Over what will likely be the next few years I’m going to be ranking and reviewing the top 5 albums - plus a fair few extras - according to users on rateyourmusic.com (think IMDB for music) from every year from 1960 to the present. If you want to know more, I wrote an introduction to the ‘challenge’ here. You can also read all the other entries I’ve written so far by heading to the lovely index page here.

Here’s a bit of news round-up for 1992. The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was broken up, Bush and Yeltsin proclaimed a formal end to the Cold War, Bill Clinton was elected president and Mae Jemison became the first African American woman to go into space, on board Endeavour STS-47.

Onto the music, here’s what our trusty rateyourmusic.com members rate as the year’s top 5 albums:

#1 Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
#2 Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
#3 Alice in Chains - Dirt
#4 Sade - Love Deluxe
#5 Tom Waits - Bone Machine

And here’s a few more I’m grabbing from further down the list:

#7 R.E.M - Automatic for the People
#8 The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
#18 Dr Dre - The Chronic
#23 Kyuss - Blues for the Red Sun

Finally, here’s some others, voted onto NPR’s all-time best albums by women list:

k.d lang - Ingenue
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
Annie Lennox - Diva

“Dirt is the second studio album by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released on September 29, 1992, through Columbia Records. Peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, the album received critical acclaim. It has since been certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA, making Dirt the band's highest selling album to date. The album features dark subject matter, focusing primarily on depression, pain, anger, anti-social behavior, relationships, drug addiction (primarily heroin), war, death, and other emotionally charged topics.” - Wikipedia

Dirt features battering guitar riffs aplenty, which are thoroughly enjoyable, particularly when they explode into action on tracks like Rooster. Unfortunately Layne Thomas Staley’s vocals are a bit too heavy metal for my tastes (I think it’s the warble), which holds it back a little. That’s on me though.

Song Picks: Them Bones, Rain When I Die, Rooster

7/10

11. Selected Ambient Works 85-92

Aphex Twin

“Selected Ambient Works 85–92 is the debut studio album by Aphex Twin, the pseudonym of British electronic musician Richard D. James. In 2012, Selected Ambient Works 85–92 was named the greatest album of the 1990s by Fact. It re-entered the dance chart just after the release of Aphex Twin's 2014 album Syro.” - Wikipedia

Regularly touted as one of the best electronic albums of all time, Selected Ambient Works 85–92 is an infinitely listenable set of tracks that are ambient in their simplicity and repetition, but also more energetic than one would expect from the genre. James didn’t have today’s digital audio workstations which make creating more glitchy, skittery, and cerebral dance music possible, and what results is an album that sounds like a template for other albums to jump off of. A kind of ‘here’s the fundamentals guys, now go write’. I don’t find these fundamentals all that exciting to listen to necessarily, but James does nail an atmosphere here, and it’s an album I can see myself putting on when in a specific mood, but more in the background than to listen to attentively.

Song Picks: Green Calx, Xtal

7.5

“Little Earthquakes is the debut solo album by the American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, featuring the singles Silent All These Years, China, Winter and Crucify. After Atlantic Records rejected the first version of the album, Amos began working on a second version with her then-boyfriend Eric Rosse. The album was first released in the UK on January 6, 1992, where it peaked at number 14 in the charts. It is frequently regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time; it was voted number 73 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000) and ranked number 233 on Rolling Stone's 500 greatest albums of all time.” - Wikipedia

Feels like some sort of 90s prog-pop, which I mean entirely as a compliment. Instrumental skill, powerful vocals, and songs that are unpredictable while never turning inaccessible.

Song Picks: Precious Things, Mother, Crucify

8/10

“Diva is the debut solo studio album by Scottish singer Annie Lennox, released on 6 April 1992 by RCA Records. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number one and has since sold over 1.2 million copies in the UK alone, being certified quadruple platinum.” - Wikipedia

You’d do well to find a better opening salvo to a pop album than the transcendent Why?, the disco hit Broken Glass, and the spanky bass driven Precious. Indeed much of the first half of Diva continues in a similarly brilliant vein. The second half takes a bit of a dip, but still stays around the ‘good’ mark on the x-axis.

