top 100 most mediorcre rock songs of the 90s

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100. live "all over you"

― f ath, Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:04 (twenty years ago)

99. "Cumbersome" by Seven Mary Three

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:05 (twenty years ago)

good dr bill to thread

― jaymc (jaymc), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:05 (twenty years ago)

METEORCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RAWK!

― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:08 (twenty years ago)

"JANEY SAID WHEN SHE WAS JUST FIVE YEARS OLD THERE WAS NOTHING HAPPENING AT ALL!"

― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:09 (twenty years ago)

"I GOTTA LUST FOR LIFE!"

― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:10 (twenty years ago)

98. candlebox - "far behind"

― rm265, Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:11 (twenty years ago)

"I JUST WANT A LOVER LIKE ANY OTHER WHAT DO I GET?"

― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:13 (twenty years ago)

"AAAOOOOOOO! WEREWOLVES OF LONDON!"

― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:15 (twenty years ago)

"BABY'S ON FIRE! BETTER THROW HER IN THE WATER!"

― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:17 (twenty years ago)

97. Live - "Freaks"
96. Chris Cornell - "Preaching the End of the World"

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:18 (twenty years ago)

"PREACHING THE END OF THE WORLD!!!"

― j blount (papa la bas), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:21 (twenty years ago)

Can I skip to #1?

Deep Blue Something, "Breakfast at Tiffany's"

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:23 (twenty years ago)

Surely #1 is "Zero" or "Tonight, Tonight" (full orchestra at the MTV video awards!) or something by Bush.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:26 (twenty years ago)

"Sex & Candy" by Marcy Playground

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:29 (twenty years ago)

Winner.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:32 (twenty years ago)

Shh. Ned might hear you.

xx-post

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:33 (twenty years ago)

What a great thread this was:

This is the thread where we reminisce over not particularly good Evening Session bands from the late 90s

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:33 (twenty years ago)

95 "wax ecstatic" by sponge
94 "freshmen" by the verve pipe
93 "counting blue cars" by dishwalla

― rob mackey (mackey), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:45 (twenty years ago)

This is where I admit to really liking that Verve Pipe song.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:47 (twenty years ago)

this is where i admit to really like the verve

― rob mackey (mackey), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:48 (twenty years ago)

Man, I liked both "Freshmen" and "Counting Blue Cars"

― Bryan Moore (Bryan Moore), Saturday, 5 February 2005 09:06 (twenty years ago)

How about "Mmmm mmmmm mmmm mmmmm" or whatever its called by the Crash Test Dummies?

― Bryan Moore (Bryan Moore), Saturday, 5 February 2005 09:07 (twenty years ago)

are we not allowed to *like* mediocre songs? when I think of mediocrity I think of good versus bad. isn't a mediocre song half decent and half forgettable.

i mean, there are things about a lot of mediocre songs that have managed to stick with me.

this is just a thinly-veiled "guilty pleasure" thread, which is just a thinly-veiled "what was on mainstream radio" thread. meh.

― rob mackey (mackey), Saturday, 5 February 2005 09:17 (twenty years ago)

Anything by Lenny Kravitz

― Grand Epic (Grand Epic), Saturday, 5 February 2005 11:25 (twenty years ago)

are we not allowed to *like* mediocre songs?

I think a record can be labelled mediocre without implying whether you should love it or not. For a lot of people mediocre signifies the lowest of the low, since more value is placed on the visceral response, whether it be "this is awesome" or "this sucks hippo wang". But mediocre needn't work in opposition to those feelings.

I do get disturbed when people use mediocre praise as a defence of something though. "This band are great, they can really play their instruments" sometimes comes across as the equivalent of "this painter's great, his horseys really look like horseys".

Anyway, my nominations:

Spin Doctors - "Two Princes"
Primal Scream - "Rocks"
The Verve - "Lucky Man"

These seem to capture the essence of stuff you'd hum along to in the pub but wouldn't buy no matter how much you'd drunk.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Saturday, 5 February 2005 11:54 (twenty years ago)

Whither Hootie?

― Austin (Austin), Saturday, 5 February 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

popular - nada surf
74-75 - the connells
i alone - live

― marac, Saturday, 5 February 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

http://images.ciao.com/ide/images/products/normal/855/product-943855.jpg

"Well, I never pray, but tonight I'm on my knees, yeah."

