Hey now, they’re all stars: Sigur Rós, MF Doom, Le Tigre, and other under-heard hits of 1999
Music Features 1999 Week
The Year: 1999
Billboard Hot 100’s Top 20 Songs Of 1999
1. Cher, “Believe”
2. TLC, “No Scrubs”
3. Monica, “Angel Of Mine”
4. Whitney Houston feat. Faith Evans and Kelly Price, “Heartbreak Hotel”
5. Britney Spears, “…Baby One More Time”
6. Sixpence None The Richer, “Kiss Me”
7. Christina Aguilera, “Genie In A Bottle”
8. Sugar Ray, “Every Morning”
9. Deborah Cox, “Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here”
10. Ricky Martin, “Livin’ La Vida Loca”
11. 702, “Where My Girls At”
12. Jennifer Lopez, “If You Had My Love”
13. Goo Goo Dolls, “Slide”
14. Brandy, “Have You Ever?”
15. Backstreet Boys, “I Want It That Way”
16. R. Kelly and Celine Dion, “I’m Your Angel”
17. Smash Mouth, “All Star”
18. Sarah McLachlan, “Angel”
19. Santana feat. Rob Thomas, “Smooth”
20. TLC, “Unpretty”
It was 1999, and we were preoccupied with the future. In the year of Y2K panic, one of the biggest movies in theaters depicted a digital dystopia powered by blissfully unaware human batteries, the kung-fu choreography, bondage-pants aesthetic, and surveillance imagery of which must’ve been in the air at the time, because they’re all over the inescapable clip for the year’s No. 2 single. (In all fairness to the Wachowskis, theres’s a lot of Besson and Barbarella in the “No Scrubs” video, too.) The 1999 hit parade marched to the beat of youth, as squeaky-clean pop stars with Disney pedigrees paired with Swedish songwriting scientists to beguile listeners with undeniable melodies and lyrics that raised more questions than they answered. The Backstreet Boys never wanted to hear you say, “I want it that way” (Which way? And what “it”?), on an album titled, aptly, Millennium.
It was 1999, and we couldn’t stop thinking about the past. Backstreet Boys, ’N Sync, and 98 Degrees set the stage for solo-act comeback plays from former New Kids On The Block Jordan Knight and Joey McIntyre, while Menudo graduate Ricky Martin capitalized on the Latin explosion that boosted the musical profiles of one-time Fly Girl Jennifer Lopez, Enrique “Song Of Julio” Iglesias, and Woodstock survivor Carlos Santana. There was another Woodstock, albeit a 30th-anniversary edition whose mark on the cultural consciousness was one of flames, violence, and assault. MTV’s cameras were there to capture it all, live; five months later, as the channel counted down to 2000 in its Time Square studio (and a precious few still wondered if all computerized systems would fail at midnight), No Doubt prepared to ring in the New Year with a cover of R.E.M.’s “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” That studio hosted daily fights for chart supremacy between teenyboppers, nü-metal sulkers, pop-punk pranksters, and one white MC from Detroit with a thing for potty humor and revenge fantasies. But as Gwen Stefani rattled off Michael Stipe’s 12-year-old free associations, Billboard’s year-end list was topped by 53-year-old pop survivor Cher.
It was 1999, and we were still pretty hung up on 1998. So many of the musical milestones associated with the second-to-last year of the 20th century were a hangover from the previous 365 days: The aforementioned MTV battleground, Total Request Live, was back-to-school programming for the ’98-’99 academic calendar. “Believe”—the dance-pop number that ushered Auto-Tune into the mainstream and gave Cher her fourth-consecutive decade with a top 10 hit—came to radio and clubs the same fall. Lauryn Hill’s record-setting night at the Grammys in February of 1999 was secured by an album that was released the previous August—though “Doo Wop (That Thing)” had enough steam to wind up in the middle of Billboard’s class of 1999, one spot above “Mambo No. 5.”
Even amid a grand experiment in nostalgia like The A.V. Club’s 1999 Week, it’s hard not to lose yourself in marveling at the historical sweep of one year in popular music. But ’99 also gave us unique time capsules like the left-field success of “Steal My Sunshine”—a beachy pop sensation by an alt-rock band from Canada—or the bowdlerized Cash Money smash “Back That Thang Up.” (And let’s not forget about the meme-making double header of “Smooth” and “All Star.”) Gigantic acts of the time like TLC and Whitney Houston occupied prime spots in an almost-entirely women-owned top 10, but a lot of the year’s musical superstars were ascendant: No. 5 act Britney Spears and her fellow former Mouseketeer at No. 7, Christina Aguilera, for example. Destiny’s Child made its first dent in the charts that year with “Bills, Bills, Bills”; the future Mr. Beyoncé Knowles, JAY-Z, flexed his mogul acumen with a diversified portfolio that included a new album, a soundtrack hit, a signature track whose hook set the blueprint for The Blueprint, and a verse on Mariah Carey’s last great pre-Glitter jam.
At the dawn of the decade when “poptimism” made its way into the critical discourse, 1999 made a strong argument that top 40 could be taken just as seriously as more underground sounds with canonical smashes like “No Scrubs,” “…Baby One More Time,” and “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem).” But, as with any year in the modern pop era, that’s only part of the story. It was 1999, and it was a fertile time for “alternative” strains of traditionally populist genres like hip-hop and country. It was 1999, and a British electronic act was, like Douglas Adams before them, warning us to “Don’t panic.” It was 1999, and the punks were dancing, feeling, twisting themselves into abstract shapes. It was 1999, and this is what it sounded like.
