# So, the best rock song of the 90's... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 14, 2002, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662 "2002-12-14T01:26:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/1 "2002-12-14T01:26:34Z")
…was basically a one-hit wonder? Of course I’m talking about **Harvey Danger’s** _Flagpole Sitta._ 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/db5fbb/32.png) [@Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fred)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/2 "2002-12-14T01:44:55Z")
Harvey Danger’s one-hit wonder status has been debated extensively in various “One-hit Wonder” threads, and I believe the consensus was that they weren’t. What makes that the best rock song of the 90s? ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/3 "2002-12-14T01:52:55Z")
I need to exercise my search thread function more, I guess… (short attention span and all that) What make that the best song of the 90’s _for me_ is the fact that it’s the only great song I’ve listened to consistently, and still sounds as fresh to me as the first time I heard it. ---
**Author:** ![A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/46a35a/32.png) [@A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_wizard_song_for_thee)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/4 "2002-12-14T03:29:56Z")
_cough_"SmellslikeTeenSpirit"_cough_ ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/5 "2002-12-14T03:41:39Z")
see directly above ---
**Author:** ![TridCloudwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TridCloudwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TridCloudwalker)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/6 "2002-12-14T06:13:50Z")
Over played, over produced, over requested, and not my favorite song of theirs, but I’m gonna have to go with Smells Like Teen Spirit as well. ps - harvey danger started as a grunge coverband who specialized in nirvana songs. ---
**Author:** ![Tanaqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Tanaqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanaqui)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/7 "2002-12-14T06:25:39Z")
I would have to agree with _Smells Like Teen Spirit_ as well. I got into music late in my life, so by the time I heard it Kurt Cobain was long dead and gone… It’s still an amazing song. Of course, I don’t think it’s the technically best song nor even my personal favorite, I’d have to nominate simply because of the high quality and the wide-spread familiarity with it. I think the “best songs” and “best artists” of (fill-in-the-blank) tend to have more to do with the amount they have infiltrated popular culture than with their “quality” per say (just as well, since that’d be virtually impossible to decide on.) ---
**Author:** ![Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raymond_luxury_yacht/32/4099_2.png) [@Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raymond_Luxury_Yacht)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/8 "2002-12-14T07:03:19Z")
_Under the Bridge_ ---
**Author:** ![marinwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@marinwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marinwood)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/9 "2002-12-14T07:10:56Z")
Cmon, where’s the love for “Tubthumping”? Chumbawamba, people! ---
**Author:** ![dinahmoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dinahmoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dinahmoe)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/10 "2002-12-14T07:36:30Z")
What year did “Cannonball” come out? That gets my vote. Unless “Winona’s Big Brown Beaver” came out later. 😃 (I graduated HS in '88. The next few years are a blur of Phish shows.)(With any luck, the next few years should be the same!) ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/11 "2002-12-14T08:37:06Z")
My thoughts while clicking this thread were “It’s gotta be Nirvana” Props for Guns and Roses (Their best stuff came out in 1989. D’oh!). November Rain ranks. Chumbawumba’s Tubthumping was an infectious song - it must have set a record for spiking from oblivion and return to oblivion (exceptin’ the trivia angle) The Breeders’ “Cannonball” came out in 1993. More early 1990’s stuff: Blind Melon, “No Rain” Sublime, “What I got” Beck, “Where it’s at” Pearl Jam, “I’m still alive” “Smells like teen spirit” is perhaps one of Rock’s best songs ever… just the lyrics - “here we are now - entertain us!” I’m gonna say “Ants Marching” by Dave Matthews. That dude is brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/12 "2002-12-14T13:05:43Z")
Yeah, if you go with how popular and recognizable a song is, it’s gotta be _Smells Like Teen Spirit_. But I, being something of a snob in this regard, draw a line between what people like and what’s actually good. Not that I’m saying _Teen Spirit_ isn’t good - just that there are songs that are better. **Pearl Jam** ’s _Alive_ is an excellent song, but they surpassed it with songs from later albums. I nominate _Do the Evolution_. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/13 "2002-12-14T13:31:36Z")
Yeah, Smells Like Teen Spirit defined the whole explosion of modern rock in the 90s. There’s no chance it could be any other. Oh well, whatever. Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/14 "2002-12-14T13:35:56Z")
Well, _Smells Like Teen Spirit_ was likely the most popular and definitely the most important single of the 90s but as for the _best_, I have to go with **Radiohead’s** _Paranoid Android_. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/15 "2002-12-14T15:53:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Yeah, if you go with how popular and recognizable a song is, it’s gotta be Smells Like Teen Spirit. I’m gonna have to go with _Smells Like Nirvana_, by Weird Al. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TridCloudwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TridCloudwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TridCloudwalker)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/16 "2002-12-14T16:24:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hodge \* > \*\*Well, _Smells Like Teen Spirit_ was likely the most popular and definitely the most important single of the 90s but as for the _best_, I have to go with **Radiohead’s** _Paranoid Android_. \*\* As far as I’m concerned, Radiohead is making the best and most original music out there today, and they are my favorite band to date. However, I don’t think I would consider them “rock”…at keast not the stuff from OK Computer. Drill, Pablo Honey, and The Bends perhaps, but from after that they were making music that really doenst fit into any category. I’m still going to stand up for my original choice of Smells Like Teen Spirit. True, it was not Nirvana’s best song, nor was it my favorite, but it single handedly changed the face of music for the 90’s. Not to mention touched and spoke to a good portion of the youth of the time. If that doesn’t classify it as the best song of the 90’s, I dont know what does. ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/17 "2002-12-15T02:35:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by the grim spectre of red death \* > \*\*Harvey Danger’s one-hit wonder status has been debated extensively in various “One-hit Wonder” threads, and I believe the consensus was that they weren’t. > \*\* Care to tell me what their other hits were, cause I’ve only ever seen the one video for Flagpole Sitta and that’s the only song by them that got anything resembling even semi-significant radio airplay. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/18 "2002-12-15T02:39:10Z")
If it’s the best rock song of the 90s how come I’ve never heard of it? Parhaps that’s because saying ‘best rock song of the 90s’ is like saying ‘best moon-landing of the 70s’ ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/19 "2002-12-15T02:41:35Z")
I’m ALIVE! (and I wasted my 1000th post. Shit. shitshitshitshitshit shit.) shit. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662/20 "2002-12-15T04:46:01Z")
My personal faves are probably _Buddy Holly_ by Weezer, and _The Impression that I Get_ by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Realistically, though, I go with **jehovah68** and _Under the Bridge_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-best-rock-song-of-the-90s/142662.md?page=2)