90s alternative rock stuff
When I brain-dumped some of my favorite forgotten 90s alternative rock songs, I never expected to receive so much love. But I should have known better: Gen X will never let the tunes that defined us die. In the spirit of keeping page load times in Google’s good graces, I present Forgotten 90s Alternative Rock Songs: PART II. Check out Part I here.
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It should be no surprise that the guy who loved Toad the Wet Sprocket and worshipped Sunny Day Real Estate fell in love with a band named Jimmy Eat World. But, hey, I love the Goo Goo Dolls, too. I guess I have a thing for verbose band names.
My first exposure to Jimmy Eat World came at the hands of Jerry Rubino, a part-time jock at the local radio station where I interned. He seemed older than most of the radio station employees and was probably no older than the age I am as I write this post.
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Find me a better band name than Soul Asylum and a more extraordinary album title than “Grave Dancers Union.” Go ahead; I’ll wait.
The 80s act that blossomed into a 90s alternative rock force held significant influence over droves of Gen Xers, even if Soul Asylum is not as cool to reference as Nirvana, Peral Jam, Blind Melon…or any other of their chart-sharing counterparts. Soul Asylum’s hit single “Runaway Train” was a massive success, reaching number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and winning a Grammy for Best Rock Song.
And perhaps that was the problem.
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They say you always remember your first.
For me, it was the Nike Air Max 90 that started it all.
We were somewhere in Manhattan. Perhaps along 9th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen.
The storefront was small, but the window display blew my 13-year-old mind: Dozens of pairs of shrink-wrapped sneakers, each emblazed with a neon sticker boasting a monstrous price reduction. These sneakers were begging to be bought, and I wanted each and every pair. A sneaker addict was born.
As I gazed into the window, aware for the first time that sneakers could be cool, my parents must have seen something illuminate inside my soul. We entered. Every fiber of my being told me this was my chance, an opportunity to finally own a coveted pair of high-end sneakers, which until this point, my parents had shielded me from.
But who were they protecting? Me from the absurdity of material objects or themselves from financial hardship?
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I fall in love with inanimate objects.
Tennis rackets, pens, sneakers, watches, bicycles, sunglasses, and so on. It’s not exactly unconditional love; my emotions can lead these objects to hang around past their expiration dates.
So consider this article a love letter, an amorous note to the stereos that helped me grow as a person and made my heart go pitter-patter. Because when it comes to 80s/90s stereo systems, I’m all in!
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How to pitch a TV show idea? I have no idea, but that didn’t stop me from trying.
I know we are not supposed to use words like “fail” since every misfire is a “learning opportunity,” but sometimes things don’t work out. And sometimes, euphemisms aren’t satisfying.
But every failure does let you know you tried. And trying shows you give a shit. So every now and then, I like to document some of my favorite failures. Each one, of course, redirects me to where I am supposed to be.
As I was nearing the end of my stint with VH1 on the satellite radio end of things, I realized I’d be foolish if I did not try to make my way from radio to TV. After all, I might never have the “inside track” again. So I pitched a couple of shows to a network executive. The concepts never went anywhere, but it recently occurred that, despite tremendous advances in digital recording, one concept, TOSS THE MIC, holds up almost 20 years later.
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