/r/Xennials - A subreddit for the microgeneration that exists between Generation X and Millennial. Xennial birth years, roughly defined, are 1977-1984
Music and library books were my survival tools as a poor kid in the 80s and 90s. Being a teen in the 90s was an awesome time to be a music fan, and I realize that two bands in particular helped me cope with existing:
Alice In Chains & Pink Floyd
What about y’all?
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I was a 15-year-old Canadian girl going through a very painful breakup. You’ll never guess who I listened to every day.
(It was Alanis Morissette.)
If an album got me through my teens, it was definitely “Jagged Little Pill.” I swear it was written personally for every teen girl and young woman. I know it’s Alanis writing about her own experiences, but, damn, she’s great at making it feel like it’s your own. Like she saw into my soul.
And her second album, too.
I was a teenage jock boy in the states. It was Alanis Morissette. And also a bunch Indy hardscore and pop punk like OpIvy. But Alanis has outlasted them all.
I was a black nerd in an urban school in a major metropolitan area. It was Alanis Morissette.
I was a Mexican immigrant kid in the burbs.
It was Alanis.
I was a Māori from New Zealand. It was Alanis.
It took me till my 40s to actually appreciate alanis. It I still love OpIvy (though pop punk? Nah)
You didn't need to mention her name. We ought to know.
Damn I ought to have known that
Not a band, but Tori Amos.
I’ve always like her music, but nothing ever hit like Little Earthquakes. 10/10 album.
Excellent album. I decided to move cross-country early 20’s, relistening “Give me life, Give me pain, give me myself again…”
Little Earthquakes. Damn what an album.
Yes! Also not a band, Liz Phair.
God, I love Liz Phair. Exile in Guyville was the soundtrack to my college years.
I subjected my family to Exile in Guyville on a road trip recently. I'm pretty sure my kids checked out on headphones and my wife just periodically looked up from her phone to give me a raised eyebrow.
Yes! Under the Pink was in my CD collection back then
I saw her in Atlanta in 98 or 99. I think at the old Roxy.
Amazing show.
Whenever I hear a teenager call Chappell Roan or Taylor “Mother,” I think, no child. You have never met Mother.
Came here to say this. Tori above all. Little Earthquakes was bible. I bought Boys for Pele downtown at The Wall the day it came out, and to this day it is my favorite album of all time. Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, October Project also sacred texts. But Tori Amos saved my life.
Came here to say this. Little Earthquakes and Under the Pink.
Ah, the heir to the Famous Amos cookie fortune.
Also a Toriphile, and Little Earthquakes was the epitome of my "survival album" in the late 90s/early 2000s. I was (am slightly still) an insomniac, and my brain would just run laps all night repeating whatever traumas refused to leave me alone... This CD on low and on repeat became my sleep coping mechanism, and was the only way I could sleep more than an hour or two for half a decade. Plus, it just hits at the core of what women deal with throughout life.
I've seen her live multiple times. Each show is wildly different, each show is never a disappointment. It's Little Earthquakes, hands down.
As a guy of a particular age, if you didn't have a crush on Tori, then you just hadn't been introduced to her yet.
On a side note, a local metal band was named Soma Irot. Read that backwards.
Omg me too! Ani DiFranco was the most helpful, but Tori Amos is a close second. Raised by fringe evangelicals meant no secular music at all and I was raised to believe the word “feminism” was synonymous with “Satanism” (which now knowing about both and what real life satanists believe makes that more hilarious than disturbing). As a young girl who turned out the be very queer, these two women literally saved me from suicide or at best a repressed existence as a servant to an abusive man. To this day their 90s work remains my absolute favorite and most nostalgic of anything I hear! I didn’t expect to see either on here, let alone so high up! This gives me hope. :) cheers!
REM, Violent Femmes, Green Day
We’re friends now.
GREEN DAY is it
It’s all albums for me:
Live Through This by Hole
It’s a Shame About Ray by The Lemonheads
Become Who You Are by Juliana Hatfield
Out of Range by Ani Difranco
(I definitely thought I was Daria. 🫠)
I knew some Ani was gonna pop up in this thread!
Had to!
I just saw Ani in Hadestown. I cried seven times. I was so happy to be in the same room as her and to hear her sing live.
Lemonheads, Juliana Hatfield, and Ani? Impeccable.
Smashing Pumpkins. Mellon Collie was the first CD I ever bought. I used to carry around a discman with that or Siamese Dream loaded.
First time I ever got dumped (8th grade) I put 1979 on repeat and just laid in my room for a couple weeks.