Smog, “Cold Blooded Old Times” (January 12)
Like Drag City labelmate Will Oldham, Smog’s Bill Callahan can be difficult to pin down, his lyrics at once familiar and elusive, bare and oblique. “Cold Blooded Old Times,” off of 1999’s Knock Knock and appearing on the High Fidelity soundtrack a year later, encapsulates a certain Smog haziness. There are only flashes of scene here—a broken gate, children witnessing far too much—but as with the “type of memories that turn your bones to glass,” sometimes a glimpse is all it takes; however poorly one might remember a trauma, its dark significance remains. The song’s themes of family secrets run counter to its hand claps and chugging rhythm, the music insisting, like the speaker’s mother, that everything is fine, though it most certainly isn’t. With lyrics as indelible as Callahan’s own impossibly deep voice, and a fuller sound than in the singer-songwriter’s previous, lo-fi experimentations, Knock Knock would mark a turning point in a career that only continues to evolve. [Laura Adamczyk]
Bonnie “Prince” Billy, “I See A Darkness” (January 19)
Perhaps the most well-known song in Will Oldham’s extensive catalog, “I See A Darkness” came to prominence not when it was released, but a year later, when Johnny Cash included a cover version on 2000’s American III: Solitary Man (with Oldham singing backup); elegiac and laden, Cash’s is a song about dying sung by an ailing man. But the original, from Oldham’s first album under the Bonnie “Prince” Billy moniker, is something else. Here the darkness is not death but a spiritual lead blanket, a midnight of the soul. Glacially slow, it sounds like it’s meant to be absorbed through the skin rather than listened to. Twelve years after his collaboration with Cash, Oldham would re-imagine the song yet again—in a jaunty rendition with Angel Olsen providing backup vocals. Oldham has long been a shifting sort, a musician who would argue that a song changes each time it’s sung, persona and performance as important as the music itself. Whether or not the original is the best version is perhaps not the right question to ask, but in 1999, it laid the foundation for its few yet significant reimaginings. [Laura Adamczyk]
Built To Spill, “You Were Right” (February 2)
“You Were Right” is not the best song off of Built To Spill’s breakout Keep It Like A Secret (that would be, in my mind, “Carry The Zero”), but it’s perhaps the most original, for the way it toys with the very idea of originality. Part sincere, part tongue-in-cheek, Doug Martsch patchworks “You Were Right” out of lyrics from other songs, but not just any lyrics—only the most famous, most clichéd lines from classic rock’s greatest, or worst, hits, depending on who you ask. From The Rolling Stones to The Doors, it’s song as collage, using something old to make something new, while nevertheless remaining very Built To Spill: with its wailing guitars from frontman Martsch, who plays the instrument as though he were choking it, and drums that put a period at the end of every sentence. Each era’s artists work to distinguish themselves from those of the past, but “You Were Right” makes plain just how much Built To Spill was influenced by its forebears, while simultaneously poking fun of them. It’s as if to say that a rock song doesn’t need to have great lyrics in order to be good; sometimes it’s better if it doesn’t. [Laura Adamczyk]
Songs: Ohia, “Captain Badass” (March 15)
The shards of Jason Molina’s shattered heart are sharp enough to draw blood on Axxess & Ace, Molina’s third album under the Songs: Ohia name. Arranged and recorded live in-studio, and backed by a crew of Chicago indie all-stars, Axxess & Ace has an emotionally risky spontaneity about it, the all-or-nothing urgency of telling someone how you really feel. Songs: Ohia’s music is often crushingly depressing. But Molina’s signature tangle of messy emotion spins into a seductive waltz on the album’s centerpiece, the nearly-eight-minute long “Captain Badass.” Opening with a sexy flick of brushes across a snare drum and culminating with Molina belting, “You don’t have to think twice, if it’s love you will know,” the song captures the choking anxiety of questionably requited love (and lust). Combined with the rawness of its arrangement, this vulnerability makes “Captain Badass” the perfect song to scream along to with the windows rolled down, driving home alone on a hot summer’s night. [Katie Rife]
Mogwai, “Cody” (March 29)
Scottish rock outfit Mogwai would’ve been just fine had it doubled down on the thundering catharsis of its studio debut, 1997’s Mogwai Young Team. But by subverting expectations with 1999’s softer, more thoughtful Come On Die Young, Mogwai shook off the Slint comparisons that dogged the band, while demonstrating a sensitivity and creative confidence that distinguished it in the post-rock space. “It’s the difference between how fast you ride your bike and how slow you ride it,” frontman Stuart Braithwaite told The Sunday Herald, addressing the differences between Young Team and its follow-up. “It’s always harder to ride your bike slow.” Songs don’t get much slower than “Cody,” an aching, overcast track that unfolds across six and a half minutes of lonely lap steel and cymbal wash. It’s the only cut on either of Mogwai’s first two albums to prominently feature vocals, but not the last. With the likes of Rock Action, Mr Beast, and its myriad soundtracks, the band’s approach to the human voice has continued to evolve along with its sound. It’s why we still talk about Mogwai today. [Randall Colburn]
Basement Jaxx, “Red Alert” (April 19)
Released in April 1999, house banger “Red Alert” introduced the world to both the music and mentality of British club heroes Basement Jaxx. Deeply dance-friendly and practically made for drugged-out nights chugging along on a dance floor, the debut single made bigger waves in the U.K. than it did in the U.S., though it did catch the attention of Stateside writers like The A.V. Club’s Joshua Klein who noted that the track “has more than enough faux funk and chic camp to keep the masses moving.” The track has since been licensed everywhere from Bend It Like Beckham to Coca-Cola commercials, making it one of the most commercially successful non-charting cuts of the year. [Marah Eakin]
Old 97’s, “Murder (Or A Heart Attack)” (April 27)
Forming slightly after Uncle Tupelo, but before bands like Whiskeytown and Drive-By Truckers, the Dallas-birthed, Rhett Miller-fronted Old 97’s are considered to be among the forefathers of alt-country. The group is still together today, and has found fairly lasting success on the road, but its commercial peak came with 1999’s “Murder (Or A Heart Attack),” off of Fight Songs, one of the band’s best records. Although it’s definitely more pop than twang, “Murder (Or A Heart Attack)” still blends loss, love, and pathos—though in this case, the lost love is Miller’s roommate’s cat, who slipped out of the window of their shared apartment. The cat was found safe and sound, but in true alt-country fashion, Miller still managed to get a kick-ass song out of the whole affair. [Marah Eakin]
Blackalicious, “A To G” (April 30)
Emerging in the early ’90s on the heels of acts like De La Soul, The Pharcyde, and A Tribe Called Quest, alternative hip-hop had been commercially silenced by the late ’90s—due in part mostly to the emergence of gangsta rap and then (shudder) rap rock. Still, its message and sounds bubbled under the surface in places like the Bay Area, where acts like DJ Shadow, Lateef The Truthspeaker, and Lyrics Born were all plugging away at their music. This same scene birthed the insanely talented Gift Of Gab and Chief Xcel, who came together in the early ’90s to form Blackalicious. With 1999’s A2G EP, the pair found minor commercial success, making a small wave on the U.K. label charts. The standout single—which would also appear on the group’s 2000 full-length, Nia—is Gift Of Gab’s tongue-twisting “A To G,” which finds the rapper weaving his way through the alphabet line by line, creating a rap that’s both technically amazing and pretty damn catchy. [Marah Eakin]
Sigur Rós, “Starálfur” (June 12)
