90s music

Two members of the English Beat left the band for the Fine Young Cannibals while Ranking Roger and Dave Wakeling formed General Public in the 80's. The Specials pretty much imploded and went separate ways. By the 90's Roger and Dave still wanted to play/tour. They contacted members of the Specials and a plan was hatched to capitalize on the next wave of Ska that was starting to gain momentum. Great show. Best of both bands were played.
That's cool. I guess... I don't know. The only way I can relate is that I saw The Toasters at Triple Rock in the mid-late 00s. By that time it was just Bucket and a bunch of kids he brought along on tour. It was both cool and kind of sad at the same time, like watching my dad play in a band with guys less than half his age. Still living the dream I guess.
 

I love Winona, and I love their music scene, and Ed's is one of my favorite venues anywhere. I and my friends have gone down for the last couple Mid West Music Fests, and the place, its people, and its talent have been a revelation, including and especially Karate Chop, Silence. In just those couple fests, we've made friends with so many people that it's like this network. I and the other guys are always running into people we know there. I feel like it's my second home town.

Speaking of... When I saw Matt Wilson, I'd been there for only a few minutes when someone came over to say hi, and it was one of those many friends we've made at the fests. She was there with some friends and their spouses, and they invited me to hang with them. All big Trip Shakespeare fans, so we were geeking out together. In fact, one of the couples was hosting Matt at their AirBNB that night! So in conversation this gal I know says she appeared in the crowd scene of TS's video for "Bachelorette." She said they filmed it at the Gay 90s and served pizza to everyone. Good times.

Cheesy video, but great song. I think my friend is the one in white in the front row.

I blame Trip for some bad test scores. They played so many times and I just had to go.
 

I blame Trip for some bad test scores. They played so many times and I just had to go.
They're an example of a band you needed to see as many times as you could while you can. There will never be a reunion--from what I've heard Elaine is living in Boston, not interested, experiencing chronic back pain, and for that reason has given up the instrument. That's what I've heard, at least. They did that one quasi-reunion using Jake, but it just wasn't the same.
 










I think Cool just gave us the full gamut of the best to worst of 90s music.
 

90s were obviously a big decade to rap/hip hop too. This one is on my regular iTunes rotation.

 

L7-Pretend We're Dead
Toadies-Possum Kingdom
Presidents of the USA-Lump
Semisonic-Across the Great Divide
 

My favorite album of the 90’s was “Before These Crowded Streets” by The Dave Matthews Band.
 



She's still going strong. Hope paved the way for Liam Gallagher to not move around while performing.


In a sad coincidence for this thread, Mazzy Star's other driving force, David Roback, died earlier this week. I'm a big fan of his first band Rain Parade as well. He brought a lot of great, dreamy psychedelic music into the world.
 

A couple years ago I put together a playlist of modern rock from the early 90s, a period I refer to as the golden age of modern rock--before grunge came in and drowned out new wave and post-punk pop. This is what they were playing on KJ 104, which was a marvelous (IMHO) short-lived station and which was sort of reborn with some of the same staff members when REV 105 went on the air a few years later.

Most of this collection dates from mid 1989 through mid 1991, although there are songs that go as far back as mid 1988 and forward to mid 1992. The station went off the air over Labor Day weekend 1992. It was an incredibly prolific few years, with excellent releases by established artists as well as some one-hit wonders. Just 1990 by itself was a firehose flow of wonderful music.

I ended up with 8 volumes (volumed so they can fit on 80-minute CDs if desired) totalling about 10 and a half hours of music. And this isn't even everything from that era; I left stuff off that I thought was stale or that I didn't particularly like.

Here it is. It's all pretty findable on YouTube. Enjoy!

VOLUME 1

1They Might Be GiantsAna Ng
2Redd KrossAnnie's Gone
3Matthew SweetI've Been Waiting
4Matthew SweetGirlfriend
5Aztek CameraThe Crying Scene
6Kitchens of DistinctionDrive That Fast
7Aztec CameraGood Morning Britain
8The ChillsHeavenly Pop Hit
9Cocteau TwinsIceblink Luck
10Bob MouldIt's Too Late
11Social DistortionRing Of Fire
12Social DistortionBall and Chain
13The WaterboysA Life Of Sundays
14Primal ScreamMovin On Up
15The Trash Can SinatrasOnly Tongue Can Tell
16The Lightning SeedsPure
17Billy BraggSexuality
18Teenage FanclubStar Sign
19Marc AlmondTears Run Rings

