My Top 10 Favorite Albums from the 1990s (No Nirvana or Pearl Jam)

myself | 10/22/2006 | Pyro7480

[sully777]

Sublime: Wrong way

Cake: Going The Distance

[Pyro7480]

LOL! I was watching part of that Cake video recently. I saw them a couple years ago in DC. They were good live.

[sully777]

Cake is like listening to that buddy that's always screwing with your brain...

[I Hired Craig Livingstone]

I think your picks are good... "The Bends" just might be my favorite album of all time.

Some that jumped to mind that haven't been mentioned yet:

"The Downward Spiral", Nine Inch Nails. -- I'd rather say "Pretty Hate Machine" but that was 1989.

"Enema of the State", Blink 182 -- Overplayed, but captured the feeling of the time for me.

"Third Eye Blind", Third Eye Blind -- Same as above.

"Doggystyle", Snoop Doggy Dogg -- Because Dre's "The Chronic" has already been mentioned.

"You've Come a Long Way, Baby", Fatboy Slim -- The perfect piece of lighthearted party music.

"Jagged Little Pill", Alanis Morisette -- Some hate her, but I thought it had a lot of genuine honesty and feeling.

"Play", Moby -- Yeah, he's a hippie, but it's a good album.

[Pyro7480]

I just took a look at your profile page. I like how you have that picture of Beaky Buzzard and Bugs Bunny on there. That's one of my favorite classic Warner Bros. cartoons of all time.

[MotleyGirl70]

It's why I don't own any Audioslave, because Morello is blantly anti-America.

[lesser_satan]

Smash, Ixnay on the Hombre, and Americana by The Offspring
The Black Album by Metallica
All Shook Down by The Replacements
Use Your Illusion by Guns 'n' Roses
Get a Grip by Aerosmith
Live Through This by Hole
Social Distortion (self-titled)
Bloodletting and Mexican Moon by Concrete Blonde

[I Hired Craig Livingstone]

"Ill Communication", Beastie Boys
"Rage Against the Machine", Rage Against the Machine
"Siamese Dream", Smashing Pumpkins
"Black Sunday", Cypress Hill

These are really taking me back now...

[sully777]

Alanis' Ironic is probably one of the top songs of all time. It is so simple and yet pure genius.

Beastie Boys always a winner--always funny. They actually pioneered the fusion of metal and rap (despite what VH1 said concerning Anthrax). NWA changed Rap forever and if this was a rap oriented list I would pick them as top album. I would also place Eminem in the mix for no other reason than to shake up the music industry during the Britany/Boy Band/Techno era. I always appreciate a man that can mock Michael Jackson's lifestyle with reckless abandon.

[sully777]

My profile is a sure sign of my need for therapy

[lesser_satan]

If we're including rap, I got's to be representin' Black Sunday by Cyprus Hill.

[MotleyGirl70]

The Black Album by Metallica

Duh! How could I forget that one. It was their last good album.

I also forgot to add Shania Twain Come On Over (I listen to it often)

	1.	Man! I Feel Like A Woman!
		2.	I'm Holdin' On To Love (To Save My Life)
		3.	Love Gets Me Every Time
		4.	Don't Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)
		5.	From This Moment On - (with Bryan White)
		6.	Come On Over
		7.	When
		8.	Whatever You Do! Don't
		9.	If You Want To Touch Her, Ask!
		10.	You're Still The One
		11.	Honey, I'm Home
		12.	That Don't Impress Me Much
		13.	Black Eyes, Blue Tears
		14.	I Won't Leave You Lonely
		15.	Rock This Country!
		16.	You've Got A Way

[Clemenza]

Agree about Weezer. "Buddy Holly" was the GREATEST video of the 90s as well. Supposedly me and some buddies ran down Webster Avenue in the Bronx, drunk, screaming this song at 3AM as we stumbled back to our dorms. I really don't remember this, but will have to take my ex-girlfriends word.

My favorite single of the 90s: "Never Met a Girl Like You Before." I can't remember the name of the artist, however.

[I Hired Craig Livingstone]

Alanis' Ironic is probably one of the top songs of all time. It is so simple and yet pure genius.

