Is there a name for that genre of turn-of-the-90s pop-rock with the positive vibes, huge guitar leads, and gated drums?

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Oh yeah -- country is where rock's been at since at least the nineties

the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 22 December 2012 18:20 (eleven years ago) link

Wow, had no idea it had any shelf life at all. Crazy how much variety there still is in those things in the Clear Channel age.

Doctor Casino, Saturday, 22 December 2012 18:23 (eleven years ago) link

I think Sheryl Crow's second album had a through-line from this stuff (though the percussion is more '90s americana).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khrx-zrG460

something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Saturday, 22 December 2012 21:02 (eleven years ago) link

Hmmm, not entirely hearing that one, but maybe someone more up on Mitchell Froom can piece together the arc there?

Doctor Casino, Saturday, 22 December 2012 22:53 (eleven years ago) link

Mitchell Froom's trick is to create "unconventional" sounds in a pop context.

the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 22 December 2012 22:59 (eleven years ago) link

Belinda Carlisle's hits or Bryan Adams' Waking Up The Neighbours material to thread

Master of Treacle, Sunday, 23 December 2012 05:19 (eleven years ago) link

Teenage Fanclub's "Star Sign" would fit this mold, rite?

Also, perhaps, Jellyfish - "That Is Why", maybe the La's "There She Goes". If it had arrived a few years later, I'd include XTC's "Mayor of Simpleton" (their biggest US hit, despite the lyric about not being able to write a big hit song). If it had arrived a few years earlier, Hootie's "Time".

I've always liked this microgenre, whatever it may be called.

Lee626, Sunday, 23 December 2012 20:04 (eleven years ago) link

Wow, right on about Bryan Adams. "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" and "All I Want Is You" are definitely right in there. Trending a little rootsier but yeah. Will have to dig into the other last couple things, not familiar with 'em.

Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 25 December 2012 17:09 (eleven years ago) link

Would this count?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sOjdusDUzE

MarkoP, Tuesday, 25 December 2012 20:32 (eleven years ago) link

Right on!

Doctor Casino, Thursday, 27 December 2012 01:35 (eleven years ago) link

Richard Marx is one of those guys that was really popular and all over the radio for few years, yet I can't remember any of his songs

Lee626, Thursday, 27 December 2012 09:24 (eleven years ago) link

This was one of those things, no? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCy13kjj13M

DJ Smoove Groothe (staggerlee), Sunday, 30 December 2012 00:42 (eleven years ago) link

Wow, never heard this before. I think it fits. Sounds like another one that started out as a different kind of band and found themselves sounding Post-Cold-War in the studio. Some overlap with the clean-sounding, poppier side of college/alt rock, e.g. Gin Blossoms.

Doctor Casino, Monday, 31 December 2012 21:12 (eleven years ago) link

three years pass...

It's nowhere near the "Joyride" / "Life Is A Highway" sound, but another entry in the "college bands ending up with a way boxier sound than you'd expect" category: The Pursuit of Happiness. "Cigarette Dangles," from 1993, sounds like a total throwback next to the general palette of grunge and "alternative" by that point, especially compared to the 1989 "I'm An Adult Now" and "Hard to Laugh" (as "produced" as those are). Sure, it gets a little less machinic once the bass shows up, and the solo feels "live" - but that whittled-down riff, that loud snare, the flanged backing vocals... weird, weird sound.

Obviously there are a million college/underground bands that got kind of unsympathetic recordings in the late 80s/early 90s, and I wouldn't lump them all in here (esp. as the "That Eighties Drum Sound" thread already gets into this a lot more). Was just listening to Pylon's Chain for example, which is what got me thinking about this again.

DOCTOR CAISNO, BYCREATIVELABBUS (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 23 October 2016 17:55 (eight years ago) link

You know, there were two versions of "I'm an Adult Now"--(or does your specifying date mean you know that?)--& the first was a lot, well, rawer: at least my poseur 16-yr-old self strongly preferred it...

Swag Heathen (theStalePrince), Sunday, 23 October 2016 18:20 (eight years ago) link

The mean streets of mid-80s Toronto; no doubt the authenticity-response was triggered in my still vulnerable, malleable brain...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6zMtTQix28

Swag Heathen (theStalePrince), Sunday, 23 October 2016 18:22 (eight years ago) link

https://youtu.be/J6zMtTQix28

Swag Heathen (theStalePrince), Sunday, 23 October 2016 18:24 (eight years ago) link

One more try; yeah, I don't post here much...

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/J6zMtTQix28?rel=0"; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Swag Heathen (theStalePrince), Sunday, 23 October 2016 18:31 (eight years ago) link

Ha, yeah, I did read that there was an earlier version but foolishly didn't even bother to go look it up and listen to it.

