Dig Me Out: 90s & 00s Rock

While 1996's Congratulations, I'm Sorry charted higher than 1992's New Miserable Experience for the Gin Blossoms, it failed to produce the same number of singles and managed only a quarter of the sales. The simplistic answer is to pin the decline on the loss of guitarist and songwriter Doug Hopkins, who penned their biggest and most enduring hit "Hey Jealousy." But as we have learned, the landscape changed fast for bands in 90s rock. NME singles made an impact in 1993 and 1994, and the band's contribution to the Empire Records soundtrack, "Til I Hear It From You," was also a hit. Is it possible listeners had Gin Blossoms fatigue in 1996? The album charted well upon release, and "Follow You Down" was a hit, but no other singles connected, and the band would break-up the following year for a four-year hiatus. So does Congratulations, I'm Sorry deserve its sophomore slump status, or is it worthy of redemption?

Songs In This Episode

Intro - Follow You Down

20:38 - Virginia

30:54 - Day Job

45:46 - Competition Smile

Outro - As Long As It Matters

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By 1995, it was difficult for American "alternative" bands to make a dent in the US, let alone a rookie Australian band on a new label with just a handful of releases to crack MTV and radio. Ammonia did that with the quirky single "Drugs," which found singer/guitarist Dave Johnstone melding the quiet/loud bombast of Nirvana with a delivery more reminiscent of Wayne Coyne. But "Drugs" is the classic case of a single not exactly representing the sound of the record, as the rest of Mint 400 shifts between big fuzzed-out riffing in the vein of Swervedriver's shoegaze and Superchunk's early noise pop. The band works best in short, loud bursts, only losing focus when the tempo drops and running time drags.

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - Drugs

22:17 - Suzi Q

30:40 - Ken Carter

43:41 - Mint 400

Outro - Sleepwalking

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Of the all bands that scored alternative hits in the 90s rock, few managed to recapture that sales magic on ensuing albums. But that doesn't mean their follow-ups records were lesser, and in some cases they made superior albums that got overlooked by fickle record buyers. Case in point: Better Than Ezra. After having their 1993 self-released sophomore album Deluxe repackaged and reissued by Elektra in 1995, and scoring a hit single with "Good," the band quickly reconvened and recorded the follow-up Friction, Baby. What the 1996 album lacks is the killer-hook single, but what it gains is confidence. While still boasting a pair of quality radio friend tracks in "King of New Orleans" and "Desperately Wanting," the album overall has the air of a band confident and secure in the sound while still stretching. That can lead to some magic, like on the blazing "Long Lost" and somber "Speeding Up To Slow Down," but also some hubris to go too far on the bad funk of "Normal Town" and "Still Live with Cooley."

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - King of New Orleans

19:36 - Long Lost

27:33 - Scared, Are You?

31:24 - Speeding Up To Slow Down

34:31 - Normal Town

Outro - Desperately Wanting

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The balance between the "pop" and the "punk" in "pop-punk" can be tricky, especially when a band comes from the latter scene. On the Shades Apart 1999 album Eyewitness, the punk of the 90s (i.e. Green Day, The Offspring, Blink-182, Rancid, etc.) is represented more in the songwriting than the speed, something a lot of those bands would incorporate as time wore one. But Eyewitness goes one step further by adding subtle yet effective ska and reggae flourishes more akin to The Police than Less Than Jake. With producer Lou Giordano behind the board, the band crafts a well-manicured sonic pallet but like many, falls victim to the late 90s/early 00s guitar tones that haven't aged as well as the songwriting.

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - Edge Of The Century

19:35 - Stranger By The Day

31:14 - One Starry Night

37:03 - Chasing Daydreams

Outro - 100 Days

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Count to four. Do it seventy-five times, only interrupted by blistering feedback, screaming, and manic drums. And do it in about thirty-one minutes. That is Tokyo An*l Dynamite by The Gerogerigegege. In the world of experimental and avante-garde, noise has been tackled by artists as big as Neil Young and Lou Reed. Sonic Youth made a career out of crafting feedback into a symphony of melody. But if punk is about stripping rock 'n roll down to components and putting in the hands of the most rudimentary players, Tokyo Anal Dynamite might be the most punk rock album ever made.

