Rob Harvilla's 60 Songs that Explain the 90s

I am digging this series of podcasts from Mr. Harvilla. Anyone else listening to them?

Thus far, he's done 45 - 60 minutes on the each of following songs:

You Oughta Know
Hey Jealousy
C.R.E.A.M.
The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)
November Rain
Mind Playing Tricks On Me
All I Want For Christmas is You
Mayonaise
I Want It That Way
Make 'Em Say Uhh!
Cannonball
Enter Sandman
You Get What You Give
Gonna Make You Sweat
Nuthin' But a G-Thang
Just a Girl
No Scrubs
Hunger Strike
Juicy
Man! I Feel Like a Woman
Stinkfist
Common People
Dreaming of You
I Got 5 on It
Scenario
Hyperballad

I have enjoyed his writing in the past, and he's got some pretty good angles for most of these pods. The I Got 5 on It episode, in particular, was really enjoyable to me.

some nice couplings there:

The Rain (November Rain) (Supa Dupa Fly)
Mayonaise (I Want It That Way)
Gonna Make You Sweat (You Get What You Give)
Just a Girl (Nuthin' But a G-Thang)

Sounds interesting, but appears to be a Spotify thing, not available as a podcast.

It pulls up via PocketCasts, someone might have a bootleg RSS feed.

It is a Spotify thing - it's from The Ringer, and they're now owned by Spotify.

two terrible tastes that taste worse together

Loved the latest episode on Nothing Compares 2 U

Thank you for recommending this. I've been making my way through and have really been enjoying Harvilla's voice. Good, simple concept of using 60 songs to tell bigger stories of trends, artist trajectories, and different genre pockets.

So far my favorites have been "All I Want For Christmas is You" and "Make 'Em Say Uhh!" Had a good laugh in the latter when he said, "Mystikal had the same relation to the beat as the Kool Aid Man had to a brick wall."

From the episode on Third Eye Blind:

We're talking songs that make you want to smooch your also-married-to-someone-else high-school sweetheart in the back of your minivan in the parking lot at your 15-year high school reunion.

holy fucking shit @ young Rob's interpretation of "Take Me Home Tonight"

possibly the funniest thing I've ever heard (in the "My Heart Will Go On" ep)

Assume you mean Eddie Money's song? I was thinking how it and the PSB' "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" appeared within a year of each other, and the way each brings in this legendary female pop voice halfway through the record in a way that's so haunting. I'd do a poll if it wouldn't be so wildly lopsided. (I do like "Take Me Home Tonight.")

yes, Eddie Money's song. As a young boy, Rob thought the song was a cautionary tale about the possible results from a one night stand. The lover from that night, voiced by Ronnie Spector, shows up at Eddie's doorstep to plead "Feed my little baby. Feed my little baaaaabbbaaaaay." The idea that she's singing "feed my little baby" and like that is just too much.

Definitely an interesting/creative mishearing.

I knew who the Jerky Boys were through my older brother, but I never owned an album or saw the movie. I cannot believe Pablo, Honey is named after a Jerky Boys call. I even started listening to PH more after Turrican's thread (and blowout). How does a band survive this?

the "no scrubs" episode was the only one i've heard and it was pretty enjoyable

I wish they'd put all of the songs referenced in each episode in the playlist

I've listened to most of them. Highly recommend the "Wonderwall" episode.

These are really good. I started bingeing them which was a mistake because Rob's normally very satisfying vocal cadence starts to feel gimmicky, but as long as I don't listen to more than 2 in a row I find most of the episodes immensely enjoyable, and usually pretty insightful. He also has really good guests most of the time, who actually have specific knowledge about the artist or scene in question and aren't just the usual suspects on the podcast circuit. And the interviews never overstay their welcome.

Rob occasionally drops an oddly sensual "yeah" while the guest is talking.

^lol

yeah that's gonna do it for me and message boards pic.twitter.com/GxI1gKnaf9

— rob harvilla (@harvilla) June 16, 2022

I am a regular listener to the show and enjoy it and how much I enjoy it surprisingly does not correlate with my own enjoyment (or lack thereof) of the song being profiled. Some of my least favorite music has been some of my favorite shows which is not the norm, for me anyway.

lol none stuck out in these last two eps

This is a great podcast. Is there a thread on ilm for music podcast recommendations?

