Here Come the Bastards: The Summer of 1991
As should be obvious, the early 90s were the years when my musical taste gelled. It’d be another few months before I really discovered college radio but I was a devoted WFNX listener at this point and it was the Summer Punk Broke (to paraphrase Kim Gordon in Dave Markey’s essential film). It was the summer that the first Lollapalooza tour happened (I was there at Great Woods when Living Color inadvertently encouraged everyone to throw mud at them)… The summer that Nirvana (along with Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr – see below playlist) stormed the Reading Festival, ushering in the *shudder* ‘grunge age.’
It was the summer that K Records put on the International Pop Underground Convention solidifying the growing DIY indie rock scene that would prove a musical counterpoint to the corporate co-opting of punk rock throughout the above mentioned ‘grunge age.’ The first night of the Convention was titled “Love Rock Revolution Girl Style Now” and proved the power of the nascent riot grrrl movement as well as the ongoing power of women’s voices in the indie rock community.
It was also the summer that Boyz n the Hood was released on the same weekend as Point Break.
Please enjoy:
N.B.: Looks like Daniel Johnston’s music was just pulled from Spotify so there’s no longer a ‘smash cut’ from “Enter Sandman” to “My Life Is Starting Over.” Oh well.
