Forgotten gems: The Reality Bites soundtrack

The two most famous songs on it – My Sharona and Baby I Love Your Way – aren’t even from the 90s, but this album in its entirety reminds me of nothing but.

Ali and I selected Reality Bites for our video viewing on a Saturday night sleepover circa 1995 and quickly became obsessed.  Basically, we wanted to be Lelaina and Vickie when we grew up.  Who didn’t?  (Well, until Cher and Tai from Clueless took over after we went to see it twice at the cinema that summer.)

As well as the video, we bought the soundtrack album and listened to it constantly.  When we weren’t singing along earnestly to Lisa Loeb, we were dancing around my bedroom in sunglasses and teadresses with stripy T-shirts underneath, pretending we were in a petrol station (‘Can you turn this up, please?  You won’t be sorry…’)

I still listen to it today, usually now dancing around my kitchen and pretending it’s a petrol station.  There are some genuinely good bands on there (Dinosaur Jnr, Juliana Hatfield 3, The Posies) and also some that I don’t love-love but am fond of because of the era (Lenny Kravitz, Crowded House, World Party).  Weirdly, also the only U2 song that doesn’t totally make me want to gouge my own eyes out in horror (All I Want is You).

There are some other of-their-time gems, not least Ethan Hawke’s hilarious in-character turn as Troy of ‘Hey That’s My Bike’ with his masterpiece I’m Nuthin’.  But the best song on there, though, is still Stay (I Missed You) by Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories.  It’s lovely, immensely singalongable, and perfect.