For those of a certain age in Cincinnati in the ‘90s, you might have discovered your next favorite band by chance while you were doing your laundry at
Sudsy Malone’s in Clifton. The quirky small-stage venue often hosted bands then on the cusp of greatness, like the Afghan Whigs and the White Stripes.
Or maybe you found out about new music when an eye-popping CD cover captured your gaze in the front seat of your friend’s car. Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chili Peppers? What was that about? Or maybe you gawked at Aerosmith’s Get a Grip album featuring a pierced cow udder and a tattooed hide.
Music is always nostalgic, tied as it is to the times, places and people where we first encountered it. And lately, with the trend toward reliving ‘90s summers, the music of that decade is looming large. But it isn’t just about revisiting the artists and songs of that period. How we consume the tunes themselves is also wholly different. So, what’s the same and what’s changed in the Queen City? Everything and nothing, it seems.
Music was analog, not algorithm
There was a certain amount of social happenstance to uncovering new music back then. No algorithms, and all decidedly analog. “Social” meant people you actually knew or places you actually went to, not virtual. If you were on the go, you had the radio, a tape deck or maybe a Walkman. It was a pretty big deal if your vehicle featured a CD player back then, which didn’t come standard until the early 2000s. Local stations like WEBN (102.7fm) reliably pounded out rock music and you could count on Q102 (101.9fm) for popular hits.
“Q102 was the go-to radio station growing up, if I had a say in what we were listening to,” remembers Emma Chaney, who was a big pop music fan then and now. “My parents listened to a lot of NPR.” Some things truly never change.
For the most part, radio was the single source of truth for music in the ‘90s. “We used to wait for the radio stations to play our favorite songs to record them onto a cassette tape,” recalls Chaney. “Usually, we would hit record too early or too late and get the intro from the radio DJ or miss the opening of the song.”
In a world where you can call forth any song, any time, recording a fuzzy take off the radio feels quaint. But maybe the required effort made the music feel more valued, too. Once you recorded that song onto a physical tape – you owned it. Today, it’s mostly “rented” streaming subscriptions that give the illusion of possession.
Indie music shops are alive and well
Music stores were still destinations for many in the ‘90s. The big box mall monopolies like Sam Goody and Media Play have long gone extinct, but their smaller non-corporate cousins at the indie music stores are still drawing fans and collectors. In the almost 100% digital music world, there’s something comforting about rows and rows of real, touchable vinyl. Something uniquely satisfying about running your fingers over click-clacking CD cases decked out with edgy, weird or super sexy imagery. It’s the sonic twin to the current rise of the indie bookstore, with our Queen City playing host to more than a dozen beloved
neighborhood spots.
There’s the trusty
Shake It Records in Northside, which started as a boutique record label in 1978 and became a storefront in 1999.
Everybody’s Records in Pleasant Ridge opened its doors in 1978, continuously offering a curated selection of used records, CDs and cassettes ever since.
In Northern Kentucky, there’s the Newport shop
Jet Age Records that opened in 2017, where you can pick up a coffee or tea to accompany your musical browsing. In The Cov, you’ll find
Phil’s Records and
Hail Records and Oddities, which is just as quirky as you’d expect given the name. With everything from vinyl to taxidermy animals, crystal balls and Ouija boards, it’s worth a stop just for a quick shot of weird.
“I think it's driven by the revival in vinyl records over the past couple decades,” hypothesizes Cincinnati transplant and arts and music journalist Steve Rosen, who’s the host of the Mercantile Library’s series
Rock & Read book club. “They’re perfect for Indie stores since they’re so visual and tactile. Those stores that sell both new and second-hand vinyl open display them like artwork — I'm surprised more don't have themed displays, like art museums do. Also, the way vinyl records are marketed, especially the limited-run ones released on Record Store Day, really creates buzz and demand. The vinyl record comes with a download code (or at least used to) so you could listen on the run and save playing the ‘real’ record for your special Vinyl Night,” says Rosen.
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Emma ChaneyNSYNC at Riverbend Music Center, Sept. 2, 1999
Live music still rocks in Cincy
And live music? That’s the constant drumbeat through the decades, although it feels more expensive today than it did to teens and young people of past generations.
If you were lucky enough to be young in Cincy in the ‘90s, you might have gone to Lollapalooza at Riverbend for epic lineups like the one in 1994 featuring dueling headliners Smashing Pumpkins and Beastie Boys (Billy Corgan was reportedly pissed that the latter got way more crowd love), The Breeders, A Tribe Called Quest, Green Day, The Flaming Lips, The Black Crowes, Cypress Hill and so much more.
“My first concert was NSYNC at Riverbend Music Center (9/2/1999),” says Chaney. “My best friend came with me, and we were equally amped to say the least, my mom and younger sister (Ava) came as well. Somehow, Ava managed to fall asleep because it was too loud. I’m really lucky that my parents exposed me to a lot of music growing up and allowed me to go to shows.”
Riverbend still draws amazing acts. “I just saw Beck — who came to the forefront in the 1990s — perform his songs with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at PNC Pavilion to a virtually sold-out audience.” says Rosen. “Not long before that, I saw the ever-touring, ever-relevant Bob Dylan at Riverbend, where he was part of the lineup for the Outlaw Music Festival show. He drew a long, sustained standing ovation for his strong set,” he says.
Smaller venues also abound, like the enduring Clifton institution,
Bogarts, which turned 50 this year. And there’s the
Ludlow Garage which also still rocks. Music and memories are often inextricably intertwined, and that’s a fact that remains as true today as it was in the ‘90s.
What started as pirate radio in response to the sale of the last local FM station to support and promote local and independent music,
Radio Artifact has grown into a media platform to carry out the same purpose. This multimedia broadcast studio offers live shows in Northside, a recording studio for live audiences or closed sessions, and a streaming partnership with Cincinnati Public Radio.
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Arts and music writer and author, Steve Rosen.One of Steve Rosen’s fondest Cincinnati memories is all wrapped up in music. “After my wife and I got married in Denver, we came to Cincinnati and had a daytime reception. That night, we had a smaller get-together at a more mainstream lounge/bar in Covington close to the end of the Clay Wade Bailey bridge,” he remembers. The name of the bar is lost now, but the experience remains vivid for Rosen. “We had gone there because a British ‘alternative’ singer named Edwyn Collins, who had a big current radio hit in Denver called ‘A Girl Like You,’ was playing there. I guess the song wasn't played much in Cincinnati, cause maybe 10-15 people were there at most.” Rosen recalls the surreal moment of dancing to an apparently anachronous hit with just a few others – a strangely intimate moment that could have only happened here.
Enduring classics with fresh new beats
Today in the Queen City, echoes of the past reverberate in what we listen to and where we go to hear our favorites. Enduring venues like Bogart’s, Ludlow Garage and the
Southgate House Revival in Newport offer a familiar, if ever-evolving chorus. And while iconic, gritty spots may be gone, their memory lives on in the future projects of their key players. For example, MOTR Pub in OTR opened by Dan McCabe, a brilliant booker at Sudsy Malone’s in the ‘90s, keeps that eclectic small-stage spirit alive.
While we may discover, listen to and keep our music libraries much differently now than we did a few decades ago, it’s comforting to know that some common melodies stand the test of time, bringing us together to celebrate a shared passion. And no matter how many years and decades pass, it’s sonically beautiful that Cincy’s ‘90s roots will always be showing.
Read and listen for more ideas to recreate a '90s summer: