XO (LP)

Having earned himself a cult following with indie LPs Roman Candle, Elliott Smith and Either/Or, the hugely talented multi-instrumentalist Elliott Smith gained worldwide attention after several of his tracks featured on the soundtrack to the Oscar-winning 1997 movie Good Will Hunting. Indeed, Smith earned himself a nomination for Best Original Song with "Miss Misery." Though he ultimately lost out to the juggernaut that was Titanic's "My Heart Will Go On," Smith was thrust into the spotlight to perform his track live at the awards ceremony - and things were never quite the same again. DreamWorks managed to woo Smith away from Kill Rock Stars for his fourth outing, XO, released on August 25, 1998, to a shower of critical praise. And while fans might initially have fretted that corporate megabucks would throw Smith off course, they had nothing to worry about.