In case you haven’t been following along…
Each month this year, I’m creating a new climbing playlist for each decade going all the way back to the 1920’s. A hundred years of music! Not necessarily the best songs from each decade, but songs that I can envision on road trips, at the crag, at the gym, on training days, and on the send train.
We kicked things off in January with the 1920’s. February and March brought in hits from the 30’s and 40’s, April gave us the classics of the 1950’s, and we reached a crescendo in trying to pick from an onslaught of magnificent songs from the 60’s. The 70’s gave way to a new wave, which continued into the 1980’s. It could be argued that the 1990’s was the greatest musical decade of all time.
The 90’s might not have the social relevance and unmatched staying power of the 60’s, but it offers wide appeal and talent across genres that cannot be found in any other 10-year span.
R&B, Pop, Rock, Musicals, Rap, Yacht, New Age, Coffee House, Jazz, Techno, were all represented by fantastic artists in the 90’s. Each of these genres were further divided into subgenres and further into sub-subgenres, offering wider appeal to wider audiences. In addition to more diverse listening opportunities, the talent was impeccable, and the scenes weren’t saturated. Take rock for example. Rock in the 90’s included styles dating back to the 60’s and styles that were popular in the 70’s and 80’s as well. Hard Rock, Metal, and Punk, predated the 90’s but some the best versions of these styles ascended at this time. Metallica, Bad Religion, Guns and Roses can all be considered rock bands, but have very different styles of music. That doesn’t even include the holdovers from the 80’s like Poison who were still rocking, and the explosion of Grunge which included bands like Nirvana, Sound Garden, and Alice in Chains. We can say the same thing about Rap and Pop. From Run DMC and NWA to Outkast and Eminem, Michael Jackson and Madonna to Backstreet Boys and Brittany Spears. We saw combinations of music like never before, could Rage Against the Machine have been born in any other decade? The 90’s brought us the modern music festival based on the musical diversity that represented an era. Jane’s Addiction, George Clinton, The Flaming Lips, The Breeders, The Boredoms, Beck, Sinead O’Connor, Wu Tang, Hole, Devo, Ministry, NIN, Arrested Development, The Beastie Boys, the list goes on and on, but these are just a few of the bands that appeared on the stage at Lalapalooza during the 90’s.
Perhaps the best musical decade of all time, and we’re expected to whittle it down to 10…that is a tall order!
But…because it’s the 90’s and because it’s hard to make cuts, I brought in guest. We actually recorded a whole podcast around our 90’s musical craglist (coming next Saturday). Ben Hanna is one of the greatest climbers in the world, and his climbing ability is only exceeded by his musical taste, so for this month we get to double up the selection for a super list! As always, if anyone has any suggestions that we need to add to the list, drop them in the comments, and they are getting on, no questions asked!
The 1990’s (In no particular order)
| Carrot’s List | Ben Hanna’s List |
| I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) – The Proclaimers Do You Realize – Flaming Lips My Name is Mud – Primus Cannonball – Breeders Rosa Parks – Outcast Longest Line – NOFX Would – Alice in Chains Mass Appeal – Gang Starr Tod Im Friebad – WIZO Ahonetwo, Ahonetwo – Del The Funky Homosapien | Self Esteem – Offspring 46 and 2 – Tool Bad Religion – Generator 21st Century Digital Boy – Bad Religion Linoleum – NOFX Bro Hymn – Pennywise Stranger Than Fiction – Bad Religion Fight Till You Die – Pennywise Don’t Drag Me Down – Social Distortion Killing In the Name – Rage Against The Machine Bonus Tracks My Name Is – Eminem The Trooper – Iron Maiden |
There are always going to be tough cut when a list is limited to 10 songs. Among the toughest cuts were: They Might Be Giants, Cypress Hill, Big L, NIN, Sound Garden and Nirvana. There were some humongous artists that deserve a shoutout as well including pop sensations Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, and Paula Abdul. There was also Puff, Biggie, Jay-Z, Oasis, R.E.M, TLC, Snoop, Nas, and Dr. Dre, the list goes on and on, but if you’re driving to the crag then this superlist will not only get you there in good spirits, but it will also have you bopping your head for the entirety of the trip!
Many many thanks to Ben for sharing his time and energy as well as exceptional musical tastes.
To take a listen, you can find the playlist HERE!
thedihedral.com 
Good list! — mine would have
Primus “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver”
21st Century Digital Boy – Bad Religion,
Would – Alice in Chains (for very sad reasons)
Jesus Built my Hotrod — Ministry
Living Dead Girl — Rob Zombie
Ain’t Going Out Like That — Cypress Hill
Hurt — NIN (for very sad reasons)
April 14, 1992 — Sublime
Can God Fill Teeth? — LARD
You get the drift…
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For me the 90s would be harder than the 60s. I want to add “All I wanted was a pepsi” but wrong decade. 😀
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Suicidal Tendencies was tough to cut from the 80’s list, but that is such a good song. I feel like I could do this with 20 songs and still have regrets with what had to be cut!
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Me too…
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Martha way to bring the goods!!!! Ministry and Rob Zombie belong here for sure!!!
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“Never trust a junkie” and then the great loud riff…sigh. Just proves I’m more human than human, I guess. IMO, 90s had the BEST music.
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There is data to back it up!
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You’ll have to write a post about that
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And here I come in with….”I will always love you.” The soppy girl….that will just work at the coffee shop and NEVER climb. Lol. 😂
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I love you, Karla, but gaaaaaaa…. 🤣❤️ When I was teaching writing to international students my lesson on description was just that. I’d ask, “Do you like music?” Everyone would raise their hands. “Great! You can all take a road trip together and be happy with the radio station.” Suddenly, they got it, so we’re going in separate cars.
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That is the perfect solution, just different cars for different types of music…”You want to listen to Prince, I think that’s Gary’s car?”
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🤣
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But MAK….waaaaa. LOL! 😂 Separate cars. BUT…I love the playlist you have. I’m just adding one lol
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No. You’re not adding that. You’ll have to listen to your portable CD player. In the back seat. 🤣 I have standards and they’re loud.
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Bwahaha 🤣 I’ve got a peaceful, easy feelin’….Teddy! I need you 🎶🤣🐾
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Peaceful Easy Feeling is OK 😊 you need one after Ministry.
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🥰🙌🏻🙌🏻🎶🎶 yay!
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I know what you mean, Whitney Houston is such an icon, it’s so tough to bring certain genres together though. That song was a rough omission!
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😊
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