90 For 90s: #70 - #61

Got some heavy hitters lined up for this volume. And for those new to the Rave: 

Intro and B-Side

#90 - 81

#80 - 71

#70. HEY JEALOUSY, Gin Blossoms. There's two types of people in this world: Those who admit they love "Hey Jealousy", and those who lie about it. Though these guys must have watched a lot more "Dukes of Hazzard" than "COPS" if they their idea of fun is being chased around by the fuzz.

#69. UNDONE (THE SWEATER SONG), Weezer. All these years later and I still can't give a straight answer to the simple question: Do you like Weezer? For nostalgic purposes, they're awesome. And I'll put "Blue Album" up there among the best of the 90s. But there's still something about them that rubs me the wrong way and I can't put my finger on it.

#68. WOULD, Alice In Chains. Still can't believe 2 guys from this recording are dead. I like too many dead musicians. Can't help but be reminded of "Singles" when I hear this though - which in my opinion just might be the defining movie of the 90s. Touch Me, I'm Dick.

#67. HYPNOTIZE, The Notorious B.I.G.. I told you. This list is embarrassingly white. But I'm not apologizing, cause I've been smooth since days of underoos.

#66. LIGHTENING CRASHES, Live. If you're old enough to remember, this song became a defacto memorial hymn for the Oklahoma City Bombing back in the Spring of '95. At that point, it was the worst terrorist attack on American Soil. Carried out by angry white veterans who hate that government existed. Today, we call those people the Tea Party, and we let them control our government. Them 1 - Civilized Society 0. Ironically, it did not unleash a wave of anti-white, Christian rural hysteria. Oh, and nobody seemed to mind that the perpetrators were tried, convicted and sentenced (to death) in the US Federal Court System.

#65. SHINE, Collective Soul. Fitting that it slots in here, because I always confuse Collective Soul with Live. That's not a compliment to either.

#64. 3 AM, Matchbox 20. And the unintentional comedy scale explodes as you find out this song was written by Rob Thomas for his mother. Reminds me of an interview for the release of the Matchbox 20 album "Exile on Main Stream" where poor Rob complained about how he was marketed wrong. Riiiiight. Because deep down, you know this pretty boy is the second coming of Jim Morrison.

#63. BLAZE OF GLORY, Jon Bon Jovi.I remember how panicked I got when I saw JBJ was releasing a solo album. Was the Band Done? Thankfully no. They were just understanding of Jon's inexplicable cowboy fetish that they didn't object to his leave of absence to role play as John Wayne in aqua net for a while.

#62. HAND ON THE PUMP, Cypress Hill. Man I thought I was so gangsta when I asked my mommy to put this in my stocking for Christmas 1992. I love the reasoning behind the tune though. You can't understand how easy it is for me to kill someone, so I shall explain it in song.

#62. LOSER, Beck. Ever hear that saying "So underrated it's overrated"? Pretty sure that was invented solely for Beck. But this is an iconic mid-90s track, there's no doubt about it. The premise alone: I'm so f*cking uncool that I'm the coolest bad ass you know.

90 For 90s: #80 - #71

I'm feeling another wave of 90's nostalgia coming on. Not quite sure why, but maybe it's because NATO's attacking a dictator by air and Newt Gingrich isn't pleased. Or maybe it's because I just discovered Portlandia on IFC. Or maybe it's because Elizabeth Taylor has died, and I was pretty sure that happened in 1996. Regardless of the reason, it's time to dust off the flannel and resume the countdown.

OK, that's a lie. I wore my flannel yesterday.

#80. TAKE A PICTURE, Filter. I'm going to let Wikipedia do the talking here: "Filter's frontman, and founding member Richard Patrick has said that the song is about him getting drunk on an airplane, taking off all of his clothes, and fighting with the flight attendants who tried to stop him" We've come so far since Bob Dylan sung about James Meredith's attempt to enter the University of Mississippi in 1962, haven't we?

