This year’s survey is here, offering a panoramic view of music across the genres through 2020. It’s very long and very thorough, and still somehow only scratches the surface of the full volume of music released over 12 months.
You can find many other playlists I’ve made for both Spotify and Apple Music here.
I started making “survey mixes” at the end of the year at the start of this decade, and my approach to anthologizing the year’s music has changed over time. Initially it was all about my favorites, and then there was more of an effort to be as expansive as possible. When I’ve gone back to do previous decades, I’ve tried to be as thorough as I can, which is a little easier with hindsight. This year I’ve been collecting the survey in a rolling playlist in real time, and the result is a playlist of around 1000 songs that’s too much for anyone to reasonably listen to but is also STILL fairly incomplete in my mind. The amount of music produced now is truly staggering and we don’t talk enough about what that volume of material actually means for music culture, especially when the full range and diversity of what’s going on in music is largely ignored by media in favor of celebrity and whoever has serious money behind them. Hopefully these 2019 survey playlists will help you find some things you love that exist outside of all that.
Because the main survey is so large and unwieldy I’ve decided to make three other playlists with specific musical themes in the interest of listenability. The first of which is focused on, loosely speaking, R&B and slow jams. There was a huge amount of excellent music in this vein in 2019 and that chunk of the main survey was one of the things I listened to most frequently.
The second breakout playlist is basically all “indie,” which is defined somewhat loosely – I mean, I have a Taylor Swift song in this one – but I think it all fits together quite nicely.
And finally, here’s just a lot of bangers and bops – up tempo pop, dance music, and rap.
If you like what I’ve done here, please consider donating to the site via Ko-Fi!
Every year I make a survey collection intended to represent the scope and tone of music over the course of 12 months. This year’s survey comes in two forms: A sprawling 500+ song playlist that gives what I believe to be the most accurate summary of music in 2018, and an abridged version of the playlist that is half as long and more focused on my taste and what I believe to be essential, even when it’s music I don’t particularly like. The latter version is also available as a download, as per usual.
Here is the full version of the survey…
…and here is the abridged version.
One of the major goals I have in making these survey mixes, including the versions covering the 80s and the 90s, is showing the full context for music in any given year, and proving how even in what seems like a “bad year for music,” there are always still a lot of great songs. I would categorize 2018 as one of the worst years for music I’ve lived through, but then I look at this survey and see so much quality material! The culture around music may be depressing and oppressive right now, but you can’t ever stop artists from doing wonderful things. I hope you find more to love than to dislike in this year’s set.
Lana Del Rey “Mariners Apartment Complex” / Soccer Mommy “Your Dog” / Taylor Swift “Delicate” / Ariana Grande “R.E.M.” / Gorillaz “Humility” / Playboi Carti feat. Lil Uzi Vert “Shoota” / Pusha T “If You Know You Know” / Valee feat. Jeremih “Womp Womp” / XXXTENTACION “Moonlight” / Travis Scott feat. Drake “Sicko Mode (Skrillex Remix)” / DJ Koze “Lord Knows” / Kanye West “Ghost Town” / Kids See Ghosts “Freee (Ghost Town, Pt 2)” / Jean Grae & Quelle Chris “Gold Purple Orange” / NoName “Self” / Smoke DZA feat. Joey Bada$$ “The Mood” / No Joy & Sonic Boom “Obsession” / Janelle Monaé “Make Me Feel” / Of Montreal “Sophie Calle Private Game/Every Person Is A Pussy, Every Pussy Is A Star” / Caroline Rose “Jeannie Becomes A Mom” / Miss World “Oh Honey” / U.S. Girls “Incidental Boogie” / Insecure Men “Mekong Glitter” / Drake “Nice for What” / Nicki Minaj “Chun-Li” / Cardi B “Bickenhead” / Sophie “Immaterial” / Red Velvet “All Right” / Amanda Shires “Eve’s Daughter” / Lucy Dacus “Addictions” / Zizi Raimondi “Folly Dolly” / Father John Misty “Mr. Tillman” / Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks “Solid Silk” / St. Vincent “Hang On Me” / Arctic Monkeys “Star Treatment” / The Internet “Come Over” / Anderson Paak “Smile/Petty” / Maggie Rogers “Fallingwater” / Twice “Deja Vu” / Shawn Mendes “Nervous” / Vince Staples “Don’t Get Chipped” / Jay Rock feat. Kendrick Lamar “Wow Freestyle” / Famous Dex “Japan” / Grace Vonderkuhn “Worry” / Teyana Taylor feat. Kanye West “Hurry” / Khalid feat. Swae Lee “The Ways” / Kali Uchis “Flight 22” / Me’Shell NdegéOcello “Sensitivity” / Adrian Younge & Linear Labs “Silhouette Dreams” / Jorga Smith “Lost & Found” / Amber Navran “Lastaya Love” / Charlotte Day Wilson “Doubt” / Ali Shaheed Muhammed & Adrian Younge feat. CeeLo Green “Questions” / Spiritualized “A Perfect Miracle” / Beach House “Pay No Mind” / Deerhunter “Death In Midsummer” / Kurt Vile “Bassackwards” / Makaya McCraven “The Newbies Lift Off” / Everything Is Recorded feat. Sampha, Ibeyi, Wiki, and Kamasi Washington “Mountains of Gold” / Tirzah “Do You Know”
Earl Sweatshirt “Shattered Dreams” / Action Bronson “Prince Charming” / Ari Lennox “No One” / Diana Gordon “Wolverine” / Mariah Carey “A No No” / Natalie Prass “Short Court Style” / Caroline Says “Sweet Home Alabama” / Yo La Tengo “Polynesia #1” / Jerry Paper “Your Cocoon” / Okkervil River “Famous Tracheotomies” / The Rock*A*Teens “Go Tell Everybody” / Flasher “Pressure” / Jeff Rosenstock “Beating My Head Against A Wall” / Bad Bad Hats “Makes Me Nervous” / Astronauts, Etc. “Symbol Land” / Fog Lake “I’ll Be Around” / Gerard Way “Getting Down the Germs” / Karen Meat “Overdwelled” / Magic Potion “Shock Proof” / George Clanton “Make It Forever” / Mormor “Whatever Comes to Mind” / Electric Six “(It’s Gets) (A Little) Jumpy” / Margaret Glaspy “Before We Were Together” / Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper “Shallow” / Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus “Nothing Breaks Like A Heart” / Trippie Redd “How You Feel” / Hit-Boy “Out the Window” / Childish Gambino “This Is America” / N.E.R.D. feat. Rihanna and Drake “Lemon (Drake Remix)” / Camila Cabello “Inside Out” / Troye Sivan “My My My!” / Public Memory “The Line” / Matthew Dear “Echo” / Thom Yorke “Has Ended” / Lil Peep “4 Gold Chains” / Sheck Wes “Mo Bamba” / Smino feat. Mick Jenkins “New Coupe, Who Dis?” / Post Malone feat. Ty Dolla $ign “Psycho” / CupcaKKe “Duck Duck Goose” / Saweetie feat. Kehlani “ICY GRL (Bae Mix)” / CZARFACE & MF DOOM “Captain Crunch” / Cavern of Anti-Matter “Solarised Sound” / The Smashing Pumpkins “Solara” / Nine Inch Nails “Ahead of Ourselves” / Interpol “If You Really Love Nothing” / Negative Gemini “You Weren’t There Anymore” / Pressa feat. Lil Uzi Vert “420 in London” / A$AP Rocky “Changes” / H.E.R. “Can’t Help Me” / Kamasi Washington “Show Us the Way” / Christina Aguilera “Like I Do” / Georgia Anne Muldrow “Overload” / James Blake “Don’t Miss It” / Louis Cole “When You’re Ugly” / Jake Shears “Big Bushy Mustache” / Pistol Annies “Got My Name Changed Back” / MGMT “She Works Out Too Much” / Speedy Ortiz “You Hate the Title” / Robyn “Ever Again” / Anchorsong “Testimony”
Metro Boomin feat. 21 Savage “10 Freaky Girls” / Kodak Black feat. Travis Scott and Offset “ZEZE” / Lil Wayne feat. Kendrick Lamar “Mona Lisa” / Tierra Whack “Cable Guy” / Doja Cat “MOOO!” / Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z “Lovehappy” / Ella Mai “Boo’d Up” / Nao “Another Lifetime” / Nadine “Pews” / Juice WRLD “Armed and Dangerous” / G-Eazy feat. Blac Youngsta and BlocBoy JB “Drop” / Oh Sees “Sentient Oona” / Car Seat Headrest “Cute Thing” / Lithics “Still Forms” / Cat Power “In Your Face” / Boygenius “Salt in the Wound” / Haley Heyndrickx “Oom Sha La La” / Jeff Tweedy “Bombs Above” / Neko Case “Hell-On” / Courtney Barnett “Hopefulessness” / Paul Simon “Can’t Run But” / Jeremih & Ty Dolla $ign “The Light” / DeJ Loaf feat. Leon Bridges “Liberated” / Dear Nora “Simulation Feels” / TV Girl “7 Days Til Sunday” / Phosphorescent “Around the Horn” / Julia Holter “Whether” / BLACKPINK “DDU-DU DDU-DU” / Grimes “We Appreciate Power” / Hobo Johnson “Peach Scone” / King Princess “Pussy Is God” / Lizzo “Boys” / Billie Eilish “When the Party’s Over” / 03 Greedo feat. Lil Uzi Vert “Never Bend (Remix)” / Esperanza Spalding “The Longing Deep Down” / Neneh Cherry “Kong” / Videotapemusic “Hot Pants in the Summercamp” / Cuco “Lover Is A Day” / Boy Pablo “Losing You” / Unknown Mortal Orchestra “The Internet of Love (That Way)” / Video Age “Pop Therapy” / Darwin Deez “The World’s Best Kisser” / Sales “White Jeans” / The Breeders “Walking with a Killer” / Rhye “Feel Your Weight” / Cherophobiac “Unknown Liquid Substance” / Eleanor Friedberger “Make Me A Song” / Sloan “Don’t Stop (If It Feels Good Do It)” / Guided by Voices “Colonel Paper” / Lil Uzi Vert “New Patek” / Lake Ruth “Julia’s Call” / Yaeji “One More” / Alison Wonderland “No” / Mildlife “The Magnificent Moon” / Sibille Attar “I Don’t Have To” / Haley “Bratt” / Joan of Arc “Punk Kid” / Born Ruffians “Side Tracked” / Nicholas Krgovich “Time” / Belle & Sebastian “Poor Boy” / Mazzy Star “Quiet, the Winter Harbor” / Ian Sweet “Question It” / PC Worship “Shell Power” / Friendly Fires “Heaven Let Me In” / Migos feat. Drake “Walk It Talk It” / Meek Mill feat. Miguel “Stay Woke” / Tune-Yards “Heart Attack” / Chvrches “Graffiti” / Imagine Dragons “Natural” / The 1975 “Love It If We Made It” / Weezer “Africa” / Maroon 5 feat. Cardi B “Girls Like You” / Panic! at the Disco “High Hopes” / Zedd feat Maren Morris and Grey “The Middle” / Rita Ora “Anywhere” / Mitski “Me and My Husband” / Halsey “Without Me” / Carly Rae Jepsen “Party for One” / Dierks Bentley “Woman, Amen” / Florence + The Machine “South London Forever” / Kacey Musgraves “Slow Burn” / Luke Bryan “Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset” / Ed Sheeran & Beyoncé “Perfect Duet” / Snail Mail “Heat Wave” / Lake Street Dive “Jameson” / Molly Burch “Wild” / BTS “Fake Love” / Mac Miller “Self Care” / 6ix9ine feat. Nicki Minaj and Murda Beatz “FEFE” / Logic feat. Wu-Tang Clan “Wu-Tang Forever” / Brockhampton “New Orleans”/ Ellie Goulding feat. Diplo and Swae Lee “Close to Me” / Aphex Twin “T69 Collapse” / Sharon Van Etten “Comeback Kid” / Crepes “As You Go” / J. Cole “Brackets” / Tyler, the Creator “OKRA” / Rich the Kid “Plug Walk” / The Alchemist feat. Westside Gunn and Conway “Judas” / King Tuff “Raindrop Blue” / Ty Segall “The Main Pretender” / Swae Lee “Hurts to Look” / Ashley Monroe “Hard On A Heart” / Christine and the Queens “Doesn’t Matter” / Amen Dunes “Blue Rose” / Saba feat. Chance the Rapper “Logout” / The Good, The Bad, and The Queen “Merrie Land” / Leon Bridges “If It Feels Good (Then It Must Be)” / Rico Nasty “Rage” / Metric “Love You Back” / Justin Timberlake “Midnight Summer Jam” / Rosalia “Malamente” / JPEGMAFIA “1539 N. Calvert” / Zayn “Let Me” / Bell’s Roar “You Call Me Cold”
I’ve been making year-end survey mixes since the beginning of this decade, and this is the first intended to be a document of what happened in music in the year as opposed to being about my subjective experience. This came out of two things – most obviously, the fact that I’ve spent the past year trying to do the 90s surveys as a sort of historical document, and the realization that the only way to make sense of music in 2017 is to zoom waaaay out.
Music culture has been atomizing for years, but that is rather extreme now. Algorithms and varying platforms have created a strange new world in which there are many large cultural bubbles that barely interact. Things can be massively popular and yet unknown to most people. Entire ecosystems of new artists are all but restricted to specific platforms – Soundcloud, Bandcamp, YouTube. What remains of music media is increasingly squeezed into focusing on news items and covering well-known artists who drive some pittance of traffic, and year-end coverage is mostly a way of asserting brand identity. So this mix, which clocks in at over 27 hours of music, is an attempt to represent what has been going on across all major genres and provide some sort of map for anyone who understandably feels overwhelmed and lost. I don’t think this approach has ever been more necessary, and I hope you find a lot of new things to enjoy that you might not have come across otherwise.
The survey is available as a set of downloads below, and as playlists on Apple Music and Spotify. Both playlists are missing a handful of songs not available in streaming.
Casey Dienel “High Times” / Poppy “My Style” / Selena Gomez “Bad Liar” / FKJ “Joy” / Fever Ray “To the Moon and Back” / Lil Uzi Vert “XO Tour Llif3” / Kendrick Lamar “Love” / Drake “Passionfruit” / Future feat. Kendrick Lamar “Mask Off (Remix)” / 2 Chainz feat. Ty Dolla $ign, Trey Songz & Jhené Aiko “It’s A Vibe” / Gorillaz feat. De La Soul “Momentz” / Red Velvet “빨간 맛 (Red Flavor)” / St. Vincent “Masseduction” / The New Pornographers “Darling Shade” / Rainer Maria “Lower Worlds” / Wolf Alice “Yuk Foo” / Spoon “Do I Have To Talk You Into It?” / Lorde “Green Light” / Seventeen “Change Up” / Jessie Ware “Midnight” / King Krule “Czech One” / Taylor Swift “New Year’s Day” / Stella Donnelly “Mean to Me” / Hercules and Love Affair feat. Sharon Van Etten “Omnion” / Jay-Z “The Story of OJ” / Yo Gotti feat. Nicki Minaj “Rake It Up” / SZA “Drew Barrymore” / Kelela “Waitin'” / Kodak Black “Tunnel Vision” / Lana Del Rey “Love” / Harry Styles “Sign of the Times” / Father John Misty “Pure Comedy” / Matthew Dear “Modafinil Blues” / Jay Som “1 Billion Dogs” / No Joy “Hellhole” / The Heliocentrics “The Silverback” / 21 Savage “Bank Account” / Cardi B “Bodak Yellow” / Rae Sremmurd “Perplexing Pegasus” / Shawn Wasabi feat. Hollis “Otter Pop” / Salami Rose Joe Louis “Cyanotype of Blue” / Karriem Riggins “Bahia Dreamin'” / Matt Martians “Alotta Women/Useless” / Everything Is Recorded feat. Sampha “Close But Not Quite” / Frank Ocean “Chanel” / Maggie Rogers “On + Off” / Mount Kimbie feat. King Krule “Blue Train Lines”
Japandroids “Arc of Bar” / Goldfrapp “Systemagic” / LCD Soundsystem “Tonite” / Actress “X22RME” / Run the Jewels “Call Ticketron” / Zack Villere “Cool” / Tyler, the Creator “Foreword” / Vince Staples feat. Kendrick Lamar “Yeah Right” / Destroyer “In the Morning” / Sudan Archives “Come Meh Way” / Charli XCX “Boys” / DJ Khaled feat. Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper, and Lil Wayne “I’m the One” / Tay-K “The Race” / Playboi Carti “Magnolia” / Demi Lovato “Daddy Issues” / Calvin Harris feat. Frank Ocean and Migos “Slide” / Nosaj Thing “U G” / Fleet Foxes “Mearcstapa” / Real Estate “After the Moon” / Faye Webster “She Won’t Go Away” / Anna Wise “Coconuts” / Cassandra Jenkins “Candy Crane” / Soccer Mommy “Benadryl Dreams” / Omni “Equestrian” / Magic Potion “Rest Yr Skull” / Miss World “Click and Yr Mine” / Quelle Chris “Buddies” / Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire feat. Meyhem Lauren “Bebop and Rocksteady” / A$AP Mob feat. Joey Bada$$, Kirk Knight, Nyck Caution, Meechy Darko & Zombie Juice “What Happens” / Blackpink “As If It’s Your Last” / EXO “Ko Ko Bop” / Werewolf Diskdrive “Hamburgers & Hot Dogs” / Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber “Despacito” / Little Big Town “Better Man” / The Weather Station “Thirty” / Jason Isbell “If We Were Vampires” / Portugal. The Man “Feel It Still” / Beck “I’m So Free” / Migos feat. Nicki Minaj and Cardi B “Motor Sport” / Creek Boyz “With My Team” / Keshi “Goes to Waste” / Uffe “Love Is Everywhere” / Vijay Iyer Sextet “Nope” / Sophie “It’s Okay to Cry” / Julien Baker “Turn Out the Lights” / Ratboys “Cry About the Planets” / Hamilton Leithauser & Angel Olsen “Heartstruck (Wild Hunger)”
Four Tet “Planet” / Lady Gaga “The Cure” / Twice “Likey” / Paramore “Hard Times” / Cosmo Pyke “Chronic Sunshine” / Charlie Puth “Attention” / Ed Sheeran “Shape of You” / Camila Cabello feat. Young Thug “Havana” / J. Balvin feat. Willy William “Mi Gente” / Jlin “Enigma” / Yaeji “Raingurl” / Nolanberollin feat. Warhol.Ss “Crystal” / SahBabii “Only Knew 1 Way” / Lil Peep “Better Off (Dying)” / Logic feat. Alessia Cara and Khalid “1-800-273-8255” / Godspeed You Black Emperor “Bosses Hang, Pt. II” / Code Orange “Bleeding in the Blur” / Thomas Rhett feat. Maren Morris “Craving You” / Lanco “Greatest Love Story” / The Clientele “The Neighbor” / Boy Pablo “Everytime” / Mac DeMarco “On the Level” / Future Islands “Ran” / Amber Mark “Lose My Cool” / JMSN “Drinkin'” / Chicano Batman “Friendship (Is A Small Boat In A Storm)” / Jonathan Bree feat. Clara Viñals “Say You Love Me Too” / Ibeyi feat. Kamasi Washington “Deathless” / Brockhampton “Junky” / Kehlani “Undercover” / Chief Keef “Ticket” / Cupcakke “Cartoons” / Fifth Harmony “He Like That” / Pink feat. Eminem “Revenge” / GOT7 “Never Ever” / Smokepurpp “To the Moon” / Sampha “Timmy’s Prayer” / Syd “Shake Em Off” / Cigarettes After Sex “Apocalypse” / The xx “Say Something Loving” / The Steoples “From the Other Side” / Nick Hakim “Bet She Looks Like You” / Patience “White Of An Eye” / Phoenix “J-Boy” / Why Don’t We “These Girls” / BTS “Not Today” / Post Malone feat. 21 Savage “Rockstar” / Sleigh Bells “And Saints” / IU feat. G-Dragon “팔레트 Palette”
DJDS feat. Amber Mark and Marco McKinnis “Trees On Fire” / Car Seat Headrest “War Is Coming (If You Want It)” / Living “Glory” / The Shins “Name for You” / Delicate Steve “Nightlife” / Vixx “Shangri-La” / XXXTENTACION feat. Trippie Redd “Fuck Love” / Halsey “Bad At Love” / Khalid feat. Rae Sremmurd and Lil Yachty “Young Dumb & Broke (Remix)” / J.I.D feat. Mereba “All Bad” / Lil Yachty feat. Evander Griim “X Men” / Big Sean & Metro Boomin feat. 21 Savage “Pull Up N Wreck” / Julia Michaels “Issues” / Alvvays “Dreams Tonite” / Laetitia Sadier Source Ensemble “Love Captive” / The National “Turtleneck” / Marika Hackman “Boyfriend” / Kesha “Let ‘Em Talk” / Niall Horan “Slow Hands” / Keith Urban “Blue Ain’t Your Color” / Hailee Steinfeld & Alesso feat. Florida Georgia Line and Watt “Let Me Go” / Kygo feat. Selena Gomez “It Ain’t Me” / Odesza feat. Wynne and Mansionair “Line of Sight” / Oxbow “Cold and Well-Lit Place” / The Mynabirds “Golden Age” / Roger Waters “Deja-Vu” / Sam Smith “Too Good at Goodbyes” / Lake Ruth “Empty Morning” / Steve Lacy “Dark Red” / Moses Sumney “Doomed” / GoldLink feat. Brent Faiyaz and Shy Glizzy “Crew” / Octo Octa “No More Pain (Promises To A Younger Self)” / Band Practice “I Want You” / Sales “Talk A Lot” / The Orielles “I Only Bought It For the Bottle” / This Is the Kit “Moonshine Freeze” / Zedd feat. Alessia Cara “Stay” / Wiki “Pretty Bull” / Bbymutha “Rules” / Wanna One “에너제틱 (Energetic)” / Thundercat feat. Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins “Show You the Way” / Kamasi Washington “Integrity” / TOKiMONSTA feat. Selah Sue “I Wish I Could” / Yves Tumor “Limerence” / Circle “Sick Child” / Royal Thunder “April Showers” / Converge “I Can Tell You About Pain” / Boat Show “Cis White Boy” / Liars “Cred Woes” / Nine Inch Nails “The Background World”
Ted Leo “Moon Out of Phase” / Melkbelly “Kid Kreative” / Oh Sees “Jettison” / Nilüfer Yanya “Baby Luv” / Big Thief “Haley” / William Patrick Corgan “Processional” / Laura Marling “Nothing Not Nearly” / Bedouine “One of These Days” / Julie Byrne “Natural Blue” / Knife in the Water “Sex Change” / Margo Price “Paper Cowboy” / Chris Young feat. Vince Gill “Sober Saturday Night” / Dustin Lynch “Small Town Boy” / Haim “Little of Your Love” / Annie Hart “Hard to Be Still” / Hanni El Khatib “Gonna Die Alone” / Francis and the Lights feat. Chance the Rapper “May I Have This Dance (Remix)” / Monsta X “Dramarama” / Kamaiyah “Build You Up” / Gus Dapperton “I’m Just Snacking” / Childish Gambino “Redbone” / Bruno Mars “That’s What I Like” Sam Hunt “Body Like A Back Road” / Buddy & Kaytranada “Find Me” / Smino feat. T-Pain “Anita” / Young Thug & Carnage “Liger” / The Black Madonna “He Is the Voice I Hear” / Rhye “Please” / Monster Rally & Rumtum “Raindrops” / Chloe feat. Ben Shemie “Recall” / The Chainsmokers feat. Coldplay “Something Just Like This” / Marshmello feat. Khalid “Silence” / Becky G feat. Bad Bunny “Mayores” / Rico Nasty “Block List” / Girls Generation “All Night” / Carly Rae Jepsen “Cut to the Feeling” / Lil Pump “Gucci Gang” / A$AP Ferg “Plain Jane” / Cornelius “If You’re Here” / Fog Lake “Medicine Road” / Chavez “Blank in the Blaze” / Priests “JJ” / Chastity Belt “Caught In A Lie” / Filthy Friends “Invitation” / Perfume Genius “Just Like Love” / The Magnetic Fields “’66: Wonder Where I’m From” / Thanks for Coming “Zoning Out” / Sam Gendel “Less But Better” / Arca “Desafio” / Jorja Smith & Preditah “On My Mind” / Molly Brazy “Trust None” / A Boogie wit da Hoodie feat. Kodak Black “Drowning”
