The 90s. Not bad, huh?

The 90's were pretty awesome, I now realize for the 28th time. I was watching "Misfits" the other day (quick review: what looked promising in the beginning turned into a "what else can we do we them" kind of show. What if they go back in time and kick Hitler in the balls? Great! Write that down! But make sure they don't actually kill him, cause a reality without Hitler is just beyond my imagination), so anyway, "Dirge" came on. And I felt my heart sink for a second: that was a great song! So, long story short, I went into this 90s thing for a week or so (still in it actually)

Ha!

So. 90s, eh? I was just thinking yesterday that, man, I wish the 90s caught me a bit older, like 28-30 max, you know, just old enough to appreciate what was going on. Back then I was devouring MTV London, cause it was still pretty good then, and everything was magical. Staying up late to watch Most Wanted, 120 Minutes, Alternative Nation, Headbanger's Ball and all that. Taping it all! Thinking a band like The Verve was way beyond my intellectual capacity, getting goosebumps whenever they played Bull In The Heather or Animal Nitrate or Killing In The Name Of. Fuck, I even miss The Offspring! 

I still think that Placebo and Smashing Pumpkins would have sounded a lot better without those two whining little bitches doing vocals, but man do I air-guitar the fuck out "The End Is The Beginning Is The End" or "Bruise Pristine" NOW! There was this beautiful feeling of "we are here to ROCK" then. We are here to piss on your wall, and dye our hair red, and wear shitty jeans, and make some noise, and fucking be young. It was great, I now see in fucking retrospect. Like punk, you know, but with music.

I used to lip-synch Kurt Cobain's impossible lyrics, just moving my mouth like a dribbling moron, not knowing what the fuck he's on about, but I just loved it. Used to jump in the air at the beginning of "Purr" (it's simply impossible to sit down on that one). Used to wear suits like Nick Cave. Make up like Manson. Used to not give a shit about Pearl Jam and all their deep-deep I-miss-you-daddy stuff. Now I love them. Cause I just watched "Pearl Jam - Twenty" and Eddie Vedder blew me away. I'm glad I can still be blown away. I even liked Courtney Love, even though I think it hardly gets any trashier. And oh, you should really see me now, 35 and making pancakes in my kitchen while performing NIN's "Burn" using a hammer for a mic, holding the cat hostage and using her for an audience! My God, that's not Youtube worthy, that's Comedy Central right there. Cause I so fucking feel it. Fuck gym, I sweated 3 kilos right out and Marlboro smoke came out of my ears. And Primus!! Fuck me, I used to think Flea could hold a bass guitar in his hands, where did this Les guy come from? Bam!

And all the hearty-feely ones, Street Spirit, Fuzzy, Lightning Crashes, Waiting For The Night (my god!!!), the lot of them. When I went to the cinema and saw Natural Born Killers, I heard Waiting For The Miracle right at the start of the movie and nearly fainted. I mean, to hear that in a cinema (speakers blaring) just a few years after communism, when nothing got through...fuck me. I went to see that shitty Spawn movie just to be able to hear "The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell" in surround sound. It wasn't the whole song, just, like, 30 seconds, but it was almost worth it! "Antichrist Superstar" changed my life, man! It was all downhill from there, haha.

Even the girls fucking rocked back then: The Breeders, Throwing Muses, Hole, Veruca Salt, Belly, Republica, Siouxie & the Banshees, Elastica, L7, Garbage. Now it's all uuuuh and aaaah and look at my plastic boobs and my one-note drama. Cranes, man! Cranes knew how to play the fuck out of one single note. So simple, so incredibly sad and beautiful. 

I may be out of touch with what's happening these days (that's more than a possibility, I'm pretty sure it's a fucking pledge), but it's quite hard to argue with exhaustion. I'm tired of listening to bands today. Some of them do sound good (Gotye, Get Well Soon and all the G ones in general), but I can't help feeling that everything today lacks true passion, true angst, it's all too polished, the roughness and immediacy of it is gone and it feels like everybody's just ad-libing, getting angry in 5...4...3....2......go.

Ahhhh...Blur, Oasis, Nine Inch Nails, Primal Scream, Fun Loving Criminals (Reservoir Dogs was cool,.huh?), Shakespeare's Sister, Red Hot Chili Peppers (look at the shit they're doing now, man, it's really not fair), REM, Beastie Boys, Prodigy, The Pixies (I got a broken face. Aha! Aha! Uuuuh!), Stone Temple Pilots (flies in the vasoline we are, sometimes it blows my mind), dEUS (friday friday friday), Tool, Live, PJ Harvey, Depeche Mode, Rage Against The Machine, Mazzy Star, Salad (Salad!), Soundgarden, Pogues (Johnny in That Woman's Got Me Drinking...even though I think that was a different Shane McGowan band, don't care to check), Cranberries, Jesus & Mary Chain, Jane's Addiction, Whale, Rollins Band (Liar!!!), Daisy Chainsaw, K's Choice, Scarce (aaaall sideeewaaaays!), Blind Melon (the bee girl!), Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, At The Drive-In, did I mention the Pixies?...fuck it, there's too many of them. Not to mention the fucking music that fucking Ween fucking came up with in the fucking 90s. Granted, Ween doesn't represent any decade in particular, just all of them, but still I feel kinda silly not mentioning them in every goddamn post.
And yeah, of course, some of these guys are still around today...but are they?

Anyway, here's a few songs that I love from the 90s. The list would be very long, just picked a few almost randomly. They're good ones, albeit a bit on the grunge side most of them, but that's the 90s for you, so there. 

Death In Vegas - Dirge


Smashing Pumpkins - The end is the beginning is the end


Stone Temple Pilots - Lounge Fly


Hole - Violet


Pearl Jam - Animal


Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Money Rock'n'Roll