DGC (2025, Reissue)
Ever since Record Store Day became a thing, and particularly since it became the dumping ground for major label reissues, I've been shouting from the hills that DGC Rarities Vol. 1 was the album that needed an RSD reissue. Years came and went and it never happened. They added a second Black Friday Record Store Day, still nothing. 2024 came and with this compilation having originally come out in 1994, I figured it was a slam dunk for a 30th anniversary reissue. Nope.
What did happen was on some random Wednesday in August in 2025, Interscope just put up a preorder for it. No pomp, no circumstance. My buddy Scott let me know about it because he got an email. Very odd, though I am certainly not going to complain that I didn't have to play the Record Store Day game of finding a copy and paying for a nonsensical 42% markup just because it's Record Store Day. Still, I do sort of feel that it was a missed opportunity to make this a bigger deal, but maybe it isn't as important record to most people like it is for me.
In 1994 I was going through a musical crisis. Hip hop, which had been my bread and butter for the prior five years was moving in a direction that I didn't really like. Trying to find something that I could connect with, my friend Scott (a different Scott from the one in the last paragraph) played me Mellow Gold by Beck. That was a turning point in my life. And Beck led me to DGC Rarities Vol. 1. He had an unreleased song called "Bogusflow" on the compilation. It was exactly the sort of Beck song I loved at the time. Solo acoustic, off the cuff and packed full of odd lyrics that really hit home for me. So I bought the album.
I wasn't really familiar with most of the other bands. Sure I had heard Nirvana and I knew about Hole. I knew that Sonic Youth had been on the Judgment Night Soundtrack and I figure I must have at least heard of Weezer. But it was mostly uncharted territory. The album ended up being one of those gateway drugs that led me to other rock music that I'm not entirely positive I would have heard otherwise.
First off, "Pay To Play" is probably the only Nirvana song that I truly like. They have other songs that are fine, but they've never really been a band that I connected with on any level. Not since my friend Pat made me borrow Nevermind way before they blew up and I gave it back to him the next day and told him the I didn't understand how anyone could like that. But "Pay To Play" is a beast. Loud, fast, great drumming and still something of a singalong. I know that it's essentially the same song as "Stay Away," but for whatever reason, I don't like that nearly as much as this compilation version.
This is the first time I had ever heard Weezer and "Jaime" was a song that instantly grabbed my ear and turned me into a fan. I didn't rush out and buy the Blue album immediately, but this was the song that laid the foundation for me. This comp was my introduction to that dog, and I did immediately go out and by their album Totally Crushed Out after hearing their song. It was the first time I heard The Posies who I ended up loving and the first time I heard Sloan, who are fine.
Not that there aren't some stinkers on here. The Sonic Youth song "Compilation Blues" isn't for me, but neither is 99% of their catalog. While not a surprise now, back then I didn't know anything about them. But even with the up and down quality of the album (for every Weezer there's a Murray Attaway), it's a great compilation album. It's also among the first that I bought when I was trying to find may way through a world of punk, indie, rock and yes, alternative that was so new to me. A real touchstone record that I am so excited to finally have on vinyl.
Various Artists - DGC Rarities Vol.1:https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n54v6CRldlt9oEr4KQGCkgXN0XH1-rUdw
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