Category: The 1990’s
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Pearl Jam ‘Ten’ (1991)
Born from the ashes of Seattle grunge outfit Mother Love Bone following the death of lead singer Andrew Wood to a drug overdose, Pearl Jam’s debut album Ten is a rare debut album from a band that didn’t really know each other all too well upon entering the studio. Guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff…
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The Wallflowers ‘Bringing Down The Horse’ (1996)
Any time your father is one of the greatest American songwriters of all-time, expectations are gonna be a little high. It’s an almost impossible scenario to carve your own niche under the looming backdrop of all-time albums like Highway 61 Revisited and Blood on the Tracks, and yet Wallflowers lead singer Jakob Dylan (who if…
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Hanson ‘Snowed In’ (1997)
If you grew up in the 90’s there’s an absolute guarantee that you know exactly who Hanson is. Their smash single “MMMBop” off their debut album Middle of Nowhere was an absolute cultural revelation at the time, dominating the commercial airwaves and sending the three brothers on to worldwide fame. Part of that was due…
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Trans-Siberian Orchestra ‘Christmas Eve and Other Stories’ (1996)
I grew up in Cupertino and saw its rise from a relatively docile South Bay city to the tech epicenter of the world during Apple’s meteoric rise as the largest company on Planet Earth. Every year around Christmas my family would take a quick five minute drive from our house to Oak Meadow Court where…
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Lit ‘A Place In The Sun’ (1999)
A Place In The Sun holds a special place in my heart in that it features “My Own Worst Enemy” which is the first song that I ever played live in front of a group of people. During eighth grade my middle school held a Talent Show where students were invited to participate. It was…
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2Pac ‘All Eyez on Me’ (1996)
Generation-defining artists like Tupac Shakur naturally get the benefit of contemporary listeners seeing their material with rose-tinted glasses on their material as the years go by. That benefit certainly applies to the final album released during their lifetime as well– that final release is typically put on a bit of a pedestal, even if the…
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Creed ‘Human Clay’ (1999)
Creed has long been a fixture in internet culture, first as a convenient punching bag for all that was wrong with the post-grunge movement that dominated the airwaves following Kurt Cobain’s death following Nirvana’s 1991 magnum opus Nevermind, and now as a sort of “return of the millennial” rallying cry in the 2020’s as rock…
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DMX ‘It’s Dark And Hell Is Hot’ (1998)
There’s few hip hop artists in history that can get me hyped as much as DMX could. The dude brought an intensity to his music that worked on every single level– his flow that sounded like gravel dragged through broken glass, his intensely muscular physique, his barking backing vocals courtesy of the Ruff Ryders, and…
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The Aquabats! ‘The Fury of the Aquabats!’ (1997)
Adorned with matching costumes and masks, The Aquabats 30-year career has taken them on a long ride from their ska punk roots to a more current iteration that features more of a New Wave feel. Along the way their brand of comedy rock and tongue-in-cheek humor has made them somewhat of a cult classic underground…
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Cherry Poppin’ Daddies ‘Zoot Suit Riot’ (1997)
Cherry Poppin’ Daddies were sort of a novelty act in the late 90’s that blended ska and swing into an energetic ball of fun. I remember as a middle schooler thinking how cool the music video for “Zoot Suit Riot” was— basically a perfect blend of punk rock culture (RIP to chain wallets, you are…
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Roots Manuva ‘Brand New Second Hand’ (1997)
Brand New Second Hand is a great listen to anyone who is dipping their toes into the British hip hop scene. The album title is in reference to Manuva’s childhood growing up poor where he would receive second hand gifts for Christmas (hence the phrase “brand new second hand”). The album’s general aesthetic is one…
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The Detroit Cobras ‘Mink, Rat or Rabbit’ (1998)
The Detroit Cobras were part of the wave of Detroit garage rock that exploded in 2001 when The White Stripes released White Blood Cells and brought that glorious back-to-basics fuzz all over the world. The Detroit Cobras were a similar throwback. Comprised entirely of cover songs from America’s golden age of rock and roll during…
