90's Week: Day 3

What's up people?

Enjoying the Hippity-Hump Day?:)

It's Day 3 of 90's week, and today I figured I'd focus on the music portion of the 90's I enjoyed.
It's a wide range, so sit back and relax, as I kick some funky-ass tunes here @ The House.

The 90's were a very interesting time as far as music goes. You had so many genres all competing for the all-mighty dollar, each genre throwing out its best and brightest in the hope that people would give up there dough like a ho does to her pimp.

So here's just a small sample of the groups and solo artists by genre, that heavily influenced me in the 90's:

RAP:

I didn't have access to MTV until about '93, but that didn't mean I didn't know what rap was. Between the radio and shows like In Living Color, I was able to see and hear just a portion of the early rap stars of the day up to that point. Sir-Mix-A-Lot, Naughty By Nature, and Heavy D were easily the first acts I was exposed to when it came to Rap. But as soon as I went to middle school and watched MTV on a regular basis, oh look out!

1). Snoop Dogg:

Yep, just talkin' about the D-O-Double Gizzle y'all!
Snoop was and still is a huge influence on me as far as getting into Rap.
Once I heard the immortal classic "Gin and Juice", I was hooked on the Dogg. From there my next big favorite of his was "Murder was the case that they gave me." Damn I was such a huge Snoop Dogg fan back then!
Of course that was back before Snoop changed his name to Snoop Lion. He was rolling with Death Row records, and was hardcore as fuck. He's chilled out a hell of a lot since then, and definitely more mainstream-friendly(something many, myself included, never thought would happen)
But yeah, Snoop was, and will always be the shit to me.

2). Coolio:

Hey don't laugh. Coolio was hot as hell back in the 90's. If you weren't listening to "Fantastic Voyage", then you were listening to "Gangsta's Paradise." Coolio was all over the place in '95 and '96, and then he just sorta faded out. I'll always remember that crazy hair of his of course, but also for Weird Al Yankovich's parody of Gangsta's Paradise, "Amish Paradise." Supposedly Coolio had beef with Weird Al due to that song, which he claims he never gave permission to spoof on. Weird Al denied that, saying he specifically asked him and his record label and was told he could. Whether it was Coolio trying to retain his street cred or not, there's no denying Coolio was a major player for a brief time back in the day.

3). Bone Thugs N' Harmony:

Sure it was hard as hell to even attempt to rap as fast as them, but that didn't stop me from trying back in middle school. Bone Thugs N' Harmony had some of the fastest raps of the day, and man was that shit crazy. "Tha Crossroads" was one of my favorites, as I'd try in vain to fast rap the line "An I'm gonna' miss everybody, An I'm gonna' miss everybody." Ahh youth!
Not to mention my other favorites, "Thuggish Ruggish Bone", and "First Of Tha Month", oh god those are still anthems to this very day.

4). Salt N' Pepa

Gotta' give it up for these ladies of Rap. Whether they were rapping about sex in "Let's Talk About Sex", showing their appreciation to men in "Whatta' Man", or "Shoop", these fly sisters of rap definitely had my attention back in the 90's. Backed up by the hottest and sickest female MC of the day, Spinderella, Salt and Pepa helped pave the way for the future Missy Elliots, Foxy Browns, and Lil' Kims of the rap world.







5). Biggie Smalls/The Notorious B.I.G.

You can't have a list of the top rap acts of the 90's without mentioning one of the biggest rap acts of the day, The Notorious B.I.G.









Larger than life in more ways than one, Biggie set a new standard by which all other new rappers are judged up to this day. His debut album light up the charts like a fat blunt, and Biggie-mania ran wild!
My first exposure to him, was his hit song "Big Poppa'", and from there I was like anyone else into rap and Biggie back, then.....all ears.
The hits kept coming with "Dreams of Fucking an R&B Bitch"(I still laugh like a little school girl to the lyrics every time I listen to this;) "Juicy", "Ten Crack Commandments","Notorious" and "Hypnotize".
There's a reason why Biggie was king in the 90's; all you have to do is listen to his music and you'll quickly realize why.

Honorable Mentions for the sake of saving time are:

Dr. Dre, Busta Rhymes, Eminem, The Fugees, Ice Cube, Cam'Ron, Jay-Z, Big Pun, and DMX.


