1993

I recently bought 20th anniversary edition of Nirvana's In Utero, originally released in September 1993. Thinking back, '93 proved to be my rock 'n' roll high-water mark -- I bought more music, listened to more music, and went to more shows that year than any other, before or since. (I'm 44 now -- you do the math.) With that in mind, here are some of the songs and albums I dig most from nine-trey...

Bash & Pop -- Friday Night is Killing Me

Belly -- "Feed the Tree"

Frank Black -- "Los Angeles"

The Breeders -- "Divine Hammer"

Butthole Surfers -- Independent Worm Saloon (including "Who Was in My Room Last Night?", below)

Dinosaur Jr. -- Where You Been

Fastbacks -- "Gone to the Moon"

Girl Trouble -- New American Shame

PJ Harvey -- Rid of Me

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion -- Extra Width

Melvins -- Houdini (including "Hooch," above)

The Muffs -- The Muffs (including "Lucky Guy," below)

Nirvana -- In Utero

Royal Trux -- Cats and Dogs

Sebadoh -- Bubble and Scrape

Urge Overkill -- "Sister Havana"

Paul Westerberg -- "World Class Fad" (below)

Among the many live acts I saw in 1993: 7 Year Bitch, Belly, Come, Crash Worship, Dead Moon, Dinosaur Jr., Drive Like Jehu, Fugazi, Girl Trouble, Grateful Dead, Gumball, Love Battery, Lunachicks, Mudhoney, Iggy Pop, Red Aunts, Keith Richards, Rocket from the Crypt, Sebadoh, Soul Asylum, Superchunk, Urge Overkill, Velocity Girl, Paul Westerberg and X. I saw the bulk of these in San Diego, where I lived most of that year.

Along similar lines, I probably watched more MTV in '93 than in any other year, not just for the music, but also for nightly viewings of Beavis and Butt-head (which premiered on March 8)... Music aside, my favorite-ever show, NBC's Late Night with David Letterman, ended on June 25, 1993, and CBS's Late Show with David Letterman debuted two months later, on August 30. Meanwhile, The Simpsons was essential viewing in '93, ending season four and beginning season five... I didn't watch many movies, but I loved CB4 and Dazed and Confused...

My pop-culture tastes were further developed that year 'cause that's when I got into alternative comics, particularly Peter Bagge's Hate and Dan Clowes's Eightball (I met both artists at that year's big San Diego Comic-Con, along with Matt Groening)... Additionally, '93 was the year I got into pinball, spending many a caffeine/niccotine-addled lunch hour playing Jurassic Park, Star Wars, The Twilight Zone, The Addams Family and Gilligan's Island.

So yeah. 1993. Cool.
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