VOLUME 2

1John Wesley HardingHere Comes The Groom
2Jane's AddictionBeen Caught Stealing
3The Darling BudsCrystal Clear
4World PartyWay Down Now
5Sinead O'ConnorThe Emperor's New Clothes
6Deee-LiteGroove Is In The Heart
7World PartyPut The Message In The Box
8KatydidsHeavy Weather Traffic
9The House of LoveI Don't Know Why I Love You
10JellyfishI Wanna Stay Home
11John Wesley HardingThe Devil In Me
12The OrbLittle Fluffy Clouds
13Lenny KravitzMr. Cab Driver
14Elvis CostelloThe Other Side Of Summer
15The Rave-UpsRespectfully King Of Rain
16The Stone RosesShe Bangs The Drums
17Gear DaddiesColor Of Her Eyes
18Happy MondaysStep On
19Steve WynnTears Won't Help

VOLUME 3

1Robyn Hitchcock & the EgyptiansOceanside
2Robyn Hitchcock & the EgyptiansSo You Think You're In Love
3The CrampsBikini Girls With Machine Guns
4Peter MurphyCuts You Up
5Faith No MoreEpic
6The FarmGroovy Train
7Something HappensHello Hello Hello Hello Hello
8Robyn Hitchcock & the EgyptiansUltra Unbelievable Love
9Richard ThompsonI Feel So Good
10Gene Loves JezebelJealous (Again)
11Big DipperLove Barge
12The Beautiful SouthMy Book
13Oingo BoingoOut Of Control
14Jesus JonesRight Here Right Now
15Lloyd ColeShe's A Girl And I'm A Man
16Trip ShakespeareThe Crane
17Del AmitriStone Cold Sober
18JellyfishThat Is Why
19EMFUnbelievable
20Kirsty MacCollWalking Down Madison

VOLUME 4

1Midnight OilBlue Sky Mine
2EnyaCaribbean Blue
3Material IssueDiane
4Trip ShakespeareBachelorette
5The Railway ChildrenEvery Beat Of The Heart
6The OriginGrowing Old
7The PixiesHere Comes Your Man
8Midnight OilForgotten Years
9David JI'll Be Your Chauffeur
10Concrete BlondeJoey
11XTCThe Mayor Of Simpleton
12Midnight OilKing Of The Mountain
13Midnight OilRiver Runs Red
14This PictureNaked Rain
15Siouxsie and the BansheesPeek-a-Boo
16House of FreaksRocking Chair
17The PrimitivesSick Of It
18The ConnellsStone Cold Yesterday
19Too Much JoyThat's A Lie
20Material IssueValerie Loves Me
21Falling JoysYou're In A Mess

VOLUME 5

1Depeche ModeWorld In My Eyes
2Soul AsylumCartoon
3Public Image LimitedDon't Ask Me
4Lou ReedDirty Blvd.
5The Jesus and Mary ChainFar Gone And Out
6Indigo GirlsHammer And A Nail
7Depeche ModePersonal Jesus
8The SundaysHere's Where the Story Ends
9Pursuit Of HappinessI'm An Adult Now
10JellyfishThe King Is Half-Undressed
11The ChurchMetropolis
12MorrisseyNovember Spawned A Monster
13Depeche ModeEnjoy The Silence
14Depeche ModePolicy Of Truth
15MorrisseyPiccadilly Palare
16Big Audio DynamiteRush
17JamesSit Down
18Wire TrainStone Me
19The La'sThere She Goes

VOLUME 6

1They Might Be GiantsTheme From Flood
2They Might Be GiantsBirdhouse In Your Soul
3An Emotional FishCelebrate
4The Wonder StuffDon't Let Me Down, Gently
5They Might Be GiantsIstanbul (Not Constantinople)
6ElectronicGetting Away With It
7Ned's Atomic DustbinHappy
8That Petrol EmotionHey Venus
9Soup DragonsI'm Free
10MC 900 Ft. JesusThe City Sleeps
11Happy MondaysKinky Afro
12Voice of the BeehiveMonsters And Angels
13Boom Crash OperaOnion Skin
14When In RomeThe Promise
15Meat PuppetsSam
16The Wonder StuffThe Size of a Cow
17Jane's AddictionStop!
18Disposable Heroes of HiphoprisyCalifornia Uber Alles
19BlurThere's No Other Way
20Elvis CostelloVeronica
21Mighty Lemon DropsWhere Do We Go From Heaven

