The 90’s Within My Earshot (A Musical Blast from the Past)

Before I proceed, I think you have the right to know that during the 90’s, like a lot of people from my generation I too had my little obsession with bubblegum pop. Yes, once upon a time I was actually a fan of Hanson, the Backstreet Boys, the Spice Girls, and Britney Spears (before she was Federlined). In any case, you will not read about such artists on the following entry. Think of it as selective amnesia. Bubblegum pop is the falling-on-your-face-in-front-of-your-crush moment of one’s taste in music: i.e. the kind of stuff you try to block out of your memory.

But I’d like to think that from time to time I am also able to make fun of myself, so I just might write another entry especially about the bubblegum pop genre of the late 90’s. For now, however, you’re stuck with this one: my (lame) attempt to try and make you think that I was a cool kid of the 90’s. The skeletons will come out of the closet soon enough. Until then, hope you enjoy reading this one.

BEFORE Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, before Kaskade, even before Jason "I Wanna Have Your Babies" Mraz, there was a moment in history called the 90's when a discman was the "in" thing and these artists ruled my playlist...

Third Eye Blind
"Semi-Charmed Life” was the bomb…until it got played everywhere. Thankfully, Third Eye Blind had a couple more other good songs up its sleeve. I loved almost all the tracks on their debut CD. A particular favorite is track 11, “I Want You”:

The village churchyard is filled with bones weeping in the grave;
A silver lining of clouds shines on people Jesus couldn’t save
You wanna know how deeply my soul goes?
Deeper than bones…

K’s Choice
Probably one of my first ever impulse purchases, I bought the CD without knowing what it was going to sound like (I just liked the name of the band and thought the album photo looked cool). Before I heard “Not An Addict”, probably their most well-known song (at least in my circle of friends), I fell in love with their Cocoon Crash album. “Believe” was an excellent first track, I liked the harmonies in “If You’re Not Scared”, and “20,000 Seconds” is simple and downright depressing, but beautiful that way.

Fiona Apple
Already wrote about this on the recommends section. What else can I say but that Fiona Apple’s music was a muse for my early writings.

The Sundays
“Summertime” and “When I’m Thinking About You” are about the most uncomplicated and sweetest songs I could remember from the 90’s. Almost a decade after I first heard it, “Summertime” still receives frequent rotation on my player. Now that’s a classic.

Atheneum
Loved their entire album. “What I Didn’t Know” and “Flat Tire” were popular enough to be played every so often on NU107, but were unheard of enough not to be played on every friggin’ radio station – and that could only be a good thing.

Moonpools and Caterpillars
A true hidden treasure of 90’s music. I can’t believe I forgot to put one of their songs on my Summer Soundtrack. The infectious, feel-good and catchy tracks on their Lucky Dumpling record are summertime classics. Some favorites include “Ren” and “Hear”. Also, I think two of the members of the band are Filipinos, which makes them even cooler.

The New Radicals
I distinctly remember “You Only Get What You Give” being the anthem of our angst-driven generation for a while. But I liked them more for “Someday We’ll Know” (the bitterness on this one made me so sad) and “Crying Like a Church on Monday”. Depressing stuff.

Oasis
Who could forget the bad boy brother tandem from Britain (and the rest of their band)? Throughout the 90’s they spawned a million cuss words per interview and a general “I don’t care what you think about me, I’m cooler than you” attitude, along with quite a number of memorable songs. “Wonderwall” especially takes me back to freshman year high school and its many cheesy moments crafted by puberty and the line that goes “I don’t believe in anybody who feels the way I do about you now”.

No Doubt
Gwen Stefani was the goddess I aspired to become when I was growing up in the 90's. Before the Spice Girls there was Gwen singing “Just a Girl” – a definite predecessor to girl power. Tragic Kingdom stands as one of my favorite albums of all time and “Sunday Morning” is one of my favorite songs ever (love the drums on this one in particular).

Alanis Morissette
I cannot believe I actually forgot her and Jagged Little Pill the first time I was thinking about this list. The occurence of such an oversight is why a simple activity called editing exists. Thank heavens. Anyway, this album is one of the rare few that's just so damn good, even if you hear it playing on supermarkets, you still love it. "Your House", the "secret track", was a favorite of mine from this one. I also like the cover of The Police's "King of Pain"which Alanis performed on her MTV Unplugged performance.

Did I mess up some facts and references (it’s 4 in the morning, I didn’t bother to research and worked mostly from memory)? Any other artists you want to mention? Share your thoughts by posting a comment. Would really appreciate it!=)