Better Than Ezra's "Good" not only topped the Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1995, but also my "Best Songs of the '90s" mix tape from 1997, which begs several questions about what defines "good"
It's shocking to hear you say that there will be other appearances of Our Lady Peace. I'm Canadian, so I assumed their massive radio airplay here was the result of Canadian Content Regulations. I had know idea they were popular down south.
As prime practitioners of the White Canadian Suburban Whine™ (invented by Alanis, developed by Chantal Kreviazuk, and perfected by (Chantal's husband) Raine Maida, lead singer of OLP), I shudder to think of what else made the chart.
I'm not as high on OLP as some of the folks in my life (I know a guy who's seen them live, like, 400 times!) but there are a couple of tracks upcoming that hold a special place in my heart. In northwest Pennsylvania, the radio options were largely meh in the late '90s, and we were saved from endless Top 40 and country by our friends to the north in London, Ontario, who broadcast FM 96 across Lake Erie and gave us some really great alt rock. And, of course, we learned a lot about Canadian bands this way, too, like OLP, Tragically Hip, etc.
And I'll forever be partial to the Rock Spectacle version of "Brian Wilson." Steven Page just seems to add an emotional urgency to it that really resonated with me at the time.
Man I LOVED that Yellow Tape! I was in Halifax from 89 to 96 and saw BNL in their earlier days. Also a big fan of OLP and dozens of other Canadian artists from that time, most of whom I doubt ever graced the MRT charts south of the border
I was thinking of this today, because I just did a Tune Tag with Brad Kyle in which I talked about my teenage affection for Barenaked Ladies -- you might enjoy it reading it (and, even though the BNL song I chose wasn't "Brian Wilson" Brad later responds with a Brian Wilson song) : https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/tune-tag-99-with-nicks-wa-pt-4-mott
That was such a fantastic album from Better Than Ezra (love that Norm McDonald bit as well 😆) but for my tastes the best tracks were “The Killer Inside” and “Porcelain”, both of which I remember making their way onto my mixtapes.
I loved your recollections of mixtape making. I was one of those that was quite anal about gaps between tracks and making sure there wasn’t too much or too little time left at the end of each side. God forbid a song was cut off or there was a 20-second black at the end of the cassette. Horrors!!
I really wish that I had access, if not to the mixtapes themselves, at least to the track listings. I’d like to think I was creating some pretty awesome mixtapes back in the day. And I’d love to be able to reconstruct some of those mixtapes into playlists
I'm fortunate to have a boatload of mix tapes from that time, including a handful of tapes with audio from my days as a college radio DJ. It's an interesting window into time, but also showcased just how difficult it was to make mix tapes when you didn't own a lot of the material. Case in point: R.E.M. is largely absent from my mid-'90s mix tapes. I can't recall if I eventually borrowed those albums from friends or finally had enough cash from my dishwashing job in high school to get it, but it wasn't until much later in the '90s that I was able to fill my collection of R.E.M. albums.
No need to apologize for Brian Wilson by BNL. That said, I prefer the original Yellow Tape Version
https://youtu.be/ZOpgd3Jj-bo?t=175
It's shocking to hear you say that there will be other appearances of Our Lady Peace. I'm Canadian, so I assumed their massive radio airplay here was the result of Canadian Content Regulations. I had know idea they were popular down south.
As prime practitioners of the White Canadian Suburban Whine™ (invented by Alanis, developed by Chantal Kreviazuk, and perfected by (Chantal's husband) Raine Maida, lead singer of OLP), I shudder to think of what else made the chart.
I'm not as high on OLP as some of the folks in my life (I know a guy who's seen them live, like, 400 times!) but there are a couple of tracks upcoming that hold a special place in my heart. In northwest Pennsylvania, the radio options were largely meh in the late '90s, and we were saved from endless Top 40 and country by our friends to the north in London, Ontario, who broadcast FM 96 across Lake Erie and gave us some really great alt rock. And, of course, we learned a lot about Canadian bands this way, too, like OLP, Tragically Hip, etc.
And I'll forever be partial to the Rock Spectacle version of "Brian Wilson." Steven Page just seems to add an emotional urgency to it that really resonated with me at the time.
Man I LOVED that Yellow Tape! I was in Halifax from 89 to 96 and saw BNL in their earlier days. Also a big fan of OLP and dozens of other Canadian artists from that time, most of whom I doubt ever graced the MRT charts south of the border
I was thinking of this today, because I just did a Tune Tag with Brad Kyle in which I talked about my teenage affection for Barenaked Ladies -- you might enjoy it reading it (and, even though the BNL song I chose wasn't "Brian Wilson" Brad later responds with a Brian Wilson song) : https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/tune-tag-99-with-nicks-wa-pt-4-mott
(hopefully you don't mind me sharing the link)
I read it and loved it! Tune Tag is pretty much "must-read" material for me every week!
Yes, a Substack institution.
That was such a fantastic album from Better Than Ezra (love that Norm McDonald bit as well 😆) but for my tastes the best tracks were “The Killer Inside” and “Porcelain”, both of which I remember making their way onto my mixtapes.
I loved your recollections of mixtape making. I was one of those that was quite anal about gaps between tracks and making sure there wasn’t too much or too little time left at the end of each side. God forbid a song was cut off or there was a 20-second black at the end of the cassette. Horrors!!
I really wish that I had access, if not to the mixtapes themselves, at least to the track listings. I’d like to think I was creating some pretty awesome mixtapes back in the day. And I’d love to be able to reconstruct some of those mixtapes into playlists
I'm fortunate to have a boatload of mix tapes from that time, including a handful of tapes with audio from my days as a college radio DJ. It's an interesting window into time, but also showcased just how difficult it was to make mix tapes when you didn't own a lot of the material. Case in point: R.E.M. is largely absent from my mid-'90s mix tapes. I can't recall if I eventually borrowed those albums from friends or finally had enough cash from my dishwashing job in high school to get it, but it wasn't until much later in the '90s that I was able to fill my collection of R.E.M. albums.