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - Rock 'n Roll

Outro - Atama

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Despite what the million-dollar deal with Virgin Records might have implied, Royal Trux we're never going to be hitmakers. The label bought their cool factor based largely on the 1993 album Cats and Dogs, their first to embrace the songwriting end of their lo-fi aesthetic that danced on the edges of 90s rock via critical praise and underground hype. Part droning Velvet Underground, part deconstructed Exile On Main Street-era Rolling Stones, with touches of Sonic Youth and Pavement, Royal Trux concocted a stew of brittle, off-kilter blues without a hint of irony. The result is occasionally blistering, but not without fragile moments that sound like collapse is imminent.

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - The Flag

15:48 - Let's Get Lost

18:38 - Up the Sleeve

25:42 - Turn of the Century

37:22 - Driving in That Car (with the Eagle on the Hood)

Outro - The Spectre

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Neil Young has always been one to buck convention and follow his own muse, but the 80s saw him fall out of favor with mainstream audiences as he explored rockabilly, synthesizers, hard rock, traditional country, etc. with half-baked results. By the end of the decade, he was back on solid footing with Freedom, setting up Young's renaissance in the 90s. 1990's Ragged Glory paired him again with Crazy Horse, marking the start of a decade that found him touring with a variety of taste-making young acts, like Sonic Youth, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam, who backed him on the generational crossover album Mirror Ball. Unlike many well-known acts from the 70s and 80s that continued in the 90s, Young might have been the most fully immersed in what was actually happening in 90s rock and pop culture.

Song In This Episode:

Intro - Downtown from Mirror Ball

17:47 - Love To Burn from Ragged Glory

22:25 - Harvest Moon from Harvest Moon

37:56 - Peace And Love from Mirror Ball

49:31 - Big Time from Broken Arrow

Outro - Arc

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While stoner and desert rock has been associated primarily with California bands like Kyuss, Fu Manchu, and Sleep, in reality artists across the country were putting their own spin on Black Sabbath's tracks like "Sweet Leaf" for decades. Bands like Monster Magnet in New Jersey, Corrosion of Conformity in North Carolina, and Clutch in Maryland have each contributed to 90s rock and beyond. On Clutch's sophomore self-titled album from 1995, the band tone down their freshman punk and louder tendencies, dialing back the distortion and locking into 70s psychedelic head-nodding grooves paired with the occasional frantic jammy freak out. The dividing line for listeners is vocalist Neil Fallon, who possesses one of the most otherworldly heavy voices that can bellow with the best, but is unafraid to explore funkier, sing-songy melodies that may not be for everyone.

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - Big News II

15:31 - Rock N Roll Outlaw

23:42 - Spacegrass

30:40 - Droid

Outro - Seven Jam

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With three decades of records to look back on, it's safe to say Polly Jean Harvey doesn't stand still for long. From the minimalist blues of To Bring You My Love to the eerie piano pieces of White Chalk, Harvey has become indie rock's David Bowie, evolving her style steadily and consistently, often at odds with expectations. On her second album as PJ Harvey, Rid Of Me stands the test of time thanks to her raw and intimate approach while unleashing Pixies-ish punk and Bo Diddley blues rhythms. Harvey plays in a big sandbox, and her handpicked producer Steve Albini is game, giving plenty of space for light and dark to crash and thrash.

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - 50ft Queenie

16:19 - Rid Of Me

27:03 - Dry

32:52 - Me-Jane

44:03 - Yuri-G

Outro - Missed

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While much is made of genres like punk breaking through and topping the mainstream of 90s rock, the late 80s success of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Living Colour and Faith No More just as successfully pushed underground/alternative funk metal onto MTV. In 1990, Primus unleashed their twist on the sound with the progressive rock-influenced debut Frizzle Fry. Within a few years, thanks to catchier and catchier tunes paired with creative videos, the band would graduate from Headbanger's Ball to 120 Minutes to daytime rotation, solidifying them as a definitive band of the decade. But what to make of their first studio release, which finds Les Claypool's unendingly inventive approach to bass paired with equally stellar musicians in drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander and guitarist Larry LaLonde. If progressive rock, funk metal, or Claypool's distinct vocal and melodic approach aren't to your taste, is there still something worth checking out?

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - John the Fisherman

18:18 - Too Many Puppies

28:50 - The Toys Go Winding Down

47:45: Harold of the Rocks

Outro - To Defy the Laws of Tradition

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