Whatever: The 90s Pop & Culture Box
You'd be right to be excited about Rhino Records' voluminous compilation,Whatever: The '90s Pop and Culture Box. After all, they did such a great job with their 1980s comps, not to mention all their various approaches to prior decades, from the originalNice Dayseries to the expanded and brilliantNuggetscollections.Whateveris a seven-disc set that comes with a bag of stale coffee inside it. This US-centric collection has a lot of great tracks on it, from throwaway songs ("Sunscreen," "Sex And Candy") to absolute classics ("Baby Got Back," "Under the Bridge"). But ultimately, it's a complete and utter mess. A lot happened in the '90s of course; hip-hop went pop, rock got funky and weird, grunge broke open and imploded, Moby sampled the Lomax archives for a surprise hit, even the weirdest indie bands had cash thrown at them by major labels, the daisy age morphed into the chronic age, and dance music was quite nearly the next big thing. Rather than provide a narrative of underground and mainstream movements, this set smacks of the sort of lowest common denominator, novelty-centric approach that makes lowbrow VH1 programs only fleetingly satisfying. Sheesh. Hip-hop, metal, and dance music are barely covered here. And the lack of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" alone is enough to make the listener want to return the set with the words "try again" scrawled into the cover.--Mike McGonigal