1,001 songs to listen to before you die...

[Hobo]

2 minutes ago, damshow said:

If so, he should send his love down to Baton Rouge.

now I remember why I really started disliking Garth Brooks. I was in a show that had 2 or 3 of his songs in it. 1 of which was Callin' Baton Rouge.

"Such a strange combination of a woman and a child" is a really weird lyric.

[gunnar hendershow]

7 minutes ago, Christmas Hobo said:

now I remember why I really started disliking Garth Brooks. I was in a show that had 2 or 3 of his songs in it. 1 of which was Callin' Baton Rouge.

"Such a strange combination of a woman and a child" is a really weird lyric.

In Garth's defense it was written by someone else. But, yeah, that is a really weird lyric.

[Pooker]

Garth did do a show in Ireland in the 90s, it was filmed for TV. He's one of the biggest country stars of the 90s, had a brief retirement but has recently returned to touring and making new music. He's still good, but gets extremely overrated by country radio.

His music is impossible to find because he's extremely protective of it and wants people to only buy and listen to full albums. 

Edited December 17, 2020 by Pooker

[Hobo]

I'm farily certain my brother was at that show in the 90s.

[Liam]

Babies take a lot of time and effort to look after. Who knew?

821.      

‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds featuring Kylie Minogue (1995)

Influenced by: Down in the Willow Garden • Hobart Smith & Texas Gladden (c. 1940)   

Influence on: Burst Lethargic • The Silence Kits (2006)   

Covered by: Chicks on Speed & Kriedler (2001) • Chiasm (2006)   

Other key tracks: Stagger Lee (1996)

I absolutely love this song so am happy to see it pop up on this list. From the album Murder Ballads, this is a song a conversation between a man waiting to be executed and the woman he had slain. The darkness of Cave is brooding and sensuous, only heightened by Minogue’s clarity as she ‘plays’ the poor victim. It shouldn’t work, perhaps, but it does – you have to be impressed by Cave’s vision as he had apparently always wanted to do a song with her and they knock it out of the park.

822.      

‘Insomnia’, Faithless (1995)

A house song that was appealing enough to go beyond the dance floor and into the charts, this is an absolute banger. The thumping bass drives the song forward and the lyrics do an admirable job of offering an empathise-able element for the listener and a catchy refrain, but it is the keyboard section that takes this over the top in terms of a tune. As an aside, I believe that ‘Weapon of Mass Destruction’ is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. Might as well just throw that out there.

823.      

‘Scream’, Michael and Janet Jackson (1995)

This is a song I remember feeling so big back when I was nine, even though I didn’t really know too much about either Michael or Janet Jackson. I’m sure it was in the media and all over the place for a period of time that meant it was difficult to avoid it. For me, it is actually Janet who does the bulk of the heavy lifting and makes this a really good song. That isn’t to downplay Michael at all, just to give Janet some credit for this edgier, darker – arguably cooler? – move away from what MJ had been known for. A decent song that feels positioned here as a moment more than anything else really.

824.      

‘Hell Is Round the Corner’, Tricky (1995)

Apparently, this shared a sample with a Portishead song and lyrics with a Massive Attack song, yet Tricky/Adrian Thaws was happy to put his song up against anything apparently. It is definitely denser, darker and moodier than the music I associate with the former two bands. Coupled with a creepy video, it has the whole package to create an unnerving experience. The use of the female vocals over half way through adds another string to the song’s bow and helps the all-round enjoyable experience.

825.      

‘Born Slippy Nuxx’, Underworld (1995)

If you had to create what the word ‘euphoria’ sounded like, ‘Born Slippy Nuxx’ would be just that. The trance synths and the spacey vocal delivery set the tone, the speed increases, before a thumping beat continues to add the layers of sound that make this at once exciting and somewhat overwhelming – so much feels like it is going on at the same time, somewhat disparately but all building to one great sound. This isn’t my ‘type of music’ but I’ve always loved this song.

[METALMAN]

Where the Wild Roses Grow is fine. Bit too nineties in its production. I don't like those snare drums.

Insomnia is great. I don't know any other Faithless songs - as far as I'm aware, but Insomnia is more than good enough for one career.

I think Scream is the first Michael Jackson song I became aware of. I certainly have primordial memories of that music video. I don't like the song very much.

Hell is Round the Corner is great. I'm quite surprised we haven't seen Portishead in this list, actually. I think I first heard this song in an episode of Skins. lol.

Born Slippy is brilliant too. We're starting to get some really good electronic music here. People regularly talk about the 90s for its (relatively pedestrian) alternative rock/indie music but the likes of Underworld and are just so much better. Underworld released so many bangers in the mid 90s. 

[Liam]

2 hours ago, metalman said:

Where the Wild Roses Grow is fine. Bit too nineties in its production. I don't like those snare drums.

Insomnia is great. I don't know any other Faithless songs - as far as I'm aware, but Insomnia is more than good enough for one career.

I think Scream is the first Michael Jackson song I became aware of. I certainly have primordial memories of that music video. I don't like the song very much.

Hell is Round the Corner is great. I'm quite surprised we haven't seen Portishead in this list, actually. I think I first heard this song in an episode of Skins. lol.

Born Slippy is brilliant too. We're starting to get some really good electronic music here. People regularly talk about the 90s for its (relatively pedestrian) alternative rock/indie music but the likes of Underworld and are just so much better. Underworld released so many bangers in the mid 90s. 

There was a Portishead song. Can't remember which one though, just that it wasn't Glory Box.

[VerbalPuke]

I love Born Slippy, probably my favorite techno/electronic/dance type song ever. There's a longer version on the Trainspotting soundtrack I Iove. Underworld is great in general though.

[Liam]

No update, but this is just a thank you to everyone who has got involved with this. Been a really enjoyable way to spend my time and look forward to finishing things off at the start of 2021.

[Liam]

826.      

‘You Oughta Know’, Alanis Morisette (1995)

Add another song to the list of ones I’ve liked to perform on Guitar Hero/Rock Band. It is the power of this song that gets me every time – it takes no prisoners and it isn’t hard to see why Morisette was a poster girl for particularly female music fans. Until I covered the song for this, I didn’t realise that Flea and Dave Navarro were involved the backing music, which does admittedly explain the undeniably funky nature of the hook. Not the best of all time by any means, but a song that I can see ending up on a list like this.

827.      

‘Back For Good’, Take That (1995)

I mean, yeah, I guess so.

I didn’t expect to see Take That on this list, but there is something I quite enjoy about them popping up with this, probably their best song. It is a well written pop song about love that isn’t too complex or trying to do too much. I was unaware that this came, relatively speaking, quite close to the end of the band as a whole, and it is also the one that most clearly has Gary Barlow’s fingerprints all over it, probably signposting a solo career which never came close to topping this, ironically enough.

828.      

‘Stupid Girl’, Garbage (1995)

Influenced by: Train in Vain • The Clash (1979)   

Influence on: Hot n Cold • Katy Perry (2008)   

Covered by: Zosja (2003) • Alexz Johnson (2005)   

Other key tracks: Driving Lesson (1995) • Alien Sex Fiend (1995) • Only Happy When It Rains (1995) • Queer (1995) • Push It (1998) • Special (1998)

Garbage were never a band I ever got into, though I had a number of friends who swore by their music. I’ll be honest, nothing entirely jumps out at me about this song either as to why I should be overly bothered by them. There is the novelty of a female fronted rock band and the mix of the harsher sound with her emotive vocals is pleasant enough, but I think if I didn’t ‘get them’ at the time, nothing was likely to change my mind now.

829.      