Game Theory “An Overview of Item Response Theory” / Rostam “Bike Dream” / Yumi Zouma “December” / Men I Trust “Tailwhip” / Dua Lipa “New Rules” / CNCO “Reggaeton Lento (Bailemos)” / NCT 127 “無限的我 (무한적아; Limitless)” / Bad Bunny “Soy Peor” / Amber Coffman “No Coffee” / Curtis Harding “On & On” / Belle & Sebastian “Sweet Dew Lee” / Grizzly Bear “Neighbors” / Joey Bada$$ “Land of the Free” / Eminem feat. Beyoncé “Walk On Water” / Bobo Swae feat. Rae Sremmurd “Rowdy” / French Montana feat. Swae Lee “Unforgettable” / Fall Out Boy “Young and Menace” / Weezer “Happy Hour” / Honey Dijon feat. Shaun J. Wright and Alinka “808 State of Mind” / Lapalux “Data Demon” / Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah feat. Sarah Elizabeth Charles “Phases” / Zayn feat. Sia “Dusk Till Dawn” / Liam Gallagher “Wall of Glass” / Noel Gallagher “She Taught Me How to Fly” / U2 “American Soul” / Imagine Dragons “Thunder” / Bryson Tiller “Run Me Dry” / Winner “Really Really” / Sylvan Esso “Die Young” / Suzi Wu “Teenage Witch” / Downtown Boys “A Wall” / Brand New “Can’t Get It Out” / Mastodon “Show Yourself” / Electric Six “Sex with Somebody” / Alexander F “Soft Coffins” / Spiral Stairs “Emoshuns” / The Academic “Bear Claw” / Jitwam “Alone” / Maliibu Miitch “4AM” / Tricky feat. Martina Topley-Bird “When We Die” / Gucci Mane feat. Migos “I Get the Bag” / Lil Wop feat. Gucci Mane “Paid In Full” / Vic Mensa feat. Pusha-T “OMG” / Oneohtrix Point Never feat. Iggy Pop “The Pure and the Damned” / Mount Eerie “Real Death” / Babaganouj “Hoping That It’s You” / PWR BTTM “Now Now” / Morrissey “I Wish You Lonely” / Slowdive “Sugar for the Pill”
Björk “Arisen My Senses” / Youngboy Never Broke Again “No Smoke” / Warhol.SS “Same Shit” / Asian Doll “Real Bitch Anthem” / J Hus “Did You See” / Freddie Gibbs “Crushed Glass” / Young Nudy feat. Lil Yachty “No Clue” / Jaden Smith feat. A$AP Rocky “Breakfast” / Bebe Rexha feat. Florida Georgia Line “Meant to Be” / Brett Young “In Case You Didn’t Know” / Blake Shelton “I’ll Name the Dogs” / Hiss Golden Messenger “Domino (Time Will Tell)” / Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile “Let It Go” / Jon Pardi “Dirt on My Boots” / Kane Brown “What Ifs” / The War On Drugs “Holding On” / Squeeze “Rough Ride” / Sabrina Claudio “Runnin’ Through Lovers” / Liam Payne feat. Quavo “Strip That Down” / DeJ Loaf “Changes” / G Herbo “Red Snow” / Ayo & Two “Rolex” / Bhad Bhabie “Hi Bich” / Big Shaq “Man’s Not Hot” / Bonnie McKee “Thorns” / A.G. Cook “Money On A Gold Plate” / Escape-Ism “Lonely At the Top” / Guided by Voices “The Birthday Democrats” / Stephen Malkmus “Midnight Cruisers” / Girlpool “It Gets More Blue” / Fazerdaze “Lucky Girl” / Arcade Fire “Everything Now” / Ariel Pink “Another Weekend” / Feist “I Wish I Didn’t Miss You” / Joan of Arc “This Must Be the Placenta” / Showtime Goma “Chug” / 21 Savage, Offset, and Metro Boomin “Still Serving” / Swet Shop Boys “Birding” / Raekwon “Nothing” / Remy Ma “Shether” / Mike “Pigeonfeet” / Hurray for the Riff Raff “Pa’lante” / Miley Cyrus “Thinkin'” / Luke Combs “When It Rains It Pours” / Shania Twain “Life’s About to Get Good” / Luxury Death “Diluted” / Queens of the Stone Age “The Evil Has Landed” / Pallbearer “Thorns”
Aimee Mann “Goose Snow Cone” / The Mountain Goats “Andrew Eldritch Is Moving Back to Leeds” / A Giant Dog “Fake Plastic Trees” / Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings “Matter of Time” / Washed Out “Hard to Say Goodbye” / Clean Bandit feat. Sean Paul and Anne-Marie “Rockabye” / Tove Lo “Disco Tits” / Municipality “Miles Away” / Annie Hardy “Want” / Visible Cloaks “Wheel” / Kelly Lee Owens feat. Jenny Hval “Anxi” / Laurel Halo “Sun to Solar” / Forest Swords “Arms Out” / Eric Church “Round Here Buzz” / Theory of a Deadman “Rx” / Broken Social Scene “Hug of Thunder” / Alice Merton “No Roots” / Shawn Mendes “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back” / (Sandy) Alex G “Proud” / Wolf Parade “You’re Dreaming” / Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith “An Intention” / Brian Eno with Kevin Shields “Only Once Away My Son” / Daphni “Carry On” / Baba Stiltz “Can’t Help It” / DRAM feat. Trippie Redd “Ill Nana” / Dirty Projectors “Up In Hudson” / Kimbra “Top of the World” / Open Mike Eagle (How Could Anybody) Feel At Home” / Liyv “Weeknight” / Lil B feat. Ilovemakonnen “Global” / Maroon 5 feat. Future “Cold” / Kyle feat. Lil Yachty “I Spy” / Florida Georgia Line feat. Backstreet Boys “God, Your Mama, and Me” / Foo Fighters “The Line” / Elder “Sanctuary” / Marilyn Manson “Kill4Me” / Stormzy “Big For Your Boots” / Ryuichi Sakamoto “Zure” / Your Old Droog “You Can Do It! (Give Up)” / Taylor Bennett feat. Chance the Rapper and Jeremih “Grown Up Fairy Tales” / Vagabon “The Embers” / El Ten Eleven feat. Emile Mosseri “I’m Right Here”
Holiday Ghosts “Walk for Hours” / Sorority Noise “A Portrait Of” / Cloud Nothings “Modern Act” / Japanese Breakfast “Body Is A Blade” / Jessica Lea Mayfield “Sorry Is Gone” / Phoebe Bridgers “Motion Sickness” / Jen Cloher “Regional Echo” / Jason Aldean “Any Ol’ Barstool” / James Arthur “Say You Won’t Let Go” / Bob Dylan “Once Upon A Time” / Charlotte Gainsbourg “Rest” / Fascinations Grand Chorus “When You’re Mine” / Superorganism “It’s All Good” / Charly Bliss “Percolator” / AWOLNATION “Passion” / CCFX “The One to Wait” / 30 Seconds to Mars “Walk On Water” / Waxahatchee “Never Been Wrong” / Grouplove “Good Morning” / Justin Bieber & BLoodPop “Friends” / Katy Perry feat. Nicki Minaj “Swish Swish” / Little Mix “Touch” / Kelly Clarkson “Love So Soft” / Luke Bryan “Light It Up” / Dave East feat. Wiz Khalifa “Phone Jumpin'” / Shabazz Palaces feat. Thaddilac “Shine A Light” / G-Eazy feat. A$AP Rocky and Cardi B “No Limit” / Joseph Shabason “Aytche” / Lee Ranaldo “Moroccan Mountains” / Grouper “Children” / Little Simz feat. Bibi Bourelly “Customz” / Meek Mill feat. Young Thug “We Ball” / Kodie Shane feat. Lil Uzi Vert and Lil Yachty “Hold Up (Dough Up)” / Princess Nokia “G.O.A.T.” / Miguel “Pineapple Skies” / Mhysa “BB” / Mura Masa feat. Desiigner “All Around the World” / Ozuna “Se Preparo” / Rick Ross “Santorini Greece” / Mavis Staples “If All I Was Was Black” / Art Feynman “Monday Give Me Monday” / Nai Palm “Crossfire/So Into You” / Sheer Mag “Pure Desire” / Snail Mail “Thinning” / Pinegrove “Intrepid” / Roscoe Mitchell “Cascade” / Saba “There You Go” / Trippie Redd “Love Scars” / Allday feat. Japanese Wallpaper “In Motion” / Vance Joy “Lay It On Me” / Louis Tomlinson “Miss You” / SquidNice “Trap By My Lonely” / Young Dolph “100 Shots” / Zola Jesus “Siphon” / Obituary “It Lives” / Linkin Park “One More Light”
This is the seventh in the 1990s survey mix series, which will come out monthly in chronological order through this year. You can find the previous mixes here. I think of the music of the ‘90s as a trilogy in which each act ends in tragedy – the suicide of Kurt Cobain, the murders of 2Pac and Biggie, and the disaster of Woodstock ’99. This survey brings us to the end of the 2nd act, though Biggie was not killed until early March of the following year.
1996 is an interesting transitional year! I’ll break it down into some bullet points for you.
• 1996 is the beginning of what I call “the eclectic ’90s,” in which mixing up genres and getting into random nostalgic sub-genres like swing music was a major virtue. (This is peak mix tape era, so that is a big reason for this shift in values.) Beck’s Odelay is a perfect example of this aesthetic, it was very much the center of the zeitgeist in this year, and that’s why “Where It’s At” opens this survey.
• This is the point at which the press and music industry tries to make “electronica” a thing, and though that feels a bit silly in retrospect, the prime movers here – The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Prodigy, Underworld – are all excellent. This is also the cultural peak for trip-hop, and a major year for Tricky, who actually has two tracks in this set. (The Nearly God song is also a Tricky production.) 1996 is also more or less the starting point for jungle/drum and bass, which we’ll get a lot more of in the next couple surveys.
• This is the peak of the East Coast/West Coast rivalry in hip-hop culture, and the emergence of Sean “Puffy” Combs as the dominant force in rap. But there’s a lot of major things happening in rap outside of the Death Row vs. Bad Boy situation – the release of major classics by the Fugees and Outkast, the reinvention of Kool Keith as Dr. Octagon, the commercial crossover of No Limit, the continuing renaissance of RZA and the Wu-Tang Clan in advance of Wu-Tang Forever, the breakthrough of instrumental hip-hop on DJ Shadow’s Entroducing. It’s also a key year for women in rap, with Lauryn Hill, Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, and Missy Elliott all moving to the center of mainstream rap.
• 1996 is also ground zero for the neo-soul movement, with D’Angelo building on the success of his debut alongside the debuts of Maxwell and Erykah Badu. (“On & On” was released near the end of the year, her first album comes out in 1997 and will also be featured there with a different song.)
• We’re at the tail end of the Britpop boom, and this survey is packed full of what I’d consider to be Britpop also-rans.
• This year is the beginning of what I’d consider the second wave of ‘90s indie rock, with Belle & Sebastian, Sleater-Kinney, Modest Mouse, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Cat Power all emerging to push that scene into the late ’90s and early ’00s. “Post-rock” is becoming a thing too, thanks to Tortoise, Mogwai, and Gastr del Sol.
• It’s also the year in which much of what is now considered emo began to take shape in various suburbs and midwestern cities in the United States. And hey, Weezer’s Pinkerton came out in this year too.
• It’s the end of the line for grunge as a major cultural force, largely because Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, and Stone Temple Pilots all implode simultaneously, Pearl Jam officially shifts into “very large cult band” mode, and Screaming Trees just kinda fade away before ever hitting the big time. It’s also the end of R.E.M. as a major presence in pop culture, and the point at which The Smashing Pumpkins become so big that the rest of Billy Corgan’s career ends up feeling like a decline.
Thanks to Rob Sheffield, Sean T. Collins, Dan Kois, Eric Harvey, and especially Paul Cox for their valuable assistance in putting this set together. Thanks to Chappell Ellison for creating this Spotify playlist of the survey, minus about a dozen songs which are not available there.
