Rory McNelley, Staff Writer
I know it’s cliché to say that one was born in the wrong generation, so I tend to just refer to myself as an old soul. This implies I should have been born to enjoy the peak of music in my high school and college years.
The Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, Mazzy Star, The Cranberries, Oasis, Third Eye Blind — I could go on for hours about the endless artists and bands that blessed us with their music throughout the greatest decade, the 90s. My mom and I went on a lot of road trips growing up and the stereo was always playing a 90s hit that was accompanied by a story of what my mom was doing when each song came out.
I think the day I became the music freak that I am was when I heard Two Princes by Spin Doctors for the first time. The day I understood love was when I heard “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia. Every self-discovery journey has a theme song to go along with it. When I was a kid, I had no idea why people liked the Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus. I could not get on board with it.
The difference with 90s music is the raw vocals. In my opinion, autotune ruined the music industry. In the 90s, you needed raw talent to make it. That’s why every song is better than the next. Disney Channel movie songs never cut it for me. I would ride to school listening to Blues Traveler or Creed. The day I got my first pair of headphones, and an iPod was the day my mom lost me to music. Ever since then, she could not even scream from the kitchen that dinner was ready as my ears were preoccupied.
My favorites as a kid were what Spotify now tells me is considered alternative rock; at the time, if you had asked me, I probably would have called them something along the lines of overexaggerated feelings with good guitar. “Last Kiss” by Pearl Jam, “If You’re Gone” by Matchbox Twenty and “Roseblood” by Mazzy Star were the three songs I chose to purchase with the $10 iTunes gift card I received from Santa in my stocking.
The purpose of this article is not to explain why I was weird as a kid, so I will cut to the chase. If you haven’t listened to Pixies, The La’s or the Red Hot Chili Peppers you need to look in the mirror and accept that your life has not begun. The Disney Channel anthems and Justin Timberlake love songs could not have fully opened your eyes to all that music is. To go back and listen to what sound really was before all the editing, autotune and AI is a rite of passage.
As I write this, “Lightning Crashes” by Live blasts through my ears and I am reminded of those who paved the way for Phoebe Bridgers, Taylor Swift, One Direction and so many others. If you want to feel true happiness, understanding and excess bass, I beg you to go back to the decade that did it right. If the music executives are reading this, please put the original version of The Smiths discography back on Spotify; No one wants the remaster.