I’ve been really enjoying the Red Hot Organization’s “No Alternative” and “Dark was the Night” recently, both because they raised a lot of money for AIDS research and because they do a great job of capturing the 90s alternative sound and 00s indie sound respectively, and it’s got me thinking how much I love compilations generally for how they can give you an impression of a place/time/music scene. Any collections like that you think I should know about?
For classic rock, the Dazed and Confused soundtracks are phenomenal. I’m also partial to the Hackers soundtrack for early/mid '90s electronic music.
Do soundtracks count? If so, O’ Brother Where Art Thou? And Grosse Point Blank
GPB was quality
There are many great soundtracks that spring to mind. Among them just two are: Pulp Fiction and Garden State.
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Dicks 1980-1986. Pretty much a comp of their best songs, some are live and some are studio takes but it’s just a great album and they did a lot for queer punk in Texas in the early 80’s which was pretty rare.
The best way to discover new punk bands in the 90s was through comps. The Punk-O-Rama, Give Them the Boot, and Fat Wreck Chords compilations are the soundtrack of my teen years. But my favorites were the Nitro Records ones. Deep Thoughts and Go Ahead Punk… Make My Day were my favorites.
Also special shot out to Punk-O-Rama III
The Sire Records “Just Say” albums of the early 90s.
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Super Eurobeat Presents Fourth Stage D Selection 3
NO CONTROL
NOT AT ALL
CUZ YOU MAKE ME FEEL CRAZY NOW
O Brother Where Art Thou? has a fantastic soundtrack. The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtracks are also quite good.
International Superhits was a really good Green Day album. Only thing I’d really change though is add 86 (from Nimrod) to it.
R. Stevie Moore - Meet The R. Stevie Moore! An Introduction To The Godfather Of Home Recording
Punk goes pop - was the soundtrack of my teens
Pulse, for the sweet 90s dance.
The soundtrack to Dirty Dancing sent me off in directions of 1960s dance and doo-wop and also 1980s pop in a big way.
Brazil Classics 1 - Beleza Tropical, was compiled by David Byrne from Talking Heads and has some incredible Latin stuff on it.
Hugh Masekela – The Chisa Years 1965-1975 (Rare And Unreleased) has some African jazz and funk that sounds like nothing else and is what American funk would sound like five to ten years later.
Pomegranates, from 2009, is a compilation of pre-revolution Iranian funk that is shockingly listenable.
WipeOut 2097 Soundtrack