Written by Weezer – Mykel and Carli
Written about two of the band’s biggest and earliest fans who travelled with the band up until their tragic death. These two sisters Mykel and Carli were so inspiring and liked by Weezer that the band had a benefit concert for their parents. Its upbeat melodies and fun-filled harmonies are punctuated by harmonica and mid ‘90s guitar grunge crunch. Easily one of the band’s brightest moments to date.
Prick – Animal
In ’95, Prick (Kevin McMahon) released a self-titled album after having worked alongside Trent Reznor for years prior to NIN. That connection proved worthy as Reznor helped his friend out and got him a gig at Interscope/Nothing Records. But in reality if any A&R rep had heard this fantastic album and not creamed their pants they were deaf and dumb. “Animal” is a raunchy tale of twisted lovemaking and was perfect for folks that liked the lighter side of Reznor, Peter Murphy’s vocal stylings, or Bowie’s foray into industrial music.
Bright Eyes – True Blue
For those of us tired of the lame media divide of blue vs. red states, Conor Oberst has something to say, rhyming and humming bars about everything blue. His version of folk blues is fun and light without pretension. Not a very well known song but one of his best in his already vast catalog.
Cypress Hill – Pigs
One of the best rap outfits from the ‘90s, Cypress Hill got a bad reputation for being one topic oriented (weed duh) but songs like “Pigs” showed their socio-political side as they rebelled against corrupt police officers. Gotta love that blues guitar sample too.
Sonic Youth – The Good and the Bad
Sonic Youth’s first instrumental was originally written in ’81 and last played out live in ’83 and first made a recorded appearance on their self-titled EP. Thurston’s bass is jarring and unwieldy percolating the dissonance of guitar and tribal drumming for a very dark and dank ominous presence. Definitely one of the better rare gems in Sonic Youth’s inspiring history.
Zero 7 – Simple Things
Smooth trip-hop beats combined with neo-soul vocals allow for a breathy melody and sleek production to take over. A sexy and romantic listen that is perfect background lovemaking music for adventuresome couples tired of just watching the moonlight.
My Bloody Valentine – To Here Knows When
One of the most seminal albums of all-time, “Loveless” inspired a generation of shoegazers and dream-pop artists not to mention Billy Corgan who would have never written “Siamese Dream” without first hearing this ’91 gem. The band was brilliant at making the vocals just another instrument and refusing to allow them to dominate the mix, so much so that untrained ears would cry foul as to something that sounded muddy or unintentional. This song is so blisteringly beautiful in its own weird aura, you find yourself almost sickened at the discordance. Beautiful.
Stabbing Westward – Lies
Stabbing Westward’s “Ungod” was easily one of industrial pop’s best gifts to humanity’s eardrums. Blistering, stirring, and gorgeously sung, each song had impressive synthetic programming and tribal drumming to keep the dance room filled to the brim. While this was right in line with the emerging EBM (electronic body music) sub-sub-genre in the electronic dance scene, Stabbing Westward’s debut was so far ahead of its time and so vastly different from the other albums that were released in ’94. Pure genius.
Deftones – Fist
“Fist” was the hidden track on “Adrenaline” that gave your fingers blisters because you had to constantly fast forward in order to get to it. Thank god for MP3’s and online music. A pretty guitar line peeps in, bass fills the room, drums cascade, the distortion pedal gets stomped, and the rest is up to the diverse sound effects and vocal nuances that made the Deftones one of the most important bands during the whole crossover metal scene in the ‘90s.
NOFX – Lori Meyers
Melodic pop-punk before the annoying mall punk nerds overtook the whole scene, namedropping at every single Warped Tour, NOFX was one of the original bands. Blistering drumming and ridiculously fast guitar shredding, with funny vocals about a girl who went into porn, who wouldn’t like this?
