60 Songs That Explain the '90s

This is for sure one of those books that on paper should be a knock out of the park for me: one music nerd gushing his love of music and how it has directly effected his life, all the music specifically originating from the 90's. Based on his podcast of the same name, Rob Harvilla quickly goes through the 60 songs that defined not just the 90's, but his 90's. There's much to appreciate about this book, especially Harvilla's detailed and personal feelings about each song along with its cultural and personal impacts. My largest complaint is that he simply covers each song way too quickly, leaving a page or two (sometimes a couple paragraphs) for each song and ends up glossing over a lot of content that I'd like him to delve more into. I get it, you can only do so much when you have to cover 60 songs in one book, but I was left wanting a lot more. His writing was pretty goofy and self indulgent rather than documentational, but it was entertaining for the most part. It's far better and more enjoyable than Steven Hyden's writing, which I found insufferable when I read his book about Radiohead's Kid A. It's not as insightful and charismatic as Chuck Klosterman's or Tom Breihan's writings about music (both I highly, highly recommend), but it's a light and fun read that does make me want to listen to Harvilla's podcast instead, hoping that he dives much deeper into these songs.

This book works best if you think of it as a musical memoir, not any kind of definitive analysis of 1990s music. Building off of his podcast of the same name, Harvilla earnestly and humorously describes the impact of such diverse artists as Celine Dion, Nirvana, Notorious B.I.G., Spice Girls and Wu-Tang Clan on his white, middle-class, Midwestern childhood and young adulthood. He can spend pages rhapsodizing about the New Radicals' only hit, You Only Get What You Give, and dismiss the Backstreet Boys in one paragraph as “walking sex furniture.” You might learn something you didn't know about music from the last decade before Napster, or you might just have a good chuckle. Typical chapter opener:I'm pretty sure I peaked as a teenager and hit rock bottom as a human being on the night I tried and failed to toilet-paper a suburban mailbox after a Rage Against the Machine concert.Highly recommended if you liked [b:Your Favorite Band is Killing Me 26245024 Your Favorite Band is Killing Me Steven Hyden https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1458496509l/26245024.SX50.jpg 46238652], [b:Party of One: A Memoir in 21 Songs 28257149 Party of One A Memoir in 21 Songs Dave Holmes https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1450679721l/28257149.SX50.jpg 46165336], or pretty much anything by [a:Rob Sheffield 25839 Rob Sheffield https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1277414943p2/25839.jpg].