Boy oh boy oh boy...over these past few days I've been sailing on an open musical sea of nostalgia. As of now, I'm 20 years old...not too up there in years by many comparissons, but far along enough to appreciate looking back on some of the musicians, bands, and genres that got me started in this whole pulchritudinous mess in the first place. My canvas was the 1990s...grunge, alt. rock, hard rock...basically anything [easily accessible] that I could sink my teeth into. Some of the first bands I ever listened to, bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, and others, not only paved the way for my own musical progression, but also for the rock genre and the sound of the nineties in general.
Where we stand in popular music today is very uncertain. The RIAA has the entire capitalist part of the industry by the balls and most of what's played on the radio and MTV is utter crap-- the shit-stained product of record excecutives and marketing surveys. Much like what's been plaguing Hollywood for the last few years, the [popular] music industry in this country is simply devoid of originality and creativity. A lot of the boom in attention payed to the indie music world in recent years has much to do with that fact. What the industry needs (sorry if this is a bit oxymoron-ish) is to take a look at what has worked in the past, and what's not working now. A good place to start would be to take a page from the 90s.
On that over-extended note, I've compiled a two disc mix of what I consider to be the best alt. rock songs of the early/mid nineties. Most of these are one-hit wonders, but that doesn't matter--all are good in my book. You can pick and choose to download the individual mp3s, or, if you'd like the whole thing, I've put each disc up as a zip file for your convenience:
UPDATE: Had to take down the files to preserve bandwidth. I think the RapidShare ZIPs still work though.
DISC ONE:
[MP3] 01. R.E.M. - Losing My Religion
[MP3] 02. Pearl Jam - Jeremy
[MP3] 03. Spin Doctors - Two Princes
[MP3] 04. Stone Temple Pilots - Plush
[MP3] 05. Soul Asylum - Runaway Train
[MP3] 06. King Missile - Detatchable Penis
[MP3] 07. Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy
[MP3] 08. Blind Melon - No Rain
[MP3] 09. Better Than Ezra - Good
[MP3] 10. Collective Soul - Shine
[MP3] 11. Counting Crows - Mr. Jones
[MP3] 12. Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
[MP3] 13. Blues Traveler - Run-Around
[MP3] 14. Bush - Glycerine
[MP3] 15. Hootie And The Blowfish - Only Wanna Be With You
[MP3] 16. Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
DISC TWO:
[MP3] 01. Collective Soul - December
[MP3] 02. Del Amitri - Roll To Me
[MP3] 03. Dishwalla - Counting Blue Cars
[MP3] 04. Everclear - Santa Monica
[MP3] 05. Spacehog - In The Meantime
[MP3] 06. Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth...
[MP3] 07. Counting Crows - A Long December
[MP3] 08. Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight
[MP3] 09. Foo Fighters - Everlong
[MP3] 10. Marcy Playground - Sex And Candy
[MP3] 11. Sister Hazel - All For You
[MP3] 12. Third Eye Blind - Semi Charmed Life
[MP3] 13. The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
[MP3] 14. Fastball - The Way
[MP3] 15. Fatboy Slim - Praise You
[MP3] 16. Semisonic - Closing Time
ZIPPED:
[ZIP] Disc One
[ZIP] Disc Two
THE CONTEST:
I really want to thank everyone who "entered" the contest for the Prodigy CD, you've helped me rediscover a lot of the music I loved growing up, which has made me pretty damn happy over the past couple days. The contest, originally supposed to only have one winner, came down to a tie...mainly because one of the songs (the latter) was one that I had on the tip of my tongue but couldn't for the life of me remember, and the other (the former) is the one that made me go "omgwtfroflmaoYES!" the most. So without further ado, here are the winners:
Suggested by emsley:
[MP3] Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth...
Suggested by redfield a third time!:
[MP3] Fastball - The Way
Congratulations emsley, I'll email you with the details. The other winner, redfield a third time!, forgot to login! So...I'll use the honor system here. If you're out there, just email me and we'll get things sqaured away. Thanks for playing everyone! Check back frequently for more contests coming soon!
40 comments:
I haven't heard SpaceHog in ages...thanks for including that.
Came across your mixes... to borrow a phrase from the 90s: Dude your mix is funky with a "ph".
The late 80s were much like the current music scene with pop actslike New Kids on the Block and Paula Abdul on top and pop rap acts like MC Hammer. But there was that undercurrent of the Pixies, the Smiths, Dinosaur Jr... much like the undercurrent now of Death From Above and Interpol and all them. You just need that one "Smells Like Teen Spirit" to break the scene into the mainstream. Then you'll get a bunch of wankers humming "Romantic Rights" at the office... so maybe it's better staying underground?
I truly do miss Spacehog...
Nice picks...
(Pumpkins, Verve and Fatboy Slim seem to be broken links...)
Anonymous (12:08 AM) made an interesting point about the late 80s being like the current music scene. Looking back, I feel compelled to say that the "popular" 70s and 90s tunes were just as bad. Top 40 or Top "whatever" radio spoon-fed tunes have always placed the music world in doldrums. Unfortunately the masses seem to not support that thought. Thank goodness for college radio and independent stations that play much of the enormous amount of tunes by talented yet-to-be-discovered musicians out there.
Hearing these songs for the first time in years, songs that I also grew up with (I'm going to be 18 on Sunday), just put me in an awesome mood for the night. Thanks!