I feel that way about a lot of her songs...

Beastie Boys always a winner--always funny. They actually pioneered the fusion of metal and rap (despite what VH1 said concerning Anthrax). NWA changed Rap forever and if this was a rap oriented list I would pick them as top album. I would also place Eminem in the mix for no other reason than to shake up the music industry during the Britany/Boy Band/Techno era. I always appreciate a man that can mock Michael Jackson's lifestyle with reckless abandon.

Agreed on all counts. The thing about NWA (and Eminem)that seems lost on a lot of modern rap music (at least to my eyes from afar) is a sense of humor. NWA rapped about the most over-the-top stuff, but you still got the vibe that most of it was tongue in cheek. Dre and Ice Cube didn't run around having their "boys" gunning down their rap rivals. They took their success and went mainstream.

[dirtboy]

In no particular order, Seal's debut album, Chris Whitley's Living with the Law, the Levellers Zeitgeist, Robbie Robertson's Contact from the Underworld of Red Boy, Tori Amos Little Earthquakes, Lucinda Williams Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Live Throwing Copper, Grant Lee Buffalo Fuzzy, Bodeans Black and White, Not Drowning, Waving Circus.

[CaliPhant]

Why no Pearl Jam; at least Ten should be included. Weezer's Blue Album is one of the best ever.

[Rocko]

69 Love Songs by Magnetic Fields.

[Yardstick]

Good list. Interesting comments.

I agree with your Jeff Buckley, Portishead, and Radiohead picks. The rest I could take or leave. Funny how people have different tastes (One reason I hope God exists is that he'll be able to settle these aesthetic controversies once and for all. It'll finally be settled what the best 80's hair metal album was, etc.).

I would add Cake's Fashion Nugget to the list, because it's hilarious, and because the guitar riff in "Going the Distance" makes me drive 90 miles an hour. Also Richard Thompson's Mock Tudor, which has beautiful songs and some incredibly unorthodox, cathartic guitar work.

If you go here and click "Listen to him now", then scroll down a little, there's a free download of Thompson's song "Hard On Me". The solo totally comes out of left field but is perfect for the song.

[Caramelgal]

I’m forty-five and technically old enough to be your mom (wow - that’s a scary thought).

While a lot of my friends stayed stuck musically in the late seventies and early eighties, (OK like I can only listen to Journey so many times), in the nineties I “rediscovered” music. And I stay pretty current. The most recent CD’s I bought: Evanescence – The Open Door (Amy Lee – probably one of the best female rock voices ever), Pete Yorn – Nightcrawler, Little Big Town – The Road to Here (yea it’s country) and Sarah Vaughan – the Millennium Collection. Yep, I’m pretty eclectic.

My 90’s picks, not all inclusive or in any particular order:

Counting Crows, August and Everything After (1993)
Actually anything by Counting Crows makes my list.
REM, Automatic for the People (1992)
It’s hard to pick just one
U2, Achtung Baby (1991)
Have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head?
Dave Matthews Band, Under the Table and Dreaming (1994)
I’ve seen DMB twice on concert. Will go see them again
Alice in Chains, MTV Unplugged (1996)
What amazing vocal harmonies
Nirvana, In Utero (1993)
I never liked Nirvana until I heard Tori Amos’s cover of Teen Sprit but Heart Shaped Box is my favorite Nirvana song.
Morphine, Cure for Pain (1993)
Rock band featuring Alto Sax
Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes (1992)
She’s a bit out there but she has a beautiful voice and writes the most haunting songs
Aimee Mann, I'm With Stupid (1995)
Forget Til Tuesday, listen to her later solo stuff, greatly under recognized song writer
Blues Traveler, Four (1994)
John Popper plays a mean harmonica
Alanis Morrisette, Jagged Little Pill (1995)
Yes she’s a bit angry but heck, we’ve all been there at least once.

[Pyro7480]

"The Downward Spiral", Nine Inch Nails.

That's another honorable mention. I never owned it, but between "Hurt" (though Johnny Cash's version is great) and "March of the Pigs" (great to just go crazy to), there are some great tracks on there. "Broken," though I haven't listened to it years, from what I remember, was pretty good too.