― ffirehorse, Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

"Lady Picture Show" - Stone Temple Pilots

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

Soundgarden - "Spoonman"

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

Third Eye Blind - "Graduate"

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

Pearl Jam - "Yellow Ledbetter"

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

Counting Crows - "Einstein On The Beach"

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:23 (twenty years ago)

Def Leppard - any post-Hysteria ballad

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Belle And Sebastian - "Boy With The Arab Strap"

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Sonic Youth - "Bull In The Heather"

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:26 (twenty years ago)

Nine Inch Nails - "March Of The Pigs"
Beck - "Devil's Haircut"
Stabbing Westward - "What Do I Have To Do?"
Gravity Kills - "Guilty"
Poe - "Angry Johnny"
Lisa Loeb - "And I Do"
Sebadoh - "Willing To Wait"
Modest Mouse - "Whatever Song People Pretend Sticks Out On Those First Two Albums on Up"
Beastie Boys - "Sabotage"
U2 - "Even Better Than The Real Thing"
Nirvana - "Heart-Shaped Box"
Screaming Trees - "All I Know"
Frank Black - "I Heard Ramona Sing"
Toadies - "you know which one, I forget the title it's not DOOO YOU WANNA DIEEEEE but it should be"
Hole - "Doll Parts"
Fall - "15 Ways"
Bush - "Glycerine"
Wax - "California"
Weezer - "Say It Ain't So"
Bon Jovi - "Bed Of Roses"
Faith No More - "A Small Victory"
something off of Redd Kross's Phaseshifter
Tom Petty - "It's Good To Be King"
Bryan Adams - "Thought I Died And Gone To Heaven"
The dude from Doc Hollywood - "I Am The One And Only"
The Heights - "How Do You Talk To An Angel?"
Garbage - "Queer"

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

that toadies song is "possum kingdom." i kinda like it.

― rm265, Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

Matthew Sweet "Girlfriend"
Ned's Atomic Dustbin "Gray Cell Green"

Crash Test Dummies!!!! So hilarious! I wish I had thought of that one.

― DaveQ (daveq), Saturday, 5 February 2005 16:57 (twenty years ago)

The Rentals - "Friends of P"
The Flaming Lips - "She Don't Use Jelly"

― Ian Riese-Moraine (Eastern Mantra), Saturday, 5 February 2005 17:45 (twenty years ago)

That bloody "Turn your head, now, baby, just spit me out" tune that I only ever hear in shops - Collective Soul, maybe?

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Saturday, 5 February 2005 17:47 (twenty years ago)

Yes, Collective Soul, "December"

Jesus is that ever a bad song.

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Saturday, 5 February 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)

No, no, no. That Toadies song is absolutely brilliant. In fact, Rubberneck was pretty ok, by my account.

― rob mackey (mackey), Saturday, 5 February 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

ooh, gotta add

Blind Melon (whatever their one hit was called)

― DaveQ (daveq), Saturday, 5 February 2005 18:11 (twenty years ago)

Anything by Blur, GODDAMN ARE THEY OVERRATED.

OASIS TOO.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 5 February 2005 18:22 (twenty years ago)

"life is a highway" tom cochrane, 1992.

― sulky (sulky), Saturday, 5 February 2005 18:25 (twenty years ago)

'Beastie Boys - "Sabotage"
Nine Inch Nails - "March Of The Pigs"
Beck - "Devil's Haircut"'

Miccio, U so crazy.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 5 February 2005 18:28 (twenty years ago)

Sebadoh - "Willing To Wait"
Garbage - "Queer"
Stabbing Westward - "What Do I Have To Do?"

OTMx1000

― Ian John50n (orion), Saturday, 5 February 2005 18:35 (twenty years ago)

all I want: toad the wet sprocket

― kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 5 February 2005 18:49 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 19 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Skid Row - "Wasted Time"

― Riot Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 6 February 2005 00:49 (twenty years ago)

Offspring -- "Self-Esteem"
and then I guess "Low S.O." by Rollins Band too
"Backwards Dog -- Soup Dragons

― Aaron A., Sunday, 6 February 2005 01:52 (twenty years ago)

Sorry...I hated those tunes The Flaming Lips and The Rentals then and eleven/twelve years later nothing's changed. They're royally fucking stupid songs...in my valueless opinion.

Days of the New - "Enemy" should be in here, too.

― Ian Riese-Moraine (Eastern Mantra), Sunday, 6 February 2005 01:57 (twenty years ago)

Semisonic -- "Closing Time"

Yecch.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Sunday, 6 February 2005 02:03 (twenty years ago)

wait, if "Closing Time" wasn't Matchbox 20 then what was that Matchbox 20 song?

― Aaron A., Sunday, 6 February 2005 02:13 (twenty years ago)

Push or 3 AM?

― rob mackey (mackey), Sunday, 6 February 2005 02:54 (twenty years ago)

Everclear -- "Santa Monica"

this song is pretty great.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Sunday, 6 February 2005 02:56 (twenty years ago)

"Unforgiven 2" was sooooooooo bad.

"AND YOU'RE UNFORGIVEN TOOOOOOOO"

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Sunday, 6 February 2005 02:57 (twenty years ago)

this song is pretty great.

