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Iconic Seasons Off Season - The Anxious Rambler: 90s and The Music that Shaped You
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Welcome to episode three of the anxious rambler got a little laugh track, , to start out there, forgot to hit the unmute button, but we're excited to be back with everyone. Hopefully everyone's enjoying the content. We've been focused on music here, but I wanted to throw it to Cassie to start. I'm going to start out just to talk a little bit about the name, because that is, that name's all her.
And while I love being a part of this, I do think that it's important to give a little bit of space for the anxious rambler before we get into today's topic, which will be the nineties. We're talking nineties today and specifically songs that made a difference. Is that how you'd say it?
Yeah. 90s songs or music from the 90s that shaped the music that you listen to, maybe something that you heard or a song that you heard that opened up new bands or the type of music that you continued to listen to in the evolution of music that you listened to in the nineties, which is over 10 years of possibilities.
Well, this will be interesting for me because my nineties journey was probably very different than yours. So, and it's not that I, I had different stretches where I was. More eclectic and less eclectic, but the nineties might have been my most eclectic time because I was just like a flag in the wind with the types of music that I listened to. Before we get into talking about the songs, I wanted to go back because hopefully if people are listening to what is now the third episode of this podcast, that they're interested in not just the content, which is awesome talking about music and the, the content and how it shaped people's lives, but also a little bit about you.
So the, the title anxious rambler, I wanted to see if you could explain a little bit how That title, , describes you.
Well, how the name describes me, The Anxious Rambler. I guess in coming up with a name for a podcast, which you encouraged me to do. Yeah. , because of my storytelling ability and just insane memory that I, you know, can remember things from being like three years old.
So, the name, The Anxious Rambler. Basically does just define who I am to go back a little bit farther and why I even had to come up with that name joining a podcast with you or Starting a podcast with something that you'd been asking me about for at least maybe the last year or more
at least yeah,
and I think initially wanted sometimes some of the basketball podcasts that you did.
Well, truth be told, you have, uh, been behind the scenes in selecting some of the people that I've gotten to interview. So Charlie Miller, for example. Who's, who's someone, there's a few others that you had. I encouraged you to
reach out to some people for sure. Yeah. So that's when Charlie Miller was a big, big one
that, that discussion and allowing me to do that on Easter morning, uh, when, when he was a, when he was free, he was pretty amazing too.
, So I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do. the podcast to be about and we talked about maybe doing music and then also when I kind of started this new journey of self discovery as far as coping skills with past trauma and this new journey that i've been on I of course, I started struggling with some anxiety in my late teens, in high school, and just learning how to cope with that, fall down and pick yourself back up. And it seems like the last four years I've really gotten it figured out. I got my license to be a peer support specialist, so I can help other people on similar journeys or with different needs.
Just, you know, similar feelings and things I'm trying to work through. So we thought about doing a podcast of sort of self discovery, self help, but then because there are so many things. especially music that are a big part of my healing journey. I didn't really have a particular topic that I wanted to stick with.
So I said, I feel like I'll just be rambling all the time about things that have helped me or the journey I've been on. And you know, I'm full of anxiety all the time, even if I managed to cope with it. So the anxious rambler just seemed to fit and because It might be about music, it might be about something else, but sort of the topic always is, or the central idea is that there are things that help everyone individually and just to remember to access those parts of you that make you feel something or give you life and want to keep keeping on.
Well, you hit on a few things in there that I can even follow up on where music is, is such a journey and it taps into something that is very deep. And I think there's a, It's something that we've noticed about musicians that they often struggle with a lot of these things. A lot of musicians or artistic people or creative people often can feel, I mean, honestly, anyone.
Did you look at my notes that I made?
No, no I didn't. Because
I talk a lot about that too. Yeah, you can
just feel a drift, and especially as a young person. I think that's often why music is so important at That, uh, you know, the nineties were high school for me, a little younger for you. Uh, it can be such a, a,
I was seven years old in 1990.
It can be such a
buoy though in your, in your life or a beacon in your life to keep moving forward through difficult times. So I think that's a great comfortable place for both of us to start out with. Okay. So, so bring us back around to what we're doing. Okay. Uh, I already laughed at myself for picking artists and songs while you so appropriately were much more detailed and, uh, have stories and exact songs picked out and were singing a song to me.
So, um, let everyone know, since this was your, your setup, what, what we're going to go, what we're going to go through today.
Right. So first of all, let me say today, June 18th, it is my brother's birthday. Yeah, though he would probably gag at the idea of me saying, , anytime I would get gushy when I was a little girl and just tell him how great he thought I thought he was.
He would make this gagging sound, but then also smile and laugh because who isn't flattered by, don't be afraid to get,
don't be afraid to get Hy People's fine. I don't like it either, but it's, it's good. It's good for all of us. So
this, this podcast is dedicated. This episode is dedicated to him. Nice,
well then I'll let you lead off with the first song.
Where are you going? Or, I know you're explaining to us what, what this, what this is.
Yeah, so it's just, when I think of when I, I mean I was in, into music in the 80s, but of course it was, You know, 80s music was so vast there. I mean, there was like hair bands, there was punk, pop music. And of course, you know, I loved all of those things, but I think as I, though, I, like I said earlier, I was seven turning eight in 1990, but I think when my, that was also in my, brother left for college and I think one of the things that kept he and I connected was the music that he always shared with me and I think I talked about that in the first episode as well.
Um, but there was such a shift and a change in music that was coming out in the nineties and especially starting around 1990. And I definitely see a lot of influences from then to now in the music I listen to. Some of it, maybe not so much, but I think the nineties really changed how I listened to music things.
I heard why I liked certain songs. I really started to pick up on lyrics. Um, so yeah, the nineties were just very influential and the music that I listened to then and now, and what music means to me.
It seems like there's, in music in general, there is a cyclical aspect where 30 years ago starts to be a reference point.
Maybe because the people in bands today, their parents listened to the music of 30 years ago. So like when we were growing up, this, the, the 60 people in the, you know, 80s would have listened to the 60s and people or people even in the 90s would have listened to the 60s. And now the 60s is so far away that you're more likely to listen to like the 80s or the 90s.