#79. 40 Oz. TO FREEDOM, Sublime. Apparently there's no Sublime music videos on YouTube so I'll be relying on bootlegged user submissions for their multiple appearances on the list. I love every single premise of this tune, but none more than the notion that a woman looks so fine with her hair permed. How come nobody gets perms anymore?

#78. KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG, The Fugees. Lauryn Hill would've preferred her babies starve than I buy this song. I'm sorry, I truly am and I sure didn't mean to endorse infanticide. But I studied abroad for a semester in London in '97 and the jukebox rarely went 5 tracks without this being played. Weird that it wasn't played as much as Glenn Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" though.

#77. APRIL 26, 1992, Sublime. Told you there was more Sublime to come. Anyway, I get myself in trouble when I speak too passionately about this track, so I'm just going to say I wish the folks in NYC had the gumption of those in LA after the Diallo Assassins were acquitted.

#76. SILENT IN THE MORNING, Phish. Ah, so begins my on-again-off-again love affair with Phish. Like a passionate partner, I've both loved and loathed them. A battle that rages on today. Some days, I consider it great music and a killer scene. Other days, it's simpleton lyrics, repetitive sounds and crazed cult of trust fund babies desperate in need of some Axe.

#75. DISARM, Smashing Pumpkins. Reluctant addition, not because I dislike the song. Quite the contrary. No, it has more to do with the fact that Billy Corgan is the most arrogant, self-aggrandizing POS to hit the music scene in my lifetime. OK, maybe Celine can challenge that, but she's not on this list.

#74. EVEN FLOW, Pearl Jam. So begins the first of the maximum six Pearl Jam entries. Actually I'm lying. For being the Band of the Decade, they're allowed 7. Truth be told though, I miscounted. I suck at math.

#73. SCAR TISSUE, Red Hot Chili Peppers. I love RHCP and still feel like I don't do them enough justice or give them enough credit. Talk about an absolutely remarkable career. I wasn't feeling anything off "Californication" in 1999 (I wasn't feeling much of anything in 1999 except Milwaukee's Best and a few other choice substances) but man has it aged well.

#72. DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER, Oasis. Yup. There's Oasis again. I guess I kind of have to admit to really enjoying their one legitimate album. Thank you, Pine Hall and the band of misfits who settled in during the fall of 1995.

#71. RUFF RYDER'S ALBUM, DMX. Yeah, for the most part, the rap on this list is going to consist of embarrassingly bad generic tunes enjoyed by white people. For the first part of the decade I was making the transition from hair bands to grunge. For the latter part, as my tastes were expanding, I was more interested in Dylan, the Dead and Pink Floyd than anything else. God's honest truth, until I bought this a few years ago, I thought TuPac sang it. And he was allegedly dead for 2 years before it's release.

90 For 90s: #90 - #81

Nothing lightens the mood on a dreary, rainy, overall shitty Friday where I have to run home early to wait for Cablevision to come explain why their service is so useless and overpriced like some 90's music. Taking me a little longer than I'd like to churn these out, but if you missed it, here's the introduction, and the "next" 90 that just missed the cut.

#90: WONDERWALL, Oasis. This song now reminds me more of Charlie Pace singing it for change on a London corner more than it does my first semester of college, when I thought these clowns were the next big British thing.

#89: SET A DRIFT ON MEMORY BLISS, PM Dawn. Making the list in no small part to the sampling of the Spandau Ballet.

#88: MAMBO #5, Lou Bega. If "American Idiot" was the defining song of the Bush Era, this would kinda have to be the same for the Clinton years, no?

#87: HOW'S IT GONNA BE?, Third Eye Blind. Slightly whiny with just enough subtle hints of heroin. A true 90's standard-bearer. Bonus points for being used in "American Pie" - the ultimate comedy of the decade.

#86: SEXUAL (LI DA DI), Amber. I have absolutely no idea why I love this song. None at all. I despise club music. But there's something seductive about it that taps in to my psyche and reminds me of all the times I never spent all night in a Hoboken club, on E and grinding cheap 90s girls, who weren't as good as cheap 80s girls but kick the snot out of cheap 21st Century girls.