VOLUME 7

1Dream WarriorsMr. Bubbunut Spills His Guts
2Dream WarriorsMy Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style
3ErasureChorus
4The Heart ThrobsDreamtime
5The LemonheadsIt's A Shame About Ray
6Hothouse FlowersGive It Up
7DramaramaHaven't Got A Clue
8SohoHippychick
9Big DipperImpossible Things
10Del AmitriKiss This Thing Goodbye
11Dream WarriorsWash Your Face In My Sink
12The Sisters of MercyMore
13Saint EtienneOnly Love Can Break Your Heart
14Ian McCullochProud to Fall
15The JudybatsSaturday
16The AlarmSold Me Down The River
17LushSweetness And Light
18Camper Van BeethovenPictures Of Matchstick Men
19Goo Goo DollsThere You Are
20Pop Will Eat ItselfX, Y & Zee

VOLUME 8

1School Of FishIntro / 3 Strange Days
2Inspiral CarpetsCommercial Reign
3The Ocean BlueDrifting Falling
4The PosiesGolden Blunders
5The B52'sDeadbeat Club
6The B52'sLove Shack
7The Jesus and Mary ChainHead On
8Butthole SurfersThe Hurdy Gurdy Man
9DivinylsI Touch Myself
10The CavedogsLeave Me Alone
11The ShamenMove Any Mountain
12The B52'sRoam
13The CharlatansThe Only One I Know
14Dead MilkmenPunk Rock Girl
15Bob MouldSee A Little Light
16Ultra Vivid SceneSpecial One
17The StranglersSweet Smell of Success
18Jah WobbleVisions of You
19The ChurchYou're Still Beautiful
 

Holy crap. I had the Judybats and completely forgot about them. Thanks for the reminder. Some of my other favorites still are the Lemonheads albums, the Sundays albums, School of Fish, The Jesus and Mary Chain, also had the Soup Dragons and many more. That was like memory lane!
 

Holy crap. I had the Judybats and completely forgot about them. Thanks for the reminder. Some of my other favorites still are the Lemonheads albums, the Sundays albums, School of Fish, The Jesus and Mary Chain, also had the Soup Dragons and many more. That was like memory lane!
Glad to be your tour guide down memory lane!

If you really want the time machine experience... A friend of mine loaned me some cassette tapes on which he recorded the KJ 104 year-end best-of shows from 1990 and 1991 as well as a few from The Edge, if you remember that station. Listening to those, the sound is so good that you can close your eyes and it's the early 90s again. The hosts are talking about the shows playing at First Ave and around town, and it's bands like The 27 Various. What a trip listening to those! I was able to transfer all that to mp3. If anyone was interested in getting a hold of those recordings, I'm sure we could figure something out.
 





Glad to be your tour guide down memory lane!

If you really want the time machine experience... A friend of mine loaned me some cassette tapes on which he recorded the KJ 104 year-end best-of shows from 1990 and 1991 as well as a few from The Edge, if you remember that station. Listening to those, the sound is so good that you can close your eyes and it's the early 90s again. The hosts are talking about the shows playing at First Ave and around town, and it's bands like The 27 Various. What a trip listening to those! I was able to transfer all that to mp3. If anyone was interested in getting a hold of those recordings, I'm sure we could figure something out.

Thanks for the trip down radio station lane. I remember KJ for sure. The Edge...wow haven't thought of that forever. I was so lucky to have friends who dj'd for a few different stations. So many free tickets on top of all the free passes that First Ave. used to hand out. I rarely paid for a show back then.

Since guys don't really like playing instruments anymore, girls have been dominating alternative/modern rock for years now. Lots of them sound like they were recording in 1995. Driving around listening to RadioK is like a time warp with all the great chick singers out there.
 

Thanks for the trip down radio station lane. I remember KJ for sure. The Edge...wow haven't thought of that forever. I was so lucky to have friends who dj'd for a few different stations. So many free tickets on top of all the free passes that First Ave. used to hand out. I rarely paid for a show back then.

Since guys don't really like playing instruments anymore, girls have been dominating alternative/modern rock for years now. Lots of them sound like they were recording in 1995. Driving around listening to RadioK is like a time warp with all the great chick singers out there.
Don't want to get too off topic here, but Mae Simpson knocked our socks off a few weeks ago, and she's playing many many shows coming up including the MWMF in Winona.
 




To take off from Nokomis' mention, '90s hip hop/rap was pretty fantastic-to my ears, the golden age that still sounds incredibly fresh and current. Here's a few standouts from that time, starting with my all time favorites:
 







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