Drinking In L.A. * Steal My Sunshine * In The Meantime * Get What You Give * Novocaine For The Soul

Absolute Radio on in the office today - we've had Len and the New Radicals so far (NR sounding GREAT)

At first I thought the difference was that Rose has a layer of sarcasm. But a lot of these songs felt like they had a layer of sarcasm at the time, but the sarcasm has burned off and it feels earnest in retrospect.

― Mungolian Jerryset (bendy), Friday, June 29, 2018 12:27 PM (forty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah I'm not getting a whole lot of sarcasm from these, more naivety, jejeune

Fan of the first two (Canadian), tired of the third, don't know the other two. If "How Bizarre" were listed, that'd get my vote; as is, "Steal My Sunshine." (I don't think I'd include "Loser" here, probably not "1979" either.)

Except in Len's case, the sample is basically the whole song

Uh no it’s not... it’s the bridge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nntd2fgMUYw

thinkfaceemoji

i really dislike that song as it edges things really closely to Toploader territory but there's no denying it's a Sunny D

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/34324828_10160551886875385_3571852312689246208_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=0f1b7925563ba9c1e7b5017f393c3699&oe=5BB1E4F7

I feel like a good example of a modern take on this sound would be Only Real, which also mixes it with a bit of King Krule and Mac Demarco:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q5nFR-EW7U

But it definitely has strong touches of Bran Van, Len and some New Radicals in there.

i was singing the ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooeooh bit from in the meantime in the shower this morning

i just youtubed drinking in la because i didn't remember it. i'm pretty sure i've never heard it before, and fuuuuuk, no way.

I revisited it again this morning as well. I'm mainly indifferent, but the way it interpolates "Gin & Juice" pushes it into the No column -- that's some Dynamite Hack shit, avant la lettre.

It's almost more akin to something like "Lazy Sunday" (an SNL Digital Short™) than it is a pop song.

I don't think I had ever seen the music video for it before. Want to try and identify all the records shown? 1:35 and 2:17

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

There's:

David Bowie - Heroes
Connie Francis - Sing Along with Connie Francis
Commodores - self titled
Toronto - Get It On Credit

What are Gregg Alexander's other good songs? I tried getting into the New Radicals album recently and I thought it was kind of annoying but I know he's written a handful of songs that I like.

Rivers Cuomo covered one of them on a demo collection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYNA-SKrYiY

Some other albums from the Bran Van clip

ELO: Discovery
Loverboy: S/T
Bruce Springsteen: Greetings From Asbury Park...

also had never heard Drinking in LA, and I was a freshman in college at the time who wore raver/skater pants but listened to some hiphop so it should've def been on my radar.

Here’s another Gregg Alexander classique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z6HP7fvbkI

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I quite liked Drinking in LA because I first heard it when I was LA, drinking. It was my first time in the US and it was all very exciting. This was in 1999 so I think it had been out for ages by then. Tbh I have a reasonable tolerance for this kind of vibe even though I don't really *like* any of these songs I don't hate them either. Apart from that Eagle Eye Cherry one maybe.

I haven't thought about that Spacehog song in 20 years, but it was all over the radio when it came out.

Only one of these songs spells out the word l-a-t-e-r though so...

Spacehog probably the archetypal British-band-bigger-in-US, even more than Bush, it's probably a cliche to even mention it tbh, although I actually do remember hearing that song in the UK at the time, so it wasn't a complete flop.

The bowie aping in it is groany but also sorta in the spirit of the day. “lol well heart in the right place for these times.”

that sample
that bass line
that ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooeooh part

this is Spacehog in a walk

len ftw

(and i LOVE EELS)

Think this fits in here somewhere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eBZqmL8ehg

p sure we already have 900 trip-hop landfill threads

xp shiit yea that Hanson song is sick

did anyone mention citizen king? that one always gets lost in the mix.

having a bad week, sic?

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Len ftw!

The new radicals album is all time for me
Still sounds dope

there are a bunch of songs I've never heard before that totally fit that I enjoyed hearing for the first time too! thraed just moved on by the time I saw them

Missed this poll, but would have argued that “Natural One” should have been included.

Gonna try to nail this aesthetic as:

- period of roughly '94 - 2000 with some exceptions
- funky/hip-hop influenced pop/rock but not firmly entrenched in any particular camp
- usually a one or two-hit wonder

“Natural One” should have been included.

agreed

I remember getting a haircut in college when “Natural One” came on the radio; the woman cutting my hair was scoffing at the song with another stylist – “Who writes this stuff?” I sat there thinking, Uh, it’s John Davis and Lou Barlow... I could talk for 10 minutes about these guys!

Len won. Justice is done. Y’all

The performance of the Eels song in this poll – and the fact that barely anyone even reminisced about on it in the thread – reinforces the mystery around the fact that it was an Alternative hit.

It was, but--like a lot of big tracks from that period--it didn't have legs past it's point of max. impact.

Novocaine for the Soul didn't really cross over into the main Billboard charts. It peaked at 39 on the Airplay charts, which is just barely making it.

Drinking in L.A. didn't either, and in fact didn't even make it on the US Modern Rock charts, but that song had greater international success.

I like the eels song. Also eels were big in the UK.
Alternate versions of the song are better. It’s no last stop this town

The first three did get heavy airplay in Mexico don’t know about the US. Spacehog and Eels didn’t get any at all and I only knew about them by watching MTV’s 120 minutes (don’t know if you had that in the US but it was 2 hours of alt music including electronica and hip hop that didn’t get usual airplay from them)

I don’t remember watching the novocaine video though, I remember one with a singing carrot... “last stop this town”?

Yeah! You got it Moka

Not many singles from electro shock. Last stop and cancer for the cure was in American beauty but the industrial noise intro pretty much guaranteed it was a non single.

I was just in a shop where the Cardigans’ “Lovefool” staeted playing, and it seemed to fit the vibe of these selections in a certain way.

I could see that

i actually listened to the one citizen king album they put out. it's like beck except not good. anyways one of the members went on to mix j dilla records and the lead dude became an electroclash guy (mount sims)

just want to drop this useless knowledge