Over the course of a few short months in early 1992, several albums I have spent a ton of time with came out: Tongues & Tails by Sophie B. Hawkins (April), Funky Divas by En Vogue and Ingénue by K.D. Lang (March). My favorite of the bunch, Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos, arrived first, in January.
I worked in a record store at around the time those records (ok, CDs) hit and they were all on heavy rotation over the in-house system. I was ok with, but never massively bowled over by, the mainstream rock that was big at the time ("Alternative" was the brand name for mainstream rock music back then, so listeners could feel Credible). I knew heavy music, and despite being raised on classic rock and British metal, just did not find the whole early 90s, guys-with-guitars thing that revolutionary. Reactionary to the cock rock, hair metal and boy bands that dominated the late 80s, for sure, but not much more than that. I found the left-field pop music of the time, the artists mentioned here as well as others like Seal and Dee-Lite, much more musically diverse and original.
For a while it was neck and neck for me in terms of hours clocked between Hawkins and Amos, with Sophie in the early lead. Tongues & Tails was just so damn catchy but there was more complexity to contend with on Little Earthquakes. While the record has been talked and written about endlessly over the last 30+ years, all I can say is that Little Earthquakes and Tori Amos landed hard for me.
She did not trade on sex or sexuality, though she sang and talked about those things (not always in pleasant terms but always in ways that really touched her fans). She also came from a musical lineage I recognized, with her covers of Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper and most famously, Nirvana. Tori Amos may not have been a rocker, but she rolled.
The chance to see Tori Amos live presented itself in mid-1994 at the Palace Theatre, in New Haven, Connecticut. She was on a ridiculously long tour for her follow-up to Little Earthquakes, Under the Pink. In those early-internet days I knew nothing in advance about her live presentation but was a bit surprised to find her playing solo piano, oftentimes accompanied by the backing tracks from the album recordings when she wanted a full band sound. Hard to argue with the setlist but I remember being a little disappointed that the show didn't feature her cover of "Angie". It's ok, I am over it now.
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