Released: March 12, 1991 It's nearly impossible to discuss R.E.M.'s ascent from enigmatic indie-rockers to stadium-filling pop stars without mentioning the band's seventh album, Out Of Time, and the brooding, minor-key anthem "Losing My Religion." The band had long conquered the college-rock landscape, but everything changed in 1991. Thanks to the universal embracing of the unconventional... Continue Reading →
Released: August 13, 1996 History is filled with countless examples of unsung bands whose efforts proved crucial to a movement or scene that would ultimately pass them by. While the '90s saw an alt-rock revival teeming with countless sound-alikes, Failure was a few years too early to the party. Still, while they only briefly flirted... Continue Reading →
Released: September 24, 1991 For better or worse, Blood Sugar Sex Magik changed everything. Not only did the record provide the Red Hot Chili Peppers their immutable mark of permanence on the pop-culture landscape (satellite radio is still eating up “Under The Bridge”), but the Rick Rubin-produced album also found Anthony Kiedis and the boys complete the transition... Continue Reading →
Released: July 27, 1993 One of alt-rock’s most polarizing bands, Chicago’s Smashing Pumpkins successfully managed to ride the early-90s grunge wave to unparalleled success, all the while maintaining a unique sense of identity. Eschewing many of the genre’s aesthetic trappings, the band’s sound and image were more in line with the pomp and circumstance-excess of... Continue Reading →
Released: March 8, 1994 While hard to imagine now, there was a brief point in time when Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor's musical brainchild/alias/moniker) was one of alt-rock’s most prominent bands. And in terms of cultural relevance, the outfit’s apex occurred with their second full-length album, the appropriately titled The Downward Spiral. The Downward Spiral... Continue Reading →
Released: April 1, 1998 Documenting Portishead’s July 24, 1997 concert at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom (which sadly closed in 2014), Roseland, Live NYC was released (on both CD and DVD) back in late 1998. Not only is Portishead’s one and only official live release one of the best sounding concert records of all time,... Continue Reading →
Adam Steiner’s ‘Into The Never’ offers readers an in-depth, track-by-track overview of the seminal Nine Inch Nails release, ‘The Downward Spiral.’ Regardless of where ‘Downward Spiral’ sits within your personal rankings—I’d start my list with its follow-up, ‘The Fragile’—the cultural impact of the 1994 release is undeniable. But it’s nearly impossible to tell the story... Continue Reading →
Joel Miller’s ‘Memoir of a Roadie: Axl said I made a great cup of tea…’ offers readers a no-holds-barred, ‘behind the scenes’ look at life on the road with some of the biggest rock acts of all time. Leaning heavily on his ‘fly on the wall’ experience as a roadie for some of the ‘80s... Continue Reading →
