Category: The 1990’s
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Backstreet Boys ‘Backstreet Boys’ (1996)
I was nine years old living in a two-bed two-bath apartment when I first heard the Backstreet Boys’ debut album. It was one of the first albums I would ever own alongside Third Eye Blind’s self-titled debut and Mighty Mighty Bosstones Let’s Face It, which in retrospect is a pretty awesome trio of albums to…
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Ice Cube ‘AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted’ (1990)
Fresh off an acrimonious split with his prior group N.W.A. and riding the wave of massive superstardom that came along with their 1988 album Straight Outta Compton, Ice Cube hit the studio to record his debut solo album. What he delivered in the face of those expectations is largely considered a hip-hop classic. It’s pretty…
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Geto Boys ‘We Can’t Be Stopped’ (1991)
In terms of memorable album covers We Can’t Be Stopped is a memorable entry. The cover features a real-life photo of Bushwick Bill in the hospital, flanked by his bandmates Scarface and Willie D, as he recovered from emergency surgery after getting shot in the eye following an argument with his then-girlfriend. The provocative nature…
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Gang Starr ‘Moment of Truth’ (1998)
Moment of Truth feels like peak 90’s hip hop— Guru’s commanding, introspective lyrics paired with DJ Premier’s meticulously crafted beats have that raw authenticity which defined a lot of “underground” hip hop from that era. It’s polished but unpretentious, keeping one foot in the Golden Age of Hip Hop of the 80’s and the other…
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Kyuss ‘Welcome to Sky Valley’ (1994)
Kyuss distinctive blend of heavy, fuzz-laden riffs and stoner rock aesthetics helped define the subgenre during the mid-1990’s. Hailing from the California desert, their sound, often described as “desert rock,” became a launching point that inspired countless bands in their wake. On Welcome to Sky Valley, Kyuss crafted a sonic landscape characterized by slow, sludgy…
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The Jesus Lizard ‘Goat’ (1991)
With their second album Goat the noise-rock band The Jesus Lizard—fronted by the enigmatic David Yow and featuring guitarist Duane Denison, bassist David Wm Sims, and drummer Mac McNeilly—began crafting a unique sound that combined elements of punk, noise, and avant-garde. Their aggressive, visceral approach was further refined with the release of Goat, showcasing their…
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The Smashing Pumpkins ‘Siamese Dream’ (1993)
Released in 1993, The Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream stands as a defining artifact of 90s alternative rock, capturing a pivotal moment in the genre’s evolution. At a time when grunge was peaking with albums like Nirvana’s 1991 magnum opus Nevermind and Pearl Jam’s debut album Ten, Siamese Dream emerged as a bold statement, blending the…
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Eminem ‘The Slim Shady LP’ (1999)
In my generation there were few albums which had more of a cultural impact than Eminem’s The Slim Shady LP. The album’s gratuitous depictions of violence, drug usage, and feelings of anti-social behavior (a euphemism if there ever was one) absolutely took the world by storm when it was first released in 1999 and led…
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The Cranberries ‘No Need to Argue’ (1994)
Dolores O’Riordan’s vocal style was iconic in a way that was often compared to Sinead O’Connor, both for their illustrious high notes, Irish accents, and ability to make every single song they sang on feel intimate and powerful. There is a bleak poetic note to the fact that both O’Connor and O’Riordan both dealt with…
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My Bloody Valentine ‘Loveless’ (1991)
Every once in awhile an album comes along that completely changes the trajectory of music history. The Velvet Underground inspired a legion of miscreants to start their own bands in 1967 with their lo-fi avant garde production quality, Eric B. & Rakim’s 1987 magnum opus Paid In Full introduced complex rhyme structures that changed the…
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Primus ‘Sailing The Seas Of Cheese’ (1990)
In the ether of avant-garde funk metal there exists one band whose gravitational pull is undeniable. That band is Primus. The plucky guitar of Larry LaLonde, obscure time signatures of Tim Alexander, and virtuosic bass playing of the one and only Les Claypool have combined to create a uniquely “Did someone put a psychedelic in…
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Blink-182 ‘Dude Ranch’ (1996)
