Back in 1992, through the influence of The First of Too Many album and the Easy to Smile single, Senseless Things had established themselves as my favourite band. I got background information in the form of newsletters (no internet back then of course) and wore my blue Pop Kid shirt with pride, they were MY band.
But in 1993 I sent off for and received a pack of goodies from another band who, through a flurry of singles and a great debut album, had also got my attention big time the previous year. I'd already read the interviews in my brother's Melody Makers, NMEs, Selects etc. but now I was reading uncut manifestos, background information, lyrics, I had badges, stickers and a membership card. Impressive stuff for a 14/15 year old. And then came the second album which impressed me even further, time has pegged it a little further back in their overall album rankings but then it was fresh and new.....and of course that band was the Manic Street Preachers. 1993 saw them become my favourite band and they're unlikely to ever be dislodged from that status.
I suspect, as with 1992, that I was catching up a little in terms of the previous year so some of the albums I bought in 93 would have been from 92. But those I did buy that year were the aforementioned Gold Against the Soul by the Manics, Senseless Things' Empire of the Senseless, Pearl Jam's Vs and Sepultura's Chaos AD, all on cassette (my dad had a CD player in 93 but I didn't, meaning that I could only ever play my only CD - Rollins Band's Tearing single - downstairs).
Another major first from 1993 was something that happened on the 5th October at Middlesbrough Town Hall - my first gig. Headliners Carter USM were obviously the main draw but support band Sultans of Ping FC were also well known to me at the time through Where's Me Jumper and Stupid Kid and to be honest I think I ended up enjoying them more. The first band on were called Blink, pretty unremarkable although I imagine they were the Blink that caused Blink 182 to add the 182 onto their name.
1993 was also the year I first started making music, if you can call it that. In the March, a couple of months shy of my 15th birthday, I recorded 6 solo tracks under the name of Listy. Predominantly recorded on keyboard they were pretty awful, one track even just consisting of me singing alternative words over the top of Shadow by The Lurkers (the actual song itself, not a cover), renaming it Neale James is a Saddo after the radio DJ. In May me and my brother teamed up to record Totally Spontaneous Masterpieces under the name of Sludge From the Bottom. A list of pre-planned song titles based on TV and in-jokes were created off the cuff using a keyboard, a guitar and our voices. Filling a one hundred minute tape. Let's just say I don't listen to it very often.
October and November saw a slightly higher standard of improvisation, although still pretty dire, as our main 90s collaborative band was born - Pyf Belly Machine. Best of 93 Sessions and Forks Brain Cake by the Lake Near Cirencester were the titles......it could only go up from here.....
But enough of that, back to the proper music.....a smaller number of bands made the shortlist this time but didn't get in the final 75. Those bands consisted of Primus, KMFDM, Brad, My Dying Bride, Duran Duran, Saint Etienne, Thousand Yard Stare, New Order and Clawfinger. I've always had the feeling that after Stone Gossard was part of the Brad album that he was never the same again in Pearl Jam. His songs became less frequent, maybe even less interested and given his songs were some of the classics on the first two Pearl Jam albums that was a shame (no pun intended surprisingly).
One of the possible reasons for the lack of new album buying in 93 could have been that in terms of media I was still only reading my brother's indie papers and magazines, while I was moving further and further into rock and metal territory in terms of what I was listening to. So, as shown with the Manics, Senseless Things and Pearl Jam, I was largely sticking to what I already knew. In 1994 I started buying my own magazines, which blew everything apart, but that's for next time.
1. Paradise Lost - Embers Fire
2. Manic Street Preachers - From Despair to Where
3. Pearl Jam - Rearviewmirror
4. Paradise Lost - True Belief
5. Senseless Things - Too Much Kissing
6. Die Krupps - Fatherland
7. Carcass - Heartwork
8. Sepultura - Territory
9. Sepultura - Refuse/Resist
10. Manic Street Preachers - La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)
11. Manic Street Preachers - Sleepflower
12. Smashing Pumpkins - Today
13. Pearl Jam - Go
14. Life of Agony - This Time
15. Pulp - Lipgloss
16. Skyscraper - Choke
17. Senseless Things - Primary Instinct
18. Mega City Four - Iron Sky
19. Life of Agony - Through and Through
20. Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
21. Die Krupps - Crossfire
22. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Soul to Squeeze
23. Faith No More/Boo-Yaa Tribe - Another Body Murdered
24. Tool - Sober
25. Senseless Things - Hold it Down
26. Senseless Things - Too Much Like I Know You
27. Manic Street Preachers - Donkeys
28. Carcass - Rot 'N' Roll
29. Manic Street Preachers - Life Becoming a Landslide
30. Manic Street Preachers - Roses in the Hospital
31. Carcass - This Mortal Coil
32. Sepultura - Slave New World
33. Sepultura - Biotech is Godzilla
34. Senseless Things - Homophobic Asshole
35. Manic Street Preachers - Patrick Bateman
36. Sultans of Ping FC - Stupid Kid
37. Sultans of Ping FC - You Talk Too Much
38. Life of Agony - River Runs Red
39. Pearl Jam - Animal
40. Pearl Jam - Daughter
41. Type O Negative - Black No. 1
42. Senseless Things - Keepsake
43. Suede - Animal Nitrate
44. Blur - For Tomorrow
45. Suede - So Young
46. Blur - Advert
47. Manic Street Preachers - Symphony of Tourette
48. Manic Street Preachers - Yourself
49. Paradise Lost - Widow
50. Paradise Lost - Dying Freedom
51. Pearl Jam - Glorified G
52. Carcass - Blind Bleeding the Blind
53. Sepultura - Propaganda
54. Carcass - Death Certificate
55. Cathedral - Midnight Mountain
56. Paradise Lost - Colossal Rains
57. Utah Saints - Something Good
58. Manic Street Preachers - Drug Drug Druggy
59. Manic Street Preachers - Gold Against the Soul
60. Pearl Jam - Leash
61. Die Krupps - Bloodsuckers
62. Sultans of Ping FC - Where's Me Jumper?
63. Blaggers ITA - Stresss
64. James - Sometimes
65. Napalm Death - Nazi Punks Fuck Off
66. Paradise Lost - Christendom
67. Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box
68. Senseless Things - Runaways
69. Kingmaker - 10 Years Asleep
70. Inspiral Carpets - How It Should Be
71. Breeders - Cannonball
72. Senseless Things - Tempting Kate
73. Pulp - Razzmatazz
74. Carter USM - Lean On Me I Won't Fall Over
75. Jesus Jones - The Devil You Know
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