Strangely this is one of my favorite memories.
I don't think it's strange at all. There's something romantic about teenage heartbreak. I think because the feelings are so BIG, and we have time to sort of wallow in them and just experience them really deeply.
And it’s the last time I can remember regularly laying down, closing my eyes, and just listening to music.
Siamese Dream remains on my all time list.
Like, I know Corgan is a cook and kind of a snob, but the "space rock" vibe he created for that record is truly epic. Nobody else in his corner of music nailed the "album" assignment better than Corgan (and his producers) did with SD, and MCATIS, IMHO.*
*I'm not saying there aren't "better" albums in this timeframe; I'm saying few, if any, had the track-to-track cohesion that those two records had, and neither of those records sound anything like the other. It's a pretty astounding accomplishment.
Space boy I miss you
Absolutely! MCIS just feels like being a teenager in the 90’s. It’s perfect for that- the rise and fall of that album, the violence and beauty…
I sold the red half to my step brother for three cigarettes. I was more of a blue half girl.
I saw them live after taking a nice bit of “special sugar cubes” it was crazy, amazing concert.
Same. Pumpkins were my 90's band.
I just want to beeeeeee meeeeee when I can
Siamese dream still holds up. I also get teased for my 1979 tattoo, that i did myself, but no ragrats. 😆 My bf in highs cool only had a few cds in his car and mellon collie was one. Dont care for them as much now but they tied to a lot from that era!
Geek USA is my favorite Siamese track
Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness was easily my most played album in my middle school years. My first CD too and one I remember easily to this day. Such a good album.
Jimmy Chamberlain best damn drummer
L7 and Ministry
I listened to the Psalm 69 album so many times back then. That and White Zombie hit me about the same time and were big favorites!
I loved the rawness of L7 as a teen and just recently started listening to them again. Sometimes I need that female rage energy
My first date with my husband was Ministry!!!
And here we are 19 years later. 🤘❤️
Listened to most all the stuff others listed already so I will add something I haven't seen.
Stabbing Westward - Wither, Blister, Burn and Peel album
Nice. What do you think of Filter, Short Bus?
Holy shit I haven’t thought about Stabbing Westward in SO long
Literally hadn’t thought of this band in ages, then someone at work brought it up today and now this…
I was just thinking about this yesterday! What Do I Have To Do was one of those tunes I listened to endlessly until I'd squeezed every last drop of emotion out of it.
Great album. Kinda meh live, though, unfortunately.
The Cure, Depeche Mode, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, NIN, My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult, Petshop Boys, The Smiths... I did not have mainstream taste but I did OK.
You too have to buy that special Woolite detergent for all black clothing? Lol
No, but I use cold water and vinegar to keep the black dye from fading!
Yes! Except for the smiths, these bands got me through high school too
cypress hill and wu tang
Wu Tang is for the children
Maybe, but you know what they ain’t? Nuthin to F with!
So to this day, I can recite literally every lyric to every track on the original Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill album.
It was 1992 and I was suspended from school (as per usual) and for two solid weeks I did nothing but play this cool ass tank game on Genesis and listen to it on repeat.
I can also recite every lyric to every track on 36 chambers, the first Wu Tang, 93, and my walkman was king. I'm a middle aged grey haired f500 dude, but I will fuck you up on lyricals.
Not kidding, every lyric to every song.
I didn’t even listen to Cypress Hill but I can still song along to Insane in the Brain 😂
OMG Cypress Hill!
I saw them open for Avril Lavigne in like 2002ish. I have been trying to remember what band opened for months now after a discussion with my husband about how I've seen some shows where the opener is objectively better/more famous than the headliner. I saw Bad Religion open for Blink 182 in the late 90s as well.
Thank you!
They opened for Avril Lavigne?!?
That's heresy!!
Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Counting Crows, The Cranberries, Blind Melon, Sponge, Queensryche, and Dream Theater
This was my collection too, except my Crows were black. Add in early Lenny Kravitz 2nd & 3rd album, Jane's Addiction, Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Hole, Jewel, Garbage, Weezer, Cake, No Doubt, Tom Petty, Fiona Apple, Butthole Surfers, Luscious Jackson, Pulp, Alanis, Bjork, Matthew Sweet, Elastica, The Breeders, Julianne Hatfield, Beastie Boys. And that damn Sweater song by Meryn Cadell
Alice in Chains
Biggie and Pac
Tool
Pantera
Soundgarden. And there are days that they still help me survive being a grown ass man in the 2020's.
Superunknown is one of my favorite albums.
Down on the Upside for me 💜