All clichés are rooted in truth, but calling “Svefn-g-englar” “cinematic” is the cliché that became truth: The second track on Sigur Rós’s second album has always called out for a movie or TV to draw on its sense of the epic. There just wasn’t anyone to pick up the call until Ágætis byrjun’s Stateside release in 2001, at which point Hollywood—beginning with Cameron Crowe and Vanilla Sky—was perpetually on the line. The 10-minute track sure provides enough points of inspiration: the opening drones, the wordier middle passages, that spot around the sixth minute where Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson’s snare fills marshal an impression of Radiohead covering Dark Side Of The Moon. In the roar of his bowed guitar, Jónsi Birgisson conjures an ambient soundscape of glacial endlessness, the lullaby-like reassurance of his voice preventing it all from getting too overwhelming. [Erik Adams]
Ali Farka Touré, “Ali’s Here” (June 22)
Late Malian musical legend Ali Farka Touré once said, “I play traditional music and I don’t know what blues is,” which makes the similarities between his hypnotic guitar playing and that of American bluesmen, particularly John Lee Hooker, all the more fascinating. A student of Malian music, Touré switched to a Western-style guitar after hearing it played by Guinean musician Fodéba Keïta; by the time 1999 rolled around, he had risen from cult fame to become an internationally famous Grammy winner, and rejected it all to move to a farm near the village of Niafunké back home in Mali. That village became the name of his last album, before he (mostly) retired in 2000. Touré says in the CD pamphlet, “This record is more real, more authentic… My music is about where I come from and our way of life and it is full of important messages for Africans.” Even for outsiders, it’s possible to appreciate a song like album opener “Ali’s Here” simply for the virtuosic mastery and psychedelic complexity of the music itself. [Katie Rife]
Guided By Voices, “Teenage FBI” (August 3)
Ever restless and suspicious of its own popularity, Guided By Voices responded to the accolades for its mid-’90s run of lo-fi masterpieces by… signing with a major label? Although, in comfortingly underachieving fashion, the record was delayed long enough that the band’s deal with Capitol Records fell through, the polished new sound producer Ric Ocasek fashioned on Do The Collapse was nevertheless considered a betrayal by GBV’s more purity-obsessed fans. That’s their problem, though, as with the benefit of hindsight the classic-rock influenced, radio-friendly guitar sound on Do The Collapse goes with Robert Pollard’s idiosyncratic songwriting like a sprinkle of chili powder on a bowl of fresh fruit. Witness “Teenage FBI,” the euphoric album opener that could have been GBV’s breakthrough hit, had eventual label TVT picked it as the lead single rather than the anemic “Hold On Hope.” It’s one of GBV’s all-time catchiest melodies, blended with the angst that seeps through the group’s signature eccentricity in Pollard’s best lyrics. And that avalanche of fuzz that overwhelms the chorus? It’s a better buzz than shotgunning a six-pack of beer. [Katie Rife]
The Magnetic Fields, “The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side” (September 7)
69 Love Songs is Stephin Merritt’s White Album, a sprawling three-hour triple CD that flows from stream-of-consciousness goofs to delicate nuggets of melody as elegant as anything ever composed by Messrs. Lennon and McCartney. “The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side,” a knowingly self-deprecating little ditty accompanied by whimsical ukulele and set to a squishy synthesizer beat, is a combination of the two. The song’s melody is undeniably sweet, but the underlying nice-guy sentiment is vaguely unnerving; similarly, its odd instrumentation is as novel as the concept—taking a pretty girl for a ride in your car—is classic. 69 Love Songs is less a collection of love songs than a concept album about love songs, and critics on the cusp of the irony-drenched ’00s went absolutely bugshit for it. A Pitchfork 9.0 doesn’t necessarily equate to record sales, however—though Merritt’s small-but-devoted cult presumably didn’t mind keeping this one to themselves. [Katie Rife]
American Football, “Never Meant” (September 14)
The opening song on American Football, “Never Meant” is an undisputed emo classic, to the point where the song—and the album cover—have both been meme’d into oblivion. Even if it makes for some pretty solid jokes, there’s still a reverence for “Never Meant” that runs through the modern emo community. Because, while it’s easy to poke fun at, it’s also the kind of song that’s impossible to replicate. While detractors would call it melodramatic, there’s something comforting in the way Mike Kinsella sings of his broken-hearted regret, never sounding spiteful, but instead idealistic, as he wishes for everyone to just forget that the whole ordeal of a relationship ever happened. Built on math-rock riffs and a jazz-influenced backbeat, “Never Meant” remains the yardstick that all emo songs are measured against, because while it’s a perfect encapsulation of messy, teenage feelings, it still feels resonant and applicable when you enter adulthood. [David Anthony]
The Get Up Kids, “Holiday” (September 21)
The story of The Get Up Kids’ sophomore LP, Something To Write Home About, is one of chances taken and rewarded: adding keyboardist James Dewees to the lineup, recording on the West Coast rather than in the band’s native Midwest, signing with Vagrant Records, Vagrant literally betting the house on the record. The string-scrape fanfare that kicks off Something To Write Home About is the first indication of a payoff, swiftly confirmed by the rest of the album’s propulsive lead track, “Holiday.” The whirring synths beneath Matty Pryor and Jim Suptic’s fret-ascending gallop bring a new density to the fusion of pop-punk melody and heart-on-sleeve sentiment that was bubbling up from the underground thanks to The Get Up Kids and contemporaries like The Promise Ring and Jimmy Eat World. Jimmy Eat World took its own big chance in 1999 with its majestic Capitol Records swan song Clarity, but tracks like “Holiday” meant that emo’s crossover hopes wouldn’t fade out with “Goodbye Sky Harbor.” It also put The Get Up Kids on the cutting edge of refusing the “emo” label, but Something To Write Home About is nothing if not emo. There’s no ignoring the fact that the album begins with an anthem about feeling alone, betrayed, and unfamiliar with your surroundings, one that was most satisfying when it was screamed along to with dozens of dorks in chunky frames and thrift-store T’s who were soon swearing allegiance to the entire Vagrant roster. [Erik Adams]
MF Doom, “Rhymes Like Dimes” (September 22)
On the one hand, Daniel Dumile defied the “look at me” ethos of late-’90s commercial hip-hop by donning a mask for Operation Doomsday, his debut album under his most famous moniker, the comic book-inspired MF Doom. (Other Dumile pseudonyms: King Geedorah, Viktor Vaughn, and Metal Fingers.) But while his vengeful, deformed MF Doom persona came from a personal, painful place—Dumile’s younger brother and bandmate DJ Subroc was killed by a motorist in 1993, and their group KMD’s second album, Black Bastards, was buried by its label shortly afterwards—he’s still full of braggadocio about his mic skills on “Rhymes Like Dimes.” Built around an undeniably cheesy Quincy Jones sample, the song is a great example of MF Doom’s unique flow, which pulls in fleeting, free-form thoughts and shapes them into solid gold bars full of complex rhymes and nuanced rhythms. That idiosyncratic style has since become a cornerstone influence on independent hip-hop artists like Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler, The Creator, both of whom freaked the fuck out upon meeting Doom at a festival back in 2013. Besides, how can you not smile when DJ Cucumber Slice exclaims, “Buttery… biscuits!?” [Katie Rife]
The Dillinger Escape Plan, “43% Burnt” (September 28)
If mathcore, that particularly technical and complex subspecies of hardcore punk, has its own Paranoid—its own watershed masterpiece, inspiring a thousand offspring—it’s probably Calculating Infinity. And if the debut album by The Dillinger Escape Plan has a clear standout, it’s the mind-bogglingly berserk “43% Burnt,” which epitomizes this seminal, now defunct band’s chaotic plan of attack, marrying one-time vocalist Dimitri Minakakis’ roaring intensity to a polyrhythmic pile-up of instrumentation. The song even has a hook, of sorts: the stuttering riff that opens and closes the song, guaranteed to ignite any pit at note one. [A.A. Dowd]
