So why is Indigo Girls on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
While this album was released in 1989, I associate Indigo Girls strongly with early college days in the early 1990s in Binghamton, New York, and particularly my freshman year. So there’s a wave of nostalgia always washes over me when I revisit Indigo Girls.
“Closer to Fine” is simply a gorgeous folk rock song that bridges the gap from hippie and folk rock acts of the 1960s with an updated sound for the Lilith Fair generation. The strumming guitar is perfect and the vocals are quintessentially early ‘90s with gorgeous harmonies. This is curl up with tea or coffee and hang out at a coffee shop with your scruffy alternative friends stuff.
“Secure Yourself” is more of the same, with the tempo toned down a bit and a little bit more of a country rock feel.
“Kid Fears” features support from fellow Athens, Georgia legends R.E.M.
Here’s a great live version, featuring Michael Stipe on stage with the band.
Personal stuff that’s somehow related to Indigo Girls
When I was in college in the early 1990s, I had a little joke – a chiste as I like to say these days – that was not particularly funny, but it was kind of the cliché of what you would find in every girl’s freshman dorm room. One thing was those geodes – those rocks you split open to reveal crystals inside. That was a big one. And then there would always be some combination of posters involving the Indigo Girls and/or Sarah McLachlan.
If you’re wondering, there was more than a hint of sneering in my observation about college dorm life which I’m not particularly proud of. I probably put up a veneer of disdain toward Indigo Girls and Sarah McLachlan, even though I liked them quite a lot.
Beck even weirdly captured and exaggerated these dorm-rooms vibe in “Nightmare Hippie Girl,” off Mellow Gold.
Some stats & info about Indigo Girls
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Folk Rock, Alternative Folk, Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Rock, Rock Music, Athens Georgia Bands, Singer Songwriter
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Indigo Girls released? 1989
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #911 out of 1,000
Indigo Girls on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Indigo Girls that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
And I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains, I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective take on what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.