10 Bands Who Peaked in the 90s
Who’s 90s Albums We Still Listen To
1. Counting Crows, August and Everything After (1993)
“August and Everything After” is a good CD for the months following August in the midwest. We suggest Anna Begins. I made my first power-point presentation about our hometown using the song “Round Here” to provide atmospheric weight.
2. Nirvana (MTV Unplugged, In Utero, Nevermind)
The suicide of Kurt Cobain was basically the worst thing to happen to our generation until 9-11. Since then it’s basically all been downhill. Heart-Shaped Box and All Apologies are In Utero‘s best-known/best tracks and, and the MTV Unplugged album is surprisingly perfect. Kurt Cobain’s songs are about being depressed and wanting to die. But he was so honest about wanting to die, it made the rest of us NOT want to die. And then he died.
3. Cake (Fashion Nugget, 1996)
If you can hear “I Will Survive” and not want to dance your fucking face off, then I pity you and I pity those ears you’ve got hanging off the sides of your head. This album is the faux-aggro playful punchy side of the mid-90s. Sublime and Sugar Ray tried to do something similar, both failed.
4. Nine Inch Nails, (The Downward Sprial, 1994)
“I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel” —> one of the best lines ever. This album is the epitome of 90’s Grunge-Induced Depressive Disorder. You’re smoking cigarettes in the bathroom and crying and writing lots of swear words in your diary about how much you hate your parents and loved The Crow.
5. Pearl Jam, Vitalogy (1994) and Vs. (1993)
Remember when they won a ton of MTV Music Video Awards for that song “Jeremy” and it was about suicide? That was a weird year.
6. The Fugees, (The Score, 1996)
If you don’t like this album, then you’re an idiot.
7. Smashing Pumpkins (Siamese Dream, 1993)
My friend Lorn had drunk Mormon parents who slept through the parties we’d hold in her basement with stolen liquor-cabinet alcohol and this one time Loren told us that her sister had hooked up with James Iha. Or maybe it was Billy Corgan. Whatever. They did it. Just saying.
8. Dave Matthews Band (Crash, 1996 & Under the Table and Dreaming 1994)
Dave Matthews Band went to hell in a handbasket circa Y2K, releasing that terrible black-and-white album — Everyday? — at the peak of their popularity (or perhaps more accurately at the peak of my collegiate experience). They released some promising tracks on Busted Stuff a few years later but really, 90’s Dave is the only way you are ever going to defend your affection for Dave. Remember the stoner down the hall with the DMB poster over his bed? Don’t think about that guy anymore. Just listen to Satellite. YOU GUYS, CRASH. Proudest Monkey. #41. Under the Table and Dreaming, Crash, SAY GOODBYE? Tonight we’ll be lovers then tomorrow go back to being friends? No wonder college kids ate this shit up.
9. The Cranberries, (Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Can’t We, 1993)
For starters, the Cranberries were on the Empire Records soundtrack, because all good 90s bands were on one of the following soundtracks: Clueless, Empire Records, Romeo & Juliet, Reality Bites, Singles.
10. The Cardigans, First Band on the Moon (1996)
This is one of those albums you bought for “Lovefool” and then found out all the other tracks were way better, and the Cardigans are actually still making good music. So.
11. Radiohead – OK Computer (1997) & The Bends (1995)
I didn’t start listening to Radiohead until the mid-00s, but I believe most of the music I presently enjoy by Radiohead is from the 90s like Karma Police. Fake Plastic Trees gets two bonus points for being on the Clueless Soundtrack.
These are our personal opinions. If you disagree, you should totally say something really mean about it, like try to make me sound like I just stole something from you, maybe even your soul. Caps, exclamation points, the full anger of your day: I want it. Give it to me. I can take it, ’cause I just had listened to Fu-gee-La and I feel real good about it.
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I grew up in the 90s and still think that decade’s music is better than most of the crap that plays on my radio today.
Add to the list Gin Blossoms, Better than Ezra, Toad the Wet Sprocket and Collective Soul.
I was reading the list thinking, Gin Blossoms has to be here… Tell me do you think it’d be alright, If I could just crash here tonight?
