Music To Shake It To: A Tribute to the Grunge Era

My teenage years coincided with the rise of the grunge era and embrace it, I did…

My mother tried valiantly to buy me clothes that weren’t from thrift stores and even high heels and perfume, but nothing was coming between me and my flannel, vintage Levis, Simple sneakers and patchouli.

Even more important than the fashion for me was the MUSIC. I wouldn’t be a product of the grunge era if I didn’t vividly remember the day Kurt Cobain passed, my first grown-up concert (the Cranberries with Toad the Wet Sprocket) or those hours I wiled away talking music with grunge boys in the early chat room days-my handle was “Alterna Babe” (original, I know).

I love making mixes and have been told I am pretty good at it so when P, my best friend since Kindergarten requested a mid-90′s alternative version, I was all over that like Augustus Gloop in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

P gave the mix such rave reviews, I had to share it with you. Since I am technologically challenged and still can’t figure out how to paste in an iTunes screengrab, see the typed songs below. It’s almost more fun this way since I can leave comments about the songs.

What were some of your favorite tracks/videos from the mid-90′s alternative era?

Seen any of these guys in concert?

“A Girl Like You” by Edwyn Collins *Empire Records soundtrack was so good*

“Possum Kingdom” by the Toadies *Definitely one of my top 3 favorite songs from this era*

“When I Come Around” by Green Day

“Cannonball” by the Breeders *Another favorite from that era*

“My Name Is Jonas” by Weezer

“Closer” by Nine Inch Nails

“Song 2″ by Blur *Great running song*

“Inside Out” by Eve 6

“Sunday Morning” by No Doubt *Tragic Kingdom is such an incredible album*

“New Age Girl” by Dead Eye Dick

“Lithium” by Nirvana *My absolute favorite Nirvana track*

“You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morrissette *Jagged Little Pill must have been the bane of every parent with a teenage daughter in the mid-90′s existence since we played this album nonstop for months*

“Where It’s At” by Beck

“Get Off This” by Cracker

“Good” by Better Than Ezra

“Till I Hear It From You” by the Gin Blossoms

“Linger” by the Cranberries

“Bittersweet Symphony” by the Verve *who can forget when this song was featured at the end of Cruel Intentions?

8 responses to this post.

  1. I love it! A few bars of nostalgia popped in to my head on nearly every one of these as I read through your list. :)

    I was also a huge STP fan. Ah, the good old days. Doc martens and flannels and Sassy magazine. :)

    Reply

  2. Right on Shelby! I definitely rocked some Docs and loved that Sassy magazine!

    and I think volume 2 of my playlist will need to include STP, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Hole, the Offspring, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Spacehog, Bush, etc.

    Reply

  3. Posted by msd on June 30, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    What about Lisa Lisa?

    Reply

  4. Oh wow, this took me back!! Toad the Wet Sprocket….oh yeah, I remember. I still love the Empire Records soundrack. Classic, classic stuff!

    Reply

  5. Oh my god. I saw A LOT of those bands on that list. Toad The Wet Sprocket I saw over 20 times and I still go see them!! Yes, they still tour. Also, Better Than Ezra.

    I watched Empire Records and Reality Bites like it was my job. I wanted to BE Lisa Loeb….okay, I still do.

    I’m so glad that 90′s flower babydoll dresses are back in style because I kept them all!!! I loved Sassy and Jane magazine.

    Reply

  6. Other great soundtracks from that era included Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You and Romeo & Juliet.

    Reply

  7. [...] getting such good feedback on my first grunge playlist, I decided it was time for Part [...]

    Reply

  8. [...] For us, standout track that brought us back to our rebellious days included “Shoop”, old-school Dre/Biggie (even though my friend requested “West Coast” rap)  anything mid-90′s alternative-reference  this and this. [...]

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 52 other followers