Climb aboard! Next stops the 90's! The iPod shuffle gave me I Can't by Radiohead and it led me down a rabbit hole of 90's appreciation. Here's a decade that often gets overlooked by me due to my preference of the 80's over the 90's. Also due to bad personal experiences and feeling in the 90's. But, it's been nearly a decade and a half since the end of that terrible decade, and 20 or more years since the good stuff. (Wow. Old) So let's get started!
Here we have Radiohead's debut album Pablo Honey. Sure, you know Creep, their hit, but are you familiar with these other great songs? Songs like Anyone Can Play Guitar. Did Radiohead listen to this song years later and decide that since anyone can play guitar it was time to move away from guitar rock into more experimental territory? The writing was on the wall from the beginning. Or how about Thinking About You, a beautiful acoustic love song? My personal favorite is Stop Whispering. There's the standard edition and the US edition. Either or is fantastic. Whichever one happens to be playing is the one I like best. The question is, why the US gets a different version. It has a different production, more in line with US tastes I guess. As much as I understand and appreciate the amazing critical nature of their later albums, for me Radiohead's most enjoyable period are their first three albums, Pablo Honey, The Bends and OK Computer. All from the 90's
Next we have Chrome, the sophomore effort from Catherine Wheel. This one not only brings up memories of the 90's, but memories of first loves. I do love Catherine Wheel's albums and I wonder if I would've ever discover them without the introduction from my first girlfriend. That relationship didn't last, but luckily it didn't sully my joy in listening to great songs like Pain or Strange Fruit or especially highlight track Show Me Mary. That last is one of my favorite songs of all time.
This trip includes some false nostalgia. Well, more like false memories. The Idlewild song When I argue I See Shapes is an excellent song. It's back-half has a total 90's guitar part that can't help by evoke the decade. And since it came out in 1998, that makes sense. I call it false because I didn't discover it until years later, and only realized it was from the 90's a little bit after that. So, the nostalgia is real yet false.
We also have Copper Blue by Sugar First Time Listening. Decent, Though I can only get so far with Mould's singing style. File Under: Easy Listening is their album I actually remember hearing in the 90's though I couldn't tell you which song turned me on to it. I am not going to head there as per the aforementioned singing style (Oh wait. I know this song Helpless! So what's the one from File Under: Easy Listening?)
Evoking the past can be more satisfying then outright remembering the past. It's why I can listen to and appreciate Sugar or Idlewild's 90's output. More so than I appreciate what I was actually listening to at the time. I can't listen to Soundgarden, Pearljam, Nirvana, Live or Stone Temple Pilots anymore. It's almost as if I'm embarrassed by that time and my tastes. Yet, I can still listen to the Cure albums from that time. And the Radiohead. And our next and final artist.
Rounding out my nostalgia trip is Siamese Dream from the Smashing Pumpkins. It seems like at this point it goes without saying that this band's 90's output is far greater than anything they did since. Honestly, it was pretty much downhill after Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness (half-great/half-bloat, remind me to outline my edit to a 1 album masterpiece) Siamese Dream is of course excellent and my first introduction to the Pumpkins. I liked them a lot during this time but they were always second fiddle to all the artists I have listed in the previous paragraph. Yet, I can listen to the Smashing Pumpkins to this day, so either their music is more timeless, or it's better, or because I didn't wear myself out on it I can listen to it still, or my tastes have changed to include them but not the others. Whatever it is, I can still listen to and enjoy Hummer, Silverfuck and my personal favorite Mayonaise. Hell, even the overplayed hits are still excellent; Cherub Rock, Today and Disarm.
Well, it's been a fun ride. Should I go for the 00's next?