I must have played that song at least a hundred times!
i loved that song too. i remember what the cassette single looked like.
there’s also another Gin Blossoms song that was on Empire Records. what a great band!
Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is 15 years old this year, i can’t believe it.
wait, why aren’t Soundgarden and Weezer on this list? Weezer released Death to False Metal this month– it contains a cover of Unbreak my Heart! toni braxton!
this post is making me miss the 90s. and i hated the 90s (except for the music).
I forgot about the Empire Records soundtrack, film was meh but the CD was great!
This list made my day. I can’t stop giggling, mostly because it’s SO ACCURATE.
I got that Counting Crows album as an Easter gift from my mom, and I’m pretty sure that she and my dad regretted it because I listened to it so loud so often. I had fantasies about performing to the song Sullivan Street in my junior high lip syncing contest wearing a baby doll dress and doc martens and channeling Angela Chase.
…I’m never repeating that story again. Ever.
I have no clue who ANY of these bands are, save for Goo Goo Dolls and Hootie and the Blowfish. Never hear any of their music, but I’ve heard the names before.
Oh, how lame it is to live a sheltered life that revolved around musical theatre.
“Anna Begins” goes down in history as one of my favorite songs of all time.
She’s talking in her sleep, it’s keeping me awake, and Anna begins to toss and turn… and every word is nonsense but I understand.
OMG. YES! That song is just beautiful. And indeed, I still pop that CD in on occasion, pretty much strictly for “Anna Begins” … and “Sullivan Street.”
I haven’t really loved any Counting Crows songs since, except “Color Blind.” Which always makes me think of the sex scene in Cruel Intentions, which I loved because Reese Witherspoon was one of my first celebrity crushes and Ryan Phillipe is kind of pretty too.
yes yes and yes to ‘anna begins.’
i also still like third eye blind. a lot.
Third Eye Blind’s first album is the soundtrack to my favorite/crazy year…
i like third eye blind because laura told me about this one song of theirs and alex told me about this other song of theirs and I like both those songs.
10,000 Maniacs are more 80s than 90s ….
YOUR MOM IS MORE 80S THAN 90S
….
hehe
I still love 10,000 Maniacs! Natalie Merchant was one of my first lady crushes so I don’t know maybe that has something to do with it.
YES. Totally still love 10,000 Maniacs. But Violent Femmes do set the standard. Nothing brings me back to 16 like listening to Gimme the Car. But they’re more 80’s than 90’s, like Rosalino’s mom but I digress…
AMAZING list.
+ Jewel, Pixies, Stoke 9, TLC, 4 Non Blondes, Sonic Youth, Tori Amos.
Oh dear. YOU FORGOT NO DOUBT.
But the rest of the list: Yes. It’s all so true.
Seriously thought. No Doubt was MY MUSIC. More so than almost any of those. Then again, maybe it’s only because my mom LOVED the Tragic Kingdom album to the end of the earth when I was younger, and played it all the time.
Still. Hey I still listen to Oasis. Sometimes. Why, is this not cool anymore? =(
YES! i recently busted out the no doubt for nostalgia sake but realized that its still totally great stuff.
In my mind, it will never die. I will always be a fan, every time I hear a No Doubt song I want to cry and smile at the same time.
Not to mention Gwen is, and always has been, absolutely gorgeous. ;3
Just A Girl was a major influence on me when I was a young teen, and damn she had amazing arms in that video.
I love this list. I already had it all in my 90s playlist in spotify, ‘cept for Cake. I keep forgetting Cake and how much I loved it.
What about the Wallflowers? I remember listening to Bringing Down the Horse with like 8 of my friends squeezed into someone’s mom car.
You just made my day! I’ll just let myself sink into bed in my Weezer, TLC, Texas, Bran van 3000 environment, thank you very much :)
You have to be one of the coolest people ever, simply for the Weezer.
TLC is great too. Mostly Weezer though. <3
Weezer is THE BEST! Listen to their cover of Unbreak My Heart! It’s like going back in time.
Weezer does not have a bad album. They have never disappointed me.
