Nevermind the Mainstream
June 18, 2007 6:05 PM   Subscribe

In the Fall of 1991, MTV's 120 Minutes released two compilations (Amazon: one, two) of songs from the show. (Youtube: one, two)
posted by nervousfritz (45 comments total) 40 users marked this as a favorite
 
Volume 1:
1. Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers [band wiki]
2. Sometime to Return - Soul Asylum [band wiki]
3. Fools Gold - The Stone Roses [band wiki]
4. Wasteland - Mission [band wiki]
5. See a Little Light - Bob Mould [artist wiki]
6. Under the Milky Way - The Church [band wiki]
7. Carolyn's Fingers - Cocteau Twins [band wiki]
8. World Shut Your Mouth - Julian Cope [artist wiki]
9. Mandinka - Sinéad O'Connor [artist wiki]
10. Kool Thing - Sonic Youth [band wiki]
11. Balloon Man - Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians [artist wiki]
12. Put the Message in the Box - World Party [band wiki]
13. Dear God - XTC [band wiki]
14. Ana Ng - They Might Be Giants [band wiki]
15. Eye of Fatima, Pt. 1 - Camper Van Beethoven [band wiki]
16. I Melt With You - Modern English [label wiki]

Volume 2:
1. Orange Crush - R.E.M. [band wiki]
2. This Is Not A Love Song - Public Image Ltd. [band wiki]
3. Do You Remember Rock'N'Roll? - Ramones [band wiki]
4. Burning House Of Love - x [band wiki]
5. Stigmata - Ministry [band wiki]
6. Everday Is Like Sunday - Morrissey [artist wiki]
7. Head On - The Jesus And Mary Chain [label wiki]
8. The Killing Moon - Echo And The Bunnymen [band wiki]
9. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division [tribute wiki]
10. The Perfect Kiss - New Order [band wiki]
11. Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode [band wiki]
12. Birthday - The Sugarcubes [bjork wiki]
13. Could You Be The One? - Husker Du [wiki]
14. We Care A Lot - Faith No More [band wiki]
15. Gone Daddy Gone - Violent Femmes [band wiki]
16. Eardrum Buzz - Wired [wiki]
posted by nervousfritz at 6:06 PM on June 18, 2007


I tried to get the original videos when possible. Otherwise it was a live performance but all songs are currently accounted for in the playlists.
posted by nervousfritz at 6:09 PM on June 18, 2007


Now when people wonder what my Fools Gold ringtone is, I will point them here. Nice post.
posted by Big_B at 6:14 PM on June 18, 2007


oh god, I'm back in college...

Although, to be honest, the Ministry, CVB, PiL, and TMBG are still in pretty good rotation on my iPod.

Man, that's a lot of initials...
posted by pupdog at 6:19 PM on June 18, 2007


thanks for the flashback. awesome post.
wow. the memories....
posted by stackmonster at 6:21 PM on June 18, 2007


I just went back and counted. I have half of these songs on my iPod.

I'm officially getting old.
posted by pupdog at 6:24 PM on June 18, 2007


Ah, 120 Minutes and Youtube. Greatness all around.

That said, I can't help but yearn for some footage of Matt Pinfield air-humping an ottoman.
posted by Ufez Jones at 6:31 PM on June 18, 2007


I still have both of those on that I bought on cassette, but no way to play them these days. Still good stuff though.
posted by blaneyphoto at 6:31 PM on June 18, 2007


11/32 for me. Good times.
posted by furiousthought at 6:33 PM on June 18, 2007


All of these are (except Melt with You, can't stand it) on my iPod. I am officially old.
posted by Liosliath at 6:42 PM on June 18, 2007


This just keeps bringing back memories, I bought 'Under the Milky Way' on a CD3, one of the first CD singles I remember ever seeing. It was as much for the novelty of it as anything...

Thank you for a great collection, and damn you for reminding me of stuff I have to go find now.
posted by pupdog at 6:44 PM on June 18, 2007


"World Shut Your Mouth" was the single from Julian Cope's Saint Julian, probably the first "non-mainstream" record I ever bought. It didn't break as big as it should have, so if you haven't heard it I implore you to listen to it! (Though I can't really defend the video.)

Great work, nervousfritz.
posted by escabeche at 6:56 PM on June 18, 2007


Getting old means you look a teenager in the eye and tell them their music today really, really sucks compared to what you used to listen to.

Which means I am old as well.
posted by bardic at 7:00 PM on June 18, 2007


I have (not enough) of these songs on my ipod but I'm going to be rectifying that soon.

Nice post nervousfritz!
posted by djeo at 7:03 PM on June 18, 2007


26/32. I used to play this stuff on my radio show back at WRBC in Lewiston, ME in the late 1980's.

Let me second escabeche's endorsement of Julian Cope's "St. Julian" album. Really good stuff, if you like that sort of stuff.
posted by Joey Michaels at 7:17 PM on June 18, 2007


Christ I loved Cope's mic stand in that video when I was sixteen.
posted by schoolgirl report at 7:26 PM on June 18, 2007


love so many of these--thanks! : >
posted by amberglow at 7:30 PM on June 18, 2007


You all surely had this on your holiday lists a few years ago, then?
posted by mykescipark at 7:32 PM on June 18, 2007


And even further out of the mainstream: here's something you never saw on MTV back then--even on 120 minutes (thanks to skippy) : >
posted by amberglow at 7:33 PM on June 18, 2007


Whoa, I just remembered Cope playing "Spacehopper" on the Joan Rivers show. I got your '80s nostalgia right here.
posted by escabeche at 7:34 PM on June 18, 2007


My sister got disc 2 for me used as a gift when I was in high school, five years after its release. It had "Hoke" written on it in Sharpie, and the case looked like it had been dipped in Kool-Aid, but I didn't care. Finally I had a decent copy of "Head On" by the Jesus & Mary Chain.

