In one of the opening scenes of The Midnight Club, we snake through a backyard shindig percolating with partiers clutching red cups and cavorting to fresh jams straight from the 1990s. Throughout the throwback, we transport back to the golden age of MTV, where moody rockers like the Stone Temple Pilots would air alongside the lowriding hip-hop of Cypress Hill. That end-of-the-millennium genre mélange punctuates The Midnight Club’s soundtrack, offering up the earnest angst of Collective Soul and sassy rap of Salt-N-Pepa. And speckled throughout, we get some classic old school tracks from beyond the MTV era.

We caught up with music supervisor Justine von Winterfeldt, who made the dream of the ‘90s come true.

What are your own personal memories of early and middle '90s music? Which of the songs inspired your own sense of nostalgia or brought you back to a particular time and place (and where were you when you heard it!)?
The second I hear a song from the early/mid ‘90's I instantly think of myself rocking a Sony Walkman in my baggy overalls listening to TLC's CRAZYSEXYCOOL while strolling through the mall carrying bags from Sam Goody. Placing PM Dawn's "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" and Duran Duran's "Ordinary World" were two of my favorite song moments for this show and definitely sparked some Boy Meets World and Fresh Prince nostalgia in my heart. 

What were Flanagan’s instructions for what the music should sound like? And what were some of the deep cuts on this soundtrack?
We’ve all been shaped by this music since it was the sound of our formative years that essentially created the adults we are today. Mike wanted to find songs that brought back that true nostalgia for each and every one of us on the production. He threw in the lionshare of ideas and made it an organic process for us to provide a slice of the ‘90s that was meaningful within the concept of each storyline/episode. One song that I consider a deep cut is surprisingly not a ’90s song, but a song written in the late 1850s:  “Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming.” We wanted to create an earworm for the audience during specific flashbacks so we found a romantic and old-timey song that could also sound creepy out of context. This Victorian era melody is woven throughout the series and will hit you at all the right, scary moments!  

This moment of music was largely connected to MTV airplay, where we collectively experienced the anarchy of hearing a TLC song one moment and a Soundgarden song the next. That random mix made it so a wide swath of people knew the lyrics and vibes for songs that they surprisingly loved or maybe even hated (ahem... Crash Test Dummies?!). Now with Spotfiy, we are siloed within our own algorithm, which seems to fracture those kinds of collective experiences. Do you think there is a kind of "MTV sound" that defines that generation -- and why do you think there has been a resurgence of interest in '90s music today?
I do think what we collectively experienced in the ‘90's was special, but at the same time this new generation will have its own playlist that will feel the same for them. Sure, they won't get Kurt Loder or Matt Pinfield feeding them the music, nor will they know the feeling of ripping the cellophane off the cover of a new CD and flipping through the liner notes. But they will remember the hits associated with that one TikTok video or that one song from that one Netflix episode. I think the resurgence of the 90's has a lot to do with Hollywood trying to bridge the gap between Gen X and Gen Z, and it's working.

The Midnight Club Soundtrack

Wondering who are all the bands on The Midnight Club soundtrack?

Skip the Shazam and peruse all the bands and hip hop artists below:

Episode 1

Stereo MC’s, “Connected”
Stone Temple Pilots, “Interstate Love Song”
Cypress Hill, “Insane in the Brain”
The Math Club ft. Grand Puba, “It Don't Stop”
SK Project ft. Roberta Gilliam, “Your Love Is Taking Me Over (Over Dub)”
2+2,“2+2”
Collective Soul, “Shine”
John McCormack, “Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming”
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, “You’re All I Need to Get By”
Harvey Danger,“Flagpole Sitta” 

Episode 2

Tosch, “Acid & Strobe”
Bush, “Glycerine”
John McCormack, “Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming”
Blind Melon, “No Rain”

Episode 3

Concrete Blonde, “Joey”
Audio Jane, “Starry Eyes”
The Math Club & Fatlip, “Heartbreaker”
Local H, “Bound for the Floor”
Filter, “Take A Picture”

Episode 4 

Seven Simons, “These Incantations”
Duran Duran, “Ordinary World”
Deja Old Skool, “Creepin”

Episode 5

Morrie Morrison Orchestra, “Tonight in the Moonlight”
Salt-N-Pepa ft. En Vogue, “Whatta Man”
John McCormack, “Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming”
Rory Hoy ft. DJ Angelo, “Mic Check”
Fatbelly, “Step Up”
Audio Jane, “Baby I Know”
Groove Armada, “Hands of Time”
Ada Lea, “can't stop me from dying”

Episode 6

Pot Valiant, “Loud Street”
The Flys, “Got You (Where I Want You)”
Navarre, “Story to Tell”
Bad Influence, “What Flava”
En Vogue, “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)”

Episode 7

Bush, “Glycerine”
CAST, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” (Green Day cover)
Terry Jacks, “Seasons in the Sun”

Episode 8

Crash Test Dummies, “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”
The Pixies, “Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)”
L7, “Pretend We’re Dead”
Soundgarden, “Fell on Black Days”

Episode 9

Funkdoobiest, “Drink Til We Sound Like”
TLC, “Creep”
P.M. Dawn, “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss”
Deee-Lite, “Groove Is in the Heart”
P.M. Dawn, “Gotta Be… Movin’ On Up”

Episode 10

Hootie & the Blowfish, “Hold My Hand”
Richard Marx, “Hazard (Re-Record)”
John McCormack, “Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming”