Early 90s Music

[clockworkcanary]

...and that which extended well into the mid 90s music...I miss it.

I'm sitting at work listening to some CDs (because NPR won't come in and the only radio stations here are candyass top 40, country, slip slop, or ultra religious scary people) and I put in an "oldie" but goodie....The Breeders.  Of course, I gotta give Kim Deal some props not only because she's an awesome female guitarist (not of the lillith fair variety either) and she hails from my home area of Dayton Ohio! 

Man, I miss that era of music though - can't believe "Pod" came out in 1990.  I can't believe how much time has passed.  So, I've been looking over my collection and it brings back a lot of memories: The Breeders, Belly, Juliana Hatfield, Veruca Salt, God Lives Underwater, the Sundays, and much more.  Yeah yeah I know some of these bands started in the 80s and all, but they really hit the peak in the early 90s. 

Sure, maybe it's the nostalgia(sp?) factor, but I miss this kinda stuff, among other styles of the same era.  1993 was my coming of age era I guess - I was in my 2nd year of college, pretty hip at the time, hosting mega parties, basically destroying myself, but damn what a great time!  I'd do it all over again if I could, but I digress.

Like, it's hard to believe "Sit on Acid" from the Lords of Acid came out in what, 1992?!  That's like 15 years ago!  What's funny is that it doesn't seem as dated as you would think - much of LOA's music still sounds futuristic compared to what's popular nowadays (but then, I've often felt in the last six years we've stepped back in time rather than forward, but that's probably just my skewed perception ...or maybe not).

Ah...CD's over - time for "Last Splash"

[fortunato]

I guess I'm not that familiar with most of the music your talking about, besides Veruca Salt. I recognize a few of the band names, but what I miss most about the early 90s stuff is grunge. I love Alice in Chains, for one.

[clockworkcanary]

Yeah I was into all that too, but it gets talked about much more often.  I didn't like Alice in Chains that much at the time (they were kinda overplayed in my area for awhile) but I began to appreciate them more as time went on.  Now, in retrospect, they were pretty damn good.  I've always been a fan of the grunge era, even pre-Nirvanna - bands like Mudhoney, Daisy Chainsaw, and even Nirvanna themselves.  Man, I miss Nirvanna.

Now I find myself digging into the 90s music much more often than any era -lately I've had a thing for PJ Harvy -man some of her lyrics from her early days are rather viscious - much harder (and her music rocks much more) than what was supposedly 'headbangin' music lol.

[Yaddo 42]

Kinda my time as well, I know most of the bands you mentioned, to various levels, some just name recognition. Grunge/alternative was my modern rock music till I got burned out on the really popular stuff, plus I was bouncing around in old stuff and other genres at the time. That time was probably rock's last gasp. Even the stuff I like now often seems like it's treading familiar ground.

Got to admit though God Lives Underwater had some song WKDF in Nashville used to play that was so annoying that even if I slept through my alarm clock hearing that song would get me out of bed.

Alice in Chains seems to get played more than the other bigger bands from that time on the rock stations I get here. Some of the classic rock stations have added 90s music and certain contemporary stuff to their formats to become "real rock" or "active rock" as the format seems to be called now. They were better than I remember them but overkill is getting to be a factor.


I agree mainstream music has gone backwards the past few years. Never a No Doubt fan, but I can't believe how popular Gwen Stafani's solo career is. It's all just 80s retreads with bits of odd stuff throw in, like Fiddler on the Roof in that 'Rich Girl" song.

Rap has been the mainstream for a while now, notice how even the pop stars incorporate it or work with rappers and rap producers. With the fragmenting of audiences, news technology, and the drop in CD sales. Maybe it's day is winding down. I guess nothing will be THE dominant thing next just a stew of different styles with their own audiences and some mixing of genres. Could be interesting or it could be as bland as "world music" often is.

[Zapranoth]

I shut my radio off for that entire decade.

