It's Rocktober!

Tomorrow is October 1, which means it's time for Rocktober!  This will be the fourth year of my six-year plan of the Rocktober Decade Countdown, and we are moving into the '90s this year.  

The '90s were a strange, interesting, and fun time for music.  I went from being a sixth grader when the clock struck midnight on January 1, 1990 to a senior in college ten years later, so I quite literally grew up in the '90s.  When the decade started, hair bands were kings, Madonna was the queen, and gangsta rap was beginning the hip hop revolution.  Of course, by the end of 1991, the entire musical world was turned on its head by grunge.  Alternative rock became the mainstream, while hair bands sadly fell by the wayside, and by the end of the decade, somehow we were listening to rap metal and boy bands.  In the middle, we had ska, groove metal, Britpop, the swing revival, alterna-pop, riot grrrl, house, acoustic pop, techno, pop punk, post-grunge, jam bands, nu metal, whatever Ween was, and so much more.  In many ways was a fantastic decade to be alive, as there was economic prosperity, no more Cold War, and generally a feeling of more acceptance and less hate.  Perhaps it was a reaction to the superficiality and materiality of the '80s, but everything in the '90s just seemed to be more laid back.  Of course, all good things must come to an end, and like Altamonte provided a dark end to the '60s, Woodstock '99 did the same for the '90s, foreshadowing the division that would come in the next decade.  But man, what a great decade the '90s was to be in junior high, high school, and college.

As I do every October, I am going to run through your wicked garden with a daily dose of rock, at least on the weekdays.  There will be no repeated artists during the course of the month.  I'm going to try my best not to repeat songs that I have featured in prior Rocktobers, but I make no promises.  As always, the week of Halloween will feature songs with dark, evil, or macabre themes.  CoronaVinyl and Retro Video of the Week will be suspended during Rocktober, but Hair Band Friday will continue because Hair Band Friday never stops, although I won't post a Hair Band Friday tomorrow because I'm going out of town.  

As always, remember that this is Rocktober, so these will all be bands, artists, and songs that rock, even though they may not always be from genres or artists that you would consider "rocking" or "rockers."  There will be popular songs, songs that you may never had heard before, and maybe even some bands and artists you've never heard of.  Rest assured, though, everything will rock.  Whatever.