Beck “Where It’s At” / Stereolab “Metronomic Underground” / Tricky “Christiansands” / Fugees “Zealots” / Dr. Octagon “Blue Flowers” / Ginuwine “Pony” / Tori Amos “Professional Widow” / Rage Against the Machine “Bulls On Parade” / Chemical Brothers “Setting Sun” / Underworld “Born Slippy .NUXX” / Daft Punk “Da Funk” / Fiona Apple “Criminal” / Pulp “Disco 2000” / Belle & Sebastian “Seeing Other People” / Sleater-Kinney “Anonymous” / Guided by Voices “The Official Iron Men Rally Song” / The Loud Family “Don’t Respond, She Can Tell” / Sheryl Crow “If It Makes You Happy” / Bush “Swallowed” / Stone Temple Pilots “Big Bang Baby” / Imperial Teen “You’re One” / Imperial Drag “Boy Or A Girl” / Weezer “El Scorcho” / Ben Folds Five “Underground” / Spice Girls “Wannabe” / Mariah Carey “Always Be My Baby” / Blackstreet “No Diggity” / 2Pac “California Love” / Busta Rhymes “Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check” / Outkast “Elevators (Me & You)” / UGK “One Day” / DJ Shadow “Midnight In A Perfect World” / Dub Narcotic Sound System featuring Lois Maffeo “Ship to Shore”
Luscious Jackson “Naked Eye” / The Cardigans “Lovefool” / Jon Spencer Blues Explosion “Can’t’ Stop” / Jay-Z “Ain’t No Nigga” / Junior MAFIA featuring Notorious BIG “Get Money” / Quad City DJs “C’mon N Ride It (The Train)” / Maxwell “Ascension (Don’t Ever Wonder)” / Erykah Badu “On & On” / Jamiroquai “Virtual Insanity” / Sneaker Pimps “6 Underground” / Björk “Possibly Maybe” / Aphex Twin “Girl/Boy Song” / Aaliyah “If Your Girl Only Knew” / Ani DiFranco “Shameless” / Alanis Morissette “All I Really Want” / Cat Power “Nude As the News” / Chavez “Unreal Is Here” / Jonathan Fire Eater “The Search for Cherry Red” / Sebadoh “Nothing Like You” / Liz Phair “Six Dick Pimp” / Grant Lee Buffalo “Bethlehem Steel” / R.E.M. featuring Patti Smith “E-Bow the Letter” / The Tragically Hip “Ahead By A Century” / Counting Crows “Have You Seen Me Lately?” / Screaming Trees “All I Know” / Soundgarden “Burden In My Hand” / Pearl Jam “In My Tree” / Disco Inferno “It’s A Kid’s World” / Wilco “Misunderstood” / Lil Kim “No Time” / Foxy Brown “Get Me Home” / Ghostface Killah featuring Mary J Blige “All That I Got Is You”
Tool “Stinkfist” / The Smashing Pumpkins “Tonight, Tonight” / Oasis “Don’t Look Back In Anger” / Radiohead “Talk Show Host” / Helium “What Institution Are You From?” / Nearly God featuring Neneh Cherry “Together Now” / Lox featuring The Notorious B.I.G. “You’ll See” / Nas “If I Ruled the World” / Geto Boys “The World Is A Ghetto” / Bone Thugs N Harmony “Tha Crossroads” / DJ Spooky “The Terran Invasion of Alpha Centauri 2794” / Silkk the Shockers featuring Master P “The Shocker” / Slum Village “Forth & Back (Remix)” / De La Soul “Itzsoweezee (HOT)” / 311 “All Mixed Up” / Sublime “What I Got” / Pavement “Give It A Day” / Archers of Loaf “Assassination On X-Mas Eve” / Robert Pollard “Psychic Pilot Clocks Out” / The Virgin-Whore Complex “Four Alarm Fire In Lovers’ Lane” / Foo Fighters “Big Me” / Sloan “The Lines You Amend” / Brian Jonestown Massacre “Cold to the Touch” / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Stagger Lee” / The Prodigy “Firestarter” / Butthole Surfers “Pepper” / Eels “Novocaine for the Soul” / Cibo Matto “Sugar Water” / Primitive Radio Gods “Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand” / Baader Meinhof “There’s Gonna Be An Accident” / Menswear “Being Brave” / Neil Young “Music Arcade” / Jeremy Enigk “Explain” / Modest Mouse “Dramamine” / Smog “Lize” / The Olivia Tremor Control “NYC-25”
Girls Against Boys “Super-Fire” / Veruca Salt “I’m Taking Europe with Me” / Korn “A.D.I.D.A.S.” / Marilyn Manson “The Beautiful People” / Alice In Chains “Sludge Factory (Unplugged)” / Hooverphonic “2 Wicky” / Akinyele “Put It In Your Mouth” / DJ Kool “Let Me Clear My Throat” / The Roots “What They Do” / MC Lyte featuring Missy Elliott “Cold Rock A Party (Bad Boy Remix)” / Total featuring Da Brat “No One Else (Puff Daddy Remix)” / Me’Shell Ndegeocello “Leviticus: Faggot” / D’Angelo “Lady” / Donna Lewis “I Love You Always Forever” / Jewel “You Were Meant for Me” / Alison Krauss “Baby Now That I’ve Found You” / Beth Orton “She Cries Your Name” / The Wallflowers “One Headlight” / Clint Black “Like the Rain” / Alan Jackson “Little Bitty” / George Strait “Carried Away” / Archive “Londinium” / Yum Yum “Apiary” / For Squirrels “Mighty K.C.” / Nada Surf “Zen Brain” / Fountains of Wayne “Sink to the Bottom” / Local H “Bound for the Floor” / The Promise Ring “A Picture Postcard” / Afghan Whigs “Honky’s Ladder” / Kula Shaker “Tattva” / OMC “How Bizarre” / Los Del Rio “Macarena” / Dave Matthews Band “Too Much” / R.L. Burnside “Shake ‘Em on Down” / The Make Up “R U A Believer” / Bikini Kill “Capri Pants” / Melt-Banana “It’s In the Pillcase” / Emily’s Sassy Lime “Cadillac Stinger”
Velocity Girl “Gilded Stars” / Lush “Ladykillers” / Republica “Ready to Go” / Soul Coughing “Super Bon Bon” / Self “So Low” / Tracy Bonham “Mother Mother” / Jill Sobule “I Kissed A Girl” / No Doubt “Don’t Speak” / Manic Street Preachers “A Design for Life” / CJ Bolland “Sugar Is Sweeter” / Orbital “The Box” / Sepultura “Roots Bloody Roots” / Texas is the Reason “Back and to the Left” / Fu Manchu “Regal Begal” / Lifetime “The Boy’s No Good” / At the Drive-In “StarSlight” / New Radiant Storm King “C/Swoon” / Mogwai “Summer” / Mobb Deep “G.O.D. Part III” / A Tribe Called Quest “Phony Rappers” / Bounty Killer “War Face (Remix)” / Boards of Canada “Everything You Do Is A Balloon” / Plug “Drum N Bass for Papa” / RZA featuring Method Man and Cappadonna “Wu Wear, The Garment Renaissance” / Large Professor “Mad Scientist” / Tortoise “The Taut and Tame” / Toni Braxton “Un-Break My Heart” / Patty Griffin “Moses” / Tom Petty “Walls” / Hayden “Bad As They Seem” / The For Carnation “Lmyr, Marshmallow” / Psychic TV “The La La Song” / Bis “Teen C-Power!” / Suicide Machines “No Face” / Goldfinger “Here In Your Bedroom” / Reel Big Fish “Everything Sucks” / Superdrag “Sucked Out” / Supergrass “Going Out” / Sense Field “Outlive the Man” / Down by Law “Independence Day” / The Mountain Goats “Then the Letting Go”
Master P featuring Silkk the Shocker “Mr. Ice Cream Man” / Xzibit “The Foundation” / Mad Skillz “The Nod Factor” / Shyheim “Shaolin Style” / 112 featuring The Notorious B.I.G. “Only You” / R. Kelly “I Believe I Can Fly” / Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey “One Sweet Day” / Garth Brooks “The Beaches of Cheyenne” / Trisha Yearwood “Believe Me Baby (I Tried)” / Lonestar “No News” / Shania Twain “I’m Outta Here” / Mindy McCready “Guys Do It All the Time” / Patti Smith “Gone Again” / Beautiful South “Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)” / Tracy Lawrence “Time Marches On” / Catatonia “You’ve Got A Lot to Answer For” / Tim McGraw “She Never Lets It Go to Her Heart” / Lambchop “The Man Who Loved Beer” / High Llamas “Checking In, Checking Out” / Silver Jews “How to Rent A Room” / Silkworm “Never Met A Man I Didn’t Like” / The Cure “Mint Car” / Combustible Edison “Short Double Latté” / Lilys “A Nanny In Manhattan” / Porno for Pyros “Porpoise Head” / Stabbing Westward “What Do I Have to Do?” / Gravity Kills “Guilty” / LTJ Bukem “Horizons (Vocal Mix)” / Photek “Titan” / Billie Ray Martin “Deadline for My Memories” / Spain “Untitled #1” / Zumpano “Behind the Beehive” / 16 Horsepower “Black Soul Choir” / Phish “Character Zero” / Nerf Herder “Van Halen” / Braid “Divers” / Bad Religion “A Walk” / Unwritten Law “Denied” / Brainiac “Nothing Ever Changes” / Henry’s Dress “Target Practice” / Neutral Milk Hotel “Song Against Sex” / Palace Music “Arise Therefore”
Frank Black “The Marsist” / The Amps “Tipp City” / Polvo “Fast Canoe” / Metallica “Hero of the Day” / Refused “Coup D’etat” / Rasputina “Transylvanian Concubine” / Ministry “Reload” / Prong “Rude Awakening” / Future Sound of London “We Have Explosive (Oil Funk Remix)” / KMFDM “Rules” / Type O Negative “My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend” / Meat Beat Manifesto “Asbestos Lead Asbestos” / Jedi Knights “May the Funk Be With You” / SWV “You’re the One” / Keith Sweat “Twisted” / New Edition “Hit Me Off” / Redman “Smoke Buddah” / Charizma & Peanut Butter Wolf “My World Premier” / INI “Fakin’ Jax’” / Bahamadia “True Honey Buns (Dat Freak Shit)” / Joe Henry “Trampoline” / Original Cast of Rent “Seasons of Love” / Backstreet Boys “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” / Geggy Tah “Whoever You Are” / Los Lobos “Revolution” / Fatboy Slim “Everybody Needs A 303” / Squirrel Nut Zippers “Hell” / The Auteurs “Light Aircraft On Fire” / Remy Zero “Descent” / Luna “Season of the Witch” / Momus “Saved” / The Divine Comedy “Something for the Weekend” / Super Furry Animals “Something 4 the Weekend” / Arab Strap “The First Big Weekend” / Cast “Alright” / Jawbox “Mirrorful” / Jale “Ali” / Versus “Yeah You” / Butterglory “You’ll Never Be (As Good As That)” / Free Kitten “Kitten Bossanova” / Bardo Pond “Tantric Porno” / Gastr del Sol “Our Exquisite Replica of ‘Eternity’” / Dirty Three “Hope” / Rachel’s “Family Portrait”
Michael Jackson “They Don’t Care About Us” / Fun Lovin’ Criminals “Scooby Snacks” / Everything But the Girl “Wrong (Todd Terry Mix)” / Pet Shop Boys “Se A Vida” / U96 “Heaven” / George Michael “Fastlove” / Madonna “You Must Love Me” / Snoop Dogg “Snoop’s Upside Ya Head” / Shaquille O’Neal featuring The Notorious B.I.G. “Still Can’t Stop the Reign” / Heltah Skeltah “Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka” / Blahzay Blahzay “Danger” / Smoothe da Hustler “Broken Language” / Cake “The Distance” / Reverend Horton Heat “Big Red Rocket of Love” / Rocket from the Crypt “Born in 69” / The Wonders “That Thing You Do!” / moe. “She Sends Me” / Brooks & Dunn “My Maria” / Lyle Lovett “The Road to Ensenada” / Gin Blossoms “Follow You Down” / The Lemonheads “If I Could Talk I’d Tell You” / Boys Life “All of the Negatives” / Opeth “The Night and the Silent Water (Morningrise)” / His Name Is Alive “Movie” / The Frogs “I’m Evil, Jack” / Rainer Maria “I Love You Too” / The Spinanes “Lines and Lines” / Come “Secret Number” / Boss Hog “I Dig You” / Kustomized “Handcuffs” / Moby “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver” / Comet Gain “Last Night” / Unwound “Corpse Pose” / Urusei Yatsura “Pow R Ball” / Ash “Goldfinger” / Dodgy “If You’re Thinking of Me” / The Wrens “Rest Your Head” / D Generation “Frankie” / The Cranberries “Salvation” / Limblifter “Screwed It Up” / East River Pipe “Kill the Action” / Ocean Colour Scene “The Riverboat Song” / The Black Crowes “Blackberry” / Suede “Trash” / Babybird “You’re Gorgeous” / Boyzone “Words” / Guv’ner “She’s Evil” / Longpigs “On and On” / The Verve Pipe “The Freshmen”
This is the fourth in the 1990s survey mix series, which will come out monthly in chronological order through this year. You can find the previous mixes here.
We’re in the thick of it now! This year, along with the next two, are unquestionably the most formative time for me as a young music fan and virtually all of my taste as an adult can be traced to something you can hear in this set. There’s a lot going on here, but there’s basically two dominant narratives here that will carry over into 1994 and 1995 – the explosion of alt-rock and indie rock on one hand, and a renaissance in hip-hop on the other. Younger listeners should keep in mind that a crucial difference between then and now is that alt-rock is very much the mainstream at this point, and Pearl Jam and Nirvana were popular on a level on par with – or greatly exceeding – that of major contemporary stars like Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Drake. They were very much the center of pop culture, though the vibrant rap and R&B scenes were also pretty crucial. I think it’s fair to say that this period of time from about 92-95 is as consistently cool as the mainstream has ever been, or at least as cool as it’s been in my lifetime.
Thanks to Paul Cox, Rob Sheffield, Sean T. Collins, Steve Kandell, Dan Kois, and Chris Conroy for their valuable assistance in putting this together.
