Your top fifteen 1990s albums

Cafe Society
21

There are probably about 40 albums from the 90s I love top-to-bottom. Here’s what I would pick if I only had a 15-CD case and was going on a road trip with my Discman. In no particular order:

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Pearl Jam - Ten
Nirvana - Nevermind
Radiohead - OK Computer
Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five
Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hot
Metallica - Metallica
Barenaked Ladies - Rock Spectacle
Sublime - 40 Oz to Freedom
Weezer - Weezer
Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
Belle & Sebastian - Tigermilk
Blind Melon - Blind Melon
Counting Crows - August and Everything After
Various - Ska The Third Wave Vol 1

22

Chino XL, Us 3, Boo-Yaa Tribe, De La Soul…

23

My favorites. Except for #1, these are not in any order. The numbering is just decorative. I’m also keeping it to one album per artist, just because.

  1. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine

  2. Siamese Dream - Smashing Pumpkins

  3. Dig Me Out - Sleater-Kinney

  4. Exile In Guyville - Liz Phair

  5. Fear of a Black Planet - Public Enemy

  6. Mezzanine - Massive Attack

  7. Dirty - Sonic Youth

  8. Doolittle - The Pixies

  9. Emperor Tomato Ketchup - Stereolab

  10. In Utero - Nirvana

  11. OK Computer - Radiohead

  12. 69 Love Songs - Magnetic Fields

  13. Check Your Head - Beastie Boys

  14. Screamadelica - Primal Scream

  15. At Action Park - Shellac

24

TMBG, Flood
Urge Overkill, Saturation
Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral
Depeche Mode, Violator
Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes
Grosse Point Blank soundtrack
Beck, Midnite Vultures
Radiohead, The Bends
Radiohead, OK Computer
Ani DiFranco, Dilate
Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville
Beastie Boys, Ill Communication
REM, Automatic for the People
Oasis, What’s the Story Morning Glory
U2, Achtung Baby

25

Nitpick: Doolittle was '89.

26

Well, I’m pleased to see that my musical tastes overlap with no one. But here’s my list:

Richard Thompson – Rumor and Sigh (1952 Vincent Black Lightning, anyone?)

Dar Williams – The Honesty Room

Stones in the Road – Mary Chapin Carpenter

Freedom and Rain – The Oysterband and June Tabor

Solace – Sarah McLachlan

Patty Griffin – Living With Ghosts

Loreena McKennitt – The Visit

October Project – October Project

Waterboys – Room to Roam (because Fisherman’s Blues was an 80’s album)

Deserters – Oysterband

Retrospective – Jack Hardy (yes, you’ve never heard of him, but he was the center of the Greenwich Village folk scene for many years)

Salamander Crossing – Bottleneck Dreams

Bill Morrissey – Standing Eight (or maybe Inside, it’s a tough call)

Dream Cafe – Greg Brown

Steve Forbert – The American in Me
A few honorable mentions:

Whatever – Aimee Mann (knocked down in the the honorable mentions mostly for lack of room, but partly because the ever present whiff of gothy self pity grates after a while.)

Little Earthquakes – Tori Amos

Never Enough – Melissa Etheridge

Cowboy Junkies Pale Sun/Crescent Moon

27

R.E.M. - Out of Time
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Paul Simon - The Rhythm of the Saints
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
Duran Duran - The Wedding Album
Enya - The Memory of Trees
Trainspotting OST
Rammstein - Sehnsucht
Goo Goo Dolls - Dizzy Up the GIrl
Lola Rennt OST
Sneaker Pimps - Becoming RemiXed
VNV Nation - Praise the Fallen
Faithless - Reverence
Toad the Wet Sprocket - Dulcinea

And my number one 1990s album:

Smashing Pumpkins - Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

28

Whoops. I actually did know that, since I mentioned it in the 1989 thread, but somehow my brain farted here. I might be tempted to put “Trompe Le Monde” on this list. It was the first Pixies album I heard and, though not the popular choice, it still is one of my favorite albums, period. So substitute “Trompe Le Monde” in there.

29

Can no longer edit:

My #1 would be Saturation by Urge Overkill. I finally saw them in concert as the opening act for the Pixies in Chicago during my 2nd year of law school. It was awesome.

30

“Trompe Le Monde” is great (and hugely underrated).

31

In no particular order, my faves that I can still listen to over and over 20 ish years later…

U2 - Achtung, Baby
U2 - Zooropa
Pearl Jam - Ten
Tom Petty - Wildflowers
Jeff Buckley - Grace
The Refreshments - Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big and Buzzy
The Refreshments - The Bottle and Fresh Horses
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
R.E.M. - Monster
Eric Clapton - Unplugged
Eric Clapton - From the Cradle
Nirvana - Unplugged
Nirvana - Nevermind
Cracker - Cracker
Cracker - Kerosene Hat

32

Fine, I’ll bite. Alphabetical order, based on personal favorites and not critical acclaim.

