchell, wrote the Eagles‘ first hit single, and produced Warren Zevon’s breakthrough album. Primarily, Browne’s a […]
Bassist Ashley Hutchings and rhythm guitarist Simon Nicol formed Fairport Convention in 1967. They named the band after Nicol’s father’s medical practice, above which they rehearsed, on the same Muswell street as the Davies brothers of The Kinks grew up. Lead guitarist Richard Thompson and drummer Martin Lamble joined the group, along […]
