I’m turning 31 this year, a number I have a surprising number of feelings about. In recognition, if not celebration, of the occasion, please enjoy 31 songs from 1992. 31 for 31. No, these songs don’t represent 1992 perfectly. I hope, though, that they capture some of what made that year compelling and complicated musically. I also hope they capture some of what I love about the music of 1992. There’s a little metal, though little of it from bands in their prime. (Bolt Thrower is probably the exception there. Or Darkthrone?) There's a little rap, a little R&B, a little country, one song from a musical. There’s a little bit of everything, I suppose. That’s what I want, I think. A little bit of everything with a solid dose of decent riffs thrown in for good measure. Horns up and, as self-congratulatory as this is, here’s to (at least) 31 more years, to more music and complication and wonder.

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Spotify and Apple Music aren’t exactly posterity-proof, are they? Just in case those services wander away into the ether at some point, here is the playlist in full:

  • Dream Theater - “Under a Glass Moon”
  • King’s X - “Black Flag”
  • Whitney Houston - “I Will Always Love You”
  • Mariah Carey - “I’ll Be There”
  • Weird Al - “Smells Like Nirvana”
  • Iron Maiden - “Fear of the Dark”
  • Black Sabbath - “I”
  • Blind Guardian - “The Bard’s Song - In the Forest”
  • Nine Inch Nails - “Wish”
  • R.E.M. - “Find The River”
  • Alice In Chains - “Rain When I Die”
  • Bolt Thrower - “The IVth Crusade”
  • Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - “Straighten It Out”
  • Gang Starr - “No Shame In My Game”
  • Terence Blanchard - “Blues For Malcolm”
  • Trisha Yearwood - “Down On My Knees”
  • Emmylou Harris - “Hard Times - Live”
  • Selena - “Si La Quieres”
  • Janet Jackson - “The Best Things In Life Are Free”
  • Queen and George Michael - “Somebody To Love - Live At The Freddie Mercury Concert For AIDS Awareness, Wembley / 1992”
  • Madonna - “Deeper and Deeper”
  • Manic Street Preachers - “Nat West-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds”
  • Tori Amos - “Precious Things”
  • Darkthrone - “In the Shadow of the Horns”
  • Los Lobos - “Kiko and the Lavender Moon”
  • Mary J. Blige - “Sweet Thing”
  • William Finn - “What More Can I Say?”
  • Lucinda Williams - “Sweet Old World”
  • Sinéad O’Connor - “Success Has Made a Failure of Our Home”
  • Alejandro Fernández - “Necesito Olvidarla”
  • Leonard Cohen - “The Future”