Don't Let Them Keep You Down!

Fun

Well this put me in a good mood this morning. The TMBG/A.V. Club version is also fun! I admit that I first googled "90s songs about drinking," and based on the title I was convinced that it was going to be "Friends in Low Places." Did a quick grid search for Ross and Joey ;-)

Nice one, Will!

“Gin and Juice” came to mind first. But as soon as I saw “incorrect”, I thought, “Oh, wait, what was that ‘Danny Boy’ song?”

A big hit of the 90s was "The Band Played On," which begins "Casey would waltz with a strawberry blonde," and contains this reference to drinking: "His brain was so loaded it nearly exploded; The poor girl would shake with alarm."

I'm not sure why this was not an acceptable answer.

I knew the answer from the title and prompt alone. Now it'll be in my head all day.

Since I'm a baby boomer, I had to do some research on this one! Thanks, Will, for getting me out of my comfort zone!

I looked 1990 song titles with two word drinks. I found Rico Suave and Champagne Supernova, both of which are both drinks and are both wrong. I had never heard of the song and for me was certainly not a week one.

Google was needed but to my complete surprise it's a song I've heard! LOL just never heard (or remembered, anyway) that part of the lyrics.

I have never heard the song before, but it came right up when I googled the main words from each themer.

No worries. If you drink all the drinks in the grid, I don't think anything is going to be able to keep them down.

I have never heard this song. Thank goodness for Google.

After a bit of trying to overly complicate matters, I decided to just google for a song containing the four alcohol items (whiskey, vodka, lager, cider) and bingo!

Loved it!

Reminds me of https://crosswordfiend.com/2014/08/10/muller-monthly-music-meta-august-2/ ... Or, actually, not that, but someone else's version of that same song's theme, probably later, where they clued one of the ingredients as SEAN CONNERY and the other as, I think, King LOUIS XIV.... Feels like either a WSJ or a Gaffney (or both...) but I now can't for the life of me find that puzzle. Anyone else remember?

For a moment I thought this would be about synonymous slightly off phrases. I wanted GINNtonic, amberALE, mulledWINE, SHOPkeeper. But not today, rabbit, not today.

Ohhhh. Yep, I DO know a few 90s songs. That one was hard not to know.

Or if you want the shorter edited version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ7XmKnE1wQ

The comments here indicate that ease of solution highly depended on one's intuition (or luck) in the choice of search terms - and secondarily on knowledge of 90s songs.

Aargh! A one-hit wonder with an earwig song! Sadly, I do remember the tune. Anyway, fun meta and a well-done grid. Thanks!

Thanks for the earworm... ;)

Finally, a meta that didn't knock me down! Broke a losing streak. Thanks!

Oh, and BirdLives...I think Will meant the 1990's not the 1890's.

I looked at the puzzle and initially got down...but then I got up again! Thanks Will, interesting fill for me because I made some wrong assumptions, but it all worked out in the end. Think I'll celebrate with a drink.

If you want to know more about the band behind this particular earworm, here's a Todd In The Shadows "One Hit Wonderland" episode on the topic: https://youtu.be/WiZr87g6rNo

This is too funny - I was playing D&D yesterday with my daughter (she's 34, I'm ... older than 34 - I played D&D in the 1980s), and my character got KO'd and revived, then KO'd and revived, and again. And I found this song on my phone and started playing it while the character was still KO'd (#3) and another player said "is that what's going through Torque's mind while he's unconscious?" and I confirmed it was ...

great song to be reminded of!

These puzzles are making me thirsty, Will

This was the meta answer to the one and only puzzle I've ever (co-)constructed so I immediately saw what was coming ahah.