You take your car to work, I’ll take my board!
i spent large chunks of my allowance in the soundtrack section of tower records. between this article and my high school reunion notice i just received in the mail…i am feeling kinda old today. thanks, universe.
ack I also spent tons of money at tower and received my high school reunion notice via facebook yesterday! zoinks.
When I was 2 years old, I lived in an apartment next door to Hootie and the Blowfish. They used to practice and annoy my parents. That is all.
Third Eye Blind, anyone?
They kind of crossed the late 90s/early 00s, but still.
SEMI-CHARMED LIFE WAS EVERYWHERE.
even though it’s not even their best.
yeah I’m gonna have to say they go on the “still listen to” side for me…guilty pleasure here.
No shame there! I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t sing along to “How’s It Gonna Be” and “Jumper.” Those songs totally bring me back to the days of Joey and Pacey.
Also, I still love “Deep Inside of You.” And “God of Wine.”
Jumper is such an anthem. I remember videotaping the vid from mtv (back in the days when there was still music there) and playing it back over and over and over again.
Wish you would step out from the ledge my friend…
Ahh, we’re doing “Semi-Charmed Life” in my a cappella group this semester. It’s so much fun.
Green Day anyone? I thought that was an AS favorite.
YES.
Green Day were my favorite band in the 1990s. I still listen to ‘Dookie’ almost every day.
crystal should add a green day graf to this post
Yes! Time of your Life/Good Riddance/whatevs was the first song I learned to play on guitar, despite my guitar teachers insistence that I learn True Blue by John Williamson. I mean wtf? Is it veeeeggeeeemiiiiite…….
riese…go find becky, she sounds like a keeper.
Wow, you picked some of the best!
A couple others for the dont-listen-anymore list:
— I pretty much lost my affection for the Barenaked Ladies sometime around 2000.
— I haven’t listened to a Mighty Mighty Bosstones CD in years.
This list takes me back to the HORDE tour, circa 1996. Blues Traveler, Rusted Root, Natalie Merchant and Lenny Kravitz. Fond memories of all those artists but … yeah, I really don’t listen to them much anymore unless I’m feeling particularly nostalgic.
Rusted Root! LOL
I remember my friends and I always trying to sing along to that crazy song of theirs and laughing hysterically. Forgot about them
Chickity China the chinese chicken! The only way I could effectively get over that song “One week” was learning the lyrics (through constant listening, mind you, no internet search).
impeccable timing on this list, considering last night, the radio played the Cranberries on my drive home from Costco and i almost peed myself with the combined excitement for discounted bulk shopping and love for dolores o’riordan’s stellar use of repitition.
Oh, and even though i rarely listen to it on purpose anymore, STP’s Core is amazing. i think it took 7th grade me almost six months of repeating the first four songs though before i realized that Plush was track #9 and it would blow my mind. and did anyone else wonder what a wicked garden was? oh to be young again!
my gf hates 90s rock, but come on! how can you hate Lightning Crashes?? and does anyone remember the Toadies? Upenn’s acapella group Off the Beat did an amazing version of Possum Kingdom / Come from the Water that made all the freshman girls, gay or straight, swoon.
Love that you reserved the final spot for the greatest band in the history of the universe.
though personally I would have put Tool on the list as well. Though they aren’t for everyone.
#1 CARDIGANS FAN OF ALL TIME RIGHT HERE. I have EVERY ALBUM.
But yeah y’alls defo left off No Doubt and Veruca Salt!
Also this is a tweet I almost sent out the other day and then did not: “I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a worse song than ‘crash into me’ by DMB.” JUST SAYIN.
Veruca Salt! Yes, yes, and yes.
yes the reason i know about cardigans continuing to make awesome music is carlytron
Pavement!!
High five! One of my all-time favorites! You can’t go wrong with a lyric like “this emery board is giving me a rash.”
Also, less popular, but still one of my favorites: Guided By Voices.
