Fluxblog Weekly #114: 1996 Survey Mix
June 28th, 2017
1996 Survey Mix
This is the seventh in the 1990s survey mix series, which will come out monthly in chronological order through this year. You can find the previous mixes here. I think of the music of the ‘90s as a trilogy in which each act ends in tragedy – the suicide of Kurt Cobain, the murders of 2Pac and Biggie, and the disaster of Woodstock ’99. This survey brings us to the end of the 2nd act, though Biggie was not killed until early March of the following year.
1996 is an interesting transitional year! I’ll break it down into some bullet points for you.
• 1996 is the beginning of what I call “the eclectic ’90s,” in which mixing up genres and getting into random nostalgic sub-genres like swing music was a major virtue. (This is peak mix tape era, so that is a big reason for this shift in values.) Beck’s Odelay is a perfect example of this aesthetic, it was very much the center of the zeitgeist in this year, and that’s why “Where It’s At” opens this survey.
• This is the point at which the press and music industry tries to make “electronica” a thing, and though that feels a bit silly in retrospect, the prime movers here – The Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Prodigy, Underworld – are all excellent. This is also the cultural peak for trip-hop, and a major year for Tricky, who actually has two tracks in this set. (The Nearly God song is also a Tricky production.) 1996 is also more or less the starting point for jungle/drum and bass, which we’ll get a lot more of in the next couple surveys.
• This is the peak of the East Coast/West Coast rivalry in hip-hop culture, and the emergence of Sean “Puffy” Combs as the dominant force in rap. But there’s a lot of major things happening in rap outside of the Death Row vs. Bad Boy situation – the release of major classics by the Fugees and Outkast, the reinvention of Kool Keith as Dr. Octagon, the commercial crossover of No Limit, the continuing renaissance of RZA and the Wu-Tang Clan in advance of Wu-Tang Forever, the breakthrough of instrumental hip-hop on DJ Shadow’s Entroducing. It’s also a key year for women in rap, with Lauryn Hill, Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, and Missy Elliott all moving to the center of mainstream rap.
• 1996 is also ground zero for the neo-soul movement, with D’Angelo building on the success of his debut alongside the debuts of Maxwell and Erykah Badu. (“On & On” was released near the end of the year, her first album comes out in 1997 and will also be featured there with a different song.)
• We’re at the tail end of the Britpop boom, and this survey is packed full of what I’d consider to be Britpop also-rans.
• This year is the beginning of what I’d consider the second wave of ‘90s indie rock, with Belle & Sebastian, Sleater-Kinney, Modest Mouse, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Cat Power all emerging to push that scene into the late ’90s and early ’00s. “Post-rock” is becoming a thing too, thanks to Tortoise, Mogwai, and Gastr del Sol.
• It’s also the year in which much of what is now considered emo began to take shape in various suburbs and midwestern cities in the United States. And hey, Weezer’s Pinkerton came out in this year too.
• It’s the end of the line for grunge as a major cultural force, largely because Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, and Stone Temple Pilots all implode simultaneously, Pearl Jam officially shifts into “very large cult band” mode, and Screaming Trees just kinda fade away before ever hitting the big time. It’s also the end of R.E.M. as a major presence in pop culture, and the point at which The Smashing Pumpkins become so big that the rest of Billy Corgan’s career ends up feeling like a decline.
Thanks to Rob Sheffield, Sean T. Collins, Dan Kois, Eric Harvey, and especially Paul Cox for their valuable assistance in putting this set together.
