Society Owes Me A Gen-X Podcast: The 90s

In our final episode of 2022, we go from A to X through our Volume 4 episodes to choose just the right track from each for our epic Vol. 4 Mixtape!  Only the finest 90s Rock, Pop, Metal, Rap, Hip Hop and Indie including Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Tori Amos, Pearl Jam.  And Rammstein.  Get it while it's hot!

W is the letter, and what a whole lot of Brit 90s music we fit into this ep!  The Wonder Stuff make their debut on the pod, as well as Travis and 'The Man Who', Pavement's 'Terror Twilight', Oasis and The Connells - Celtic influenced indie-rock at it's finest.  Sláinte!

In part 3 of our Viper odyssey, we revisit the West Hollywood hang that welcomes the Indie Rock pack in the shape of Mansun, Feeder and Buckcherry as well as the old S. Pumpkins and Surf Guitar pioneer, Dick Dale.  Sheryl Crow makes a semi-welcome cameo, and we rate Gavin Rossdale on a scale of 1 to Absolute T*t.  

Hannah and Lily have a 'ghouls night in' with some 90s rockers and film makers who are known as the darkest dudes in 90s culture. It's a monster mash up of 2 epic tracks and all of their frighteningly good covers.  Nick Cave!  The Twin Peaks guy!  Marilyn Manson!  Keanu!  William P. Corgan!  Courtney Love!  Nina Simone?  Indeed.  Happy Halloween!

Here's part two of that famous Hollywood play-den of the rich and famous with the very best soundtrack!  We're well into the 90s at this point and loads of Brits fill the bill this episode, from Manchester to Scotland to good old Brizzle.  It's all happening down at The Viper Room.

Featuring Oasis, Garbage, Tricky, Echo and the Bunnymen, Motorhead, and Eels among others!

Welcome to the legendary Viper Room of Sunset Strip, West Hollywood!  Many  a rocker/starlet/model/performer passed this way back in the 90s and we are here to tell the tale.  There's a line out front and Iggy's on stage - Duritz is slinging shots, and The Man in Black is quoting movies... Lines, lines - lines everywhere... It doesn't get more Rock n' Roll than this gaff - cheesy Aussie soap actors notwithstanding.  There's always one.

We chat this blinder from 1992, where (nearly) everyone wears hats and Pearl Jam manage to provide an epic live masterpiece, despite being on stools.  We delve into the Unplugged history, school discos, philanthropy and interesting tour stops for our faves who continue to be bosses even after 30 years.  Wooah, oh... ohhh oh!  

It's 1990, and this epic album is both therapy and tribute for Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell and an embryonic 21st century Pearl Jam trying to process the shocking loss of Mother Love Bone songwriter and vocalist extraordinaire, Andy Wood.  We chat the back story through the lens of documentaries, folklore and sound bites from the people who knew him best and loved him most.  L'Andrew, we salute you.

The ACTUAL Greek legend of Pearl Jam Ten Club was kind enough to chat with us while we were in Prague, A.K.A. 'Collectively Gutted in Czech Republic'.  Ever wanted to know how he got into PJ, what his fave live tracks are, how many gigs he has attended?  How 'Ghost' came to be dedicated to him in Jacksonville, FL in 2016?  We have the answers! When life gives you lemons, listen to Dimitris talk about the best band ever.  

Stay updated with your pod hosts in transit, somewhere in Europe trying to get to Prague to see Pearl Jam...  Fires!  Travel chaos!  Heatwaves!  Noisy birds!  Whatever next?

We take a break from the alphabet this week, as we discuss the recent Pearl Jam shows in London  we were lucky enough to attend!  Set lists, support acts, Hyde Park, the epic merch and fan stories are the topic so with a Breath and a scream, unite - and delight in our youth!  IYKYK

Including: Pixies Cat Power, Imelda May, Johnny Marr, Stereophonics

Rocket in to the iconic 90s masterpiece 'Siamese Dream' Today as we Disarm you with fun facts, true stories and Sweet Sweet deep dives track by track.  Thrash out, chill out, and peace out - it's a mixed bag of delights as William P. Corgan & Co. never disappoint in the eccentric department.  Also... Mayonaise! (We tried)

90s Rap/Rock outfit Rage and their self titled album are our subject for today!  While moshing along and generally air drum/guitar/bass/raging, we get into the bands origins, who the guys are and what the heck they are screaming about - plus stripping, daddy issues and much more.  

