Dusting off Albums that Dropped 20 Years Ago: Exit Planet 1995

1995 The kids were wearing pagers. Toronto was waiting for another World Series win. Star Trek fans were watching the new series called Voyager. Prodigy let us surf the World Wide Web while the DVD, an optical disc computer storage media format, was announced.

On the music scene, Country singer, Lyle Lovett and his hair tied the knot with Hollywood heartthrob, Julia Roberts, Alan Wilder left Depeche Mode and REM drummer Bill Berry left the stage during a concert in Switzerland after suffering a brain aneurysm. The members of pop sensation, TLC filed for bankruptcy, declaring debts of over $3.5 million and on September 1, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opened in Cleveland, Ohio.

Fast forward in time to the present day. 2015. The albums that dropped in 1995 are still being celebrated today. We’re going to take a look at just a few of the fantastic tunes that were released that year, that were too cool to be played at the Peach Pit or Central Perk.

The Bends – Radiohead It was the second album for the English Alternative rock band, Radiohead. Released on March 13 on Parlophone, the album was produced by Jock Leckie at the EMI studios in London. The Bends featured five singles, and it was the first album where we would hear a shift in the bands sound, with an emphasize on keyboards and abrasive guitar tracks.

 

Stanley Road – Paul Weller The third solo album from Paul Weller was released by Go! Discs in 1995. In 1998, Q magazine would vote Stanley Road as the 46th greatest album of all time. Stanley Road, the road that Weller grew up in Woking, is said to be the musicians greats piece of work.  He would claim on a BBC special that he hoped he could do another album, as great as this one.

In Dust We Trust – The Chemical Brothers  Exit Planet Dust,  the debut from The Chemical Brothers, got its name as a reference to them dropping their earlier name, The Dust Brothers. It dropped in late-June in UK and mid-August in North America. It would be voted the second best dance album of all time by Muzik. Took three months to record the whole disc, with Song of the Siren recorded live.

Southpaw Grammar  – Morrissey  The album actually celebrated its anniversary just on August 28th. The fifth studio album for Morrissey, received mixed reviews from the critics. The singles included; The Boy Racer, and Dagenham Dave.   AllMusic described it as an “art rock album, complete with strings, drum solos and two ten-minute songs.”

Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness The twenty-eight track, two-disc CD and triple LP was produced by fellow Pumpkin, Billy Corgan with the help from Flood and Alan Moulder. The lead-off single was Bullet with Butterfly Wings. The album ranked at number one on the Billboard with the groups highest first-week sale numbers, pushing 246,500 units. The album spawned some of the groups biggest singles including; 1979, Tonight,Tonight, Zero and Thirty-Three.