Music Video

Summer

Chill Music Video, Video

Not my favorite song or anything, but the outfit Amyl is wearing here would’ve been a fairly typical one to see women wearing in summer during the 1980s. Now this would be uncommon attire due to prudishness. In 1984, half of women under ~30 would’ve been dressed in variations of this in the park or even shopping, particularly on the hottest days.

Before Smells

Chill Music Video, Video

I looked up this video to say the very thing a commenter said: “I can’t think of anything that captures the vibe of the transition from the late ’80s into the early ’90s more than this video.” There were others, too. But this presaged much of the 1990s and while still having 1980s styling and directly led to the popularity of bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden. No “Epic,” most likely no “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

I remember the first time I saw this video and heard this song. It was on MTV sometime in the spring of 1990. I was transfixed. I recall arguing with some kid at school about it shortly thereafter because he said “Epic” wasn’t “real music” because Mike Patton spends so much time rapping instead of singing. You know, the usual bullshit.

What a great bassline and hook, though.

This was a time when culture still underwent periodic, massive shifts. That just does not happen anymore. It’s all flattened; deculturation in action. Culture has been nearly static since 2005 or so and that shows no signs of changing.

Optimist Prime

Chill Music, Music Video, Video

What is your favorite “most 90s song” ever? Mine will always be Spacehog – In the Meantime.

Damn the 90s seem like such a different world now. I’m not going to bang on about it yet again, but the optimism of the time felt so great in retrospect. There is no going back, though. Only forward; nostalgia is a trap. But it’s impossible to describe to someone not there the experience of that glowing hopefulness.

Now with all that preamble, let’s get to the postamble. There is no way to choose the “most 90s” song ever as the era contained too many currents and trends and what existed in 1990 was quite different than what 1999 brought. So I am going to go a different direction and choose not a favorite song of the era, but rather a work that best represents all the crosscurrents of the 90s, all the optimism, all the zaniness, all the meta-textuality and the gonzo creativity of that time.

And that’d be Weezer’s “Undone (The Sweater Song).” As I said, this is not my favorite song of the 1990s. It’s not even in my top 50. But it holds all the 90s in a five minute package and that makes it my pick. The video was directed by Spike Jonze, the darling auteur of the 1990s, which certainly contributes to my choosing it.

(If I absolutely had to choose a favorite song of the 1990s personally, it’d probably be “Bells Ring” (Acoustic Version) by Mazzy Star. Hope sounds so amazing in that version.)

Cola

Chill Music Video, Video

I finally (again) found that one Lana del Rey song I liked when I heard it. It’s “Cola.”

Unlike most of her output, this song works because she’s not attempting to be a poor imitation of Hope Sandoval. Here’s the song with some scenes from Jennifer’s Body (Which is a great fucking film).