A complete Live 105/Alt 105.3 Spotify playlist

 As I'm sure you've already heard, the alternative rock era of KITS is over. The station flipped in October to Dave.fm, essentially an "adult hits on shuffle" format.

Since I chronicled a period of Live 105's history with this blog, I figured I'd present this Spotify playlist I put together of the station's entire musical history from its beginnings in 1986 to its end as Alt 105.3 in 2021. It also serves as a history of alternative rock's evolution or "de-evolution," depending on how you want to look at it.

I basically started by throwing in songs that Made Live 105's year-end countdowns as well as a Memorial Day countdown the station did in 1988. It became trickier for the years 1995 and 1996, since the full countdowns aren't available on the internet. For that, I had to go through old issues of Radio & Records and posting any songs that turned up on their weekly playlists. There were some interesting discoveries there. (Live 105 played Jars of Clay? I didn't know that.)

It became trickier again after 2008 when Live 105 stopped doing year-end countdowns, so I had to go into the Wayback Machine for information on what the station played in the ensuing decade. Then the playlists became inaccessible on their archives website, and I wasn't listening as much in the last few years, so I had to rely on my memory and what alternative songs were big during that time. (It basically did become an alternative top 40 station in its last few years.)

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Yb8WOWpWbYH0dfhz7laHe?si=51ebf4b2097f4eba

RIP Live 105.

BONUS: Live 105's top 20 Soundcheck bands of 2002

Yet another Wayback Machine find. There's a tiny bit of overlap with the 2001 list, and of course, there are some more bands that became bigger in 2003.

And once again, the formatting is wonky because I copied this from an old webpage.

1. The Strokes 2. The White Stripes 3. The Hives 4. The Vines 5. Queens of the Stone Age 6. Interpol 7. The Donnas 8. Sparta 9. Sleater-Kinney 10. Clinic 11. The Pattern 12. And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead 13. The Used 14. The Distillers 15. The D4 16. Sahara Hotnights 17. Hot Hot Heat 18. Division of Laura Lee 19. Finch 20. Tsunami Bomb

BONUS: Live 105's Top 25 Soundcheck Bands of 2001

Oh, the things you find on The Wayback Machine. Soundcheck is Live 105's weekly new music show, hosted by Music Director Aaron Axelsen, that's been airing since 1998. I don't know if they've done an artist retrospective every year, but they certainly did in 2001. It's interesting how most of these bands went on to something bigger (especially AFI, who the station was an early supporter of and would have their mainstream breakthrough less than two years later.)

Sorry about the wonky formatting. This is what happens when you copy directly from an old webpage.

1. AFI
2. The Strokes
3. Jimmy Eat World
4. Radiohead
5. System of a Down
6. Gorillaz
7. The Faint
8. Rival Schools
9. Saves the Day
10. New End Original
11. Linkin Park
12. Creeper Lagoon
13. New Found Glory
14. Alkaline Trio
15. The Avalanches
16. Alien Ant Farm
17. Ash
18. Element of Surprise
19. Pennywise
20. The White Stripes
21. H2O
22. Mudvayne
23. B.R.M.C. (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club)
24. The Donnas
25. Dashboard Confessional