Did 1997 Contain The Worst Two Weeks In Music History?

[Doctor Cringelord]

Did 1997 Contain the Worst Two Weeks in Music History?


Short answer: probably

 

[Luminous]

Well... I am not embarrassed by the swing revival. I am grateful for being exposed to music then that I don't know when else I would have been exposed to. It made me want to research into swing, which I did, which led me to research old blues, and just broadened my musical horizons. And no, Cherry Poppin' Daddies are not my favorite swing band. Also, I am not ashamed to say I like some pop punk.

And, yeah, I like Squirrel Nut Zippers.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I like Squirrel Nut Zippers as well, but I never considered them part of the swing revival. Their style was closer to an earlier style of jazz, closer to Dixieland than it was to swing. I think a lot of music journalists just lazily lumped them in with the swing revival because they wouldn’t know the difference between different jazz styles—I remember reading an interview with one of the members and he got very annoyed at being labeled a swing band. It would be like referring to Electric Light Orchestra as a psychedelic band, I guess. I also found “walking on the sun” to be a decent, catchy song, but it got old so fast because for a while there it was constantly all over the radio. Then, I think by the time ‘All Star’ dropped and Shrek, people were just tired of Smash Mouth.

I never really had a problem with pop punk so much as I did with rap rock. I never even liked Korn or Rage Against The Machine all that much but their suckage was mild in comparison to Limp Bizkit.

But in general, I remember the late 90s being a pretty depressing period for music, and that’s when I really started hunting for more obscure shit and digging back into past eras. That’s around the time I discovered New Wave and bands like Yo La Tengo, Can, Stereolab, Bowie, etc.

I also fucking hated “yacht rap” and it kind of colored my impression of ALL rap, but then I discovered Wu Tang and my older sister’s boyfriend introduced me to underground shit like Kool Keith and Del Tha Funky Homosapien

In a way I guess I can thank the suckitude of late 90s mainstream pop for my eclectic tastes and hunger for obscure, lost musical gems

 

[Luminous]

I agree about it generally being depressing. Like I said, I dug back too. I guess there's a bright side there--maybe it inspired many of us to dig back and discover great older music?

I was largely disenchanted with a lot of pop, like boy bands and that sort of thing. Though I never cared much for Korn or Rage Against the Machine either.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I also quite enjoyed that Prodigy album.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I think the late 90s was sort of the beginning of the end for the music industry, at least as we had known it to that point. I remember when Napster made a splash, and yes I was using it to illegally download shit, but in most instances I was using it to find shit that wasn’t common on the radio, and usually if I liked something, I would try to hunt down a physical copy and buy it at the local independent record store

 

[Peter Deadpan]

I dunno, man... in 1994, Kurt Cobain died and Justin Bieber was born.

 

[rav3n]

Late nineties to early two thousands was the period that I avoided most pop since it bored me.

 

[Jaguar]

“Best New Band” in the 1997 Rolling Stone Readers Poll went to . . . Matchbox 20.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

“Best New Band” in the 1997 Rolling Stone Readers Poll went to . . . Matchbox 20.

Rolling Stone stopped being relevant long before 1997

 

[SD45T-2]

It would be like referring to Electric Light Orchestra as a psychedelic band, I guess.

That would bring you down?

Though I never cared much for Korn

*scatting angrily*

 

[Hiraeth]

1997...ahh the good ol' days as a wee youngin'. I was listening to the Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys. That was my shit.