DOWNLOAD PART 1
Beck “Where It’s At” / Stereolab “Metronomic Underground” / Tricky “Christiansands” / Fugees “Zealots” / Dr. Octagon “Blue Flowers” / Ginuwine “Pony” / Tori Amos “Professional Widow” / Rage Against the Machine “Bulls On Parade” / Chemical Brothers “Setting Sun” / Underworld “Born Slippy .NUXX” / Daft Punk “Da Funk” / Fiona Apple “Criminal” / Pulp “Disco 2000” / Belle & Sebastian “Seeing Other People” / Sleater-Kinney “Anonymous” / Guided by Voices “The Official Iron Men Rally Song” / The Loud Family “Don’t Respond, She Can Tell” / Sheryl Crow “If It Makes You Happy” / Bush “Swallowed” / Stone Temple Pilots “Big Bang Baby” / Imperial Teen “You’re One” / Imperial Drag “Boy Or A Girl” / Weezer “El Scorcho” / Ben Folds Five “Underground” / Spice Girls “Wannabe” / Mariah Carey “Always Be My Baby” / Blackstreet “No Diggity” / 2Pac “California Love” / Busta Rhymes “Woo Hah!! Got You All in Check” / Outkast “Elevators (Me & You)” / UGK “One Day” / DJ Shadow “Midnight In A Perfect World” / Dub Narcotic Sound System featuring Lois Maffeo “Ship to Shore”
DOWNLOAD PART 2
Luscious Jackson “Naked Eye” / The Cardigans “Lovefool” / Jon Spencer Blues Explosion “Can’t’ Stop” / Jay-Z “Ain’t No Nigga” / Junior MAFIA featuring Notorious BIG “Get Money” / Quad City DJs “C’mon N Ride It (The Train)” / Maxwell “Ascension (Don’t Ever Wonder)” / Erykah Badu “On & On” / Jamiroquai “Virtual Insanity” / Sneaker Pimps “6 Underground” / Björk “Possibly Maybe” / Aphex Twin “Girl/Boy Song” / Aaliyah “If Your Girl Only Knew” / Ani DiFranco “Shameless” / Alanis Morissette “All I Really Want” / Cat Power “Nude As the News” / Chavez “Unreal Is Here” / Jonathan Fire Eater “The Search for Cherry Red” / Sebadoh “Nothing Like You” / Liz Phair “Six Dick Pimp” / Grant Lee Buffalo “Bethlehem Steel” / R.E.M. featuring Patti Smith “E-Bow the Letter” / The Tragically Hip “Ahead By A Century” / Counting Crows “Have You Seen Me Lately?” / Screaming Trees “All I Know” / Soundgarden “Burden In My Hand” / Pearl Jam “In My Tree” / Disco Inferno “It’s A Kid’s World” / Wilco “Misunderstood” / Lil Kim “No Time” / Foxy Brown “Get Me Home” / Ghostface Killah featuring Mary J Blige “All That I Got Is You”
DOWNLOAD PART 3
Tool “Stinkfist” / The Smashing Pumpkins “Tonight, Tonight” / Oasis “Don’t Look Back In Anger” / Radiohead “Talk Show Host” / Helium “What Institution Are You From?” / Nearly God featuring Neneh Cherry “Together Now” / Lox featuring The Notorious B.I.G. “You’ll See” / Nas “If I Ruled the World” / Geto Boys “The World Is A Ghetto” / Bone Thugs N Harmony “Tha Crossroads” / DJ Spooky “The Terran Invasion of Alpha Centauri 2794” / Silkk the Shockers featuring Master P “The Shocker” / Slum Village “Forth & Back (Remix)” / De La Soul “Itzsoweezee (HOT)” / 311 “All Mixed Up” / Sublime “What I Got” / Pavement “Give It A Day” / Archers of Loaf “Assassination On X-Mas Eve” / Robert Pollard “Psychic Pilot Clocks Out” / The Virgin-Whore Complex “Four Alarm Fire In Lovers’ Lane” / Foo Fighters “Big Me” / Sloan “The Lines You Amend” / Brian Jonestown Massacre “Cold to the Touch” / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Stagger Lee” / The Prodigy “Firestarter” / Butthole Surfers “Pepper” / Eels “Novocaine for the Soul” / Cibo Matto “Sugar Water” / Primitive Radio Gods “Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand” / Baader Meinhof “There’s Gonna Be An Accident” / Menswear “Being Brave” / Neil Young “Music Arcade” / Jeremy Enigk “Explain” / Modest Mouse “Dramamine” / Smog “Lize” / The Olivia Tremor Control “NYC-25”
DOWNLOAD PART 4
