The Sounds of the Late '90s....

So, as most of you readers know, a good friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) frequent the BYOBs of the North Wrigleyville area. We have noticed a frequent pattern at said BYOBs - the hits of the '90s play in the background. Savage Garden, Vertical Horizon, Gin Blossoms, Matchbox Twenty, Sophie B. Hawkins, etc.

This clearly comes from a CD/something, because there are no commercials. I'm wondering if there is some business around (like 'Muzak') that sells background music to local restaurants (Matt, is this what has become of the Matt Mixes? Is this your side business?). Second question - why would restaurants opt for this kind of music, specifically? I mean, I do suppose it has a nice, easy-listening, non-objectionable quality to it. However, there are also other genres of music that fit this bill.

Anyhow. This kind of music holds a special place in my heart, because it is attached to plenty of childhood (well, high school) memories. Back when life seemed so one-dimensional. Sigh. Adolescent memories. Life. I digress.

I hope these local byobs keep this genre of music going strong. Any other late '90s music enthusiasts out there?

Uh Oh....

So last night I made a scary discovery - I have something else in common with Simon Cowell. Yikes. He commented that he selected the song "One" by U2 for contestant Adam because it was one of his all-time favorite songs.

(Adam, of course, butchered said song.)

However, as I'm sure you can obviously infer - this is one of my favorite songs, too. U2 has had many ups and downs over the past couple decades, but I kinda fell in love with them in high school and Achtung, Baby! is/was definitely one of my favorite albums of all time. Also, U2 is one of those bands that has that 'staying power' I spoke about earlier in the Matchbox Twenty post.

Hmm. Simon and I are on the same wavelength pretty often. Except when it comes to Adam Lambert.

Anyone else out there a big U2 fan?

Whatever Happened to These Guys?

Matchbox Twenty.

Ok, so background - on this 'spring break', I've been cleaning out some old stuff and I've come across some high school pictures/memories. I then decided to resort to music that reminded me of said time to appropriately set the mood.

So, Matchbox Twenty was one of my favorite bands back in high school. It seemed like they had staying power, too. Of course, my dad was all like 'you young people's music can't stand the test of time, these bands will be gone in a couple years, you whippersnappers, etc.' But I really thought Matchbox Twenty would rise above that. I mean, they went through the evolution/maturation of changing the title from Matchbox 20 to Matchbox Twenty. It seemed like they had a future.

Are they still around? I know Rob Thomas (the former(?) lead singer) has made a couple attempts at a solo career. Are they officially broken up? Does anyone out there who reads this blog still care about them? I suppose I could answer these questions on my own with a simple google search, but I was just wondering if anyone out there is still following them. Did anyone else like them like I did? Did a couple unfortunate choices in album cover art do them in?