Stereo

If there’s one movie I could watch over and over again, it will be Empire Records (1995). It’s not an Oscar-winning or any other award-winning movie for that matter, but it has got a bunch of young movie superstars-to-be, a supeeerb boss, memorable quotes, and one hell of a soundtrack. This movie and soundtrack inspired my youth in the 1990s. Oh cliché.

So here in the spirit of ushering the new year, I present to you, my entire collection of tracks from Empire Records I have managed to find over the years.

Damn the man. Save the empire!

• 01 - Gin Blossoms - Til I Hear It From You
• 02 - The Cranberries - Liar
• 03 - Edwyn Collins - A Girl Like You
• 04 - The Martinis - Free
• 05 - Toad The Wet Sprocket - Crazy Life
• 06 - The Innocence Mission - Bright As Yellow
• 07 - Better Than Ezra - Circle Of Friends
• 08 - Ape Hangers - I Don’t Want To Live Today
• 09 - Cracker - Whole Lotta Trouble
• 10 - The Meices - Ready, Steady, Go
• 11 - Drill - What You Are
• 12 - Lustre - Nice Overalls
• 13 - Please - Here It Comes Again
• 14 - Evan Dando - The Ballad Of El Goodo
• 15 - Coyote Shivers - Sugarhigh
• 16 - Cruel Sea - The Honeymoon Is Over
• AC/DC - If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)
• Adolescents - L.A. Girl
• Ass Ponys - Little Bastard
• Billy White Trio - Surround You
• Coyote Shivers featuring Gina - Sugarhigh
• Daniel Johnston - Rock ‘n’ Roll
• Dire Straits - Romeo And Juliet
• Dishwalla - Counting Blue Cars
• Fig Dish - Chew Toy
• Gwar - Saddam-A-Go-Go
• Loose Diamonds - Backdown Blues
• Noah Stone - Dark & Brooding
• Peg Boy - Hardlight
• Queen Sarah Saturday - Seems
• Quicksand - Thorn In My Side
• Sponge - Plowed
• Suicidal Tendencies - I Shot The Devil
• The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star
• The Cranberries - How
• The Dirt Clods - Hey Joe
• The Flying Lizards - Money (That’s What I Want)
• The The - This Is The Day
• Throwing Muses - Snakeface

Note: Tracks with numbers in front are from the original soundtrack CD.

Click here for an excellent full list of the tracks that appeared in the movie as compiled by Simon Slavin.

I started listening to music when I was about 11 or 12 years old. I remember I used to dig through my brothers’ CDs and cassettes (Carey, Houston, Boyz II Men, NKOTB and a rare GnR) back then when they weren’t around. I didn’t want to be caught dead listening to their music because back then, I like to annoy them saying music are noisy. I was happily to stick my taste to Super Mario’s or Donkey Kong’s theme songs.

But of course I gradually picked up my own taste in music shortly after my brothers left home. My first ever album I bought with my own allowance money was Smashing Pumpkins‘ Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness double cassettes and I love the Pumpkins ever since. I also started to buy cassettes on a weekly basis, until I discovered the wonders of Internet.

There was one program that was on air on the local Radio 4 station (now Traxx FM, I believe) on every Thursday 9pm to midnight that I would never missed back then. It was called the Modern Rock Chart Show and was hosted by Godfrey. I would tuned in and try to get every song titles played by him. And he had this Top-10 chart that was voted by callers right there and then. I was one of the voters as well. I actually recorded myself being aired on the radio, my own 15 seconds of fame. Now I wonder where that recorded cassette had gone to.

A trip back to the good old days. They were indeed good old days. Mid-90s, that was when alternative rock was at its prime. And to celebrate the journey down memory lane, here are 5 random tracks that I was totally hooked to back then. And they were actually played on the Modern Rock Chart Show, something you’ll never get from today’s local radio stations.

Download:

• Klover - Our Way
• Nerf Herder - Sorry
• Super Deluxe - She Came On
• The Martinis - Free
• Tripping Daisy - I Got a Girl (MP3 format)