Press Play on Dave Holmes’ Ultimate 90s Cruise Playlist

September 17, 2025

Oh, we are going to have us some fun on the Celebrity Constellation next January for the second annual 90s Cruise . We’re going to celebrate the greatest decade of all time, we’re going to make new friends, we’re going to hit the buffet like it’s our job. (This is maybe more a ME thing than a WE thing .) But most importantly, we are going to rock. The 9 0s Cruise is wall to wall live music by some of our favorite artists, so to get us mentally and emotionally prepared, I’ve made a little mixtape for you, packed with tracks from next year’s lineup…and so much more. Friends, please enjoy the 2026 90s Cruise Anticiplaylist .

“If You Could Only See” – Tonic

This song is not only a perfect example of 90s alternative rock radio gold, it also proves the power of music. For the entire duration of the song, the very well-known and widely-used English words “could” and “only” are pronounced “keyed” and “onlah,” and then when the song is over, they go back to normal. That is called impact, and Tonic has it.

“Moonage Daydream” – David Bowie

Is this a 90s song? Famously, it is not. But at the first 90s Cruise, did I see Fastball play it as part of their closing-night covers set in the Dial-Up Lounge, with Lisa Loeb on lead vocal? Yes, I did. It was one of those moments where I just could not believe the unlikely beauty of what I was seeing and hearing, and I reacted the only way I knew how, which was by freaking the hell out.

“Reach For The Lasers” – EMF

Man, Schubert Dip was a moment, wasn’t it? I was a college sophomore when it was released, and though UK rave culture never really made it as far as our campus, it was not for lack of trying on our part. (The fact that I had to repeat sophomore year is maybe not unrelated.) This song is new from them, and it is one of the few reasons I am concerned we may actually rock the boat.

”Falls Apart” – Sugar Ray

Sugar Ray are the nicest guys in the damn world and I’m so excited for you all to meet them. Anytime Mark McGrath and the gang swung by the MTV studio, you knew you were safe: they’re funny, friendly, down to earth and down for anything. I’m looking forward to their performance, and I’m also pretty sure I can convince Mark to teach an aqua-aerobics class or something. Stay tuned.

“Rosealia” – Better Than Ezra

BTE’s debut album Deluxe was in every CD jukebox in every bar I ever went to in the mid-90s, and if I was lucky enough to have a dollar bill I could sufficiently flatten out, it was going in and this song was coming on. The real fans knew, and there were a lot of real fans.

“Allison Road” – Gin Blossoms

On the maiden voyage of The 90s Cruise, Robin Wilson hosted an all-star acoustic set by the pool one late afternoon, and though I was already a Gin Blossoms fan, from that point on I was also a fan of Robin’s record collection. He gave us covers of the Smiths, of Skid Row, of Madonna, of the Backstreet Boys, and he made them all fit together seamlessly. He’s our musical host for 2026, so expect more of him making you a perfect live mixtape.

“Throw Your Arms Around Me” – Pearl Jam

He also played this one, originally from Australian band Hunters and Collectors, then covered by Crowded House, then re-covered on tour by Eddie Vedder & co. The taste!

”Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg” – TLC

America has a puritanical streak a mile wide, and that mainstream radio programmers of the 1990s were extremely risk averse. Yet somehow these women got the line “two inches or a yard, rock hard or if it’s saggin’” onto your top 40 station 20 times a day. Just goes to show: if you make it sound smooth enough, you can sneak some really spicy stuff past the censors.

“Don’t Let Go (Love)” – En Vogue

En Vogue specializes in music you do not want people to know you have sung into a mirror. “Free Your Mind?” “Whatta Man?” The w’woo-woo-WOO part in the breakdown of “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)?” Please. I have done it. You have done it. Together let us commit to striking some very dramatic poses to this one when they do it on the ship.

”Ain’t Gonna Hurt Nobody” – Kid ‘N Play

…But miss me with the trademark Kid N’ Play Kickstep. My ankles are barely holding on as it is.

”All Star” – Smash Mouth

In 1997, we heard “Walking On The Sun.” We saw Smash Mouth’s chin-strap facial hair and frosted tips and gas station attendant shirts. We took them in, and we said: “Smash Mouth, we see you and we sort of get what you’re capable of.” And then in 1999 they dropped this single and we all lost our minds. I was at MTV at the time, and one late spring day, Carson came to the studio with an advance of Astro Lounge. He put it in the green room CD boombox and hit play. Within ten seconds everyone knew this would be the song we’d be hearing all summer, and then also forever, and not a single person was mad at it.

”Solitude” – Edwin McCain

Twenty years of American Idol auditions have nearly ruined “I’ll Be” for me, but I have no doubt he’ll redeem it for me at sea. In the meantime, let us revisit this one from 1995, with a vocal cameo by Darius Rucker. (If you wanted to get on VH1 in 1995, you had to bring the Rucker.)

“Shimmer” – Fuel

But TV singing competitions are not all bad! A contestant named Aaron Scott sang “Hemorrhage” on season 19 of The Voice, and now here he is, the new lead singer of Fuel.

”Close To You” – Maxi Priest

Maxi Priest is one of those artists who you put on, and then you say: “Wait a minute, I know all the words to this one too?” Bangers for days, as refreshing as the pina colada I can already taste. I’m eager to meet him, and I’m hoping to get an answer to a long-standing question: Does the existence of Maxi Priest imply the existence of a Mini Priest? If so, will he have to pay full fare?

”Molly” – Sponge

Okay, so this song either is about Molly Ringwald or it isn’t. I’ve never managed to get to the bottom of it, and the “sixteen candles down the drain” in the chorus doesn’t really clear anything up. All I know is that there is no getting off this ship once we’re on the Gulf of Mexico, so there is no escaping me. Sponge, I will have my answer.

”Let Me Clear My Throat” – DJ Kool

This song came out in 1996, and for some reason that fact doesn’t make sense to me. It’s not that it doesn’t thump with the crowd-pleasing hip-hop energy of the time, because it does. It’s more that I sort of thought this song always existed, since the dawn of time. Like, I’m certain I danced to it at my high school prom, even though that is not possible. What I’m saying is that DJ Kool has Inceptioned himself into our memories and I’m a little bit frightened of his awesome power.