1998 was a pretty great year. I got my first car (a seafoam green ’93 Pontiac LeMans), I had stopped going through “the change” and I performed with the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra for the first time. Looking back on it, it was a great year in music as well – rocking out to intergalactic on the way to parties; smoking herb with a little Marcy Playground in the background…
Below are my most-listened to songs that year – a veritable trip down memory lane. Please share any seminal years in your life and the music associated in the comments!
- Marcy Playground – Sex and Candy: The one-hit wonder of 1998. A Minneapolis band, I lived next to Marcy Playground in College
- Eve 6 – Inside Out: Not much to say about this one, I just couldn’t get away from it.
- Semisonic – Closing Time: Another Minnesota band – how many times did you hear this at the bar at 2 am?
- Liz Phair – Polyester Bride: The theme song for our AP US History class – I’m not quite sure why. I think we all thought we were cool and indie by listening to Liz Phair. Many of my friends that liked this song later moved into the McKibbin Lofts in Williamsburg, go figure.
- Natalie Imbruglia – Torn: I washed dishes on Sundays at a restaurant and this was always on Casey Kasem’s top 40 countdown
- Air – Sexy Boy:We listened to this in French IV all the time because it’s a French band and we didn’t want to do any actual schoolwork
- Madonna – Ray of Light: Bitchin’ song, bitchin’ video – showed everyone that Madge still had it goin’ on after Britney and all the other sluts starting to make the rounds
- Massive Attack – Angel:I heard it BEFORE it was in The Matrix – which by the way was the first DVD I ever watched
- Garbage – Paranoid: My uncle went to high school with Butch Vig, so I got to go backstage at the “Zone for the holidays” concert with Garbage, Beck, Semisonic, Soul Coughing, and Goo Goo Dolls. Pretty sweet!
- The Smashing Pumpkins – Ava Adore: Billy Corgan as a young Uncle Fester
- Hole – Celebrity Skin: Courtney is a train-wreck, but this album was the tits – maybe because Billy Corgan wrote it?
- Soul Coughing – Circles: Wasn’t this in a VW ad?
- Cake – Never There: My parents were pretty “with it” (I stole my first Beck album from them) but they never quite got the appeal of Cake
- Fatboy Slim – Praise You: This song wore out its welcome after about 3 weeks
- New Radicals – You Get What You Give: I had this album – I thought the guy on the cover with the big floppy hat looked pretty cool
- Alanis Morissette – Thank You: No – Thank You, Alanis!
- Beastie Boys – Intergalactic: The manager at the restaurant I worked at got me this album for my 16th birthday. Thanks, Theresa!
- Third Eye Blind – Jumper: One of many great songs on this album
There you have it – my life in music for the year 1998.
