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
1 | They Might Be Giants | Ana Ng |
2 | Redd Kross | Annie's Gone |
3 | Matthew Sweet | I've Been Waiting |
4 | Matthew Sweet | Girlfriend |
5 | Aztek Camera | The Crying Scene |
6 | Kitchens of Distinction | Drive That Fast |
7 | Aztec Camera | Good Morning Britain |
8 | The Chills | Heavenly Pop Hit |
9 | Cocteau Twins | Iceblink Luck |
10 | Bob Mould | It's Too Late |
11 | Social Distortion | Ring Of Fire |
12 | Social Distortion | Ball and Chain |
13 | The Waterboys | A Life Of Sundays |
14 | Primal Scream | Movin On Up |
15 | The Trash Can Sinatras | Only Tongue Can Tell |
16 | The Lightning Seeds | Pure |
17 | Billy Bragg | Sexuality |
18 | Teenage Fanclub | Star Sign |
19 | Marc Almond | Tears Run Rings |
VOLUME 2
1 | John Wesley Harding | Here Comes The Groom |
2 | Jane's Addiction | Been Caught Stealing |
3 | The Darling Buds | Crystal Clear |
4 | World Party | Way Down Now |
5 | Sinead O'Connor | The Emperor's New Clothes |
6 | Deee-Lite | Groove Is In The Heart |
7 | World Party | Put The Message In The Box |
8 | Katydids | Heavy Weather Traffic |
9 | The House of Love | I Don't Know Why I Love You |
10 | Jellyfish | I Wanna Stay Home |
11 | John Wesley Harding | The Devil In Me |
12 | The Orb | Little Fluffy Clouds |
13 | Lenny Kravitz | Mr. Cab Driver |
14 | Elvis Costello | The Other Side Of Summer |
15 | The Rave-Ups | Respectfully King Of Rain |
16 | The Stone Roses | She Bangs The Drums |
17 | Gear Daddies | Color Of Her Eyes |
18 | Happy Mondays | Step On |
19 | Steve Wynn | Tears Won't Help |
VOLUME 3
1 | Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians | Oceanside |
2 | Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians | So You Think You're In Love |
3 | The Cramps | Bikini Girls With Machine Guns |
4 | Peter Murphy | Cuts You Up |
5 | Faith No More | Epic |
6 | The Farm | Groovy Train |
7 | Something Happens | Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello |
8 | Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians | Ultra Unbelievable Love |
9 | Richard Thompson | I Feel So Good |
10 | Gene Loves Jezebel | Jealous (Again) |
11 | Big Dipper | Love Barge |
12 | The Beautiful South | My Book |
13 | Oingo Boingo | Out Of Control |
14 | Jesus Jones | Right Here Right Now |
15 | Lloyd Cole | She's A Girl And I'm A Man |
16 | Trip Shakespeare | The Crane |
17 | Del Amitri | Stone Cold Sober |
18 | Jellyfish | That Is Why |
19 | EMF | Unbelievable |
20 | Kirsty MacColl | Walking Down Madison |
VOLUME 4
1 | Midnight Oil | Blue Sky Mine |
2 | Enya | Caribbean Blue |
3 | Material Issue | Diane |
4 | Trip Shakespeare | Bachelorette |
5 | The Railway Children | Every Beat Of The Heart |
6 | The Origin | Growing Old |
7 | The Pixies | Here Comes Your Man |
8 | Midnight Oil | Forgotten Years |
9 | David J | I'll Be Your Chauffeur |
10 | Concrete Blonde | Joey |
11 | XTC | The Mayor Of Simpleton |
12 | Midnight Oil | King Of The Mountain |
13 | Midnight Oil | River Runs Red |
14 | This Picture | Naked Rain |
15 | Siouxsie and the Banshees | Peek-a-Boo |
16 | House of Freaks | Rocking Chair |
17 | The Primitives | Sick Of It |
18 | The Connells | Stone Cold Yesterday |
19 | Too Much Joy | That's A Lie |
