Start With a Bang

1998 is a particularly memorable year for Elke and me, mostly because we married in the fall. But there was much more going on: including our own, we celebrated four weddings, and unfortunately had to attend a funeral too. We were young; the first internet boom was in full swing, and the sky seemed to be the limit.

I would be lying if I claimed that I could match memories of specific albums with their release year. But when we looked at some of the records released in 1998, five albums stood out that we had run on repeat. Four of them are listed in Pitchfork’s Best of 1998, so we did not stray far from the mainstream. On a side note, Pitchfork put The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – the best album of all time according to Apple Music– in second place for 1998.

All five albums start with a bang, so we invite you to listen along with a Spotify playlist we’ve created, featuring the first two songs of each album.

We were aware of The Smashing Pumpkins earlier in the ‘90s. Still, we became only intrigued by the band through their cover of Depeche Mode’s “Never Let Me Down” on the tribute album For The Masses(not available on streaming services). Adore was just out, and I loved this record from the spot. The singer and songwriter Billy Corgan throws a delicious curveball with the quiet first song, “To Sheila,” before going into the hard-hitting banger “Ava Adore,” which became my go-to pick-me-up song for a very long time. The line “We must never be apart” is a campy but fitting sentiment for getting married (although some of the lyrics are less romantic).

Thanks for reading glamglare! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

However, when we recently listened to Adore, it didn’t do its magic anymore. While the music has aged well, we seem to have moved on.

In our Munich time, Elke did most of the music discovery. She brought home For the Masses as well as Moon Safari, the debut by French synth-pop duo Air. While I have always been a big fan of electronic music but for me, Air was too much on the mellow side at first. However, a few years later – already living in New York – Moon Safari suddenly clicked, becoming one of my all-time favorite and most-played albums. Again, the first song, “La femme d’argent,” did it for me with its sunny, upbeat vibes.

The English band Pulp got catapulted to mainstream in Germany with their 1995 album Different Class. The single “Disco 2000” was played up and down on radio, and while I wasn’t entirely convinced, I eventually gave in and bought the record. This album and the 1998 follow-up This is Hardcore became staples in our CD rotation. However, we could not fully appreciate the genius Jarvis Cocker’s lyricism until we were more familiar with the English language. The opening line of “Dishes,” the second song on the album, hooks me every time: “I’m not Jesus, though I have the same initials.”

Another one of Elke’s discoveries was the British collective Massive Attack, albeit already in 1991 with their acclaimed debut Blue Lines. Seven years later, they released their third album Mezzanine. The first song, “Angel,” has an irresistible build in its recorded version and also live when we saw Massive Attack at the Southside Festival in 1999.

The last album is a gem by the Austrian DJs and producers Kruder & Dorfmeister. Named The K&D Sessions (DJ Mix) this album contains 21 mixes of obscure to well-known songs. The record does magic with the first chords of the opener, “Heroes” by Roni Size and Reprazent, and lures you into a world of smooth, downtempo dance tracks. If you liked this album, you knew the future of music.

Nine Photos of Sailing on a Historic Sail Boat

Now that we’re living Downtown again, we also renewed our membership with the South Street Seaport Museum and went on a two-hour sailing trip on board the historic vessel Pioneer.
The friendly and chill crew consists of staff and volunteers who steer the ship around the tip of Manhattan with views of Brooklyn, Governors Island, the Statue of Liberty, New Jersey, and, of course, Battery Park.
We highly recommend this excursion and will go for the Sunset Cruise next.