Before Nirvana and grunge took over the airwaves in the early 1990s, there were tons of lesser-known and some fairly known bands working in styles ranging from power-pop and folk-rock to psychedelic and gothic. These bands had commercial ambitions of varying degrees. On the one hand, you had purely underground bands like Bongwater, Royal Trux, and The Jesus Lizard. On the other hand, there were bands who placed in the pop charts: The Sundays, King Missile, Cocteau Twins. It was a truly rich era in rock music when the sounds of the underground were ripe with excitement, and what was to become popular was anybody’s guess.

In addition to the above-mentioned artists, you’ll hear Catherine Wheel, Fastbacks, Ride, Jellyfish, The Posies, Pale Saints, Mazzy Star, Yo La Tengo, Spacemen 3, Shudder to Think, The Feelies, Galaxie 500, and more!

Ric on the Radio can be heard every 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month at 9:00 pm on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org / Download the FREE KRCB App @ iTunes & Google Play!

 Find our complete programming schedule here.

(Photo: Breaking No New Ground, by Bongwater – Cover art/Wikimedia commons)