I’ve been really enjoying the Red Hot Organization’s “No Alternative” and “Dark was the Night” recently, both because they raised a lot of money for AIDS research and because they do a great job of capturing the 90s alternative sound and 00s indie sound respectively, and it’s got me thinking how much I love compilations generally for how they can give you an impression of a place/time/music scene. Any collections like that you think I should know about?
Do soundtracks count? If so, O’ Brother Where Art Thou? And Grosse Point Blank
GPB was quality
GPB is such an underrated movie. Banger soundtrack, great action sequences, funny jokes, Minnie Driver, Joan Cusack, Dan Ackroyd… It’s got everything!
The non-soundtrack compilation that first comes to mind is The Duran Duran Tribute Album. It’s all covers of Duran Duran songs and, because it was released in the late 90s, there’s more than its fair share of ska.
There are a lot of great tracks. My highlights are Goldfinger’s version of Rio and The Wesley Willis Fiasco’s cover of Girls on Film.
This album made me realize that Duran Duran was about 20bpm away from being one of my favorite bands.
“His name is Dio. Ronnie James Dio!”
Oh wow, “Dio” would be a great name for a Lemmy app. 🤘
For classic rock, the Dazed and Confused soundtracks are phenomenal. I’m also partial to the Hackers soundtrack for early/mid '90s electronic music.
The Crow soundtrack has some great ones.
You reminded me of the Hackers soundtrack
Another good one.
There are many great soundtracks that spring to mind. Among them just two are: Pulp Fiction and Garden State.
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O Brother Where Art Thou? has a fantastic soundtrack. The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtracks are also quite good.
Dicks 1980-1986. Pretty much a comp of their best songs, some are live and some are studio takes but it’s just a great album and they did a lot for queer punk in Texas in the early 80’s which was pretty rare.
The Sire Records “Just Say” albums of the early 90s.
Survival of the Fattest
The best way to discover new punk bands in the 90s was through comps. The Punk-O-Rama, Give Them the Boot, and Fat Wreck Chords compilations are the soundtrack of my teen years. But my favorites were the Nitro Records ones. Deep Thoughts and Go Ahead Punk… Make My Day were my favorites.
Also special shot out to Punk-O-Rama III
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Super Eurobeat Presents Fourth Stage D Selection 3
NO CONTROL
NOT AT ALL
CUZ YOU MAKE ME FEEL CRAZY NOW
Big shiny tunes 2 was foundational to me.
R. Stevie Moore - Meet The R. Stevie Moore! An Introduction To The Godfather Of Home Recording
Pulse, for the sweet 90s dance.