Song Picks: Why, Walking on Broken Glass, Precious

8/10

“Ingénue is the second solo album by Canadian singer k.d. lang, released in 1992. It is Lang's most successful album on the pop charts, both in her native Canada and internationally, and has more of a cabaret flavour than her earlier more country-influenced work.” - Wikipedia

A lovely country album sprinkled with some ABBA-like pop-melodies. It’s got soul and heart and all that good stuff in expertly measure spades.

Song Picks: Save Me, Season of Hollow Soul

8/10

“Blues for the Red Sun is the second studio album by American rock band Kyuss, released in 1992. While the album received mainly favorable reviews, it fared poorly commercially, selling only 39,000 units. It has since become a very influential album within the stoner rock genre.” - Wikipedia

This album is all about the fuzzed out serpentine riffs by Josh Homme, who of course went on to front Queens of the Stone Age. John Garcia's vocals tip a little too far into the howling vocals from the 70s and 80s that I'm less keen on, but there's a gruffness there, and a lesser tendency for theatrics which makes them work.

Song Picks: Molten Universe, Caterpillar March, Green Machine

8.5/10

“Love Deluxe is the fourth studio album by English band Sade, released by Epic Records in the United Kingdom on 26 October 1992 and in the United States on 3 November 1992. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album 247th on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In September 2022, Pitchfork ranked Love Deluxe as the 52nd best album of the 1990s.” - Wikipedia

Sade are back with an album that is as lush as an un-touched field of grass after a rainy day. Sade Adu’s vocals are the definiton of smooth, though maintaining a lot more soul than that would suggest, while the production is as irresistible as Lindt milk chocolate. Although certainly not at the forefront, I think Stuart Matthewman’s understated guitar playing deserves specific mention, adding so much texture to tracks, and lifting them - along with Adu’s voice - above other well produced, more generic music in the genre.

Song Picks: No Ordinary Love, Like a Tattoo, Feel No Pain

8.5/10

**5. Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde**

The Pharcyde

“Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde is the debut album by American hip hop collective The Pharcyde, released on November 24, 1992, through the Delicious Vinyl and EastWest labels. Released during the dominant Gangsta rap era of West Coast hip hop, Bizarre Ride was described as "refreshing" due to its playful, light-hearted humor and lush, jazzy production.” - Wikipedia

On initial listen, I thought the lyrics were far too misogynistic for my tastes, but on further listening it’s clear they’re satirising a lot of the Gangsta rap of the time, and that I can appreciate more. This lot can rap, they’re self-depricating and they’re unafraid to make songs that are completely childish (one of them involves them all insulting each others’ mums like some sort of playground argument) in the services of making fun of Gangsta rap song topics of the time. Couple this with some of my favourite hip-hop beats on tracks like Soul Flower and Passing Me By, and you’ve got an album that is just a lot of fun.

Song Picks: Soul Flower. Passing Me By

9/10

“Bone Machine is the eleventh studio album by American singer and musician Tom Waits, released by Island Records on September 8, 1992. It won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and features guest appearances by David Hidalgo, Les Claypool, Brain, and Keith Richards. The album marked Waits' return to studio albums, coming five years after his previous effort Franks Wild Years (1987). Recorded in a room in the cellar area of Prairie Sun Recording studios, described by Waits as "just a cement floor and a hot water heater", the album is often noted for its rough, stripped-down, percussion-heavy style, as well as its dark lyrical themes revolving around death and chaos.” - Wikipedia

Having had a 5 year breather, Tom Waits returns with another rough and ready effort, this time even more percussion focused than his famous trilogy. Very cohesive, despite the splattered and varied instrumentation, and maintaining an acoustic and busky, basement feel, likely helped by the fact it was actually recorded in a basement. Waits continues to sound unlike anything else out there, and particularly unlike anything else coming out in the 90s. It maybe lacks the drop dead brilliant tracks of some of the aforementioned trilogy, but it's still consistently superb.

