Turning 90: Our 90s party and annotated playlist

Amy and I turned a collective 90 this summer and decided to celebrate together 90s-style. It was a fantastic night, with a bunch of friends from many different parts of our lives hanging out inside the house and in the garage.  We had the mobile custom ice cream sandwich truck from Frozen Hoagies roll up outside the garage, which definitely took things up to 11 in the eyes of many admiring guests. A few people turned out in plaid shirts but for the most part the 90s theme was just at the musical level.

Amy and I with the Frozen Hoagies truck in our driveway

Amy and I with the Frozen Hoagies truck in our driveway

I got totally into curating a special 90s playlist, and went to the Garment District to find a vintage band shirt (Foo Fighters…a band I actually saw w/ Aaron in 97 or so). Since we had a mellow crowd, there wasn’t quite the epiphanic Rites of Spring-like dancing to Fugazi or Quad City DJs that I might have desired. But in the privacy of your own home or headphones, there’s nothing to stop you from bobbing your head in silent approbation of my playlist. Presented here in alpha order: links are to the videos. Or if you already have plenty of your own feelings and interpretations of the 90s and just want to listen, here is the Spotify list.

Everyone was feeling 1992 after a giant ice cream sandwich

Everyone was feeling 1992 after a giant ice cream sandwich

California Love 2Pac This was a great video from 2Pac that entered my grad school bubble and caused me to write a paper about it and the Kathryn Bigelow movie “Strange Days.” Images of the apocalypse or something. I presented it at SUNY Binghamton at a conference on millennial sh!t in 1997. When I googled the conf just now I was so happy not to have continued blithering in that direction in my career…I realize now I was just like Beavis and Butthead saying, “huh huh, cool” compared to people who actually made their papers at that conference lead up to books, tenure etc.
You oughta know Alanis So it turns out Dave Navarro from Jane’s Addiction and Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers played on this track and are in the video. Such an artifact of its moment…Alanis is wearing a crop-top shirt under a jacket as she rolls around in the desert sand, full of rage and great hair.
Would? Alice in chains Hard to believe but the 1992 Cameron Crowe movie Singles was held out as a grungy monocle peering inside the life of 20-something Gen Xers like me. The movie was full of BS emotional shorthand, leavened somewhat by the cameo by Xavier McDaniel appearing in some guy’s head to help him defer pleasure. You have to give Crowe credit for the soundtrack, though, which includes some custom-written tracks by great bands. This Alice in Chains track still rocks.
Sabotage Beastie Boys Just the iconic Beasties song and video. Who doesn’t know that Mike D played “The Captain” as “Allessandro Allegré” or MCA, may his memory be a blessing, played “Chochise” as “Nathan Wind”?
Hyperballad Bjork Starting with “Birthday,” her 1988 track with Sugarcubes that brought my man Pat to Gimme Shelter-style ecstasies with Bjork’s belting style, she became one of my key cult of tiny, maniacal women singers (along with PJ Harvey). This song became a dance hit despite Bjork’s unstoppable weirdness in the lyrics.
Song 2 Blur Probably ironic that this song by Guardian-reading Blur became the soundtrack to the Starship Troopers right-wing fantasy movie and many a run mix. Still awesome. Saw them, along with Alanis, Beasties, and Bjork, at the Concert for Tibet w/ Aaron on Randalls Island in 1999.
El Cuarto de Tula Buena vista Though they had been playing gigs since the 1950s, the 90s was the breakout decade for the Buena Vista crew, highlighted by the Wim Wenders biopic in 1999. Amy, my folks and I saw them at a fantastic concert in Boston.
Lovefool Cardigans A great track from the Baz Luhrman “Romeo + Juliet” movie that I went to see with my RU English grad student posse. I was so pumped to lead my Expository Writing students through a careful unpacking of the film’s many meanings but it never happened.
Under the Bridge Chiles In a playlist full of my own trips down memory lane, this is the one track that is more of an Amy favorite. I’m like the magnanimous jerk protagonist of “High Fidelity” who ends the movie by actually making his lady a mixtape of stuff she likes instead of his own pompous tastes. I loved these guys in the 80s/early 90s.
How I could just kill a man Cypress Hill In a prelude to the “Tea Partay” video, this song reminds me of driving around Long Island w/ Doug, Amy and Bart, crankin Cypress Hill, with Bart wearing his mom’s pink velour Kangol hat
