My So-Called Life official soundtrack (1994) poll

According to the writer of that song who worked as a PA on many early 90s music videos in LA, Tom Petty heard the demo of said song and really liked it so the band named it after him!

That's a great song. I have a weird block about Afghan Whigs and Archers of Loaf. I always felt compelled to buy their albums but I can listen to songs and can't remember a single thing about them.

Was about to vote for Buffalo Tom then spotted the Whigs.

I bought this specifically for the Archers song, and then it came out on Speed of Cattle a year later. >:(

Wow, I did not know that Madder Rose were on this.

General question about the show (or, more specifically, about the show's use of music): better or worse than Freaks and Geeks? Took me a few episodes to find my way, but I ended up loving Freaks and Geeks, music included, and would happily invest the time in My So-Called Life if it's as good.

I liked both shows about equally, though MSCL is somewhat more titled toward straight drama than F&G. I certainly see fans of one liking the other, though.

I agree that "Late at Night" was more prominently and memorably employed in the show itself, but I'm still voting for "Soda Jerk" on its own strengths.

Still cannot believe they left Animal Bag off of this thing. So disrespectful to Animal Bag.

MSCL is garbage. F&G is amazing. Totally different imo.

The Daniel Johnston song has always made me wistful.

I have such strong and complicated feeling re: this show, I cannot even tell you.

'garbage' gtfo

Also, clem: I read your post a bit too fast. You were asking about the music: MSCL has a number of scenes that are memorably set to music, though they tend to be things that aren't on this soundtrack. As others have noted, "Late at Night" is the Buffalo Tom song that is at the centre of the episode they appear in (though it is played over the soundtrack, whereas the band performs "Soda Jerk" on the show), and I remember one episode opening with "Blister in the Sun" and another closing with a Grateful Dead song ("I Wanna Be Sedated" might have been used in another episode, but its been a while for me). Of the songs included on the soundtrack, the Juliana Hatfield song is the only one besides "Soda Jerk" that I can actually recall from the show, because Hatfield appears as a character on an episode and performs the song.

Overall, I don't know how much the show will appeal to you as an evocation of time and place via the music. In being set in the past, Freaks and Geeks has a retro novelty that MSCL mostly lacks.

mscl takes itself very seriously but that's one of the reasons it's good. at its best it's a lovely show. it deserved to figure itself out more

All helpful, thanks. Looked into a copy on Amazon, and it's going to have to wait anyway--unreasonably expensive. If I'm not mistaken, Chuck Eddy used to be a big fan of this show.

Having watched it as it aired and while I was the same age as the characters and in roughly the same state of operatically-heightened teen angst, I can offer basically no objective opinion about the merits of the show. It's inextricable from my 1994.

I know I have a further EP, "Grimes Golden," somewhere in storage. I remember really liking it. Now if I just had my personal life together, and had a working turntable...

conversely, i didn't get around to my so-called life until it appeared on netflix instant a few years ago, and i was surprised at how excellent it was barring a few episodes (juliana hatfield as christmas angel). it's a v earnest look at teendom in the early-'90s but the earnestness really suits that period and material. rayanne and ricky are really complexly drawn characters imo, especially ricky, hard for me to think of another character on tv whose experience of queerness felt that close to mine. the way it focuses simultaneously on the parents and the kids (though i haaaaaaate the dad) creates this very emotionally rich world of congruent perspectives. and idk jared leto as jordan catalano is the funniest shit

I was obsessed with MSCL in HS but haven’t watched it since. Brad otm about the characters though fromwhat I recall. I was the perfect age for this when it came out and identified with Angela so hard lol. Aside - Archers it Loaf are one of my all time favorite bands and I’m still voting BT because I just remember that song being very tied to the show. Also I just remembered that I saw them play two nights in a row once at Maxwells but I can’t for the life of me remember why. I will say they were great live.

I loved MSCL and was part of a dorky early-internet campaign to get it renewed (we failed obv)

It sounds like garabage on paper but transcended that I think.

There were a LOT of annoying characters though! Angela's ENTIRE FAMILY even the little sister, SHARON (ugh), Jordan (I don't know if it was laziness or genius making him a cipher), Brian Krakow (I was the only person I know who didn't hate that character), even Ricky sometimes. Rayanne and Angela were the only great characters but the show really was about them.

The Wonder Years, Freaks & Geeks, and this show are the coming-of-age trifecta of dopeness.

I wish I knew anything from the soundtrack. I possibly know the Lemonheads song.

Yeah I HATED Angela’s mom. I completely forgot about Sharon until I just looked her up. She was Angela’s best friend when they were little, right? I did hate Brain too. He was such an asshole!

