One Last Wish

One Last Wish

1994: an ode to hardcore

Welcome to the 1994 edition of One Last Wish – my regular series where I look back at records that changed my life.

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I hope you find your niche someday soon

1993 was another good year for music, with Nirvana's In Utero, Radiohead's Pablo Honey, The Smashing Pumpkin's Siamese Dream, and A Tribe Called Quest Midnight Marauders, Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Fugazi's In on the Kill Taker, Digable

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So What'Cha Want

The year was 1992. Half of the year was me finishing 10th grade and the other half, the start of 11th grade. A critical time in any teenager's life, as you transition to an upperclassman in high school. Music, of course, was still a huge part of my

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Yo, microphone check one, two, what is this?

As mentioned in the last post, 1991 was an amazing year for music. While Nirvana was tops in rock music (and probably music as a whole), A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory was an instant hip-hop classic and the best rap record of 1991. Like Nirvana

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Here we are now, entertain us

1991 was a huge year for music – I’m thinking we’ll be stuck here for the next few issues, as there are a number of crucial records I really need to include in this project and it just happens to be the 30th anniversary. Nirvana’s Nevermind and A

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Fight the Power

Believe the Hype: Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet While Living Colour was my first true experience with overtly political lyrics, the next logical step, given my love for hip hop, had to be Public Enemy. My first PE purchase (and the focus of this issue) was the

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In the Days of My Youth

This story is as old as time: parents try to show their kids “good” music, kids roll their eyes and proceed to put their headphones back on / tune out / leave the room. Whatever that generation’s go-to “blow your parents off” move is… I did the same to my parents

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Only You Can Set You Free

Whereas Run D.M.C.’s Raising Hell was my first album and my first music purchase, Living Colour’s Vivid was my first rock album. Released in May 1988, I was just about to turn 12 years old and was finishing my 6th grade year. I started skateboarding that

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First Album

As we start this journey, I felt the natural place to start was at the beginning. For me, the true joy of music, discovery, and finding my own taste started with Run-DMC’s Raising Hell. Not only was was Raising Hell the first cassette I bought with my own (10th