The Smashing Pumpkins “Cherub Rock” / Pearl Jam “Animal” / Nirvana “Scentless Apprentice” / PJ Harvey “Man Size” / Liz Phair “Help Me Mary” / James “Laid” / The Cranberries “Linger” / Sarah McLachlan “Possession” / Janet Jackson “That’s the Way Love Goes” / Salt N Pepa “Shoop” / 2Pac “I Get Around” / Biggie Smalls “Party & Bullshit” / Cypress Hill “Insane in the Brain” / Wu-Tang Clan “7th Chamber Part II” / The Breeders “Cannonball” / Frank Black “Ten Percenter” / Stone Temple Pilots “Plush” / Red Hot Chili Peppers “Soul to Squeeze” / Porno for Pyros “Pets” / Belly “Feed the Tree” / Radiohead “Creep” / R.E.M. “Everybody Hurts” / Mazzy Star “Fade Into You” / New Order “Regret” / Annie Lennox “Little Bird” / Björk “Big Time Sensuality” / A Tribe Called Quest “Award Tour” / Dr. Dre & Snoop Doggy Dogg “Fuck With Dre Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’)” / Tears for Fears “Break It Down Again” / U2 “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)”
Shudder to Think “X French T-Shirt” / The Flaming Lips “Pilot Can at the Queer of God” / Stereolab “Crest” / Onyx “Slam” / Outkast “Player’s Ball” / Black Moon “Who Got the Props?” / DJ Shadow & Asia Born “Send Them” / Snoop Dogg “Who Am I (What’s My Name)?” / KRS-One “Sound of Da Police” / Mary J. Blige featuring The Notorious B.I.G. “What’s the 411? (Remix)” / Mariah Carey “Dreamlover” / Aerosmith “Cryin’” / Counting Crows “Mr. Jones” / Gin Blossoms “Hey Jealousy” / Blur “For Tomorrow” / Pulp “Lipgloss” / Alice In Chains “Rooster” / Tool “Sober” / Aphex Twin “On” / Moby “Move” / Whitney Houston “I’m Every Woman” / Tag Team “Whoomp! There It Is” / Naughty by Nature “Hip Hop Hooray” / The Pharcyde “Passin’ Me By” / Archers of Loaf “Web In Front” / Guided by Voices “Shocker in Gloomtown” / M.O.T.O. “It Tastes Just Like A Milkshake” / Sebadoh “Soul and Fire” / Letters to Cleo “Rim Shack”
Fugazi “Facet Squared” / Bikini Kill “Rebel Girl” / Huggy Bear “Her Jazz” / Bratmobile “Love Thing” / Yo La Tengo “From A Motel 6” / Pavement “Shoot the Singer” / Straitjacket Fits “Brittle” / Royal Trux “Back to School” / Velocity Girl “Here Comes” / Unrest “Make Out Club” / The Lemonheads “Into Your Arms” / Cracker “Low” / Faith Hill “Wild One” / Alan Jackson “Chattahoochee” / Garth Brooks “Ain’t Going Down (’Til the Sun Comes Up)” / Melissa Etheridge “Come To My Window” / Babyface “When Can I See You” / Toni Braxton “Another Sad Love Song” / Ace of Base “All That She Wants” / Robin S. “Show Me Love” / Haddaway “What Is Love?” / De La Soul “Breakadawn” / Me’Shell Ndegeocello “If That’s Your Boyfriend (He Wasn’t Last Night)” / 95 South “Whoot, There It Is” / Duice “Dazzy Duks” / Silk “Freak Me” / H-Town “Knockin’ Da Boots” / D.R.S. “Gangsta Lean” / Positive K “I Got A Man” / Arrested Development “Mr. Wendal” / Michael Jackson “Will You Be There”
Depeche Mode “I Feel You” / Type O Negative “Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)” / The Afghan Whigs “Gentlemen” / Lenny Kravitz “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” / One Dove “White Love (Guitar Paradise Edit)” / Sunscreem “Love U More” / RuPaul “Supermodel (You Better Work)” / Geto Boys “Six Feet Deep” / Billy Joel “The River of Dreams” / Phish “The Wedge” / Spin Doctors “Two Princes” / Collective Soul “Shine” / Dwight Yoakum “A Thousand Miles from Nowhere” / Matthew Sweet “Time Capsule” / George Strait “Easy Come, Easy Go” / Rosanne Cash “The Wheel” / Jodeci “Lately” / Meat Loaf “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” / Rod Stewart “Have I Told You Lately” / Crash Test Dummies “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” / The Verve “Slide Away” / Suede “Animal Nitrate” / Rage Against the Machine “Bombtrack” / Candlebox “Far Behind” / Shai “Baby I’m Yours” / Tony! Toni! Toné! “If I Had No Loot” / Lords of the Underground “Chief Rocka” / UB40 “(I Can’t Help) Falling In Love with You”
The Roots “The Session (Longest Posse Cut In History)” / Guru “Trust Me” / KMD “What A Nigga Know?” / Tricky “Aftermath (Version 1)” / Cupid Car Club “Grace Juice Plus” / Jon Spencer Blues Explosion “Afro” / FU-Schnickens “What’s Up Doc? (Can We Rock?)” / Digable Planets “Where I’m From” / St. Etienne “You’re In A Bad Way” / The Loud Family “Inverness” / 10,000 Maniacs “Stockton Gala Days” / Helium “Lucy” / The Juliana Hatfield Three “My Sister” / Grant Lee Buffalo “Fuzzy” / Randy Travis “Look Heart, No Hands” / Doug Supernaw “I Don’t Call Him Daddy” / Frenté! “Bizarre Love Triangle” / Lorrie Morgan “What Part of No?” / Buffalo Tom “Sodajerk” / Dig “Believe” / Melvins “Honey Bucket” / Superchunk “Precision Auto” / Sunny Day Real Estate “8” / Sepultura “Refuse/Resist” / Luscious Jackson “Daughters of the Kaos” / Boss “Recipe of a Hoe” / US3 “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)” / Sting “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You” / Duran Duran “Ordinary World”
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” / Mary Lou Lord “Some Jingle Jangle Morning” / Urge Overkill “Sister Havana” / Primus “My Name Is Mud” / Green Jelly “Three Little Pigs” / Slowdive “Alison” / Cowboy Junkies “Anniversary Song” / Morphine “Buena” / Everclear “Your Genius Hands” / Heatmiser “Candyland” / Fastbacks “Gone to the Moon” / Chug “Flowers” / Pet Shop Boys “Go West” / Leftfield “Open Up” / Underworld “Mmm…Skyscraper I Love You” / Pete Rock “Lots of Lovin’” / Jade “Don’t Walk Away” / Kirsty MacColl “Angel” / INXS “Beautiful Girl” / Dinosaur Jr “Start Choppin’” / American Music Club “All Your Jeans Were Too Tight” / Joe Diffie “John Deere Green” / Denis Leary “Asshole” / Mercury Rev “Bronx Cheer” / Boss Hog “Ruby” / Don Caballero “For Respect” / Manic Street Preachers “La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)” / The Ocean Blue “Sublime” / Elvis Costello & The Brodsky Quartet “For Other Eyes” / Donald Fagan “Snowbound” / Prince “Pink Cashmere”
Zhane “Hey Mr. DJ” / Usher “Call Me A Mack” / Portrait “Here We Go Again” / Original Flavor “Can I Get Open” / Shaggy “Oh Carolina” / Madonna “Rain” / Take That “Pray” / Xscape “Just Kickin’ It” / The Auteurs “American Guitars” / Swervedriver “Duel” / The Boo Radleys “Lazarus” / Polvo “Tilebreaker” / Medicine “Never Click” / P.M. Dawn “Looking Through Patient Eyes” / Redman “Time 4 Sum Aksion” / Smooth “You Been Played” / Smooth Touch “House of Love” / Autechre “Bike” / Atari Teenage Riot “Kids Are United” / Curve “Superblaster” / The Catherine Wheel “Crank” / The Verlaines “Heavy 33” / Elastica “Stutter” / Teenage Fanclub “Hang On” / The Posies “Dream All Day” / The The “Love Is Stronger Than Death” / Tracy Lawrence “Alibis” / Coverdale Page “Pride and Joy” / Ethyl Meatplow “Devil’s Johnson” / The Alkaholiks “Only When I’m Drunk” / Butthole Surfers “Who Was In My Room Last Night?”
The Proclaimers “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” / 4 Non Blondes “What’s Up” / Inner Circle “Bad Boys” / Snow “Informer” / Boy Krazy “That’s What Love Can Do” / Mr. Blobby “Mr. Blobby” / Cannibal Corpse “Hammer Smashed Face” / Reba McEntire “The Heart Won’t Lie” / John Michael Montgomery “I Love the Way You Love Me” / Brian McKnight “One Last Cry” / David Bowie “Jump They Say” / The Fall “Why Are People Grudgeful?” / Fishbone “Swim” / Big Head Todd and the Monsters “Bittersweet” / Sugar “Tilted” / Paul Westerberg “World Class Fad” / Noise Addict “I Wish I Was Him” / Sheryl Crow “Run, Baby, Run” / Jeremy Jordan “The Right Kind of Love” / µ-Ziq “Iesope” / Illegal feat. Eric Sermon “We Getz Buzy” / Compulsion “Basketcase” / House of Pain & Helmet “Just Another Victim” / Freestyle Fellowship “Inner City Boundaries” / S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. “It’s Gonna Be A Lovely Day” / MC Lyte “Ruffneck” / Ned’s Atomic Dustbin “Not Sleeping Around” / The Connells “’74-’75” / Smog “37 Push Ups” / Palace Brothers “Idle Hands Are the Devil’s Plaything” / Israel Kamakawiwo’ole “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World”
Here’s the 2016 survey, featuring 222 songs from across several genres from the past year. Unlike the 1980s survey mixes, this is not really about giving a historically accurate picture of the year in music – while I think this is representative of 2016, it’s a lot more personal and subjective. This is the most hip-hop/R&B-centric survey I’ve ever made, and there’s also a lot of pretty obscure stuff that I’ve found through my indispensable Bandcamp feed. I hope you find a lot of new things to like in this survey, and come away feeling that despite the fact that music media is increasingly focused on a handful of celebrity artists at the expense of anything else, this has actually been a pretty solid year for music.
Here is a version of this mix as a Spotify playlist for your convenience. It is a bit less listenable without my edits, and is missing 22 songs which aren’t available on streaming services.