...of course, I was watching That 70s Show and a show on VH1 called Web Junk 20. Contributing factors, I guess.
This is a great mix. Me and my girlfriend listened to the whole thing tonight, it brought back lots of memories. Thanks!
If the universe did start with a bang - when God loved and the angels sang - one of the sparks that flew - chased time to become you :) xaNax
hey, i found your blog on the hype machine. i have every song you listed and so i came just to say, "i have every fucking song on there." it is a great 90's compilation that includes so many of the songs that shaped my youth. I recently turned 21 and for a project in my design class i created a crazy 3d note shaped thing that had a collage of the booklets from my 21 albums of my youth...so i feel ya...peace
XANAX!
amazing!!
being 22 this yr, i can totally relate to all the songs u listed,
WELL DONE!!
ive been a huge fan of third eye blind since 1997...and nothing has changed
thanks for the feedback guys...i fixed the broken links too!
If the universe did start with a bang - when God loved and the angels sang - one of the sparks that flew - chased time to become you :) xaNax
God man... this almost makes me cry. This is/was the perfect soundtrack to my highschool years. Thanks for that.
Ahh, this music represents my 'The Wonder Years'.. thank you for this excellent post!
Great idea for a mix cd. I know most of these tunes being of the same age.
Man, those were some good times for music.
Here are some songs off the top of my head that you either missed or may have simply left out:
Barenaked Ladies- Shoebox or One Week
Alanis Morissette- You Oughta Know or Ironic
Blessed Union Of Souls- She Likes Me For Me
Goo Goo Dolls- Name or Slide
Foo Fighters- Big Me
Oasis- Wonderwall <- obvious one
No Doubt- Don't Speak or Just A Girl
and for the pop/ballad crowd,
Seal- Kiss By A Rose
Duncan Sheik- Barely Breathing
Oh, the 90's...good times.
just love it, love those conceptual compilations
What a great mix! Another reason to love this blog more than what is socially acceptable.
:o
Thanks for the great mix.
I'm a tad younger than you, so I don't remember most of these songs by name when I first heard them on the radio. But it sure bring back some memory, even though i'm only 19.
amazing.
i have some friends who have made me mixes just like these!
i actually have to give my friend shula a lot of credit for reminding me of the primitive radio god's song. she had it posted on her myspace page a month or two ago. maybe i should give her joint custody of the prodigy cd!
Detachable Penis. Indeed. Ah, the memories.
I remember seeing the Detachable Penis video back on 120 Minutes or Alternative Nation back when I was in high school (I have a few years on you at 28). Memories of when MTV actually played some decent songs. Sigh.
Surprised about the lack of an Alice in Chains song here - Would? perhaps, or Them Bones? Of course, Rooster was their big hit. List could also use some Weezer...
Excellent choices -- thanks for bringing back a lot of memories :)
wow man, wow. ive been reading your blog since you posted the new shins tracks a month or so back and now i know why i dig it so much, we were raised on the same stuff. only thing i wouldve added wouldve been iris. maybe breakfast at tiffanys, but the entire thing might spiral out of control after that. anyway, keep it up man.
Good compilation except for some nirvana-clones like Bush and Stone temple plagiarists. Having said that, where the heck is Nirvana?
yeah I too was wondering about the nirvana-lessness, but it's still an awesome mix! thanks
eels-novacaine for the soul
great mix!
great mix, but i would have added one more:
candlebox - far behind
thanks, you made my day!
Here is a negative comment that I wish you will understand as a positive feedback about everything else you posted except those two compils. I used to listen to your blog peaceless, randomly, discovering more and more great new music everytime. But now, randomly, I fall into that pollution (the compils) and I have to run to the computer to skip a piece out of three...
It is still interesting to see where you start listened music, but you are in fact well beyond that point now and you are for me the best source of bright new shinning pieces of music, a true geme of creative radio.
So, why Spin Doctor and friends?
A real fan, still.
amazing!! most of them are on my list, but some of them aren't and thanks to you, my memory of some songs is refreshed.
thanks a lot!!
remusic.blogspot
Wow. Thanks, Connor. For making me feel old and happy at the same time.
This is absolutely brilliant. Thank you!
I have to wake up early... and your AWESOME mix is making me lose sleep. Thanks, ass.
I think that it is hysterical that some of you guys are 19-25 years old! I'm 47 and absolutely love the music in this post. I got tired of "classic" rock by the 80's and didn't like 80's type music (although now I kind of enjoy some synth pop and hair metal - in small doses). So when the 90's came around I fell in love with music again. And the songs in this post reflect pretty precisely what I was listening to. Add some Cranberries, other stuff that other people listed.
It is all great, and ironically in 2006 it is now "classic" rock. Heh.
I loved this mix. I'm 21 and this mixtape takes me back as well. Made me remeber the first time I heard a ounting Crows disk (In class, Grade 5)
Too bad there wasnt more room for Round Here.
ive been making a list of random nostalgic songs as i hear them ... you were able to get every single song on these cds. you are awesome.
thanks for going through all the effort... its truly appreciated.
I think you should make a second series of this post, because as of 2008 the 90's are even older, more great alt. songs are being forgetten, and there are many more great tunes that aren't featured here.
Also, Disc 2 is offline on Megaupload. Plz upload again, thanks.
Hey is there any chance you guys can reupload disc 2? Thanks, guys!
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