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