Car Seat Headrest “1937 State Park” / Danny Brown “Dance in the Water” / Beyoncé “Hold Up” / Xenia Rubinos “Lonely Lover” / A Tribe Called Quest “Dis Generation” / Kendrick Lamar “Untitled 06 (06.30.2014)” / Chance the Rapper featuring Lil Wayne and 2 Chains “No Problem” / Sleigh Bells “Rule Number One” / Mac Miller featuring Anderson Paak “Dang!” / Ari Lennox “Night Drive” / Case/Lang/Veirs “Honey and Smoke” / Okkervil River “Mary On A Wave” / Radiohead “Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief” / Bat for Lashes “Never Forgive the Angels” / Margaret Glaspy “You and I” / The Scary Jokes “Catabolic Seed” / Noname “Diddy Bop” / 30/70 “Local Knowledge” / Jamila Woods “Breadcrumbs” / Joey Purp featuring Chance the Rapper “Girls @“ / Maxwell “III” / Leapling “Alabaster Snow” / Lucy Dacus “Direct Address” / Speedy Ortiz “Emma O” / Rihanna “Love On the Brain”
Anderson Paak “The Bird” / No Panty “Singin’ My Song” / The Avalanches “Harmony” / Andrew Bird “Truth Lies Low” / Bibio “Town & Country” / Cass McCombs “Opposite House” / Zayn “It’s You” / Corinne Bailey Rae “Been to the Moon” / Angelic Milk “Rebel Black” / Lou E “What Do You Do It For?” / Lil Yachty “Good Day” / Big Baby D.R.A.M. “Cash Machine” / Twice “Cheer Up” / Thao and the Get Down Stay Down “Fool Forever” / Miya Folick “Pet Body” / Mannequin Pussy “Romantic” / Kvelertak “1985” / Jay Som “I Think You’re Alright” / Frankie Cosmos “I’m 20” / The Range “Superimpose” / Negative Gemini “Don’t Worry ‘Bout the Fuck I’m Doing” / Sales “Ivy” / Lady Gaga “A-YO” / Beck “Wow” / The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk “Starboy” / A$AP Ferg featuring Skrillex and Crystal Caines “Hungry Ham” / J. Cole “False Prophets (Be Like This)” / Lance Skiiwalker “Lovers Lane”
DJ Shadow featuring Run the Jewels “Nobody Speak” / Childish Gambino “Have Some Love” / Frank Ocean “Pink + White” / NxWorries “What More Can I Say” / Yung Bae “As Sweet As My Baby” / De La Soul featuring Estelle and Pete Rock “Memory of… (Us)” / Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam “Rough Going (I Won’t Let Up)” / Thee Oh Sees “The Axis” / Hinds “Fat Calmed Kiddos” / Whitney “No Matter Where We Go” / Slow Club “Give Me Some Peace” / White Lung “Demented” / Melkbelly “Elk Mountain” / No Joy “XO (Adam’s Getting Married)” / Underworld “Motorhome” / Animal Collective “Vertical” / Cavern of Anti-Matter “Melody In High Feedback Tones” / Luísa Maita “Fio da Memória” / Flume featuring Vince Staples and Kucka “Smoke and Retribution” / Bullion “Never Is the Change” / Justin Timberlake “Can’t Stop the Feeling” / DNCE “Cake by the Ocean” / The 1975 “Love Me” / Twenty One Pilots “Heathens” / Lake Street Dive “I Don’t Care About You” / Bruno Mars “Perm” / BJ the Chicago Kid featuring Kendrick Lamar “The New Cupid”
Kanye West featuring Chance the Rapper “Ultralight Beam” / Pusha T “HGTV Freestyle” / Run the Jewels “Talk to Me” / Saba featuring Noname “Church/Liquor Store” / Solange “Cranes in the Sky” / Field Music “The Noisy Days Are Over” / A Giant Dog “Sex & Drugs” / Angel Olsen “Shut Up Kiss Me” / Mitski “Once More to See You” / Ariana Grande “Moonlight” / Esperanza Spalding “Unconditional Love” / Snoh Aalegra “In Your River” / James Blake “Radio Silence” / Anohni “Execution” / Jessy Lanza “It Means I Love You” / EXO “Monster” / Max Wonders “Utopia” / Gaby Moreno “Pale Bright Lights” / Quilt “Hissing My Plea” / Kip McGrath “Clock Hands” / Pinegrove “Old Friends” / Amy O “Canteen” / Katie Dey “Fear O’ the Light” / Drugdealer “Suddenly” / of Montreal “It’s Different for Girls” / Kevin Abstract “Empty” / Massive Attack featuring Tricky and 3D “Take It There” / Tim Hecker “Castrati Stack”
David Bowie “Blackstar” / Vince Staples featuring Kilo Kish “Loco” / Young Thug “Future Swag” / Lil Uzi Vert “Canadian Goose” / Anchorsong “Oriental Suite” / Nicolas Jaar “No” / Motion Graphics “Lense” / Skepta “Lyrics” / YG featuring Nipsey Hussle “FDT” / Fudge “Young Vet” / Kate Tempest “Ketamine for Breakfast” / Tricky “Diving Away” / Blood Orange “Best to You” / Weyes Blood “Do You Need My Love” / Little Scream “Dark Dance” / Kaytranada featuring AlunaGeorge and Goldlink “Together” / Mome “Super Hot Days” / DJ Paypal “No One Else” / Kiiara “Gold” / BTS “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” / DJ Snake featuring Justin Bieber “Let Me Love You” / The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey “Closer” / 21 Savage & Metro Boomin “No Heart” / Future featuring The Weeknd “Low Life” / Relaen “Twines”
Wilco “Normal American Kids” / Miranda Lambert “Highway Vagabond” / Maren Morris “Drunk Girls Don’t Cry” / Basia Bulat “Long Goodbye” / Against Me! “12:03” / Fascinations Grand Chorus “Welcome” / Magic Potion “Cheddar Lane” / AJJ “American Garbage” / Ratboys “Not Again” / Pip Blom “Truth” / Sunflower Bean “Come On” / Ty Segall “Emotional Mugger/Leopard Priestess” / The Orielles “Jobin” / Wire “Internal Exile” / PJ Harvey “The Community of Hope” / Purling Hiss “Fever” / Japanese Breakfast “Everybody Wants to Love You” / Salami Rose Joe Louis “I Miss You So” / Desiigner featuring Kanye West “Timmy Turner (Remix)” / A$AP Mob featuring A$AP Rocky and Skepta “Put That On My Set” / Ka “That Cold and Lonely” / BADBADNOTGOOD “Speaking Gently” / Bas featuring Cozz “Dopamine” / Kamaiyah “How Does It Feel?” / Drake “One Dance” / Sampa the Great “2 4” / Rae Sremmurd featuring Gucci Mane “Black Beatles” / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Rings of Saturn” / Andy Stott “Butterflies” / Jenny Hval “Conceptual Romance” / Leonard Cohen “If I Didn’t Have Your Love” / Alexis Taylor “Crying in the Chapel”
The Game “The Juice” / John Legend featuring Chance the Rapper “Penthouse Floor” / Ab-Soul featuring Da$h “Huey Knew” / The Kills “Whirling Eye” / Wolf Parade “Floating World” / Half Waif “Nest” / Isaiah Rashad “Brenda” / Schoolboy Q featuring Lance Skiiiwalker “Kno Ya Wrong” / DJ Khaled featuring Drake “For Free” / Twista featuring Jeremih “Next to You” / Britney Spears “Private Show” / Teen “All About Us” / Margo Price “Hurtin’ (On the Bottle)” / Nada Surf “Rushing” / Modern Baseball “Everyday” / Field Mouse “The Mirror” / Sheer Mag “Can’t Stop Fighting” / G.L.O.S.S. “Trans Day of Revenge” / Twist “Can’t Wait” / Monomyth “Re: Lease Life (Place 2 Go)” / The Frightnrs “Nothing More to Say” / The Rolling Stones “Everybody Knows About My Good Thing” / Julia Jacklin “Leadlight” / Eleanor Friedberger “Because I Asked You” / Michael Kiwanuka “The Final Frame” / Divine Council featuring Andre 3000 and $ilk Money “Decemba (Remix)” / PARTYNEXTDOOR “Not Nice”
Sia “Cheap Thrills” / Colleen Green “U Coulda Been An A” / Crying “There Was A Door” / Guided by Voices “Kid On A Ladder” / Paul Simon “Wristband” / The Lonely Island featuring Adam Levine “I’m So Humble” / Aminé “Caroline” / DJ Quik & Problem featuring The Game and Candace Boyd “Rosecrans” / Little Shalimar featuring Bun B, Killer Mike, and Cuz Lightyear “Savage Habits” / Uffe “As Long As It Lasts” / 79.5 “ooo” / OddCouple featuring Joey Purp “Visions” / Kool Keith featuring MF Doom “Super Hero” / Heavy Heart “Teenage Witch” / Electric Six “Lee Did This To Me” / Duck “Lip On The Floor” / Really Big Pinecone “Everybody Needs Friends” / Nap Eyes “Mixer” / Norah Jones “Day Breaks” / Kevin Morby “I Have Been to the Mountain” / Conor Oberst “Till St. Dymphna Kicks Us Out” / Lady Wray “Smilin’” / Tennis “Ladies Don’t Play Guitar” / Tinashe “Company” / Zay Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall “Juju On That Beat (TZ Anthem)” / Wild Beasts “Alpha Female” / Justice “Fire” / Dr. Something “Companion” / Bon Iver “21 M◊◊N WATER” / Burial “Young Death”
This is the fourth in my series of 1980s survey mixes, which are moving backwards in time from 1989 to the start of the decade. These compilations are designed to give more context to the music of the ‘80s, and give a sense of how various niches and trends overlapped in this cultural moment.
With this set we officially enter the middle of the decade, which I believe is the part that is best remembered today, at least in terms of cultural signifiers and cheesy songs that never seem to go away. This is an exceptionally dorky crop of songs, and while a lot of it stands on its own pretty well, it can feel a bit overwhelming or even stifling all together. It’s actually pretty understandable how flagrant rockism could thrive in this era – every song that feels even a bit raw and edgy seems like a miracle in this context.
Thanks to Chris Ott, Paul Cox, and Chris Conroy for their assistance in curating this set.
If you want to go back to previous collections in these series, they’re all right here: 1987, 1988, and 1989. The 1985 survey will be ready sometime in late February or early March.
Peter Gabriel “Sledgehammer” / Genesis “Invisible Touch” / Paul Simon “You Can Call Me Al” / Nu Shooz “I Can’t Wait” / Prince “Kiss” / Cameo “Word Up!” / New Order “Bizarre Love Triangle” / Stacey Q “Two of Hearts” / Janet Jackson “When I Think of You” / Robert Palmer “Addicted to Love” / Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark “If You Leave” / Crowded House “Don’t Dream It’s Over” / Howard Jones “No One Is To Blame” / Madonna “Live to Tell” / Heart “These Dreams” / Cocteau Twins “Love’s Easy Tears” / The Smiths “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” / Sonic Youth “Expressway To Yr Skull”
Pet Shop Boys “West End Girls” / Bananarama “Venus” / Duran Duran “Notorious” / The Bangles “Manic Monday” / Wham! “I’m Your Man” / Kool and the Gang “Stone Love” / Dolly Parton “Think About Love” / The Moody Blues “Your Wildest Dreams” / Talking Heads “Wild Wild Life” / R.E.M. “Fall On Me” / Big Black “Kerosene” / Killing Joke “Adorations” / The Art of Noise “Paranoimia” / Beastie Boys “Paul Revere” / Boogie Down Productions “South Bronx” / Cyndi Lauper “True Colors” / Berlin “Take My Breath Away” / Depeche Mode “Stripped” / Arthur Russell “Let’s Go Swimming”
Lionel Richie “Dancing on the Ceiling” / Jermaine Stewart “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” / Samantha Fox “Touch Me (I Want To Feel Your Body)” / Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith “Walk This Way” / Huey Lewis and The News “Hip to be Square” / Slayer “Angel of Death” / Metallica “Master of Puppets” / Megadeth “Peace Sells” / Peter Cetera “Glory of Love” / Whitney Houston “The Greatest Love of All” / Whodini “Funky Beat” / Schoolly D “Saturday Night” / Teena Marie “Lips to Find You” / Tina Turner “Typical Male” / Eurythmics “Missionary Man” / The Jets “Crush On You” / Zapp “Computer Love”
James Brown “Living In America” / Farley Jackmaster Funk “Love Can’t Turn Around” / Mantronix “Bassline” / Five Star “Can’t Wait Another Minute” / Siouxsie and the Banshees “Cities In Dust” / Human League “Human” / Wang Chung “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” / Belinda Carlisle “Mad About You” / Primal Scream “Velocity Girl” / Public Image Ltd “Rise” / Big Audio Dynamite “C’mon Every Beatbox” / Erasure “Oh L’Amour” / Alabama “She and I” / Hank Williams Jr “Mind Your Own Business” / Van Halen “Why Can’t This Be Love?” / Kenny Loggins “Danger Zone” / Eddie Money “Take Me Home Tonight” / The B-52’s “Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland” / Mr. Fingers “Can You Feel It?”
Europe “The Final Countdown” / Falco “Rock Me Amadeus” / LL Cool J “Rock the Bells” / MC Shan “The Bridge” / The Descendants “Enjoy” / Dag Nasty “Circles” / Gang Green “Alcohol” / Rites of Spring “All Through A Life” / Lee “Scratch” Perry and The Upsetters “All Things Are Possible” / Oran “Juice” Jones “The Rain” / Simply Red “Holding Back the Years” / Bruce Hornsby “The Way It Is” / The Feelies “Let’s Go” / XTC “Grass” / We’ve Got A Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It “Console Me” / fIREHOSE “Chemical Wire” / Shop Assistants “I Don’t Want To Be Friends With You” / The Fall “Living Too Late” / Elvis Costello and The Attractions “I Want You” / Hüsker Dü “Hardly Getting Over It” / Randy Travis “On the Other Hand”
Eric B. and Rakim “Eric B. Is President” / Kool Moe Dee “Go See the Doctor” / Lovebug Starski “Say What You Wanna Say” / Biz Markie “Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz” / Regina “Baby Love” / Mike and The Mechanics “All I Need Is A Miracle” / Mr. Mister “Kyrie” / Gene Loves Jezebel “Desire (Come and Get It)” / Iggy Pop “Real Wild Child” / The Georgia Satellites “Keep Your Hands To Yourself” / John Cougar Mellencamp “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to ‘60s Rock)” / Echo and the Bunnymen “Bring On the Dancing Horses” / The Go-Betweens “Spring Rain” / The Chills “Pink Frost” / This Mortal Coil “Come Here My Love” / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “The Carny” / Dead Or Alive “Brand New Lover” / Cutting Crew “(I Just) Died In Your Arms”
Volcano Suns “White Elephant” / Billy Joel “A Matter of Trust” / Murphy’s Law “Beer” / Embrace “Money” / Sly Fox “Let’s Go All the Way” / Stetsasonic “My Rhyme” / Wired “To the Beat of the Drum (On the Burn Mix)” / Robert Owens “Bring Down the Walls” / El Debarge “Who’s Johnny” / Bronski Beat “Hit That Perfect Beat” / Adonis “No Way Back” / A-Ha “The Sun Always Shines On TV” / Bon Jovi “Livin’ On A Prayer” / Chris De Burgh “Lady In Red” / Chris Isaak “Blue Hotel” / Giant Sand “Thin Line Man” / The Mekons “Hello Cruel World” / James “So Many Ways” / The Housemartins “Happy Hour” / Game Theory “Erica’s Word” / Carly Simon “Coming Around Again” / New York Mets “Get Mets-merized!” / Kronos Quartet “Purple Haze”
Queen “One Vision” / Steve Winwood “Higher Love” / Michael McDonald “Sweet Freedom” / The Pretenders “Don’t Get Me Wrong” / Doctor and the Medics “Spirit in the Sky” / Boston “Amanda” / The Damned “Eloise” / Sigue Sigue Sputnik “Love Missile F1-11” / Pointer Sisters “Goldmine” / Half Man Half Biscuit “All I Want for Christmas Is A Dukla-Prague Away Kit” / The Lyres “No Reason to Complain” / Cleaners from Venus “Living with Victoria Grey” / Roxanne Shante “The Def Fresh Crew” / Timex Social Club “Rumors” / Steve Earle “Guitar Town” / Cowboy Junkies “Baby Please Don’t Go” / Billy Ocean “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)” / Dionne Warwick featuring Stevie Wonder, Elton John, and Gladys Knight “That’s What Friends Are For” / Linda Rondstadt and James Ingram “Somewhere Out There” / Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam “All Cried Out”
Here’s the 2015 survey, featuring 183 songs from across several genres from the past year. A thing I realized in making this survey is that while I strive towards making the ‘80s surveys an “accurate” representation of a year, these present-day surveys sorta nod towards that conceit while mainly representing my lived experience of the year in music. Which is still quite varied, but it’s a lot more personal, and I have more invested in sticking up for the smaller artists I enjoy than acquiescing to include every hit or random artist other critics decide are worthwhile for the moment.
