Happy 35th Anniversary

Today is the thirty-fifth anniversary of a watershed day in music.  On that day, September 24th, 1991, not one, not two, but THREE iconic, genre-defining albums were released:  The Red Hot Chili Peppers' Blood Sugar Sex Magik, A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory, and, of course, Nirvana's Nevermind.  A recent Rolling Stone article called it "probably the best day ever for new albums in music history", an assessment that is difficult to refute.

In the past, I've already said my peace about The Chili Peppers, and how I wrote them off after their third album, 1987's The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, and thus missed their ascent into popular and critical acclaim - starting with Mother's Milk in 1989 and peaking with BSSM two years later.  I was late in acknowledging the band and giving them their due, I'll admit that.

As for Nirvana, I've written extensively about them here over the years.  Don't think I need to rehash my stories about/memories of this group - if you want to reprise them, the posts are here and here. 

Regarding ATCQ:  I've never been much of a hip-hop aficionado.  To me, a lot of that genre consists of a bunch of posturing and braggadocio, heavily laden with profanity to make it "sound like the STREETS" (whatever that means) over the same tired, repetitive beats.  A Tribe Called Quest, however, was one of the very few hip-hop artists that broke out of that mold.  Their musical influences were vast, incorporating elements of jazz, funk and soul into their sound.  To call them a "hip-hop group" diminishes their output and importance; in many ways, A Tribe Called Quest's artistry transcended rap.

The only Tribe Called Quest story I have is that I was in the crowd for their final East Coast show and one of their last ever live performances, at the Panorama Music Festival on Randall's Island in New York City on July 30th, 2017.  Someone gifted me two tickets to the concert; I ended up selling one at the gates for almost three times the face value!  I went to the festival mainly to see the reemergence of Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails to the stage after a long hiatus.  But Tribe, who went on immediately before NIN as the sun went down, immediately grabbed my interest.  

Group mainstay Phife Dawg had died earlier that year, and the band decided to call it quits soon after.  For the New York performance, an empty mike stood on stage the entire time in tribute to the deceased group member.  The remaining members (Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White) left it all on the stage for their last show in their hometown, belting out classics like "Check The Rhime" and "Electric Relaxation".  Here's a live sample of "Buggin' Out" (off The Low End Theory) from a video I recorded that day:

 

All in all, a great show.

Well, I won't belabor the point here regarding these three monumental albums; after 35 years, you all are already aware of the greatness of them.  So, here you are, the releases from that red-letter day, September 24th, 1991:

• Nirvana - Nevermind, put out on DGC Records (what I'm offering here is the four-disc 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe edition, released in 2011.  There was also a five-disc 30th Anniversary edition released five years ago. but most of the additional discs include full live band concerts from that era, and seems a little redundant.  Trust me - this is the version you want);
• The Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik, released by Warner Bros. Records (Here's the Deluxe edition, containing two extra songs not included on the original album); and
• A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory, released on Jive Records.

I'm sure that most of you already have these albums, or some version of them.  If not, here, enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

(And yes, yes - I'm fully aware that both Primal Scream's Screamadelica and The Pixies' Trompe Le Monde also came out on that fateful day (as I recall, the Pixies disc was the only one I actually purchased on its release day...).  These albums have their fans, but in my opinion come nowhere close to the impact and influence of the three discs mentioned above.  If we were gonna

include ALL of the albums released that day, I would have included MOR dung like Bryan Adams' Waking Up The Neighbors here as well - that damn thing ended up selling 16 million copies!  But that's not happenin'!)

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

• Nirvana - Nevermind (2011 Super Deluxe Edition) (4 Discs) Send Email

• The Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik (Deluxe Edition) Send Email

• A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory Send Email