The International Pop Underground's Hometown, Part 1 (1990s Olympia Indie Rock)

We've been spending the early part of this Fall semester exploring 1990s U.S. indie/underground rock through the lens of various cities and local scenes. Last week, we listened to the Washington, D.C., indie-pop scene, with a focus on the TeenBeat, Slumberland, and Simple Machines record labels. This week kicks off a pair of shows exploring 1990s music from the other Washington - the State of Washington. And in particular, its capital city of Olympia. Although Seattle and "grunge" garnered most of the mainstream press headlines during the early/mid-1990s, the much smaller Olympia - just about an hour south of the Emerald City - was one of the country's hotbeds of indie rock and DIY punk. Not only was Olympia home, at least for a time, to everyone from Bikini Kill to Nirvana, but it was also host to two of the defining record labels of 1990s underground rock: K and Kill Rock Stars.

Here's the playlist for Part 1 of our 1990s Olympia series, which we're titling The International Pop Underground's Hometown. It was broadcast on Saturday, September 27, 2014:

Beat Happening - "Fortune Cookie Prize"

Bratmobile - "Cool Schmool"

Unwound - "Nervous Energy"

Karp - "13 Ways to a Cavity"

Bikini Kill - "Feels Blind"

Dub Narcotic Sound System - "Monkey Hips and Rice"

The Go Team - "Bikini Twilight"

Some Velvet Sidewalk - "Big City Plans"

Long Hind Legs - "Kicking Giant"

Kicking Giant - "This Song"

Satisfact - "Unswitched"

Mocket - "Spark Plug"

Witchypoo - "The Reaper Song"

Lync - "Two Feet in Front"

Modest Mouse - "Dukes Up"

godheadSilo - "Master of Balance"

Archived streaming audio of this show can be heard here now (playable in Chrome, Firefox, Explorer, Opera, and Safari browsers):

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About The Way Out

The Way Out is a weekly radio show hosted by Andrew and Diana Bottomley on WSUM 91.7 FM in Madison, Wisconsin. We feature a wide range of punk, post-punk, indie rock, garage rock, psychedelica, no wave, noise rock, and other rock’n’roll esoterica. We're drawn to anything that's adventurous, different, and "out there." We've even been known to throw in a set of modern classical, prog, or country from time to time. Mostly, we play “classic” material from the 1960s through the 1990s, though we also mix in some newer music here and there. Following a "no hits, all the time" philosophy, we emphasize overlooked and otherwise unheard of artists, or lesser-known songs from more popular artists.

About WSUM

WSUM, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s licensed student radio station, is an award-winning station with over 200 members. Following a handful of different incarnations that operated between 1952 and 1993, WSUM officially began broadcasting on February 22, 2002, from Vilas Hall and has been going strong ever since. The station can now be found at 333 East Campus Mall, Suite 4100, in the new Student Activities Center. WSUM is a proud and active member of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and College Broadcasters, Inc., and has won myriad statewide and national awards for its dynamic music and talk programming, live sports broadcasts, and news coverage.

The Way Out