MTV's "120 Minutes - 1992 The Year In Alternative Rock"

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/8/14 at 12:10pm

This is amazing. I'm so happy I got to be a teenager during this time and "grow up" with these bands.

At the risk of sounding old, they sure as hell don't make music like this anymore.


Link Updated On: 8/8/14 at 12:10 PM

[HorseTears]

Posted: 8/8/14 at 1:28pm

Hell yeah! In the age of Spotify and YouTube, I find myself a touch nostalgic for the curation of programs like 120 Minutes and The Wedge. Both programs introduced me to so many great artists over the years. Though, I hasten to add, I'm much younger than Jordan.

Do they still air 120 Minutes? It's been a couple of years since I've had cable, but I do recall a rebooted 120 Mins airing on MTV2 (or 3 or 4..?) fairly recently.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/8/14 at 1:42pm

There's still college radio. There's Pitchfork. To a lesser degree, Spin and Rolling Stone… their new artist lists often have one or two that I am happy to hear for the first time. Even beatsmusic offers a curation aspect, I found adding about 3X the genres it asks you to pick as favorites has pointed me in directions I'd never thought to explore.

Updated On: 8/8/14 at 01:42 PM

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/8/14 at 2:58pm

The wonderful podcast Sound Opinions is another great resource, although they are a little too in love with the obviously ersatz. The Chicagoan rapport between the two hosts is highly reminiscent of Siskel and Ebert.

And, oh yes, the Alternative Radio boom of the nineties. Where you could turn on a radio station and hear the music industry collectively losing it's mind. Where you could hear bands as eclectic as Hole, the Cranberries, the ska revival, the swing revival, Green Day, Cake, and then Chumbawumba for a rowdy finish just before commercial break.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 8/8/14 at 3:01pm

I hasten to add there was a lot of crap in there, too. 311, anyone? The Toadies?

It was undeniably the Golden Age of the One Hit Wonder, though.

Posted: 8/8/14 at 3:10pm

Sound Opinions is more than a podcast- it's produced by WBEZ in Chicago and heard nationally on public radio (NPR). Check your local listings, as it were. I am pleased and proud to report that I was a somewhat frequent guest on the show's earliest days, when it ran on WXRT, home of Chicago's Finest Rock.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 8/8/14 at 9:20pm

I want to second the Sound Opinions mention. Kot and DeRogatis, despite having specifically different tastes and references, have a really good rapport not to mention have a complete lack of pretentiousness. They know what is out now but also know music from way back to champion. Really the best of both worlds.

When Tom Scharpling still had The Best Show on WFMU, he also became a great music source for new rock groups and not just for playing hits and creative music collages. I still miss that show and hope Scharpling gets back in some format that captured what he had.

Pitchfork can be fine but sometimes it does matter who writes which review because otherwise, I am led back to read reviews from The AV Club even if they aren't as esoteric.

I also need to say that social media and a wide array of podcasts, not even those boxed into strictly music discussion have opened up a lot of doors for discovery. 2 years ago I wouldn't know who punk outfits FIDLAR and Joyce Manor were and now I account for them as my favorite bands.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 8/9/14 at 12:32am

Yes, yes. Of course. There is an endless and ever-changing supply of blogs, websites, apps, podcasts, indie public radio powerhouses like KCRW, The Current etc and even a few commercial alternative stations out there. God, I remember in the early 2000s, in San Diego we actually had THREE popular commercial alternative/indie radio stations which was pretty amazing.

But does anyone curate music VIDEOS anymore? That's something I miss. I'm grateful for the age I live in and there's nothing as fun as getting stuck in an endless music video loop on YouTube as you discover and rediscover great music videos, but there's something to be said for a human being of taste and distinction painstakingly organizing a batch of music videos.