Fortuitously for AMG's big 20, 1992 was the year I started to take music seriously, in retrospect probably a response to moving to a tiny town where my presence was unwelcome. Limited to the means of my then middle school-aged self, I begged my folks to write me checks to mail order whatever caught my ear on MTV's 120 Minutes or in rock mags. As to this list, each record is uncompromising in its artistry, and beyond simply exciting or challenging me, each pulls at my heart or kicks me in the guts -- or both -- with an intensity unabated by the passage of time or repeated spins. [Spotify]Unrest - Imperial F.F.R.R.
Nirvana - In Utero
Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
Fugazi - Red Medicine
Helium - The Dirt of Luck
Olivia Tremor Control - Black Foliage: Animation Music, Vol. 1
White Stripes - White Stripes
Billy Bang - Vietnam: The Aftermath
Clinic - Internal Wrangler
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Hearts of Oak
Saturday Looks Good to Me - All Your Summer Songs
(Smog) - Supper
Oneida - The Wedding
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
King Khan & the Shrines - What Is?!
NOMO - Ghost Rock
Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone - Thin Air
Thee Oh Sees - Help
Raphael Saadiq - Stone Rollin’
The Men - Open Your Heart
