Download: It Was A Good Decade, Vol. 1 (1990-1992) - The Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda-been Hits of the '90s

Don't let the name set you off.

This isn't a mix tape of a bunch of nobodies. These are talented groups. Some could be called one-hit wonders (if you wanted to use such obnoxious nomenclature--perish the thought), but most are no-hit wonders. Some experienced success through live shows and word of mouth, but only a few experienced any real radio play.

But what they all have in common is being victims of a collective cultural amnesia. That is to say that, while The Sundays may be remembered by you and me, they don't get a ton of airplay on Jack FM (though, admittedly, this song was on Sirius/XM the other day). But they don't get the same nostalgic attention as even most of the one-hit wonders featured here.

And unlike some of the one-hit wonders we've covered, pretty much all of these bands have a lot of talent. Most all of them could have and should have taken off. Pretty much every song featured in this series was a single. Many of these bands were on majors. The bands gave it a shot. They weren't afraid of success. These artists had more than one song in them, and often more than one or two albums in them. In another time (which usually means the '70s in these type of discussions), they would have been nurtured and cultivated by a caring A&R man at a record label who cared about making art--or at least that's how the myth goes. I dunno. Maybe they would have tanked in any time period. No matter. This series (7-discs!) will span from 1990-1998 and try to compile the best music that either you never heard (and if you did hear it, you probably forgot all about it after you sold it to Blockbuster Music or Media Play for a buck back in '99).

(a special shout-out to my friends at AltCountryTab.ca for helping me compile the playlists. As someone who was still very young for most of the '90s, I needed lots of help from people who actually sought out cool music in the '90s.)




It Was A Good Decade, Vol. 1 (1990-1992)

1. The Posies - Golden Blunders
2. Drivin' N Cryin' - Fly Me Courageous
3. The Sundays - Here's Where The Story Ends
4. The Charlatans - The Only One I Know
5. Inspiral Carpets - This Is How It Feels
6. Soup Dragons - I'm Free
7. Ride - Taste
8. Chapterhouse - Pearl
9. Concrete Blonde - Joey
10. Ned's Atomic Dust Bin - Gray Cell Green
11. School of Fish - 3 Strange Days
12. Reverend Horton Heat - Bad Reputation
13. Material Issue - Valarie Loves Me
14. Flop - Hello
15. Miracle Legion - Snacks and Candy
16. Screaming Trees - Nearly Lost You
17. Sloan - Underwhelmed
18. Eugenius - Flame On
19. Sugar - Helpless
20. Bettie Serveert - Tom Boy
21. Buffalo Tom - Mineral

Click album art to download or just click here.

Check back next week for Volume 2!