LATE 1992 WAS VERY....VERY...CONFUSING

October-December 1992

For a few reasons, the music from 1992 still confounds me. At the time, most of what passed for ‘rock’ music (an obsolete term that was never adequately replaced) was downright terrifying; it often screamed loud enough to blow my wig off (no, I don’t really wear a wig…yet), while it reeked of self-loathing and addiction. Was it really THAT hard to be an upper-middle-class white boy back then? Rap music was pretty scary back then, too, and if it wasn’t full of anger and rage, then it was dissed for lacking ‘street cred’. Pop music was actually much worse than either of these though, as exemplified by the ubiquitous presence of Mr. Michael Bolton (who probably DOES wear a wig now).
So here I am fourteen years later, and I’m still trying to play catch-up with 1992. I’m rethinking my prejudice against Alice In Chains, wondering if Nine Inch Nails has retained their relevance, and retching at the very mention of Mr. B’s name. Today’s show features a few pop songs that I consider to represent the best of that era, and taken together, they are a pretty weird set of tunes. One ‘Great Miss’ makes the show almost unbearable for a few minutes, but I rebound with a few album tracks that exemplify the strange nature of this era. As a closing point, consider this; back then. Tori Amos was dating Trent Reznor…Now, it’s none of my business, but isn’t that sort of like Ingrid Bergman dating Rob Zombie????? In a nutshell, THAT was 1992.

Here’s the song selection for today’s show;
1) I’d Die Without You – P.M. Dawn
2) My Name Is Prince – (Prince, as that multi-sexual symbol dude)
3) Constant Craving – k. d. lang
4) Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses – U2
5) To Love Somebody – The Bee Gees (rudely interrupted by….)
6) To Love Somebody – Michael Bolton (as a “Great Miss’)
7) I Don’t Wanna Grow Up – Tom Waits
8) Would? – Alice in Chains
9) Happiness in Slavery – Nine Inch Nails