An Ode to the 90s

Details: Shirt-Omighty, Choker-Urban Outfitters, Jeans-Urban Outfitters, Shoes-Docs

Today I'm here to talk about my favorite decade: the 90s. I know, I know, we see 90s stuff everywhere nowadays. Chokers, flannels, slip dresses, and combat boots have become a part of modern, popular fashion. People want to look like they have the "90s style". And I'm all about it. I mean I love being able to walk into a store a buy a band shirt for a band that I actually know, love, and listen to. But, it can be annoying seeing people with no knowledge of the music wearing a Nirvana shirt, for example, which is why I fell in love with this shirt from Omighty the second I saw it. I feel like a hypocrite though because I get annoyed personally when I'm wearing a shirt by a band that I like and people start to question me about it, so it does show that you really can't judge a book by it's cover. Just yesterday I was wearing a Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream shirt and a guy waiting for the bus with me started asking me about the band and it turns out that I knew more about them than he did, so I ended up giving him some song suggestions! 

90s alt rock holds such a special place in my heart and my iTunes. It's what I was raised on. Growing up, I would listen to Soundgarden's "Superunknown" with my dad on the weekends and Gin Blossoms' "New Miserable Experience" on trips to see the family with my mom.  I literally did not know who NSYNC was until maybe 2nd or 3rd grade. And it's not just the music of my parents; it became my music as well, which is why I'm sharing it with you today.

Instead of choosing just one song to define how I feel about my favorite decade, I've created this huge playlist of 27 of my favorite 90s jams by some of my favorite 90s artists (I've limited it to one song by each artist and believe me it was literally painful at times to decide which song to put on here). I think it's a pretty good mix of different sounds from the decade, from the heavier "Would" by Alice in Chains to the more poppy "Meet Virginia" by Train to everything in between like the upbeat but actually disturbingly dark "Semi Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind.  I painstakingly ordered them chronologically because I think it's interesting to see how the music changed over the course of the decade and how certain elements stayed the same; specifically I wanted to isolate the "grunge" artists from their later descendants.   I love the so-called "grunge" genre and the bands associated with it, but it's completely incorrect to say that the music from the 90s was all grunge. There were so many other alternative music movements and subgenres that I enjoy just as much.  

I feel a lot of emotion listening to each of these songs. The alt rock that came out of this decade, for the most part, was rather dark, and while some might say that its "a bummer" to listen to, I enjoy digesting every lyric. I'm not saying that music today is emotionless and empty - many of my favorite songs and bands came out of this more recent decade - I just think that there really is something special about the grittiness of the 90s that shows through even in the more upbeat-sounding songs. Maybe I'm just making this up, so I'll let you all decide for yourselves. 

On this thing of beauty, you will find:

1 - Hey by the Pixies (1989)

2 - Dive by Nirvana (1990)

3 - Outshined by Soundgarden (1991)

4 - Black by Pearl Jam (1991)

5 - Would by Alice in Chains (1992)

6 - Hey Jealousy by Gin Blossoms (1993)

7 - Low by Cracker (1993)

8 - Soul to Squeeze by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (1993)

9 - Unglued by Stone Temple Pilots (1994)

10 - Undone- The Sweater Song by Weezer (1994)

11 - Possum Kingdom by the Toadies (1994)

12 - Reptile by Nine Inch Nails (1994)

13 - Everything Zen by Bush (1994)

14 - Zero by Smashing Pumpkins (1995)
15 - Everlong by the Foo Fighters (1995)

16 - Only Happy When it Rains by Garbage (1995)

17 - Lump by the Presidents of the USA (1995)

18 - Meet Virginia by Train (1996)

19 - Nude as the News by Cat Power (1996)

20 - The Freshmen by the Verve Pipe (1996)

21 - Wind Below by Rage Against the Machine (1996)

22 - Semi Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind (1997)

23 - Song 2 by Blur (1997)

24 - Brick by Ben Folds Five (1997)

25 - Black Balloon by Goo Goo Dolls (1998)

26 - Shimmer by Fuel (1998)

27 - Everything in its Right Place by Radiohead (2000)


Have a wonderful week my 90s beauties!

Karis the baybonnet