1992 Survey Mix

This is the third in the 1990s survey mix series, which will come out monthly in chronological order through this year. It’s important for the ‘90s to be presented in order, because the story of music in that decade is basically a trilogy in which each act ends in tragedy – the suicide of Kurt Cobain, the murders of Tupac and Biggie, and the toxic masculinity run rampant at Woodstock ’99. You can find the previous mixes here.

The most striking thing about 1992 is the sheer quantity of enormously famous songs, most of them being the most popular work by some of the most successful acts in the history of the record industry. It’s enough to make you wonder how anyone had the time to listen to all of this stuff back then, but you can answer that with just three letters: MTV. The cable station was revolutionary in the ‘80s, but became an unstoppable cultural force by the early ‘90s, and essentially dictated the course of popular music in this era along with more niche video networks like VH1, CMT, BET, and The Box. There’s an increasingly vital underground in this period too, though thanks to the massive success of Nirvana and “grunge,” nearly everyone in those scenes have been set on a collision course that will play out over the course of the next three surveys.

Thanks to Paul Cox, Rob Sheffield, Chris Ott, Sean T. Collins, and Dan Kois for their valuable assistance in putting this set together.

DOWNLOAD DISC 1

Beastie Boys “So What’cha Want” / Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg “Nuthin’ But A G Thang” / Ice Cube “It Was A Good Day” / Gang Starr “Ex Girl to the Next Girl” / The Pharcyde “Otha Fish” / The Sugarcubes “Hit” / INXS “Not Enough Time” / Sophie B. Hawkins “Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover” / k.d. lang “Constant Craving” / Annie Lennox “Walking On Broken Glass” / Mary J. Blige “Real Love” / En Vogue “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)” / Sonic Youth “100%” / Bikini Kill “Feels Blind” / The Nation of Ulysses “Last Train to Cool” / Pavement “Trigger Cut/Wounded Kite at :17” / The Cure “Friday I’m In Love” / Nirvana “Lithium” / Red Hot Chili Peppers “Under the Bridge” / 10,000 Maniacs “Candy Everybody Wants” / R.E.M. “Man on the Moon” / U2 “One” / The Smashing Pumpkins “Drown” / Pearl Jam “Jeremy” / Guns N Roses “November Rain” / Tori Amos “Silent All These Years”

DOWNLOAD DISC 2

Alice In Chains “Would?” / Rage Against the Machine “Killing in the Name” / Nine Inch Nails “Wish” / Ministry “N.W.O.” / Helmet “Unsung” / Body Count “Cop Killer” / House of Pain “Jump Around” / Kris Kross “Jump” / Right Said Fred “I’m Too Sexy” / Sir Mix-a-Lot “Baby Got Back” / Arrested Development “Tennessee” / The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy “Television the Drug of a Nation” / Fu-Schnickens “True Fuschnick” / Das EFX “They Want EFX” / TLC “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg” / Bobby Brown “Humpin’ Around” / Michael Jackson “Remember the Time” / SWV “Right Here” / Charles & Eddie “Would I Lie to You?” / Prince “7” / My Bloody Valentine “Only Shallow” / The Cranberries “Dreams” / Ozzy Osbourne “Mama, I’m Coming Home” / Royal Trux “Junkie Nurse” / Temple of the Dog “Hunger Strike” / CeCe Peniston “Finally” / Grand Puba “360° (What Goes Around)” / Luther Vandross & Janet Jackson “The Best Things In Life Are Free” / Boy George “The Crying Game” / Boyz II Men “End of the Road” / Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You”

DOWNLOAD DISC 3

Madonna “Erotica” / Sade “No Ordinary Love” / Aphex Twin “Xtal” / King Missile “Detachable Penis” / Soul Asylum “Somebody to Shove” / Cracker “Teen Angst” / The Black Crowes “Remedy” / Blind Melon “No Rain” / Neil Young “Harvest Moon” / Eric Clapton “Tears in Heaven” / The Sundays “Wild Horses” / The Jayhawks “Waiting for the Sun” / Alabama “I’m In A Hurry (And I Don’t Know Why)” / Alan Jackson “Love’s Got A Hold On You” / Phish “Tweezer” / Morrissey “We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful” / The Lemonheads “Alison’s Starting to Happen” / Belly “Gepetto” / PJ Harvey “Sheela-na-Gig” / Babes in Toyland “Bruise Violet” / L7 “Pretend We’re Dead” / White Zombie “Thunder Kiss ’65” / The Jesus and Mary Chain “Sugar Ray” / Sloan “Underwhelmed” / Suede “Drowners” / Blur “Popscene” / Ride “Leave Them All Behind”

DOWNLOAD DISC 4

Megadeth “Symphony of Destruction” / Kyuss “Green Machine” / Mudhoney “Suck You Dry” / Pantera “Mouth for War” / Metallica “Wherever I May Roam” / Ultramagnetic MCs “Poppa Large” / UGK “Something Good” / Lush “Nothing Natural” / Peter Gabriel “Diggin’ in the Dirt” / Suzanne Vega “99.9 F” / Luna “Anesthesia” / Lyle Lovett “You’ve Been So Good Up to Now” / Billy Ray Cyrus “Achy Breaky Heart” / Spin Doctors “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” / Gin Blossoms “Found Out About You” / Inspiral Carpets “Dragging Me Down” / Underworld “M.E.” / Basehead “2000 BC” / Compton’s Most Wanted “Hood Took Me Under” / Da Lench Mob “Guerrillas in the Mist” / DJ Quik “Way 2 Fonky” / Pulp “Babies” / Unrest “Cherry Cream On” / Beat Happening “Tiger Trap” / Tasmin Archer “Sleeping Satellite” / Mariah Carey “I’ll Be There” / Lea Salonga and Brad Kane “A Whole New World”