And we're hearing some artists in the last, you know, five to 10 years, like Leon Bridges are, you know, creating music that sounds like Motown.
Okay. That's true. That's true. Yeah. I wonder if that cyclical. aspect will go away since everything is so available because when we were growing up too, this dates, dates us a little bit.
Music, music would just go away, right? Like it would just, if it wasn't on the radio anymore. Yeah. Disco's gone. I mean, no, I mean like you wouldn't hear it on the radio or on MTV or any like, way that we could access it. You wouldn't go to a CD, you know, Sam Goody and get a disco CD. Original
like honky tonk kind of,
just kind of
yodeling, you know, but you could, but you could get into it
now cause you could just pull up iTunes and you know, maybe the algorithm feeds it to you.
I don't know.
That's a good point.
Yeah. All right. What you got?
Okay. So I'm starting off with, uh, I actually have. Let me first say first we started out with like 10 songs each But there's no way I could stick with
I had bands and songs So I was
gonna try to do 20, but I couldn't get it under 23. Oh,
wow, then I got to 21
Right, but I think I think I made it around 16 ish But I so what I did was I kind of put like two songs by the same band in like the same slot You So I'm going to start off with Pearl Jam.
So I think the first Pearl Jam song I heard was Jeremy. And if it wasn't the first song, it was definitely the first music video that I saw. Pearl Jam was one of the first new bands that I remember my brother introducing to me. And It completely opened up the gates of just like that whole album, the Seattle grunge movement, and second song by Pearl Jam that made a big difference to me, that's a very different song, was Dissident.
Love that song.
Love that song. That
is one of those songs that I feel like you can put on And when you get to the end of it, you want to hit back on the CD player. Now, what would be the current reference point? Tell Siri to replay it or triple click your headphones or something like that. Amazing. Are you throwing it to me then?
Yes. Cause I have the next one. I'm probably going to talk about for 10
minutes. Okay. Uh, 30, this is kind of crazy. I just thought about this today. Uh, 30 years ago to today, uh, was in, I think about right now is in West Virginia on a mission trip of all things. Uh, and we were painting houses down there. Uh, but the song that we were listening to was Red Hot Chili Peppers Under the Bridge, which not, wouldn't think of as like your most mission trip song, song about heroin.
Uh, but a friend of mine could play the guitar. So, and it's very singable. And this is one of the things that I love about, 90s music that I feel like the choruses had a lot of melodies that you could really connect with and, and sing, sing along to. And that song, especially the beginning is very like simple and, and flowy.
And just about anybody, if you get a group of people sound pretty good singing, singing that. And I, I had, uh, for a long time in high school, just kind of a dream about California. It just really represented something to me, maybe again, because loving the sixties and loving the things that came out of the sixties in California with, you know, like the beach boys and lots of, uh, different, different things, uh, from that era.
Yes. Sorry, did I interrupt there? Cause I was pulling up lyrics from the next one. You
did.
So. This is, I'm gonna take a few minutes of time on, on this one. Um, I have very distinct memories of, of this band and these songs. So, I think it was around spring break of, maybe, was it? 91, 92 when this came out and my brother was home and I think it was 92 and there was a music video and he had asked me, have you heard this song yet?
You have to see this video and it was Blind Melon No Rain. And I was in absolute awe at how amazing that song was, how much I loved it, how catchy it was. To me as like a, like a nine year old, it was a fun song. And then for Christmas later that year, he got me Blind Melon's first album CD.
I thought you were going to say he got you the costume.
No, he didn't. And I loved that entire CD from start to finish. There was one song in particular that I really loved called change.
Sure. Great song.
Yeah. And
should I, should I try to emulate his voice right now? No. Okay. I don't think you
can. You're
right.
So I did not realize at the time and I listened to it and I remember thinking, gosh, he seemed sad or I hope he's okay.
Or I hope he doesn't really feel this way. And later, Like today, listening to it today, realizing how much those lyrics would resonate with me. I also, back then, loved, had a crush on Shannon Hoon, the lead singer. He's from Lafayette, Indiana. Did you know that he did backup vocals for Guns N Roses?
Didn't I know that?
Interesting. Interesting.
Axl Rose is from Lafayette. So his sister dated Axl Rose. So that's sort of like, you know, where he started. And um, Of course he passed away. He passed away the day before my 13th birthday, so I'll never forget. Um, I still
remember I went to Purdue my freshman year. Of course, you know that, but, uh, there's a mural.
Yes. There is melon heads
gather there every year on, it's either his birthday or the day, but
always, always, uh, notice that when I'd walk by
later. As I learned a little bit more about him, unfortunately, post, you know, after, after his passing, the, No Rain, while it's a very happy tempoed song, it's a very sad song, really, and I had read, I had read an article, maybe heard one of his bandmates talking about, you know, the line, I just want someone to say to me, I'll always be there when you wake.
And when he did pass away, he was alone in his bunk on the tour bus and their sound guy found them and he battled really difficult anxiety and depression and had gone in and out of rehab on his own a few times. Um, I think after he, he and his girlfriend had a baby, he was clean for a while and then some, some show that they were at, there were some, some fans or some people at the show that turned him on to a boatload of other drugs and he just Didn't wake up one day, and So I it gave me kind of that what you were talking about earlier like, you know, I Think we now have more access to Musicians or people with any sort of fame than we used to then we learned so much about them now, but then I'm sure no one really knew on, like, as big of a scale as we know now.
Like, artists do interviews, there's social media, they talk about things they're going through, what the meaning is behind music. They are more
open about it.
And, you know, I think there's good and bad parts to fans having that much access to people's psyche, but I also wonder If Shannon Hoon were born at a different time, if he were born later, if he were around our age and was feeling that way and writing this music, could it have saved his life as well?
Because he, he has, and then I'm sure his music and his words have probably saved other people. I mean, how often do I say that music has saved my life.
