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

No, guess not. I used to listen to 90s UK web radio and never heard that Michael Bolton song either

now resolved!

What was it? It sounded very vaguely familiar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwxpMIEZ9fg

^ Roy Davis Jr ft Peven Everett - Gabriel (Live Garage Version)

I’ve been reading a book mentioned in the “Good Books About Music” thread, by the drummer of the band Semisonic, about his experiences in the music biz. (The only Semisonic song that I’ve ever been familiar with is “Closing Time,” which I’m not a fan of).

The drummer writes at length about the band’s first single, “Down in Flames,” which was chosen by the head of their label; they didn’t agree that it was a good single choice, but were advised not to question this guy’s judgment. It was pushed to radio, with very little success; MTV also buried the video, because of its prominent “fire” imagery (this was right after a kid set a fire, allegedly under the influence of Beavis and Butt-head). Anyway, it’s a pretty decent song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1BHPX0Vwto&app=desktop

This is the book, btw. I don’t super recommend it — most of the details are pretty pro forma — but it’s a good, light insomnia read.

Kinda disturbed at how a song like Jars of Clay - Flood has 5M views on youtube and Geggy Tah - Whoever You Are which is a stupid awesome song only has 288k. I thought Geggy Tah was way more popular than that.

I mean I guess Jars of Clay is popular because it has some Christian push or something but still, how does 'whoever you are' not have at least 1M views?

The second version that comes up in a search is an audio-only upload from 9 yrs. ago with 149K views. (I agree the official video upload should get more “traffic,” tho)

Wait — 149k is less than 288k. Sorry, I’m tired, hitting the sack

interesting pairing!

the christian rock thing helped the big Jars of Clay album go platinum, which already means a lot more people who would have been spinning the disc (and, maybe, *not* spinning a lot of other discs? so they really get to know and remember the songs?) in the mid-90s. i can't seem to find a sales number for geggy tah's /sacred cow/ but i'd be surprised if it even went gold. they had one single, received as an alt-novelty, which got to #16 on Modern Rock. i also feel like i've been at parties or karaoke nights where "whoever you are" gets played and a lower-than-i'd-expect percentage of millennials go "oh, THIS song!" it kinda just came and went after a few weeks, i think. i suspect even many people who bought the album didn't keep it long, as there's not a lot that really sounds like "whoever you are." anecdotally, iirc i got mine from the used bin not long after the song's heyday....

another comparison for Jars of Clay - the (sorta christian-feeling) "Counting Blue Cars" by Dishwalla, which peaked at a similar #15 on Modern Rock, but had a *much* longer presence on radio that year, and sold to non-christians who dug its soft/loud dynamics, giant hook, and bono-esque aspirations to profundity. spotify numbers:

Geggy Tah, "Whoever You Are" - 1.8 mil
Jars of Clay, "Flood" - 6.5 mil
Dishwalla, "Counting Blue Cars" - 23 mil

more surprising to me: Geggy Tah have another song, "Holly Oak," from another album, with 900k spotify listens. never heard of it, but the rest of their material is down at like 35K, so it must be on some playlist or a not-super-popular soundtrack, or something.

Doc, "Counting Blue Cars" went #15 on the Hot 100, and was #1 with a bullet on Modern Rock. It was inescapable that summer. #DishwallaTruther

I’m awake again, and clear on how numbers work.

Didn’t realize the Geggy Tah guy was such an accomplished producer.

oh oops, was misreading/misremembering. yeah CBC is objectively a much bigger hit.

Asked Siri to play "Flowers" by The New Radicals (thanks to all the NR talk going on today) and its the Apple Music algorithm selected this song to play afterwards:

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

I couldn't tell you a single other thing about Toad the Wet Sprocket--I think they may have had one or two bigger hits?--but I remember liking this one despite it not getting a whole lot of airplay. Anyway, good job Siri!

pride and joy of santa barbara california

Yeah I'm not too familiar with this one. "All I Want" and "Walk on the Ocean" are probably their best known songs, though they had a few other modest hits as well.

lol is that Monica

Friends soundtrack

I remember that one. Didn't know what the lead singer looked like - much more wholesome/clean cut look than most alternative acts.

wow, "Good Intentions" is quite pretty! slightly outside of scope here (1995) but totally fascinating to me. Toad the Wet Sprocket was a name I saw many times when browsing through the used CD bins, but I never actually knew what they sounded like. Would have guessed something harder-edged and "alternative," but in hindsight it seems like a perfect name for a "college rock about halfway between REM and Gin Blossoms" type of band. nice to finally learn that.

Dionne Farris opened for Bryan Ferry in 1995. She performed a 13-minute version of "I Know."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, September 9, 2007 5:18 PM (thirteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

ah man

Sheryl Crow has a few qualifying songs here, I think --- at the least, her cover of "Sweet Child o' Mine" off the Big Daddy soundtrack, and arguably all of the Globe Sessions singles: "My Favorite Mistake," "Anything But Down," and one I've never ever heard called "There Goes The Neighborhood." This was basically a flop period for her between the total radio/MTV ubiquity of the s/t, and the poppy comeback of "Soak up the Sun" a few years later. Maybe some of these still crop up in certain playlists/contexts, but for me they are hazy memories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CowwMR1hDPM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmIlUKo4dQc

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOw-ak2aJS8

And, not a single, but I could swear "Superstar" off the self-titled album got some half-hearted airplay towards the end of that release cycle. Implanted memory?

