My second Random Weekend selection is more upbeat than yesterday’s, at least musically. This little blast from the 90s past comes courtesy of Toad the Wet Sprocket, my pick as the best of the 90s alternative bands that dominated that era.
The most depressing thing about today’s SOTD is when I Googled the lyrics, I found them on a site called ‘Oldie Lyrics.’ Have the songs of my late teens and early 20s officially become oldies?
Best Songs of 2013 – #17
I doubt Toad the Wet Sprocket’s lead singer Glen Phillips’ name ever comes up in discussions of great pop vocalists. The band is too much a relic of the 90s to command that much respect.
But I’d rank him right up there. His soothing but edgy tone perfectly serves the band’s rocking material and especially its ballads.
Listening to a new Toad the Wet Sprocket album is like having a friend over for dinner whom you haven’t seen in 20 years.
It’s hard for me to be objective when assessing these guys because the albums they put out in the early to mid 90s made up the soundtrack of my 20s — notably, the first years I spent with my future wife.
I recently named Toad the Wet Sprocket as my favorite 90s band so it should come as no surprise that their best album shows up on this list.
Dulcinea, released in 1994, is so good that today’s SOTD marks the sixth song I’ve featured from it, and I featured one of those twice.
I’ll admit, it was a bit of a struggle to come up with ten bands for a 90s countdown. The decade pales in comparison to its predecessors, whether it’s the British explosion of the 60s, the singer-songwriter movement of the 70s or the New Wave cool of the 80s.
The defining sound of the 90s — grunge — is almost by definition unpleasant to the ear. It’s often more about attitude than sound.
Meet Me In Montauk 