Does anyone remember the mid-90s lounge revival? It's often lumped together with the Swing Revival as a branch of the "Cocktail Nation" movement, but instead of jazz, it revived 50s tiki-lounge/bachelor pad music.

The Godfathers of the Lounge Revival (and by far the most famous) were Combustible Edison:

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Another revival act of the time was Love Jones, who were featured in the Swingers soundtrack:

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One of the biggest impacts of the Lounge Revival, other than the fashion, tiki bars and mostly obscure revival acts, was alternative kids rediscovering the original Space Age Pop/exotica artists, such as Martin Denny, Les Baxter, Xavier Cugat and Esquivel. This was assisted by the release of several compilation series, like The History of Space Age Pop:

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As well as the Ultra-Lounge series

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I do remember there was a bit of a hoo-ha about "space age bachelor pad music" at that time and there were various compilations and whatnot issued. And articles about the original albums appeared in music collector magazines like Goldmine. I used to see all those old albums by Martin Denny and the like in thrift shops for 50 cents before it became a "thing". 

I do remember there was a bit of a hoo-ha about "space age bachelor pad music" at that time and there were various compilations and whatnot issued. And articles about the original albums appeared in music collector magazines like Goldmine. I used to see all those old albums by Martin Denny and the like in thrift shops for 50 cents before it became a "thing".


I only know this from reading discussion boards, but collecting old exotica records was very "in" among alternative kids back then.

Even as a fan of a lot of lounge music, I don't really get it tbh.

A weird relic of the Lounge Revival, I found. Korla Pandit performing on a Muffs song:

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A weird relic of the Lounge Revival, I found. Korla Pandit performing on a Muffs song:



I saw a documentary on Korla Pandit a while back on some channel or other. I had never heard of him prior to that. Quite an interesting story!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korla_Pandit

I remember the Mike Flowers Pops version of Wonderwall. I think it came out in 1996

I remember the Mike Flowers Pops version of Wonderwall. I think it came out in 1996
I had the single of that...

...sold on eBay.

Wherever became of the character Mike Flowers?

More evidence of the Lounge Revival

Sterolab's breakthrough EP was titled "The Groop Played Space Age Bachelor Pad Music" and was (loosely) musically influenced by lounge:
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Throbbing Gristle dedicated their whole best of album to Martin Denny's exotica records

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The Moog Cookbook was an homage to kitschy 60's moog music that became an underground sensation in the 90s.

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You've probably heard them before. They played the elevator music version of "Everlong" in the beginning of the "Learn to Fly" video. There was a full version of that song, but the Foo Fighters lost the only copy so now no one can listen to it anymore. :\'(

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The 90s had a lot of weird revivals. The fact that swing became popular is weird as hell.

The Moog Cookbook was an homage to kitschy 60's moog music that became an underground sensation in the 90s.

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You've probably heard them before. They played the elevator music version of "Everlong" in the beginning of the "Learn to Fly" video. There was a full version of that song, but the Foo Fighters lost the only copy so now no one can listen to it anymore. :\'(

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I love that album, '60s space age pop covers of '90s alternative rock songs, they remade Smells Like Teen Spirit into a funky clavinet/moog/vocoder song.

They did a second album with covers of classic rock songs, they turned More than a Feeling by Boston into a eurodance song which is hilarious.