World Cafe 30th Anniversary Playlist: 1999

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of World Cafe, we're looking back and posting playlists from each year of the show. As music has evolved over the years, so have our playlists, which have grown to reflect a much wider range of music than when we first set out.

The last year of the 1990s may have carried the semi-imposing threat of the Y2K millennium bug, but it also managed to deliver some excellent music. Looking back, the year was an important one for the arrival of pop stars including Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, the debut of Eminem, a few one-hit wonders, and the arrival of mainstream digital music's early days. Musically though, it was memorable for The Roots' Things Fall Apart, Macy Gray's On How Life Is, Midnite Vultures by Beck, the influential 69 Love Songs by The Magnetic Fields, Moby's Play and The Flaming Lips' commercial breakthrough, The Soft Bulletin.

And oh yeah, lest we forget: Smash Mouth!

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