Nothing is as fickle as your music taste. At least mine is. What I like now is a far cry from what I liked when I first started listening to music myself. I am a 90s kid and I was a teenager between the mid 90s and the early 2000s. Pop music was at the top of the charts and I remember loving that Total Request Live or TRL was finally broadcast by Dutch MTV. Before that I would religiously watch Select MTV and Top Selection which was a viewer request type show and I secretly had a crush on the presenter. Much has changed since then, but I thought it would be fun to share 10 songs with you that I digged when I was 14, 15 or 16. Or right around that time anyway.
All Saints – Never Ever
The first ever album I bought with my own money that wasn’t Backstreet Boys was the debut album by British R&B girl group All Saints. If you like 90s R&B then their album is a great one to listen to. This song went no. 1 and I still know all the words, obviously. They made at least one album before silently disappearing from the music scene. Sadly though, I really enjoyed and sometimes still enjoy listening to songs from this album.
Anouk – My Friend
When I was 16 going on 17, Dutch rock singer Anouk released her second album Urban Solitude. I used to sing belt along to all the songs of that album. It was my first foray into singing besides church choir practice. This song is still one of my favorites from that album and a song that if I feel the need to test the pipes, to give it a try. I’m not a good singer by any chance, but I can hold a tune, so this is something I do secretly when I think no one is listening.
Backstreet Boys – Larger than Life
You knew this was coming right? I cannot mention the 90s or my teens and music in one post, without dropping some good ole Backstreet Boys on you. In 1999, Backstreet was the biggest band on the planet. They closed down Times Square in New York City and I was 14 going on 15 and quite possibly at the height of my own madness for them. I video taped everything, and knew every song. That my edition of Millennium still plays, is a miracle in itself. I had it set as my alarm clock, listened to it every day for a year non-stop and ended up doing a dance routine with my friends to this song which was mashed up with Britney Spears’ crazy.
Crazytown – Butterfly
My taste for lesser known music started early on. I used to be into 70s rock bands my dad put me onto when I was 14, but I also watched MTV as much as I could. One of my favorite shows, apart from the ones mentioned above, was the US Charts. I loved it because it usually showed videos of songs that would become hits 2 – 3 months down the road in the Netherlands. Once I had that figured, I was intrigued. This song was flying high in the US and I was singing it all the time with everyone in my class asking me: what’s that song. 3 months later it went no. 1 in Holland too.
Kane – So Glad You Made It
Now don’t hate me, but I used to love Kane. Before they started to seemingly recycle their own material, making them every music lovers’ least favorite band. I was OBSESSED with this song and the album it was the lead single for. It also represents my love for all things rock, but you’ll find that I had plenty of rock songs that I liked at the time. There is a lover of rock music hidden deep inside the trenches of my soul.
Kirsten – No Psycho
I was into plenty of Dutch artists during my teens. One, much lesser known, Dutch singer-songwriter I loved was Kirsten. I only ever got my hands on her debut album but those 11 songs were the soundtrack of my life for a good 3 – 4 years in my late teens. Her music came into my orbit because one of my high school friends had seen her play as a support act for Beth Hart and loved her. She let me hear this and I loved it too. Again, I used to sing every song on this album and one of my favorite songs to sing is from this album. The song I posted, however, is not that, but it was the first song I ever heard from her and one I still enjoy listening to a lot.
Limp Bizkit – Break Stuff
In my teens, my more aggressive side was definitely not overlooked music wise. I own two Limp Bizkit albums and this is still my favorite songs by them. I know all the words to at least Significant Other (yes, the whole album) and this just takes me right back to 1999-2000. It was the time when Tony Hawk video games and skater lifestyle were all the rage. And even though I wasn’t skater per se, I did like the music. A lot. I actually have a compilation CD somewhere that’s called Skater’s Paradise…
Muse – Hyper Music
Right before I left for college, I started going beyond what was at the top of the charts. Muse’s Origin of Symmetry might quite possibly the first more critically acclaimed album that I ever bought. In any case, I remember their video for Bliss and that song did get onto the charts, but it wasn’t a topper. I bought the album on a whim (remember this was 2001) at my local record store and became obsessed in my early college years with this. Hyper Music was my favorite song of that album and it’s a shame that they still play so few of the songs from their first two albums. When I saw them last year, they did play Sunburn, which is of their debut album (which became my musical obsession in my fresh men year in college).
Natalie Imbruglia – Don’t You Think
You probably remember this girl from her mega hit Torn. I loved that song so much that I ended up buying her album with some money I got for my birthday. This song was my favorite on that album and even though I don’t listen to it all that much anymore, I do still quite like this. Again, Natalie Imbruglia’s album was one of those CDs I was singing along to at the top of my lungs in my bedroom while my parents were wondering when I would shut up.
Robbie Williams – Rock DJ
My teens were also soundtracked by none other than Robbie Williams. His debut and second solo albums were some of my favorites. It’s some of the first music I consciously started listening to lyrics to see if I understood what the songs were about. Picking only one of his songs was a feat. From Let Me Entertain You to any other of his big hits, I couldn’t decide on a song that not only resembled my obsession with his music, but also his career. I think this may have been one of his biggest hits. This song and the accompanying video were everywhere. And I hated it. It’s when my love for all things Robbie Williams started to slowly dwindle down.
What music did you listen to in your teens?