Living in the Music Past

Several months ago, I attended a wedding in Champaign and shared a hotel room with some friends. While lying in our beds that Friday night discussing our favorite bands, the best song of all time, etc., Drew and I decided we were musical soul mates. I already like Drew, mostly because he laughs really hard at all my jokes, but this conversation cemented my appreciation for him. Basically we both whole-heartedly agree that there should have never been another song made after 2002. We both love classic rock and anything on Q101 from about 1996-2002.

Music during this time period really meant something to me and it just seemed so cool. I remember taping favorites from Q101’s top 9 at 9 to make some amazing mix tapes. Maybe it was because I was an angsty teenager and was all like “how do these bands know exactly how I’m feeling?” Or maybe music was just better back then.  I used to spend hours online (I can still hear the dial-up connection...) for every piece of information available on these bands. I remember when Q101’s Twisted Christmas was the greatest event of the year where you could see bands like Cake, Foo Fighters, Garbage, Beck, Filter, Disturbed, Third Eye Blind, Oasis, Deftones, and Incubus perform together all in one night. Of course I’m into some great newer bands too and I don’t actually wish music stopped after 2002, but man was I obsessed with music back then.

Here’s a look back at some favorites...

Smashing Pumpkins – This was the first concert I ever attended (7^th grade), my notebooks were filled with the SP heart logo

Bush – Gavin Rossdale was so hot.  Plus my dad earned major cool points when he came home with Sixteen Stone for me.

Cake – I was just plain obsessed with Cake and probably listened to Fashion Nugget more than any other CD I’ve ever owned.

 Incubus – man did I have a thing for Brandon Boyd, plus I thought their music was like nothing I’d ever heard before.

No Doubt – Gwen Stefani was the coolest girl on the planet when Tragic Kingdom came out.

Goldfinger – this was the first "real" concert (aka first non-arena concert) I went to in high school. I came home with a lot of bruises but loved every minute of it.

 Nirvana – I was just so grunge in 7^th grade with my flannel shirts and Kurt Cobain poster above my bed. I had the Unplugged in New York guitar book which I spent hours trying to master, I’m sure to the dismay of my parents’ ears.

Blink 182 – They haven’t exactly stood the test of time since I currently find it hard to listen to their 3 chords, but they played a huge role during my high school days. Dude Ranch was on constant repeat in my Eclipse. I have the best memories going to their concerts with Liz, Jeff, and Tom.

Weezer – The Buddy Holly video is still one of the best music videos ever made. Having been to a show just last year, I can say they’ve still got it.

Sublime – I knew every word of every song on the self-titled album. This guy who liked me Freshman year of high school used to write me notes with Sublime lyrics in them. <<Swoon>>

Foo Fighters – a quintessential alternative rock band, and one time I touched Dave Grohl.

Dashboard Confessional – majorly on the emo side of this music spectrum but who else could scream/sing about our feelings better than Chris Carrabba? When they first came on the radio, Tim used to roll down his car windows anytime Dashboard was on and blare it as loud as possible so that he could, as he called it, “advertise” the band.

There are so many more, but these are the ones that first popped into my head.

Not to mention some of the one-hit (or a couple more) wonders that never got old: Marcy Playground, Toadies, the Verve, Silverchair, Tonic, Harvey Danger, Gravity Kills, Nada Surf, Semisonic, Wheatus.

Yeah, there were some mistakes during that era: Creed, Sugar Ray, Moby, Nickelback, Smash Mouth, Limp Bizkit. Ok, BIG mistakes. But I’m willing to overlook them for the majority of awesomeness from bands during that time.

So who were your biggest music influences during your teen years/early 20s?  I’m sure I’m forgetting some good ones and would love to reminisce with you and/or tell you how I have better taste in music than you do.




This list and this one may help jog your memory for some old favorites...