For myself and countless other millennials who got into punk rock during our early tweens, Dude Ranch is the album that started it all. Blink’s 1999 album Enema of the State was the one which shot them into global superstardom, but real ones know that things started to get real when Mark Hoppus, Tom Delonge,…
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No Doubt ‘Tragic Kingdom’ (1995)
The backdrop of No Doubt’s third album Tragic Kingdom reads somewhat like a soap opera– keyboardist and principal songwriter Eric Stefani left the band in the middle of the sessions after struggling with the fact he was being asked to include other band members in the songwriting process, and shortly after that bassist Tony Kanal…
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Blind Melon ‘Blind Melon’ (1992)
“No Rain” is synonymous with 90’s alternative rock in a way few songs are. The playful and bubbly guitar riff that kicks things off, the lackadaisical rhythm section sort of the sardonic lyrical choices that sound as if they’re being sung on a sunny day in a field of green grass while frontman Shannon Hoon…
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Red Hot Chili Peppers ‘Californication’ (1999)
Is there a song that’s skippable on Californication? That’s the question I posed to a friend of mine in the midst of injecting the Red Hot Chili Peppers magnum opus into my veins over this past Memorial Day weekend. Out of all the top-end albums in the Peppers discography, from Stadium Arcadium to Unlimited Love…
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Chumbawamba ‘Tubthumper’ (1997)
Chumbawamba is an unlikely commercial success story– for nearly a decade they toiled in obscurity as an anarcho-communist punk rock band in their home country of Britain, focusing on elements of class struggle, pacifism, and animal rights as common motifs in their music. And then, like a strike of lightning, the band released “Tubthumping” which…
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TLC ‘CrazySexyCool’ (1994)
CrazySexyCool is the one of the albums I immediately think of when someone brings up 90’s R&B. The big heavy snare and bass drum beats, soulful melodies, and empowering lyrics is like listening to a little time capsule that takes you back to a time when pop music had some real substance. Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins,…
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Temple Of The Dog ‘Temple Of The Dog’ (1990)
If you’ve been searching for the album that has the worst cover art quality relative to its audio quality (i.e. it looks like shit but sounds fucking phenomenal), you’ve found it. Temple Of The Dog is was a heartfelt one-off project formed to honor the life of lead singer Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone…
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Vince Gill ‘High Lonesome Sound’ (1995)
There exists a concept in Nashville known as the “triple threat”, which simply refers to someone who is well-versed in three specific areas in the musical field. In Nashville that typically applies to guitar playing, singing, and songwriting. It’s a concept that certainly applies to Vince Gill, whose crystal clear vocals, incredible guitar playing, and…
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Third Eye Blind ‘Blue’ (1999)
Blue isn’t a better album than Third Eye Blind’s self-titled debut (it was an impossible task as soon as the former was released), but it certainly is a better album relative to the commercial and critical success it received in comparison to its artistic accomplishments. Put another way, whenever anyone thinks of 3EB they think…
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Mother Love Bone ‘Apple’ (1990)
Mother Love Bone was the first of a litany of sad stories to emerge out of Seattle in the 1990’s as the grunge movement rose to prominence. A glam rock band with roots in rock and roll, Mother Love Bone’s highly anticipated debut album Apple was marred when tragedy when lead singer Andrew Wood was…
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Trisha Yearwood ‘Trisha Yearwood’ (1991)
Nowadays a lot of people who watch Trisha’s Southern Kitchen on Food Network may be relatively unfamiliar with her music career– the show features her downhome charm walking viewers through relatable and easy-to-execute Southern dishes and does an admirable job of not trying to incessantly cross-market her music career. But damn did Yearwood ever have…
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Tim McGraw ‘A Place In The Sun’ (1999)
In many ways Tim McGraw has been a guiding force in my life in the same way Thrice has been since my middle school years. Despite the obvious dissimilarities (there’s about a mile and half between them sonically), their collective music has been through critical life moments akin to a friend who never leaves your…
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Foo Fighters ‘The Colour And The Shape’ (1997)
