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Rhino to Release 7xCD 90s Box Set

Rob Kleckner reports:
Remember the 90s? If you're reading this, chances are you lived through most of it. If not, you're truly precocious; five-year-olds should not be reading Pitchfork. The 90s provided an explosion of music-- some outstanding, some less than stellar. One-hit wonders crowded the scene. Grunge happened. Kris Kross happened. Ahh, yes, I remember the 90s fondly.

Well, in cased you missed it, or haven't seen VH1's "I Love the 90s", Rhino has come to your rescue. Whatever: The 90s Pop Culture Box will be released on July 26, spanning seven (yes, seven) discs of grungy, poppy goodness.

It kicks off with a bang with M.C. Hammer's "U Can't Touch This". Other artists include the likes of Mother Love Bone, Deee-Lite, Boyz II Men, Right Said Fred, My Bloody Valentine, Pantera, Soul Asylum, House of Pain, Duran Duran, Dinosaur Jr., Tag Team, the Posies, Pavement, Ween, Crash Test Dummies, the Flaming Lips, R.E.M., Weezer, Blues Traveler, Oasis, Jewel, Stereolab, Jamiroquai, Wilco, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Sleater-Kinney, Hanson, Barenaked Ladies, and, of course, Chumbawamba. The set ends with Moby's "Natural Blues". Maybe a better title would be From Hammer to Moby in 130 Steps.

Interestingly, artists like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Madonna have been left off. But who cares about "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Jeremy" when you've got "Virtual Insansity" and "Walking in Memphis"? The set will also come with an exhaustive 84-page companion book with photos galore, notes on each track, and contributions from a number of music critics, including Jim DeRogatis. The set also comes with a bag of coffee beans (no joke) and a hackey sack (joke). Here's the tracklist:

>>Disc One:
01 "U Can't Touch This" - M.C. Hammer
02 "Nothing Compares 2 U" - Sinead O'Connor
03 "No Myth" - Michael Penn
04 "Ladies First" - Queen Latifah (feat. Monie Love)
05 "Ball and Chain" - Social Distortion
06 "Birdhouse in Your Soul" - They Might Be Giants
07 "Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns" - Mother Love Bone
08 "Here's Where the Story Ends" - The Sundays
09 "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" - C & C Music Factory
10 "Groove Is in the Heart" - Deee-Lite
11 "Right Here Right Now" - Jesus Jones
12 "New Jack Hustler (Nino's Theme)" - Ice-T
13 "I Touch Myself" - Divinyls
14 "Unbelievable" - EMF
15 "Hard To Handle" - The Black Crowes
16 "O.P.P." - Naughty By Nature
17 "Walking in Memphis" - Marc Cohn
18 "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye to Yesterday" - Boyz II Men

>>Disc Two:
01 "Silent Lucidity" - Queensryche
02 "Into the Drink" - Mudhoney
03 "Girlfriend" - Matthew Sweet
04 "I'm Too Sexy" - Right Said Fred
05 "Calling All Angels" - Jane Siberry (with k.d. lang)
06 "Only Shallow" - My Bloody Valentine
07 "It's a Shame About Ray" - The Lemonheads
08 "Baby Got Back" - Sir Mix-A-Lot
09 "They Want EFX" - DAS EFX
10 "Jump" - Kris Kross
11 "Walk" - Pantera
12 "N.W.O." - Ministry
13 "Shitlist" - L7
14 "Absynthe" - The Gits
15 "Coattail Rider" - Supersuckers
16 "Runaway Train" - Soul Asylum
17 "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" - Spin Doctors
18 "Dizz Knee Land" - dada
19 "Nearly Lost You" - Screaming Trees

>>Disc Three:
01 "Under the Bridge" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
02 "Unsung" - Helmet
03 "Jump Around" - House Of Pain
04 "Free Your Mind" - En Vogue
05 "Rump Shaker" - Wreckx-N-Effect
06 "Informer" - Snow
07 "Connected" - Stereo MCs
08 "Detachable Penis" - King Missile
09 "Freak Me" - Silk
10 "Ordinary World" - Duran Duran
11 "If I Can't Change Your Mind" - Sugar
12 "Three Little Pigs" - Green Jelly
13 "Start Choppin" - Dinosaur Jr.
14 "The Devil's Chasing Me" - The Reverend Horton Heat
15 "Gone to the Moon" - Fastbacks
16 "My Name Is Mud" - Primus
17 "What's Up" - 4 Non Blondes

>>Disc Four:
01 "Thunder Kiss '65" - White Zombie
02 "Whoomp! (There It Is)" - Tag Team
03 "Broken Hearted Savior" - Big Head Todd and the Monsters
04 "Trust Me" - Guru with N'Dea Davenport
05 "Here Comes" - Velocity Girl
06 "Gepetto" - Belly
07 "Eye to Eye" - The Muffs
08 "Gentlemen" - Afghan Whigs
09 "Leafy Incline" - Tad
10 "Dream All Day" - The Posies
11 "Hey Jealousy" - Gin Blossoms
12 "My Sister" - The Juliana Hatfield Three
13 "Whatta Man" - Salt-N-Pepa
14 "Back & Forth" - Aaliyah
15 "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)" - Me'Shell Ndegéocello
16 "Freedom of '76" - Ween
17 "Cut Your Hair" - Pavement
18 "God" - Tori Amos
19 "MMM MMM MMM MMM" - Crash Test Dummies
20 "Possession" - Sarah McLachlan