Brown sugar D’Angelo Any true Prince fan has to love D’Angelo’s one-man-band / loverman m.o. This track from his debut reminds me of hanging out w/ unattainable women in Brooklyn.
Groove is in the heart Dee-Lite From the dawn of the 90s, and before it was commonplace to have rappers guest on pop / dance songs, this little number feat. Q-Tip was a big song at Casa de Newport at Amherst in 1990-1991.
Personal Jesus Depeche Mode Nothing says “posing alterna college student” like Depeche, who like U2 seemed to have a strange compulsion to explicate religion, America, death and other big topics using only a bunch of synths and drum tracks.
The art of easing Digable Planets This is actually from their sophomore album following their hit with “Cool Like That” from 92. Saw them play outside the miserable River Dorms at Rutgers wherein I spent much of my 20s teaching Expository Writing.
Unbelievable EMF Wonderfully goofy…the kind of band that has a guy whose job is just to dance in place and say “WHOAAAH YEAH.”
My Hero Foo fighters This is the song that is supposedly Dave Grohl’s homage to Kurt Cobain.
Margin walker Fugazi Through high school in Northern VA I was basically lobotomized by classic rock, missing out on the chance to go to DC and see bands like Minor Threat and (then) Fugazi with the more aware kids in my class. Somehow I snapped out of it. The last time I played this song through speakers instead of headphones was 92 at a party in our grad school apt. A semi-punky friend said we should start a radio show on the Rutgers station…a dream that was not to be. But that dudette, Beth Loffreda, actually did make a real academic career for herself in Wyoming, finding herself there in the right moment to bear witness to Mathew Sheppard’s murder and its aftermath. Good job!
Ready or Not Fugees I taught summer courses at RU-Newark in the 90s and felt a bit of kinship with “The Brick City” when the Fugees emerged. Lauryn Hill: what a voice!
Stupid Girl Garbage In December 1998 I went to the MLA English-prof conference in San Francisco and then drove down to LA to spend New Year’s into 1999 with my cousin. I played this Garbage CD that whole week and it is tied up in my mind with the beauty of the ride, and the rising awareness that the life of an academic probably wasn’t going to pan out. Got to see some elephant seals though.
Celebrity Skin Hole My man Bart’s cousin Tim, an actual musician, proposed that Celebrity Skin was one of those albums that is flawless all the way through. Totally agree and this opening track has both hair-metal guitars AND a reference to demonology. Parfait!
Mountain Song Jane’s Addiction Unlike the more Rock Cathedral stylings of “Ritual de lo Habitual” (1990), the songs off “Nothing’s Shocking” (1988) usually get the job done in 4 mins or less. In the studio version, Dave Navarro’s guitar under the “ooooh, oooh, whoa whoa whoa yeah” chorus is excellence in shredding. This video is from a good NYC concert in 1998 that conveys the shirtless-skirt-wearing majesty that was Jane’s.
Steal my sunshine Len A bit flaky but this girl’s voice in the chorus made this song one of the big ones of Summer 1999. The CD was weak and the band vanished afterwards, their contribution to world culture assured.
Baby got going Liz Phair Liz Phair was a true cult figure for me and many of my friends in the 90s. Particularly for people in the grad school orbit, Liz Phair’s self-conscious stylings (i.e. remaking a Stones album track by track) and lyrics just added mysterious glory to her great indie sound. I do have friends that probably feel this song is too produced and not real-real enough but whatever.
Naked eye Luscious Jackson Classic Beasties-produced sound of NYC in the 90s…brings me right back to Aaron’s tiny apartments.
Vogue Madonna This song featured at the Amherst Madonna Party, where lots of people got their lingerie on. Afterwards by voice vote Madonna was awarded a D. Hum. (honoris causa) from Amherst, which we thought was pretty awesome as she hadn’t gone to college. Ms. Ciccone, the sheepskin is still waiting for you, signed by Peter Pouncey!
Ray of Light Madonna This was the Madonna phase about which my friend Sarah proposed a New Yorker cartoon with the caption, “American Indian or Madonna Indian?”
Buffalo Stance Neneh Cherry One of the great danceable songs of the decade. My sister in law just dug it out this past winter and I have to admit, I still know all the words.
Closer Nine Inch Nails Withdrawn from the actual party playlist after Amy heard the lyrics. Still, hard to resist the beat.
