Songs In The Key Of Death: Pt. I

Thirty years ago, Pavement set a road map for '90s indie rock—lo-fi, whip-smart, Gen-X cynical—with their career-defining Slanted and Enchanted. (And yes, the band came to define the term "slacker rock.") You can still hear their influence on artists like Courtney Barnett, Deerhunter, Beabadoobee, Parquet Courts, Kiwi Jr., and many more. And, of course, they famously, majorly inspired Blur's 1997 self-titled album, in effect changing the face of Brit-pop without even meaning to. As Pavement continues on their first tour since 2010, here's a look back at the band's history through their epochal records.

Around thirty years ago, Seattle became the epicenter of the rock scene, largely thanks to grunge music. The grungy, ‘I don’t care’ attitude rose from the ashes of punk, heavy metal and alt-rock, and instantaneously went from an underground movement to a worldwide success. Perhaps too quickly embraced by the very system it rebuffed, it almost became a caricature of itself by the end of the 1990s. Let’s look back at ten albums that defined the genre.

“If punk was about getting rid of hippies, then I'm getting rid of grunge.” It was with this sentence from Damon Albarn in 1993 that England invaded the stage previously dominated by Nirvana and Seattle grunge. Britpop is deeply linked to politics and local identity and emerged just as Tony Blair and New Labour were entering the scene. English romanticism was once again becoming attractive compared to the American identity, which was considered too hollow in the UK. Make way for “Cool Britannia”.