Introducing Beach Rock Radio - the 90s all over again

Over recent summers, we've all come to love, hate, hear or tolerate the irony-drenched sounds of "Yacht Rock". Michael McDonald, Toto, Kenny Loggins and all the rest. Baby Come Back by Player. Soft rock of the 1970s and 1980s.

I've come to believe there's a related, more recent, different and better genre.

Beach Rock Radio

It's the sound you heard walking down the beach in the 1990s, coming from a series of boom boxes. It's the music that was playing in the beach snack bar. It's the kid brother or sister of the alternative music your older cousins brought back from college in the 1980s.  Edgy, relaxed, pretending to be alternative with a healthy dose of pop mixed in. 

I've been talking about with friends the past few years and am ready to unveil the genre. Let’s consider some examples.

• Smooth, Santana with Rob Thomas:  with Santana is a top-level example. Ubiquitously the sound of summer -- not yacht rock, and not alternative.
• Take a Bow, Madonna: definitely was playing in the snack bar
• Santa Monica, Everclear: Is it alternative? Not sure but definitely it’s the sound of the waves hitting the shore.
• Banditos, The Refreshments: For pure 1990s, hard to beat a song that namechecks Jean-Luc Picard (more than once!)
• New Pollution, Beck: What the “cool” kids play in their Honda Del Sol in the parking lot. Also, a fantastic song.

You get the idea. Anyway, I offer the list for your consideration. Thanks for listening.

1990s Beach Rock Radio | Chris' Playlist on Amazon Music

Song	Artist
(Everything I Do) I Do It For You	Bryan Adams
1979 (Remastered 2012)	The Smashing Pumpkins
3AM	Matchbox Twenty
A Thousand Miles	Vanessa Carlton
All I Wanna Do	Sheryl Crow
All I Want	Toad The Wet Sprocket
All That She Wants (Remastered)	Ace of Base
Always	Bon Jovi
Are You Gonna Go My Way	Lenny Kravitz
Banditos	The Refreshments
Bitch	Meredith Brooks
Bitter Sweet Symphony (Remastered 2016)	The Verve
Breakfast At Tiffany's	Deep Blue Something
Californication	Red Hot Chili Peppers
Cannonball	The Breeders
Catch The Sun	Doves
Change the World	Eric Clapton
Cherub Rock	The Smashing Pumpkins
Come To My Window	Melissa Etheridge
Crash into Me	Dave Matthews Band
Crazy	Seal
Creep	Radiohead
Cryin'	Aerosmith
Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover	Sophie B. Hawkins
December	Collective Soul
Don't Speak	No Doubt
Down	311
Dreams	The Cranberries
Epic	Faith No More
Even Flow	Pearl Jam
Father Of Mine	Everclear
Feed the Tree	Belly
Fly	Sugar Ray
Free Fallin'	Tom Petty
Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon	Urge Overkill
Girlfriend	Matthew Sweet
Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)	Green Day
Hard To Handle	The Black Crowes
Head Like A Hole (Album Version)	Nine Inch Nails
Hey Jealousy	Gin Blossoms
Hey Jealousy	Gin Blossoms
Hold On	Wilson Phillips
How's It Going to Be	Third Eye Blind
I Don't Want to Miss a Thing	Aerosmith
I Want You	Savage Garden
Ice Ice Baby	Vanilla Ice
If It Makes You Happy	Sheryl Crow
If You Could Only See	Tonic
I'll Be There For You	The Rembrandts
I'll Stand by You	Pretenders
Interstate Love Song	Stone Temple Pilots
Iris	Goo Goo Dolls
Jumper (1998 Edit)	Third Eye Blind
Kiss From A Rose	Seal
Kiss Me	Sixpence None The Richer
Last Kiss	Pearl Jam
Life Is A Highway	Tom Cochrane
Lightning Crashes	LIVE
Linger	The Cranberries
Little Miss Can't Be Wrong	Spin Doctos
Losing My Religion	R.E.M.
Love Rears Its Ugly Head	Living Colour
Lovefool (Radio Edit)	The Cardigans
Lullaby	Shawn Mullins
Lump	The Presidents of the United States of America
More Than Words	Extreme
Mother Mother	Tracy Bonham
Mr. Jones	Counting Crows
My Sister	The Juliana Hatfield Three
Name	Goo Goo Dolls
Never There	CAKE
No Rain	Blind Melon
Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth	The Dandy Warhols
One Headlight	The Wallflowers
One Of Us	Joan Osborne
Ordinary World	Duran Duran
Plush	Stone Temple Pilots
Popular	Nada Surf
Push	Matchbox Twenty
Ready to Go	Republica
Right Now (2004 Remaster)	Van Halen
Rockafeller Skank	Fatboy Slim
Runaway Train	Soul Asylum
Santa Monica	Everclear
Save Tonight	Eagle-Eye Cherry
Say It Ain't So	Weezer
Seether	Veruca Salt
Semi-Charmed Life	Third Eye Blind
Sex & Candy	Marcy Playground
She's so High	Tal Bachman
Shine	Collective Soul
Slide	Goo Goo Dolls
Smooth	Santana, Rob Thomas
So Much For The Afterglow	Everclear
Something To Talk About	Bonnie Raitt
Somewhere I Belong	Linkin Park
Spin The Bottle	The Juliana Hatfield Three
Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand	Primitive Radio Gods
Stay (I Missed You)	Lisa Loeb
Steal My Sunshine	Len
Sunny Came Home	Shawn Colvin
Take A Bow	Madonna
The Impression That I Get	The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The New Pollution	Beck
The Way	Fastball
To Be With You - 2010 Remastered Version	Mr. Big
Torn	Natalie Imbruglia
Unbelievable	EMF
Under The Bridge	Red Hot Chili Peppers
Virtual Insanity (Remastered 2013)	Jamiroquai
Walk On the Ocean	Toad The Wet Sprocket
Waterfalls	TLC
What I Got	Sublime
What It's Like	Everlast
What Would You Say	Dave Matthews Band
What's Up?	4 Non Blondes
When I Come Around	Green Day
Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?	Paula Cole
Wonderwall (Remastered)	Oasis
You Get What You Give	New Radicals
You Oughta Know (Explicit)	Alanis Morissette
Your Woman	White Town