Dig Me Out: 90s Rock

The White Stripes - The White Stripes | Album Review

Little did anyone know that a two-piece garage rock band from Detroit would kick off a sonic revolution in 1999. The White Stripes debut of minimalist blues paired down to just vocals, guitar, and drums wasn't completely without precedent in the underground music scene with bands like the Flat Duo Jets and Bassholes preceding them. And while it would be a few years and a few albums before the mainstream caught on, the core elements of The White Stripes sound were there from the start.

 

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - Jimmy the Exploder

20:07 - The Big Three Killed My Baby

26:53 - Sugar Never Tasted So Good

35:26 - Astro

40:56 - Slicker Drips

Outro - Cannon

 

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Ben Osmundson and Ali Tabatabaee of Zebrahead | Interview

With the success of acts like Rage Against the Machine, Limp Bizkit, 311, and Korn in the mid-90s, by the end of the decade, labels were jumping on the bandwagon and signing bands that incorporated rap and hip-hop into rock, metal, and punk. Zebrahead, from the pop-punk hotbed Orange County, were one of the bands to benefit from this trend and released their debut, Waste of Mind, on Columbia Records in 1998 featuring the singles “Get Back” and “The Real Me.” Though the music industry would shift to boy bands and teen starlets by the early 2000s, Zebrahead soldiered on, finding success in Europe and Japan. As two of the founding, and original members, of Zebrahead, Ben Osmundson and Ali Tabatabaee join us to discuss the band’s longevity, why their sound clicked with listeners, and how they’ve managed to stay together for 25 years while continuously releasing new music.

 

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - Check from Waste Of Mind

6:30 - Playmate of the Year from Playmate of the Year

Outro - Falling Apart from MFZB

 

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Suicidal Tendencies - The Art of Rebellion | Album Review

California thrashers Suicidal Tendencies had already been called "sell outs" when they released the video for the iconic single "Institutionalized." Mike Muir, never one to buck to expectations, took ST in the directions he wanted through the 80s and early 90s, and their 1992 album The Art of Rebellion might be the creative apex for the band. Yes, they thrash. Yes, the rock. But the band was already evolving, and TAOR shows a level of arrangement and playing craftsmanship that doesn't come easy. From the charted MTV single "Nobody Hears" to the shape-shifting opener "Can't Stop," Muir is the most surprising discovery in our revisit, taking his voice and lyrics into a variety of sounds and ideas that still resonate. Of course, having an already established line-up of killer musicians backed by the lone appearance of drumming monster Josh Freese helps to further flesh out all the ideas and sounds into a truly unique record for the time period.

 

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - Accept My Sacrifice

19:06 - Can't Stop

23:56 - It's Going Down

27:09 - Gotta Kill Captain Stupid

31:34 - Nobody Hears

Outro - Tap Into The Power

 

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Albums of 1992 | Roundtable

While 1991 is regarded as the true launch of the 1990s alternative explosion into the mainstream, the sheer volume and diversity of music that followed in 1992 might lay claim to the crown as the most interesting year of the decade. The mainstays of 80s college rock were alive and well, with albums by R.E.M., Bob Mould's new band Sugar, Faith No More, The Cure, The Lemonheads, Sonic Youth, Soul Asylum, and many more. The ubiquitous "grunge" sound was fully ensconced in radio and MTV with Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, and Screaming Trees added to playlists, while more aggressive sounds emerged from the likes of Rage Against the Machine, Helmet, Pantera, and White Zombie. Underground scenes cracked the mainstream as well, as industrial and electronic acts such as Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, The Orb, Curve, Aphex Twin, and others made significant noise, and the growing UK shoegaze scene produced records from Lush, Catherine Wheel, Ride, Moose, etc. And this barely scratches the surface, as hip-hop saw the release of the decade-defining albums The Chronic by Dr. Dre and Check Your Head by the Beastie Boys, as well as albums by Arrested Development, Ice Cube, Das EFX, Redman, The Pharcyde, and more. And that barely scratches the surface.

 

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - 1992 Medley (Them Bones by Alice In Chains, Wish by Nine Inch Nails, Unsung by Helmet, Somebody To Shove by Soul Asylum)

Outro - Miles Iz Dead by The Afghan Whigs

 

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Terry Ilous of XYZ, Great White, and Land of Gypsies | Interview

Of late, Terry Ilous is probably best known as Jack Russell’s replacement in Great White (“Once Bitten, Twice Shy”), a position he held from 2010 until his surprising dismissal in 2018, but from the mid-80s until the mid-90s, Ilous fronted the Sunset Strip band XYZ (“Inside Out”, “What Keeps Me Loving You”, “Face Down in the Gutter”). In this revealing conversation, Ilous shares how XYZ bassist Pat Fontaine tricked him into moving to the U.S. from France with promises of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll, the unlikely way XYZ landed a record deal with Enigma Records, working with Don Dokken on the band’s 1989 debut, touring with the likes of Foreigner, Ozzy Osbourne, and Ted Nugent, the arrival of grunge and the devastating effects it had on Ilous’s career for the rest of the ‘90s and how he left the music business for a number of years before being lured back in through the unlikeliest of ways (voiceover work for cartoons). Ilous has reformed XYZ and still plays shows under that band name while also releasing solo material and fronting Land of Gypsies, whose self-titled debut was released by Frontiers Music in December.

 

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - Inside Out by XYZ (from self-titled)

12:56 - Face Down In The Gutter by XYZ (from Hungry)

Outro - Don't Say No by XYZ (from Hungry)

 

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Meat Puppets - Too High To Die | Album Review

In the fall of 1993, if you heard the name Meat Puppets attached to the newest single Backwater blasting from your local alternative radio station or on MTV, you would be forgiven for thinking this was a new band from Seattle riding the grunge wave. In truth, this was the band's eighth release, and they hailed from the much sunnier climate of Phoenix, Arizona. As veterans of the indie rock scene who had spent the 80s on famed SST Records, Too High To Die was their second major-label release, and the band was as much an influence on the current wave of alternative acts breaking through as a contemporary, as evidenced by Nirvana's choice to cover three of the band's songs on their MTV Unplugged performance and have the Kirkwood brothers join them onstage. With Too High To Die, the band shows off all of their skills, crafting finger-picked bluegrass tracks alongside ripping Soundgarden-esque tunes.

 

Songs In This Episode:

Intro - Backwater

20:27 - Shine

24:19 - Things

29:17 - Severed Goddess Hand

37:48 - Evil Love

Outro - We Don't Exist

 

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Listen to the episode archive at DigMeOutPodcast.com.