Handsome Boy Modeling School, “Rock N’ Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This)” (October 19)
“Ladies and gentlemen!” Rap at the end of the millennium may have been dominated in mainstream pop culture by The Slim Shady LP and The Chronic 2001, but in college parties across America, an alternative boom bap was emanating from speakers, and it possessed a very different spirit. Thanks to Prince Paul and Dan The Automator, Handsome Boy Modeling School—a project named after a joke from an episode of the cult Chris Elliott TV show Get A Life—became one of the biggest success stories of the year. And its statement of arrival was “Rock N’ Roll,” a blast of purely celebratory bass-thump, heralded with horns, keys, and one of the funkiest beats imaginable. Kicking off the record, the track possesses none of the clever, nerdy rapping found in the subsequent tracks, just a dance-floor-ready rhythm and sense of infectious joyous abandon. Sure, it was the year of Black On Both Sides, Things Fall Apart, and other serious-as-a-heart-attack classics, but none of them had the sense to feature a track of Chris Elliott muttering, “Modeling just sucks!” over and over, now did they? [Alex McLevy]
The Dismemberment Plan, “You Are Invited” (October 26)
Emergency & I was the Dismemberment Plan’s first album on Interscope, and the move to a major label shows in the album’s more polished, but still aggressive sound. “What Do You Want Me To Say?” is a maelstrom of frustration, Travis Morrison’s talk-singing (given his obsession with hip-hop, you might even call it rapping) on the verses leading to a chorus that’s just melodic shouting of the exasperated title. But The Dismemberment Plan had never been more expressive than on Emergency & I—previous releases ! and The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified had plenty of bluster, cementing the band’s position as dance-punk pioneers. “You Are Invited” veered furthest from the snottier sound of those early albums, laying out a new and promising path for the band. The song tells a story about isolation that it aims to resolve. Beginning with an impartial tone and almost diffident keys, the track explodes into a joyous chorus that dispels any sense of alienation, one loud and boisterous enough to reach even the most disaffected of youth. [Danette Chavez]
Le Tigre, “Deceptacon” (October 26)
At decade’s end (and after starting her own musical rebellion), Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna set punk dancing toward a new millennium—by way of what one future Le Tigre remixer would dub “the unremembered ’80s”—with a three-minute burst of sampler scrambling and scene commentary named for the bad guys from Transformers. The metamorphosis demonstrated by “Deceptacon” wasn’t as drastic as a jet fighter turning into a villainous robot, but the beats and the synths did represent new sonic settings for Hanna’s razor-sharp rejoinders to rock ’n’ roll condescension and bad sex. Explicitly feminist and queer, Le Tigre pointed toward all the Karen Os, Beth Dittos, and Peacheses to come, but “Deceptacon” knows its history, too: This song is the future The B-52s wanted, with a riff straight from the Ricky Wilson “stupidest guitar line you’ve ever heard” school. We may never know who took the “bomp” from the “bomp alomp alomp,” but “Deceptacon” sure rams some rama-lama ding dongs. [Erik Adams]
The Faint, “Worked Up So Sexual” (November 1)
Although it wouldn’t reach its peak until a couple of years into the 21st century, electroclash was starting to simmer in 1999. Reveling in a blend of new wave, synth-pop, and electronica, electroclash acts had a sense of humor about themselves that most bleeps-and-bloops acts lacked, as well as a flair for the darkly dramatic. All of that is evident in “Worked Up So Sexual,” the third song off The Faint’s 1999 breakthrough Blank-Wave Arcade. Starting with electro-squiggles and ultimately building into a chorus of clanking cranks and in-out rhythms, “Worked Up So Sexual” is a look at the ethics of sex work, but set to a club-friendly beat. It’s the perfect introduction to what The Faint would go on to perfect on albums like 2001’s Danse Macabre. [Marah Eakin]
FOR FURTHER LISTENING
- The White Stripes, “The Big Three Killed My Baby”
- Rocket From The Crypt, “If The Bird Could Fly”
- Primal Scream, “Swastika Eyes”
- Pavement, “Spit On A Stranger”
- Folk Implosion “Free To Go”
- Jim O’Rourke, “Women Of The World”
- Superchunk, “1000 Pounds”
- Andrew Bird’s Bowl Of Fire, “Candy Shop”
191 Comments
I was floored to hear Blackalicious’ Chemical Calisthenics in the “Into the Spiderverse” movie.
I would just like to add my favorite Blackalicious song which uses a sample from one of my favorite childhood movies The Point-
Not to mention The Number Song remix by Chemical Calisthenics collaborator Cut Chemist right after that track.
Didn’t catch that, maybe cause I was picking my jaw offa the floor after hearing Blackalicious in a mainstream movie. If you could wear out a CD, I would have worn out Blazing Arrow, which some random person left in my car on a road trip.
Aw man, NIA is sooooo much better! IMO
Extremely belated same. Between that and Gab/Lateef’s track on the new DJ Shadow album, I’m hoping people will notice that they’re still here and still amazing.
As much as I love All Star,Nothing will ever beat You Get What You Give as my favourite song of 1999What’s great is that this song is the perfect song to end the 90s. It has the perfect tone of “Bye 1990s, everything’s going downhill from here on out” going for it, from the lyrics to the anti-establishment/anti-capitalist music video. It’s a song that not felt like a love letter to the 90’s, but it also predicted the shittiness of the 21st century. It’s the ultimate pre-9/11 song IMO.Not only did the music video criticised American capitalism, so did the lyrics: “Health insurance, rip-off lyingFDA, big bankers buyingFake computer crashes diningCloning while they’re multiplyingFashion shoots with Beck and Hanson,Courtney Love and Marilyn MansonYou’re all fakes, run to your mansionsCome around, we’ll kick your ass in.” Hell the band separated after the song was released just to keep up with the lyrics of the song. That’s fucking punk.Fuck RATM, this is MY anti-capitalist anthem! Someone needs to make this song the next meme like All Star.
I probably owe the fact that I didn’t become a complete gibbering wreck studying for my end-of-school exams to this song and, inexplicably, ABBA.“All Star” can sod off, though.
‘“ All Star” can sod off though’Hey now!its not that bad. ;)..sorry , I couldnt resist.I’m trying to recall what I listened to back then …mostly Orbital , based on what I remember.
[Narrows eyes]… lucky you were listening to Orbital
What always struck me about You Get What You Give is, except for the crispness of the production and the pop-culture references in that bridge, it sounds like it might have come out in 1988, not 1998.
Whoa. A comment by Squamate that isn’t attacking anyone? This must be an omen of some kind.
Always sounded like mid-70s Todd Rundgren to me.
It’s pretty damned infectious. For the first few years hearing it, though, I swore it was Karl Wallinger of World Party singing, which would make it totally 1988.
This whole album is really, really good. “You Get What You Give” won a lot of its appeal on novelty, and I feel like nobody really took New Radicals seriously as a result. They sold a platinum album and still managed to be underrated.Funnily enough, he hooked up with Santana three years later and won a Grammy for it.
Meanwhile, Gregg Alexander went on to write songs for Ronan Keating, Enrique Iglesias, Rod Stewart, various Spice Girls, and yes, Hanson. He is literally exactly what he bitched about. A music industry bigwig writing disposable pop songs for rich pop stars.
It’s almost as if Capitalism doesn’t reward talent and that talented people are forced to work in the shadows for others, huh?But at the same time, he won Grammys and and an Oscar so i’m happy that Gregg Alexander is recognised at least behind the scenes.
He is an actual factual millionaire though.
The two-for-one punch of combining rank hypocrisy with being the single worst song of the 90s really makes New Radicals a leading candidate for permanent admission to Room 101.
As I recall Marilyn Manson said he’d be more than happy to discuss that lyric in person.
