Rid of Me Turns 20

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It may be hard to believe, but neither you nor your favorite ’90s albums are teenagers anymore.

To celebrate the 20th (!) anniversary of PJ Harvey’s seminal sophomore effort Rid of MeSpin talked to Harvey, her bandmates, and their legendary producer Steve Albini for an oral history of the record’s creation. A small preview:

At that time, I very much wanted to write songs that shocked. When I was at art college, all I wanted to do was shock with my artwork. When I wrote “Rid of Me,” I shocked myself. I thought, ‘Well, if I’m shocked, other people might be shocked.”


Lauren O'Neal is an MFA student at San Francisco State University. Her writing has appeared in publications like Slate, The New Inquiry, and The Hairpin. You can follow her on Twitter at @laureneoneal. More from this author →