Wow. I always thought it was 1991, but 1988 might have been the better year.
In the real world, this year was an utter disaster of epic proportions.
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Pixies - Surfer Rosa
Happy Mondays - Bummed
Keith Richards - Talk Is Cheap
N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton
Morrissey - Viva Hate
R.E.M. - Green
The Smithereens - Green Thoughts
Dinosaur Jr. - Bug
My Bloody Valentine - Isn’t Anything
Crowded House - Temple of Low Men
Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Camper Van Beethoven - Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
The Pogues - “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” 12"
The Godfathers - Birth, School, Work, Death
The Pogues - If I Should Fall from Grace with God
The Waterboys - Fisherman’s Blues
Jane’s Addiction - Nothing’s Shocking
The Mission U.K. - Children
Skinny Puppy - VIVISectVI
Dead Can Dance - The Serpent's Egg
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Tender Prey
The Church - Starfish
Ministry - The Land of Rape and Honey
Cocteau Twins - Blue Bell Knoll
Beat Happening - Jamboree
Galaxie 500 - Today
Front 242 - Front by Front
The Stone Roses - “Elephant Stone”
The Wedding Present - “Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?”
The Sugarcubes - Life’s Too Good
Fugazi - Fugazi
The House of Love - The House of Love
Loop - Fade Out
Throwing Muses - House Tornado
Leonard Cohen - “Everybody Knows”
Danzig - “Mother”
Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians - Globe of Frogs
The Dead Milkmen - Beelzebubba
The Dead Milkmen - “Punk Rock Girl”
Eazy-E - “Boyz-n-the Hood”
The Wonder Stuff - The Eight Legged Groove Machine
Julian Cope - “Charlotte Anne”
Laibach - “Across the Universe”
The Jesus and Mary Chain - “Sidewalking”
Violent Femmes - 3
Fugazi - “Waiting Room”
Wire - A Bell Is a Cup…Until It Is Struck
Eleventh Dream Day - Prairie School Freakout
The Go-Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane
Most on the list taken from allmusic, though they missed a few, including Skinny Puppy. Some of these I didn't hear until later, like Eleventh Dream Day, Happy Mondays, and Beat Happening. It's also clear from this that I spent every penny I made on music. I still have at least half of these on vinyl.