20 | Material Issue | Valerie Loves Me |
21 | Falling Joys | You're In A Mess |
VOLUME 5
1 | Depeche Mode | World In My Eyes |
2 | Soul Asylum | Cartoon |
3 | Public Image Limited | Don't Ask Me |
4 | Lou Reed | Dirty Blvd. |
5 | The Jesus and Mary Chain | Far Gone And Out |
6 | Indigo Girls | Hammer And A Nail |
7 | Depeche Mode | Personal Jesus |
8 | The Sundays | Here's Where the Story Ends |
9 | Pursuit Of Happiness | I'm An Adult Now |
10 | Jellyfish | The King Is Half-Undressed |
11 | The Church | Metropolis |
12 | Morrissey | November Spawned A Monster |
13 | Depeche Mode | Enjoy The Silence |
14 | Depeche Mode | Policy Of Truth |
15 | Morrissey | Piccadilly Palare |
16 | Big Audio Dynamite | Rush |
17 | James | Sit Down |
18 | Wire Train | Stone Me |
19 | The La's | There She Goes |
VOLUME 6
1 | They Might Be Giants | Theme From Flood |
2 | They Might Be Giants | Birdhouse In Your Soul |
3 | An Emotional Fish | Celebrate |
4 | The Wonder Stuff | Don't Let Me Down, Gently |
5 | They Might Be Giants | Istanbul (Not Constantinople) |
6 | Electronic | Getting Away With It |
7 | Ned's Atomic Dustbin | Happy |
8 | That Petrol Emotion | Hey Venus |
9 | Soup Dragons | I'm Free |
10 | MC 900 Ft. Jesus | The City Sleeps |
11 | Happy Mondays | Kinky Afro |
12 | Voice of the Beehive | Monsters And Angels |
13 | Boom Crash Opera | Onion Skin |
14 | When In Rome | The Promise |
15 | Meat Puppets | Sam |
16 | The Wonder Stuff | The Size of a Cow |
17 | Jane's Addiction | Stop! |
18 | Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy | California Uber Alles |
19 | Blur | There's No Other Way |
20 | Elvis Costello | Veronica |
21 | Mighty Lemon Drops | Where Do We Go From Heaven |
VOLUME 7
1 | Dream Warriors | Mr. Bubbunut Spills His Guts |
2 | Dream Warriors | My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style |
3 | Erasure | Chorus |
4 | The Heart Throbs | Dreamtime |
5 | The Lemonheads | It's A Shame About Ray |
6 | Hothouse Flowers | Give It Up |
7 | Dramarama | Haven't Got A Clue |
8 | Soho | Hippychick |
9 | Big Dipper | Impossible Things |
10 | Del Amitri | Kiss This Thing Goodbye |
11 | Dream Warriors | Wash Your Face In My Sink |
12 | The Sisters of Mercy | More |
13 | Saint Etienne | Only Love Can Break Your Heart |
14 | Ian McCulloch | Proud to Fall |
15 | The Judybats | Saturday |
16 | The Alarm | Sold Me Down The River |
17 | Lush | Sweetness And Light |
18 | Camper Van Beethoven | Pictures Of Matchstick Men |
19 | Goo Goo Dolls | There You Are |
20 | Pop Will Eat Itself | X, Y & Zee |
VOLUME 8
1 | School Of Fish | Intro / 3 Strange Days |
2 | Inspiral Carpets | Commercial Reign |
3 | The Ocean Blue | Drifting Falling |
4 | The Posies | Golden Blunders |
5 | The B52's | Deadbeat Club |
6 | The B52's | Love Shack |
7 | The Jesus and Mary Chain | Head On |
8 | Butthole Surfers | The Hurdy Gurdy Man |
9 | Divinyls | I Touch Myself |
10 | The Cavedogs | Leave Me Alone |
11 | The Shamen | Move Any Mountain |
12 | The B52's | Roam |
13 | The Charlatans | The Only One I Know |
14 | Dead Milkmen | Punk Rock Girl |
15 | Bob Mould | See A Little Light |
16 | Ultra Vivid Scene | Special One |
17 | The Stranglers | Sweet Smell of Success |
18 | Jah Wobble | Visions of You |
19 | The Church | You're Still Beautiful |