Dig Me Out - The 90's Rock Podcast

When they released their debut album Showbiz in the US in 1999, Muse were one of a number of bands compared to the Pablo Honey/The Bends era of Radiohead thanks to Matt Bellamy's Thom Yorke like tenor and Johnny Greenwood's guitar acrobatics. But Muse were doing it as a three-piece, and over time the band shed the unfair comparisons to forge a path that paid as much homage to the bombast of classic Queen to the aural assault of Rage Against The Machine, all the while releasing a slew of hit singles, moving from opening slots, to sheds, to arenas across the globe, and becoming one of the few bands to still carry the dying torch of rock. We revisit their debut, their early EPs, and touch on their 2000s releases to trace the origins of the band that has gained a global audience while splitting fans over their embrace of poppier and dancier material.   Songs In This Episode:   Muscle Museum (from Showbiz) 6:40 - Cave (from Showbiz) 17:28 - Falling Down (from Showbiz) 23:47 - Uno (from Showbiz) 42:14 - Plu

Thanks to old friend of the show Chip Midnight, when patron Dewey Cole suggested revisiting the 1993 self-titled debut album from Dig, Chip reached out to lead singer and guitarist Scott Hackwith to have him join us to revisit this record. Dewey only came to record recently, so he provides a unique perspective of discovering an album seventeen years after its release. Chip interviewed Scott when the band was just starting out, gigging around the country with frequent stops in Ohio in the early-to-mid 1990s. Scott, who started out as a guitarist in T.S.O.L., learned to be a producer on the spot making the debut album, which led him to work on records by the Ramones, Spiritualized and other, shares stories and insights on album artwork, demo'ing tracks on a four-track machine, making music videos, and working on new Dig music.   Songs In This Episode:   Intro - Believe 32:22 - Let Me Know 37:24 - Feet Don't Touch The Ground 1:00:33 - Conversation Outro - Unlucky Friend   Support the podcast, join the

If you've listened to this podcast long enough, you know that we are not always in agreement about what works and doesn't work for us on various albums. One of the earliest disagreements was back in Season One when we checked out the 1993 album Four by Seaweed. Thanks to a recent listener suggested poll on our Patreon site, we're back ten years later to check out the 1995 follow-up Spanaway, the band's only release on the Hollywood Records label. While the band faced the tired "sell-out" label for signing to a major, in reality, the band stayed close to what they did well - a bombastic combo of East Coast post-hardcore and PacWest grunge, with some extra nuance thanks to the skilled fingers of Andy Wallace behind the mixing board, as well as guest visits in the drum throne by Barrett Martin (of Screaming Trees) and Matt Cameron (of Soundgarden). The question remains - has anything changed in our diverging opinions?   Songs In This Episode   Intro - Start With 18:45 - Magic Mountainman 22:53 - Assistant

While we have chatted with many artists over the years, rarely have we been able to get the record label perspective on the various ups and downs of the 90s. For this episode, we're lucky to get singer/songwriter Michael McDermott, who has been making records for thirty years, and the A&R rep who helped kick off that career, Brian Koppelman. While Brian is better known for his screenwriting (Rounders, Ocean's 13) and showrunning (Billions), his life in the music industry dates back to high school with A&R stints at Elektra Records, Giant Records, SBK Records and EMI Records. We dig into the album Michael and Brian worked on together, 1993's Gethsemane, and the various trials and tribulations of releasing a singer/songwriter album in the heyday of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains, the producer and songwriter relationship in the studio, why being too sympathetic to the artist can be a negative, and much much more.   Songs In This Episode:   Intro/1:47 - Just West Of Eden 17:03 -

While the 90s were dominated by the touring festival as opposed to the current day destination festival, the first half and second half had decidedly different approaches. Lollapalooza took a variety of artists from across genres with the intention of exposing artists across differing fanbases, whereas the Warped Tour, Ozzfest, H.O.R.D.E. Tour, and Lilith Fair each narrowed their focus. In the case of Lilith Fair, the simplistic history is that it was a female-centric folk tour, headlined by the likes of Sarah McLachlan, the Indigo Girls, Suzanne Vega, and Sheryl Crow. In reality, over the course of three years, the festival provided a much broader spectrum of female artists, including Queen Latifah, Bonnie Raitt, Letters To Cleo, Liz Phair, Dance Hall Crashers, K's Choice, Luscious Jackson, Nenah Cherry, The Pretenders, Missy Elliott, The Cardigans, Susanna Hoffs, Juliana Hatfield, and many many more. To help us revisit we invited back a pair of performers (Kay Hanley of Letters to Cleo and Jill Cuniff of Lu

