Welcome to another edition of Today in Boston ROCK, where I, Adam 12, spotlight Very Important Days In Rock History. September 24th is one.

• 1991

  September 24, 1991: Nirvana releases Nevermind and the entire landscape of rock and popular music in American and around the globe changes forever. Sure, there were plenty of moments leading up to this one, but Nevermind is the watershed moment. The night before the album hit stores, the band was in Boston for a headlining gig at Axis. And to mark the 30th anniversary, the album is being reissued with 70 unreleased tracks!

• 1991

  September 24, 1991: Soundgarden releases Badmotorfinger. Sure, Soundgarden gets outshined by their grunge brothers in Nirvana in the “biggest album to come out on 9/24/91” contest, but that doesn’t make Badmotorfinger any less badass. As I’ve said on-air in the past, I bought this and Pearl Jam’s Ten on cassette on the same day from Strawberries Records & Tapes on Rt. 1 in Saugus and I didn’t end up touching Ten for months. Badmotorfinger was lodged in my Walkman and I still love it dearly 30 years later.

• 1991

  September 24, 1991: Red Hot Chili Peppers release Blood Sugar Sex Magik. It’s insane to think that these three albums all released on the same day. I maintain 30 years later that this one is the best-of-all RHCP releases. Anyway, it’s the one I go back to the most often. They supported the album with a Boston date at Boston University’s Walter Brown Arena on November 1, 1991. The opening acts? Pearl Jam and the Smashing Pumpkins.

• 1991

  September 24, 1991: Hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest releases The Low End Theory. Look, I know we don’t play rap on ROCK 92.9. But I had to throw this one in because it’s yet another historically-important album released on 9/24/91. ATCQ drafted jazz bassist Ron Carter to provide the low end (hence the album’s title), making them one of the first acts to incorporate live jazz into hip-hop, a trend which would become commonplace in the ’90s. I was in jazz band when this one came out, so it became a fast fave of mine.

  

• 1996

  September 24, 1996: Weezer releases their sophomore album Pinkerton. Every year, I get caught up in the excitement of the onslaught of Very Important Albums Released on September 24, 1991 that I forget that there’s a pretty damn important album that dropped 5 years after that. Weezer’s Pinkerton was a bit of a departure from their breakthrough Blue Album, with it’s batch of more personal, reflective songs penned by Rivers Cuomo during his time living in Cambridge and attending Harvard. Emo kids love Pinkterton. And I’m an emo kid, so I guess I love it, too.

  

   

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