Girls Against Boys “Super-Fire” / Veruca Salt “I’m Taking Europe with Me” / Korn “A.D.I.D.A.S.” / Marilyn Manson “The Beautiful People” / Alice In Chains “Sludge Factory (Unplugged)” / Hooverphonic “2 Wicky” / Akinyele “Put It In Your Mouth” / DJ Kool “Let Me Clear My Throat” / The Roots “What They Do” / MC Lyte featuring Missy Elliott “Cold Rock A Party (Bad Boy Remix)” / Total featuring Da Brat “No One Else (Puff Daddy Remix)” / Me’Shell Ndegeocello “Leviticus: Faggot” / D’Angelo “Lady” / Donna Lewis “I Love You Always Forever” / Jewel “You Were Meant for Me” / Alison Krauss “Baby Now That I’ve Found You” / Beth Orton “She Cries Your Name” / The Wallflowers “One Headlight” / Clint Black “Like the Rain” / Alan Jackson “Little Bitty” / George Strait “Carried Away” / Archive “Londinium” / Yum Yum “Apiary” / For Squirrels “Mighty K.C.” / Nada Surf “Zen Brain” / Fountains of Wayne “Sink to the Bottom” / Local H “Bound for the Floor” / The Promise Ring “A Picture Postcard” / Afghan Whigs “Honky’s Ladder” / Kula Shaker “Tattva” / OMC “How Bizarre” / Los Del Rio “Macarena” / Dave Matthews Band “Too Much” / R.L. Burnside “Shake ‘Em on Down” / The Make Up “R U A Believer” / Bikini Kill “Capri Pants” / Melt-Banana “It’s In the Pillcase” / Emily’s Sassy Lime “Cadillac Stinger”
DOWNLOAD PART 5
Velocity Girl “Gilded Stars” / Lush “Ladykillers” / Republica “Ready to Go” / Soul Coughing “Super Bon Bon” / Self “So Low” / Tracy Bonham “Mother Mother” / Jill Sobule “I Kissed A Girl” / No Doubt “Don’t Speak” / Manic Street Preachers “A Design for Life” / CJ Bolland “Sugar Is Sweeter” / Orbital “The Box” / Sepultura “Roots Bloody Roots” / Texas is the Reason “Back and to the Left” / Fu Manchu “Regal Begal” / Lifetime “The Boy’s No Good” / At the Drive-In “StarSlight” / New Radiant Storm King “C/Swoon” / Mogwai “Summer” / Mobb Deep “G.O.D. Part III” / A Tribe Called Quest “Phony Rappers” / Bounty Killer “War Face (Remix)” / Boards of Canada “Everything You Do Is A Balloon” / Plug “Drum N Bass for Papa” / RZA featuring Method Man and Cappadonna “Wu Wear, The Garment Renaissance” / Large Professor “Mad Scientist” / Tortoise “The Taut and Tame” / Toni Braxton “Un-Break My Heart” / Patty Griffin “Moses” / Tom Petty “Walls” / Hayden “Bad As They Seem” / The For Carnation “Lmyr, Marshmallow” / Psychic TV “The La La Song” / Bis “Teen C-Power!” / Suicide Machines “No Face” / Goldfinger “Here In Your Bedroom” / Reel Big Fish “Everything Sucks” / Superdrag “Sucked Out” / Supergrass “Going Out” / Sense Field “Outlive the Man” / Down by Law “Independence Day” / The Mountain Goats “Then the Letting Go”
DOWNLOAD PART 6
Master P featuring Silkk the Shocker “Mr. Ice Cream Man” / Xzibit “The Foundation” / Mad Skillz “The Nod Factor” / Shyheim “Shaolin Style” / 112 featuring The Notorious B.I.G. “Only You” / R. Kelly “I Believe I Can Fly” / Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey “One Sweet Day” / Garth Brooks “The Beaches of Cheyenne” / Trisha Yearwood “Believe Me Baby (I Tried)” / Lonestar “No News” / Shania Twain “I’m Outta Here” / Mindy McCready “Guys Do It All the Time” / Patti Smith “Gone Again” / Beautiful South “Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)” / Tracy Lawrence “Time Marches On” / Catatonia “You’ve Got A Lot to Answer For” / Tim McGraw “She Never Lets It Go to Her Heart” / Lambchop “The Man Who Loved Beer” / High Llamas “Checking In, Checking Out” / Silver Jews “How to Rent A Room” / Silkworm “Never Met A Man I Didn’t Like” / The Cure “Mint Car” / Combustible Edison “Short Double Latté” / Lilys “A Nanny In Manhattan” / Porno for Pyros “Porpoise Head” / Stabbing Westward “What Do I Have to Do?” / Gravity Kills “Guilty” / LTJ Bukem “Horizons (Vocal Mix)” / Photek “Titan” / Billie Ray Martin “Deadline for My Memories” / Spain “Untitled #1” / Zumpano “Behind the Beehive” / 16 Horsepower “Black Soul Choir” / Phish “Character Zero” / Nerf Herder “Van Halen” / Braid “Divers” / Bad Religion “A Walk” / Unwritten Law “Denied” / Brainiac “Nothing Ever Changes” / Henry’s Dress “Target Practice” / Neutral Milk Hotel “Song Against Sex” / Palace Music “Arise Therefore”