Smells like teen spirit Nirvana Of all the songs I looked up for this playlist, Smells Like has the most YouTube plays by far (190M plus). When Kurt died my mom recognized what an earthquake had hit my generation and called me up immediately to ask how I was taking it.
Spiderwebs No Doubt Before Gwen was Gwen (just like before Lauryn was Lauryn), she was part of this fun ska-punk band from Orange County. This song brings me back to working out in the Hoboken YMCA.
Got your money Ol’ Dirty Bastard The playful side of the Wu-Tang Crew. You have to love Kelis (of “I Hate You So Much Right Now” solo fame) on this chorus.
Even Flow Pearl Jam When I first played the Pearl Jam CD for Aaron he basically thought they were mopey, plaid-skirt-wearing dirge artists. Once he got past that he became a much bigger fan than I ever was.
State of love and trust Pearl Jam This one from the “Singles” soundtrack has more of a straight-ahead energy than the typical Pearl Jam track of those days. Still my favorite.
Down by the water PJ Harvey Another tiny maniacal performer I love. This is just about her most radio-friendly tune from the era. How can someone be so teeny and self-effacing in normal life, and such an amazing monster/diva onstage?
Sour Times Portishead Kind of like the flipside of Wu-Tang, with a similar affection for beats and noir strings together.
1999 Prince Song was released in 1982! Prince was not alone in overestimating the Y2K bug but this song is into its fourth decade of crushing it.
C’mon n’ Ride It Quad City DJs OMG just realized these guys had previously produced “Whoot! There it is”…despite that I really love this song, which is just innocent enough on the lyrics that we can play it in the house
Creep Radiohead Before they were worldwide cult heros and the subjects of a hagiographic New Yorker profile, Radiohead were the band that sang “I’m a creep…what the hell am I doing here?” I saw them OPEN FOR BELLY IN THE RUTGERS GYM. That’s how far they have climbed.
Bulls on parade Rage against the machine Nothing says 90s like the Rage cover art, a trunk full of Ché regalia and tracts. Sadly, “rally round the family/with a pocket full of shells” is more of an apt and realistic political portrait than ever.
Nothing compares to U Sinead I so loved Sinead’s sea-screech in “Jackie” from her first album. Then to sing over a Prince track, while gorgeously and baldly glowering around the grounds of a mansion? Perfection.
Baby got back Sir Mix-a-lot The summer of 1992 I spent in DC and it was wall-to-wall Sir Mix-a-Lot. My friend Tam said at the time that entire stations had become Baby Got Back outlets. Glorious.
1979 Smashing Pumpkins I saw Billy Corgan interviewed recently in “Beyond the Gilded Stage,” a Rush documentary. I think even as much as I loved the Pumpkins in the 90s, probably nobody will be doing a docu about them four decades after their founding. However, an unabashedly cool group, with a poppy lyrical sense at times as in “1979.”
Gin & Juice Snoop Dogg Brings me back to singing this with Sarah and other Sammy’s survivors while careening down the icy streets of the Lower East Side.
Back to life Soul 2 Soul Always associated in my mind with cool British women from when I studied in the UK in 89-90. Amazing feat to be archly cool while also constantly making tea and eating Hob-Nobs.
Outshined Soundgarden Soundgarden was for me the (empty? tormented?) soul of the early 90s Lollapalooza era. Nothing like the Black Sabbath like churn plus Chris Cornell’s yowling cries from the alterna-cave.
Fools Gold Stone Roses This is the song that rang in the 90s for me as I visited the “Madchester” scene of glam squalor with UK college friends, complete with a visit to the New Order Haçienda club and an ultra-poseur shot in front of the Salford Lads Club to recreate the Smiths’ Queen is Dead album cover. Totally trippy bongos on hand to remind you that people were on some major drug trips.
Tumble in the rough Stone Temple Pilots This brings back sweet memories for me and Amy, believe it or not, as we got this used CD in Flagstaff AZ on a camping trip when we were first going out and listened to these songs driving across the desert.
Electric Relaxation Tribe called quest The video says “90s NYC” better than almost anything else. If you haven’t seen it, the documentary on Tribe Called Quest, “Beats Rhymes and Life,” is great.
Mysterious Ways U2 Not content to explain America to Americans, with the Achtung Baby album and this video, U2 sought to explain the mystic appeal of North African culture. The album was such a defining moment in the senior year of my 92 friends at Amherst that when I visited them that year it was like they had to explain to me they had had a formal conversion experience.

 

Here is the playlist on Spotify again:

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