DOWNLOAD DISC 5

Wreckx-n-Effect “Rump Shaker” / Digable Planets “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” / Pete Rock & CL Smooth “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)” / Bushwick Bill “Ever So Clear” / Indigo Girls “Galileo” / Paul Westerberg “Dyslexic Heart” / The Wedding Present “California” / Manic Street Preachers “Motorcycle Emptiness” / Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine “The Only Living Boy in New Cross” / The Lightning Seeds “The Life of Riley” / Babyface & Toni Braxton “Give U My Heart” / Eazy-E “Only If You Want It” / Morphine “You Look Like Rain” / The Fall “Free Range” / The Afghan Whigs “Conjure Me” / Danzig “Dirty Black Summer” / The Prodigy “Out of Space” / KMFDM “Money” / Palace Brothers “Ohio River Boat Song” / Uncle Tupelo “Black Eye” / Vince Gill “Don’t Let Our Love Start Slippin’ Away” / Tia Carrera “Ballroom Blitz” / Aaron Tippin “There Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong with the Radio” / Juliana Hatfield “Everybody Loves Me But You” / Screaming Trees “Nearly Lost You” / Erasure “Take A Chance On Me” / Björn Again “Stop!” / Pigface “Hips, Tits, Lips, Power!” / Utah Saints “Something Good” / Guided by Voices “Weed King”

DOWNLOAD DISC 6

Van Halen “Right Now” / Soundgarden “Rusty Cage” / Tom Waits “Dirt in the Ground” / Neneh Cherry “Money Love” / EPMD “Crossover” / Diamond D “I Went for Mine” / M.C. Brains “Oochie Coochie” / Bruce Springsteen “57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)” / Los Lobos “Kiko and the Lavender Moon” / Shudder to Think “Shake Your Halo Down” / Velocity Girl “Crazy Town” / The Breeders “Safari” / Bailter Space “Shine” / Huggy Bear “Carn’t Kiss” / Happy Mondays “Stinkin’ Thinkin’” / MC Ren “Final Frontier” / Spice 1 “Welcome to the Ghetto” / Snap “Rhythm Is A Dancer” / The Soup Dragons “Divine Thing” / Ween “Push Th’ Little Daisies” / Moby “Next is the E” / Leftfield “Song of Life” / Mighty Mighty Bosstones “Where’d You Go?” / James “Born of Frustration” / Richard Marx “Hazard” / Wynonna “No One Else on Earth” / Brooks & Dunn “Neon Moon” / Iris DeMent “Our Town” / George Strait “I Cross My Heart” / The Heights “How Do You Talk To An Angel?”

DOWNLOAD DISC 7

Tool “Hush” / The Jesus Lizard “Gladiator” / Stone Temple Pilots “Sex Type Thing” / Rollins Band “Low Self Opinion” / Moonshake “City Poison” / Polvo “Vibracobra” / Skinny Puppy “Inquisition” / Eric B and Rakim “Juice” / KWS “Please Don’t Go” / John Secada “Just Another Day” / Lois “Valentine” / Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds “Straight To You” / Mary Chapin Carpenter “I Feel Lucky” / Lucinda Williams “Sweet Old World” / Alison Krauss & Union Station “Every Time You Say Goodbye” / Sugar “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” / NOFX “Liza and Louise” / The Charlatans “Weirdo” / Spiritualized “Shine A Light” / Celine Dion “If You Asked Me To” / Leonard Cohen “The Future” / Codeine “Barely Real” / Curve “Horror Head” / Consolidated and the Yeastie Girls “You Suck” / Shonen Knife “Riding on the Rocket” / Faith No More “Midlife Crisis” / Drive Like Jehu “Hand Over Fist” / Bettie Serveert “Tom Boy” / Pale Saints “Throwing Back the Apple” / George Michael “Too Funky”

DOWNLOAD DISC 8

Garth Brooks “What’s She Doing Now” / Freedy Johnston “The Lucky One” / Yo La Tengo “Upside-Down” / The Flaming Lips “Hit Me Like You Did the First Time” / Sebadoh “New Worship” / Th’ Faith Healers “Moona-Ina-Joona” / Supreme Love Gods “Souled Out” / Orbital “Halcyon” / 808 State “One in Ten (808 Original Mix)” / Too Short “So You Want to be a Gangster” / Young Black Teenagers “Tap the Bottle” / U96 “Das Boot” / Definition of Sound “Moira Jane’s Cafe” / Nightblooms “Butterfly Girl” / The Boo Radleys “Skyscraper” / Ned’s Atomic Dustbin “Not Sleeping Around” / Green Day “Welcome to Paradise” / Samiam “Don’t Break Me” / Jawbox “Cutoff” / Catherine Wheel “Tumble Down” / Medicine “Miss Drugstore” / Red House Painters “Japanese to English” / Pop Will Eat Itself “Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!” / Die Krupps “High Tech/Low Life” / Coil “Further” / Don Caballero “Unresolved Karma” / The Gits “Absynthe” / Heavenly “Different Day” / Another Sunny Day “New Year’s Honours” / XTC “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead” / Tom Cochrane “Life Is A Highway” / Kenny G “Forever In Love”