This work was motivated by the experimental finding that the O-2(-)/benzene interaction energy is unexpectedly large. To further explore the interactions of small anions with aromatic molecules, anion photoelectron spectroscopy was utilized to measure interaction strengths of the seed anions, O-2(-) and NO-, complexed with several aromatic molecules, including benzene, naphthalene, pyridine, and pyrimidine. As in the case of O-2(-)(benzene), the anion(aromatic)(1) binding energies for the other complexes studied were also higher than one might have anticipated. In addition, the interaction energy of O-2(-) complexed with a given aromatic molecule was, in every case studied, higher (by a factor of similar to1.5) than that of NO-complexed with the same aromatic. While the dependence of interaction strengths on solvent dipole moments and/or polarizabilities implied a substantial electrostatic component to the binding in these complexes, differences in the binding of O-2(-) and NO- with these aromatic molecules showed that there is a distinct covalent aspect to the interaction as well. A significant portion of this interaction was attributed to the fact that O-2(-) and NO- are both open-shell anions that are interacting with closed-shell aromatic molecules. In the accompanying paper [J. Chem. Phys. 116, 9672 (2002)] calculations on O-2(-)(benzene)(1) by Jalbout and Adamowicz shed additional light on the nature of small anion-aromatic molecule interactions. Last, results are also presented comparing the interaction energies of several multisolvent, anion-molecule complexes.