DJDee, shockingly on point.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 6 February 2005 02:58 (twenty years ago)

Offspring -- "Self-Esteem"

ENEMY

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Sunday, 6 February 2005 03:00 (twenty years ago)

seriously.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 6 February 2005 03:08 (twenty years ago)

Mediocre and good/great aren't mutually exclusive.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Sunday, 6 February 2005 04:05 (twenty years ago)

I would tend to disagree with that, actually.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 6 February 2005 04:31 (twenty years ago)

What the fuck is it with people liking mediocre? Are there some ace tranquilisers out there that I've yet to get hold of?

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Sunday, 6 February 2005 04:33 (twenty years ago)

what is with people defining words like "mediocre" and "corny" has being positive qualities?

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Sunday, 6 February 2005 04:40 (twenty years ago)

http://www.singlecollector.com/Smashing_Pumpkins/disarm.jpg

"The killer in me is the killer in you. My love I send this smile over to you."

― ffirehorse, Sunday, 6 February 2005 04:49 (twenty years ago)

Iris - Goo Goo Dolls

― miss chievous grin (miss chevious grin), Sunday, 6 February 2005 04:56 (twenty years ago)

Goo Goo Dolls entire career, lives and families to thread.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Sunday, 6 February 2005 04:59 (twenty years ago)

"Feed the Tree" -- Belly (only bad song on that album!)

― Aaron A., Sunday, 6 February 2005 05:03 (twenty years ago)

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE PEOPLE

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 6 February 2005 05:07 (twenty years ago)

http://www.singlecollector.com/Blind_Melon/no.jpg

"All I can do is pour some tea for two and speak my point of view but it's not sane."

― ffirehorse, Sunday, 6 February 2005 06:12 (twenty years ago)

What the fuck is it with people liking mediocre?

It's hard to explain, but I like a lot of the listed songs (including my nominations) in the same way that I truly enjoy Where The Heart Is and Josie and the Pussycats. On one level I know they're not accomplished works of art - badly scripted, corny and overwrought, badly acted, etc. - but on another, none of that matters. I'm not looking for Modern Times when I watch my Judd-Portman weepie. Something is just right about them - the filmmakers accomplished what they wanted to accomplish, the films are complete unto themselves.

Most of the above aren't songs I would put on a recommended list for someone who wanted to be the world's biggest music geek. But often I grew up with them, they're pleasant enough to hear on the radio, they bring back pleasant memories, I enjoy them because (for the most part) the songs are everything they were intended to be. I'll take a thousand Toadies singles to U2 pumping out another brick in the canon. I'll take a bunch of goofy Ludacris/Usher/Lil Jon tracks to Kanye cementing his legacy.

There's nothing wrong with mediocre, mediocre encompasses a great deal more space than anyone wants to think - what happens within that mediocrity matters to me.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Sunday, 6 February 2005 08:39 (twenty years ago)

FILTER - hey man nice shot

― jake b. (cerybut), Sunday, 6 February 2005 11:43 (twenty years ago)

What was that 'Hey something or other' song that people were taking the piss out of Dr Bill for liking?

― Alba (Alba), Sunday, 6 February 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

Do I really have to say this again??

IF YOU HATE THE 90'S YOU HATE MUSIC.

― billstevejim, Sunday, 6 February 2005 16:38 (twenty years ago)

For the record, the following songs are not mediocre...

Self Esteem
Disarm
Santa Monica
In Bloom
Spoonman
Zero
Tonight Tonight
Lady Picture Show
Devil's Haircut
Sabotage
Heart-Shaped Box
Say It Ain't So
A Small Victory

Friends Of P, Sex And Candy, She Don't Use Jelly and Hero Of The Day are questionably mediocre, but I like them so it's hard to tell.

― billstevejim, Sunday, 6 February 2005 16:45 (twenty years ago)

oh geez, i'm having early to mid nineties WDRE flashbacks. 103.9 in philly was never the same. RIP.

― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Sunday, 6 February 2005 17:42 (twenty years ago)

!!!!!!!!

WDRE FUCKING REPRAZENT

Man, when I heard that station went under, I was silent for like an entire hour. It was like hearing a close friend was moving away.

What was that 'Hey something or other' song that people were taking the piss out of Dr Bill for liking?

Gin Blossoms, "Hey Jealousy". I was gonna make some threat about people mentioning that song in the thread, but I figured it was more or less assumed.

IF YOU HATE THE 90'S YOU HATE MUSIC.

Amen.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Sunday, 6 February 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

I love "Hey Jealousy"

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Sunday, 6 February 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

i want to say 311 'down' but somehow that seems more than mediocre

― jake b. (cerybut), Sunday, 6 February 2005 21:33 (twenty years ago)

collective soul - shine

― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Sunday, 6 February 2005 21:35 (twenty years ago)

anything alice in chains

― blackmail.is.my.life (blackmail.is.my.life), Sunday, 6 February 2005 21:37 (twenty years ago)

It's certainly possible to see Blind Melon as both mediocre and wonderful. Really, I'm proof! But this point has been proved already.