The Mary J. Blige episode was one of the best, really outstanding stuff. I immediately emailed a musicologist professor who taught "Women in Music" when I was school, to tell her she ought to give it a listen.

this podcast just illuminated - for me, for the first time - the potential double meaning of the title of Blink-182's second album Dude Ranch

both hilarious and horrifying

as soon as he mentioned the possibility, i was like oh, got it, say no more

yes, that was good insight

whoa

i wonder what internal spotify nonsense caused them to stop appending the song being discussed at the end of the episode. could it really be as dumb as the episodes being original content that they don't have to pay rights for but the songs being stuff they do have to pay for, so it helps their bottom line if not everyone who listens through the episode also plays the song?

i have no idea but it probably won’t be a case of them paying or not paying for the song it will be a victim of some larger agreement between spotify and a rights holder about whether or not “spotify original” podcast content can contain their music (and it might be different per territory)

yeah its weird bc the song was not actually embedded in the episode -- queueing up an ep would add the podcast followed by the song, separately. So that doesn't quite track. But can't really imagine what else the reason would be.

oh i see. hmm dunno.

maybe they just gave up on the "podcast+song" experiment? i've never heard of it outside of the mentions on this show.

I see these are available on non-Spotify feeds, will check it out

In today's episode re "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode, Rob refers to "the great critic Neg Raggett."

I can proudly say I once served the great Ned Raggett a drink at the Pasadena McCormick & Schmick's, nearly 16 years ago now.

I've listened to a ton of these now and it's great. Haven't listened to the last few because the songs weren't enticing (Hootie, Lisa Loeb, etc), but I know he goes way beyond the title artist and I probably should, huh?

xp Pretty sure I called up Ned while he was doing a radio show c. 1999, and we briefly chatted about the Dead C.

Hootie one was good. Makes a good case for the band's strengths and the underappreciated world-weariness or social commentary in their lyrics. It does open with a lot of 80s baseball card material and "my life as a sports fan" material; that didn't do as much for me, but many here might find it very sweet and charming!

i need to dig into this more, i listened to an episode ages ago & really liked it

Hootie and Lisa were both fantastic!

^seconded.

I’m up to episode 58 and there hasn’t been a dud episode so far. I could listen to this guy recite the phone book.

lol at the Enjoy the Silence episode being structured around the "For the Masses" tribute album, a mostly forgotten album I listened to a whole lot in the late-90s and which actually got me back into depeche mode at the time

Ok I'll eventually get around to those eps (even though sports talk is equally unenticing)

I like the way he tells stories and his eye for banal personal details, so even the sports talk wasn't a total deal-breaker for a sports-hater like myself. YMMV of course.

lol at his pronunciation of Basildon

you can find "sports talk" in the works of David Berman as well

Not to take anything away from the great Ned Raggett but I do like his subtle habit of always referring to critics as "the great music writer x" or "the great critic x", just bigging up his colleagues.

I've tried to get both my 90s music-obsessed friend and his 90s music-obsessed 14 year old stepson to listen, without success.

my partner likes 90s music and absolutely hates it.

i am DEF looking forward to an emo episode or two

Pumped Up Kicks a much better song and more effective earworm imo

Doc, you are navigating this thread revival with grace and humility, so i mean this in the kindest way possible: what in the actual fuck

yeah srsly

Good thing Pumped Up Kicks doesn’t have any annoying vocal effects

That track also has that squeaky synth bit.

can we talk less about that cursed song

otm

lol alpine static

did not expect to find myself here defending Pumped Up Kicks, a very flawed song but an earworm to be sure. it has that catchy bassline! and elusive, intriguing, likely stupid lyrics like "Ronald's got a quick hand" and "i said your hair's on fire, must have lost your wits." most importantly tho it has a chorus that, probably from the first time i heard it, will be in my head til I'm 90. i STILL can't remember Mr. Brightside's and I listened to the damn thing fout times in a row on my train ride two hours ago.

~calls security~

Love the "Brightside" ref in this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XOt2Vh0T8w

hell, even Usher played that bass line himself:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8v0aka

Oops, try this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMEuA7HbiiY

lol WOW

i like the organ part they added to that arrangement, at least

Well, it's a real singer, as opposed to the squeaky white dude.

yeah but he also seems severely miscast

the squeaky white dude? Yeah

Is it a song about shooting people who wear bad sneakers?

Squeaky Homme

this is unfair, I'm sure Foster is a lovely guy

fwiw it's definitely a Jeremy-esque tale of a seething youth planning some horrible violence based on petty perceived slights.

Mr. Brightside, I mean. Pumped Up Kicks is about Reebok's "Pump" sneakers. I guess Usher really loved those things!

Ok but seriously, I realized what song my brain was prompting Mr. Brightside to turn into: Call Your Girlfriend!!!Specifically with "the only way her heart will mend..." replacing "destiny is calling me..." and lifting the song up into something. Now that's a chorus, right there.

Okay, weighing in. I've heard "Pumped Up Kicks" maybe three times and thought the chorus was catchy and didn't notice the rest of it. Never heard of "Mr. Brightside," it took me a few seconds to figure out who does it. A coworker tried to get me into the Killers once and I heard half a song and rejected it. Apart from that, all I know about the Killers is that they are from Vegas (I think?) and the main guy has feathers on his outfit sometimes.