Forging a sound out of American grunge and alternative along with British Invasion hooks and power pop melodies may seem like a recipe for disaster, but on their 1996 debut Less Is More, the Melbourne, Australian trio Even find the right balance. Channeling a Kurt Cobain cadence on one track and a John Lennon howl on another works best when the band keeps the songs short and tight, with plenty of catchy guitar riffs toss around. While we dug the high energy performances that pre-date the garage rock revival to come at the end of the decade, some of the production and rhythm choices (or lack of) left us wanting.   Songs In This Episode:   Intro - Karmic Flop 14:35 - End To End 19:45 - Don't Wait 26:02 - Eternal Teen 31:29 - No One Understands Me Outro - Dean Morris     Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon. Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com.

Once the alternative gold rush hit for bands in the 90s, one song could make or break an album. But for every Sex And Candy, Cumbersome or Possum Kingdom, hundreds of other bands failed to make the Top 40 for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the music. Take Vancouver, Canada's Odds, whose third album Good Weird Feeling is a smart combination of alternative guitar rock powered by two strong singers with a knack for lyrical twists. The two obvious singles, "Eat My Brain" and "Truth Untold" never found a home on American mainstream radio, and like so many of their northern counterparts, the band remains almost entirely unknown in the lower forty-eight.   Songs In This Episode:   Intro - Satisfied 17:41 - Oh Sorrow Oh Shame 20:55 - Break The Bed 24:56 - Truth Untold 31:07 - I Would Be Your Man Outro - Eat My Brain   Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon. Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com.  

Though not as lauded as grunge, Brit-pop, the rise of pop-punk or other 90s-centric genres, electronic music evolved throughout the decade as well thanks to subtler sounds coming out of the UK. While electronica and trip-hop each had their moments in the mainstream spotlight, groups like the brother-duo Boards of Canada from Scotland slid under the radar with slightly different takes, theirs being a more chill, downtempo approach utilizing vintage synths and drum machines, tape loops and field recordings. Music Has The Right To Children, their 1998 debut after several well-regarded singles and EPs, takes full advantage of the tools, creating atmospheric soundscapes backed by drum and bass loops that lived-in rather than dialed-up, giving the record a timeless element that so many of their contemporaries failed to achieve.   Songs In This Episode:   Intro - Telephasic Workshop 18:06 - Roygbiv 20:48 - Turquoise Hexagon Sun 27:09 - Aquarius Outro - Open The Light   Support the podcast, join the DMO UNI

Though the mid-to-late nights are more regarded for the commercial rise of electronic music, specifically in the form of UK electronica from the Chemical Brothers, Prodigy and others, the mainstream interest in high octane beats and synth-over-guitar was nothing new. As the 80s transitioned to the 90s, bands like Depeche Mode and New Order were firmly established global phenomenons, while up-and-comers like Ministry and Nine Inch Nails were bringing industrial sounds to the mainstream on MTV. Nitzer Ebb began in 1982 and established themselves throughout the decade as an Electronic Body Music (EBM) pillar, but when 90s arrives the band pivoted to a more pop sound, and on 1991's Ebbhead, the band fully embraced pop structure and sound, crafting catchy hooks at trimmed down lengths. But that evolution, while moderately successful in getting the band on mainstream rock radio, didn't necessarily sit well with the fans who discovered the band during their EBM period.   Songs In This Episode   Intro - Reasons

As we have learned in our Sophomore Slump Revisited roundtable series, there are many factors and circumstances that can sink a band's second album, especially when coming off a hit single. In the case of Dada and their 1994 release American Highway Flower, the lack of an obvious radio single to match Dizz Knee Land off their debut is a fair consideration. Rather than repeat a formula, the skilled trio of singer-guitarist Michael Gurley, singer-bassist Joie Calio and drummer Phil Leavitt pushed the band in a variety of directions while maintaining a more consistent sound than their first release. But pushing the envelope doesn't always result in a match with the cultural trends, and while the band flexes their muscle with harmonious power-pop and '60s psychedelic flourishes while unafraid to get extra noisy or delicately hushed. They may not have scored a Top 5 single or moved a million units with American Highway Flower, but that doesn't mean this sophomore release qualifies as a slump.   Songs In This Epi