‘Miss Sarajevo’, Passengers (1995)

Influenced by: The Great Gig in the Sky • Pink Floyd (1973)   

Influence on: Live Like Horses • Elton John & Luciano Pavarotti (1996)  

Covered by: George Michael (1999)

As always, your mileage with U2 will vary, but this always felt to me like a pretty good song if not one of their very best. This came about through a collaboration between U2, Brian Eno and Pavarotti, the Italian opera superstar apparently pestering Bono to record a song together. The book talks about how this was a good song to hear live on U2’s later tours and I can definitely believe that, though I feel it might lose some of its power when you listen to it on record. Pavarotti’s vocals give the song something just a little bit different as it threatens to meander to a close.

830.      

River of Deceit’, Mad Season (1995)

I’m surprised this song has ended up on here, but pleasantly. I’m a big fan of Layne Staley as a vocalist, with the best songs from Alice in Chains often being the ones that allow him to showcase his vocal chops. That is exactly what you get on ‘River of Deceit’ as his singing is front and centre, though the guitar and bass flourishes add layers to an emotive and bluesy tune. It won’t convert anyone who cares little for the style of music, but it is a personal favourite of mine.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I honestly forgot all about Mad Season.

Don't let @zero hear you disparage Garbage tho.

[METALMAN]

Bloody hell the nineties are really underwhelming so far, aren't they? These songs are all average at best apart from Back for Good which is quite good. And I suppose Stupid Girl and You Oughta Know are fine but they don't belong here. Maybe a lot of the people compiling this book were born in the 70s.

[GA!]

Linking back to talk elsewhere, the 90s is basically a massive wad of comfort food. It's not especially innovative or substantial but I love the period.

But not to worry, we're a couple of years here from peak nu-metal.

[gunnar hendershow]

I think what's been happening with the 90s, at least rock, is that it just hasn't aged as well as rock music from the 80s did. If you were there and listened to it at the time I think it tends to hold up a lot better than as someone newly exposed to it. Music is always "of it's time" but 90s rock in a lot of ways feels like it is overtly focused on representing this attitude, instead of organically letting it happen.

There is sooooo much great music from the 90s though that, thus far, the book has only paid cursory attention to. It hits on a lot of things (like Garbage) that were brilliant in this time and I quite like, but I couldn't imagine how I'd get someone into them in 2020 whereas I could play something from The Cure or Depeche Mode and likely have much more success. But a lot feels like music the author liked in 1995 so assumes that it still holds up as important in 2010 (or whenever the book was written). Whereas they clearly weren't heavily invested in the music from the 90s that holds up to this day as truly great.

[GoGo Yubari]

honestly, I think '90s rock is fine. The lows are lower than the '80s, even as someone who finds most '80s stadium rock pretty boring I'd agree with that, the only area I'd maybe say the '90s does better is power-pop and I'm not going to deeply commit to that position, but there's a lot of good stuff and I think we're starting to see newer artists mine some of that style in ways that are much better than all the ways post-grunge took that style and sucked all the life out of it.

The real issue is that the people who made this book just aren't good at picking things out in a way that actually feels like a comprehensive representation of the decade. Sometimes they pick obvious songs, sometimes they don't, but when they pick non-obvious songs by artists who clearly deserve to be in this book they go with stuff that's overlong and overserious. I liked that Jane's Addiction song from a while ago just fine and it's a really interesting story but it's not "Been Caught Stealing," is it? It's not a song that would explain to anyone why they remained in radio rotation forever even when they took most of the '90s off.

But some of this is I think a byproduct of when the book came out. They released it in 2011 or so, which makes me think that they had half a mind with the '90s that their target audience wasn't going to want a definitive representation of the '90s and more half-that, half-the authors' ideas on good deeper cuts (and they're wrong! a lot!).

[Malenko]

I like 90s music more than I like any other decade. Unpopular opinion (here, at least) but it is what it is.

There are definitely things I love in other decades but the 90s had so much stuff I like, it will always be my number 1.

