I Love 1993: Sting & Depeche Mode

Continuing our I Love the 90s series, we move on to 1993, when the World Wide Web quietly slipped into the public domain and Michael Jordan stunned the sports world by walking away from the Chicago Bulls at the height of his powers. Don and Dude drop the needle on one lush adult contemporary album and one shape shifting electronic rock release that show how differently each genre chased the decade's changing mood,

The Albums

Sting – Ten Summoner's Tales (1993)

After the heaviness of his father haunted The Soul Cages (1991), Sting settled into a new manor house in the English countryside and set up a portable mixing console in his own dining room, recording live with his touring trio of guitarist Dominic Miller, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and keyboardist David Sancious. The album opens with the meditative "Prologue (If I Ever Lose My Faith in You)," moves through the pastoral "Fields of Gold" and the card playing ballad "Shape of My Heart" co-written with Miller, before closing on the tongue in cheek "Epilogue (Nothing 'Bout Me)." Produced by Sting and longtime collaborator Hugh Padgham, and titled as a play on his birth name Sumner, Ten Summoner's Tales became one of his most commercially successful solo records, proving sophisticated adult contemporary songwriting could thrive alongside the era's grunge and hip hop dominance.

Depeche Mode – Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993)

Following the massive success of Violator (1990), Depeche Mode regrouped in a rented Madrid villa before finishing sessions in Hamburg and London with producer Flood, pushing their sound toward heavier live instrumentation, guitars and gospel textures without abandoning their electronic core. The album opens with the distorted, feedback driven single "I Feel You," moves through the gospel infused "Condemnation" and the melodic "Walking in My Shoes," before closing on the atmospheric "Higher Love." Recorded during a period of serious personal strain within the band, Songs of Faith and Devotion became Depeche Mode's first album to top both the UK and US charts, cementing their shift from synth pop pioneers toward something closer to arena rock.

Diggin Albums

DOMi & JD Beck – WHO ASKED? (2026): The French-American jazz duo's second album, released on Anderson .Paak's APESHIT label in partnership with Blue Note Records, pulls back from the guest heavy approach of their Grammy nominated debut to expand into orchestral players, vocals and shifting time signatures for a dense yet playful record.

Nirvana – In Utero (1993): The Seattle trio's third and final studio album, produced by Steve Albini at Pachyderm Studio in Minnesota, trades the polished sound of Nevermind for something rawer and more abrasive on tracks like "Heart-Shaped Box," "Rape Me" and "All Apologies."

The Spongetones – "Lifetimelines" (2026): The long running Charlotte, North Carolina power pop band's new single, produced by bandmate Jamie Hoover, is a personal song from bassist Steve Stoeckel written in the months after he survived a heart attack in April 2025.

Whalebone – "Possibilities" (2026): The British acoustic guitar duo's new single, from the prolific Shropshire pair known for nature and folklore inspired instrumental music, came together the way much of their catalog does, with the pair following the mood of a melody wherever it led.

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"Tell 'em the law's coming. You tell 'em I'm coming, and hell's coming with me, you hear? Hell's coming with me!" - Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), Tombstone (1993).