Good night, chaps and chapesses...
posted by infinitewindow at 7:37 PM on June 18, 2007




Today, I picked up my cousins from the airport. I can remember 15 year old songs, but I haven't a clue what's on the radio now, which is, of course, what they like, being 16 and 19.

I too am old.
posted by oddman at 7:54 PM on June 18, 2007


They also released a VHS videotape for 120 minutes which I still have.

Tracklist:
No New Tale to Tell - Love & Rockets
Mandinka - Sinead O'Connor
Fool's Gold - Stone Roses
Ana Ng - They Might Be Giants
Kool Thing - Sonic Youth
Melt With You - Modern English
Under the Milky Way - The Church
Gone, Daddy, Gone - Violent Femmes
Eye of Fatima - Camper Van Beethoven
We Care A Lot - Faith No More

from 1991 on Rhino. I'd encode it, but I haven't set anything up for VHS encoding, sorry.

Too bad Mtv ceased to play music. Well they do in the wee hours now, but they won't play offbeat stuff anymore. Even VH-1 Classic which was totally cool when it first started to air, has turned into lame documentaries and uninteresting concerts.
posted by inthe80s at 8:28 PM on June 18, 2007


Nice.

Sweet, even.
posted by meh at 9:22 PM on June 18, 2007


21/32... but I'm sixteen, so I guess I should be listening to "what's on the radio now". I wish this had Miracle Legion's "You're the One Lee", though - probably my favorite video they played.
posted by punchdrunkhistory at 9:32 PM on June 18, 2007


Mtv's got a lot of videos on their website though. Most hilarious discovery: finding a video by freaking Too $hort in a "hyphy" playlist.
posted by furiousthought at 10:13 PM on June 18, 2007


I have both these CD's. They're going on my ipod tomorrow.
posted by rsclark at 10:16 PM on June 18, 2007


Wire not Wired.

And God damn if they didn't come back better than they'd ever been as old men.
posted by basicchannel at 1:57 AM on June 19, 2007


The Canadian equivalent was the Hardest Hits compilations. It was popular new wave music and some tracks that were very hard to find. Imagine that. Music that was hard to find.

Notable songs:
Abecedarians - Smiling Monarchs
The Normals - Warm Leatherette
Re-Flex - Politics of Dancing
Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag - Pigbag
Jona Lewie - "In the Kitchen at Parties"
Scary Thieves - Tell Me Girl


It's funny how pop and silly New Wave seems now. It felt so radical then.
posted by srboisvert at 3:22 AM on June 19, 2007




I just saw Sonic Youth play in Wiesbaden, Germany on Saturday night to a packed audience. They can still rock extremely hard.
posted by chillmost at 3:40 AM on June 19, 2007


I myself have 17/32.

To also throw my two cents in, I couldn't stand Matt Pinfield. He knew his stuff, but he annoyed the living hell out of me.

You want to talk about the best host of 120 Minutes at it's prime? All I have to say is Dave Kendall.
posted by Chocomog at 5:43 AM on June 19, 2007


My boyfriend shoplifted this compilation for me. Maybe if he hadn't, MTV would still play music.
posted by nev at 6:10 AM on June 19, 2007 [2 favorites]


Well, not only do I *still* have that 2 disc CD, and was just now watching old Sisters of Mercy videos on Youtube, but this may be the only MeFi comment page that I fully understood and agreed with.

And props to srboisvert for the Shriekback call-out. I'm proud to have all their albums. Oil and Gold is genius.
posted by Dantien at 6:51 AM on June 19, 2007


It's funny how pop and silly New Wave seems now. It felt so radical then.

Some of it was radical and progressive (and a lot of it was dark--see the German stuff of the late 70s-early 80s), but those of us listening--and most of those making it--were all fully products of decades of pop music/top 40 immersion--far more than kids growing up now.

It's like pop was the underlying and standard template for most music then, and r&b is now, i think.
posted by amberglow at 7:12 AM on June 19, 2007


Also, Nouvelle Vague, who have done wonderful covers of a good number of those songs.
posted by Caviar at 7:55 AM on June 19, 2007


your favorite band may suck, but julian cope rules! new record out soon. the last couple have not been his best, but they have their moments. the cosmic asshole mic stand is the best stage prop ever of all time ever. i think that the deluxe edition of peggy suicide is coming out soon, too.
posted by snofoam at 10:05 AM on June 19, 2007


5/32. I am officially not old! Great news. Now get off my goddamned stoop (we don't get lawns in the city).
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:39 PM on June 19, 2007


Maybe not in this sense, but I think there's several other officially old MeFi tests where you're off the chart. (Wondering if people under a certain age still call them stoops...)
posted by Liosliath at 3:50 PM on June 19, 2007


Old is when you feel old.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:42 PM on June 19, 2007


If you were BBSing in 1997, then you're officially old. Super cool, but old. (speaking as a former TI-99 programmer, that is)
posted by Liosliath at 5:37 PM on June 19, 2007


I've got 11/32 and I was BBSing in 1985 on a 300-baud acousticoupler. I think my teeth just fell out.
posted by escabeche at 9:32 PM on June 19, 2007


An acoustic coupler, bwa ha ha. I'll have happy dreams tonight.
posted by Liosliath at 10:56 PM on June 19, 2007


Old is when you feel old.

Is this an anti-MILF PSA?
posted by srboisvert at 4:42 AM on June 20, 2007


« Older The Carrotbox - a site about rings   |   It's Also Acetaminophen-riffic. Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments