The early 90s were consumed by the grunge era, and when Kurt Cobain passed away in 1994, some say that grunge music died with him.
In the late 90s, music was taken over by post-grunge acts like Creed and Nickelback, or rap-rock artists like Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit.
But what about the mid-90s? While some bands, such as The Smashing Pumpkins or Foo Fighters managed to make a name for themselves as high-profile acts, the middle part of the decade was characterized by lots of lesser-known rock bands putting out classic songs, then fading into a Backstreet Boys-induced obscurity when the new millennium came around. These bands might not have reached the heights of stardom, but their songs ARE the mid-90s.
Here are Shoutmouth's seven "Underappreciated Mid-90s Rock Classics"...
7) Toadies "Possum Kingdom" (1995) - Most people remember this song, but honestly, how often do you hear it anymore? Why isn't this song on classic rock stations? It's a decade old, which should be old enough. It was a big hit at the time, and it's still awesome. Plus, classic rock stations are getting stale. You wouldn't rather listen to some forgotten 90s song like the Toadies instead of hearing "More Than A Feeling" for the 7,000,000th time?
(As I was typing that last sentence, "Possum Kingdom" came on the radio station I'm listening to. True story. Fuckin' freaked me out, man.)
6) Cornershop "Brimful of Asha" (1997) - I love this song and I don't care what anybody says. The best part is the end, when he starts giving shout-outs to random Indian musicians. Great video...
5) K's Choice "Not An Addict" (1995) - When this song came out, my boss was named Kay, and so every time I heard this song, I had to think about my boss. And you know what? I STILL loved it.
4) Dishwalla "Counting Blue Cars" (1996) - Dishwalla actually released a song a few years ago called "Somewhere In The Middle" that might be better than this. Of course, it got no radio airplay so no one knows about it. This song IS the mid-90s. Enough said.
3) Nada Surf "Popular" (1996) - There has never been a bad music video involving cheerleaders. Never. Of course, I can't post the video here because it's been taken down from every Internet site. Figures. This is one of my favorite songs of all-time. Once, my college roommate was having problems with his girlfriend, and just by coincidence, I had the first verse of this song up as an away message. It starts off "Three important rules for breaking up..." Well, his girlfriend saw it and thought I was trying to convince my roommate to dump her. Needless to say, she was not pleased. If my memory serves me correctly, some yelling ensued. Ah, college, good times.
2) Spacehog "In The Meantime" (1995) - This song became a radio hit in 1995. By 2001, someone finally figured out what the singer was saying in the chorus. Hey Spacehog, we love the all and all of you, too.
1) The Nixons "Sister" (1996) - If you don't like this song, you have no soul. That's it. Gotta go with the acoustic version here since it's the best acoustic version of any song ever...
Honorable Mention
Local H "Bound For The Floor"
Hum "Stars"
