1M
Downloads
673
Episodes
Step back in time to the last great decade of rock music: the 1990s, with Dig Me Out. We’ve been producing weekly episodes for over 12 years, bringing you in-depth album reviews, insider interviews, and cultural discussions that provide a comprehensive look at the music of the time. Our community of passionate listeners chooses the artists, albums, and topics we feature, making it a collaborative experience for all. Join us as we celebrate the unparalleled creativity and cultural significance of the music of the 90s - subscribe now!
Episodes
Tuesday Apr 04, 2023
Tuesday Apr 04, 2023
By 1999, fans of the alternative country rock sound had a lot to choose from. At the start of the decade, the mostly underground and regional scenes were known to college radio listeners and other non-mainstream outlets. But by 1999, major labels Geffen and Warner Brothers were putting out albums and developing artists. On Elektra, the Old 97s from Dallas, Texas released their second major label release, and fourth overall. Fight Songs found the band in transition, moving away from the harsher elements of their earlier years, cleaning up the production, and find the hooks for radio.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Jagged
18:36 - What We Talk About
23:48 - Busted Afternoon
29:15 - Murder (Or A Heart Attack)
39:25 - Oppenheimer
Outro - Nineteen
Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.
Thursday Mar 30, 2023
Thursday Mar 30, 2023
A perfect pick for a Dig Me Out episode, Fretblanket never seemed to get the mainstream attention the way their peers did. Formed in Stourbridge, England when the members were still in high school, the band caught the attention of Polygram Records in ‘93 and signed a deal before singer/guitarist Will Copley had graduated. A year later, Junkfuel was released with the single “Twisted” gaining a modest amount of airplay on U.S. alternative and college rock stations. Guitarist Clive Powell wrote most of the guitar-rich songs which fit in alongside artists like Sugar, The Doughboys, The Wedding Present and Ride while Copley’s grungy vocals earned comparisons to Kurt Cobain. Though they were very much of the time, the biggest touring exposure they had was opening for Oingo Boingo, a sad mismatch that likely didn’t earn the band any new fans. In 1997, they released Home Truths From Abroad which leaned more into the Brit rock side of things than the grungier side and caused a minor MTV buzz with their video for “Into the Ocean.” Songs for a third album were recorded in Michigan with Tim Patalan (Sponge, Watershed) but shelved after it was apparent there was no longer label interest and the members went their separate ways. On March 30, 2023, that long lost album, The Distance In Between, was released as a way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Fretblanket signing a record deal.
Songs in this Episode:
Intro - Twisted from Junkfuel
13:06 - Digging Your Scene from The Distance In Between
Outro - Into The Ocean from Home Truths From Abroad
Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.
Tuesday Mar 28, 2023
Tuesday Mar 28, 2023
Few bands have stayed artistically and commercially relevant over forty years into their career, but with the release of their new album Memento Mori in March 2023, Depeche Mode continue to defy the odds. In the 80s the band built a fanbase in Europe over their first few releases before entering the global stage with "People Are People" in 1984. By the end of the decade, they were regularly a top ten album charting band in the UK while making serious inroads in North America. They entered the 90s with an album primed by the infectious single "Personal Jesus" that would launch them into the stratosphere. With Violator and its many singles, like R.E.M. and other alternative acts, mainstream radio and MTV formerly dominated by pop and hair metal were beginning to shift direction before the dam burst in 1991. But lurking beneath the surface was inter-band tensions and various addictions that would threaten to derail the band at the height of their global success.
Songs in this Episode:
Intro - Personal Jesus (from Violator)
19:59 - World in My Eyes (from Violator)
35:11 - Death's Door (Until The End Of The World soundtrack)
43:31 - One Caress (from Songs of Faith and Devotion)
1:03:11 - Home (from Ultra)
Outro - Only When I Lose Myself (from The Singles 86>98)
Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.
Tuesday Mar 21, 2023
Tuesday Mar 21, 2023
Diamond certified records, those that have sold ten million or more albums in the United States, are a rare achievement that few bands and artists can lay claim to. But as important as it is to talk about obscure and underappreciated 90s rock albums, we thought it was time to go in the opposite direction for a new series diving into the full albums of 90s rock Diamonds. With that, we start our Diamond series with the 1995 album Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt. Was there any escaping "Don't Speak" in 1996? No, there wasn't. Every media outlet was covering the chart topping single not only for its chart performance but the drama that surrounded the band. Along with huge singles "Spiderwebs" and "Just a Girl," Tragic Kingdom was in the cultural zeitgeist for years after its release, but how many people actually listened to the whole album? We definitely didn't, and we're here to correct that oversight.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Don't Speak
19:04 - Happy Now?
21:29 - Sunday Morning
24:14 - Tragic Kingdom
35:25 - Just A Girl
40:15- Spiderwebs
Outro - Hey You
Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.
