Mixology: 1993--The Year That Sucked (But Still Managed to Rock)

Mixology is a recurring feature in which I take a look at one of the many mix tapes I made over the years. Some are better than others, but all of them are fun to revisit.

1993: The Year That Sucked (But Still Managed to Rock)

The name of this mix pretty much sums it up. No need to delve into the reasons why '93 blew; that's been covered in detail in past Mixology installments. I can safely say one of the things that got me through was music. It was a good year for the brand of music I was digging, which was primarily alt-rock.

Yeah, there was a lot of the Nirvana/Pearl Jam axis, but I also listened the hell out of the following:

• Matthew Sweet's Altered Beast album, which was his dark and depressing follow-up to the 1991 power pop masterpiece Girlfriend. The album was written off by folks who primarily based their knowledge of Sweet on the great title track of the previous record, but there was some mopey stuff on that one, too. On Altered Beast, Sweet once again had sick guitarists like Robert Quine soloing all over the place, but the mood was way more bummed out. Songs like "Superdeformed," (a B-side that ended up the No Alternative comp), "Time Capsule" and "Ugly Truth Rock" pretty much captured my seemingly miserable existence perfectly.
• Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream was a revelation for me, a majestic rock opus that sounded like early Queen combined with Sonic Youth. That album led me to discover the previous one, Gish, which rocked even harder.
• I discovered Buffalo Tom in '93, first picking up the terrific Let Me Come Over and later in the year getting the latest release Big Red Letter Day, which further refined the pop sensibilities of an already hard rocking act. Another Boston-area band I got into was Dinosaur Jr., whose Where You Been was a killer blend of Neil Young-ish vocals and absolutely sick guitar soloing.
  
• There were some good compilation albums released in '93: No Alternative, which featured a ton of the leading alt-rockers of the day (Nirvana, Pavement, Bob Mould) contributing previously unreleased songs to benefit AIDS charities; the Judgment Night soundtrack, which saw alt-rock and hip-hop acts joining forces and unfortunately led to the rap rock trend that emerged later in the decade; and Stone Free, a Hendrix tribute album that had some good covers, some not-so-good.

I took heart in the fact that there was never a lack of something good to listen to in '93. It would be a few more months before things turned around in my life, but this tape kept me rocking in spite of it all.

Side A
Go - Pearl Jam
Serve the Servants - Nirvana
Cannonball - The Breeders
Today - Smashing Pumpkins
Sodajerk - Buffalo Tom
Superdeformed - Matthew Sweet
Between Me and You, Kid - Mudhoney
Crosstown Traffic - Living Colour
Just Another Victim - Helmet and House of Pain
Thunder Kiss '65 - White Zombie
My Name is Mud - Primus
The Stalker - Urge Overkill
Missing Link - Dinosaur Jr. and Del the Funkee Homosapien

Side B
Couldn't Know - Paw
Jimmy's Fantasy - Redd Kross
Never Said - Liz Phair
Hey Baby (Land of the Rising Sun) - M.A.C.C.
Silver Naked Ladies - Paul Westerberg
Where Did You Sleep Last Night - Mark Lanegan
Bitch - Goo Goo Dolls
Don't Know How to Party - Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Divine Hammer - The Breeders
Leash - Pearl Jam
Pennyroyal Tea - Nirvana
I'm Allowed - Buffalo Tom
Another Body Murdered - Faith No More and Booyah Tribe




Superdeformed:


I'm Allowed: