Happy 2026, Grumps! For our annual New Year 30 Years Ago playlist, we head back to 1996.
Thanks to the alternative boom of the first half of the ’90s, indie labels were thriving by 1996. Nirvana, The Breeders, and Sonic Youth served as gateway drugs to that really potent DIY music of local scenes. While in just a few years, angry jock music and high-gloss vinyl pop would end the decade with the exact opposite aesthetic and philosophy of how it began, 1996 is a sweet spot. A decadent moment when somehow the mass media seems to be at the service of artists. Of course, a lot of that is an illusion, but compared to the way the industry functions now, it was a utopia. Let’s hope that this is a part of history we are doomed to repeat.
96 songs about ’96
This year’s selections don’t divert from the usual eclectic mess of genres; alongside ultra mega important records like Beck’s Odelay, Weezer’s Pinkerton, and the Spice Girls’ Spice, we have singles and cuts from our favorites in alternative rock, indie, hip-hop, twee, mainstream pop, electronica, experimental, metal, and motion picture soundtracks.