I remember watching this show growing up and thinking it was a fairly accurate representation of my adolescence, too. Or at least of my little part of the world. That Further song is really good, but The Afghan Whigs' Fountain and Fairfax won me over, partly because I have a lot of memories being in that area when an ex-girlfriend used to live around there. Also, Greg Dulli's performance of it after they got back together is pretty awesome.

It took me while to realize how radical the character of Ricky was in the show’s presentation of his queerness. Later (and far lesser) teen dramas like Dawson’s Creek would stick to stick types like the Tragic Closet Jock—which probably explains some of why MSCL was less commercially successful than its peers.

*stock types

There was a Dawson's Creek test screening at my high school back in the day. I remember a bunch of us feeling disappointed by it at the time.

I don't really like Brian but I still feel it was kind of gutsy for the show to make him so unsympathetic. Brad completely otm about Ricky & Rayanne be (& Jordan lol). Show is def worth watching...

I like the show a lot more than Freaks and Geeks but I turned 16 the summer MSCL came out and was in my own baby doll dress, printed tights, floppy hair boyfriend phase. I even went to a Lemonheads/ Buffalo Tom/Gigolo Aunts show in Norfolk a month before MSCL premiered.

i was in college by the time MSCL came on, and it was way too close to home/too near the bone -- but i watched it anyway!

then a few years ago i watched it again to see if i could handle it, and it was good. it's very internal and girl-focused.

i absolutely had no use for the soundtrack at the time but of these songs i liked "fountain and fairfax" the best
it's waaaaaay gnarlier than any buffalo tom song!!

also big shoutout for "Genetic" -- one of my favorite SY songs even though i knew it because a weird creep left the 100% maxi single on my windshield
very angela chase moment there, wondering if i should be nice to the guy who's stalking me because he understands what music i like :-/

I haven't knowingly heard any of these songs except the SY one. I'll listen to this... tomorrow.

Djd this show take place in the thirtysomething-verse?

Don't know the show at all, but the Lemonheads, Whigs and Buffalo Tom were all major elements of my 1993. Gentlemen is a top 5 90s album for me, but I don't play "Fountain & Fairfax" outside of the album context. "Soda Jerk" is a great single, so that.

have heard three of these songs, voted Whigs

Genetic cos it rules and it nearly broke up SY.

Djd this show take place in the thirtysomething-verse?

No, the Homeland-verse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95yaQUlg_os

My vote probably goes for W. G. Snuffy Walden's theme, without the Homeland visuals. I've always loved it.

Nice -- Brain Krakow to thread. Coincidentally I'm writing this from Kraków.

I voted "Make It Home." It was an adequate amount of yearning to fit my mid 90s needs.

Yep, that's me, or at least the inspiration for my username. A lot of my online presence is mscl references and krakow always stuck the most. I identify with him, even if he is an asshole (but then I am too, sometimes, of course). When I give my email address (also krakow), people often ask if I'm Polish.

Who remembers...Relativity?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU1-KPFGgb0

lol. i do not, but i enjoyed the trailer all the same

I remember watching a couple of those episodes. It wasn't as good.

only one of these songs is about a birthmark in the shape of a u.s. state

Jerked my fountain
Ice cream mountains

https://img.discogs.com/yjYxsLymShy7ZZx3HWj5AnOZMHg=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-258817-1236073625.jpeg.jpg

there's a great live version of Soda Jerk on here

Toad the Wet Sprocket's "Fall Down" was used in an episode where they sneak out to a concert. "Blister in the Sun" and "I Wanna Be Sedated" (as mentioned upthread) were also in episodes.

Still cannot believe they left Animal Bag off of this thing. So disrespectful to Animal Bag.

― Vape Ape (Old Lunch), Saturday, January 5, 2019 3:15 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Haaaaaa otfm

Ain't got no wor-rays
Ain't in no hur-ray

"I Wanna Be Sedated" might have been used in another episode, but its been a while for me

It's been 24 years but IIRC it was the song that Jared Leto's band (The Frozen Embryos) rehearsed in an episode...

Any write-in votes for Jordan Catalano's "Red"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IucL7_szrHw

did they play at Tino's house?

Rayanne was supposed to be the lead singer (I wanna be sedated) but she got stage fright or something so Jordan had to take over.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

voted "Soda Jerk" just ahead of "Fountain and Fairfax" and the MSCL theme

"Go now ... go!"

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

animal bag was robbed

Boooooooooo...

We should poll the Friends soundtrack next.

I played some Animal Bag last week and WOW, some 90s music was so fucking bad I think I had blocked it out

this result is otm although i was contractually obligated to vote archers

Very happy that the theme did so well.