120 Minutes/Post-Modern MTV/"Alternative" Fans?

[wingchun100]

Every day that I get older (which of course is every day!), I get more nostalgic for the music I grew up with. Back in the day, MTV had two shows that played what used to be called "alternative music," also known as "college rock," among other things.

On Sunday nights there was the big bash...the 2-hour long 120 Minutes. Then during the week (I believe it was every night), there was Post-Modern MTV. At the start, both were hosted by Dave Kendall. They changed hosts over the years. I remember when "grunge" was taking over the mainstream radio; at that point it was hosted by Lewis Largent.

At any rate, there are not a lot of people where I live who are fans of anything not on the radio. It gets kind of lonely up here. So I thought I would check in on my favorite discussion board and see if anyone else could share the memories and wax nostalgic with me about these wonderful programs.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I remember them fondly. Unfortunately, I also remember them vaguely - that's just how my memory works most of the time.

 

[wingchun100]

I remember them fondly. Unfortunately, I also remember them vaguely - that's just how my memory works most of the time.

At least that is something. Did you ever become a fan of any of the bands you heard on the show? That was music that formed the soundtrack of my life.

 

[Touch Of Death]

I never did watch those shows, but I did discover eighties music, in the army...

Yeah that is a Pre-Cure thing.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

At least that is something. Did you ever become a fan of any of the bands you heard on the show? That was music that formed the soundtrack of my life.

I am a fan of music, in general. I know that sounds trite, but my tastes are so varied, it would be difficult to imagine me NOT becoming a fan of one of those bands. I don't recall which bands I would have heard on those shows, but I almost certainly have songs that play in my head today because I spent so many hours watching those shows.

 

[wingchun100]

See for me, the question is, "What band could I NOT name that came from those shows?"

Smashing Pumpkins
Nirvana
Soundgarden
Pearl Jam
Sebadoh
Dinorsaur Jr.
Sonic Youth
The Cure
R.E.M.
Violent Femmes
Husker Du
Meat Puppets
Black Flag
Toad the Wet Sprocket (had two albums out before they hit it big)
Swervedriver
The Catherine Wheel
My Bloody Valentine
Ride
Tool
Eugenius
The Pixies
Cocteau Twins
Jesus and Mary Chain
The Minutemen
The Replacements
Mother Love Bone (gone too soon)
Concrete Blonde
The Jayhawks
Wilco

...and I am sure more names will come to me tomorrow.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

See for me, the question is, "What band could I NOT name that came from those shows?"

Smashing Pumpkins
Nirvana
Soundgarden
Pearl Jam
Sebadoh
Dinorsaur Jr.
Sonic Youth
The Cure
R.E.M.
Violent Femmes
Husker Du
Meat Puppets
Black Flag
Toad the Wet Sprocket (had two albums out before they hit it big)
Swervedriver
The Catherine Wheel
My Bloody Valentine
Ride
Tool
Eugenius
The Pixies
Cocteau Twins
Jesus and Mary Chain
The Minutemen
The Replacements
Mother Love Bone (gone too soon)
Concrete Blonde
The Jayhawks
Wilco

...and I am sure more names will come to me tomorrow.

I see at least a half-dozen there that I probably picked up from those shows. There are a couple I picked up elsewhere - REM from my brother, and Violent Femmes from a girlfriend. Some of the names I don't recognize, but I probably know the songs (my wife claims I know the words to every song written between 1974 and 1995).

 

[JR 137]

The biggest omission from your list is easily Stone Temple Pilots. Core and the videos that came from it were huge - Plush, Creep and Wicked Garden. Sex Type Thing was a huge single, but I don't remember if there was a video.

When did MTV abandon playing music? I think after a couple seasons of The Real World and Road Rules.

I don't remember Post-Modern MTV, but 120 Minutes was a great show. Headbanger's Ball was another one I watched a lot. That was hit or miss, as my favorite bands at the time - Metallica and Slayer - didn't make videos during that show's run. Anthrax had one or two though. Some bands were so awful they were comical, but others were great.

I'm still a huge grunge fan. And thrash fan. And 60's rock fan. I have a high end stereo and turntable that's gotten too little use since my oldest was born (she'll be 6 November 27th).

 

[wingchun100]

Notice I was talking about bands I became a fan of courtesy of that show. LOL I was never a big STP guy.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

The biggest omission from your list is easily Stone Temple Pilots. Core and the videos that came from it were huge - Plush, Creep and Wicked Garden. Sex Type Thing was a huge single, but I don't remember if there was a video.

