Friday, October 19, 2012

Nineties Blogfest: 1998 - 1999

Today ends my week-long look at my favorite music and noteable TV from the 1990s. This blogfest was hosted by Dave Wrote This this past Monday.

Billboard's Top hit this week in 1998: Monica: The First Night
This week in 1999: Mariah Carey: Heartbreaker



1998: Lauryn Hill: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

I adore this solo album, more so than anything from the Fugees. She blends soul and older style R&B with her unmistakable voice. The lyrics feel authentic and not like anything else out at the time; heartache, but not weakness, and personal responsibility. I love how she weaves themes of motherhood and God into her songs that feel rooted in purpose rather than schmaltzy sentiment.





More music from 1998: Massive Attack: Mezzanine, Madonna: Ray of Light, Destiny's Child: s/t.

TV Factoids from 1998: Sifl and Olly debut on Mtv; instead of music videos, we now have puppets--and it was awesome! J.J. Abrams' first TV series Felicity airs, and Charmed, while on the same network with what I imagine was a similar budget to Buffy, tries their hand at supernatural story telling. It's corny with extremely lame special effects. I suffered through several seasons, believe me.


1999: Jimmy Eat World: Clarity
Sweep the dirty stairs... the ones I waited on...
Me and a cluster of friends were obsessed with this album in the early 2000s. After the band was dropped from their label, they toured and self-produced this. It's just a solid alternative rock album with lots of layered guitars, occasional punk aesthetic, and some really beautiful vocals. This is another album best experienced as a whole to get the full effect of their range: power-pop, introspective indie, electronica ending track. I still break this one out for a full listen.



More music from 1999: Sigur Ros, Moby: Play, Eminem: Slim Shady, Travis: The Man Who, The Chemical Brothers: Surrender

 TV Factoids from 1999: Freaks and Geeks airs its one and only season; later everyone on the show has a TV or film career, Roswell tries to capture an X-Files vibe for teens, Buffy spins off Angel.
And that's it! I hope you've enjoyed this week of '90s nostalgia!
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6 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 19, 2012 at 8:40 AM

    I love so much of this post--Lauryn Hill, Jimmy Eat World, Roswell. Yes!

    ReplyDelete
  2. M.J. FifieldOctober 19, 2012 at 9:13 AM

    I was just thinking about that Lauryn Hill album yesterday. I haven't listened to it in a good long while.

    And I LOVE Freaks & Geeks. I get excited when they have a marathon on cable.

    ReplyDelete
  3. heavenisabookstoreOctober 19, 2012 at 9:43 AM

    Absolutely love Killing Me Softly!

    ReplyDelete
  4. DaveOctober 20, 2012 at 4:36 AM

    I never really watched Charmed, doesn't sound like I missed much.

    I'm writing a sort of a debrief at the moment.

    Dave
    Dave Wrote This

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. StephscoOctober 23, 2012 at 12:10 PM

      If you don't take it seriously, Charmed is OK. It's very kitschy. It seems far more dated than Buffy but they were on the air at the same time.

      Delete
  5. AnonymousOctober 20, 2012 at 11:01 AM

    I love Jimmy Eat World.

    I like the artists you posted for this blogfest. Nineties music was awesome.

    ReplyDelete

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