Gin Blossums "Found Out About You"

I first remember hearing the Gin Blossums during Spring Break 1994. Their song, "Found Out About You", was all over the radio that week I spent in Florida. Never mind that the song was originally recorded five years prior for the group's debut album Dusted, the Gin Blossums also included it on their second album, New Miserable Experience. The song was the album's fifth single and went on to be a Top 10 hit on the Alternative, Mainstream Hot 100 and Rock Charts.

Baz Luhrmann "Everyone's Free (to Wear Sunscreen)"

During Spring Break 1999, I came across a song on the radio while vacationing in Florida. It sounded like a bad PSA about skin cancer, but was actually a bona fide song from Baz Luhrmann called "Everyone's Free (to Wear Sunscreen)." The spoken word song sampled "Everybody's Free (to Feel Good)" and featured timeless advice from Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich that read like a commencement speech by Australian voiceover artist Lee Perry. Between 1997 and 1999, your parents probably once forwarded you a commencement speech supposedly from Kurt Vonnegut, but it was actually penned by Schmich The article originally appeared in 1997, but was updated to reflect the present time (1999). It perfectly summed up a decade of music that, no matter how mainstream or bizarre, found its way onto the radio.

Enigma "Return to Innocence"

While most teenagers spent their high school Spring break getting drunk on the beaches of south Florida, I spent my high school Spring breaks staying with my grandparents in Bradenton, Florida. Bradenton is about an hour south of Tampa and neighbors the city of Sarasota.  Since my parents didn't have cable at home during my high school years, I got my fill of music videos from MTV and VH-1 during Spring break in between countless trips to the pool and The Outback Steakhouse. One of my many memories from Spring Break 1994 featured "Return to Innocence" from the New Age band Enigma on heavy rotation at VH-1. The relaxing tune seemed destined to be the soundtrack at massage parlors, but instead managed to receive heavy radio airplay across multiple formats. The ear worm turned into a hit song in over a dozen countries.