It's Quiz o' clock at SOMAGXP!  Vol. 4 is the subject and of course all things 90s music - have you been listening?  Join us and play along as we grill each other in rounds such as 'Guess the Lyric', 'Name that Tune' and 'Who Said That' and test your knowledge. Check yo' self

The Phoenix Festival held Warwickshire, UK and put on my Mean Fiddler, it was the first of its name - blending indie rock with punk pop and offering a new experience for music lovers - with some mixed results. We dig in to the trials of a brand new fest, the cool bands that didn’t get the recognition they deserved and how John Peel is frankly the centre of the universe.  Mentally put up your old 2 man tent, put on a bucket hat, crack open a large can of cider and ENJOY.

We roll back the clock to when it was possible to rock the charts... and then disappear completely.  Joan Osborne poses an interesting question about God's whereabouts, Chumbawamba get knocked down and then get up again, we have brekkie at a famous New York jewellery shop and finish up with 4 dark haired women who demand to know What's Up.  Join us for all the 90s chat that matters!

We dive into Nirvana’s 1992 release, Incesticide: a smorgasbord of different drummers, early demos, b-sides, indie covers,outtakes, BB1 radio recordings and their 1990 non-album, Sliver. 

PART 2 of 2: SOMAGXP joins up with the fantastic pods Project GenX, GenX Mixtape and GenX Grown Up to discuss, rate and finally decide what will be crowned the ultimate Greatest Movie about our beloved Generation X.  It's a trip, get on board!

We run down metal magazine's top 20 best tracks of the 90s here, and Hannah and Lily get a seriously heavy education.  Sepultura!  Megadeth!  Pantera!  Metallica!  Korn!  So much metal, so little time.  Come and get your face melted with SOMAGXP!  

This glorious Brighton band burst onto the scene with their explosive folk-punk collection of protest songs back in 91, and the album is still as fresh as ever more than 30 years on.  We reacquaint ourselves with 'The Levs' and unearth the initial critical response, rivers (rivers, and more rivers) one reeking special delivery & political activism that continues to this day.  How many ways?  One Way!  Fight the power!

SOMAGXP gets the chance to take part in 'The Greatest Gen X Movie Tournament' hosted by the fab guys over at Project Gen X podcast.  We dig into our 'South' bracket and it gets tense for 'May Movie Madness' - Fight Club, Grosse Pointe Blank, Trainspotting, SLC Punk, Breakfast Club, Wayne's World, Say Anything and Party Girl... sparks fly!  Once we whittle it down to two, you can hear us debate the rest with the tournament's other participants - Gen X Mixtape, Gen X Grown Up and of course Project Gen X.  Let the games begin!

Lenny K is our subject today, as we take a look at his biggest and most memorable 90s hits, and all folks he brings along with him.  Talking Kravitz means discussing David Bowie, Johnny Depp, Nicole Kidman, Nile Rodgers, Steven Tyler, racism in television and so much more!  He just wants to let Love rule so if you believe and wanna go his way, fly away (into the sky, so very high) with SOMAGXP right now.  It's all love.

We take your back to the (concrete) streets of LA circa to sample (much) the (rappers) delights of Jurassic 5’s 1998 LP, J5. We dig into the prehistoric roots of these alt hip hip dinosaurs, harking back to the Good Life, good vibes, the life and times of Henry Mancini, via boney chicken wings and dirty sex ponds.

We just want a Bit Part of this legendary album from Evan and the gang - the hazy summer of '92 with nothing but MTV News and Sky mag to glean info from.  Every track is a tiny masterpiece, not flashy or pretentious but melodic, poetic and iconic.  We go through the tracks and drop some info on back stories plus Courtney, Suzy, Juliana and Polly - and our new fave website, Shagtree.com.  

Hello…. it’s 1998 calling! yep, this week we‘re talking about Hello Nasty,  the epic fifth studio album by the Boys Beastie. Also some chatter about prehistoric Fruit Loop-eating birds, African dinger instruments, and the whys and wherefores of consuming warm chicken nuggets and other substances found on the floor.