I feel like I definitely still hear My Favorite Mistake from time to time, but not really the other covers.

Though speaking of covers from the Big Daddy soundtrack, I also remember radio playing Shawn Mullins cover of George Harrison's What is Life at around this time, and that's certainly been forgotten.

Though looking at the charts it also might be a case of Sheryl Crow in this era still being a pretty big deal in Canada.

Yes, in Toronto, video/radio pIayed My Favorite Mistake a lot (even recently), There Goes the Neighborhood occasionally, and Anything But Down at least once.
Mildly successful cover versions of well-known songs don't tend to be revived very much, or remembered.

i sang "anything but down" at karaoke the other week, went over well

arguably all of the Globe Sessions singles: "My Favorite Mistake,"

SOMEBODY is not listening to light rock stations

"my favorite mistake" was a top 10 airplay hit and tbh was probably bigger than "soak up the sun"

Yeah, MFM is one of maybe four Sheryl songs I can count on hearing if stuck in a situation with a light rock/adult contemporary station playing all day.

It's a constant on in-store audio networks too.

this is reassuring lol cuz I partly loved "My Favorite Mistake" because no one much mentioned it at the time, therefore it felt like MY Shery Crow single.

TGS her best album imo

wow clearly i was way off about MFM! i personally have heard Soak Up The Sun wayyyy more times, but mostly thru retail/restaurant playlists I think.

Checking Spotify, I see MFM should be in her Top 10, but isn't for some reason. Surprised to see it would be at the near-bottom of that list (only 16 mil spins).

SUTS is her third-biggest on Spotify, after "All I Wanna Do" and "If It Makes You Happy".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWVWGKg-r1c

Tracy Bonham: "The One", her follow-up to "Mother Mother"

Which I see now was posted (and linkrotted) back in '12, so here's the follow-up to that, "Sharks Can't Sleep"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVl6ZzScxqk

For whatever reason, whenever Bonham comes up, I have to go look up "Mother, Mother" and try to remember what it sounds like. I think I started listening to alt-rock radio just a couple months after its moment in the sun.

"Sharks Can't Sleep" is pretty cool, SUCH a 1996 sound... that midtempo chug with the moody, kinda watery guitar figure on the verse, the pounding A A A A, B B B B chorus, and the little dip into 60s studio effects 2/3 of the way through. Does feel more like an album track, maybe even a good album-closer, than a single.

"The One" on the other hand feels a bit weighed-down by the post-grunge trappings. I can imagine a bouncier, power-poppier version of that chorus working better... fill out the space with backing vocals or a bit of keyboard or horns or something, rather than with that pummeling wall of distorted guitars.

I'm not sure if I've ever heard that before but if you played me the first 15 seconds I would've assumed it was Blur

(Sharks Can't Sleep, I mean)

Could Ben Folds Five's "Song for the Dumped" drift into this category long-term? Hard to imagine any teens glued to alt-rock radio at the time not remembering it, but has it had any shelf life at all? Can't remember hearing it anywhere in the wild in twenty years.

"Battle of Who Could Care Less" almost certainly qualifies. "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces" also was apparently a single, with a music video, but I don't honestly believe that got on the radio and stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gBCdP7AfTE

Bush - Cold Contagious. Third US single off Razorblade Suitcase, and the gas was out of the hype tank. In my memory, the radio kept playing "Swallowed" and the Sixteen Stone singles, and quickly ignored this. It's a slow burn (or a slog if you're not 100% on board with grunge aesthetics), even in this four-minute edit of the six-minute album version. ("Greedy Fly," the second single, did much better on paper, and is probably not as forgotten, but still has to be one of their most obscure hits.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8TrkCObypE

Bush - Letting the Cables Sleep. This is a 2000 single from their '99 album, the one where they explored "electronica." In this case this means an OK Computer type sound, which I think is a more interesting fit for Gavin's voice and songwriting than the cluttered and exhausting "Chemicals Between Us." I always kinda liked it, and even put it on a mix CD once!

An aside: I know the 90s are back (and stuff), but are the kids really listening to Bush?

they're listening to kate bush instead

Bush was really fucked when they ran out of Nirvana albums to bite.

My friend has been doing a series on his blog which may be of interest here: writing up the songs from the Album & Modern Rock charts that _didn't_ cross over Pop.

https://vjbigsuit.wordpress.com/2022/02/14/fools-gold-vol-1-ready-for-a-good-time/

oh, that's fun! good method for digging up stuff in this zone. and would be an amazing resource for an equivalent thread on the early 90s (which is way further from my wheelhouse).

lol there's a Bush-knockoff BritGrunge band called Addict covered in the first entry!

I remember "Letting the Cables Sleep". I think my older brother also put it on a mix CD at the time circa 2000.

my other half put Addict - Monster Side on one of his first mixtapes for me. not heard it for 20+ years!

thanks for the blog link, enjoying this project!