Day 0860 - System of a Down

System of a Down "System of a Down" (1998) - got it

Wow, now that is a solid debut!   Punishingly heavy, yet pinpoint precise riffs; quirkiness, moments of high drama, all rolled into this one release.

System started life as a band called Soil, created by Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian.  Their manager Shavo Odajian eventually joined on bass.  Later, drummer John Dolmayan joined, the band attracted the attention of producer (and 90% beard) Rick Rubin who signed the band to his American Records label and they were off and running.

From the opening track, there's a run of guitar harmonics that sound almost fun, then the riffs come crashing in and the onslaught starts.  The band moves between metal, jazz, ska, melodic alt-rock, often shifting genres within the same song, and this is matched by singer Tankian whose voice can swing from beautiful melody to throat-rending screams and growls all with lyrics that speak of intelligence, political anger and a sense of humour.

This combination is used to staggering effect, like on single "Sugar" that moves from a heavy rock opening to a bouncy verse then into claustrophobic bridge with Tankian whispering, squeaking and roaring while loud guitar/bass/drum stabs come crashing in around him and building faster and faster to the conclusion.   "Spiders" offers a more straight ahead melodic reprieve.   "Peephole" has a demented circus vibe that suggests these guys have listened to some Mr Bungle at some point.   Album closer ""P.L.U.C.K." (Politically Lying, Unholy, Cowardly Killers) addresses the Armenian genocides of the early 20th century.   All four band members are of Armenian descent and have worked to raise awareness of this event.

Day 0724 - Dirty

Sonic Youth "Dirty" (1992)

Sonic Youth seem to be another of those bands whose discography is very heavily represented in this list, and I'm not entirely sure it's warranted.  That's not to say that any of their albums are bad, far from it.  There's just not enough variety between the albums to really set them above artists with more diverse catalogues who are less represented here.

The band chose Butch Vig to produce the album.  Vig was riding high on having produced Nirvana's punky-yet-polished "Nevermind", but this was apparently not why Sonic Youth chose him.   Certainly, while Vig sought to tighten the band's arrangements, their music was no more "consumer-friendly" as a result of the collaboration.

There are some great things done with hard-panning the guitars to either side to really make use of the stereophonic field, and with bassist Kim Gordon experimenting with a variety of vocal sounds.  Essentially this album sits in the same ranking as their others for me: good album, but kind of similar to its fellows (to my ears).

Day 0772 - Copper Blue

Sugar "Copper Blue" (1992)

After Hüsker Dü called it a day, frontman Bob Mould released a couple of acoustic-y solo albums that didn't fare too well.   His record company released him from his contract and he set about writing the music for what would become Sugar. 

Mould returns to his favoured style of distorted guitars with melodic vocals.  I'll be honest, his stuff doesn't do much for me.   It's generally listenable enough, and I can hear his influence on a few bands I know and like, but these songs really just passed me by without leaving much of an impression.  Same with much of the Hüsker Dü I've heard.

In interviews and press, Sugar were plagued by Nirvana questions and comparisons and whether the band was doing well thanks to the grunge scene.  All this despite Mould's former band having been a probable influence on many of the grunge bands, so that can't have been easy for Mould.

Day 0589 - Hysteria

Def Leppard "Hysteria" (1987)

An interesting one... I mean the music itself is just catchy, bombastic, glammy rock with a touch of studio sheen to it, but there's a bit of a story to the album's creation.

The album was originally to be produced by Mutt Lange (he's produced everything from AC/DC and Foreigner through to Maroon 5 and Britney Spears) who had produced their previous album 'Pyromania', but Lange bowed out due to exhaustion.  The band tried to make things happen with Jim Steinman (of Meatloaf fame), but he wanted to make a raw, stripped-down rock record, clashing with Leppard who wanted to go with a more glossy and pop-metal sound.  Eventually Steinman departed and the band tried to produce themselves.  These sessions were eventually scrapped when Lange came back into the fold.

Of course, as is well known, Leppard's drummer lost his arm in a car accident.  The band stood by him and his decision to keep drumming, using a mix of traditional drums and some automation tricks to fill in the gaps left by his missing arm.

The long wait, the time put in, and all the studio work paid off.   At its peak, the album was moving around a million copies a week.