retrovision 90s - ride, mansun, catherine wheel and more

to say that time is flying by is to state the obvious. one of the things i like to ask as an interview is what people were listening to ten years ago. for some of the younger interviewees, that might be when they were still pre-teens. for others, they were already well into adulthood.

ten years ago, as a senior in college, i was still in the middle of my new wave/brit-pop/dark wave phase. and coyote j, if you are reading this, i was spending each sunday night listening to his fucking fantastic program "the edge".

in the winter of '97/'98 i was still listening to the smiths, depeche mode and the cure on an almost daily basis. but as i was sitting here thinking about those times as underchuck, i was thinking about the other bands that i was listening too a lot, or the bands i wished i had been listening to a lot.

so in no particular order, here are a few:

echo and the bunnymen - why i didn't invest more free time in their catalog is beyond me. one of the first conversations i had as i freshman in college was about their cover of the doors'"people are strange". and honestly, "lips like sugar" is just stunning.


james - i was so obsessed with james that i even bought tim booth's album booth and the bad angel. without a doubt laid would still be in my top 25 list of best top-to-bottom albums of all-time. seriously.

jesus and mary chain - this is another example of a band that i should have gotten into 20 years ago, but didn't. i'm actually listening to "april skies" now and it blows my mind how i missed being obsessed with them as a teen.

catherine wheel - i still haven't bought '93's chrome, but i sure wore out happy days. they've been playing the band again on xm, which is great, because brit-rock didn't get much better in the mid-'90s.

mansun - "wide open space" blew my mind the first time i heard in on "the edge". it's a shame the band never took off in the states.

ride - name one song by ride? exactly. i can't either, but i have more of a reaction about this ethereal band than any of the genre.

over the next few weeks, i'll go over more must listens from the mid-'90s.