Meanwhile Beck was probably like “…the hell??”But yeah, this song’s more than demonstrated its staying power.
Heard that old disco song “More More More” in the store recently. Blew my mind when I recognized the main chunk from Steal my Sunshine in there. It’s at about the 2:20 mark :Edit: sorry, replied to the wrong comment, but imma leave it here anyway.
MOE MOE MOE somebody like me, nobody likes me
I can bob my head to the New Radicals beat, but if we’re talking best late-90s pop act criticizing capitalism and rock stardom then my go-to choice will always be Chumbawba crucifying Cliff Richards and forcing Paul McCartney to irrigate Ethiopia with his fake LiveAid tears.
fwiw whenever i come across an 8-syllable phrase or sentence, i can’t help but to sing it in my head in the tune of the “Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson / You’re all fakes, run to your mansions” part
This song was an underappreciated gem.
What’s great is that this song is the perfect song to end the 90s.I look back now and I realize “You Get What You Give” makes for a great book end to the decade, a perfect complement to the song that (sort of) kicks off the decade: “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. The videos especially have a “two sides of the same coin” thing going on.
I can get behind the ideas in the song, and an interview with the songwriter/singer on this site a few years ago made him seem like a good dude, but goddamn do I HATE this song. Something about it is like knives in my brain, and it was by far my most hated song of 1999 (there were pop songs I liked even less, but they didn’t come on the “alternative/rock” stations I listened to, where as Get What You Give did)
I was poised to write a devastatingly snarky take-down over the idea that “Believe” was an in any way an “underheard hit” when I realised just in time that you were only listing the Top 20 for the year.You got lucky this time, AV Club. This time.
There’s some pretty good artists on this unheard list, but that top 20 is brutal. 1999 was a terrible year for popular music. Especially for a young man who was mostly into Rock. It got so bleak that I was listening to P.O.D. and Creed. [shudder]
Good GOD that’s awful. *Thinks back to 11-12 year old self obsession with High n Dry and Def LeppardI’ll join you in your shame.
To this day, I hold that High and Dry and Pyromania are both excellent rock albums. I mean, there’s nothing revolutionary or notably different about them in terms of what they were trying to do, but they’re solid, power chord rock-n-roll, and wait am I really defending Def Leppard on the internet?
Every once in a while I’ll hear a cut from High N Dry and I won’t lie, I feel the old pride in Def Lep come back…This will sound TERRIBLE but when Rick Allen lost his arm that band turned to shit. I’m super glad he was able to learn how to play with one arm, and they had even more success, but MAN did I hate Hysteria with a passion.
High n Dry holds up. I been drinking all day!
You got me running…to my YouTube channel to fire up some High ‘n’ Dry
No joke I think I bought the first Nickelback album that year and I mostly listened to hardcore. Bleak times.
Yeah. I had that one too. 🙁
Take your star…I guess?
I deserve something for my suffering.
We’ll make it up to you in the year 2000.
The State wasn’t terrible by the standards of the time (Though I think it was a 2000 album for most people). There’s a lot of filler, but ‘Breathe,’ ‘Leader of Men,’ and ‘Cowboy Hat’ are a decent tracks 1-2-3 that suggest a more interesting band than the focus-grouped radio staple they became.
A friend suggested the State to me. I don’t think it was a terrible album. Rocks harder than anything after.
spot on. I remember a friend of mine suggesting I should check out Chevelle. UGH. Bleak times, indeed
Honestly, I don’t totally hate Chevelle. But I’ll grant you that they’re just Tool with all of the interesting, thoughtful parts taken out.
Great description!
Omg that is spot on.
I definitely went to a Chevelle concert or two at the Rave, opening for Sevendust, maybe? They weren’t awful. Tool-minus is an excellent description that never occurred to me at the time.
A fellow Wisconsoner!
As a Wisconsiner, I also feel compelled to point out that ‘99 was the year the Gufs almost sorta made it big.
Oh man The Gufs. I remember seeing them like every other week when I was at MIAD.
Chevelle’s solid.
In 2000 we’d passed from grunge on to nu metal and misery rock (that took all the wrong lessons from grunge and amped them to 11). Bleak time indeed. Fortunately we had the “The” bands on the very near horizon to improve things for a while (Strokes, Hives, Vines, White Stripes, etc.).
Don’t forget The Sums!
The Led Zeppelins, right? Are you feeling me?
It’s not even the right Cher song. Straddle a battleship gun or GTFO!
I hated “Believe.” Such an earworm. Every time I head it, it would be stuck in my head for days afterwards.
Was in high school at the time. Can confirm that most mainstream rock (Korn, Limp B, Kid Rock, Puddle of Mudd, Disturbed, Smashmouth, Lit) circa 2000 was pretty fucking dire.However, to be fair, outside of a few years in the early 90s, mainstream rock has typically been mediocre for 40+ years.
That’s exactly what a scrub would say….
Better a scrub than some sociopath that would hit a baby.
It does seem like music got suckier around the time I became a teenager, because the universe dislikes me.
1999 was a year of change for me as well. From die-hard rock of Van Halen, U2 et-al, to the likes of Tricky (Blowback), PJ Harvey(Songs…) and especially Orbital(Altogether).
Yeah but, P.O.D. had by far the best MTV cribs in the entire series.
Teenage FBI is only underheard to anyone who didn’t own the Buffy TV soundtrack.
And if you didn’t have the Buffy soundtrack, what the fuck were you doing with your lives?
Well, I was in my mid 20’s, playing in a ton of bands and getting laid while imbibing a ton of drugs and booze. You?
YOU WASTED YOUR LIFE!
Absolutely can’t disagree with that. I’m still a good five years behind in my ‘corporate’ life. But still, from what I remember it was a good amount of fun.
I didn’t and graduated the same year, but I went to a lot of local shows and goth clubs. So my knowledge of mainstream was lacking unless unavoidable. I did like Bjork, Tricky and Cibo Matto a lot though. I did have The Powerpuff Girls Heros and Villains album though. That was fun.
Hero’s and Villains is unimpeachable goodness all the way through!
Or NCAA Football ‘06!!
I’m curious if the hoodie strings qualify the MF Doom cover as fair use, and if not, what Marvel’s fee was in 1999 compared to Surfing with the Alien in 1987.
In 1999, Marvel was so broke that they were basically selling the light fixtures out of their offices, so I’m gonna guess $12 and some gently-used jumper cables.
I think Marvel gave the artwork for the Surfer away for pocket change and a lollipop. I know John Byrne certainly didn’t get paid.
I was going to joke about how these songs are old enough to be considered classic rock, then thought about how DOOMSDAY is definitely a hip-hop classic and American Football is THE classic Midwest Emo record and I made myself a little sad. That being said, as a millennial I often feel like I didn’t appreciate the musicians that came “before my time” in the mid-2000s and it seems like they’ve worked their way in regardless. The Dismemberment Plan and early Built To Spill have become favorites of mine within the last year or so; the earnestness of the way You Are Invited blows open never fails to get me.
1999 falls between Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone? and King James Version, so I have no track to add to the list
I remember pretty much everything here being thoroughly buzzed about at the time, especially Sigur Ros, Le Tigre and Magnet Fields. I take exception to the observation, “a strong argument that top 40 could be taken just as seriously as more underground sounds with,” though. Everyone I knew thought of 1999 as an especially gruesome year for pop music. Rose tinting is of course usually determined by age and we are all susceptible.