(No offense meant to you, guys, but I thought 90's music was generally awful, at least in terms of pop, and the pop subdivision that got called "alternative."

[clockworkcanary]

I totally understand that  -more often than not, my "alternative" was never really played much on the radio, or if it was, it was one song from a group who had several albums.  Case in point is Jane's Addiction, one of my favorites of all time -  they played "Been Caught Stealin'" over and over, which was on their 3rd release and was so not near the top of their best songs. 

I've gotten used to just not expecting my music to get any airplay, except maybe on college radio.  I think I started getting bored with what they considered "Alternative" at the time and seeked the alternative to that - started getting into Aphex Twin, Messiah, and other brainshredder techno and intellidance, but always kept some alt rock going on for awhile.

Yeah I can't relate to too much music today - I'm probably just getting old but nothing about any of it seems to have anything interesting at all.  Sure a hip hop track here and there isn't bad to hear in the background, but I've noticed much of it has a really really short shelf-life. 

[fortunato]

I, for one, think there's still some good music out there:  Tool, Mudvayne, 10 Years, A Perfect Circle. But I also do listen to a lot of early 90s stuff still, like the aforementioned Alice in Chains, and early Foo Fighters stuff. And as far as No Doubt/Gwen Stefani go, she has done some really good stuff too.

[Zapranoth]

I, for one, think there's still some good music out there:  Tool, Mudvayne, 10 Years, A Perfect Circle. But I also do listen to a lot of early 90s stuff still, like the aforementioned Alice in Chains, and early Foo Fighters stuff. And as far as No Doubt/Gwen Stefani go, she has done some really good stuff too.

And a Wildcards reader, too?   

[fortunato]

I'm not sure what you mean about a Wildcards reader...

[Zapranoth]

I'm not sure what you mean about a Wildcards reader...

Guess I meant "Wild Cards."

Fortunato.  A character in a book series.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Cards

[fortunato]

'fraid not. Actually, I'm a longtime Poe addict who converted to Lovcraftianism. Masque of the Red Death was my gateway drug into the world of horror fiction, so I'm representin' my homey from the Cask of Amontillado

[DistantJ]

I'm in Europe (well, England), so for me, the early 90s was very energetic and packed with great dance music. :) It was a good time.

[CheezeFlixz]

OK that's it I'm officially old ... more than half I've never heard of and whats left I just gave that WTF look to.

[RCMerchant]

Early 90's...where was I in the early 90's music wise...hmmm...(wavy flashback lines)

  I was at  a Judith Preist/Megadeth concert,drunk,getting arrested for trespassing...(which I was NOT...I had lost my ticket stub in the pit...)
  I saw Suicidal Tendencies/the Melvins/White Zombie at Wings stadium...
  I faintly remember seeing the Reverand Horton Heat opening for someone somewhere....
and then I started having kids. Fun over.

[clockworkcanary]

Early 90's...where was I in the early 90's music wise...hmmm...(wavy flashback lines)

  I was at  a Judith Preist/Megadeth concert,drunk,getting arrested for trespassing...(which I was NOT...I had lost my ticket stub in the pit...)
  I saw Suicidal Tendencies/the Melvins/White Zombie at Wings stadium...
  I faintly remember seeing the Reverand Horton Heat opening for someone somewhere....
and then I started having kids. Fun over.

Hahaha that reminds me of my late 80s music - my thrash-metal/punk phase, which I still go back to every once in awhile.  Let's see, at the time of the late 80s during the Headbanger's Ball era (where they'd play mostly nerf metal and maybe 1-2 good songs during the 3rd hour): 

Bands of that time:
D.R.I.
Bad Brains
Suicidal as already mentioned
Sonic Youth
Danzig
Megadeth
Metallica (until "...And Justice for All" - that album p**sed me off - which makes me laugh today when people say they "sold out" when they got their hair cut lol
Anthrax, especially Among the Living
Slayer