#85: FLAGPOLE SITTA, Harvey Danger. Further proof that by simply being used in "American Pie" can make me elevate a ahitty one-hit wonder to near-elite status. Goddamn that movie was awesome.

#84: HEART SHAPED BOX, Nirvana. Should this be higher? Eh, probably. Blasphemous as it may be, and after 16+ years of listening to them, I still find about 1/2 of Nirvana's collection to be indistinguishable from the rest. Not to say it's not great or classic, and the other 1/2 is sheer genius. I'm just sayin'.

#83: FAR BEHIND, Candlebox. Initially thought this had top 25 potential. Then I really broke it down. No, it doesn't.

#82: FUEL, Ani DiFranco. I'll let you in on a little secret - from time to time, I love me some lesbian rock. Not often, and there aren't too many artists in the genre I enjoy, but let's just say I was pretty bummed to find that "Closer to Fine" by the Indigo Girls was cut in 1989.

#81: ZOMBIE, The Cranberries. Why was there such a lack of politically astute music in the 1990s? Oh, that's right. We had leadership that wasn't hellbent on breaking the world.

90 for 90s: Intro and B-Side

I remember a commercial for some deodorant or body spray (scam) or aftershave a few years back, and the tag-line was "Scent is the strongest sense tied to memory". Obviously I'm not going to dispute any factual scientific studies, but I've never walked into a room and said "Holy shit! This totally smells like my sophomore year of high school!" If you haven't figured it out already, I do have those types of reactions to music.

I have an unhealthy obsession  with the soundtrack of my life. (One of these days i'd like a healthy obsession with something like salad, or exercise.) For every event, or every period in my life, there's an album or a mix of songs that I mentally correspond to it. When I hear "Clint Eastwood" by the Gorillaz, I'm taken back to Labor Day Weekend, 2001 when my friends and I launched a pinstripe invasion on Fenway Park, less than a fortnight before our lives would change forever. When I hear the Black Crowes' "Wiser Time", I'm um, eating a sandwich in my buddy's dorm room while our roommates were out playing Dungeons and Dragons.

I'm 34 now. I hope my life isn't half over, but I know at least a third of it's in the books. Sure, that's a little macabre. But trust me, I wouldn't want to know what a 102 year old me is like. Nor would you. Recently I've been reflecting on where I am, where I'm going and most of all, who the hell I am. That's partially a moot point because if I believe anything, it's that one should constantly be open to change, but I always try to be mindful of the road that got me to the here and now. One thing that's getting clearer and clearer is that no decade has, or will, be more influential on my life than the good ol' 90s. 

I began, and finished high school and college from 1991-1999. In late 1999 I started the job I have today. I had my first date with my wife in 1994, the same year I saw the Rangers win the Stanley Cup for what will likely be the last time ever. I bought Bob Dylan's "Greatest Hits Volume 1" in 1993. I saw my first Dave Matthews concert in September of '99. In the spring of 1996, I sat in Pine Hall and watched a rookie shortstop named Derek Jeter knock one out of Jacobs Field on Opening Day.

As they were unfolding, I have to admit, I was thoroughly unimpressed with the decade of the 1990s. I went from a 12 year old bratty altar boy to a 22 year old agnostic and opinionated loudmouth with a slight but manageable drinking problem, yet it didn't seem like much had really transpired outside of your run of the mill Hall of Fame running back killing his wife and her boyfriend and then being acquitted.

Much like my initial opinions on the iPod though, I look back now through the lens of time and I realize how wrong I was. Sure, on a macro level, the 90s were rather serene, maybe too much so for our own good. But on a micro level, it didn't get any better. And to honor that wonderful decade where young ladies got their tongues pierced thanks to our President, I've put together what I call "90 for the 90s". The Top 90 songs of the decade.

Criteria is simple: Songs released in the 1990s. Only caveat was a limit of SIX songs per artist. Ranked based off their impact, quality and any ability to tie to memory.  But 90 was too hard. So I'd like to present you with the "B-Side". The "Next 90" if you will. Over the coming weeks I'll post the full list, so you can find out how embarrassingly white I really am...

