Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Chris Chamberlain's Musical Journey Through the 90's




Once declared "the greatest 90's mix ever created," by Jim K., (shoutout) Chris Chamberlain's Musical Journey through the 90's is a 4-CD compilation that chronicles the rise of alternative music from 1991-1999. Through the years I have given out copies of this fantastic tuneage to those who I thought would really enjoy it. And here in a second, I will list each track as they appear on my CDs.

There was a considerable amount of research involved in making this assemblage. I had to look up the release dates of each song and place them on the CDs accordingly. Volume 1 chronicles music from 1991-1994 and begins with Smells Like Teen Spirit(1991), the song that first sparked my interest and started me on this musical journey. Volume 2 documents the years 1994-1997 while volume 3 consists of songs from 1997-1999. I followed my own personal guidelines of tape/CD making (See Jive archives) by not featuring two songs by an artist/band on the same compilation. Since it was extremely difficult to choose what songs made the list, I made a fourth CD that I called Chris Chamberlain's Musical Journey through the 90s: B-sides. On this CD, there is no chronological order to the songs.

These CDs that I made about eight years ago, act as a nostalgia trip for those who are a few years over 30 or a few under. If you are around 34 years of age, there's a good chance that you will prefer Vol. 1 over the others. If you are 24, you'll more than likely enjoy Vol. 3 a little more. So without further ado, here's the track listings for each CD:

Chris Chamberlain's Musical Journey Vol. 1

1. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
2. Alive - Pearl jam
3. No Rain - Blind Melon
4. Whats Up - 4 Non Blondes
5. Zombie - Cranberries
6. Mr. Jones - Counting Crows
7. Shine - Collective Soul
8. Losing My Religion - R.E.M.
9. Runaway Train - Soul Asylum
10. Two Princes - Spin Doctors
11. Black Hole Sun - Sound Garden
12. Mmm mmm mmm - Crash Test Dummies
13. Down On Me - Jackyl
14. Plush - Stone Temple Pilots
15. Loser - Beck
16. Sellin the Drama - Live
17. Pets - Porno for Pyros
18. My Name is Mudd - Primus
19. Losin' Your Mind - Pride & Glory

Vol. 2


1. Good - Better Than Ezra
2. Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots
3. All Apologies - Nirvana
4. All I Wanna Do - Sheryl Crow
5. Buddy Holly - Weezer
6. Run-Around - Blues Traveler
7. Precious Declaration - Collective Soul
8. Pirhana - Tripping Daisy
9. Only Wanna Be With You - Hootie and the Blowfish
10. Better Man - Pearl Jam
11. The Freshman - The Verve Pipe
12. Hand In my Pocket - Alanis (Atlantis) Morissette
13. One of Us - Joan Osbourne
14. Basket Case - Green Day
15. One Headlight - Wallflowers
16. 'Til I Hear it From You - Gin Blossoms
17. What I Got - Sublime
18. 3AM - Matchbox Twenty
19. Fly - Sugar Ray
20. Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind

Vol. 3

1. The Rascal King - Mighty Mighty Bosstones
2. Tubthumper - Chumbawumba
3. Marching To Mars - Sammy Hagar
4. How Bizarre - OMC
5. One Week - Bare Naked ladies
6. The Way - Fastball
7. Thank U - Alanis Morissette
8. Save Tonight - Eagle Eye Cherry
9. Steal My Sunshine - LEN
10. You Get What you Give - New Radicals
11. Every Morning - Sugar Ray
12. All Star - SmashMouth
13. Why Don't You Get A Job? -The Offspring
14. Kiss Me - Sixpence None The Richer
15. Smooth - Santana Feat. Rob Thomas
16. Bittersweet Symphony - Verve
17. Only Love Can Break Your Heart - Everlast
18. I Try - Macy Gray
19. Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) - Baz Luhrmann
20. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day

B-Sides

1. Aeroplane - Red Hot Chilipeppers
2. Lump - Presidents of the United States of America
3. Brick - Ben Folds Five
4. Daughter - Pearl Jam
5. River of Deceit - Mad Season
6. How's it Gonna Be? - Third Eye Blind
7. 1979 - Smashing Pumpkins
8. The World I know - Collective Soul
9. Come To My Window - Melissa Ethridge
10. Cryin'- Aerosmith
11. A Long December - Counting Crows
12. Take A Picture - Filter
13. I'll Be - Edwin McCain
14. Pepper - Butthole Surfers
15. MMM Bop - Hanson
16. Santaria - Sublime
17. I Kissed A Girl - Jill Sobule
18. If you're Gone - Matchbox Twenty
19. Walkin' On the Sun - Smashmouth
20. I Will Remember You - Sarah Mclaughlin

After viewing these track lists, I'm positive that many would ask, "Where's ______?" (insert popular song)My only response would be that it is my Journey...not yours. I have a distinct memory that goes along with every song that made the Compilation. For example, I cannot hear Only Wanna Be With You without thinking back to 1995 when we were stranded at a Motel 6 in Kingman, Arizona after our car had broken down over the weekend. The T.V. had 5 channels including MTV, which played this video over and over again. There are many deserving songs, such as Combersome by Seven Mary Three that did not make the list because of negative reflections. Another one, Self Esteem by Offspring didn't make the cut because of my tendency to negatively reflect back to my freshman year of high school when my basketball team chose to play this song in pre-game warm ups. Not the best song to intimidate the opposition...don't you agree? I could delve even further about how that particular song reminds me of how we ran out of team jerseys that year and my ol' buddy Jake C.(shoutout) and I had to wear girl's jerseys...complete with the v-necks and bra protectors...but I digress.

Anyway, Chris Chamberlain's Musical Journey Through the 90's is probobly my greatest achievement in Tape/CD Making. I'm honored to share and hopefully discuss these songs with you. Perhaps in about a year I will begin work on a new compilation covering the last decade. For now,I think that you should create a new playlist in your IPod with these songs as a blueprint. Feel free to add and remove at your discretion. And when you name that new playlist John/Jane Doe's Musical Journey Through the 90's, I will consider it a personal triumph.

Demand Satisfaction,
CWC