Edward James "Ed" Hamell, better know as Hamell On Trial, has been writing, recording, and touring for over thirty years, bouncing from major labels to minor labels to his own, with either a studio or live album out almost every other year. While production values have shifted, the fiery anti-folk and spoken word approach has remained constant, and his 1999 album is definitely on the lower end of the recording quality spectrum. That doesn't impact the performances or songs, as Hamell On Trial makes stunning use of his Gibson acoustic guitar, plucking out staccato rhythms on one track before leading a dirty blues romp on the next. All of it adds up to a uniquely singular performance and vision, one that can definitely split opinions on what worked and didn't work.   Songs In This Episode:   Intro - Hamell's Ramble 17:56 - I'm Gonna Watch You Sleep 24:07 - The Lottery 28:10 - Nancy's Got a New Boyfriend 35:18 - When Bobby Comes Down 46:30 - Shout Outs Outro - Bill Hicks   Support the podcast, join t

Sunny Day Real Estate has famously been a band of influence but impermanence, with multiple break-ups and rumors of an unfinished album in the can for over a decade. On their second release, the 1995 self-titled or Pink Album or LP2, vocalist/guitarist/lyricist Jeremy Enigk left unfinished vocals as placeholders as the band splintered. What it creates is something unique, while words or phrases pop in occasion, the majority of the record utilizes the vocals as an instrument in a way that a band like My Bloody Valentine features vocalist Bilinda Butcher. But what makes SDRE special is the contributions from all four members - who each get their moment to shine in a way that recalls 1970s progressive rock without overly-long world-building and self-indulgence.   Songs In This Episode   Intro - Red Elephant 16:38 - Rodeo Jones 22:45 - 5/4 30:36 - 8 Outro - J'Nuh   Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon. Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com.  

So many bands got signed to major labels in the 1990s it could keep our podcast going well into the 22nd century. Rarely did artists get a second go-around as a new act, as was the case with vocalist Blake Smith and bassist Mike Willison after the breakup of their band Fig Dish. After recruiting a new guitarist and drummer, they formed Caviar and in 2000 released their self-titled debut on Island Records. While Smith's catchy melodies are still present, the band takes advantage of their second major-label chance by adding a variety of samples, including a bossa nova intro on the single "Tangerine Speedo." The band tries to walk a thin line between the quirky pop sounds of Sugar Ray, Smashmouth or Cake, the more aggressive pop-punk guitar of bands like Blink-182 or Weezer.   Songs In This Episode:   Intro - Tangerine Speedo 19:42 - OK Nightmare 22:09 - I Am The Monument 26:13 - Goldmine 30:39 - Looked So Hard I Nearly Wrecked My Eyes Outro - Sugarless   Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Pat

Lots of bands were successful in the 90s, but few reached the decade long highs and success that R.E.M. managed while constantly shifting their sound. Perhaps only U2 matched the same levels of critical acclaim and pushback, album sales and slumps, turmoil and triumph of R.E.M., conquering not only their home countries but stadiums around the globe. In our past "In The 90s" episodes, we've looked back at bands that first gained success and notoriety in the 1980s and traced their path through the alternative landscape of the 1990s, but it could be said that R.E.M. was leading the charge of the underground into the mainstream long before anyone else. As they entered the 90s, they were no longer college radio upstarts, but MTV and commercial radio regulars who would shoot through the stratosphere with "Losing My Religion" of 1991's Out Of Time. The rest of the decade would see them tackle everything from fuzzed-out 1970s glam rock to minimalist programmed beats to Beach Boys-esque harmonies. In other words, they

Among the many signings by the legendary Sub Pop label in the 1980s and 1990s, a few bands get tagged with "the first" label. The Afghan Whigs were the first band from outside region to be signed to the label, and in the case of this week's episode, The Walkabouts were the first country (or folk, or Americana, or alt-country) band to be signed to the label. Core members vocalist Carla Torgerson and vocalist/songwriter Chris Eckman started playing together in 1984, and by the time of their sixth album Satisfied Mind released in 1993, the band had built up quite a following and list of friends in the area. Guests include Mark Lanegan of the Screaming Trees, Peter Buck of R.E.M., and Ivan Kral of the Patti Smith Band, who all manage to blend into this uniquely timeless sound channeling some expected artists (The Carter Family, Gene Clark, Charlie Rich) and some more unexpected choices (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, John Cale, Patti Smith) that all sound seamless together.   Songs In This Episode   Intro - Sat

