Legends In Their Own Minds by The Sundogs upon first listening brings up to surface the feeling of summers of the 90s. With the light guitar, both acoustic and electric setting up the instrumental structure on songs within the album, its clear that their sound is set to a certain mood paired up in the collection of songs. Although this is just their second album, it sounds like an evolved sound that has spanned over many years. Johnny is a song that sets the scene quite well and alludes to the talented writing of The Sundogs from beginning to end. Lyrics such as “you have seriously been misled, what got you so bent, got a fire in your belly” all are thematic of strong visual storytelling. Closing your eyes and jamming out with your air guitar will allow you to channel all the feels of The Sundogs wherever you are. Touching on the sounds of jazz, blues, and power guitar solos, the duo of Stan Snow and Jed Moffitt unite for musical force to be reckoned with in the name of rock.
The track Kelsey2 mixes old school soul with new rock and roll from Danny Dosha. Being heavily inspired by hip-hop, 90s, and even Jazz, Dosha brings an eclectic sound to his music. Halfway through the single, listeners are carried away with the vocals of Danielle Lee and overall atmosphere of the tone of the track. With Dosha having his audience get carried away in the sound of the single, it allows them to go on an experience. The guitar riffs and traits of ambient rock truly give his music an unique sound. In terms of the origins of the name for the song, it hails from the admiration of cello player Kelsey Lu. Having only been the one creating the music for 7 years, Dosha sounds like he’s been making music his whole life.
Crushing the grunge rock genre since 2014, and trailing it with their raw sound, Collegians manifests their contagious sound in their latest track, Killer. Sounding similar to Linkin Park, Muse, and Verve, the Collegians sound makes you forget where you are, what you are doing, and where you are going to. Possessing a mix of recognizable 90s grunge rock that infiltrates your existence as a whole, the band succeeds with showcasing that beautiful grit. The vocal talent of Glenn Patrick combined with the gothic and strong lyrics make listeners hooked for more. With the lyrics of “love to hate, that’s why I’m praying for you”, Patrick’s delivery of their powerful music makes Collegians soar and connects their sound to listeners from all walks of life, no matter where they may be.
Remember when the macarena was the dance to do? Or how about when you could turn on the TV and watch new episodes of Seinfeld or Friends or could scream about how terrible The Phantom Menace was and still be considered relevant. Yes people, I’m talking about the music in the 90s and I don’t mean Brittney or Christina, ‘NSync or the Backstreet Boys (pre-coming out of the closet) or even the Tupac/Biggie feud. I’m glorifying these bands of the 90s to help create a musical legacy that isn’t just gangsta rap posturing, soulless pop or teen idol emptiness.
I’m going to start off with probably the nerdiest band of the past two decades: Weezer. Pick a color either blue, green or red and you’ve picked a great album. Listening to Weezer is sort of like being shot into an alternate universe where your angst isn’t particularly angsty and it doesn’t hurt because you yourself can trivialize it to the point of hilarity. In that alternate reality though, all memory of Buddy Holly and Mary Tyler Moore are preserved so you don’t need much else.
Now I would be remiss to talk about 90s music without mentioning the great grunge movement of long greasy hair, angry angst, unwanted popularity and battles against commercial success. My favorite band from this lovely genre is Pearl Jam, whose battles against their own popularity included taking on ticketmaster and refusing to release one of their most popular songs as a single. That being said, Pearl Jam could both rock (on Even Flow) and ballad (on Better Man) and are one of the still relevant grunge acts of the 90s.
In a totally different universe from pretty much anything else I listen to lies Rage Against the Machine. Built primarily on testosterone and pedal effects, Rage built up a following because their anger was directed not at themselves or evil heart breaking harpies but at the unseen forces that control our political and economic landscapes. Switch out Rage frontman for Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell and you get Audioslave which I confess is not a 90s band but draws heavily from grunge music and is definitely worth a listen.
The Music Court 