Earlier in the month, we brought you Part 1 of our new I Like: The 90s series where we ask icons of Aussie music from that era to talk us through their faves, as well as give us some insight into the relationships they have with these songs. Enigmatic frontwoman and multiple ARIA Award winner Sarah McLeod, who most of us know from fronting The Superjesus, submits the second run of tracks that will no doubt have you feeling nostalgic about your youth. 

Over to Sarah... 

PRINCE - CREAM

I once saw an interview with Prince where he told an interviewer that he feels like he IS music. Prince would be the only person on the planet that can get away with sounding like Kanye West without being a wanker. A truly gifted and prolific musician, Prince was an incredible song writer and all round legit megalomaniac. He played every instrument himself and even took the role of 'sound guy' for his own band at live shows by having a mixing desk on the side of the stage and mixing the band himself. Prince had many protégé’s, he wrote funky feminine hit after hit for all the ladies he worked with, including Martika, Cindy Lauper, The Bangles, Chaka Khan, Sinead OConnor, Stevie Nicks, Alicia Keys, Sheila E and Sheena Easton! This song “Cream” from the album Diamonds And Pearls went to number one on the Billboard charts and was apparently written whilst Prince was standing in front of a mirror. Eewww.

MATCHBOX TWENTY - LONG DAY

The post grunge era was awash with middle of the road rock bands and no one did it better than Matchbox Twenty. From Orlando Florida, Matchbox Twenty erupted across our airwaves with the debut album Yourself Or Someone Like You, produced by Matt Serletic. Matt Serletic had just come straight from recording this album when we, The Superjesus, went into the studio with him to make Sumo. He talked a lot about this Rob Thomas cat, which I don’t mind saying kinda gave me the shits because I was trying to focus on my own songs at the time! He played me the record and I didn’t really go for it, which I think disappointed him a little, but It seems I was alone in my crusade because this album went DIAMOND... sorry, but I’ve never even heard of DIAMOND, I didn’t even know there was a benchmark above platinum!  It seems the music buying public in the USA really dug this brand of “don’t look at me I’m too tortured” pop music. Matt was right, and now I have to eat my hat. 

ROXETTE - LISTEN TO YOUR HEART

Any band that releases a best of titled Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus is a friend of mine. Made up of Marie Fredriksson  and Per Gessle, both artists were already established in Sweden before they combined to create Roxette. “Listen To Your Heart” was one of my favourite songs then and I don't mind saying that I still really like it now! The fact that it was on the sound track to one of the most popular movies ever made (Pretty Woman) helped push its album sales too. Fronted by Marie, who was like an angel with her short blonde hair, Madonna-like gap between her front teeth and her Swedish annunciation. Roxette knew how to write a clever pop hook. Their song “The Look“ actually reminded me a lot of Savage Gardens “I Want You” in its pop rappy / speaky versus. I must not be alone here because both songs sold millions of copies worldwide.

THE MAVIS'S - CRY

We used to kick around with these guys when we lived in Melbourne as a band years ago. They're a brother and sister duo from Ballarat, Matt Thomas (AKA Matt Doll) and Becky Thomas (AKA Becky Colada) who created a pop masterpiece joining forces with Josh Alexander on bass, Andrea Veny on drums and Nick Gill (AKA Nik Daniel) on guitar... to form The Mavis's. I guess pseudonyms  were hot stuff in this camp! Becky and Matt sang so beautifully together. I’m always fascinated by how siblings can harmonize so incredibly well together. I wish my sister could sing! They had a string of cool songs in the 90s and were staples on all the festivals and TV shows but it was this song “Cry” that really grabbed my attention. It was released in 98 (a great year for Aussie rock n roll) and was nominated for two ARIAs. Song of the Year, unfortunately losing out to “No Aphrodisiac” by The Whitlams, and Single of the Year, which went to “Torn” by Natalie Imbruglia. To me, “Cry” is a pop masterpiece, it’s still one of my favourite songs ever;  the pre chorus where it goes to the toms is the best bit. It’s a shame they didn’t win an ARIA for it though because they really deserved it. This song was from the album Pink Pills.

MOTOR ACE- CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

I loved these guys. This was my kind of pop rock outfit; catchy and to the point. Reminds me a little of Ammonia. From Melbourne, they consisted of Patch Robertson on vocals and guitar, Damian Birchall Costin (drums), Matt Balfe (bass), and Dave Ong (guitar). They were compared to The Verve and Oasis a lot, and were even the national support for Oasis on their 2002 tour Aussie tour. I really love their sound, we did a lot of shows with them in the 90's and they were always the ones I would hang around to see, even if the van was leaving without me! They are really good song writers, they consistently brought out hit after hit, my favourites being “Keeping Secrets”, “Carry On” and “Chairman Of The Board”. Patch had that laid back vocal style reminiscing of Adam Franklin from Swervedriver, his voice was rich and warm and they had great harmonies. Patch was one of my favourite, if not my absolute favourite singers from the 90s. 

