The staff of the College Football America Yearbook is on the road every weekend of the college football season, shooting games and gathering information for the following year’s book. That means a lot of driving and listening to a lot of music.
Earlier this year our College Football America Yearbook publisher Kendall Webb and our director of editorial content Chuck Cox put together ‘The Coronavirus Countdown – 100 Days of Great Music.’ Each of them sat down and compiled a list of 100 great albums. Their goal was not to select the ‘100 greatest albums of all time.’ It was simply to select 100 great albums to write about as they passed the time during quarantine and shelter-at-home orders.
This 2020 college football season will be unprecedented in so many ways. It’s very likely none of us will be on the road for games because, like most people, we’re trying to stay healthy. And we hope you are too.
So, for the next 100 days, we’re going to publish their countdown here at CollegeFootballAmericaPR.com (the list was originally published on Webb’s personal site, kendallwebb.net). Consider it the ultimate playlist for the ultimate college road trip — music for every taste, from every genre and from every decade of the modern era of music. When the staff of the College Football America Yearbook is back on the road, you can bet these will be some of the tunes we’re listening to.
And, if you missed the previous installments of our series, just click here to head to the Coronavirus Countdown — 100 Days of Great Music home page.
Here’s Day 39
Alternative rock became so mainstream by the mid-’90s that it’s hard to determine what the other alternative was by then.
Bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam had carried the alternative rock banner to the top of the mainstream charts in the early ’90s, and the success continued with bands like Counting Crows, Green Day, Oasis and Radiohead expanding the format’s template.
All of our picks today come from the broader alternative rock scene of 1994-95; one of those bands — Live — still maintained vestiges of its grunge roots. Ditto for our bonus pick of the day, Blind Melon’s “Soup” album, which was released just two months before lead singer Shannon Hoon died of an overdose on the band’s tour bus in New Orleans.
— Chuck Cox and Kendall Webb
CHUCK’S ALBUM OF THE DAY
Why I Love It
Although Live had already released two albums, the band found its sweet spot and knocked this third one out of the park. The music fits in perfectly with the direction rock and roll had taken at the time, but it had more of a cerebral quality to it than some of the other songs on the radio. I have always loved the originality of the music on this record. Lead singer Ed Kowalczyk also wrote every lyric, which makes it all the more impressive. It’s one of my favorite albums of the era and part of a strong decade of rock and roll music.
Album Highlights
“Selling the Drama,” “I Alone” and “Lightning Crashes”
Kendall on Chuck’s Album of the Day
A nice mid-’90s gem uncovered by Chuck today. I hadn’t heard this in years, but hits like “I Alone” and “Lightning Crashes” are instantly recognizable. I was in Austin at the University of Texas when this album was released, and it contains music that’s part of the soundtrack of my life that takes me back to those years whenever I hear it.
KENDALL’S ALBUM OF THE DAY
Why I Love It
I have my friends Cory Collins and Brian Wells to thank for this one. I think it was, specifically, Cory who turned me on to their “Umbrella” album from 1991, and I was immediately hooked.
While this is their most overtly commercial album, it also sparkles and shines in a way that their other records up to that point don’t. I’m not even sure it’s my favorite Innocence Mission album (“Umbrella” and “Birds Of My Neighborhood” are in the running, too), but it may be the most accessible album to people who aren’t familiar with their music. It also includes their biggest hit to date — “Bright As Yellow” which bubbled under on the Billboard charts at No. 117 while hitting No. 33 on Modern Rock Tracks (now known as Alternative Songs).
Album Highlights
“That Was Another Country,” “Speak Our Minds” and “I Hear You Say So”
Chuck on Kendall’s Album of the Day
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