180 . Blood Money - Jon Bon Jovi
179 . Slam - Onyx
178 . Mama Said Knock You Out - L.L Cool J
177 . Everybody Hurts - R.E.M.
176 . 1979 - Smashing Pumpkins
175 . Lump - The Presidents Of The United States Of America
174 . Pigs - Cypress Hill
173 . Nothing Else Matters - Metallica
172 . Bed Of Roses - Bon Jovi
171 . Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
170 . Tears In Heaven - Eric Clapton
169 . Friday I'm in Love - The Cure
168 . It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday - Boyz II Men
167 . Right Now - Van Halen
166 . The Saga Begins - Weird Al Yankovic
165 . Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice
164 . Country House - Blur
163 . Who Needs Sleep? - Barenaked Ladies
162 . Knockin' Boots - Candyman
161 . Woke Up This Morning (Chosen One Mix) - Alabama 3
160 . I Alone - Live
159 . Just A Friend - Biz Markie
158 . Wide Open Spaces - Dixie Chicks
157 . Sex And Candy - Marcy Playground
156 . Been Caught Stealing - Jane's Addiction
155 . Save Tonight - Eagle Eye Cherry
154 . Remedy - The Black Crowes
153 . Good - Better Than Ezra
152 . Self Esteem - The Offspring
151 . Mutt - Blink-182
150 . Breaking The Girl - Red Hot Chili Peppers
149 . Insane In The Brain - Cypress Hill
148 . Twice As Hard - The Black Crowes
147 . To Be With You - Mr. Big
146 . I Touch Myself - Divinyls
145 . Jump Around - House Of Pain
144 . Runaway Train - Soul Asylum
143 . Hook - Blues Traveler
142 . Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
141 . Shimmy Shimmy Ya - Ol' Dirty Bastard
140 . Cover Me - Candlebox
139 . Run-Around - Blues Traveler
138 . When I Come Around - Green Day
137 . Juicy - The Notorious B.I.G.
136 . On A Plain - Nirvana
135 . Today - Smashing Pumpkins
134 . High Hopes - Pink Floyd
133 . Drive [Live] - R.E.M.
132 . Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz
131 . The Freshmen - The Verve Pipe
130 . What It's Like - Everlast
129 . Pepper - Butthole Surfers
128 . Round Here - Counting Crows
127 . Mmm, Mmm, Mmm, Mmm - Crash Test Dummies
126 . The Unforgiven - Metallica
125 . Mind Playin' Tricks - Geto Boys
124 . Bathtub Gin - Phish
123 . Stereotypes - Blur
122 . Apache Rose Peacock - Red Hot Chili Peppers
121 . All Star - Smash Mouth
120 . C.R.E.A.M - Wu-Tang Clan
119 . Wind Of Change - Scorpions
118 . Yesterdays - Guns N' Roses
117 . Into The Great Wide Open - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
116 . Right Here, Right Now - Jesus Jones
115 . Long View - Green Day
114 . Buddy Holly - Weezer
113 . Walking In Memphis (Remastered) - Marc Cohn
112 . Man On The Moon - R.E.M.
111 . Brick - Ben Folds Five
110 . She Talks To Angels - The Black Crowes
109 . Breakfast At Tiffany's - Deep Blue Somthing
108 . Creep - Stone Temple Pilots
107 . All the Small Things - Blink-182
106 . Pets - Porno For Pyros
105 . Gin and Juice - Snoop Dogg 
104 . Mysterious Ways - U2
103 . You Wanted More - Tonic
102 . Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) - Green Day
101 . Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) - Jay-Z
100 . Breakdown - Guns N' Roses
99 . Nuthin' But A "G" Thang - Dr. Dre
98 . Trying To Get To Heaven - Bob Dylan
97 . Iris - Goo Goo Dolls
96 . Scarelet Begonias - Sublime
95 . Smooth - Santana & Rob Thomas
94 . Stay - Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
93 . Plush - Stone Temple Pilots
92 . Send Me on My Way - Rusted Root
91 . My Name Is - Eminem