DOWNLOAD PART 7
Frank Black “The Marsist” / The Amps “Tipp City” / Polvo “Fast Canoe” / Metallica “Hero of the Day” / Refused “Coup D’etat” / Rasputina “Transylvanian Concubine” / Ministry “Reload” / Prong “Rude Awakening” / Future Sound of London “We Have Explosive (Oil Funk Remix)” / KMFDM “Rules” / Type O Negative “My Girlfriend’s Girlfriend” / Meat Beat Manifesto “Asbestos Lead Asbestos” / Jedi Knights “May the Funk Be With You” / SWV “You’re the One” / Keith Sweat “Twisted” / New Edition “Hit Me Off” / Redman “Smoke Buddah” / Charizma & Peanut Butter Wolf “My World Premier” / INI “Fakin’ Jax’” / Bahamadia “True Honey Buns (Dat Freak Shit)” / Joe Henry “Trampoline” / Original Cast of Rent “Seasons of Love” / Backstreet Boys “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” / Geggy Tah “Whoever You Are” / Los Lobos “Revolution” / Fatboy Slim “Everybody Needs A 303” / Squirrel Nut Zippers “Hell” / The Auteurs “Light Aircraft On Fire” / Remy Zero “Descent” / Luna “Season of the Witch” / Momus “Saved” / The Divine Comedy “Something for the Weekend” / Super Furry Animals “Something 4 the Weekend” / Arab Strap “The First Big Weekend” / Cast “Alright” / Jawbox “Mirrorful” / Jale “Ali” / Versus “Yeah You” / Butterglory “You’ll Never Be (As Good As That)” / Free Kitten “Kitten Bossanova” / Bardo Pond “Tantric Porno” / Gastr del Sol “Our Exquisite Replica of ‘Eternity’” / Dirty Three “Hope” / Rachel’s “Family Portrait”
DOWNLOAD PART 8
Michael Jackson “They Don’t Care About Us” / Fun Lovin’ Criminals “Scooby Snacks” / Everything But the Girl “Wrong (Todd Terry Mix)” / Pet Shop Boys “Se A Vida” / U96 “Heaven” / George Michael “Fastlove” / Madonna “You Must Love Me” / Snoop Dogg “Snoop’s Upside Ya Head” / Shaquille O’Neal featuring The Notorious B.I.G. “Still Can’t Stop the Reign” / Heltah Skeltah “Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka” / Blahzay Blahzay “Danger” / Smoothe da Hustler “Broken Language” / Cake “The Distance” / Reverend Horton Heat “Big Red Rocket of Love” / Rocket from the Crypt “Born in 69” / The Wonders “That Thing You Do!” / moe. “She Sends Me” / Brooks & Dunn “My Maria” / Lyle Lovett “The Road to Ensenada” / Gin Blossoms “Follow You Down” / The Lemonheads “If I Could Talk I’d Tell You” / Boys Life “All of the Negatives” / Opeth “The Night and the Silent Water (Morningrise)” / His Name Is Alive “Movie” / The Frogs “I’m Evil, Jack” / Rainer Maria “I Love You Too” / The Spinanes “Lines and Lines” / Come “Secret Number” / Boss Hog “I Dig You” / Kustomized “Handcuffs” / Moby “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver” / Comet Gain “Last Night” / Unwound “Corpse Pose” / Urusei Yatsura “Pow R Ball” / Ash “Goldfinger” / Dodgy “If You’re Thinking of Me” / The Wrens “Rest Your Head” / D Generation “Frankie” / The Cranberries “Salvation” / Limblifter “Screwed It Up” / East River Pipe “Kill the Action” / Ocean Colour Scene “The Riverboat Song” / The Black Crowes “Blackberry” / Suede “Trash” / Babybird “You’re Gorgeous” / Boyzone “Words” / Guv’ner “She’s Evil” / Longpigs “On and On” / The Verve Pipe “The Freshmen”