Yeah. I think, yeah, I mean, that's a great way to put it. I, you know, being a musician is such a weird thing though, to, it's such an, uh, innately intimate act to write these words down, to create this melody inside your mind, to then put it down in a recording in a studio or create it with your band.
And then all of a sudden you want to, get groups of progressively larger strangers and have that collective moment with them. And it's incredible when it happens, but it's also has to be very just different for the, the person who wrote it. Because again, you're, you're talking about like, wow, the, the, the meaning of that to you and maybe even what it meant to him.
When he sings that in a concert in front of 10, 000 people, it can't really have that same meaning, right? It has to be the Bumblebee song then. And it, and it's just,
and I think it has to mess with you a little bit. No Rain became a song that Put him into a spiral at some points too because it was all anyone wanted to hear Yes
seemed like a lot of 90s artists struggle with that dichotomy because so many of them came up with this ethos that you don't want To sell out right?
I don't feel like that They that artists today struggle as much with not not selling out but the capitalistic aspect of being an artist seems to be Much friendlier now it was frowned upon Frankly, I felt like when when we were coming of age Yeah
Can I read? Of course. Some of the lyrics of Change?
Without crying.
Probably not.
Okay, so I don't feel the sun's coming out today, it's staying in, it's gonna find another way. As I sit here in this misery, I don't think I'll ever, no lord, see the sun from here. And oh, as I fade away, they'll look at me and say, And they'll say, I look at him, I'll never live that way.
And that's okay, they're just afraid to change. And when you feel like life, sorry, and when you feel life ain't worth living, you've gotta stand up and take a look around, and you look up way to the sky. And when your deepest thoughts are broken, keep on dreamin boy, cause when you stop dreamin it's time to die.
And then it goes into, but I know we can't all stay here forever, so I'm going to write my words on the face of today. And then they'll paint it. And oh, as I fade away, they'll all look at me and say, Hey, look at him and where he is these days. When life is hard, you have to change.
That's great. Yeah. Great poetry.
That's the, the best songs are often poetry. And that's, that's some great stuff.
Hard knowing.
Well, the end of that story. Yeah. Yeah. It is, but sometimes, you know, like you get, he, you give, he get, he gave that to the universe and there's, there's power in that too, where he didn't, he didn't get to see the other side of the rainbow, the good, the good part of it maybe, but he also, like you said, helped a lot of people maybe to get to that place,
the way that some of his bandmates describe him as well, that he was the most kind hearted person, but he had, I love the way.
His bandmates have described him as well, that they've said that he was such a kindhearted person, but he had quite a temper, and they explained it in the way that no, no one could mess with him. If he heard someone talking shit about him, or about anyone he loved, he was the first person to stand up and pop off at someone, and I think I can relate to that.
Pretty well. Okay. I'm going to shift gears for us. Uh, how, how, how well do you remember the MTV countdowns? Cause this was such, well, it is hard. This is again, like we're, this is becoming a theme of this podcast is that things that seem to be just. Gone. Countdowns, we just did a draft. I think drafts and countdowns are still ever present, although it's usually a podcast or a different form, or Apple Music just did their top 100 songs countdown.
But MTV countdown? Like, that was every day after school. I had to see what it was, right? Yeah. I had to see, I know I had to see who was at the top of it. It was usually the same for weeks on end. So I don't know how, why I was so excited, but, uh, my next ones were, were green day basket case and black hole sun.
So this was summertime, 1994. I'm at soccer camp, so I would get done with whatever the afternoon was, we'd come inside and everybody just sat in the like lounge area and watched. And those two songs were like back and forth, number one or number two, uh, Green Day and, and Black Hole Sun. And I just loved.
Cheering for soft for songs. Like that was just a fun activity. Those two bands too. Great. Uh, you know, Chris Cornell's amazing vocals. I'll just the weirdness because I have black holes. The weirdness of that song, the music video, guitar
tone in that song. Yeah.
Incredible. Right.
Chris Cornell.
What a weird
video.
Just a beautiful human being. I mean, his voice.
Yes, and then Green Day just kicked off a whole different kind of era of music where I don't, were you into punk? You, you're earlier bands, like who would have been a reference point in the 80s for you?
Sure, like, I liked The Replacement, some Sex Pistols.
Okay, but they were, so I would call those, are The Replacements punk?
I, I, I'm thinking more like, like rancid or Oh no,
that's, yeah, that kind of punk. Yeah,
yeah, just more, just the
like punk metal, isn't it?
Maybe, yeah, maybe that's what, who would the proto True,
like, like British punk, I guess. Okay,
yeah, okay, that, that makes more sense. Those
like, kind of like one minute fast songs.
Yeah,
green, but Green Day brings this kind of grungier, poppier punk. Yeah. Into the mainstream. Um, and I love that song. It was another really weird music video with the, in the, uh, just the medical robes and just what a weird time. What do you got next?
Okay. So You took black, well, you didn't take it, but I also had black hole son.
So don't,
don't make me draft John Lennon again.
No, don't. So I mentioned this in the first podcast or the first episode, but hey, jealousy, of course, gin blossom. Okay. And I don't really have any stories about That, but just, I don't know, it's such a catchy song, but the lyrics are a little bit dark or there's some sadness to it.
The story that's being told lyrically, but then you have that like catchy music So I think that's one of those songs that it might be about Loss, but because of the way that he's singing and like the tempo of the music Almost as though instead of being sad about loss, it's, it's looking back on like a lost relationship fondly.
Do you think it's weird, do you think it's weird when someone writes the song and someone else sings it? Do you think that provides that kind of split feeling sometimes?
Sometimes, yeah. Cause that, cause
that's a different writer, right? The guitarist we found out and wrote, wrote it. And then there's a different lead, lead singer for that.
Also though, sometimes there's such an emotional and personal connection between people in the band. Cause I think they felt pretty deeply about the guy who was maybe going to be the singer as well that wrote the song. Yeah. And, of course, he, he took his life. Yeah. And so the, then I also think because he wrote that about a personal experience, and the guy who did end up seeing it was a member of the band, and was in a, you know, relationship as far as being like friends and bandmates, it takes on a, a meaning for him then.
So, I think you can feel it in that way. But right, like some, pop songs by boy bands and, you know, who don't write there. There's just, those are just more like fun, silly. You don't make as much of a connection with it, but especially if you love the lyrics, I think you can hear it in their voices a lot of times too.
Yeah, I
suppose the best example would be like, Jimi Hendrix singing All Along the Watchtower. Like, he made that song his own, right? Like, no one could sing that song like that. Even though Bob Dylan wrote it. Bob Dylan can't even. Yeah, it's a
great song. It
is a great song.
When Bob Dylan does it as well.
It ain't Jimi Hendrix's version of it though.
Yeah. Okay, I just had a band down next. Sure, that's okay. So I cheated a little bit. It's so funny to talk about this band now because it, even the name of the band feels a little, you know, counterintuitive. It's a rage against the machine, right? I
almost put rage against the machine.
I mean, when you are coming of age, I think it's, I mean, I often tell even parents now that it's part of, it just is, it's part of growing up is wanting to battle against whatever the, the authority is, but the name sounds almost funny to me now because it's so self serious, rage against the machine, but they were intense and they combine, um, what felt like real issues with melody and lyrics that were incisive.
They were storytelling. They were about these people that I'd never heard of, but they were able to elevate their importance by telling their story in a musical platform.
Very
They were, and they made it important because of the way that they deliver it. Zach de la Roca has to be mentioned in, you know, not, not a, not as much of a singer, but his delivery was absolutely iconic.
The way that he could sing. Uh, and, and rap and storytell with the, like the strangeness of the guitar and that, that melding of, of musical fusion. So they would be definitely on there. I mean. In the
name. Yeah. Really, that was the song that I had on my first draft, like 30 songs. Sure.
Sure. Yeah. That first album.
But it didn't so much
shape what I listened to.
Yeah, I mean, I think it
did for me because I kicked
off list like more heavier rock and just, you know, looking for people who made me feel the way that those songs made you feel. Cause you could get like ridiculously pumped and it became a little too aggro eventually I think, but that's not initially what they were doing.
And they really were trying to do what many bands. have tried to do over the years is like change, change the world through music because music is so powerful. And you think about even that album cover is kind of crazy to think about, like that, that monk on fire. Remember looking at that. And you know, I had to obviously find out the story and to find out that that's real and you know, it's, it's still happened today.
I remember reading about, um, you know, someone in the war in Gaza, Israel, someone. Going and pouring gasoline on themselves and lighting themselves on fire. And just the, wow, that, that is just an incredible frame of the world. And it expands the world in a way that, uh, I, I didn't have a lot of opportunities to in the Midwest, maybe better.
You know, that's, those are scary situations to be in too, to have to think about those types of things as a young person. What you got next?
So we're kind of. Been on like a similar track, I guess, with sound. So I was going to skip ahead a little bit. Well, I feel like some of these have some stories. So I was going to try to do quicker ones that I don't have.
Much of a story too, but um plush stone temple pilot.
Oh, okay. Why why that's it? I think of the acoustic version of that. Oh,
no
No That was my acoustic face, that's why
that album that song came out in 92 So that was right in between pearl jams 91 and 93 album.
Okay,
kind of that same sort of genre sound, not quite the same sound, but you know, if you like Pearl Jam, you might like Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden.
So yeah, I don't really have a story with that one. Just it was another one of those when I was really starting to discover more Maybe like, not adult, but older teenagers were listening to things. And again, I'm 8, 9, 10 years old at this time. And listening to Pearl Jam and Blind Melon and Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden.
Those were the bands that I was listening to at that time. So, and I was hearing all of this for the first time, kind of transitioning out of, Whatever I was listening to in the 80s that was maybe more poppy or electronic or I did love Def Leppard when I was four years old. So, this is quite a change from that.
I was fascinated by the one armed driver.
Yeah, he had a moment, no doubt about it. All right. I'm out next.
Sure.
All right. I'm going to shift gears because, uh, I'm going to go to, into the really eclectic. So I just talked about rage against the machine. I think I'm going to bring up Dave Matthews backup. We talked about him when you talked about satellite, but it also is very, I know wrong satellites.
But it was very, 1994 under the table and dreaming, uh, probably their biggest album came out Well, I don't know. They had some number one albums even later, uh, but maybe their most longest lasting album crash is the 1996. So a little, little bit later, but under the table and dreaming with satellite on it was probably the one that connected with me and again, guitar playing friend.
Learned all these songs. I later learned a lot of them on the guitar. There's something about the acoustic guitar at Dave Matthews. That is very, uh, very tied together. He certainly, that instrument, uh, brought it to the forefront. It's many bands have acoustic guitars, not as many lead vocalists feature the acoustic guitar, I guess, in the way that he does, if that makes sense.
Like he seems to make it polyrhythmic and, uh, Uh, without playing a lot of lead still makes the, the sound of it very, very memorable. So really, really loved his like kooky approach to music too. It was very different than a lot of the stuff that I listened to. So just a kind of fun, all of the songs had a talk about rambling.
He had a very like, uh, you know, different varied influences being from South Africa and, you know, then living in the South. I think. Meeting all of these interesting musicians in, in Georgia. Um, you know, so I think that all blended together into something unique, especially for me at the time.
Yeah. You're the perfect age for that too.
Perfect age. Like just a couple years older than me, because I know when I was a freshman, like eighth grade, freshman in high school, it was the kids that were, you know, junior, seniors, or just getting into college that were really into Dave Matthews. Am I up?
You're up.
Okay. So I'm going to skip down to Set Adrift on Memory, Bliss and You by PM Dawn.
Oh, okay. All right. All right.
I still listen to PM Dawn.
I think you, I think you had it on this, this weekend. Probably. I seem to always say, who is this? Cause it has, they're very, really cool. They're very like, very like, uh, boys to men ish. Would you say that's fair?
It's fair. Not that Boyz II Men wasn't cool either, but just kind of a different, like, I remember Arrested Development too, sort of, in that it was something new and different for, and this was, that song came out in 91, and that song in particular samples True by Spando Ballet from Sixteen Candles.
Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, that one.
Got it. I love it. Very bold of you.
Love, but it's just so different. And so when I think of nineties music too, or just a feeling in my gut, my soul from the nineties, I can hear PM Dawn. Sort of a quintessential nineties sound that you don't really hear today. You hear it and you know, that's a, that's an early nineties song.
Yeah. How did you, how do you feel like, cause I have to bring up, am I up now? Do you got more PM? Okay. So how do you feel about how rap music? Because the premise now, I'm on, before I bring them up, I just wanted to say, cause the premise, as you explained, it was like, how did it influence the music that you listen to now?
And I think it is different. It's not that I won't listen to rap music now. It's just that, again, I think the, what I, the what that I connected with then isn't, isn't there for me anymore.
No one like, nwa, Dr. Dre Snoop Dogg, right?
Yeah.
Easy. E
Tupac,
Tupac, biggie, . I mean, there's, there's no one like that. Yeah.
It sounds like that there's,
yeah, so, so like to the, it was to the point that. I knew the lyrics to songs, like to songs when I've been self confessed, uh, non lyricist for the most part, but of course knew the lyrics to many of these songs front to back without anyone around. I could still do, uh, juicy right now, uh, just off the top of my head, which is just a weird thing.
30 years later.
Shockingly I can do. Start to finish for many N. W. A. s. Yeah, you can,
I know. And it's always, always very humorous. But I have to say, I'll shout out that song, Juicy. I still remember going down to Spring Break and having, uh, I think like a tape that someone had made for me. And I might have listened to that like twice.
50 times, just rewinding it and listening to it and then rewinding it. And you always had to wait with the tape, of course, to rewind it on my, on my Walkman and hitting play, but it was just fantastic. And it was just a, a real world, you know, that. that Midwest culture or even just like the wider world had not connected with.
It still felt in the nineties, like a more siloed world. You have access to so much more now that I don't think that I'm like, I'm shocked at, at music or stories about different places as much as I, as I was, especially in the United States. Like sometimes I watched a travel show recently, or I showed it to you about India.
There's still places in the world where I'm like, wow, that is very different. Just looking at things gives me that same feeling that these songs used to, but if I go anywhere in the United States now. Don't have that same like feeling that I'm adrift in a strange land. And you definitely did that. If I put on Notorious Big in 1994 as I'm going on spring break with my parents, it was, uh, well, it's on my Walkman, it's on my Walkman.
Me? You.
All right. I'm going to throw kind of a crazy one in there. But this song has great meaning to me from 1990, D Light, Groove is in the Heart.
Ooh, boy, you almost want to sing the hook immediately, right? That's a great one.
So, I was in my third year of dance, and I, the first two years at recitals, I had done, like, Disney songs to dance, dance to Disney songs.
And at this point now, I'm, go, am I in like, second, third grade? Maybe? No, second, second grade probably. And, so, because of Toot Toot being More advanced dancer for my age. It was more Got
you now
You know a more grown up song we chose so We did a dance to groove is in the heart and I was Five years younger than the next person closest to my age in that dance group.
But that like I Love the bass line in that song And then there's turntables in it. It's a little bit of everything, just kind of a funky groovy, but also sounds like a nineties song in some way as well. So it's kind of one of those just quintessential songs of the night. Yeah, it could go
back. I mean, I already referenced boys to men, but like their Motown Philly era, Bellevue Devoe, maybe a little, a little reference there.
Snow. Remember Snow?
No.
White rapper from the 90s?
Oh, maybe, but
Okay, well, yeah. It's not as fun when you don't know the reference. Look at me, I'm pulling a reference if you don't know. Uh, alright. I've got just two more. So I don't know how many, how many, how many have you got? I might go ahead and let you go, go again.
Knock a couple. That's what I was
saying. Like you can get, you, you keep going. I've got, I've got two. When you get down to your last two, you can throw it back to me. I'll
knock a couple out that I don't have much that like this one speaks for itself. Smells like teen spirit.
Oh, okay. Why, why pick that one?
Because that
one in particular, I mean, it has to mean, why does it mean to you? I think that was the first Nirvana song I heard.
Yeah.
And. My cousin Aaron that was two years older than me left Nirvana as well and that While that was still when I was fairly young there was something different about Nirvana than there was a little bit Pearl Jam by Eddie Vedder seemed a little moody, but he was also kind of silly.
He spoke Kurt Cobain was just so Out there guys intense my really intense The Green Fuzzy Sweater.
Would, would that be the first, if no, if someone had never heard them before, is that the first song you would play for them? Cause it is incredible like opening. I mean, a lot of people say that's when the nineties started, like the nineties start when that song and just goes, but I don't know if, is that the one?
I don't know.
Maybe come as you are. Yeah. Maybe.
Just to like, just to give them, because that, I think they, I'm not sure if they would want to be defined by that song. Obviously it does just because of what it meant to the, to music in general. But as far as like, I
mean, I'm nine years old at this time. What they're most proud of, I don't
know that that's the song that they'd be most proud of.
Just, yeah. I went through cause obviously Nirvana was going to be on there, went through and listened to several songs. And while there are other ones that I might, I might like more to listen to, I think something that sort of defined what I then followed up listening to it would be because I think that was the first Nirvana song that I heard that that then opened up the rest of the catalog to me as well.
And there was a connection, too, I think, because, you know, my cousin Aaron and I were very close when we were little, but then, you know, being two years older than me, when I'm ten or eleven and he's, you know, thirteen, you're not, you know, little best buddies anymore. But there's still a connection there, you find connections to people, and I very vividly remember there's Exactly where I was, exactly when it came on the TV that Kurt Cobain had passed away.
And it was late at night, it was like 11 o'clock when I heard it, and it had come on. I was laying in my mom and dad's bed, and I was always allowed to watch TV. Still, still do. Why I have to have the TV on all night, but I had it on MTV. My mom had not come in to bed and Kurt Loder, it was like a new MTV news update that Kurt Cobain had been found dead and the first thing I did was yell for my mom and start crying that I wanted to call Aaron.