When did MTV abandon playing music? I think after a couple seasons of The Real World and Road Rules.

I don't remember Post-Modern MTV, but 120 Minutes was a great show. Headbanger's Ball was another one I watched a lot. That was hit or miss, as my favorite bands at the time - Metallica and Slayer - didn't make videos during that show's run. Anthrax had one or two though. Some bands were so awful they were comical, but others were great.

I'm still a huge grunge fan. And thrash fan. And 60's rock fan. I have a high end stereo and turntable that's gotten too little use since my oldest was born (she'll be 6 November 27th).

Put on some Anthrax and raise that child right, JR!

 

[wingchun100]

Anthrax would be from Headbanger's Ball...wrong late night show. lol

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Anthrax would be from Headbanger's Ball...wrong late night show. lol

That's the one he referenced in his post. One that also consumed some hours of my life.

 

[wingchun100]

I thought you were responding to my portion of this thread with that, hence why I cleared up the confusion. LOL But there was none to clear up, except my own!

 

[wingchun100]

I forgot to mention that there was a radio show being broadcast out of Southern Idaho called Beyond the Wall of Sleep that put me in touch with some more new bands that reminded me of the old 120 Minutes days. I found it quite by accident on a website called "Archive.org," when I was trying to search for My Bloody Valentine songs.

I typed "My Bloody Valentine" into the search engine, and one of the links I got was an episode of Beyond the Wall of Sleep, where the host (Devon Marcel) played what were supposedly 3 leaked MBV songs from their third album, which of course was unreleased at the time. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, Devon has cancelled the show. He has cancelled before and come back, but I think this time he may be really done for good, which sucks because yet another one of my resources for alternative music is gone! Argh!

Anyway, for those of you who are interested enough to find out what I am rambling about, here is the Archive link for ALL the shows Devon posted over the years. As you can see, there is quite an extensive back catalog. One of my favorites is "March 14, 2015: New Swervedriver."

User Account

 

[wingchun100]

Geez, my brain really suffers from major lag/delay sometimes.

120 Minutes is gone. Beyond the Wall of Sleep is gone. However, I JUST now thought of a way to find more resources for this kind of music:

Go to Google, and I can either (1) type in "alternative music shows" or "indie music shows," or (2) I can type in "alternative music discussion boards" or "alternative music forums" and see what kind of resources people on THOSE sites recommend. Doh!

 

[Steve]

History's Dumpster: Seattle's KJET AM 1600

Article on KJET, the radio station that had a profound impact on my musical taste. The article even has an old video of one of the concerts at the mural amphitheater at the seattle center.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I was around before MTV.
Before cable TV.
We grew up with B&W UHF & VHF broadcast TV,

I saw MTV's first broadcast.

Yeah, I watched 120 Minutes, or as it was first called, 120 Minutes Into The Future.

It was the only reasonable alternative to the really good music available on Debut LP magazine out of the UK.

I used to listen to punk rock on KROQ (Rodney on the Roq). Hung out at the Whiskey, Okie Dogs, Huntington Beach. Black Flag, Nitzer Ebb, Scraping Foetus, X, The Minutemen, TSOL, Geza X, etc. Flipside magazine, Fact Sheet Five, zines of all kinds.

Great time to be young and dumb. 69 Dodge Charger, a Marine Corps high and tight, and no values.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

These were my times.

 

[Steve]

I was around before MTV.
Before cable TV.
We grew up with B&W UHF & VHF broadcast TV,

I saw MTV's first broadcast.

Yeah, I watched 120 Minutes, or as it was first called, 120 Minutes Into The Future.

It was the only reasonable alternative to the really good music available on Debut LP magazine out of the UK.

I used to listen to punk rock on KROQ (Rodney on the Roq). Hung out at the Whiskey, Okie Dogs, Huntington Beach. Black Flag, Nitzer Ebb, Scraping Foetus, X, The Minutemen, TSOL, Geza X, etc. Flipside magazine, Fact Sheet Five, zines of all kinds.

Great time to be young and dumb. 69 Dodge Charger, a Marine Corps high and tight, and no values.

If you're older than me, it ain't by much. A lot of that sounds familiar.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I have a high end stereo and turntable that's gotten too little use since my oldest was born (she'll be 6 November 27th).

My basement. Bought the Luxman gear in Okinawa in 1983. The rest I've acquired over time.