Have people ever been more nostalgic for New York City in the ‘90s?

Ryan Murphy’s FX series “Love Story,” which chronicles the tragic romance of JFK Jr. (Paul Anthony Kelly) and Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon), has people riding bikes like Kennedy, dressing like Bessette, and repeatedly listening to the show’s beloved soundtrack, hand-picked by music supervisor Jen Malone.

“We wanted to be completely period-authentic, down to the year. The first thing I did was go through my own personal playlist of my favorite songs in the ‘90s,” says Malone, who split up songs into playlists labelled “1991,” “1992,” and so on.

Malone made sure to incorporate a wide range of genres, from Brit pop to soul to indie rock. The versatility adds to the show’s ability to transport its viewers to New York in the 1990’s — and bring people directly into the scene.

Here, Malone breaks down some of the show’s key needle drops.

Peter Gabriel’s “Blood of Eden” & Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” in “Pilot”

“Max Winkler, the director, and I sent a lot of songs back and forth for this one, and we talked about how it was going to be a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ moment, sort of a missed connection. Using ‘Blood of Eden’ was to set up the intimate moment of when they met. It was the heartbeat of getting into that scene and then flowing into ‘This Woman’s Work’ really enveloped John and Carolyn. They were the only two people in the room. We worked closely with Kate’s team to make sure that she was comfortable having the song in the show.”

Lenny Kravitz’s “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over” in “Pilot”

“It’s such a fun scene because it’s the start of their courtship. Everybody in Carolyn’s office is super giddy, and I think the audience feels that way too. The song had that walking-on-air feeling of a new romance that everybody recognizes. The title and the lyrics of the song worked well and helped tell their story. And the viral sensation that it is, is just mind blowing. Every social media post has that song.”

Björk’s “Human Behaviour” in “The Pools Party”

“I always wanted to use a Björk song in one of my shows, but she is a very tricky artist to clear. When it gets to that point of the deadline looming, we consider writing a note to the artist. Her first two records, ‘Debut’ and ‘Post,’ were basically the soundtrack of my first love and my first heartbreak. I wrote a very honest and vulnerable letter to Björk, telling her about the show and how we were using the song, but also how much her music meant to me. After I sent that, we got the approval within 48 hours.”  

Pulp’s “Common People” in “The Wedding”

“Juli Weiner scripted it in. I came to find out that Jarvis Cocker does not license this song very often, if at all. A producer I worked with said he knew Jarvis’ team, so I called him, and he came through. I said, ‘Don’t tell me I can’t do something, because I’m gonna do it.’  Seeing John and Carolyn dance together, it was just such a light moment in the show and really humanized them, their relationship and their love. That was a really big win for us.”

Dido’s “Here With Me” in “Search and Recovery”

“As soon as I heard it, I was like, ‘This is it.’ I only sent that one and the first time I saw it to picture, I started crying, because the song gives you hope that they’re going to be together and make this work. But you know what’s going to happen, and it’s so heartbreaking. We didn’t know when we picked this song that it was going to be the last needle drop, but it’s great to tie up the season and their story.”