My cousin just to make sure he was okay. And I, I know the next day I remember my aunt Debbie telling me that he was not, he was not. Well, he loved nirvana. I mean at his age too, he grew his hair out. He dressed like Kurt Cobain.
Wow. I didn't know that.
Yeah. He loved Kurt Cobain. So yeah, really
connected with people fascinating the way that the other guys carried on in different ways too.
I mean, obviously Dave Grohl forming Foo Fighters, having an amazing career as a musician. And then the bass player, Chris, just sort of, you know, more living in the background, but choosing that because I wonder if he was, he wanted the life that Nirvana I'm sure he appreciates the money that has come with it and let him be kind of a background musician and subside on that.
But definitely doesn't seem like the type of guy that was prepared for international stardom. Uh, just a big goofy bass player. I
was going to just whip through that cause I didn't think it needed explanation and, and you made that a little longer than I intended. Hey, no problem. Okay, another one doesn't need a lot of explanation, but Cheryl Crow, All I Want to Do.
Okay. Never forget hearing that song either. That was another one that my brother Asked if I'd heard. What's that album? Is
that Saturday night, Tuesday night music club,
which was right. A club that, that they played at.
Well, so they had all these like older musicians. I think that she knew that there, there was something that.
Or that's what they, they call them. They did that group, that group called themselves. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. So that
was 1993. So a little bit. just after sort of that Seattle movement started coming in and when I was really into the like, I love music. Maybe I want to do something in music one day, which, you know, when I got older and realized I'm in a small town and that might not happen, did come back around, but to have a female that it's not.
A band, it's her, it's Sheryl Crow, she plays guitar, she sings, she's very cool, always wearing, you know, sort of like a bohemian look, she's very, like, Lilith Fair, you know.
Yeah. Just
very cool to me at that time, very inspiring and she wasn't super, you know. I mean, she is singer songwriter, but you know, she also rocked as well.
So very strong female. And I, I loved that. So I got very into Cheryl Crow leaving
Las Vegas.
That's a great,
great song. Uh, if it makes you happy later on,
man,
great, great. Although she did do a duet with
Kid Rock. I was not happy about that.
Yeah. Is that more about her or Kid Rock though? Yeah.
Yeah. Oh, no, that's a kid.
He's lost his mind.
Should I do, I feel like I've got about six or seven.
Yeah, you keep going. Like I said, when you get down to the last four, then we can go back to going back and forth. I've got two more.
Smashing pumpkins bullet with butterfly wings. Oh,
wow. Okay. I would not have picked that for you.
Interesting. I, I know. I almost took it off, but I thought, no, I kept listening to it and thinking, this
was And this is, this is melancholy and the infinite sadness, of course. Also not
spelled traditionally like melancholy, but melon, C O L L I E, which I am the Collie mom with our Collies here. Yeah. But specific memory of that song and why.
When I think of the 90s, I do think of that song. Uh, my, one of my best friends Paige Stratner and I went to the Skate Palace on a Saturday morning to skate. And, of course, you know, all the kids that are skating there, they're playing, whatever, I mean, not new kids on the block, we're way past that time, but you know, probably, Some like Natalie Imbruglia.
Backstreet
Boys maybe. Back,
maybe. Getting,
getting in there. Yeah, it was 7th
grade. 90s. So, maybe. They might have been then.
Backstreet's back, alright. And
Paige and I went up to the DJ. And put in request for Bullet with Butterfly Wings and everyone left the floor, all the kids looked around, looked angry, and Paige and I had the whole skating rink floor to ourselves.
And we're doing the rock and roll horns and headbanging while skating and singing along despite all my Billy Corgan
have been excited about that or devastated because he. He did, uh, want to be the biggest rock star in the world. He did. I'm pretty convinced. Yeah. He's kind of narcissistic. Then he
would have been probably repulsed by it, but maybe today he would look back and think, that was pretty cool.
That was pretty cool.
Two 13 year old girls.
That album chasing
people off the skating rink with my song
that album was huge, too And what a bizarre album on double. I mean, can you imagine this is what I do miss again? This is kind of what I was talking about in like the way that places were so eclectic imagine releasing someone releasing a double album with just the a amount of songs and the variety of songwriting that's on, on that album.
And I, some of the other songs on that album, like Tonight Tonight, 19 79, 0, 19 79, they're just totally different. Love that. They're totally different though than each other. Like bullet butterfly wings. Yeah. Not like those songs. That's
a Driving in a convertible on a, oh, maybe some eighties Influence night.
1979.
Yeah. Eighties Influence. Amazing.
Loved that one.
Nice. All right.
I, I have. Several more. You better just let me pop off. Keep
going. No, I'm good. This is great.
Tomorrow, silver chair. That's not an oh no. Oh, I know. Although my brother would be disappointed. I love silver chair. That is one band that my brother and I did disagree on.
Not sure why. I don't know. You know, they were 16 years old when that came out. Yeah. Young,
So, I, I'm, I'm gonna interject and then I'm gonna let you keep going. I'm 16 when that album comes out.
My friend, I was like 12 or 13. My friend
just got his car, uh, and so absolute top volume for tomorrow. My
brother used to come in, I'd be listening to it on the CD player and he'd come in and go, Oh, that boy, shout out to
Nick Pontiac.
He had a pot being Pontiac.
My God, did I
love Daniel Johns.
Woo. Loved him. I still,
he looks great. Still great today. Did 90s singers influence the type of people that you went after?
100 percent Taylor Hanson. though he had nothing in common with Daniel Johns. Very similar look. I was also Jared Leto.
Yeah.
And yeah, you ended up with me
when you're blonde.
But yeah, no, no real explanation other than I had felt like I had found a band so I was excited to share it with him, but he was not as excited. And I don't know, maybe just kind of younger guys, Sounded a little bit like Nirvana or Pearl Jam Influences. And I think, I feel like they got a little bit of shit for kind of being like a young knockoff Nirvana.
I didn't buy it. Maybe.