You may ask yourself, why is a 90s-centric podcast revisiting an album from 2000? Well, we are nothing without our listeners, and if they suggest and then vote for an album that came out in 2000, but was from a band that got their start and had several releases in the 90s, who are we to argue. And it turns out revisiting Idlewild's 2000 album 100 Broken Windows gave us an excellent opportunity to look back upon the decade and see how its various sounds and genres were interpreted by younger artists. In the case of Idlewild, with veteran producers Dave Eringa and Bob Weston behind the board for the young band meant channeling the volume and chaos of their earlier releases into a weapon to be deployed skillfully, giving the band a blistering edge and allowing vocalist Roddy Woomble the opportunity to craft unique earworm melodies. It may not make the top 100 albums of the decade or the year, but there's a case to be made for 100 Broken Windows as one of the finest distillations of everything that went right mus

It took twenty-three years for Giants Chair to follow-up their 1996 sophomore album Purity And Control with the 2019 album Prefabylon, which we discussed briefly in our 2019 New Albums Roundtable. Though we've covered plenty of 90s bands reuniting a decade or two later to make new records, prior to Prefabylon Giants Chair weren't on our radar. Thanks to one of Patreon patrons we got the chance to revisit this Kansas City, Missouri band's 1995 debut. While the post-punk math-rock sounds fit nicely into our previously expressed admiration for bands such as Jawbox, Shudder To Think and Quicksand, as well as the neighboring Shiner, we didn't expect to unearth a local scene that included Season To Risk, Molly McGuire, Boys Life, and others all dishing out their own versions of angular guitars, tricky rhythms, and indie/emo vocals. Perhaps a Digging Your Scene episode is in the future, but on this one, we got to dive into this three-piece and their unique take on mid-90s post-punk.   Songs In This Episode:  

1990 is a strange, contradictory year for music. How else do you explain alternative and underground bands like Jane's Addiction, Concrete Blonde, Faith No More and The B-52's taking up regular MTV rotation slots next to MC Hammer, Warrant, Paula Abdul and Vanilla Ice? There's a good chance you saw They Might Be Giant's "Birdhouse In Your Soul" right after Billy Idol's "Cradle of Love," or "We Die Young" by Alice Chains on the same Headbanger's Ball episode as "Unskinny Bop" by Poison. What we're saying is, there was a lot going on, and we attempt an overview of some of the most interesting overlooked, under-appreciated, and influential albums of the year.   Songs In This Episode:   Intro - Stop! by Jane's Addiction 10:46 - Graveyard Shift by Uncle Tupelo 24:15 - Is She Weird by Pixies 36:12 - There You Are by Goo Goo Dolls 47:41 - Candy by Iggy Pop Outro - Cliffs Of Dover by Eric Johnson   Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon. Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com.  

One and done bands are always an interesting listen, whether they were full-formed bands, one-off side-projects or solo albums, or something else entirely. In the case of Bandit Queen, they formed out of the ashes of Swirl, retaining three of the four members and an indie rock sound. Gone were the jammy rhythms and chorus'd guitars for a more straightforward approach, reminiscent of American female-led alternative acts like Throwing Muses and The Breeders. While the harmony vocals and honest production kept us interested throughout, a few more soaring vocal hooks would have made Hormone Hotel a can't miss record.   Songs In This Episode:   Intro - Back In The Belljar 14:00 - Big Sugar Emotional Thing 18:54 - Blue Black 20:57 - Scorch Outro - Give It To The Dog   Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon. Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com.  

There are plenty of anomalies in what did and didn't become popular in the rise of alternative music during the 1990s. Take for instance They Might Be Giants, who's breakthrough 1990 album Flood with almost thirty tracks of weird and quirky songs that combine humor and musical knowledge into a wholly unique recording. So what then to follow it up? The band decided to produce themselves, and rock out a bit more on the 1992 follow-up Apollo 18. While the experimentation with a slightly more traditional pop-rock sound on songs like The Statue Got Me High and Dig My Grave made the band a bit more palatable to our ears, the stripped-down reliance on simplistic looped drums held back what expanded in year with a full band backing them. Two notes: Tim was battling a cold, hence the nasal congestion you can clearly hear in his voice. Also, this was recorded prior to the death of Rush drummer/lyricist Neil Peart, which is why there was no mention of it when Rush was briefly brought up during the episodes. #RIPTheProf