We bring the ‘90s UK Alternative series to an end with, in a twist, the bands that had the most success on the charts. Several acts here – if not these songs, though most of these songs fared well – hit Number One, and strangely enough, some of these songs fared better on the US charts than they did on the UK charts. Del Amitri and White Town, we’re looking in your direction.
This series was such fun to put together, and I hope you enjoyed listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it.
For the record no, it is not lost on me that my show
about UK music opens with artists from Ireland and Germany.
This is not the first time that I’ve ventured in these
waters. In early 2011 I put together a 1991 beat mix for Popdose, and in the
interest of full disclosure, I lifted a three-song set wholesale from that mix,
along with two other songs. I also play a song that I just played two months
ago. I try to avoid that when I can, but it just belonged here.
When I was working in the clubs, well, most of these songs didn’t exist yet, but even if they had, I was working in pop clubs that only dabbled in alternative, so I would have been fired on the spot for doing a set like this. Putting this show together wasn’t just fun; it was cathartic.
Coming up next: ‘90s UK Alternative, Part III: The Pop Mix. That might sound like a contradiction in terms, but I promise you, it’s not. What is alternative, after all, if not unpopular pop? You think these bands wanted to be cult bands? They didn’t. They all wanted to be superstars.
Thank you, as always, for listening.
Oh, and as a bonus for hitting my little site, this show will be temporarily available to download here. Get it while you can. This link will not live forever.
When this goes live on Popdose, it will be my mom’s birthday, yay! She would not like this show.
I wanted to take a break from the title-themed shows, and
for whatever reason, UK ‘90s is the first thing that popped into my head. Maybe
that’s because most of the shows are inherently UK ‘80s shows, and I wanted to
share the wealth, as it were. I say that despite the fact that I’ve already
played at least three of these songs in previous shows. Still, eight bands make
their debuts here, so…progress?
Oh, and I also voice a thought that will be quite
unpopular with nearly anyone who likes this show. Hot take ahoy! Who knows,
maybe some of you will agree with me (it comes in the second talkie bit), but
I’m guessing most of you won’t, and that’s OK.
I’m going to take a small break from the word-themed
shows, but before I do so, I thought, Let’s say goodbye to summer with a show
filled with songs about summer.
This started out as a much different show, but once I
spotted the alt and alt-adjacent vibe pulsing through it, I took out several
well-known acts that no longer fit in. (It also stopped me from adding a brand-new
Taylor Swift song at the last minute.) The Kinks, America, Springsteen, and
yes, even Seals & Crofts, gone. Was that the right call? That is for you to
decide, dear listener, but opening with the Barracudas and the Undertones? I
regret nothing.
This post goes live on Popdose on my birthday, yay! So I decided to have some fun.
I wanted to take a break from the themed shows, so I
started to look at old cassettes in my collection, with the plan to digitize
them. I found a running mix that I made for my sister-in-law Betsi sometime in
2003 – I put Franka Potente from “Run Lola Run” on the cover and everything –
and thought, “That’s the one.”
Over two thirds of the songs here came out between 1998
and 2003, though the overall track listing ranges between 1990 and 2005. This
might be the ultimate Medsker mix, in that it’s slightly alternative (Chemical
Brothers, Underworld), a lot poppy (Simply Red, Madonna), and embarrassingly
trendy (Fatboy Slim, The Wiseguys). To quote “The Greatest Showman,” this is
me.
And it’s true: I actually remixed the Madonna track, as
part of an ACID-sponsored contest. I sent it to a musician in an attempt to
persuade him to let me remix one of his songs, and he said, “You are soooo
Arthur Baker,” which to this day is still one of the greatest compliments I’ve
ever received. He didn’t let me remix his song, though.
New World Man takes his New Girl Now, dolled up in a New
Dress, for a ride in a Brand New Cadillac. Aaaaaand that’s the show, simple as
that. Songs or artists with the word ‘New’ in the title. I’m not deep.
Most of these shows are pretty easy to put together. This
one was like herding cats. A couple song blocks put themselves together, but
the others? Chaos. Did I really put the ‘90s ska band next to The Only Band
That Matters? Yes. Yes, I did.
There were 10 other songs that were in the mix at some point, and later jettisoned. Like I said, this was an unruly show, but ultimately I think it turned out all right. Individual results, though, may vary.
There are seven artists making their debut this week, but I
kinda don’t want to tell you who they are. It would spoil the fun in a big, big
way.
Fans of classic alternative will (hopefully) find lots to love here, though I do play a couple of songs from the last decade, so this isn’t purely a First Wave lovefest. It’s close, but nothing like Show #57 was.
Honestly, this was one of those show ideas where I just stopped writing song ideas down because I already had so many. I even left out Bowie. BOWIE, PEOPLE.
The artists making their Dizzy Heights debuts in this show, frankly. Shock me. How on earth have I not played Elastica, or Sweet, or Los Straitjackets, The Pixies (THE PIXIES, PEOPLE), The Blow Monkeys, Don Dixon, Glass Tiger, The Polecats, The Bird and the Bee, or Tame Impala before now? The mind boggles.
Next up: a New show. And yes, the capital N is a clue.
There are few, if any, franchises that have ridden off
into the sunset quite like the “Toy Story” films did. “Toy Story 3” has a
pitch-perfect, if gut-wrenching, ending, and the characters were the frequent
subject of Pixar’s short films, which seemed like an ideal post script. Why
would any studio risk, um, sullying that? The cynical response is money (it’s
always money), but it’s hard to dismiss Pixar founding father Andrew Stanton’s
rationale: “Toy Story 3” was a perfect ending for the audience, but for the
toys that Bonnie inherited from Andy, their story was starting all over again,
and it is through that lens that Pixar would like us to view “Toy Story 4.” That’s
nice, but it’s of small comfort when the feeling of familiarity (toy in
distress, Woody to the rescue) quickly consumes everything. This is basically
“Toy Story 2” in reverse, with more moving parts.
Think. Stay. Go. Change. Why bother with two syllables
when one will do just fine?
Credit goes to Scraps, Popdose’s former Name That Tune
host, as he came up with this idea over a decade ago.
There is some hot classic alternative action going on
here. In fact, this is the only show I’ve ever done that stays in one lane. It
is all modern, or modern-adjacent, from start to finish. This will probably
never happen again.
Artists making their Dizzy Heights debuts this week: Godley
& Crème, The Apples in Stereo, The Sugarcubes, Tones on Tail, Age of
Chance, My Bloody Valentine, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and (checks notes) Gary
Numan? What?
“Men in Black: International” makes so much sense from a marketing standpoint that it’s tempting to dismiss the film as the cynical global box office cash grab that, let’s face it, it probably is. The previous three films took place almost exclusively in or immediately outside of New York City, and that, um, ‘America first’ approach just doesn’t fly in an era where overseas box office is usually two-thirds to three-fourths of the overall box office. It makes perfect sense that there would be MIB field offices all over the world, and considering the fact that Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson’s dance cards have opened up considerably since the end of shooting Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in addition to showcasing great on-screen chemistry in “Thor: Ragnarok,” casting them as the leads is a no-brainer on a number of levels.