Tuesday Mar 14, 2023
Tuesday Mar 14, 2023
Sophomore albums can be a difficult proposition. The standard refrain is you get a lifetime to make the first one and a few months to make the follow-up. In the case of Filter, it took a little longer, four years to be exact. Title of Record came out in 1999 in a much different musical landscape than their 1995 debut Short Bus. Luckily, their hard rock sound, with a touch of industrial, fit in well with the end of the decade, and they struck literal gold with the atypical single "Take A Picture." Even with an entirely new backing band and the loss of his songwriting counterpart, Richard Patrick separated himself further from the Nine Inch Nails comparisons by embracing a big rock sound with a few interesting diversions.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Welcome To The Fold
26:02 - The Best Things
32:24 - Cancer
37:56 - Take A Picture
Outro - It's Gonna Kill Me
Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.
Tuesday Mar 07, 2023
Tuesday Mar 07, 2023
Blessed with fire and passion on display through her voice and lyrics, the murder of Mia Zapata robbed the world of her potential. With The Gits, she and guitarist Joe Spleen, bass player Matt Dresdner, and drummer Steve Moriarty made grunge mixed with hardcore punk on their 1992 album Frenching The Bully. With only four years together, the debut record displays potential in the same way Bleach gives hints of what Nirvana was to become on the released but unfinished follow-up album Enter: The Conquering Chicken.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Another Shot of Whiskey
17:18 - Spear and Magic Helmet
23:08 - It All Dies Anyway
27:39 - Insecurities
Outro - Absynthe
Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.
Thursday Mar 02, 2023
Thursday Mar 02, 2023
There was never a question that Ivy would make it, though they did so with many strokes of luck, good fortune, and heart ache along the way. With talented songwriters Andy Chase and Adam Schlesinger writing sophisticated pop songs showcasing their love of ‘80s and ‘90s UK music, the only thing missing was a voice to go with the sounds. Chase’s girlfriend at the time (now wife), Dominique Durand, had moved to New York City from Paris to study fashion. While growing up in a house full of music journalists in France, Durand enjoyed the lifestyle and the personalities but never entertained the thought of taking center stage until she was reluctantly talked into it by Chase and Schlesinger. And the industry took notice. In the bumpy times of the mid-90s where labels were signing every band with a pulse, and subsequently dropping the ones that didn’t meet sales targets, Ivy was the type of band to earn glowing reviews that didn’t always translate to units shifted. 1995’s debut Realistic was released by Seed Records. 1997’s critically-acclaimed Apartment Life was originally put out by Atlantic Records and reissued the following year by 550 Music after Atlantic unceremoniously dropped the band while they were in the middle of a tour. Since that time, Ivy has released music on Nettwerk, Minty Fresh and, now, Bar-None, who is releasing Apartment Life on vinyl for the first time. For Chase and Durand, it’s been a bittersweet few years as the rights to Apartment Life came back to the band shortly after Schlesinger passed away from Covid complications in 2020.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - The Best Thing
5:55 - I've Got A Feeling
Outro - This Is The Day
Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.
Tuesday Feb 28, 2023
Tuesday Feb 28, 2023
Aside from Suede and Spacehog, few bands in the 90s embraced the glam sound as wholly as Lowcraft. Except Lowcraft wasn't from the UK, instead claiming Portland, Oregon in the U.S. as their home. The one and only album, 1999's Manticore, is baked with the sound and feel of Marc Bolan and T. Rex, David Bowie, and Mott the Hoople. How exactly? Can certain guitar chords and riffs sound glam? Sure, but it helps if there is a big vocal from the likes of lead singer Nathan Khyber. But like many 90s albums, the extended runtime of the compact disc gives time for songs to go on too long, and what should have been a tight forty-four-minute LP turns ends up a flabby fifty-seven minutes.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - An Inch Away From Heaven
13:32 - Transcendental Meltdown
19:21 - Pornstar
31:15 - One of Us
Outro - Happy in My Pants
Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.
Tuesday Feb 21, 2023
Tuesday Feb 21, 2023
With a lower register in the vein of Richard Butler or Ian Astbury, Chris Reed of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry dismissed goth comparison during the 80s and focused on their guitar driven post-punk sound. For the final release, 1991's Blasting Off, the band backing Reed is new, but the sound is familiar thanks to Reed's unique vocals, unfussy songwriting, and precise guitar paying that works in a variety of well chosen effects. The unremarkable rhythm section is the only slight on an album that fans of bands like the Psychedelic Furs, The Mission, or Clan of Xymox probably should check out.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Don't Think About It
15:18 - Train of Hope
23:05 - Talking Back
35:01 - Sea of Tears
Outro - This Is Energy
Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.
Tuesday Feb 14, 2023
Tuesday Feb 14, 2023
Coming off the hit "Here and Now" from their debut Aurora Gory Alice, Letters To Cleo followed-up with the equally catchy Wholesale Meats and Fish. Lead single "Awake," with it's handclaps and catchy hook by lead singer Kay Hanley, is just one of many power-pop adjacent tunes that lean more towards the noisy side of the genre inhabited by The Posies and Matthew Sweet. But to pin down LTC would be a mistake, as the opening ripper "Demon Rock" demonstrates, or the sixties-infused "Little Rosa" demonstrate. The band packs a nice sonic punch, even when diverging from comfortable sounds for quieter moments that are hit and miss.
Songs In This Episode:
Intro - Fast Way
14:44 - Demon Rock
21:08 - Little Rosa
27:27 - Acid Jed
32:13 - I Could Sleep (The Wuss Song)
Outro - Awake
Support the podcast, join the DMO UNION at Patreon.