Slanted and Enchanted is the homely sister to Nevermind's prom queen -- maybe not as popular with the boys, but smarter and a little less shallow -- and every bit as important. While Nirvana may have announced indie rock's arrival, Pavement gave it resonance.

For that reason, Slanted could be considered the second-most important album of the decade. Nevermind gave alternative to the unwashed masses. Pavement re-affirmed it for the pre-ordained. Much like R.E.M. in the '80s, the band was a unifying force and a reason for indie rock to believe in itself.

It is said the Velvet Underground didn't have many fans, but every one of the group's followers went out and formed a band. Someday, we'll be applying similar statements to Pavement. Slanted and Enchanted didn't grab America by the shirt collars and scream into its ears. But everyone who heard the album shortly after its release realized what a momentous thing they were hearing.

Gone are the vague experiments of the group's first singles. Slanted proves itself a whole different animal right from the start with the majestic and slightly booty-shaking "Summer Babe (Winter Version)." Things continue with the equally bouncy "Trigger Cut."

The album is filled with fully formed songs. The guitars chime in a different way, like the bastard child of Dinosaur Jr., the Replacements and new wave. And the combination of clunky bass and the free-swinging drumming of Gary Young (the '60s reject who owned the studio Pavement worked out of) are a revelation: This is what slacker music is supposed to sound like.

But the sound is just one small part of the equation. Singer Stephen Malkmus' lyrics are the real dynamic force behind Pavement. Much like Nirvana connected lonely, shy teenagers with itself and one another, Malkmus' jaded, literate lyrics connect with the over-educated, under-motivated post-collegiate twenty-something crowd.

Malkmus, who also writes most of the music, is the true case of the musician genuinely reflecting the audience. He employs irony, disaffection, and ambivalence. To the indie rock world, he couldn't have been more perfect.

Because of this, his audience wasn't limited to the indie world for very long. Other musicians and critics quickly picked up on the Pavement lightning rod. Soon they were the biggest thing to come out of the underground since R.E.M. But thankfully, Pavement followed its own path, often shooting itself in the foot and sticking up its nose at the rampant careerism all around them in the music industry.

How deliciously slacker!