[Bobfoc]

5 hours ago, Malenko said:

I like 90s music more than I like any other decade. Unpopular opinion (here, at least) but it is what it is.

It's always seemed to me that that's the majority opinion on here, mainly because of when most of the posters here were children and teenagers.

My feelings on nineties music are mixed. There was some fun dance pop here and there, but I find that the rock genre tended to lack either the fun or punchiness that I like. It's rare that I listen to a nineties rock song that I find in any way memorable.

[METALMAN]

I don't think rock music of the 90s was bad. You're much more likely to find bad rock music in the 70s and 80s. But you're also much more likely to find great rock music in the 70s and 80s. One of the things I notice about 90s rock music is there is a real lack of good songwriting. For a lot of people it seemed sufficient to have soft-loud-soft dynamics and mutter something in an ironic tone of voice. Which is fine, but it's also easy and usually not very interesting.

[Liam]

831.     

‘Dear Mama’, 2Pac (1995)

I’ve only ever listened to ‘Changes’ when it comes to 2Pac’s music, so feel poorly positioned to talk much about this song. My main thoughts really are that it is interesting to hear a song from a rapper to his Mum, even one that engages with her flaws as well as everything else that makes her worthy of the song. Apparently this was released around a time that 2Pac was under investigation for a sexual assault charge, perhaps undermining this song and other female positive tunes that he also released. For me, it is often the surrounding tune and vocals that interests me when it comes to rap, and the sparse guitar creates a pleasant groove for the lyrics to work with.

832.   

‘The Bomb (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)’, The Bucketheads (1995)

If there is one thing this project has helped me do, it is to reveal the actual names and artists behind songs that I’ve heard, but never had any idea who they were by. Turning house songs into commercial entities (this was originally 14 minutes long) saw some success in the UK charts in particular, with this being one of the songs that has had some longevity. The Latin flourishes particular gives this a fresh feeling that makes it longer in the head for me, alongside the obvious lyrical refrain that forms the bulk of the song. Fun song, if nothing overly exciting.

833.     

‘Guilty by Association’, Joe Henry featuring Madonna (1996)

The story behind this is perhaps more interesting than the song: a benefit album that aimed to raise money for a country singer paralysed in a car crash, the album featuring songs written by him but performed by others. The original version of this song had Michael Stipe on the backing vocals and the lyrics were about his awkward celebrity position that he found himself in, so there is a bit of an irony when you swap out someone as understated as Stipe with Madonna. This is pleasant, but feel it is here for novelty as much as anything.

834.      

‘A irmandade das estrelas’, Carlos Nunez (1996)

Not something I necessarily expected to say, but this is a song that is all about the Spanish bagpipes. Positioned here as a means to give a nod to the breadth and depth of music across the world, this song comes from the debut album of Nunez, a man who had played backing music for the Chieftains amongst others. This sold over 100,000 copies in Spain, the first time music of Celtic origin managed to do that. At least someone liked it…

835.      

 ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’, Jay-Z featuring The Notorious B.I.G. (1996)

Jay-Z has had enough crossover appeal that I think even people who aren’t massively into rap have a favourite Jay-Z song, yet I’ve heard a lot less from The Notorious B.IG., so have limited knowledge of what is or isn’t good in terms of their wider musical collection. This feels a lot more in keeping with the boisterous, combative rap that I expect from this time period, something backed up by some swipes taken at 2Pac in the lyrics and….well, the title. I prefer my Jay-Z from a few years later than this, but I can see the appeal.

[MalaCloudy Black]

I'm assuming Biggie has to appear later on in here on his own because there's no way you can do this justice, imo, without cuts from Life After Death. I'm thinking maybe like Hypnotize, Ten Crack Commandments or Mo Money Mo Problems all have to show up here soon, since we're about to hit 1997. 

Has any other Biggie shown up on the list yet? Juicy, Big Poppa, maybe Who Shot Ya?