GEORGE - SPECIAL ONES

We seem to have a lot of talented brother and sister duos in Australia. George are a band from Brisbane driven by Katie Noonan on vocals and keyboards and her brother Tyrone on vocals, guitar and keyboards. They are both beautiful singers and Tyrone sings a lot of leads on their records but it’s pretty hard to compete with Katie. She is an absolutely incredible singer who studied opera and jazz at the Queensland Conservatorium. You can hear the control in her voice, she is very unique. Their mother was a well-known opera singer named Maggie Noonan. Their album Polyserena reached number one on the charts in Australia lead by the single “Special Ones” whereby Katie is the lead vocalist. Katie and I sang together on the 'I Touch Myself Project' to raise money for breast cancer awareness a few years back and she stole the show vocally from all the girls, she really is a very special artist.

THE SUPERJESUS -DOWN AGAIN

“Down Again” was our first single from Sumo. Sumo debuted at number 2 on the ARIA Album Chart and won us Best Rock Album at the ARIAs in 98. If you watch the succession of our video clips back to back in a chronological order you will see the low budget videos from Eight Step Rail and then when you reach “Down Again” it screams 'We’ve been signed to a record company!' cause it's suddenly big budget and we are all dressed in silver suits playing in a fireman training building. It was a four story building filled with burnt rooms, pretend victims and sample wreckage from room to room. It was used to train firemen on how to act in critical situations. We recorded about 50 guitar tracks for “Down Again”, layer upon layer upon layer to create a wall of sound. I wrote the lyrics in my hotel room in Kangaroo Point in Brisbane the night before the Gold Coast Big Day Out in 1997.

OASIS - DONT LOOK BACK IN ANGER

Maybe it’s because I love The Beatles but when Oasis came into my world I was super excited. I’ve always been a fan of the 90s Manchester scene digging Suede, Swervedriver and The Stone Roses, but Oasis were all that and more. They were dangerous, unpredictable, bratty and brilliant. Driven by two siblings again but this time without harmony. The two brothers continued a public feud for most of their career, which only fuelled their appeal .Noel Gallagher was an amazing song writer that used a lot of 7 chords, which were made popular by The Beatles. This inspired me to try them and I’ve been a slave to them ever since. The thing about the 7 chord is that you have to know where to place them, that’s the skill, anyone can play them but it’s where you position them in the song that makes all the difference. Noel Gallagher was so good at this. Even though their songs paid a lot of homage to The Beatles they were still really fresh and original. Liam had a killer voice and sang as if relaxing through a sea of razor blades but it was when Noel sung that any pretention in the song was removed and it was all heart.

K'S CHOICE - NOT AN ADDICT

Again driven by two siblings... why are all the good bands run by family members? There seems to be a lot in my list! The epicentre of this band is brother and sister duo Sarah and Gert Bettens from Belgium. Originally called The Choice, they were forced to change their name because another band had already patented it. They released a lot of records but it was the song “Not An Addict” from the record Paradise Me in 1995 that elevated them to fame. I loved this song then and still do now. It’s not the song in particular that is the strength of this release; it’s the delivery of the vocal that makes it stick. I’m a sucker for a chick with a raspy voice, go figure, and Sarah has a voice that screams pain. It’s thick, tortured, and burning with passion.  She sings about heroin addiction in her chain-smokey tone that sounds as though her throat is so thick it’s hard to even pass any air through it. In this, you really believe her suffering and that’s what creates the connection. It reached number 5 on the U.S modern rock chart.

RADIOHEAD - MY IRON LUNG

Taken from the album The Bends released in 1995. The Bends was the soundtrack to my experience on tour with The Superjesus across American in 98. I listened to this on repeat for the entire tour. I didn't like Radiohead when they released “Creep”, but when this record came out I was hooked. It’s the sound of the guitars, the imperfections in the delivery and performance that make it such a great listen. Some guitars are notably out of tune but fit in the tapestry beautifully and add to the tortured pain of it all. The album went platinum in the U.S and reached #4 on the UK Albums Chart. Which is kind of weird because I would've thought it would go to number one. It’s a classic album that's just as relevant now as it was then, if not more. We don't hear commercial records like this anymore, everything is so polished and perfect that all the energy is sucked out of it, I love being able to hear inflections, nuance's and imperfects in a song, it's what makes it real.

 - Sarah McLeod

For more I Like: The 90s, follow our Spotify playlist which will be refreshed every month with new special guest contributors.