15-year-old Jaymc rants about the increasing homogeneity of alt-rock radio

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I just found this in an old notebook from high school. It must have been mid-to-late 1994:

"SONGS THAT Q101 USED TO PLAY (DON'T ANYMORE)

-Bohemia
-Big-Time Sensuality & Human Behavior
-13 Steps Lead Down (I've heard Veronica more often)
-Mmm Mmm Mmm
-Cut Your Hair (yet no new Pavement!?)
-Cantaloop
-Because the Night - 10,000 Maniacs
-Lemon - U2
-Sexual Healing - Soul Asylum
-Look Up to the Sky & Bed of Roses - Indians
-My Sister - Juliana Hatfield
-anything by Matthew Sweet (Girlfriend, Devil w/the Green Eyes)
-Slackjawed (The Connells)
-Daughter/Elderly Woman (P. Jam)
-Hang On (Teenage Fanclub)
-Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove (Dead Can Dance)
-White Love (One Dove)
-No Excuses (Alice in Chains)
-Believe (Dig)
-My Umbrella (Tripping Daisy)
-Its a free world, baby (R.E.M.)
-Dim (Dada)
-1992 Morrissey (Suedehead, e.g.)

NOW WHAT I'M WONDERING IS INSTEAD OF PLAYING Come Out and Play EVERY SECOND OF THE DAY, PLAY ONE OF THESE?"

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:19 (twenty-two years ago)

24-year-old Jaymc wonders: Who the fuck are "Indians"?

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:20 (twenty-two years ago)

They didn't play Juliana Hatfield anymore = they knew you were 15, and they didn't want to damage you any further.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:22 (twenty-two years ago)

this is why I set my high school notebooks on fire. That said, let me share with you a lyric I remember writing back in the halycon days of zit cream and homerooms.

"You talk about Pavement, Unrest and Sebadoh/but is there a single song by them you know?"

SUCK ON THAT, POSERS!!!!!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:22 (twenty-two years ago)

haha Whose lyric was that?

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:22 (twenty-two years ago)

mine! see the second sentence of my post.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:24 (twenty-two years ago)

oh.

Who talks about Pavement, Unrest, and Sebadoh without knowing any songs by them? Was this a rampant problem in your high school?

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh christ. I remember when I was about 14 the local record store was giving away FREE TAPES!!!1 of the Indians' Indianism. This was new to me: the concept of FREE TAPES! Given away by the actual record store! Because of that, the Indians have instant name recognition with me.

That said, I still have no idea what they sound like and probably will not give a shit anytime soon.

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:27 (twenty-two years ago)

anthony you are Mary lou Lord and i claim my $5

― the surface noise (electricsound), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:28 (twenty-two years ago)

no I was a stupid full of shit high schooler (what's Mary Lou Lord's excuse?) and I keep my $5.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:29 (twenty-two years ago)

What fascinates me about this notebook scribble is that, as terrible as many of those earlier songs were, it was clearly a critical juncture in alt-rock radio history! I don't think it's mere nostalgia to say that alt-rock was a bit more diverse in 1993, say, than in the years that followed. Look at that list! "Cantaloop" followed by "Cut Your Hair"!

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Were the Indians maybe on the Reality Bites soundtrack?

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:29 (twenty-two years ago)

while we're here did anybody else write "ARCHERS OF LOAF" and "PAVEMENT" in their high school notebooks? God was I a lonely SPIN reader in search of an indie scene.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Man, that's a document of an era (the Reality Bites soundtrack).

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Anthony, I never heard Archers of Loaf in high school. But my senior year was all about Pavement and Sonic Youth.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:31 (twenty-two years ago)

i found a ruler of mine from when i was 15 (1990) that had "manic street preachers" written on it. it gave me an unpleasant chill

― the surface noise (electricsound), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:32 (twenty-two years ago)

The Archers of Loaf didn't even exist yet when I was in high school. *sigh*

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:33 (twenty-two years ago)

it was clearly a critical juncture in alt-rock radio history

I guess so, but "Cantaloop," "Lemon" and "Big Time Sensuality" are by far the best songs on that list. What radio really needed was new Pavement, Unrest, and Sebadoh.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:33 (twenty-two years ago)

the 15-year-old me would have asked you to be my best friend if you said that to him, Kenan.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah!

*creative handshake*

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Just give me my Joni, My Nick, Neil, and Bob
You can keep your Tsunami, your Slant 6 and Smog

― the surface noise (electricsound), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Sebadoh and Sentridoh and Superchunk and I don't know
Doug and Lou and Calvin too and Kim and Kim and Kim and Kim

― the surface noise (electricsound), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:37 (twenty-two years ago)

(sorry about that. that's Mary Lou Lord btw)

― the surface noise (electricsound), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Nick Rhodes? Nick Cave? Santa?

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Kenan, I guess what I mean by the "critical juncture" that I find it interesting that I was writing right around the same time that alt-rock was finding itself. After a few years of playing half-grunge (Pearl Jam) / half-80's college radio favorites (10,000 Maniacs), they started playing the Offspring nonstop. I'm not actually passing judgment. On principle, I find diverse playlists more interesting, but that's the funny thing about reading that list now, is how bland a lot of it now seems!

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Nick Rhodes? Nick Cave? Santa?

i.. don't know!

― the surface noise (electricsound), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Nick Rhodes? Nick Cave? Santa?

Drake?

That seems like a very Mary Lou Lord type of thing to say.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Kim and Kim and Kim and Kim

Gordon? Deal? Thayil???

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I see what you mean. Alt-rock was just beginning to take on its current dreadful meaning.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Gordon? Deal? Thayil???

Kim Shattuck's probably in there somewhere.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:45 (twenty-two years ago)

don't forget Wilde!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I remain wounded that I did not get dissed in the Mary Lou Lord song

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:48 (twenty-two years ago)

That was a differnt song -- "I Don't Want to be a Part of Your Tape Hiss World"

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Stand back...Kenan's on fire tonight!

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 17 November 2003 03:51 (twenty-two years ago)

re: the thread title:

don't be ridiculous. the only way it could get more homogenous would be if they dropped Nickelback from their playlists, leaving only Creed and Evanescence (ack, xtian rock rules the roost!)

― Dave M. (rotten03), Monday, 17 November 2003 04:31 (twenty-two years ago)

But this was nine years ago, Dave!

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 November 2003 04:34 (twenty-two years ago)

not alone, anthony - i saw the archers of loaf open for weezer when i was in high school (and i knew who they were).

― vahid (vahid), Monday, 17 November 2003 05:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm also amused at my naivete about Pavement; did I actually think they'd have multiple singles from Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (which I didn't own at the time)?

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 17 November 2003 05:50 (twenty-two years ago)

seven years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZzYmC7TS84

Feelin' this this morning. Thank you, angry 15-year-old Jaymc.

― kkvgz, Wednesday, 3 August 2011 12:27 (fifteen years ago)

You're welcome. I barely remember that one.

Another song that I could just as easily have listed as an early 1994 favorite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE-znePV0UQ

― Get a Brain Rick Moranis (jaymc), Monday, 15 August 2011 22:25 (fifteen years ago)

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