Brick by Ben Folds Five

― PiersT, Sunday, 6 February 2005 23:18 (twenty years ago)

"groovy train"

(now was that The Farm, or The Soup Dragons? So hard to tell...)

*duck*

― cicatrix, Tuesday, 8 February 2005 21:26 (twenty years ago)

"All of the beautiful colors are very very meaningful. Gray is my favorite color. I felt so symbolic yesterday. If I knew Picasso
I would buy myself a gray guitar and play."

― ffirehorse, Wednesday, 9 February 2005 00:17 (twenty years ago)

Soundgarden - "Spoonman"

Up yours, Anthony, "Spoonman" fuckin' ROCK!

You like Limp Bizkit, for cryin' out loud!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 00:58 (twenty years ago)

"Counting Blue Cars" is brill.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 9 February 2005 01:03 (twenty years ago)

Matthew Sweet "Girlfriend"

Oh you're insane. Any sone featuring Richard Lloyd on guitar IS VERY DECIDEDLY NOT MEDIOCRE, GODDAMMIT!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 01:11 (twenty years ago)

rembrants 'i'l be there for you'
anything by xtreme
anything by fucking Cast

― lukey (Lukey G), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 16:50 (twenty years ago)

"all I want: toad the wet sprocket"

formulaically I can see that, but I think less is more where this song is concerned; it works. overproduction is a far worser crime. anyway, it makes me smile when I hear it (I think TWS on a whole is underrated though, as is Glen Phillip's songwriting)

"Brick by Ben Folds Five"

totally! most mediocre and successful song by an otherwise brilliant band. I am more forgiving of it now that I know it's his personal account about trying to keep an abortion hidden from their parents in high school, but it's still not all enjoyable to listen to.

― miss chievous grin (miss chevious grin), Wednesday, 9 February 2005 22:37 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

So many to choose from (on commercial rock radio, at least). This is OTM.

The mediocre list gets much smaller if you divide it into two lists: "truly mediocre" and "f---g awful."

― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 24 July 2009 00:10 (sixteen years ago)

Threads like this never work because everyone has their own least favorite 90s rock songs, and by the time it gets to 70 or 80 posts, the entire K-Rock playlist from 1992 to 1999 gets represented.. Thankfully I already listed the songs that I thought shouldn't be here, cos I really didn't wanna have to spend time on that tonight.

― billstevejim, Friday, 24 July 2009 01:15 (sixteen years ago)

Mediocre rock songs from the 90s are nowhere near as bad as mediocre rock songs from the 00s.

― Mr. Snrub, Friday, 24 July 2009 02:54 (sixteen years ago)

Yes. At the time, I got my musical panties all in a bunch over Live, Seven Mary Three and the rest. Now they sound pretty good compared to these kids today.

― kornrulez6969, Friday, 24 July 2009 03:31 (sixteen years ago)

WDRE FUCKING REPRAZENT

― Spray-On Food Particles With Soup (los blue jeans), Friday, 24 July 2009 03:43 (sixteen years ago)

Define "these kids today." If it's commercial rock radio -- at least the kind they have here in South Florida -- I might agree. But commercial rock in the late 90s was bleak. Ex. A -- C: Creed; Limp Biskit; Blink-182.

Haha. I just realized I inadvetently posted the wrong link above. This is what's OTM (the YouTube clip was okay, too, but for a different context).

― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 24 July 2009 03:53 (sixteen years ago)

SEMI-CHARMED LIFE

― galumphing lummox (bug), Friday, 24 July 2009 05:37 (sixteen years ago)

WDRE FUCKING REPRAZENT

― Spray-On Food Particles With Soup (los blue jeans), Thursday, July 23, 2009 11:43 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

YES!! DRE was broadcast in Philly and Long Island (strange, I know) so that was pretty much all I listened to throughout high school. A friend recently downloaded all the Shriek of the Weeks. I feel like hearing some of those again would blow my mind.

― Pancakes are one of my favorite ways to party. (ENBB), Friday, 24 July 2009 05:42 (sixteen years ago)

Huh, check this out - http://www.advancedspecialties.net/wlir.htm

All of them listed by year/week.

― Pancakes are one of my favorite ways to party. (ENBB), Friday, 24 July 2009 05:45 (sixteen years ago)

Mediocre rock songs from the 90s are nowhere near as bad as mediocre rock songs from the 00s.

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, July 23, 2009 9:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Agreed. But I will also allow that I'm just older and less tolerant than I used to be.

― (I'm white, btw.) (kenan), Friday, 24 July 2009 05:48 (sixteen years ago)

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