We return to Grosse Point, Michigan for this soundtrack treat from 1997.  Who else but Joe Strummer could have put together this delight? Faith No More!  Violent Femmes!  Guns N' Roses!  The Specials!  The Clash!  The (English) Beat!  This belter of an OST takes us to the Rock Against Racism concerts, 'legal issues' and behaviour that almost makes Martin Blank look like one of the good guys.

'There is Nothing Left to Lose' was Taylor Hawkins' first Foo Fighters album, and we honour his contribution and the band's third album in this episode.  Inevitably we also get side-tracked by 90s festival tales, bad behaviour and Courtney Love.  

It's 1993.  Ms Phair bursts on to the world music scene, takes on all the Chicago rock scene guys - and The Rolling Stones! - and plays them at their own game.  Liz rocks! Liz rolls! Liz laughs in the face of girls being just groupie good time objects for the male bands, and decided instead to pick up a guitar herself and challenge all the Chicago scene stereotypes with her own album.  This is that album.  We talk everything about the audacious lady and how this album's success was as big a shock to her as it was to everyone else.

Working class Britpop heroes Pulp sealed their legend status in our hearts in 1995 with this epic album - and demonstrating a whole other side of the North with their gritty wit and Jarvis' daring and spontaneous antics.  We dig in to their impressive tenure as Sheffield's arty pop good guys with their sharp and stinging commentary on class inequality and doing that fabulously 90s thing, trying to level the social playing field.  Also in this ep - rando chat involving octopus carpaccio and what to do with your leftover MacDonald's ketchup packets.

We were down at the New Amsterdam, and we decided to pick our favourite 5 tracks from 'August and Everything After' and our fave five from 'This Desert Life' while mostly ignoring Recovering the Satellites with the utmost respect.  Facts, info, links and all the goss about Mr Duritz follow as we rekindle our love for these ol' birds.  

Slip into your wet suits and grab your oxygen tanks because this week we’re plunging straight into the middle of the deep blue 90s. We’re taking a deep dive into Radiohead’s sophomore album, The Bends. We’re not SULKing, we JUST love the BONES of this crybaby music masterpiece. Sink in with us, but be sure to not come up too fast, because y’know, the pressure!

'Little Earthquakes' rocked the scene back in 1992 when Tori emerged like a butterfly from her 80s past to reinvent herself and challenge piano music stereotypes.  We chat all the tracks, discuss her raw confessional style, her literal genius, Guns n' Roses and a Kurt connection.  

We step out of our 90s cocoon for a change, and give the Pearl Jam frontman's brand new album a first spin!  LOTS to unpack here: EV factoids at the ready, some super diverse collabs and 90s centric chat ahoy as we go through 'Earthling' track by track with some uplifting and very surprising results.

Hello pod fam!  We are taking a little break but in the meantime, here is a little bonus pod of future plans for our spanking new Volume 4 - and chat about up-coming gigs, polls, super bowls and cover bands.  Stay tuned!

We made another mixtape for ya!  It's round-up time as Volume 3 of our 90s music podcast draws to a close, and we go - as we always do - from A to X through the last series, nominating a track from each pod episode for the fabled Vol. 3 Mixtape!  There's a little bit of this and a little bit of that to suit all rock/grunge/rap/pop/metal/indie/soundtrack interests, with such 90s luminaries as The Black Crowes, Lemonheads, Pearl  Jam, Supergrass, Jane's Addiction, Hole, Fatboy Slim, Green Day, Alice in Chains and SO much more.

Well well, Weller!  The Modfather has gone the distance and broken fresh ground over many decades and several different genres. We go exploring Paul Weller's roots in The Jam and Style Council to his solo offerings including Wild Wood, Stanley Road and Heavy Soul from our fave decade, the 90s.  Also added - a dash of divorce, a pinch of Wham, and a smidge of Brit Pop influencing.

Love is in the air!  90s air to be exact... Lots of goodies here, as we go from covers of 80s bangers to more cheeky little numbers that might put a smile on your face.  Gett Off your Pony and ride this sucker to the end, it's The Cure to all your ills.

Ft. The Cure, REM, Prince, Ginuwine, Bloodhound Gang, Jellyfish, James Brown, Dinosaur Jr, Mazzy Star, Chris Cornell, Tricky, Sinead O'Connor

Welcome to the Unauthorized (authorized) Biography of Reinhold Messner (Ben Folds) - the 3rd studio album of that 3 piece North Carolina band called Ben Folds Five.  An 'all-grows-up album' filled with Regrets, Magic and Your Most Valuable Possession - similar to your subscription to SOMAGXP. We chat Ben's weird arrests, his 50,000 marriages and how his life tends to be like a Broadway musical he played in many moons ago.  Hand me my nose ring!

