3 Forgotten Alternative Rock Songs From 1997 You Need To Remember

It’s easy to overlook lesser-known alternative rock songs from 1997 amid blockbuster albums by Radiohead, The Verve, and Foo Fighters. But not every great rock song worth remembering was a massive hit. Countless gems flew under the radar among OK Computer, Urban Hymns, and The Colour And The Shape. And don’t forget The Chemical Brothers, Spiritualized, Oasis, Ween, Green Day, The Prodigy, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, Yo La Tengo, and many, many others also released classic albums the same year.

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So, let’s highlight three alternative rock songs you may have forgotten but need to remember.

“Beetlebum” by Blur

Blur, one of Britpop’s giants, had already left the scene before it ended. The band adopted the lo-fi sound of American indie rock and finally broke through in the U.S. with “Song 2”. I imagine most American listeners only know Blur by this song—if they even know who sings it in the first place. “Beetlebum” opens Blur’s 1997 self-titled release and shows traces of the mid-90s anthems that made them cultural icons in the U.K. So, before you crank “Song 2”, you might want to begin with Song 1.

“Last Cup Of Sorrow” by Faith No More

Many listeners only recognize big bands by their one big song. For Faith No More, that song is “Epic”, which is indeed epic. However, it ignores what came next. Mike Patton reshaped Faith No More into a more experimental rock and heavy metal act on subsequent releases. By the time the San Francisco band released Album Of The Year, it felt like they may have reached the end of the line. (They broke up in 1998 before reforming in 2009.) But there are gems on Album Of The Year, and “Last Cup Of Sorrow” features Patton transforming his voice into various characters. It also reveals Faith No More’s numerous musical iterations condensed into one tune.

“This Magic Moment” by Lou Reed

Lou Reed covered The Drifters’ “This Magic Moment” for a Doc Pomus tribute album called Till The Night Is Gone. Pomus had co-written the song with Mort Shuman, and The Drifters’ recording, featuring Ben E. King on vocals, became a hit in 1960. Reed’s noir blues reading also appears on the soundtrack to David Lynch’s 1997 film Lost Highway. Trent Reznor produced the soundtrack, which features David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, and The Smashing Pumpkins, among others.

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