Cultural Artifacts From 80s and 90s

This might be the most important album of the era that you’re asking about. Also, this is a very important band to me. I’ll tell you my Clash story later if you're interested!

Talking Heads are a very special band for me because they were Tina's favorite when I met her. I didn't pay much attention to them in High School, but after meeting her, I listened to every album a million times and fell in love with them. I quote this song probably once a week: "You may find yourself in a beautiful house... with a beautiful wife... and you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?"

The Cure was the coolest band. The lead singer looked like an alien. Their sound was dark and brooding. I loved them. All the kids who seemed to have secret unnamed troubles, and who dressed in long sleeved black shirts on 105 degree days, worshiped them. I did too, even though I wore blue or red on occasion.

I could choose any one of 8-9 REM albums to include. This is probably their most celebrated album of the time period? But Murmer, Reckoning, UP, Out Of Time, and others are all just as good.

Released in 1996, this is one of my favorite country/folk albums of all time. Tina and I have seen Gillian twice. Listen to the lead guitar, played by David Rawlings. The guy is almost never not doing something awesome even though he stays buried pretty deep in the mix most of the time. This probably does not count as a "cultural artifact" but I'm cheating because it's so different from the others and because it's very good. It's not perfect (I don't love Pass You By), but the good songs are great.

Right under the wire, released in 1999, this is one of the most celebrated albums of that decade. It's the modern Sgt Pepper in the sense that it's lush and layered and psychedelic. It's a nearly perfect album.