Ye Olde Hit Parade: Outshined

Editor's note: Ye Olde Hit Parade takes a look back at my favorite songs year by year (starting in 1978, when I really started paying attention to music).

1991: Soundgarden - Outshined

It didn't take long for things to get real in 1991. The Gulf War that started in 1990 escalated in early '91 with the beginning of the ground war in Saudi Arabia. It was a big deal at the time, since we hadn't seen anything like that out in the open (as opposed to the secret wars that had been going on for decades) since the 1970s. There were some high-profile legal events, including the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, who was accused of sexually harassing Anita Hill, and the rape trial of William Kennedy Smith.

I was 23, working as a reporter for the Peabody Times, primarily covering schools. I shared an apartment in Beverly with a co-worker. Concerts included seeing Iron Maiden at the Worcester Centrum, Living Colour at UNH, INXS at the Centrum, An Emotional Fish at the Paradise, George Thorogood and Barrence Whitfield at the Orpheum, the Tragically Hip at the Paradise, Iggy Pop at the Orpheum, and Lenny Kravitz at the Orpheum.

Later in the year, I moved in with my girlfriend. I had originally planned on working a short time in Peabody and then moving on to a bigger paper anywhere else in the country, but the economy had stalled and I grew to enjoy living in this area. Not only did I have gainful employment, we were near the ocean and it was a culturally stimulating area.

In retrospect, the year has been pegged as the breakthrough of alternative rock and/or grunge, but that stuff didn't really kick in until the latter part of '91. The popular retelling has it that Nirvana's Nevermind turned the year on its ear, but it didn't come out until September 24. There was a lot going on, including great albums from U2, Screaming Trees, Dinosaur Jr., the Tragically Hip, the Feelies, R.E.M., Temple of the Dog, Hoodoo Gurus, Fishbone, the Nation of Ulysses, Fugazi, Cypress Hill, Sebadoh, Tribe, Pearl Jam, A Tribe Called Quest, Swervedriver, Teenage Fanclub, Matthew Sweet,  and My Bloody Valentine.

But the one that jumped out at me initially was Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger. Earlier in the year, I had picked up the Temple of the Dog album, which Soundgarden's Chris Cornell had put together, so I was familiar with his voice. Still, Badmotorfinger was much heavier and out there than Temple of the Dog, which was made in memory of Cornell's friend Andrew Wood (singer of Mother Love Bone who had died of a heroin overdose just before his band's debut was released). The band melded the heaviness of Black Sabbath with the new aggressiveness of the Seattle scene that was about to explode. The band straddled the line between metal and alternative, and ultimately, helped to push the poppier metal sounds of bands like Warrant and Ratt out of the mainstream.



Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is credited with revolutionizing the rock world, but it didn't hit immediately with me. It took a few months before I realized how good it was. But "Outshined" bowled me over with its heaviness. Even though I had only been listening to it for a few months, it bridged the music I used to love with the music I currently loved. And it set up a whole new world for me to jump into.

Honorable mentions: Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"; Pearl Jam - "Alive"; The Tragically Hip - "Little Bones"; The Tragically Hip - "Twist My Arm"; U2 - "Mysterious Ways"; U2 - "Even Better Than the Real Thing"; R.E.M. - "Losing My Religion"; R.E.M. - "Texarkana"; School of Fish - "Three Strange Days"; Temple of the Dog - "Hunger Strike"; Temple of the Dog - "Say Hello 2 Heaven"; Pearl Jam - "Black"; Pearl Jam - "Once"; Matthew Sweet - "Divine Intervention"; Matthew Sweet - "Girlfriend"; Teenage Fanclub - "What You Do to Me"; Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Give It Away"; Metallica - "Sad But True"; Prince - "Cream"; Prince - "Gett Off"'; Blur - "There's No Other Way"; Big Audio Dynamite - "Rush"; Elvis Costello - "Just Like Candy"; Living Colour - "Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing"; Lenny Kravitz - "Fields of Joy"; Lenny Kravitz - "Always On the Run"; Fishbone - "Sunless Saturday"; Fishbone - "Everyday Sunshine"