Yeah, I have distinct memories of (a) the late-90s being mostly hot garbage for pop music (+rock, still barely hanging on) and (b) people (mostly music critics) freaking out about (a). Nu metal was a much bigger part of the conversation; I’m kind of amazed none of them showed up on the Billboard list. Maybe that was a driver for poptimism? Like, Sugar Ray is looking pretty good if the alternative is Limp Bizkit?
Even on Total Request, the nü-metal bands couldn’t crack into the top spots (#3 was semi-officially dubbed ‘the Korn spot’ because the top two were always one of the big pop/r&b spots), even among teens they didn’t have nearly the support of the boy bands. This is why all those bands that stuck around went soft, especially after seeing how much money ‘How You Remind Me’ made as a ‘crossover’ hit that could play on the rock stations, but also on adult contemporary and Kiss FMs.
The thought that anyone can look at that top twenty list and think “Yes, this is certainly worthy of serious consideration,” is just mind-boggling to me.
In my memory, this period rival s1990 for the worst of the worst annoying top 40 charts. The latter led to the alt rock explosion takeover of the charts and the 1999 charts didn’t have the same impact, but I feel like it played a factor in the “return” of guitar based indie rock in the early ‘00s (Strokes, Interpol, White Stripe, The Hives, etc)
Interesting. I was 20 at the time and never heard any of these songs or heard of any of these bands until today and this article.
the artists in the top 20? or the bands highlighted as off-the-chart gems?
The off the charts. The OP said they were “thoroughly buzzed about”.
gotcha, I will have to say the three he listed (Sigur Ros, Le Tigre, and Magnetic Fields) definitely are looked back at as classic. Don’t remember the hype at the time due to being 16, but a few years later I feel all those bands had a fair amount of buzz about them. Sigur Ros is the apex of 2000’s post-rock in my mind with how big they became.
+1I turned 21 in 99 and only heard (and own) Basement Jaxx outside the top 20 – and only remember half the top 20
I was 23 in ’99 and came of age to what we’d now consider classic alt-rock (The Smiths, The Cure, New Order, etc), and I just remember that period being totally devoid of anything “cool” musically — I somehow was unaware of almost that entire “outside the Top 20” list. It wasn’t until after the new postpunk wave several years later (The Strokes, Interpol, Bloc Party, etc) that I retroactively discovered stuff like The Faint, Sigur Ros and Mogwai.
No joke. And MF DOOM was already hailed as the unique lyrical genius that he was. Like that entire list is my 9th grade playlist and I wasn’t trying to seek out “underground” music, this shit was spammed across the internet if you just googled the word music. So yeah, not sure if I’m on board with anything on this list actually being “underheard.” Relative to the pop hits, sure, but that would kind of make literally anything else fall under the umbrella and be a pointless moniker. Surprised it’s missing Ben Folds, Cursive, and Godspeed You Black Emperor lmao. Would be perfect additions to this list.
I think I downloaded everyone of these songs off Kazaa in 2003
there’s some great stuff on this list, even if you only mentioned “Goodbye Sky Harbor” instead of dedicating an entry to it, which is criminal
As pop charts go, that top 10 is pretty good.
I thought the exact opposite, outside of maybe a couple songs in the top 20, it is pretty destitute. Any year in which Sugar Ray and Smash Mouth had a hit was a bad year for music.
Pedantic rant: I would argue the more famous version of “A to G” is “Alphabet Aerobics” remixed by Cut Chemist. It’s the last track on the A to G EP. It’s also the version I imagine most people know, as it’s the version Daniel Radcliffe performed on the Tonight Show. And it’s closest to the version they perform live (on tour now!).
agreed
Shit, was this really ‘99?
I was surprised too. Could have sworn it was ‘97 or ‘98.
This whole list ignores electronic music pretty much, which is what was really happening in ‘99, outside of TLC and boybands. I remember listening to London pirate radio while working at my startup as a computer programmer, which had Aphex Twin as its hold music. And that’s about the most 1999 sentence one could write.
Steal My Sunshine is one of my favourite ever songs. Absolute classic that most people I know don’t even remember.
Charly Bliss did a cover of it either last year or the year before right here on the AVClub, and I would argue it’s the best cover the AVClub ever featured as part of that series.
Those two are siblings, the video, how could someone forget?
I know. Staggering.
That band that has Cher’s kid and isn’t Orgy. Sometimes I remember them.
Anything off of Orgy’s Candyass should have been on this list.
I totally did not remember that this band wasn’t Orgy.
Oh man, UT-Austin’s student TV channel played MuchMusic and this was on a loop.
That GBV album has actually aged pretty well except for Hold On Hope, which Bob didn’t want on the album but the label insisted. Then they insisted it be the first single. Ocasek didn’t even produce that song, it was some studio hack.
That top twenty is dire. I would only consider the Sarah McLachlan song to be even vaguely listenable. In 1999, I was listening to a lot of The Cure, Depeche Mode, Skinny Puppy. Fast forward twenty years and uh… Well, I still listen to that a lot.
I like that you included Rhymes Like Dimes, as its silly absurdity has always appealed to me. Gas Drawls, Dead Bent, and Hey! were in heavy rotation on every college campus in America, but Rhymes tended to be overlooked for iis more lyrical counterparts. Crazy how 20 years later DOOM is still just as much of a mystery and obsession to millions.
Also worth a mention: Fiona Apple’s “When the Pawn …” and Sleater Kinney’s “The Hot Rock.”And to the extent that this piece is to highlight other albums released during the year in question that “made an impact,” surely you must include Flaming Lips’ “The Soft Bulletin” and Wilco’s “Summerteeth.”
Man, “When the Pawn…” is magnificent. I was a little dismissive of “Tidal” even though I really liked the singles from it, but I remember being just floored unexpectedly by that sophomore album at first listen. I think that’s when people’s obsession with Apple started heading towards Tori-Amos-level fandom.
For so many years, I thought of Apple as “That one-hit-wonder that had that video that did funny things to 13-year-old me”. Instant fan after I was finally turned on to When The Pawn. Two more brilliant albums after that, and now she’s one of my favorite artists. Can’t wait for her next one in another decade or two.
Yeah, god. People raving about The Soft Bulletin, I’d forgotten about that. (I like it, but.. still)
This article def needs to be re-written to include Soft Bulletin. The other stuff was pretty spot on though.
The Hot Rock is such a great album, and a sign that Sleater-Kinney is one of those bands that can change on every album and still sound like themselves.*listens to songs from new album*Too bad they broke up after No Cities To Love, though.
everything you’ve said is correct
Cash’s is a song about dying sung by an ailing man
[citation needed]
Yeah, I was wondering about that. It was recorded in 2000, when he wasn’t well exactly, but still had a few more years left.
I mean, nearly all of the American recordings have death as a subtext to some extent. But the lyrics to I See A Darkness are about depression, and I don’t know how you can get anything else from them.
One gigantic middle finger for not mentioning Ben Fold Five’s
The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner
Came here to say this. At least Pavement’s Terror Twilight got honorable mention.