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Will Smith ‘Big Willie Style’ (1997)
Long before Will Smith became infamous for losing his mind and slapping Chris Rock onstage at the Academy Awards, he had cultivated a public persona of being a gentle soul and a generally stand-up guy. All those things can be true at the same time of course (as Walt Whitman once said “I am large,…
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Korn ‘Follow The Leader’ (1998)
There was a moment in music history where Korn owned the MTV airwaves alongside fellow nu-metal compatriots Limp Bizkit. So it only makes sense that Korn’s breakout album Follow The Leader (which celebrated its 25th anniversary last month) would feature none other than the red backwards hat wearing Fred Durst on “All In The Family”,…
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Local H ‘As Good as Dead’ (1996)
Local H is predominantly known for their smash 90’s alternative rock single “Bound For The Floor” which is about as mid-90’s grunge as you can get– staccato downstroke guitar punches interspersed with lyrics that detail the weight of depression and a feeling that the feeling is inevitable without escape. It still sounds as good as…
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Melvins ‘Houdini’ (1993)
Melvins are perhaps known best for their influence on Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain, who frequently cited the group as one of his largest musical inspirations during his lifetime, as well as its influence on contemporary sludge metal virtuosos Mastodon (drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor cites this album as a massive influence as well). Cobain was actually…
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Hole ‘Live Through This’ (1994)
An album cover can be worth a thousand words, and Hole’s Live Through This certainly is one of those album covers. A manic pageant winner, mascara streaming down her face after a bout of tears, holding up a bouquet of flowers while an almost comically ostentatious tiara adorns her head. It’s a picture that evokes…
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Smash Mouth ‘Astro Lounge’ (1999)
With the sad news that Smash Mouth lead singer Steve Harwell is in the final days of his life due to liver failure, it only felt right to listen to their highly acclaimed 1999 album Astro Lounge this week. The lead single “All Star” has been a mainstay on any mix tape or playlist created…
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Counting Crows ‘Recovering The Satellites’ (1996)
Counting Crows’ breakthrough debut August And Everything After is the group’s most-known album due to the chart smashing hits “Mr. Jones” and “Round Here”, which (outside of being quite good songs) came at a moment in music history when grunge was King. The hippie-influenced roots rock of the Crows was a distinct counterpoint to the…
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G. Love & Special Sauce ‘Yeah, It’s That Easy” (1997)
G. Love & Special Sauce are a throwback to the days when bands would cut their albums live in the studio in a single room together, embracing all the tiny imperfections and letting them shine through in a quest to capture that distinctly human sound of a collection of musicians creating together in real time.…
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MxPx ‘Life In General’ (1995)
At one point in my life during middle school MxPx was my favorite band. The lyrics filled with young teen angst, straightforward vocal melodies, fuzzy electric guitars, and snap crackle drums sounded absolutely perfect to my 12-year old ears. They were also one of the rare punk bands approved by my mom to listen to…
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Less Than Jake ‘Hello Rockview’ (1998)
When we listened to Mighty Mighty Bosstones seminal 1997 album Let’s Face It earlier this year I described ska as “the genre of music that’s playing on a loop in a toddler’s head”, which still stands as one of my favorite genre descriptions that I’ve made on this site since I embarked seven months ago…
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Garth Brooks ‘Double Live’ (1998)
I don’t do too many live album reviews for a handful of reasons, the primary one being they end up effectively being a compilation of hit songs for many artists and not necessarily a true reflection of what an album stands for. We’ve made exceptions this year (1971’s At Fillmore East by The Allman Brothers…
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Depeche Mode ‘Violator’ (1990)
Depeche Mode’s Violator took the gothic undertones of 1985’s Black Celebration and turned it up about 11 notches to create a massive arena-ready avalanche of brooding synths that cascade throughout the entire album. We’ve mentioned this about a few bands in the past (The xx being a notable example) but Depeche Mode manages to blur…