2015 has been an interesting year for this site, in that everything’s sorta gone full circle and it’s the first time in a while where pretty much all of my music writing goes here rather than on BuzzFeed, Rolling Stone, or Pitchfork. Writing the site now reminds me a lot of how it felt in the early days, where it was my only outlet and my methods reflected a philosophical difference with how most other music writing was being done. Back when I started this site, there was very little room in music writing either in print or on the web focused on writing about songs. All the focus was on macro topics and trends and identity politics –– and here we are again! I don’t mean to denigrate or dismiss that stuff, but while I may enjoy reading that sort of thing, it’s not what I do. I think Fluxblog is also back in a position of offering an alternative to the values of other critical institutions, and repping for artists who maybe aren’t “cool” enough to gain any sort of consensus of approval at Pitchfork, Noisey, Stereogum, or Fader.
If you’ve been following this site, I thank you. I don’t pay attention to numbers for Fluxblog, and would be doing exactly the same thing whether the audience was tiny or huge. This is a personal endeavor and a part of my life I would never give up. That said, if you like this site, tell people about it. If you like a thing I wrote, share it. There’s not many paths open to new readers now, and I’d like for people to still find the site somehow. And, of course, there’s the weekly newsletter version of the site for people who don’t want to keep coming back to a website all the time.
Anyway, enjoy the survey.
Hot Chip “Huarache Lights” / Grimes “Artangels” / White Hinterland “Chill and Natural” / Kendrick Lamar “Alright” / The Internet “Just Sayin’/I Tried” / Joanna Newsom “Sapokanikan” / Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment featuring Chance the Rapper “Sunday Candy” / Kamasi Washington “Leroy and Lanisha” / Beach House “One Thing” / Colleen Green “Deeper Than Love” / Sexwitch “Helelyos” / Wolf Alice “You’re A Germ” / Veruca Salt “Eyes on You” / No Joy “Moon In My Mouth” / Leon Bridges “Lisa Sawyer” / Vince Staples “Summertime”
Chvrches “Clearest Blue” / CL “Hello Bitches” / Disclosure featuring Lorde “Magnets” / Swim Good x Merival “Since U Asked” / Prince “X’s Face” / Peaches “Dumb Fuck” / !!! “Lucy Mongoosey” / Belle & Sebastian “Play for Today” / Jeremih “Oui” / Archy Marshall featuring Jamie Isaac “Ammi Ammi” / Lana Del Rey “Terrence Loves You” / Action Bronson “Terry” / Isaiah Rashad “Nelly” / Pusha T “Untouchable” / Deerhunter “All the Same” / Thee Oh Sees “Web” / Lower Dens “Non Grata” / Unknown Mortal Orchestra “Ur Life One Night” / Charly Bliss “Urge to Purge” / Courtney Barnett “Small Poppies”
Shamir “Vegas” / FKA Twigs “Figure 8” / Dr. Dre featuring Kendrick Lamar, Marsha Ambrosius and Candice Pillay “Genocide” / The Weeknd “Tell Your Friends” / Drake “Hotline Bling” / Jamie xx featuring Romy “Loud Places” / Erykah Badu featuring Andre 3000 “Hello” / Tame Impala “Cause I’m A Man” / Gardens & Villa “Fixations” / Hinds “Chili Town” / Bad Bad Hats “Say Nothing” / Teen Girl Scientist Monthly “Games” / The Mountain Goats “Werewolf Gimmick” / Electric Six “Two Dollar Two” / Eric Church “Chattanooga Lucy” / Logic “Like Woah” / Selena Gomez featuring A$AP Rocky “Good for You” / Justin Bieber “Sorry” / Christine and the Queens “Tilted” / Demi Lovato “Stone Cold” / Wet “Deadwater”
One Direction “Hey Angel” / Of Montreal “Like Ashoka’s Inferno of Memory” / PWR BTTM “Dairy Queen” / Born Ruffians “Stupid Dream” / Kelly Clarkson “Take You High” / Carly Rae Jepsen “All That” / Rae Sremmurd “Unlock the Swag” / Father “BET Uncut” / Micachu and the Shapes “Crushed” / Björk “Lion Song” / THEESatisfaction “Fetch/Catch” / A$AP Rocky “Excuse Me” / Swindle “London to L.A.” / Jimmy Whispers “I Get Lost in You in the Summertime” / Kurt Vile “Lost My Head There” / Florence + The Machine “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful” / Father John Misty “The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment” / Aphex Twin “disk hat ALL prepared1mixed 13”
The Mynabirds “All My Heart” / Major Lazer & DJ Snake “Lean On” / Maroon 5 featuring Nicki Minaj “Sugar (Remix)” / Passion Pit “Where the Sky Hangs” / Jason Derulo “Want to Want Me” / Panda Bear “Boys Latin” / Missy Elliott featuring Pharrell “WTF” / Janelle Monáe “Hell You Talmbout” / Lil Mama “Sausage” / Damaged Bug “The Frog” / Titus Andronicus “Lonely Boy” / Melkbelly “Bathroom at the Beach” / Wilco “Random Name Generator” / Ratboys “MCMXIV” / Adele “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” / Waterbed “Do2Me” / Chris Lee (Li Yuchun) “混蛋,我想你 (Only You)” / Rap Monster “Do You” / YG “Twist My Fingaz” / School of Seven Bells “Open Your Eyes” / Majical Cloudz “Disappeared”
Sophie “Just Like We Never Said Goodbye” / Madeon “You’re On” / Hudson Mohawke “Ryderz” / Neon Indian “Dear Skorpio Magazine” / Girls’ Generation “Party” / Fight Like Apes “Pop Itch” / Lunchmoney Lewis “Bills” / Young Thug “Constantly Hating” / Miley Cyrus “Space Boots” / Julia Holter “Sea Calls Me Home” / Aurora “Half the World Away” / Destroyer “Times Square” / Eleanor Friedberger “False Alphabet City” / Car Seat Headrest “Times to Die” / Diet Cig “Breathless” / Chastity Belt “Cool Slut” / Ashley Monroe “On to Something Good” / Mark Ronson featuring Kevin Parker “Leaving Los Feliz” / Big Sean “Outro” / Earl Sweatshirt “Quest/Power” / Cakes Da Killa “Serve It Up” / Georgia “Kombine” / Oneohtrix Point Never “No Good”
Alabama Shakes “Sound & Color” / Speedy Ortiz “Raising the Skate” / Sleater-Kinney “Surface Envy” / Holly Herndon “Morning Sun” / Keith Ape featuring JayAllDay, Loota, Okasian & Kohh “잊지마 (It G Ma)” / Nocturnal Sunshine featuring Catnapp “Down By the River” / Moon King “Secret Life” / Jenny Hval “That Battle Is Over” / Blur “Ong Ong” / The Last Hurrah!! “Can’t Wait No More” / Built to Spill “Never Be the Same” / Modest Mouse “The Best Room” / Toro y Moi “Empty Nesters” / Bixiga 70 “100% 13” / Joey Bada$$ “O.C.B.” / Oddisee “That’s Love” / She’s So Rad “Sewn Up Sunshine” / Bed Rugs “Drift” / Boots “Only” / Arcade Fire “Soft Power”
Future Punx “Post-Wave” / Ought “Celebration” / Torres “Cowboy Guilt” / Doldrums “Blow Away” / Laura Marling “False Hope” / Thundercat “Them Changes” / Janet Jackson “Gon’ B Alright” / Robyn & La Bagatelle Magique “Set Me Free” / Bilal “Open Up the Door” / Kanye West “All Day” / Extraordinaire featuring Killer Mike “What You Said” / Erase Errata “Watch Your Language” / Beck “Dreams” / Deradoorian “Violet Minded” / Woke featuring George Clinton “The Lavishments of Light Looking” / Astronauts, etc “No Justice” / Jim O’Rourke “Half Life Crisis” / Godspeed You! Black Emperor “Peasantry Or ‘Light! Inside Of Light!’” / Soak “Sea Creatures”
Coldplay “A Head Full of Dreams” / Battles “Summer Simmer” / Tobias Jesso Jr. “Can’t Stop Thinking About You” / Matthew E. White “Rock & Roll Is Cold” / Wire “Blogging” / Madonna featuring Nicki Minaj “Bitch, I’m Madonna” / Charli XCX featuring Rita Ora “Doing It (A.G. Cook Remix)” / Rihanna “Dancing in the Dark” / Yacht “I Wanna Fuck You Til I’m Dead” / BigBang “우리 사랑하지 말아요 (Let’s Not Fall In Love)” / Leikeli47 “Two Times A Charm” / Young Fathers “Shame” / Rich Homie Quan “Flex” / Jazmine Sullivan featuring Meek Mill “Dumb” / Kalela “Rewind” / Makeshift Shelters “This Song Is Definitely Not About A Boy” / No Ditching “Song for Shelley” / Bully “I Remember” / Princess Reason “Your Divorce” / Yo La Tengo “Friday I’m In Love” / Maribou State featuring Holly Walker “Steal” / Moresounds featuring Fracture “Dead and Bury” / Arca “Vanity” / Jessica Pratt “Wrong Hand” / Sufjan Stevens “Carrie & Lowell”
This is the second in my series of 1980s survey mixes, which are designed to give more context to the music of that decade. Most versions of ‘80s history focus on specific niches and canons, but mostly ignore or write off parallel and overlapping cultural trends. My goal in doing this project is to highlight all the different things going on from year to year, to better understand the original context of familiar songs and to highlight a lot of the music that has faded from cultural memory.
There’s a lot going on in 1988, but the thing that really hit me was how much of what was going on at that moment was in some way transgressive or deliberately abrasive. I think that’s all a very obvious reaction against the ultra-glossy music of the mid-‘80s and the hyper-conservative politics of the Reagan era. A lot of that vibe is still going strong in ’88, but if you listen to this set, you can feel the overall mood shifting towards the aesthetics of the early ‘90s, particularly in terms of alt-rock and hip-hop.
A word about chronology: I am trying to stick to the things that were actually released for the first time in each year, but am allowing some major records that were promoted over a few years to be represented in both. That’s why George Michael, INXS, Guns N’ Roses, Belinda Carlisle, and Michael Jackson are featured in this set. UB40’s “Red Red Wine” was originally released in 1983, but the mix included here was issued in 1988 and became a #1 hit in the United States.
Thanks to Sean T. Collins, Chris Conroy, Chris Ott, and especially Paul Cox for their assistance in putting this set together. The 1987 set should be ready to go sometime in November before Thanksgiving. You can find the 1989 survey mix here.
