Ah, the late 90s. It was the golden era for mall rat culture, and many a 90s teen in 1999 spent an insane amount of time at their local shopping center with friends, jamming to music and looking at the fashion trends of the turn of the century. If you were one such teen, I bet you heard the following three songs straight from your mall’s speakers back then.
“Every Morning” by Sugar Ray from ‘14:59’
“Every Morning” by Sugar Ray was one of the biggest alt-rock hits of 1999. It was clean enough to make it to speakers in public places, and that flamenco pop vibe made it a unique song among a sea of alt-rock and pop-punk tunes that year.
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“Every Morning” by Sugar Ray was an international hit for the band. It peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and also topped numerous US subcharts.
“All Star” by Smash Mouth from ‘Astro Lounge’
There’s no reality in which I’d leave this banger from Smash Mouth off our list of rock songs from 1999 that made it to mall speakers. This song was inescapable that year, and it was radio-friendly enough to make it to one’s local shopping center. If you were a 90s kid or teen, this one’s still playing in your head non-stop after all these years.
“All Star” by Smash Mouth charted globally and peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100 chart in 1999.
“Smooth” by Santana feat. Rob Thomas from ‘Supernatural’
This was the song that got a whole generation of suburban kids into Latin rock in 1999. I can see why. Combining the guitar god power of Santana with the alt-rock stylings of Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas seems, in theory, like a bit of a weird combination. But “Smooth” ended up being the best of both worlds. It comes as no surprise that Santana and Rob Thomas’ killer collab “Smooth” made it all the way to No. 1 on the Hot 100, among quite a few other charts. It later scored a whopping three Grammy awards in 2000, too.
Photo by Bob Berg/Getty Images
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