That album was always a little hit-or-miss for me personally, but, my god, the songs that hit were fantastic. Never saw Ben Folds with the Five, but I’ve caught him solo a few times over the years (including once with the symphony orchestra—not sure if that counts as solo) and he was also fantastic.
I’m seeing him in 5 days with the Violent Femmes, which is such a great pairing for a tour.
It was a bit of a departure, for sure. More “produced” and less “indie” (in hindsight, probably a good indicator that the breakup was nigh).
It counts.
the worst of the 4 BFF albums (yes, I’m putting the reunion album above it), and it’s still pretty goddamn great.
Interesting. I couldn’t get into the reunion album (or most of his solo stuff since 2005ish, honestly). Are we calling Naked Baby Photos an album?
No on the NBP question. The compilation CD/record has a long and noble history, but I never list them with the albums from an artist. Nirvana: Insecticide is not an album, Smashing Pumpkins: Pisces Iscariot is not an album.
The Ben Folds live album has a terrific version of “Army,” where he has half the crowd sing the saxophone part and the other half of the crowd sing the trumpet part.
1999 was the year of Summerteeth and The Soft Bulletin, albums by two bands who blew away all expectations of what they were about or capable of. I’d have found a place on this list for Wilco’s “I’m Always In Love” or “Via Chicago” and either “Race for the Prize” or “Waiting for a Superman” from the Flaming Lips.
“The Soft Bulletin”, anyone?Consensus top 5 album of the entire decade – but neither of its singles came within sniffing distance of the Hot 100.
Hefner’s “The Fidelity Wars” should’ve been massive. Either “Hymn For The Cigarettes” or “Don’t Flake Out On Me” deserved to be breakthrough singles.
As many have noted, that Top 20 is pretty horrendous and says a lot about our taste in 1999. I didn’t understand then, and still cant fathom how Sugar Ray, and Smash Mouth were the bastions of Rock Radio. By this time I had gone into my ‘no corporate radio” phase and was listening to primarily 90’s skate punk (which I will defend until the day I die!). But man there were some gems that came out this year that I completely had missed at the time, but was glad to discover once I was able to move past the “its only punk rock for me” time of my life. That Magnetic Fields album, Wilco’s Summerteeth, and the American Football album still come up in rotation. But I cant say this enough, Fuck Sugar Ray, his music is an abomination.
I remember I found the Respect if Burning compilations that year and got obsessed with French House. Big Beat and Trance felt like electronic music was getting neutered and homogenized, so the one-two punch of French House and then Electroclash really felt like a shot in the arm.Also this was the year with Napster launched so it became easier to find white labels and imports.
I like reading the top 20 charting songs of a given year, cause there’s always a handful of them that I just don’t remember. I either never heard them, or they didn’t make a lasting impression. So, here are the songs from the top 20 of 1999 that I don’t remember:
3. Monica, “Angel Of Mine”
4. Whitney Houston feat. Faith Evans and Kelly Price, “Heartbreak Hotel”
9. Deborah Cox, “Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here”
11. 702, “Where My Girls At”
14. Brandy, “Have You Ever?”
16. R. Kelly and Celine Dion, “I’m Your Angel”
20. TLC, “Unpretty”
“Unpretty” and if “Where My Girls At” were hard to escape. “Unpretty” is so late 90s—like TLC on Lilith Fair. You could put “Where My Girls At” on a Destiny’s Child greatest hits playlist and I wouldn’t even notice. I definitely remember “Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here” because that lyric was so clearly in the chorus. I only remembered the Monica and Brandy songs after looking them up but not the others.
When ‘Bills, Bills, Bills’ came out I was certain Destiny’s Child was destined to be remembered as the poor man’s 702.
Sooo, you dont listen to “urban” music is what I got from this comment lol no disrespect, its fine, but there’s a pretty strong through line with all the songs you listed.
Icp released the amazing jeckel brothers that year!! WOO WOO!!
rainer|maria and Rilo Kiley both released their first albums in ‘99. Although they never really achieved household name popularity I feel okay sharing this song because I haven’t heard of a quarter of the names on this playlist.
“Built around an undeniably cheesy Quincy Jones sample…”yeah, that’s a bad take.
That top 20 has got to be the biggest list of crap that was absolutely ran into the ground. Ditto the New Radicals and Len songs that others are talking about; those two are less offensive than others, but I’ve never really understood the continued appeal of either. I’m betting You Get What You Give becomes the next Toto’s Africa meme song.re: Mogwai’s Cody: not big on the album as a whole (it’s a damn slog), but I like this version of the track:
Enjoyed my last semester of college more than any of the previous semesters, graduated, worked in a warehouse for a summer reading Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, moved to Chicago, was jilted in love and mugged in an alley, spent my days being a clipboard activist and falling in with that idealistic, slightly cult-ish crowd (well, more than slightly); and nights in bars and clubs being delightfully stupid. Fight Club for some reason seemed like an intensely relevant cultural reference point. Important albums were Play (it seemed interesting before it was everywhere), The Battle of Los Angeles, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, Things Fall Apart, When the Pawn blah blah, and the Rushmore soundtrack. Also, and I don’t know why other than his being then recently dead, Frank Sinatra was a source of fascination. A very good year.
I like these articles for introducing me to random music that I wouldn’t have stumbled onto otherwise. For instance, a few of these songs I would later be introduced to by my brother who has much more adventurous musical tastes than me. However, in 1999 my exposure to music was mostly top-20 through work and whatever random metal stuff I had recorded on tape.
There were many others from bands that I like(d) but these are some great albums from ‘99 that are still in regular rotation for me: Agaetis-Byrjun, 69 Love Songs, Keep it Like a Secret, American Football, The Soft Bulletin, 13, Things Fall Apart, Black on Both Sides, Surrender, Come on Die Young, Mule Variations, Central Reservation, Windowlicker, Something to Write Home About, Magnolia Soundtrack, Rushmore Soundtrack, Tigermilk*.Rather shocked that “You Got Me” (or other) from Things Fall Apart and “Race for the Prize” (or other) from The Soft Bulletin didn’t even get honorable mentions. Maybe “Coffee and TV” from 13 and “Quiet Storm” from Murda Muzik, too. The Battle of Los Angeles and Magnolia Soundtrack should probably be mentioned somehow as well. “Windowlicker” is a singular masterpiece.Some unfortunate trends not mentioned or reflected on the charts: Korn gave us “Freak on a Leash,” Limp Bizkit gave us “Nookie,” Blink-182 gave us “All the Small Things.” Play gave us “Southside”(Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You” was still a thing, too.).
One of the guys from Len is in Broken Social Scene, somehow. Speaking of, I always thought “Back That Ass Up” would mash up well with “Lover’s Spit.”
Like, a foundational core member of BSS was in Len for a while. I just learned this three or four months ago and my mind was blown.
I’m pretty sure that every Canadian musician is either in Broken Social Scene or in a band with someone who is also in Broken Social Scene.
While 69 Love Songs is definitely their magnum opus, I always preferred their 1995 album Get Lost, especially the tracks All the Umbrellas In London and the only Magnetic Fields song I could ever think of being a Pro Wrestler’s entrance theme if the gimmick was right: The Desperate Things You Made Me Do.If you’ve never heard of the band, get stuck in on some of the hipstery-ist music that existed before the term ‘hipster’ was really a thing.
