3/5/09

1999: A Musical Miscarriage?

In the wake of Def Karaoke Jam vs. the World, the year 1999 was a pretty shitty year for music in my mind. The pop music airwaves were abuzz with brand new artists like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Jennifer Lopez. Limp Bizkit officially jumped the shark. Big L died. Ja Rule was a hard ass, and Lou Bega was totally laid.

...here are some other quick thoughts on one of the worst years for music in my lifetime

When I think of the most annoying, terrible, yet overplayed songs of a generation, 1999 was a banner year. “All Star”, “No Scrubs”, “Livin La Vida Loca”, “Lullaby” and “With Arms Wide Open” are the first handful that come to mind and make me throw up a little in my mouth. Pop songs have always been overplayed to death, but the pre-Millennium era gave new meaning to heavy rotation. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t leave my front door without hearing one of these 5 songs.

If you thought the short lived swing music gimmick of the previous year was painful, you probably thought popular music was in Purgatory when the Latin-infused craze of the summer had 98 Degrees recording songs in Spanish.

Did you know that Columbine and Jordan Knight’s solo album occurred within 2 weeks of each other??? It still remains to be seen which tragedy will be more vividly depicted by historians of future generations.

It seems like yesterday when I spent an hour downloading Bawitdaba by Kid Rock on Napster utilizing the break-neck speeds of my 56k modem. Not only would Mr. Rock be pissed off to know I pirated his intellectual property, but also that I listened to such a crappy distorted version of his art. The bass heavy mix featured several random pops and what sounded like a dog barking throughout. This was par for the course for a Napster mp3, but hey… you get what you pay for, right?

So when you see your mom with a thermometer shoved up her ass… The Slim Shady LP was one of the few shining moments for the year. It was probably the best of his career, and arguably the best of the year. That said, a valid argument could also be made for Black on Both Sides by Mos Def.

Despite a few bright moments, 1999 was a musical miscarriage in many ways. Unless you are looking to rekindle fond memories of when you constructed a makeshift ark for the pending Y2K floods, I would recommend avoiding any music released in this shitteous year.

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