On Sunday, February 25th, 2018 I heard an a cappella cover of Black Balloon by the Goo Goo Dolls. As the song played, I thought to myself, “I don’t even remember the last time I even thought about the Goo Goo Dolls. I wonder how the rest of 90s music stands up?”

Well. I’m going to find out.

After digging through a bunch of different lists and categorizations, I landed on the Billboard Alternative Song List as a good indication for what was trendy, and what I was listening to in the 90s.

Here’s the plan:

I’ve pulled the lists of every #1 Alternative song for each week in the entire 1990s. I’m going to listen to the entire album that song was on (if I can find it). I will listen to each album only the first time a song from that album appears on the chart. After I listen to the album once, twice, or a few times, I’ll write up a post.

Here are some things I’m strongly considering including in each post:

1. Have I heard this song before (pre-listen)?
2. Have I actually heard this song before?
3. When it first hit the chart, and how long it was on top
4. What is my initial reaction?
5. What is my final reaction?
6. Trivia.

The way the chart is constructed, I think it will omit some things like Lisa Loeb. So I’ll likely call audibles and add those obvious omissions in as I get to them chronologically.