>>Disc Five:
01 "Shine" - Collective Soul
02 "Far Behind" - Candlebox
03 "You Gotta Be" - Des'ree
04 "Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon" - Urge Overkill
05 "She Don't Use Jelly" - The Flaming Lips
06 "m.i.a." - 7 Year Bitch
07 "21st Century (Digital Boy)" - Bad Religion
08 "Sugar Free Jazz" - Soul Coughing
09 "Mockingbirds" - Grant Lee Buffalo
10 "What's the Frequency Kenneth?" - R.E.M.
11 "Revolve" - Melvins
12 "Buddy Holly" - Weezer
13 "Here and Now" - Letters to Cleo
14 "Good" - Better Than Ezra
15 "Run-Around" - Blues Traveler
16 "I'll Be There for You" (Theme From "Friends") - The Rembrandts
17 "Tomorrow" - Silverchair
18 "Not a Pretty Girl" - Ani DiFranco
19 "Carnival" - Natalie Merchant

>>Disc Six:
01 "Wonderwall" - Oasis
02 "Birthday Cake" - Cibo Matto
03 "Cumbersome" - Seven Mary Three
04 "One of Us" - Joan Osborne
05 "Caught by the Fuzz" - Supergrass
06 "Sweet 69" - Babes In Toyland
07 "Breakfast at Tiffany's" - Deep Blue Something
08 "Photograph" - The Verve Pipe
09 "In the Meantime" - Spacehog
10 "Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check" - Busta Rhymes (Feat. Rampage the Last Boy Scout)
11 "Who Will Save Your Soul" - Jewel
12 "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand" - Primitive Radio Gods
13 "Cybele's Reverie" - Stereolab
14 "Capri Pants" - Bikini Kill
15 "What I Got" - Sublime
16 "Kung Fu" - Ash
17 "Virtual Insanity" - Jamiroquai
18 "Naked Eye" - Luscious Jackson
19 "Outtasite (Outta Mind)" - Wilco

>>Disc Seven:
01 "itszoweezee (hot)" - De La Soul
02 "LoveFool" - The Cardigans
03 "Radiation Vibe" - Fountains Of Wayne
04 "The Impression That I Get" - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
05 "Turn It On" - Sleater-Kinney
06 "Bitch" - Meredith Brooks
07 "MMMBop" - Hanson
08 "Brian Wilson" (live) - Barenaked Ladies
09 "Brick" - Ben Folds Five
10 "Sex and Candy" - Marcy Playground
11 "Walking on the Sun" - Smash Mouth
12 "Tubthumping" - Chumbawamba
13 "6 Underground" - Sneaker Pimps
14 "Lullaby" - Shawn Mullins
15 "Slide" - Goo Goo Dolls
16 "Kiss Me" - Sixpence None the Richer
17 "Steal My Sunshine" - LEN
18 "What It's Like" - Everlast
19 "Natural Blues" - Moby

* Rhino: http://www.rhino.com/

deadlax

I'm not loving that collection.

DJLinus

Looks good, but I'll say what I said about VH-1's "I Love the 90's": too soon.

Chim

thats an amazing compilation

DRG

It covers a decent amount of ground, but I think they've done a crappy job covering the rap aspect of it. No Dr. Dre, Snoop, Tupac, Warren G, Notorious B.I.G., Fugees, or Wu-Tang Clan, or even Coolio? Say what you want about them, them were all big parts of the 90s.

DVD Josh

Nice to see Grammy winning Best New Artist of 2004 represented for the 90's Radiation Vibe (I love leave the biker more though)

DonnachaOne

Some unusual selections.

Oh, and I'd prefer if this was a DVD set.

Drexl

I would imagine that they couldn't get the rights to everything they may have wanted to put on there, or they would have been too expensive. It's not like just making a list.

There is some good stuff on there, but it also has some of my most hated songs of all time ("U Can't Touch This," "Informer," "Jump Around," "Rump Shaker")

Gerry P.

Detachable Penis

Elldubtoo

Only Shallow and Cut Your Hair!

Cornelius1047

I'm very surprised to see Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill on there. Hell, I'm even surprised to see silverchair, although they've gone on to do much better work. Also, what's with having Goo Goo Dolls' "Slide" instead of "Name" or "Iris"? That's odd.

Anyway, as with any compilation, it can be hit or miss, and this seems to hit a lot of good notes. I'll probably pick it up for the book and because the 90's were probably the most important decade as far as shaping my lasting musical taste. Of course, my 7-disc set would be very different.

K

GuessWho

Serious lack of hair metal, which still ruled the charts up till 1993

cungar

Why does the previous decades music always seem like shit 5 years after the decade ends?

atlantamoi

Wasn't expecting to see that either, but overall this is a totally skippable box set. That is if you were buying music over those years.

djbrown

No 'No Doubt'?

auto

Exactly.

DRG

And 5 years after that it becomes 'retro' and is considered cool again.

Buford T Pusser

Some good obscure cuts on there as well as the usual stuff. Of course I already have the obscure stuff.


:buford:

Giles

what? no Judybats? or Ocean Blue?

Buford T Pusser

I already have all of the Judybats and Ocean Blue's output.

Giles

I do too, but not to include them on this compliation, for shame.

mifuneral

actually there are a lot of titles in there that I dig (but never enough to get tapes/cds of those particular bands).

I really hate the packaging with these Rhino music sets though.

Buford T Pusser

I haven't gone through the list that close but I'd probably think of another 10 bands that should be there.

Celtic Bob

I'm with GuessWho on this one. Needs more Hair Bands.

Giles

out of curiousity - like who?