Dig Me Out: 90s Rock Dig Me Out
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- Music
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Weekly episodes digging up lost and forgotten 90s rock — in-depth album reviews, roundtable discussions, and artist interviews that reveal the unique story of the 90s.
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The Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray | 90s Album Review
Released during the decline of 80s hair metal and rise of 90s Seattle grunge and alternative, the 1992 album It's A Shame About Ray by The Lemonheads is rarely mentioned as being in the pantheon of 90s album, but maybe it should. Sporting tight and smart songwriting arrangements with track after track of catchy hooks, lead singer and guitarist Evan Dando, bassist and backup singer Juliana Hatfield, and drummer David Ryan make the most of their sub-thirty minute album, packing short songs with simple but well-thought-out changes and dynamics on par with contemporaries like Sugar, Buffalo Tom, and Dinosaur Jr.
Songs In This Episode
Intro - It's A Shame About Ray
21:39 - Hannah & Gabi
27:41 - My Drug Buddy
33:05 - Alison's Starting to Happen
40:30 - Bit Part
Outro - Confetti
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Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com. -
Keith and Glenn Kochanowicz of Riverside | 90s Artist Interview
With the music landscape dominated by the grunge movement coming out of Seattle, it’s little wonder that Pennsylvania’s Riverside, a band influenced by the likes of The Smiths and Echo and the Bunnymen, didn’t stand a chance. Featuring Keith Kochanowicz (vocals, guitar, organ) and his brother Glenn Kochanowicz (bass, vocals), Kenneth Jackson (guitars), and Geoff Verne (drums), the band’s debut - and ultimately lone - album for Sire Records, One, was released in 1992. While featuring a number of alt-rock-radio friendly songs (“Waterfall,” “Cinnamon Eyes,”), Riverside couldn’t catch a break and were dropped by the label despite finishing a sophomore album, Taste. More than 30 years after One’s release, the Kochanowicz brothers hooked up with the Lost in Ohio record label and a Kickstarter campaign was launched to fund the first-ever pressing of the album on vinyl. Despite never achieving massive success in the ‘90s, the campaign was fully funded within weeks of the announcement and the vinyl will be available later this summer. In this conversation, the Kochanowicz brothers discuss the formation of the band, how fellow Pennsylvania band The Ocean Blue served as mentors, the realities of having a major label record deal in the ‘90s, and what happened after Sire dropped Riverside.
Songs in this Episode:
Intro - Waterfall
7:15 - General Nature
57:00 - Waterfall
1:04:48 - Marvel (from Taste)
Outro - Cinnamon Eyes
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Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com.
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Sinéad O'Connor - Universal Mother | 90s Album Review
By 1994, Sinéad O'Connor had established herself as a musical powerhouse willing to take risks behind the microphone and under the hot spotlight of the media. Following up her third album, the 1992 release Am I Not Your Girl?, consisting mostly of jazz standards, O'Connor returned with an album of diverse musical styles, blending elements of folk, rock, and traditional Irish sounds. The mix of acoustic and electric instrumentation, from the trip-hop flavored singles "Fire On Babylon" and "Thank You For Hearing Me," bookend a much more subdued and intimate affair, including a cappella tracks and a hushed cover of "All Apologies" by Nirvana. While some of the 90s electronic production ends up sounding dating, overall the album reflects a generational talent pushing the limits of mainstream music.
Songs In This Episode
Intro - My Darling Child
20:36 - John I Love You
23:41 - Fire on Babylon
34:44 - All Babies
40:59 - Famine
1:00:26 - Thank You For Hearing Me
Outro - Red Football
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Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com. -
It Came From Slimey Valley compilation | 80s Album Review
Compilation albums have helped define a musical scene or time period for decades, and the roots of 90s alternative rock are unmistakably tied to the underground music of the 1980s. While punk exploded into the mainstream 1994 thanks to million selling albums by Green Day and The Offspring, the seeds were planted in the small scenes across the country more than a decade earlier, many of which were never documented. Luckily, those that got laid down on vinyl or tape often have unknown gems waiting to be discovered. In the case of the 1984 compilation, It Came From Slimey Valley, which documents the Oxnard, California "nardcore" scene, the hardcore sound isn't as predictable as one might expect, with bands occasionally slowing the tempo, incorporating more dynamics, or turning up the fuzz.
Songs In This Episode
Intro - Prophesy by False Confession
16:24 - Death of Two Lovers by Flower Leperds
20:08 - Violent Children by Reign of Terror
22:43 - In the Trenches by Rigor Mortis
34:37 - Old Towne Mall by The Grim
39:09 - Boy's Life by Dr. Know
Outro - There's Someone in the Cellar by Crankshaft
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Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com. -
The Hookers - Black Visions of Crimson Wisdom | 90s Album Review
The 1999 album Black Visions of Crimson Wisdom by The Hookers is a loud, pummeling rock record that draws influence from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal as well as '80s hardcore and punk. Guitar riffs that would sound at home on Iron Maiden or Judas Priest albums rip while a thundering rhythm section propels the band with hardcore energy, keeping the songs short and tight and the album under thirty minutes. That turns out to be the right move, as the pummeling sound of the band never lets up, and lead singer Adam Neal has one gear - full-throat-shredding-throttle.
Songs In This Episode
Intro - Maximum Overdrive
19:03 - Behold God's Candy
23:38 - Black Magic Stallion
27:10 - The End Is Comin'
47:09 - Ride The Dragon To The Crimson Light
Outro - Ball Crusher Love Machine
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Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com. -
The Brady Bunch Lawnmower Massacre - Desperate Football | 90s Album Review
In a bar in Perth, Australia in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Fred Negro and his various bands tore through country-tinged punk rock soaked in beer and satire. One of these incarnations was The Brady Bunch Lawnmower Massacre, a short-lived name that produced a single, an EP, and the 1992 album Desperate Football. Like fellow garage post-punks The Scientists or The Birthday Party, on the surface the sound is big, loud and messy. But repeated listens reveal tighter than anticipated musicianship with some chorus hooks that will stay in your brain longer than expected.
Songs In This Episode
Intro - Drink Myself to Live
20:21 - Nothing on Telly
24:59 - When Jesus Goes Surfing
31:09 - Carpark
36:00 - Blood Money
Outro - I've Only Got One Dick
Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.
Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com.
Customer Reviews
Just found this walk through my Playlists
Excellent shows, covering the music I still mainly listen to. Spent my teens and twenties getting these CD’s while in the Toledo/ Detroit area. Keep up the great music reviews!
Great!
Great podcast!
Madchester
This review of the madchester scene seems to miss the mark a bit. I know that this is a 90s rock podcast, so either these guys are unaware, uninterested, or just aren’t covering other types of music (black music in particular) . I know they brought a guest on here. Being very enthusiastic about these bands at the time these records were being released, I’d describe the madchester sound as a mix of 60s psychedelic music and contemporary black music. The Byrds, Love and Hendrix meets Chicago and Detroit House and Public Enemy/ Eric B and Rakim era hip hop. The Happy Mondays were less specific but utilized a huge early techno influence. The marriage of guitar and dance elements, sampled beats mixed with jangly guitars. Stone Roses are like a druggy, more black influenced Smiths because the songs are well crafted and pretty. As for New Order, they were pioneers of this type of dance/rock mixture. If anything, it’s closest American analog would be Grunge. It was a sound, a look, and an attitude. Not all madchester bands were from Manchester, just like all the grunge bands weren’t from Seattle. Nobody wore baggy clothes until these guys did. Even Chuck D had tight jeans on at this point.