I will end my year of Flashback Fridays with NOFX. They are one of my all time favorite bands. They have sold over 6 million records without a major record label, and with very little video or air play. In fact “Bob” was the only video that I know of that they made in the 90s, and they were together the whole 90s. They formed in the late 80s and released 5 albums in the 90s.
I’ve had fun sharing some of my favorite 90s music with you all. My plan was to do it for a year, and that is what I did. I hope I didn’t bore you too bad.
This is the song that got me hooked on Fountains of Wayne. They are probably now best known for “Stacy’s Mom”, but they have so many better songs than that one.
I discovered The Muffs in 1995 with this song, and their second album Blonder and Blonder. I love them so much. They are still around, but haven’t had a new album since 2004.
I can’t believe it took me this long to share my love of the Dance Hall Crashers. I liked them so much, that my first blog domain, Don’t Forget the Oreos, comes from the Dance Hall Crashers song “Skinhead BBQ”. “Enough” is probably their biggest “hit” as it was also on the Angus Soundtrack. I love and miss them so much.
There were a number of comp albums from the 90s that I loved — the Singles Soundtrack, the Angus Soundtrack, and of course, the album that this song is off of, Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams. It was an album of Victoria Williams covers created to raise money for her since she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and didn’t have health insurance. I love the song, and I love that one of my favorite bands covered it.
In the early 90s I picked up the Screeching Weasel album Boogadaboogadaboogada! on a whim. I instantly fell in love with the band and the label they were on, Lookout!. I started to pick up albums just because they were on Lookout!. Back then you couldn’t listen to an album before you bought it. There was no internet to get a preview of songs, I was just buying albums on a whim. I loved almost every Lookout! album, from Mr. T Experience, The Donnas, Squirtgun, and maybe a little band you might have heard of called Green Day. Sadly this week Lookout! Records is calling it quits. It’s sad, but they really haven’t been the label they were in the 90s for some time now.
This weeks video is from The Queers. They are another of those great Lookout! bands, and this song is so yummy yummy catchy.
I remember the day my college roommate played the Counting Crows, August and Everything After album for me for the first time. We bought a ton of cds that first year of college. My roommate had a crush on the record store girl, I was just in love with the music of the 90s. I never heard of the Counting Crows when my roommate brought it home, but I went out and bought it the next day. I had to have my own copy. Then “Mr. Jones” started to get some major MTV play, and the rest is history. I’ve been a little disappointed with the Counting Crows albums since August and Everything After, but that album was perfect.
I was a little late to the game with the Pixies. By the time I discovered them, they were broken up. I have since grown to love them. My first exposure to Black Francis, or Frank Black, or whatever he want to call himself was his self titled solo album. I’m surprised it took me this long to get to Frank Black. He was one of my favorites in the early 90s. In recent years he has almost became too prolific. He has put out at least an album a year since 1998, and some years even two album. I haven’t been able to keep up with them. I would probably prefer an album every three years with just the best songs written in those three years, but that could just be me. So I’m not too familiar with Frank Black’s latest work, but his albums in the early 90s were some of my favorites.
I wasn’t a huge Verve Pipe fan, but I loved their album Villains. By 1996 when this album came out, many of the lesser known bands that I loved were getting major airplay on the radio. As a result, much music from this era I still can’t stand from hearing it too much, including this song.
“Hey Jealousy” wasn’t my favorite song on New Miserable Experience, but I loved that album. Every time I listen to it, it brings me back to the many college parties I went to my freshman year of college. It was actually pretty hard to get into parties as a freshman if you didn’t have boobs, or brought along someone with boobs. Luckily for me my roommate was a football player, so I was able to get into a few. That’s probably all I remember of that year of college, and that’s probably not a good thing.