Yeah, they were so much fun. Don't
worry, my brother tried to tell me. But Daniel Johns. Very rough. Yeah a couple of years after that. He's doing fabulous I think he like is an artist and still doing music and he looks great, but he really struggled Again, it kind of makes sense, right?
Imagine
being 16 and I know all of a sudden you're traveling around the world Like that's a weird thing.
He was married to Natalie and Brulee I don't know if he still is but how about that both Australian?
I did not know that
so Yeah, I just loved Love that song. Think of that song when I think about sort of early.
That was 95. So I was getting to the mid 90s. Okay Sabotage
Wow, Beastie
Boys.
Yeah,
I like the Beastie Boys in the 80s. Of course, you got to fight for your right I'll never forget I was so little but my brother and sister I was That and I think of That and Twisted Sister, we're not going to take it.
Because I have a vivid memory of, of there being like, uh, Like a reproduction of a music video that my brother and sister were doing to those songs. Oh, do they
dress up like Twisted Sister?
Yeah, I feel like my sister put on like a witch costume or something, you know, and then did the spin and stuff off.
I wasn't allowed to be in it because I was too little, but I was under the kitchen table singing along. That makes sense. Yeah, but sabotage. I also Used to have a crush on Adam Horovitz as well when I was a little girl, but I love I love his His voice he reminded me of boner from Growing Pains. I thought they looked a lot alike and I liked it.
Wow, Growing Pains reference. Didn't have that on my bingo card.
Yeah, so we got Sabotage, we've got, um, Unbelievable by EMF. Oh,
no. I, I, okay, so that song, I hated after a while because they played that too much.
That was 1990.
Too much. They played that song too much. Yeah, but I feel
like later they played it too much.
Yeah.
But when it
came out, I thought it was, Very cool. I was so out of control
after a while though.
I Love the drop. I I do love obviously like certain guitar sounds, but I think that's where I I Didn't realize how much I loved like drum patterns and the sound of drums until I got older and wanted to play the drums But love the drum sound in that song I feel like there's some cowbell and tambourine and all sorts of goodies.
Also, it's kind of like, you know, makes you want to like thrash yourself around, but his voice is so soft and kind of quiet too. Very British.
I was going to say, very British. You know,
I love, I love all things British as well. I can give that to you. Anywhere else to go that isn't going to require a story.
I don't, this doesn't really require much of a story, but
this is the point of the podcast is telling stories.
I know, but I don't, if you're just saving the stories for the end,
if you're just doing a list, that's another thing.
I know, but I have like 13 more than you do.
Okay. Okay. Give us a story one.
Don't look back in anger.
Okay, well I almost picked Oasis. I did not, I did not though. I didn't put them on my list. It
was different from the other music. Again, another kind of band or genre of music that was different. British.
They get compared to the Beatles all the time. Do you think that's fair? So
that's where I was going.
I think they love being compared to the Beatles. True.
True.
I think they're, I don't think it's fair in the sense that it actually matches up. But like, what, what is the comparison I'm thinking of like history and story, but I think
British melody. Sure. Yeah.
Sounding, you mean?
Yeah.
In some sounds. Well, they're influenced by the Beatles.
For sure. No. Gallagher loved John Lennon
tracks to 30 that gets back to our 30 years thing
He refers to don't look back in anger as his hey Jude and Of course when I took my history of the Beatles course Glenn Gass broke the professor Glenn Gass who taught that class broke down that song because of the references to John Lennon, so You know somewhat penned for John Lennon For John Lennon.
I think I've read, uh, other ways that Noel has described that song, but there was an interview that we watched where he spoke of kind of from John Lennon's perspective You know, don't look back in anger. There's also references to John and Yoko and Bet. You probably heard that from me. And since I do feel that I have some reincarnation of John Lennon himself, of course, that would be an influential song from the nineties.
Makes sense.
It's to you.
And I'll then go with black or white Michael Jackson.
You got a Michael Jackson shirt on. So I was hoping that you'd get at least one Michael Jackson song.
Of course, black or white.
Why, why did that define the 90s for you?
So Michael Jackson has been. Because he's, I
would say, by and large, an 80s artist.
Yeah, I think that's fair. And that song came out in 91. I mean, it's fair. Also, this was coming into a time where Michael Jackson was going to be very controversial as well. And
this was kind of the, this, this whole law, the launch of this album was, I mean, that was probably dangerous. I would say that's the height of his power.
Like, you know, because he had had so much juice, like the, I mean it was like a TV show about it, right? Well, the premiere
of Black or White. Was so loud as far as kind of the controversy behind it and parent, you know, kids loved Michael Jackson. I was nine when, when that premiered. I think I watched it on Fox and I remember being in the basement and I think I still do that when I'm waiting for something.
I stand in front of the TV and like, cause like I don't want to miss. And I knew I was going to need to dance around and throw myself about. So no one could be in the basement with me. Basement split level house, the lower level.
And that clarification
that, you know, of course there was some violence in it.
Everyone think, you know, yeah, it was weird. Sexual innuendos in the way he moves, always has. You know, parents were super angry about that. Like my parents didn't, didn't care, but, um, there was,
there's also the morphing into
panther
animals, right? Yeah. I remember being blown away by that part. I was
like, what?
Like just literally, it's just a huge premiere. Yeah. Like a movie coming out. Something mind blowing. Yeah. And then you have Macaulay Culkin.
Oh, he is in that. Yeah. Yeah.
Who? I have loved through all of his highs and lows. This is Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin. It is. 91. Right. So, yeah, this is right after. Yeah.
And so, we know that I have been
You've been a Mac fan. For a long time. I
have never swayed from my love. I knew all of his life and my life that he would get through anything. I couldn't get you to watch
Succession, even though it's brothers and that though.
But that's not Mac. I do love, I do love Rory, but is it Kieran?
And well, then there's Rory.
Look at you Kalkin knowledge over
there. There's, there's a couple
of them.
I love Macaulay Culkin and he looks fantastic now, by the way, looks exactly like the kid that grew up from Kevin McCallister. Um, but I. read someone talking about Michael Jackson at like an article and it said, when did you first know he was special and would be with you for the rest of your life and like love him or hate him no matter what you think, you know, he spent, he's going to be a part of you in some facet.
