Favorite Songs of 1996

1996 was, to me, the last truly great year for mainstream rock and roll. I could just tune my radio in to 103.7-WRUF “Rock 104” and leave it on all night long, without worrying about having to hear really atrocious music (which is, unfortunately, too often the case nowadays). Well, here’s my somewhat long list of favorites from 1996, as I lived through it:

Free As A Bird (Beatles)
Aeroplane (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Always Be My Baby (Mariah Carey)
Bulls On Parade (Rage Against the Machine)
Flood (Jars of Clay)
Humans Being (Van Halen)
I Got Id (Pearl Jam)
Ironic (Alanis Morisette)
Macarena (Los del Rio)
Novocaine For The Soul (Eels)
Only Happy When It Rains (Garbage)
Pepper (B. Surfers)
Ready To Go (Republica)
Standing Outside A Broke Phone Booth... (Primitive Radio Gods)
Stinkfist (Tool)
Stupid Girl (Garbage)
Tahitian Moon (Porno for Pyros)
Tonight, Tonight (Smashing Pumpkins)
What I Got (Sublime)
Where It's At (Beck)
Who Will Save Your Soul (Jewel)
You Learn (Alanis Morisette)
Zero (Smashing Pumpkins)
Burden In My Hand (Soundgarden)
Boot Camp (Soundgarden)
Undertow (REM)
E-Bow The Letter (REM)
Electrolyte (REM)
How The West Was Won (& Where It Got Us) (REM)
Angels Of The Silences (Counting Crows)
Every Day Is A Winding Road (Sheryl Crow)
So Much To Say (Dave Matthews Band)
Crash Into Me (Dave Matthews Band)
Too Much (Dave Matthews Band)
Tripping Billies (Dave Matthews Band)
Machinehead (Bush)
Greedy Fly (Bush)
The Chanuka Song (Adam Sandler)
I Stick Around (Foo Fighters)
Alone And Easy Target (Foo Fighters)
Exhausted (Foo Fighters)
Grind (Alice in Chains)
Again (Alice in Chains)
Big Bang Baby (Stone Temple Pilots)

My top favorite of the year was Alice in Chains’s beautifully angry, anguished song Again. Following close on its heals was Novocaine for the Soul by the Eels. Since then, this song has climbed up to be #5 on my all-time list. Right behind Novocaine was Stupid Girl by Garbage, a now-resurgent group fronted by vocalist Shirley Manson, who really knows how to belt out a tune. Stone Temple Pilots came out with Big Bang Baby, their rousing parody of 60’s music (the video is one of the funniest I’ve ever seen). REM plunged deeply into despair with E-Bow the Letter. And the tearjerker of the year award goes to Pearl Jam for their euphemistically-titled I Got Id.