A couple years back, while on a Telescopes kick, I posed the question "What Was the Last Great Underground Album of the '80s?" At the time, and based on release date, my vote was that the Telescopes' LP, Taste, was, in fact, the last great underground (meaning no major label ties and made by counterculture freaks with no chart hope, etc.) album of the '80s.

Taste was recorded in June of 1989, and issued later that year, so it could, perhaps, be THE BEST LAST ALBUM OF THE '80s!!! Seriously...and 1989 was a good year for greatness; Pussy Galore's Dial 'M' for Motherfucker (April), the Melvins' Ozma (?????), and Nirvana's Bleach (June), were all issued that year. But, by date, Taste may cap the decade.

Since I asked the question the FIRST time, as I have obsessive record-nerd tendencies, I've been returning to the albums released in '89 and reassessing. At the close of the '80s the underground was still exceptionally fertile and had yet to be co-opted and, in some regards, the experimental and progressive music of the last half of the '80s could almost rival the first half of the decade.

So, what else was released? A lot: Treepeople's Guilt Regret Embarrassment, Galaxie 500's On Fire, Fugazi's Margin Walker (June), Operation Ivy's Energy (March), the Jesus Lizard's Pure, the Laughing Hyenas' You Can't Pray a Lie, along with albums by the Screaming Trees, Bad Religion, the Cows, the Leaving Trains, Soundgarden, the God Bullies, fIREHOSE, Bl'ast!, Yo La Tengo, Lubricated Goat, and Helios Creed. GOD DAMN! And I'm sure there was some underground, non-major-label, rap/hiphop albums too. Maybe? I knew about most of the major label stuff and researching '89 rap releases the only underground/indie rap album I could sort out was the Ghetto/Geto Boys' Grip It! On That Other Level!! Also, there must have been a TON of electro shit as that culture was blowing up during the tail end of the '80s.

Anyway, Slog Out, THINK HARD, 'cause I wanna know what y'all think was the LAST great underground album of the '80s?