Tonight On Quantum Leap: Sam is the mayor of a small California town who has to quell a Y2K panic when the town’s power goes out a few hours before the end of the millennium. And, he has to deal with Al’s insistence on calling the new millennium “The Willennium.”
The jaunty “I See A Darkness” is somehow more unsettling than the original (even if you ignore the video with the googly eyes).
1999, you say? The year of an all-time favorite, so I’ll just have to post a reply, even if it goes unnoticed, very much like my favorite band, anyway…And to make a good figure, some other tunes of the same year, in approximative alphabetical order, so that one could find something to their liking… Quite some trip hop there, but hey, 1999…
Starred for “Coffee and TV” and your Black icon.
“type of memories that turn your bones to glass”This is exactly how I felt when my ex-girlfriend started fucking her new boyfriend around the year 2000 or so. It was also around the time I discovered Elliott Smith. That was… not an easy time for your ol’ buddy Beef here.
My 1999 Spotify playlist:Suede – She’s in fashionStone Temple Pilots – Sour girlCranberries – PromisesSupergrass – MovingFlaming Lips – Spark that bledJames – Just like Fred AstaireEBTG – Five fathomsGustavo Cerati – BocanadaLos Fabulosos Cadillacs – Vos SabesCafe Tacvba – El EspacioStereolab – Italian shoes continuumBeulah – If we can land a man on the moon, surely I can win your heartNIN – The great belowFilter – Take a pictureRHCP – Scar tissueIllya Kuryaki – CooloKelis – Caught out thereJamiroquai – King for a dayMadonna – Beautiful strangerTom Jones & Cardigans – Burning down the houseAdd N to X – SkillsFiona Apple – Fast as you canBeck – Sexx LawsCassius – 1999Chemical Brothers – Out of controlBlur – CaramelMr Bungle – The airconditioned nightmareTom Waits – Take it with meJohnny Laboriel, Rosso – TombolaAphex Twin – WindowlickerControl Machete – DanzonLos Tres – La Sangre en el cuerpoUnderworld – Push upstairs
accurate. This is a total 1999 list. Add more jungle, UK garage, britpop, and ninja tunes, and this is totally what I listened to in 1999.
My 1999:Boredoms, John Prine, Les Savy Sav, Melvins, Pole, Mr. Oizo, MF Doom, Lootpack, Godspeed You Black Emperor
For a minute I thought that first list was the songs the story was about, and I was thinking “In what universe were these underheard?”
Sigur Ros is one of the best bands in existence. I’m also surprised to see them on any list ever. I saw them live back in 2005 or 06. Amazing show. I don’t think they’ve ever been back to Michigan.
I would’ve picked the track Doomsday over Rhymes like Dimes
I hope this feature comes back on a regular basis. It is one of the best on here.
Huge props for including Get Up Kids.
Not that either is a bad song, but why is the entry for “Starálfur” all about “Svefn-g-englar?”
For myself (admittedly a rock guy,) 1999 was:
Ben Folds Five, “Unauthorized Biography…”
White Stripes,
Flaming Lips, “The Soft Bulletin,”
Big Sugar, “Heated,”
Folk Implosion, “One Part Lullaby,”
Paul McCartney, “Run Devil Run,”
Foo Fighters, “There is Nothing Left to Lose,”
Fiona Apple, “When the Pawn…”
Beck, “Midnight Vultures.”
Not a bad year at all, compared to what was to come later.
You couldn’t find a way to squeeze a reference to this in?
And it’s not their golden period, but this will always have a special spot in my heart:
And while I prefer the nineties Old 97s to the nineties Wilco, I am honestly surprise Wilco wasn’t mentioned.
I wouldn’t expect it to be on here, but the great Texas band put out an awesome EP calle We Sing and Play in 1999, so I will take this opportunity to put it on here
I left out the band name: Baboon.
GOD I MISS BEULAH
I’m just cruising through my junior and senior year of college here…
Not exactly unheard of in 1999, but not on the charts either; not sure how Chemical Brothers’ Surrender doesn’t get a mention:
This is a really pretty song from Archer Prewitt:
Great list, but I would hardly call Red Alert “unheard,” that song was just about everywhere I went that year. And maybe it’s just because I was in a prime indie college kid phase, but I was all too aware of that Magnetic Fields album, and Le Tigre.
Am I the only one wondering why the No Scrubs is on this list? At least in Sweden, that song was played to death in the late 90’s, early 2000.
Almost everything here was in constant rotation for me in ‘99. This makes me realize that A) that was a better year for music than I remembered and B) life was a hell of a lot more enjoyable in 1999.
TEENAGE FBI!! As a kid who only ever listened to hip-hop really at the time, this is one of the songs that opened me up to other stuff when it was included on the NCAA Football ‘06 soundtrack (the one year that NCAA included licensed tracks versus generic school-band music). Love it!
1999 was my frehsman year in college and the year napster was my life. Many of these bands BTS, DPlan, get up kids etc were ones on my hard drive that year.
If we’re including Basement Jaxx in under-heard:The Chemical Brothers’ 3rd album hit #1 in the UK, 30-something in the US. The single “Hey Boy Hey Girl” hit #3 in the UK, didn’t chart here.DJ Krush’s 5th album came out outside of Japan in 99.Cassius’ first album 1999 came out in 1999. The first single “Cassius: 1999″ was a top 10 US Dance hit, and the second single “Feeling for you” charted higher. It was one of the last great French House albums – many people say Daft Punk killed French House off with 2001’s Discovery.
No mention of Mos Def’s Ms. Fat Booty or Mr. Bungle’s Vanity Fair? For shame!!! [Insert Grampa Simpson meme]
Good christ, what a terrible year of music.
For a few years back then, my buddy Rick and I would take each other as a guest to various concerts the other didn’t want to go to.
He took me to Sigur Ros and I took him to Rilo Kiley
Hey look. The AV Club ate up all the irrelevant “1999″ articles that The Ringer did over the last two weeks and puked them back up even more irrelevantly.
I’m about a month late on seeing this article, but better late than never, right?My current project is a massive 90s mix, and I just finished tackling 1999 so it’s fresh on my mind.
Super Furry Animals – “Northern Lites”This was my Song Of The Summer for 1999.
Catatonia – “Londinium”Shack – “Beautiful”Technique – “Sun Is Shining”After disbanding, Kate Holmes would replace singer Xan Tyler with Sarah Blackwood from Dubstar, and they formed Client.
The Divine Comedy – “Famous” [Magnetic Fields cover]suede – “can’t get enough”Well, it’s no mystery why this didn’t catch on in the U.S. with the opening line: “I feel real now, walking like a woman and talking like a stone-age man.” Our loss.
Gay Dad – “To Earth With Love”Lamb – “B Line”The Gentle People – “Gentle People Are Love”Groove Armada – “I See You Baby”Full Gram’ma Funk vocals on this mix.
And finally, a song that, to me at least, is one of the most impossibly beautiful and haunting songs ever.
Lyrics by the legendary Hal David.
Dot Allison – “Did I Imagine You?”