And well, I think I was two years old and that never happened.
The shirt, I'm wearing
the shirt from, from when I was two years old. So 40
years later.
Yeah. I mean, and I, that video, there was something about it being so young and then it was so captivating because of just how crazy it was. But listening to what he was saying along with the visuals of it.
You know, it don't matter if you're black or white. Talked about equality. There's no, like, there's no, I don't know, pun. Like, there's no gray area. It's either right or it's wrong. And it, and there were, you know, Thai people, black people, white people, all. Asia, I mean, you know, it was like the constant morphing of like person, color, male, female.
androgynous people at the time and to be that young and someone that you love and admire so much speaking those words and also there was such a like defiance and almost like anger toward hate and judgment to see someone that you love and admire and hear that message, that impacted me hugely. And I think carried with me in how I viewed coming from such a small town where everybody here is, you know, white, mostly white people that I would get excited to see people who were different than me and always felt the need to sort of Let them know I love you and you're safe with me And I think you're special and I think Michael Jackson helped to do that for me.
It's great Well, that's a very important song. It's an important video and Mike and Jack in for life.
All right, I'm going to do my one, then we'll let you take it, take us home. Cause your stories are, are, are better than mine sometimes. Um, so I wanted to just shout out radio because how, I mean, I don't, No, how important radio is to you, but I had one Oh 3.
5 still remember the call call signal, uh, went to my first concert, rock stock and saw these two bands sublime and ever clear there. Uh, and I'll, I'll shout out ever clear with their, with their song, Santa Monica, again, that kind of classic rock and surf mixture. Uh, easy to sing along with, uh, just kind of a fun, fun nineties song.
They had some other hits, but I think that was probably the one that if I had to pull up a song, I I'd pull that one up and, and just heard that on 103. 5 all the time and just loved catching it on the radio because I didn't always have the CD or the tape. for the band, even though bands that I loved, I tried to get into like music subscription services or get CDs wherever I could, but CDs were expensive.
Like it was not just, Oh, here's, you know, 20 bucks for an ever clear CD. You had to, uh, Save up for it or listen to it with a friend or, you know, catch it on the radio or try to tape it off MPV. There's all kinds of stuff that you'd be, you'd try to do to get, get the songs that you wanted. Right. For sure.
Yeah. And then of course I had, country phase too, so wanted to shout out to Garth Brooks in there. I mean, very 90s, but he, he was an artist that crossed over to the point where they let him make a rock album as Chris Gaines because he was so popular.
Surprisingly, I didn't have any country. Friends in low places.
That would probably be the song. That was a big one from the 90s. 100
percent still, still banger today. You play that at a wedding or wherever people are going to sing
Yeah.
What, what's your last one to bring us, bring us home? No, I probably
should have ended with, with black or white, but I had one left on there, which was George Michael.
Okay.
Freedom. Freedom. 90.
Yeah.
Loved that one. How many times have I said loved that one, but we just have a cute story from when we were little, my cousin Nikki and I, when that song came out, of course we didn't have Well, what would have been the tape? Yeah, I suppose. Yet. I think the first time we heard it was when the video premiered, which all of the like, just quintessential nineties models were in Cindy Crawford and, uh, hell it was at Helena Christensen.
I think it was in it. Yeah. All of those models were in it and they were, you know, voicing or Michael George, Michael almost said Michael Jackson, right? Of course singing, but they were, you know. Sort of lip syncing words in the bathtub and a steamy robe is very like, and I remember watching it and trying to reenact it.
And I'm, you know, like seven years old and don't know that I even read like the, you know, the little in the bottom, like the George Michael freedom 90, whatever the album was record company, blah, blah, blah. I don't know that I even looked at that, but loved that song so much. And. I talked to my cousin Nikki about it and for quite some time, we, I may be wrong in that maybe she didn't think it and she corrected me, but I had either asked her or she just caught me singing it that I thought it was Frida, like a woman's name.
Yeah.
And I, for a very long time. You know, we'd scream it word for word, but instead of freedom, it was Frida.
I got it. Also something very 90s since you might not be able to know the lyrics. They're not widely available. You can't just Google those.
But that song did come back around lyrically in my life later when my college friends and I began, you know, going to more concerts, following the same bands around all the time that That the lyrics became relevant in our, in our life at the time.
So that's a song that stuck with me for sure. And of course, another one of my favorites that is no longer with us. That was a tough one. And my God daughter ended up being a big George Michael fan, which on Christmas day, when we found out that he had passed, she had to leave the room to go have a moment.
broke my heart. I think my aunt Debbie mentioned, Oh my gosh, George Michael died. And I immediately was like, Oh no,
looked
across the room and she bug I can hit you just, just went upstairs and
the loss, the loss of that voice from the world
tenderness. And I love that, that she got that, which is my, my brother's Daughter that she kind of got that gene and that bug to, even though she was born in 2001 to love, you know, eighties and nineties music and even the Beatles.
And I got her into the war on drugs for a while. And when she was in middle school, I think I took her Christmas shopping and. I had gotten her a record player that year, so I took her to buy some records and she bought two War on Drugs vinyl albums and
I
still could just cry and that just, and then remember she sent me that text that said, OMG, the War on Drugs are blowing my mind.
That's
a great, that's a great, great.
So
that's a great place to leave it. I think that for me though, what I'd love, what I'd love to do is that do a little call to action in that people listening to this should, uh, leave a rating and review and put in there some songs or artists that. shaped the way that you listen to music now or continue to, that you continue to listen to.
Cause I think that one of the best things about music is that it builds community. And whenever people, um, share things that they like, just like we are tonight, it, it reconnects you with this music. I guarantee tomorrow in the next few days, we'll be listening to these songs and reconnecting with each other and, and, uh, our, our former selves too.
And the people around us by sharing that music as well. You got anything else, Cass?
I don't think so. All right. Till next time. Hope it wasn't too long. Never. Bye.