Just relistened to PUK and I liked it less than I remembered. It's catchy but empty. Nice chorus. It does not bother me. I would never seek it out again or pay money for it but I would not turn it off if it came on the radio. Doc is right, the chorus will always be there in the same way that the Oscar Meyer jingle is always playing in some corner of my brain.

Just heard Brightside for the first time and it is not for me. It is more ambitious than PUK and seems stuffed to the gills with big feelings. They sound like what I think Billy Corgan wants to sound like. That's what he's aiming for. Like PUK, I don't hate this song but because it's so much busier it refuses to fade into the background or groove. I have to wrestle with it and get up close to it and I'm just not attracted to it enough to get that close to this song. I would grimace and turn it off. There are no immediate hooks, if I try to remember what it sounded like there is static.

Listened to Brightside again while watching the video. I like it more his time but I still don't like it. God he's wordy. Maybe if the Strokes and the Pumpkins mated? Ugh, it's so gloppy. The production is like, all maxed out or something.

Both songs kinda stink. "Pumped Up Kicks" doesn't do enough to maintain interest and "Mr. Brightside" is doing too much.

It blows my mind that Mr Brightside is that huge. I had no idea.

I love that ILM take on Brightside is that it’s unmemorable and hookless.

i love all of you sweet summer children who have never heard these songs but can some GROWNUPS please join this thread before my elderly skeleton turns to dust

We sound like a bunch of guys staring a hammer and trying to figure out why someone would use it to nail something

i feel ATTACKED

“Mr. Brightside” reminds me most of “Born Slippy”… the tempo & vocal cadence.

Just heard Brightside for the first time...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbUYVcaF_l0

I'm a 48 year old music nerd with big odd gaps in my knowledge. I grew up in the middle of nowhere with no cable and no good radio. never spent much time in bars or listening to the radio and I don't stream music. Most of the music I listen to is what I have sought out or friends have turned me on to. This song came out in 2004, a year after I was done with college which is probably when my musical inputs started to diminish.

Now my fifteen year old tells me about things but I don't think she's ever mentioned the Killers. I don't think she'd like them. I heard her singing a Shonen Knife song the other day and I told her that I saw them open for Nirvana. She was shocked that I knew who they were. Her 13 year old best friend is a Raincoats freak. Kids that are into music are mainlining so much stuff that it blows my mind. I can get nostalgic about how I really got a lot out of my 15 cds when I was a kid, because that's all I had. I knew Full Moon Fever backwards and forwards. The Kids nowadays are just hoovering up the tunes like there's no tomorrow. My kid was listening to Otis Redding the other day. But she keeps up with the current stuff. Sorry, I'm rambling about my damn kids now.

I knew Full Moon Fever backwards and forwards

Painted in a corner / And all she wants to do / Is dance down at the Zombie Zoo

love that Shonen Knife development! (and hella jealous you saw that show).

Megadeth dude's drum part really helps the song. They should do that with all the band members... It'd be like a Ship of Theseus.

Vintage ILM:

Mr brightside

Where was Mr Brightside's refrain stolen from???

I have come to the conclusion that Mr Brightside by The Killers might just be the best song of the past ten years

Pumped Up Kicks is a better bad song than any of the Killers bad songs. It’s memorably bad, the Killers are grocery store radio music.

I've never heard either in a grocery store.

Definitely have heard PUK in a grocery store.

Add me to the "always confuse PUK with Young Folks" brigade.

“Mr. Brightside” is in that unique, thin zone of singles I won’t stan for but that are ridiculously fun to sing along to in an exaggerated way while pretending you’re experiencing a mild seizure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6DyPsCXxIk

nine min remix for the haters, more time to soak in the patina left by the billions of drunken feelings rubbed onto the song over the past two decades

To all the people who claim to not understand "Mr. Brightside," may I suggest a certain podcast episode?

I can't deal with Harvilla. I can handle him as a guest on Bandsplain but I can't get through an episode of his show. Sometimes when he speaks it starts to get a little close to slam poetry or something, I don't know.

try it on 1.4X speed

The Jacques Lu Cont remix was my #1 single of 2005. Still is.

A couple of friends of mine are in a cover band called the Stone Cold Killers (playing songs by STP, Coldplay and the Killers), simultaneously explaining the '90s, the early '00s, and also why I'm probably never going to see them play.

I keep laughing about 1) clown cars and ii) blurry bigfoot.

One thing that really bugged me was the assertion (I think by Sean Fennessy) that QOTSA is just Josh Homme and whoever he has around. Most of the current members have all been in place for over a decade.

Funny episode. The comedians are classic but what cracked me up this morning was all the Monster Magnet stuff.

yeah the Monster Magnet stuff was great