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