The true Grunge Kings make a long awaited appearance on SOMAGXP with their second album, the dark and deep 'Superunknown'.  We chat the 'Singles' connections, Seattle friends and fellow musicians, Hannah recreates what it's like to have covid, and we have a jolly old time with Spoonman and company. Bangers from this mid 90s classic album include 'The Day I Tried to Live'  'Like a Wave' and everybody's fave, 'Black Hole Sun'.  Won't you come?

Fabulously Gen-X and 90s-tastic, Reality Bites has it all - mixing 90s contemporary artists with classic rock from the 70s, you can't ask for more!  Big fans of the movie itself, SOMAGXP get stuck into bangers from Lenny Kravitz, The Posies, Dinosaur Jr and The Knack to name but a few... plus a few tracks from the movie that didn't make the OST.  Microwave some brownies, and let's locomote!

Hear jingle bells? It must be the time of year again where we quiz each other on Christmas tracks with that alternative edge to make things oh so much more interesting.  We have The Hives!  Fountains of Wayne!  The Eels! Blink 182!  Travis!  Green Jelly!  Descendents! Ho-ho-hope you can guess who is who, and let's Rap this year up in style, folks!

Allan Moyle's Gen-X classic about a pirate radio DJ and Everybody Knows that it's soundtrack is pure ear candy... and we are sharing it with you!  Let's Get Together, Kick Out The Jams, and let us Talk Hard about Christian's chest rug and River Phoenix's legacy.  Would you like Bill's sperm with that?  - No!

Featuring: MC5, Henry Rollins, Bad Brains, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth, Urban Dance Squad, Ice-T, Pixies, Leonard Cohen, Concrete Blonde, Was (Not Was)

This episode we revisit this controversial album in the Present Tense by now legendary rock band, Pearl Jam.  Back in 96, PJ were on the edge and near break up - making 'No Code' a do-or-die album that caused a shift in our concept of 90s rock.  We Hail, Hail Pearl Jam for battling on - it's a good thing for Mankind that they did... hopefully, this ep will make you Smile!

Join us with this Chase-r to part one of our deep-dive into the BEST 90s TV show, there ever was, My So-Called Life!  Buffalo (Tom), Lemon (heads), Toad (the Wet Sprocket) all pop up this week, we visit with the Gabba Gabba Hey! crowd and get crazy disco dancing with Delia.  Jordan C would lean into this one, and so should you.  Do you need a Graff or something??  

Hey, Generation Catalano - this one is for you!  Angela & Co brought you some cracking 90s tune-age along with the teen angst, and we go through them all… in two parts!

From Celtic dreamers named after fruit-based condiments (the Cranberries), Dutch indie-rockers named after 1970s tennis players (Bettie Serveert) and enigmatic German experimental new-agers (Enigma), to the mighty Buffalo Tom of Boston, psychedelic rock giants The Grateful Dead and the lesser known but very excellent metal grungers Animal Bag - we visit Pittsburgh circa 1994 in all it's flannelled plaid glory and turn that nostalgia up to 100.  Or whatever.

Welcome to the crazy circus baby of Mr Perry Farrell:  the 1991 LOLLAPALOOZA.  Long before Coachella coachelle-d, America welcomed the off-centred zeitgeisty pith of FISHBONE!  BUTTHOLE SURFERS!  NINE INCH NAILS!  ICE-blooming-T!  SIOUXSIE SIOUX and her very own BANSHEES!  ROLLINS BAND, and the mighty JANE'S ADDICTION!  On the road, in your 90s face and on one stage only, all day.  We chat about the very first festival date and all the acts, plus somehow managing to incorporate Marky Mark and a vicious pencil stabbing.  Rock on.

This slightly obscure Brit band of the 90s was certainly diverse and quite controversial with their viewpoints.  Cool-a or not, the K album is a part of the era, and SOMAGXP are here to deliver all the info on Crispian & co, plus some sideways segues to Charles Dickins, cultural appropriation and teaching ones grandmother (or grandfather) to suck eggs.  This one is going to hit you in the feels, if you happened to be born between 1979 and 1981. Tatva!