50 Memorable Songs Of The Late 1990s That Apparently Only You Remember, Even Though They Were Totally On The Radio And Stuff

One of the area CC's has a FM radio station specializing in Rock of varying vintages. They have student djs during the day, but after midnight they go automated and things get interesting. Tonight's find:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG1FSt9Tm-k

I think this was Sweet's last hit of any consequence. I don't think I've heard or even thought about this song in at least ten years.

Oh YEAH! That was actually my introduction to Sweet, believe it or not. Also completely forgot about it. Nice one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKqUglOC3_8

Indigo Girls - Shame On You

^^^ good song and sort of typical of one strain of stuff on this thread IMO - even when it was getting airplay, it was on stations (at least, my station) that didn't really "sound" like this by 1997. But they had been big into this kind of music just a few years earlier, the DJs were probably interested in this record, whatever one show on the weekend they had that played retro-college rock would still have "Closer To Fine" and "Galileo" in the rotation, so naturally this got carried in with that momentum. But the new song was never going to make it into the permanent file, even if the station's format hadn't further shifted with nu-metal and all that. And of course it never had a chance anywhere besides "modern rock" land.

Other factor here is that for me in Atlanta, IG were a "local" act (long since gone major) - curious whether this track made an impact in the wider world.

"Where You Get Love" either got a lot of play on my local or it was on a CMJ cd that I listened to a lot, because I knew about half of the words and I'm sure I haven't heard it since 1997

looked it up - it was the CMJ cd

ha i went on a Matthew Sweet binge on Spotify recently and when i got to "Where You Get Love" i was like oh yeah i remember the crappy outer space video that was on 120 Minutes for a few weeks and then disappeared

Another item from the CC Rock station by everybody's fave rave acoustic nerf grunge band on their sophomore album and it's first single, wherein the frontman fired the rest of the band and learned how to dance in the process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1sA7YkLw1w

He says "yeah" alot, don't he?

Hahaha yeah "Enemy" is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind when first starting this thread! I might also have to add "The Shelf In The Room" which is a terrible song but certainly way below the profile of "Touch Peel & Stand." I remember my buddy and I at the time actually being kind of shocked by "Enemy" on the grounds of "hey, this is a kind of cool song, how'd that happen?"

This version doesn't sound so familiar though, I feel like the backing track was a little more forceful in the one I heard.

Spotify also reminds me of their "The Down Town" which might be too obscure for this thread - pretty sure I only heard that on the radio, like, three times max. (It also sucks.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsMUQK4jdsQ

The Cardigans - My Favorite Game. Not on Spotify!

Also would like to add Drivin n Cryin's "Everything's Gonna Be Alright," almost certainly a regional-only airplay "hit." Haven't heard it since 1998, and it's not on Youtube OR Spotify. On top of it, now that I think of it, I think the one they played a lot was a live version. So...forget about that one. Maybe not so memorable. Suddenly really feeling the urge to hear "Fly Me Courageous" though.

that cardigans song was used as background music for 1000 mtv things around that time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB_g3KYs2QM

Woooooowwwwwwwww, that digs deep - through the first verse I was prepared to say "never heard that before" but the chorus clicks into focus. I don't know it well but I definitely know it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSmeqrSH6xg

The Nixons - Sister

really getting into the dregs now, i fear

"Leech" was fairly big at the time, the follow-up to "Inside Out" iirc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best..._Album_in_the_World...Ever!#Volume_6_.281997.29

"Where You Get Love" either got a lot of play on my local or it was on a CMJ cd that I listened to a lot, because I knew about half of the words and I'm sure I haven't heard it since 1997

― infowars.go.com (los blue jeans), Sunday, October 21, 2012 5:22 PM (6 days ago

It got a lot of college airplay down here too and it sounded enough like a 100% Fun track to obviate the sense that his moment was about to pass.

Scanning through the "best album in the world" - my main takeaway is Monaco's "What Do You Want From Me" - very pleasant 80s throwback thing - which turns out not to be on Spotify. Did remind me of MONO's "Life In Mono" from the Great Expectations Soundtrack which is a gimme for the playlist.

Most of the rest is mysterious, which by which I mean "British." How do we feel about Republica's "Ready To Go?" Awesome song, major at the time - would we agree it's sort of vanished or does it have any kind of afterlife (video games maybe? feels like it might soundtrack a montage here and there).

my main takeaway is Monaco's "What Do You Want From Me" - very pleasant 80s throwback thing

When Peter Hook is involved, everything is an "80s throwback thing".

"Where Do You Get Love" has one of the stranger key changes in a pop song.

How do we feel about Republica's "Ready To Go?" Awesome song, major at the time - would we agree it's sort of vanished or does it have any kind of afterlife (video games maybe? feels like it might soundtrack a montage here and there).

Back when we had a "Classic Alternative" station around here, this was in their playlist, but in some less-poppy (and ergo, not as good) remix form.* I still dig the song, and could see it popping in movies about the '90s or at least in commercials again (IIRC, Mazda or Mitsubishi used it in a late '90s campaign).