DOCTOR CAISNO, BYCREATIVELABBUS (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 23 October 2016 19:08 (eight years ago) link

it's not 90s, but quite possibly my least favorite song ever is Timbuk 3 - "gotta wear shades" or whatever it's called

brimstead, Sunday, 23 October 2016 19:24 (eight years ago) link

so glad i didn't graduate high school in the late 80s

brimstead, Sunday, 23 October 2016 19:24 (eight years ago) link

*from*

brimstead, Sunday, 23 October 2016 19:24 (eight years ago) link

four years pass...

this is the best genre, are there contemporary bands reviving this sound yet?

Warmed Regards, (Stevie D(eux)), Saturday, 2 October 2021 03:17 (three years ago) link

does U2's "Mysterious Ways" fit this?

Warmed Regards, (Stevie D(eux)), Saturday, 2 October 2021 03:18 (three years ago) link

Redd Kross's brilliant album Third Eye meets the criteria perfectly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad2HWkH7FDY

everything, Saturday, 2 October 2021 03:27 (three years ago) link

I don’t know who Bob Standard is, but good posts ITT. Also, tipsy mothra’s long post re: r&b crossover (“without pushing it too hard…”) is terrific.

juristic person (morrisp), Saturday, 2 October 2021 03:52 (three years ago) link

Don’t think I saw the Cranberries mentioned, but their debut seems pretty obviously to fit the trend… as does R.E.M.’s Out of Time album.

juristic person (morrisp), Saturday, 2 October 2021 03:55 (three years ago) link

(or maybe Buck’s leads aren’t huge enough?)

juristic person (morrisp), Saturday, 2 October 2021 03:56 (three years ago) link

I guess those LPs I just mentioned were more of on the “alt” side of the spectrum, embracing the era’s bright production sounds and positive vibes but with a subtler approach and minus some of the Big Rock moves. They’re only a few degrees to the left of Spin Doctors and INXS, though.

juristic person (morrisp), Saturday, 2 October 2021 04:02 (three years ago) link

hmmm! the guitar sound on "Mysterious Ways" definitely puts it in the ballpark, but overall the mix is maybe a little too moody and full of stuff to fully qualify. in my mind the drumming is also kind of too interesting, but i'll have to listen to it later and see if that holds up.

Out of Time has the positive vibes for sure, but is missing that loud boxy rhythm guitar sound... which i now feel is essentially descended from Boston?? "Cool the Engines" in particular seems to have a few of the pieces in place, especially the very clean, empty-feeling soundscape.

I Am Fribbulus (Xax) (Doctor Casino), Saturday, 2 October 2021 19:14 (three years ago) link

im enjoying this thread but it has to be stated that “cigarette dangles” is an incredibly terrible song with an even worse video

i wonder to what extent geggy tah slots in here. also making a connection between the rhythm guitar vibe here and the later 3eb-1975 energy

Vapor waif (uptown churl), Saturday, 2 October 2021 21:30 (three years ago) link

Haha, that was just every big pop hit from 1990 to the spring of 1992, wasn't it? Minus ballads?

Sequel to Sadness (Sund4r), Saturday, 2 October 2021 22:24 (three years ago) link

I'm certain that's the ad Dr C refers to in the OP. I only know most of these songs from the clips in that ad.

The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Saturday, 2 October 2021 22:26 (three years ago) link

Been meaning to start a thread of huge hit songs that I only know short clips of from compilation CD commercials, there are lots

The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Saturday, 2 October 2021 22:27 (three years ago) link

I do remember people talking about how this deal was going to be the sound of the 1990s before Nevermind really hit. Although you can count me as one of the people who thanks Nirvana, on balance, it was definitely an interesting moment.

xp o_O I think every one of those songs are permanently burned into my brain from middle school.

Sequel to Sadness (Sund4r), Saturday, 2 October 2021 22:29 (three years ago) link

*is

Sequel to Sadness (Sund4r), Saturday, 2 October 2021 22:30 (three years ago) link

Something always sounded uncomfortably contrived to me about a lot of these artists, even at the time. Like it was hard for me to imagine musicians organically getting together and being like "THIS. THIS IS THE MUSIC WE FEEL THE BURNING NEED TO MAKE."

longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 3 October 2021 02:58 (three years ago) link

lol. yeah, hard to entirely picture a band jamming around in a living room and coming up with most of these arrangements. goes back to my reading that a lot of these may be bands who walked in the door with an incompletely-formed sound, and ended up getting pressed through a very odd combination of individually industry-standard production decisions.

"Cigarette Dangles" is pretty catchy in a weird way, and kind of noteworthy as a BDSM anthem from the perspective of a submissive male (i think?). i also appreciate that the lead guy has approximately the cool-guy presence of the dude from the Encyclopedia Britannica commercials. the video, with the words flying every which way, is a SERIOUS artifact of its time, but not bad i think?

the "Living in the 90s" commercial IS a pretty good match for the mix of songs! there are a few i don't really associate with these kind of ads ("What's Up Doc?" especially). my guess for the one i was thinking of in the OP is maybe a one-disc version by the same company, or some other repackaging of the material, cause clearly it'd have to be under the same licensing deal to also have "Joyride," "Right Here Right Now," and "Unbelievable." hmmm.

oddly, while i could easily imagine a time-traveling Geggy Tah ending up on that same CD, or a viable mashup of "Whoever You Are" with the vocals from "Unbelievable," they still feel like a really different thing to me. maybe cause i owned Sacred Cow and tried valiantly to really like it. they definitely had one foot in the turn-of-the-90s, pre-grunge "college-rock" world, and some attempts at jazziness or jam-band moves.... but otherwise their sound owes a lot to the mainstream of 1996-era alt-rock and maybe Pavement. see the guitars on "Lotta Stuff" and the chorus of "Century Plant." pretty far from "Life is a Highway" i think. but Third Eye Blind is an amazing connection IMHO --- that opening guitar barrage on "Semi-Charmed Life," which I've always heard as a sort of a pop-punk or alterna-power-pop thing, is pretty clearly descended from this whole era! wow.

I Am Fribbulus (Xax) (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 3 October 2021 15:25 (three years ago) link

“Semi-Charmed Life” and “Two Princes” are basically the same groove.

juristic person (morrisp), Sunday, 3 October 2021 15:57 (three years ago) link

yeah, i buy that. and two big ol' hits!

I Am Fribbulus (Xax) (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 3 October 2021 16:06 (three years ago) link

How about Savage Garden (“I Want You”) as another late-’90s example of this sound? I guess they’re basically Roxette…

juristic person (morrisp), Sunday, 3 October 2021 16:36 (three years ago) link

Lol yeah I always get those two mixed up.

Xxp I can't believe 'Living in the 90's' isn't THE one!! It's an odd name for a comp that came out in 1995, like an in vain attempt to encapsulate the present. Most of my friends were listening to Bush and Smashing Pumpkins at the time. "Nirvanaless 90s rock history-that-might-have-been" was so OTM.

The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Sunday, 3 October 2021 23:30 (three years ago) link

Like, whatever I thought "90's music" meant in 1995, it certainly wasn't that.

The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Sunday, 3 October 2021 23:32 (three years ago) link

Ha, from the ad, I was assuming it was from 92, like a compilation of big recent radio hits for casual listeners.

Sequel to Sadness (Sund4r), Sunday, 3 October 2021 23:32 (three years ago) link

I like the sight edge of irony in the otherwise straightforward ad, when they put on shades and say “…and timeless legends” (or something) for Vanilla Ice. That’s very ’90s!

juristic person (morrisp), Sunday, 3 October 2021 23:41 (three years ago) link

I had picked up two volumes of "now that's what I call music" ca. 92-93 while visiting relatives in the UK. Those tapes are exactly what you describe, big recent radio hits indiscriminately compiled for casual listeners. This is something else. They really seem like they're trying to define an era prematurely. The music already sounded old, I def didn't realize how recent most of it was.

Xp

The 25 Best Songs Ever Ranked In Order (Deflatormouse), Sunday, 3 October 2021 23:41 (three years ago) link

I'm PRETTY sure the CD ad I'm thinking of is indeed from circa 1992, but it's also very possible my memory's playing tricks on me at this point, I have no idea really. for all i know my brain just mushed up "Living in the 90s" with two other ads and ended up with a comp that doesn't exist.

Savage Garden is an interesting reference. If I had to connect them to an 90s compilation it would be Pure Moods, though. The guitar tone isn't a bad fit for this thread, but it's SO buried in the mix, and absent for large stretches - the propulsion is coming almost entirely from the drums, keyboards and bass. I wonder if one of the countless CD-single remixes brings the guitars more to the front.

I Am Fribbulus (Xax) (Doctor Casino), Monday, 4 October 2021 18:33 (three years ago) link

how did we miss this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBZUz4C6kqk

licorice in the front, pizza in the rear (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 4 October 2021 19:05 (three years ago) link

"King of Wishful Thinking" barely has any guitar in it at all! The horns are claiming the headliner role here. Once again I recognize the stylistic adjacencies, but I worry we're at risk of drifting into a general "uncool turn-of-the-90s pop" thread.

I Am Fribbulus (Xax) (Doctor Casino), Monday, 4 October 2021 19:35 (three years ago) link


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