Sonic Youth “Teen Age Riot” / Public Enemy “Bring the Noise” / Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock “It Takes Two” / Salt-n-Pepa “Push It” / L’Trimm “Cars with the Boom” / Lita Ford “Kiss Me Deadly” / R.E.M. “Orange Crush” / Guns N’ Roses “Paradise City” / Erasure “A Little Respect” / Wire “Kidney Bingos” / Sugarcubes “Birthday” / Bobby Brown “Every Little Step” / Marley Marl featuring Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, and Big Daddy Kane “The Symphony” / Tracy Chapman “Fast Car” / Lucinda Williams “I Just Wanted To See You So Bad” / Dwight Yoakam “I Sang Dixie” / Metallica “One”
N.W.A. “Straight Outta Compton” / Eric B and Rakim “Lyrics of Fury” / Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song” / Slayer “South of Heaven” / EPMD “You Gots to Chill” / Ultramagnetic MCs “Ease Back” / Front 242 “Welcome to Paradise” / The Fall “Big New Prinz” / Morrissey “Every Day Is Like Sunday” / Anthrax “Antisocial” / Samantha Fox “Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)” / Paula Abdul “Straight Up” / Red Dragon “Duck Dance” / Slick Rick “Children’s Story” / The Dead Milkmen “Punk Rock Girl” / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Deanna” / The Bangles “In Your Room” / Belinda Carlisle “I Get Weak” / Brenda Russell “Piano in the Dark” / U2 “All I Want Is You”
Enya “Orinoco Flow” / Cocteau Twins “Carolyn’s Fingers” / When In Rome “The Promise” / George Michael “Father Figure” / Boogie Down Productions “My Philosophy” / D.J. Magic Mike and The Royal Posse “Magic Mike Cuts the Record” / Talking Heads “(Nothing But) Flowers” / KMFDM “Don’t Blow Your Top” / Teddy Pendergass “Joy” / MC Lyte “Paper Thin” / Matthew Shipp & Rob Brown “Sonic Explorations (Section 4)” / Glenn Branca “Symphony No. 5 – Second Movement” / My Bloody Valentine “Lose My Breath” / Pixies “Where Is My Mind?” / Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians “What I Am” / Michelle Shocked “Anchorage” / Kip Hanrahan “Gender” / Kronos Quartet “Four, for Tango”
Information Society “What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy)” / Johnny Kemp “Just Got Paid” / Pet Shop Boys “Always On My Mind” / Prince “Alphabet Street” / Natalie Cole “Pink Cadillac” / Ornette Coleman “Bourgeois Boogie” / Prefab Sprout “The King of Rock and Roll” / Highway 101 “(Do You Love Me) Just Say Yes” / Throwing Muses “Mexican Women” / Pere Ubu “George Had A Hat” / Butthole Surfers “Ricky” / Bongwater “David Bowie Wants Ideas” / Jungle Brothers “Straight Out the Jungle” / Billy Ocean “Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car” / George Harrison “Got My Mind Set On You” / Patti Smith “People Have the Power” / Unrest “Christina” / The Church “Under the Milky Way” / Cowboy Junkies “Sweet Jane”
Fugazi “Waiting Room” / Dinosaur Jr “Freak Scene” / Big Daddy Kane “Ain’t No Half-Steppin’” / S’Express “Theme from S’Express” / 2 Men A Drum Machine and a Trumpet “Tired of Getting Pushed Around” / Ministry “Stigmata” / Inner City “Good Life” / Duran Duran “Good Life” / Robert Palmer “Simply Irresistible” / They Might Be Giants “Ana Ng” / 2 Live Crew “Move Somethin’” / Kid N Play “Gittin’ Funky” / Siouxsie and the Banshees “Peek A Boo” / Sly & Robbie “All Aboard” / Scritti Politti “Boom! There She Was” / Michael Jackson “Man in the Mirror” / George Strait “Baby Blue” / Poison “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” / Neil Young and The Bluenotes “This Note’s For You”
Living Colour “Cult of Personality” / New Kids on the Block “Hangin’ Tough” / Eazy-E “Boyz N The Hood (Remix)” / Bomb the Bass “Beat Dis” / My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult “…And This is What The Devil Does!” / Run-D.M.C. “Run’s House” / UB40 “Red Red Wine” / Admiral Bailey “Jump Up” / Kylie Minogue “The Loco-Motion” / Leonard Cohen “First We Take Manhattan” / Elton John “I Don’t Wanna Go On with You Like That” / A.R. Kane “Crazy Blue” / James “What For” / The Travelling Wilburys “Handle with Care” / The Go-Betweens “Streets Of Your Town” / The Mighty Lemon Drops “Inside Out” / A Guy Called Gerald “Voodoo Ray” / Womack & Womack “Teardrops” / INXS “Never Tear Us Apart”
Mudhoney “Touch Me I’m Sick” / Danzig “Mother” / Ciccone Youth “Into the Groove(y)” / Joan Jett and the Blackhearts “I Hate Myself for Loving You” / Game Theory “Room For One More, Honey” / Let’s Active “Bad Machinery” / Julian Cope “Charlotte Anne” / Sam Phillips “I Don’t Want To Fall In Love” / Kathy Mattea “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses” / Megadeth “Liar” / Napalm Death “From Enslavement to Obliteration” / Halo of Flies “Drunk (In Detroit)” / Royal Trux “Zero Dok” / Pussy Galore “Adolescent Wet Dream” / Soul Asylum “Down On Up To Me” / The Timelords “Doctorin’ the Tardis” / Ice-T “High Rollers” / King Tee “Act A Fool” / Sir Mix-A-Lot “Posse On Broadway” / Sade “Paradise” / The Beach Boys “Kokomo” / Y Kant Tori Read “Cool On Your Island” / k.d. lang “Sugar Moon”
Daniel Johnston “Walking the Cow” / Beat Happening “Indian Summer” / Galaxie 500 “Tugboat” / Doug E Fresh “Keep Risin’ to the Top” / Stetsasonic “Talkin’ All That Jazz” / DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince “Parents Just Don’t Understand” / Pretty Poison “Catch Me (I’m Falling)” / Trevor Sparks “Bye Bye Love” / Fishbone “Ma and Pa” / Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 “Mr. Tuna’s Big Old Place” / The Primitives “Crash” / Caifanes “Te Estoy Mirando” / Camper Van Beethoven “Eye of Fatima (Pt. 1)” / Felt “Apple Boutique” / Pantera “Down Below” / Ultra Vivid Scene “Mercy Seat” / Spacemen 3 “Walking with Jesus” / The Smithereens “Only A Memory” / MC Hammer “Turn This Mutha Out” / Diamanda Galas “Double-Barrel Prayer” / GG Allin “Anti Social Masterbator” / Bobby McFerrin “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
This is the first in a series of survey mixes designed to give more context to the music of the 1980s. The frustrating thing about we typically deal with cultural history is to focus on specific niches and canons, but in doing that, we lose track of parallel and overlapping cultural trends. I hope to create a set of collections that will give you – and me! – a better understanding of chronology for the music of this era, and to highlight a lot of music that for whatever reason usually gets cut out of retrospectives today.
I’ve decided to start with 1989 and move backwards towards 1980 because it feels a lot more interesting to me that way – the end of the ’80s isn’t nearly as canonized as the start, and before making this, I felt like I had a more vague grasp on what came out in 1989 despite that being a pretty crucial year for me in terms of becoming a young music obsessive. (I was the sort of kid who would make a point of listening to American Top 40 with Casey Kasem every Sunday morning.)
Also, you know, there’s the Taylor Swift factor. There’s been a lot of half-baked writing about how much today’s biggest pop stars are drawing on the ’80s, but I think if you really go through this survey you will find that those artists may be inspired by the blockbuster aesthetics of the ’80s but sound very much like right now, and the artists who really sound like 1989 tend to be the more indie/alt/undergournd artists.
Thanks to Rob Sheffield, Sean T. Collins, Paul Cox, Chris Conroy, Tom Ewing, Douglas Wolk, and Ivan Onosov for their assistance in curating this mix. If you have ideas about what absolutely needs to be included in future ’80s surveys, please let me know. The 1988 survey should be out sometime in October.
NOTE: EVERYTHING HAS BEEN RE-UPPED SINCE THE FIRST UPLOADS MAXED OUT.
Madonna “Express Yourself” / Nine Inch Nails “Head Like A Hole” / Prince “Electric Chair” / Digital Underground “The Humpty Dance” / Roxanne Shanté “Feelin’ Kinda Horny” / Janet Jackson “Miss You Much” / Al B Sure “Nite and Day” / Aerosmith “What It Takes” / The Cure “Lovesong” / Liza Minnelli “Losing My Mind” / E-Zee Possee “Everything Starts With An E” / Ministry “Burning Inside” / Red Hot Chili Peppers “Higher Ground” / Big Daddy Kane “Warm It Up, Kane” / Special Ed “I Got It Made” / YZ “Thinking Of A Master Plan” / A Tribe Called Quest “Description Of A Fool” / Soul II Soul “Back to Life”
Neneh Cherry “Buffalo Stance” / Beastie Boys “Shadrach” / Biz Markie “Just A Friend” / De La Soul “Eye Know” / Fine Young Cannibals “She Drives Me Crazy” / Michael Penn “No Myth” / Roy Orbison “You Got It” / The B-52’s “Love Shack” / Pixies “Here Comes Your Man” / Love & Rockets “So Alive” / 3rd Base “The Gas Face” / Public Enemy “Fight the Power” / 2 Live Crew “Me So Horny” / Superchunk “Slack Motherfucker” / Tom Petty “I Won’t Back Down” / Lyle Lovett “Cryin’ Shame” / Lenny Kravitz “Let Love Rule” / Babyface “Whip Appeal” / The Bangles “Eternal Flame”
Depeche Mode “Personal Jesus” / Technotronic “Pump Up the Jam” / Young MC “Bust A Move” / Native Tongues posse “Buddy” / Ten City “That’s the Way Love Is” / Chris Isaak “Wicked Game” / Syd Straw “Future 40’s (String of Pearls)” / Indigo Girls “Closer to Fine” / Beat Happening “Cast A Shadow” / Debbie Gibson “Electric Youth” / Adamski “N-R-G” / Meat Beat Manifesto “God O.D.” / EPMD “So Wat Cha Sayin’” / Emmylou Harris “Heaven Only Knows” / Pere Ubu “Waiting for Mary” / Morrissey “The Last of the Famous International Playboys” / The Verlaines “Whatever You Run Into” / Blake Babies “From Here to Burma” / Kate Bush “This Woman’s Work”
The Stop the Violence Movement “Self-Destruction” / Consolidated “Consolidated” / Nitzer Ebb “Hearts and Minds” / Public Image Ltd “Disappointed” / The Stone Roses “I Wanna Be Adored” / The KLF “Kylie Said to Jason” / Billy Joel “We Didn’t Start the Fire” / 10,000 Maniacs “Trouble Me” / The Replacements “Achin’ to Be” / George Strait “Ace in the Hole” / k.d. lang “Full Moon Full of Love” / Guns N’ Roses “Patience” / Neil Young “Rockin’ in the Free World” / Lou Reed “Busload of Faith” / Def Jef “Poet with Soul” / Chubb Rock “Ya Bad Chubbs” / Black Box “Ride On Time” / Kylie Minogue “Hand On Your Heart” / Orbital “Chime”
Spacemen 3 “Revolution” / Mudhoney “Here Comes Sickness” / Mötley Crüe “Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S.)” / Bailter Space “Grader Spader” / Fugazi “Margin Walker” / New Order “Round and Round” / Jody Watley “Real Love” / Nice & Smooth “Early to Rise” / Jungle Brothers “Doin’ Our Own Dang” / Malcolm McLaren “Deep in Vogue” / Lil Louis & The World “French Kiss” / Frazier Chorus “Dream Kitchen” / Milli Vanilli “Girl You Know It’s True” / Cyndi Lauper “I Drove All Night” / Sugarcubes “Regina” / Snapper “Death and Weirdness in the Surfing Zone” / XTC “The Mayor of Simpleton” / The Cult “Fire Woman” / Warrant “Heaven”
Roxette “The Look” / Phil Collins “Two Hearts” / David Byrne “Marching Through the Wilderness” / Elvis Costello “Veronica” / Wire “Eardrum Buzz” / Lush “Thoughtforms” / Natalie Cole “Miss You Like Crazy” / Mary Chapin Carpenter “Never Had It So Good” / Don Henley “The End of Innonence” / Divine Styler “Ain’t Sayin’ Nothin’” / Queen Latifah “Wrath of My Madness” / Erasure “Stop!” / Crucial Robbie “Proud to be Black” / Phish “You Enjoy Myself” / The Sundays “Here’s Where the Story Ends” / Throwing Muses “Dizzy” / Straitjacket Fits “She Speeds” / Cannanes “Vivienne” / Richard Marx “Right Here Waiting”
Soundgarden “Big Dumb Sex” / Jesus and Mary Chain “Head On” / Dolly Parton “Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That?” / Clint Black “Killin’ Time” / The The “The Beat(en) Generation” / Hugo Largo “Hot Day” / Galaxie 500 “Strange” / Tears for Fears “Sowing the Seeds of Love” / LNR “Work It to the Bone” / Rhythm Device “Acid Rock” / Low Profile “Pay Ya Dues” / Gang Starr “Words I Manifest (Remix)” / Ice-T “You Played Yourself” / MC Lyte “Cha Cha Cha” / Clement Irie “DJ in My Country!” / Pet Shop Boys “It’s Alright” / Slint “Darlene” / Faith No More “Epic” / Operation Ivy “Knowledge” / Nirvana “About A Girl” / Sebadoh “True Hardcore”
Queen “I Want It All” / Cher “If I Could Turn Back Time” / Tone Loc “Wild Thing” / LL Cool J “Big Ole Butt” / Schooly D “Gangster Boogie” / Frankie Knuckles “Tears” / Maurice “This Is Acid” / Starlight “Numero Uno” / Bonnie Raitt “Nick of Time” / Daniel Lanois “The Maker” / The Neville Brothers “Yellow Moon” / Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ “Honeysuckle Blue” / Half Japanese “Daytona Beach” / Yo La Tengo “Barnaby, Hardly Working” / Mekons “Memphis, Egypt” / Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians “Flesh Number One” / Pavement “Box Elder” / Guided by Voices “Liar’s Tale” / The Vaselines “Sex Sux (Amen)” / Skid Row “I Remember You”
Support Me on Ko-fi
