A Little More Background

As promised in my initial post, I thought it would be nice to provide a little bit more background about both myself and this project. After trying to come up with a way to do it that wouldn’t result in a boring, rambling post, I figured I would put together a sort of preemptive FAQ all about it.

Why are you doing this?

Basically because I was looking for a more structured outlet for writing and blogging. I’ve been bouncing around on a couple different blogs over the past, oh, eight years now and I often find myself abandoning them when I run out of interesting things to say. When I don’t have any restrictions or structure, I often find myself struggling with something to say. By creating a blog that forces me to explore a specific topic in a specific way, I’m hoping to really flex my writing muscles.

Why 1990’s alternative rock?

Two reasons. One, it’s an era and genre with which I’m intimately familiar. I spent countless hours, for better and for worse, absorbing this stuff and it formed the backbone for where my music tastes stand today. Sure I’ve moved well past post-grunge and alt-rock anthems, but without Nirvana leading me to Sonic Youth leading me to Melvins leading me to Sunn O))) or Beck leading me to Pavement leading me to The Fall leading me to Swell Maps, who knows where my musical leanings would be today? Secondly, because I think this sort of music over this time frame tells an interesting story about the different directions music would take into the 2000s and our current decade. Yes, there were very interesting stories being told in the worlds of hip-hop and metal, ones well worth being told by someone more qualified than I, but I personally find it fascinating to trace the lines that lead to Nirvana seemingly taking over the word to weird bands like Butthole Surfers poking their heads around the charts and to the divergence of mainstream rock and the independent rock worlds. It’s a really fascinating thread to follow and I’m excited to be doing so.

Why not start at the beginning of the modern rock chart two years earlier, in 1988?

I thought about that, but I really like the idea of framing this story within a specific decade like the 1990s. Additionally, by starting in 1990, this sort of mirrors my own emerging love for music. I was fourteen in 1990 and that was the year that my love for music went beyond pop radio and my parent’s records, into my own tastes and passions. So in telling a story about this type of music at this period will also allow me to tell a story about my own relationship with music.

What makes you think you’re qualified to do this?

Well, maybe I’m not, but my goal here isn’t to position myself as an expert that lays down definitive statements about anything. My goal is to find interesting things to say about each of these songs and weave them into a larger sort of narrative. This won’t be the narrative of everyone else that experienced this music, but that’s the whole point – I want to tell my own particular narrative that I hope will provoke reactions and reflections from all sorts of music listeners. I hope to see some lively debate in the comments section. If you insist on my qualifications, in addition to the countless hours spent with Alternative Nation, 120 Minutes, Q101, 107.1 The Planet, and SPIN as a high school and college student, I’ve had my thoughts on music published in Metal Edge, Knoxville’s Metro Pulse, and on Static Multimedia.

Why “the alternative to what”?

In an attempt to distance myself from the boneheaded jocks in my high school that allowed their musical worlds to revolve around Aerosmith and Van Halen alone (and not even the good years of either band), I spent a few misguided years proudly proclaiming my love of “alternative music”. I can’t even count how many times one of those same boneheaded jocks would sneer, “alternative to what? good music?” before snickering and high-fiving one of their buddies. So this is a tribute to those guys that made my high school experience miserable, but also made me realize just how much better stuff the world had in store for me.

A Brief Introduction

It will more than likely be a few more days before things really get rolling around here, but I wanted to take a second to give a brief introduction to this new project. In short, my goal over the next several months (years, whatever it takes really) is to take a trip through every song to appear in the top ten of the Billboard Modern Rock Chart between January of 1990 and December of 1999. Within the next few days I plan to pop up a post that goes a little more in-depth into the hows and whys of this little endeavor, but I was anxious to get the ball rolling.

I sincerely look forward to working my way through the decade and I hope you’ll check in periodically to see how things are progressing. Of course, I’d appreciate feedback in the comments and I’d love to spark some interesting discussion.

Onward and upward soon!