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Harvey Danger ‘Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone?’ (1997)
Filled with sardonic wit and blissfully fuzzed-out guitars, Harvey Danger’s debut album Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone is a chef’s kiss representation of all the things that made 90’s alternative so titillating. Sean Nelson’s sneering and detached vocal approach is frankly a match made in heaven alongside Jeff Lin’s overdriven guitars, Aaron Huffman’s bouncing…
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Matchbox 20 ‘Yourself or Someone Like You’ (1996)
As a 90’s kid Yourself or Someone Like You is one of those albums you knew was big when you were growing up but never fully completely grasped just how popular it was until you do a quick review on Wikipedia two decades later. To this day it stands as one of the Top 100…
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Jewel ‘Pieces Of You’ (1995)
Jewel’s personal history is quite intriguing. She grew up in the wilderness of Alaska on a 770 acre homestead that lacked running water, had no heat, only possessed a single outhouse, and her primary food source was anything her family could kill or can. She had a love for music at a young age– growing…
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Blink-182 ‘Enema of the State’ (1999)
If you were in middle/high school during the early aughts it was basically impossible to avoid Blink-182. They were the most influential pop punk band in history at a time when pop punk was absolutely everywhere, looked the part with the spiked blond hair and Venice Beach skater garb, and possessed a real talent for…
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The Pharcyde ‘Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde’ (1992)
There’s an old saying that goes “If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.” When The Pharcyde named their 1992 album Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde they certainly talked like a duck. And almost immediately after hitting the first note, it’s clear The Pharcyde is here to also…
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Dream Theater ‘Images and Words’ (1992)
Dream Theater is one of the “Big Three” in prog metal, and alongside Queensrÿche and Fates Warning helped prog metal become more than just a small niche genre stuck in between the demise of 80’s glam metal and 90’s alternative rock. Images and Words is an eclectic grab bag of prog rock influences– from New…
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The Get Up Kids ‘Something To Write Home About’ (1999)
Something To Write Home About was one of my first introductions to emo and pop punk as a middle schooler. At that time they were just another band in the lineup that comprised my burgeoning love for music– emo and pop punk in particular were just beginning to take off, and I was jumping on…
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Soundgarden ‘Superunknown’ (1993)
Superunknown is a hard rock masterpiece, merging disparate elements of grunge, heavy metal, alternative rock, and punk into a vicious pistol whip of a record. There simply was no band better at combining elements of the snakelike grooves of Black Sabbath, the electric vocal hooks of AC/DC, and the raw primal energy of Nirvana. Simply…
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Lil’ Kim ‘Hard Core’ (1996)
Born out of hip-hop supergroup Junior M.A.F.I.A. with The Notorious B.I.G., Lil’ Kim’s debut album Hard Core is exactly what the name suggests– a raucously raunchy celebration of sex, carnal pleasure, and female sexual liberation. When your opening track features a minute-long pornographic skit about a guy going to a peep show to watch Lil’…
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The Offspring ‘Americana’ (1998)
The Offspring’s 1998 album Americana is a trip down memory lane, a time when punk rock was having its mainstream moment and MTV was pushing those music videos with reckless abandon. The Offspring were one of the first punk bands to break out into the mainstream with their (wait for it) smash-hit Smash, followed it…
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Melissa Etheridge ‘Yes I Am’ (1993)
Melissa Etheridge and “Come To My Window” in particular was a staple for me and my first girlfriend in 8th grade. It was our record and a fixture in the mixtapes we would trade with one another to help articulate our feelings. For that reason Etheridge will always represent young love and all the naive…
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Nirvana ‘Nevermind’ (1991)
As a skater punk during my early teens Nevermind (alongside Green Day’s Dookie) was on literal repeat as me and my buddy skated in front of his house on Cleo Avenue. To say it was a formative part of my childhood experience as I made the transition from a young kid to a young man…
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