Song Picks: Whistle Down the Wind,

9/10

“The Chronic was Dr. Dre's first solo album after he departed the West Coast hip hop group N.W.A and its label Ruthless Records over a financial dispute. It includes insults towards Ruthless and its owner, former N.W.A member and assembler Eazy-E. It features many appearances by then-emerging American rapper Snoop Dogg, who used the album as a launch pad for his own solo career. Dr. Dre's production popularized the G-funk subgenre within gangsta rap. The Chronic has been widely regarded as one of the most important and influential albums of the 1990s and one of the best-produced hip hop albums.” - Wikipedia

Undoubtedly lyrically problematic and offensive - there was no way to diss your mates in the 90s but to insult an entire (already downtrodden) group of people while doing it was there? Misogynistic, homophobic, it’s all there. Look past the dated nature of the lyrics however, and you’ve got an undoubted masterpiece on your hands. Dre’s production here is easily among my very favourite in the hip-hop canon, with beats that have me looking like a seated bobblehead. I’d highly recommend Pitchfork’s excellent review of the album for more intelligent thoughts on it. But it’s safe to say it’s dope, man. No, really, the chronic is literally a type of dope.

Song Picks: Fuck Wit Dre Day, A N***a With a Gun, Nuthing But a “G” Thanng

9/10

R.E.M - Automatic for the People

“Automatic for the People is the eighth studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released by Warner Bros. Records. R.E.M. began production on the album while their previous album, Out of Time (1991), was still ascending top albums charts and achieving global success. Aided by string arrangements from John Paul Jones, Automatic for the People features ruminations on mortality, loss, mourning, and nostalgia.” - Wikipedia

Automatic for the People is the perfect example of a band maturing in a way where they don’t become boring and uninspired, but instead create a masterpiece of self-awareness. It doesn’t hide from the fact the band are aging, and instead embraces it, it knows they aren’t the same R.E.M. as the one in the 80s, and it owns it. Gone are Stipe’s more poetic, abstract and difficult to decipher mumbles, replaced with vocals slightly easier to understand audibly and much easier to understand literally. There’s a simplicity to Automatic for the People, but it’s a simplicity that is also completely its own. Part of that is Stipe’s unique vocals, but it’s also in the melodic bass parts, the jangly and yet sad chords and the overriding sense of melancholy that everything has. Automatic for the People sounds sad, but it’s also beautifully reassuring.

Song Picks: Drive, Man on the Moon, Ignoreland

9.5/10

1. Rage Against the Machine

Rage Against the Machine

“Rage Against the Machine is the debut studio album by American rock band Rage Against the Machine, released by Epic Records. With politically themed, revolutionary lyrical content, the album artwork was notable for featuring a graphic photograph of Thích Quảng Đức performing self-immolation. Rage Against the Machine was a critical success upon release with several critics noting the album's politically motivated agenda and praising Zack de la Rocha's strong vocal delivery.” - Wikipedia

RATM is one of my favourite albums of all time. It soundtracked hundreds of my gym sessions while at university, and Tom Morello continues to be my favourite riff-wizard. His guitar lines on tracks like Wake Up (no, not the Kashmir bit), Killing in the Name of and Bombtrack are the epitome of how powerful a distorted guitar can be in the right hands. They make you want to bounce around with your fist in the air screaming ‘fuck the system!’ at the top of your voice, without a care in the world about how much of a cliché you’ve become. De la Rocha’s vocals are about as angry as it gets, and you can practically hear the spit exiting his mouth after every word. Brad Wilk’s drumming is unspectacular but solid and Tim Commerford’s bass much the same. Instrumentally the band complements each other so well you’d swear they’d been playing together since primary school, and I can’t think of a better vocalist to match their energy and power than Zach (something proven by the fact Audioslave were just not as good). The album does have a few tracks that don’t hit as hard as the rest, but that’s only because the rest hit like a rocket-boosted version of that boat that blocked up the Suez canal.

Lyrically, Zach isn’t saying anything that Public Enemy hadn’t already dissected, but he brought that brand of sharp, political lyricism to a whole new audience. RATM is both incredibly angry and incredibly catchy, and I’m not sure that’s ever been achieved in a similar way since.

Song Picks: Killing in the Name Of, Bombtrack, Wake Up

10/10