*I always wondered how their library was put together. The station ran for about 8 months, was '80s/early '90s (non grunge) centric for the first couple before their listener feedback came in and the 80s stuff got mostly dropped in favor of grunge; by the time they went off the air, they were playing songs from 2006/7. They used to have weird holes in the catalogue too, like for the longest time all the Nirvana they played was from Nevermind or Unplugged. And then there was the unique versions thing, like the Republica remix, and what I assume was a "Top 40" mix of the Black Crowes' take of "Hard To Handle" which had horns and was completely new to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqoHqmo2irI

Porno For Pyros - Hard Charger

^^Good one!

I'm pretty sure I've heard The Nixons on the radio (WMMR in Philly probably) within the last 5 years or so

I thought this was totally a hit that everyone knew but I've mentioned it to/sang it to/played it for at least half a dozen people and not a single one knows it. You all know this, right? Right??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z778slDEsds

!!!! Didn't know it when I clicked "play," knew it from like 0:02. Wow, forgot all about this. I think I thought it was Sixpence None The Richer or something. Really pretty little tune IMO. Didn't recall all the details of the verses and so on but it's good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrvxfX6LPDc

reminds me, somehow, of this: Fleming & John - Love Songs

Oh yeah, it's really really great ("Two peas in a pod, yes we are/or have I read too much fiction? Is this how it happens?")

Sincere question: was this era particularly characterized by a seeming parade of anonymous one- or two-hit rock bands that were identifiable basically by name only? That's not a jab at any of them, just me trying to figure out if I was a particularly uninterested listener (no magazine subscriptions etc). I mean, I could rack up megapoints on a trivia quiz that was organized by "here's the song, name the band" - - - "That's Republica!" - - - but I couldn't actually tell you anything about Republica, they didn't seem to have an image or a presence or anything besides the name.

Wonder how much of this is just also that I was too young to go to shows, etc.

Just found documents from 1997-1998 covering a series of tapes I made by mashing RECORD while listening to the radio. Mostly top-tier hits, but a few things that would go well in this thread maybe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5HNCw3VLB0

Phish - Free

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5C6hqZEX_8

311 - Transistor (video is an amazing video effects period piece)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD3yVmT7ZEU

311 - Prisoner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvQRRuckqM8

Filter/Crystal Method - (Can't You) Trip Like I Do

Man, I fucking love "Free" and didn't realize it was a radio single!

Dunno if it was - just heard it a lot on 99X for a couple months or so.

swinging for lilith fair:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdG618TMc5E

Natalie Merchant - Kind & Generous. VH1 hit; I reckon this is still strong on the grocery-store circuit, but a considerable step down in bigness from the Tigerlily singles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2JWJYLNUq4

Sarah McLachlan - Sweet Surrender. In between "Building A Mystery" and "Adia," I remember hearing this a lot at the time but it apparently peaked at #28 on the Hot 100, and I think it's pretty much vanished now. It's better than I remember, although certainly too long.

Also, btw:

The album was mentioned in the Starr Report, the late-1990s account of Independent Counsel Ken Starr's investigation of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.[17][18][19] After a visit to the White House in November 1997, Lewinisky wrote that she "noticed you (President Clinton) had the new Sarah McLachlan CD" and that "whenever I listen to song #5 (Do What You Have to Do) I think of you."[20][18]. McLachlan's representatives had no comment on the matter.[17]

"Free" was definitely the only Phish song besides "Down With Disease" that got a decent little bit of rock radio airplay

i remember hearing bouncing around the room quite a bit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwvlUEm_fmA

Screaming Trees - All I Know

Who doesn't remember "Kind & Generous"??

Which is more obscure/forgotten, that or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M9ncAkKSNM

Which is more obscure/forgotten, that or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M9ncAkKSNM

well, i remember it now! 1992, but yeah. A lot of these I really haven't got a good sense of what's forgotten and what's not. Almost threw "The Perfect Drug" in at one point and then went "....nah." Again, on some level I think what this is really about for me is rehabilitating/archiving low-ranking hits that never make the long-term rotation but were essential to the landscape of what it sounded like to turn on the radio in 1998 or whenever. Any future "oldies" format that's missing this stuff will feel as hollow as the stations that boil the 60s down to "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and "Mrs. Robinson" to the exclusion of everything else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNQr6HLZHtk

Mack 10 feat. Snoop Dogg & Ice Cube - Only In California

The CC Station played "What's Up With That" yesterday, which leads me to the home team's prior single, from the From Dusk 'Til Dawn OST: "She's Just Killing Me" by ZZ Top (w/celebrity guests!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDeLYTw7EmU

Wow. I don't think I knew ZZ Top still existed in 99X. Nice one.

heard Live's "Freaks" on the radio today and thought of this thread

^^I think any Live that was post-"The Big Album" would fit here.

Amazing, really, that it took us this long to get there, since I think there are about 400 different Secret Samadhi discussions on ILX.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2qkE_QXEog

Soundgarden - Bleed Together. Outtake/b-side, re-framed as the bonus song for the greatest hits comp. Not bad!

Today's CC Radio re-discovery: "One More Murder" by Better Than Ezra, wherein they "go dark", discover trip hop, and hold onto their audience for the last 30 seconds of their "15 Minutes".

FUN FACT: In 1998, they co-headlined the Sugar Land Texas City Fair w/Dishwalla. I bet they thought those golden days would never end...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmzlf28SGD4