Following their self-titled debut studio album in 1995 that was really the musings of a one-man band (Dave Grohl recorded every single part on that album), Grohl entered the studio in 1997 with a new stable of musicians to aid in the recording for The Colour And The Shape. The album was somewhat of a…
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Saves The Day ‘Through Being Cool’ (1998)
Through Being Cool is a nostalgic reminder of simpler times. I first got into this album in middle school and re-listening to it again at the age of 36 with two young kids running around the house represented just how fast life can change and how far it can take you on this wild journey.…
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Blur ‘Blur’ (1997)
As you can probably imagine I try to expose my two kids to as much different music as possible. Every album I’ve written about over the last 15 months they’ve heard at least one song off of (I start each trip to and from daycare with one song off my album of the day and…
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Tom Waits ‘Mule Variations’ (1999)
Tom Waits’ Mule Variations is a backwoods country Delta Blues album masquerading as an art piece, encapsulating much of what has made Waits such an iconic American songwriter for over 50 years. It’s utterly otherworldly in one moment, sounding as if it was recorded after a week-long bender in a humid water-logged shed on the…
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In Flames ‘Colony’ (1999)
Swedish heavy metal bangs so damn hard and In Flames 1999 album Colony is no exception. Featuring the piercing vocal growls of lead singer Anders Fridén, the dual attack of guitarists Björn Gelotte and Jesper Strömblad, and the steady rhythm section attack of bassist Peter Iwers and drummer Daniel Svensson, Colony was one of my…
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LFO ‘LFO’ (1999)
Boy bands were an American institution during the late 90’s. You had the originals who started it all with New Kids on The Block, powerhouses like Boys II Men, Backstreet Boys, and *NSYNC, B-listers like 98 Degrees and Five, and then various offshoots who were clearly following the trend and looking to make a quick…
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Garbage ‘Garbage’ (1995)
Garbage’s eponymous debut album is basically the aggregation of everything I love about 90’s alternative rock. It’s weird, it’s dark, it’s heavy, and it’s wildly eclectic. When thematic subject matter pokes around the edges of society and combines with musical arrangements that are created to suit the song vs. a specific style it’s a special…
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Third Eye Blind ‘Third Eye Blind’ (1997)
Third Eye Blind is one of the albums I’ve put off writing about for over a year since I started this project of listening and writing about an album a day for the one distinct reason that it’s an absolutely perfect album. Hard stop. There isn’t a song on here that I skip. I make…
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Screeching Weasel ‘My Brain Hurts’ (1991)
Screeching Weasel is one of those bands that is your favorite band’s favorite band. A long-time fixture in the skate punk scene, Screeching Weasel has been cited as a significant influence by a metric load of bands that I grew up on– luminaries such as Blink-182, Green Day, New Found Glory, MxPx, Fall Out Boy,…
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Paula Cole ‘This Fire’ (1996)
This Fire was self-produced and self-written by Paula Cole following her stint as a backing vocalist for Peter Gabriel in the early 90’s. This matters because the album breaks a lot of traditional molds we’re accustomed to in modern pop music (will get into that in a minute) and I’ve found it quite impressive Cole…
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JUVENILE ‘400 Degreez’ (1998)
When I was in middle school our local community center held dances once every few months. These were exciting days for a handful of reasons– the onset of puberty was in full overdrive, hormones raging, and there was an electricity in the air about meeting and dancing with girls at these mixers. And it was…
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Green Day ‘Nimrod’ (1997)
While not as artistically impactful as their pop-punk powerhouse 1994 album Dookie, or as critically lauded as their commercial smash-hit American Idiot in 2004, Green Day’s 1997 album Nimrod is a seminal album that would have a massive impact on the punk rock genre as a whole and frankly could be considered a magnum opus…
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Weezer ‘Blue Album’ (1994)
Weezer’s debut album Weezer (more commonly known as the Blue Album) took nerd rock into the mainstream and kicked off what has since been a massively successful career. The album was produced by the great Ric Ocasek of The Cars fame, and his power pop influence can be heard extensively throughout the record in all…
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