Music in the 90's

First off, I listen to a LOT of music. I'm a DJ every weekend in a couple of different bars.Sometimes I'll get lucky and have a crowd that's really into some good stuff, but not the stuff I usually listen to for fun. I guess it's true that your taste in music really does settle in from 16 to 22, because that's almost all of what I find myself listening to just to enjoy the music (Black 47 is a glaring exception to this rule - I LOVE these guys!) That means I listen to a lot of music made between 1986 and 1992.

Don't get me wrong. Not all 90's music sucks, just a lot of it. I can't believe I'm writing this, but I really miss the glory days of blues-based guitar rock with good hooks and pop sensibility. New bands just don't hold up to the bands that populate my CD collection- Poison, Enuff Z'Nuff, Damn Yankees, Mr. Big, Danger Danger, L.A.Guns, Mötley Crüe, Extreme, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Skid Row, Scorpions, Twisted Sister, Tesla, White Trash, White Lion...

I could go on and list all of my CD's, but that would be silly. You get the idea by now. Besides, as a DJ, there's some stuff in there that's bit embarrassing.

Then there are the one's that are glaringly missing from my collection. Discs I can't even find in the used bins anymore. What I wouldn't give for a new copy of Electric Angels self-titled album. Or Law and Order. Or Junkyard. Or that band I can never remember who had that song called "15 Gets You Twenty."

And live music just doesn't cut it anymore. When I was 17, I could spend every weekend at Studio One in Newark, NJ and see a great mix of local bands and national acts that just kicked ass. As I got older, I laso started going to the Birch Hill. I remember one night I saw a group called Sour Puss open up for Kix. The whole night blew me away. (Whatever happened to Sour Puss anyway? Last time I saw them, they played at CBGB's and then we all raced uptown together to see L.A. Guns at the Limelight. Then they disappeared back to Milford, PA or something.)

To get back on track, I think everything in music changed somewhere between Guns N' Roses and Nirvana. There have been a few highlights, and thank God bands like Van Halen and Metallica have kept making music right on through it all. Somehow, Smash Mouth and the Spice Girls aren't filling the void. Hasn't anyone learned a three chord progression in the past 10 years??

Sometimes, I also find myself missing the glory days of metal when I was around 14. I can't even count the number of times I saw Iron Maiden live. I miss Anthrax, Judas Priest, and Ozzy when he was still whacked most of the time (not that I'd wish that back on him!)

I don't know where this is going anymore. I really don't have any specific 90's bands to complain about. Nobody seems to make me feel anything through their music anymore, and that's the big problem. Music is about telling stories and making the listener feel something. If they can dance to it too, maybe you've got something. But that's supposed to be secondary.