60 Songs That Explain the 90s Book Review

I started the 90’s barely out of my toddler years and ended it a full-blown teenager. That personally makes for a long and definitive decade. And it’s the decade that I’m the most familiar with and the one that I’m the most nostalgic for.

It’s been talked about how, aside from our technology, it’s difficult to tell the difference between 2000 and 2010 or even 2011 to 2020 at first glance. I liken it to the early 1900s where 1901 looks the same as 1919 to an outside observer.

The 90s was the last decade to actually have a distinct external evolution, particularly when it comes to pop culture. And for someone like me who came of age in this decade, music was one of the defining elements of the culture. And nobody has been better able to dissect 90s music than professional rock critic Rob Harvilla. Below is my review of Harvilla’s new book, 60 Songs That Explain the 90s.

60 Songs That Explain the 90s the podcast

I stumbled across Harvilla on the podcast circuit. The title of his podcast, 60 Songs That Explain the 90s, caught my eye one slow podcast day. It takes a particular mindset to start a new podcast, one that is bored of the current lineup but open to trying something new.

As with all podcasts, the title and topic are nothing without the right host. It takes a special blend of a solid format, something worth saying, and an interesting way of saying it in order to keep an audience’s attention beyond the title and opening lines.

Harvilla’s episodes, which have since expanded well past the 60 songs of the title, are long form tangents that expand well beyond the episode’s song title. His introductions can sometimes take up a third of the runtime of an episode. But this long-windedness is packed full of personal stories, thematic tangents, and a deserving build up for each song on the list.

This introductory format entices you to listen even to episodes about songs you don’t like and artists you’ve never heard of. Because he ties it all back to the decade itself and the type of listeners who devoured this particular song, genre, or performance. And he will likely cover a seemingly unrelated song and pull them together to help elevate the featured song.

Breaking down the songs

From there, Harvilla dives into the meat of the song, often including a little backstory on the band or artist, from the most famous anecdotes about them to lesser known or even rare facts about them. He then proceeds to chop the song up into smaller pieces, remarking on his favorite lines (some lyrics that he admits to having misheard for years, as well all do), and playing his favorite musical beats, whether it’s one note from one particular instrument or the singer’s pronunciation of a single syllable.

Romanticizing every molecule of the song is Harvilla’s rock critic brain working at full capacity to put into words how these songs make us feel. He’s deep without it sounding like a dissertation, and he’s funny without cruelty, at least not to anyone but himself.

Harvilla is only ever flattering to the song and musician(s) that he is covering from episode to episode. Once he commits to a song, he puts that song on a pedestal out of reach of any negative undertones.

He straddles our current overly PC culture by pointing out wording or messages that don’t hold up and even acknowledging any past dirt on its singer, band member, or producer. But then he gets right back to why this song deserves a place on his list, whether it’s a pop princess like Britney Spears or a hardcore political band like Rage Against the Machine.

Guest interviews

To back up his points, Harvilla will then bring on a guest to weigh in with their opinion of the song, always overwhelmingly positive, of course. These guests range from fellow rock critics to rock stars, such as Courtney Love, who listened to his episode on “Doll Parts,” and decided to shout him out on Instagram, creating a ripple effect which led to her taking over his episode on “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

The interviews are often my least favorite part of the episode, but that doesn’t mean they’re unlistenable. I often just get so invested in Harvilla’s ultra positive deep dives that it can be jarring to introduce a new voice into the mix. But sometimes that second opinion helps to build on the host’s points and back up or expand on some of his more uncertain thoughts or answer certain questions. And it also helps to drag out the episode length so that the listener can remain in this comforting world of nostalgic music talk for just a while longer.

The 60 Songs That Explain the 90s book

My lengthy breakdown of the 60 Songs podcast leads into its companion book, also titled 60 Songs That Explain the 90s, which incidentally, covers over 100 songs within its pages. In its first few pages, and even its cover, it addresses the number 60 in the title and how convenience, more than anything, is the reason for keeping the continuity of the title the same.

This would have been good to know when I was in the middle of listening to the last few episodes in the 50 range and worrying that the end of the podcast was near. Now that I’m on the other side of that panic, covering more than 60 songs yet keeping the book title the same as the podcast feels like a nice inside joke to the podcast fans who buy this book.

From the introductory pages, you can hear Harvilla’s voice in his writing style which matches up perfectly with the scripts that he writes for his show. From his High Fidelity-style lists to his self-deprecating comments which he reserves only for himself, and maybe a few fellow critics, never the art or the artists that he covers.

The book’s format

The book is organized by chapters, of course, but those chapters are organized by very specific themes, usually the theme of the artists performing them, not the nature of the songs themselves. It feels a little messy at first, but it’s also a very crafty way of putting this book together.

Instead of just grouping all of the pop songs together, the rock, and the hip hop, etc., it instead comments on the musical culture of the 90s themselves, whether it’s female vocalists, unlikable frontpeople, or larger than life artists turned legends. The 90s were a time when pop music covered all genres. So, it makes just as much sense to overlap the genres than it does to break them up.

The content

Within these pages are excerpts from the songs covered on the podcast, word for word it seems. Harvilla transitions from one song to another, often without any hard segues, and you find yourself having hopped on the next train of thought without having realized it.

The beginning of each chapter contains an image along with a list of songs that are covered. This is essentially your index to prepare you for what’s to come and to help you flip to a particular song later. I do wish that they weren’t all smashed together like they are and that the excerpts were more clearly broken up so that they are easier to find and let sink in from thought to thought.

None of Harvilla’s interviews are covered, nor are any behind the scenes or additional thoughts offered outside of what is heard in each show’s episode from these excerpts. Even his footnotes I recognize as having been spoken on the air, read in these asides that feel like spontaneous afterthoughts.

Again, this was a little disappointing. I know that the charm of the show is its subject matter and not the show itself, but it would have been nice to know if any of the featured artists besides Courtney Love have reached out to him about a particular episode or if any amusing situations occurred during the recording or preparation of an episode.

Even a quick breakdown about how the show is put together might have been an interesting little introductory chapter. I’ve always liked to know how the sausage is made, and I was hoping for some of that within the pages of this book.

Buy it!

Buy a copy of 60 Songs That Explain the 90s here, and help support local bookstores! This is an affiliate link, and I will earn a commission on any sales.

My recommendation

Despite my gripes above, 60 Songs That Explain the 90s is the perfect edition to any 90s musical lover’s collection. It celebrates its topic rather than tears is down from a modern point of view, which is the more common route taken in today’s media. At the same time, it treats its content for what it is: an expression of another human being(s)’ thoughts, feelings, and talent and all of the choices, experiences, and luck that led it to its place on the list, and in music history in general.

This is a book that you should read slowly. Highlight it. Annotate it. Stop and think about the sentences that catch your eye. And if you find yourself craving more and haven’t already, go subscribe to the podcast. This isn’t an affiliate endorsement of any kind, just one music fan recommending a podcast to another music fan.

What are your favorite songs from the 90s? Leave your answers in the comments below!

Also check out my post, Why Music Tastes are So Personal, here!

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