And now for Rock.

Rock:

Most of these acts are Grunge acts, or at least shuffled into that label.

1). Alice In Chains

I've already talked about this group before, but damn do I love me some Alice In Chains!
Like probably so many other fans, "Man in the Box" was my first exposure to the band. And from there the flood wave just kept coming. "Rooster", "Into the flood again", and "Down in a Hole" kept me coming around, as every new song was seemed to suck me in. It's a damn shame drug addiction claimed Layne Staley's life, because I can only imagine just how kick-ass the band would still be were he still at the helm.

2). Nirvana 

Like Biggie Smalls, you can't have a list like this and not include Nirvana on it.

"Nevermind" was an absolute beast of a hit when it came out, almost single-handedly launching what went on to become the whole Grunge movement in the '92. I say almost, because Pearl Jam wasn't that far behind in helping make that genre so damn popular.

I know a lot of top 100 or 10 lists have Nirvana, especially Kurt Cobain so high up there, if not at number one due to the talent and amount of popular hits in such a short amount of time. In fact, he's been all but canonized as the patron saint of Grunge. And I used to agree, until recently when really looking back at what the band actually accomplished. I think he's been placed a but higher than maybe he would've been had he not killed himself so early in the band's reign of success. I guess that's for critics to debate, but there's no denying the impact this band left on the music scene in the 90's.

3). Blur

Hey, I just had to include this Brit Pop band in the list baby.













When I first heard "Girls and Boys", I was like Whoa! I like this! You can't tell me lyrics like
"Street is like a jungle 
So call the police 
Following the herd 
Down to Greece 
On holiday 
Love in the 90´s 
Is paranoid 
On sunny beaches 
Take your chances looking for 
Girls who are boys 
Who like boys to be girls 
Who do boys like they´re girls 
Who do girls like they´re boys 
Always should be someone you really love 
Oveiding all work 
Because there´s none available 
Like battery thinkers 
Count their thoughts on 1 2 3 4 5 fingers 
Nothing is wasted 
Only reproduced 
Get nasty blisters 
Du bist sehr schon 
But we have´nt been introduced" don't grab you.

From there I got into other hits like "Coffee and TV", "Beetlebum", "Song 2", "Tender", and "No distance left to run."

Sadly they're no longer together, but their legacy of what they contributed to the 90's will always remain.

4). Nine Inch Nails(NIN)

Like Nirvana, how could I not include NIN on this list? "Closer" was my second exposure to Trent Reznor's band right after "Head like a Hole." 

Seriously, if you haven't already watched the video to Closer, go do it immediately and then come back. Fucking weird right?;)

That was, and still is, one of my favorite music videos ever. No one was doing what Trent and the director did in that video back then. No one!

NIN would go on to follow up on the success of "Closer" with "The Perfect Drug" and "Fragile."

He's since attempted to retire last year, but I noticed upon doing a little research, he's bringing the band back together again for another run this year. Good on ya' Trent!

5). Oasis

Like I'm not going to include the only other Brit Pop band that rocked fucking ass back in the 90's. 

This is another band I've reviewed here, but it bears repeating just how much they set the music scene on fire  when they debuted. Boasting classics like "Wonderwall", "Champagne Supernova", "Right here, right now", and "Don't turn your back in anger", Oasis cleaned up pretty nice in that decade, winning awards and critic praise worldwide. With brotherly tensions as explosive as their music, Oasis were a breath of fresh air in a rapidly becoming stale music scene around that time. Sure it was those same tensions that ultimately led to its demise, but fuck, what music that came out of that right?

Honorable Mentions for the sake of time:

 Pearl Jam, The Verve Pipe, Silverchair, 90's Ozzy Osborne, Rob Zombie, Dave Matthews Band(don't laugh), Goo Goo Dolls, Soundgarden, Kid Rock, Soul Asylum, 90's Eric Clapton, 90's Rod Stewart, 90's Sting, and too many more to list.

There's also a two-year Country music phase, Dance/Techno, Pop, and of course the discovering of Classic Rock as well. Whew I was a busy music listening son of a bitch back then;)

As always, feel free to post comments on what songs/groups/singers do it for you in the 90's. Looking forward to it.

have a good one;)