Lucky 13: Tonight I’m Gonna YouTube Like It’s 1999

There’s a late-night habit I probably need to get rid of but probably won’t, and it involves binging on YouTube music videos. This usually happens in bed, with the lights out, and the headphones on. It can last well into the wee hours, no matter how many times I tell myself to go to sleep already.

Next thing you know it’s 3:30 a.m., and I have to wake in a few hours.

These music binges typically follow a pattern — 70s punk, 60s psychedelia, 21st century K-pop, 50s jazz, 80s college rock, outlaw country, Memphis soul, that kind of thing.

The other night I got on a 90s alternative rock jag. It started because a Cranberries video popped onto my iPhone after I shut off the lights and navigated to the YouTube app. I watched that video, which led to watching another, which led to another, and another, and another another another another.

Next thing you know, it’s 3:30 a.m.

AND I GOTTA WAKE IN A FEW HOURS.

This is why God created afternoon naps….

Inspired by my dive down the 90s’ music rabbit hole, I decided to write another music blog. I’ve done quite a few of these through the years – here and here and here – partly because I love music and love sharing it, and partly because these are easy blogs to write. They usually just involve a few opening grafs and then a list of songs. The list for this blog will come later. But first, about that 90s music….

*****

The 90s was a transitional decade for me. I graduated college in the 80s and spent most of that decade in a haze, jumping from one shitty job to the next, moving from one shitty apartment to the next, partying late into the night, with no real future that I could see clearly.

The 2000s was when I hit my stride professionally, moved to bigger cities in other parts of the country, met my wife, got married, bought our first house, had our first kid – all about 15 years later than normal, at least in my case.

The 90s?

Well, I began to find a little more footing career-wise, finally settling into writing and journalism for the long haul. I started living in better apartments and driving better cars. I still hung out late, and partied pretty hard. But I did see a future ahead of me, the tiniest glimpse of one.

I also saw a whole lot of live music during the 1990s. This was mainly because I was a writer/editor for an alternative newsweekly that made a name for itself with its political, entertainment and music coverage. We got lots of free tickets to lots of concerts, club shows, and music festivals (remember Lollapalooza? I do – sort of).

I got into 90s alternative music and saw many shows where it was served as the main course. I was no spring chicken, but I wasn’t so old I couldn’t hang with the younger Gen Xers who defined the decade.

There is a certain 90s musical vibe that I find hard to describe, other than it is the kind of sound you imagine being made late at night, in the boho part of town, where the pavement is damp and the shadows engulf everything, and the clubs smell of old beer and incense, and everyone’s smoking, and wearing flannel, and petting a cat.

Something like that.

Full disclosure: There’s much I dug (and dig) about 90s culture. It was an excellent decade for movies, had some great TV shows, and some memorable music. It was the final decade of the century and millennium, and the last one when your life was still a mystery that 5 billion people couldn’t invade by hitting a couple computer keys.

Oh, well.

I still get a touch of nostalgia when I hear a 90s song, even though my personal life has improved immeasurably in the quarter-century since then.

Below are a baker’s dozen of my favorite 90s alt-rock songs. Not the best, not the most iconic, but the ones that conjure up primal feelings in me from a decade that keeps disappearing further and further into the rear-view mirror.

As usual, the selections reflect my own experience and are made up entirely of artists from English-speaking countries. They are in no particular order of importance. All songs link to a YouTube video.

Enjoy!

Creep, Radiohead. Maybe the purest distillation of 90s alternative music out there, filled with darkness and madness.

One Week, Barenaked Ladies.  Maybe the silliest distillation of 90s alternative music, filled with petty laughs and the damndest rhymes you’ve ever heard.

Bittersweet Symphony, The Verve. Aye, a lovely orchestral hook ’tis.

Zombie, The Cranberries. A gut-wrenching account of The Troubles between Northern Ireland and the UK.

No Rain, Blind Melon.

Torn, Natalie Imbruglia. Leans heavily toward the pop end of the 90s alternative spectrum, which is cool by me. A classic earworm melody that travels with you everywhere, until you finally listen to something else just to send it on its way.

What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? R.E.M. The 80s alt-rock pioneers could still jangle with purpose a decade later. Bonus points for being inspired by a bizarre Dan Rather incident (google it).

Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana: I wasn’t the world’s biggest grunge fan, but this song blows the house down, along with the block, neighborhood, and most of the rest of the city.

Loser, Beck. Makes you wanna get crazy with the Cheese Whiz.

Black Boys on Mopeds, Sinead O’Connor. The big hit, “Nothing Compares 2 U,” was on the same album, but this spare and haunting folkie tune lays right to the bone.

Fee, Phish. “Fee first met Milly in a bar in Peru/His heart was jumping like a kangaroo/Like a beast in a cage in an old Dutch zoo/It was hopping and thumping in wooden shoes.” Hmmmmm…..

Basket Case, Green Day. Like their forefathers the Ramones, Green Day combined a punk ethos with the ability to craft catchy songs with a pop sensibility.

Mr. Jones, Counting Crows

Photos: Courtesy of the amazing “World Wide Web.” Clockwise from top left: Dolores O’Riordan of the Cranberries, Beck, Trey Anastasio of Phish, Kurt Cobain and Kirst Novoselic of Nirvana (Dave Grohl got X’ed out by Google Photos).