Adiemus - Adiemus
Americana - Offspring
Automatic for the People - R.E.M.
Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Deserter’s Songs - Mercury Rev
Dixie - Avail
Hack - Information Society
Hope is Important - Idlewild
Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissette
Nevermind - Nirvana
Out of Time - R.E.M.
Recipe for Hate - Bad Religion
The Score - Fugees
The Sign - Ace of Base
Third Eye Blind - Third Eye Blind

33

I think I could exchange music collections with quite a few people here and not notice the difference.

In no particular order

  1. REM - Automatic for the People
  2. U2 - Achtung Baby
  3. Massive Attack - Blue Lines (could have gone with Mezzanine, protection was a one song album for me)
  4. Spiritualized - Pure Phase (could have gone for any of the three)
  5. Nirvana - Nevermind
  6. Jesus and Mary Chain - Honey’s Dead ( I say Coldplay ripped of the guitar riff on Yellow from this album)
  7. Primal Scream - Screamadelica
  8. The Stone Roses - Second Coming
  9. Smashing Pumpkins - Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness ( I once started a full on air drum solo on an aircraft to Bullet with butterfly wings, you get odd looks when in a suit in business class on intercontinental flights when you start waving your arms around) , fortunately my neighbor knew who SP were
  10. Radiohead - The Bends the rest of their stuff is a bit meh, this album is sublime.
  11. Blind Melon - Blind Melon - this and RHCP are on my skiing playlist
  12. Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik - perfect for skiing moguls and powder to
  13. The Beautiful South - Blue is the Colour
  14. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless - could have gone with Ride - Nowhere
  15. The Black Crows - Shake your Money Maker - for singing along out loud in the car with no one else. great acoustic version of She talks to Angels

Oh and thanks for reminding me of Sugar - Copper Blue, had forgotten about that album , just dug it out and putting it on. Probably would have had Alanis Morrisette in there, t just got overplayed I think.
Damn now I need to get Mazzy Star and Tindersticks in , 15 is too few.

34

Well, they barely overlap with my list – MCC has a song on the wonderful “Dead Man Walking” CD.

As for Richard (and Linda) Thompson… *Rumour and Sigh *is certainly great, but my favorite is First Light (1978).

35

My favorite 1990s Paul Simon album is the underrated You’re the One. It almost made my top-15 list.

36

I adore the intro drumming in “The Obvious Child.” I’ll listen to it xty times in a row just for that.

The alt rock radio station in Charlotte used to do “The Top 9 at 9” where they’d play the most-requested songs of the day. “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” was the #1 song for about six months running. To this day I haven’t gotten tired of it and that’s saying a lot. I’ll still headbang whenever I hear it.

37

All three damn good choices. All three I forgot to put on my list. I really do hate my brain some days.

38
  1. Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar
  2. Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
  3. Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
  4. Mr. Big - Mr. Big
  5. Kid Rock - Devil Without A Cause
  6. Pantera - Vulgar Display Of Power
  7. Public Enemy - Fear Of a Black Planet
  8. Motley Crue - Generation Swine
  9. Guns N Roses - Use Your Illusion I & II
  10. Metallica - Metallica
  11. Pearl Jam - Ten
  12. LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out
  13. Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
  14. Soundgarden - Superunknown
  15. Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way

Honorable Mention : Queensryche - Empire, Pearl Jam - Vs, Nirvana - Nevermind, Pantera - Far Beyond Driven, Lenny Kravitz - Mama Said, Alice In Chains - Facelift.

39

You’ll love Jovanotti’s song L’Ombelico del Mondo (Belly-button of the World).

Which reminds me – I totally should have included a Jovanotti album in my best-of-the-90s list! He is a fantastic Italian artist who does rap, pop, and more, with great rhythms, melodies, and (as far as I can tell!) lyrics.

I would have a hard time choosing which disc – the one I played constantly was a “best of” cassette. Lorenzo 1992 includes the joyous Regazzo Fortunato (Lucky Guy), Lorenzo 1994 has the laid-back Piove (Rain), and 1999’s Capo Horn goes to new places.

40

Nirvana - In Utero
Radiohead - OK Computer
Beck - Odelay
Sublime - 40 Oz to Freedom
Dr. Dre - The Chronic
Stone Roses - Second Coming
REM - Monster
Portishead - Dummy
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie
TMBG - Flood
Ben Folds Five
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Wilco - Being There
Ween - The Mollusk
Weezer - Pinkerton