Thursday, February 19, 2015

Top 100 Songs From the 1990s (No. 94)

94. "Oh Nina"
Artist: The Muffs
Year: 1995

If punk rock wasn't dead in the '90s, the doctor had certainly made a move for the paddles. Fortunately, the Muffs were one of the few bands that kept the heart beating. The self-titled debut from 1993 was a huge hit in the record shop I worked at that summer, but I think the Muffs got even better after a shuffle in personnel left them a trio of Kim Shattuck, Ronnie Barnett and Roy McDonald. "Sad Tomorrow" was the first (and perhaps the best) single from the revamped lineup, taken from the 1995 album 'Blonder and Blonder,' but "Oh Nina" has always been my favorite from that record. Nobody, and I mean nobody, can scream like Kim does on this one. This was during the band's brief stint on Reprise Records, and I have always gotten a perverse pleasure knowing something so raucous came from the label founded by Frank Sinatra.

As a little bonus, check out episode five of "Bitchin' Ass," Redd Kross' bizarrely wonderful Web series, that featured the Muffs performing "Oh Nina."

2 comments:

george said...

Never heard this one before Brian. I'm sure there's a Muffs track lurking on one of the Peel CDs in the music room.

Brian said...

Hey George. Thinking the Muffs might be right up your alley. Worth taking the time to dig through your archives. You might know Kim from her brief stint with Pixies after Kim Deal called it quits.