gotshoo?

The Mrs. and I were talking at lunch about how she played ‘Name that tune’ with her high school students the other day, and they couldn’t name the “Sweater Song” by Weezer. The holiest of holy 90’s anthems… ranking slightly under Nirvana’s “Teen Spirit.” Then she went into horrific detail about how no one knew about Micro-Machines and the Micro-Machine man. I threw my Chili’s Honey Chipolte Chicken Strips to the ground, and demanded she take back the false truths… Okay, I’d never throw away perfectly good food, but I still demanded she take back the false truths.

Doing the math they were born around 90-93. I was born in 81′, yet I know about U2, The Cars, Devo, Stripper, and Bon Jovi. How can they not have a grasp of a decade of Seattle music? Has VH1 not made enough episodes of Behind The Music? Yet, they know Sir Mix A-Lot’s butt anthem. Trust me, I’ve chaperoned a dance.

I like lists, so I’ve been thinking of 5 ULTIMATE 90’s 92′-96′ Rock songs that represent my decade of coming of age that I would introduce to gen-I[nternet]. Feel free to compose your own list using a decade of your choice. I feel like this could be another one of those music memes.

1. Weezer - The Sweater Song (1994): Before Emo was Emo, there was Rivers Cuomo and the Blue Album. Not to be confused by Nada Surf’s “Popular” (1996), “The Sweater Song” predated Nada Surf with all the teen angst and featured dialog during the song. Revolutionary at the time. It was required to have at least one copy of Weezer’s Blue album.

2. Pearl Jam - Jeremy (1992): Pearl Jam was the sh!t of the 90’s. Well, before Eddie Vedder became all Mr. Environment. Jeremy was based on a school suicide shooting. Vedder belts the song with emotion in a range that every dude with long hair could sing “OOOOhhh ooooohhh, Jeremy spoken.”

3. Soundgarden - “Blow Up the Outside World” (1996): Check out the drummers haircut in this video. It was kind of the mullet of the 90’s. Long, but still short enough not to look like your mom. A lot of dudes sported this haircut.

4. The Toadies - Possum Kingdom (1995): At the heart of my 90’s rock out songs… I rocked out to this song many different times. Throw in a hard bass guitar and a nasty lead singer and you’ve got Korn.

5. Stone Temple Pilots - Vasoline(1994): This says it all, a comment from the YouTube Video: “another hidden treasure of 90’s music kids today should get to know. art. - wojtek0000.” I don’t know how to describe STP, but it was a staple of my 90’s rock diet.

So, did I miss any truly great 90’s rock songs? By chance, has anyone picked a new band? I’m curious to hear back on this one.