Behind the Boathouse with the Toadies (Volume 6)

The Complete 96X Anthology was inspired by years of mix-making. The mixes themselves featured songs I wouldn't have heard without 96X: one-hit wonders of the mid-90's that showed up, had one great song, and often disappeared soon after. These single gems--maybe more than the Soundgarden and Nirvana hits that defined the decade--became the of any 96X mix. You know the titles:

Del Amitri's "Roll to Me"
Deep Blue Something's "Breakfast at Tiffany's"
Matthew Sweet's "Sick of Myself"
Spacehog's "In the Meantime"

And so on. But one song towered above all the others for sheer one-hit-wonder mid-90's nostalgie, its inclusion obligatory for any 96X retrospective:

Toadies - Possum Kingdom.mp3

If you were alive in 1995, you remember the Toadies' "Possum Kingdom." If you insist that you don't remember Toadies' "Possum Kingdom," you are 1) wrong and 2) probably not ever going to be my friend. While you may not remember the title, or the band itself, you know this song. The completely bizarre/awesome refrain of "do you wanna die?" is as memorable to kids of the 90's as their first kiss, or Bill Clinton, or the first time they kissed Bill Clinton.

I won't use any more space placing the Toadies in a larger context, or using this song to illustrate a larger point about pop culture at large. Someone much smarter than me could glean greater meaning from it. I can't. That's most of the reason I like it and, I think, most of the reason everyone else does, too.

I'll show you my dark secret,
CM

P.S. If you haven't already, pick up the new Kings of Leon record, Only By the Night. As you can tell, I've written about this band in the past (also here). They're, like, real good. More thoughts on the new record after I 1) leave 1996 and 2) put out my own record October 7.