Ooh Pavement! I’m getting mix tape flashbacks of Carrot Rope right now.
i love this post cause i just downloaded blind melon, live and some no doubt on guitar hero and was told to ‘let it go , grunge is dead’ hahaha
Was I the only one whose life soundtrack was populated entirely by Madonna and Sarah McLachlan? And Buffy soundtracks?
dont worry, youre not the only one who knows all the words to the entirety of Once More With Feeling!!
oh, and if it werent for those buffy soundtracks, id never have gotten into amazing bands like Rilo Kiley.
as for sarah mclaughlin, wow. i used to fall asleep with my stereo looping between Afterglow and AFI’s Black Sails into the Sunset. Weird, i know. oh, and speaking of buffy – the use of Full of Grace after she kills Angel in S2? i definitely cried.
Soundtracks were basically how I discovered new music when I was a teenager. And OMG “Full of Grace” on Buffy! I may have written an angsty poem for my freshman English class inspired by that episode.
It was all about Sarah, Madonna and Alanis for me. Jagged Little Pill was my JAM. That and Spice World.
Alex, your post cracked me up! I know all of the words to Once More With Feeling too and I cried like a baby when they played Full Of Grace at the end of season 2. Oh, the memories!
Buffy soundtracks made me discover The Sundays! The Sundays!!!!! A tear is shed everytime I watch The Prom.
I should stop getting on Autostraddle when I have to leave for work within five minutes because I want to spend way more than five minutes reading and commenting.
TO BE CONTINUED….
Sometimes, I get really angry at the radio because a lot of the stuff that it plays makes me feel like putting pencils in my ears.
I really like Lady Gaga and all, you know, but sometimes I just wish that it was still like, 1997 so I could love the radio again.
The very same reason why I always search for 90s radio stations online.
the 90s flashback hour is my favorite time on the radio. i may or may not schedule running my errands around it.
I still listen to most of this music. Especially early Radiohead. Pablo Honey and The Bends get played in my car at least once a month. I also really have a thing for Stone Temple Pilots and the Smashing Pumpkins. Does anyone remember Candlebox? There will always be a large area reserved on my Ipod or in my cd case for my 90’s music.
speaking of smashing pumpkins, has anyone ever told u that u sort of look like melissa auf der maur ?
One of my best friends in high school was obsessed with that Candlebox song Far Behind. We use to drive around stoned listening to it on a cassete tape over and over and over again, bored out of our minds.
Far Behind is a really beautiful song. I got into into a few years ago, rather than when it originally was released.
Last night I broke out the old Dinosaur Jr. cassettes my brother gave me and the fucking Singles soundtrack. If only I could find my flannel shirt and Doc Martens.
Me too. I still play Pablo Honey a lot. The other week I discovered Melissa Ferrick’s cover of Creep, and then proceeded to spend a whole afternoon comparing cover versions of Creep.
Somewhat irrelevant: My 50’s-plus English professor does a kick-ass cover of Creep on his guitar. Randomly, and in bizarre times and places. Such as outside the cafeteria in the middle of the lunch rush.
Um, Nas with Illmatic? I mean technically he’s still making music but it’s all a downhill slide from there.
Candlebox, wow…yeah i remember them…i saw them open for Metallica in ’94…
(yep, i’m now that girl, sayin shiz like back in 94′)
elastica anyone?
Of course Elastica! I had a crush on Justine and her floppy hair.
Um, I just had a slice of cheese pizza from Sbarro like twenty minutes ago.
Also, Autostraddle has now taken over my dreams. Last night I had a dream with Laneia in it, even though I don’t even know what she looks like. I can’t remember the specifics, but I was at her house or something and she was telling me how to pronounce her name (she said it is like la-nay-a and I remember thinking that I thought it was like lay-ne-a). Ah, the big mysteries of my life.
My 90’s experience went a little more like this: The Spice Girls, Hanson, Alanis Morisette… that’s about all I remember. And then my obsession with Britney Spears started.
But I also listened to Live because my brother did. And I liked Matchbox 20, and “Killing Me Softly” is one of my favorite songs ever. Basically I want to go back and relive my childhood listening to better music. I’m starting to get into Radiohead now after hearing Amanda Palmer’s cover album and realizing that Fake Plastic Trees is their song. I loved the movie Clueless. So much.
That’s pretty much what I remember from the 90’s. Granted, I do have the whole Cranberries discography because I love them, but I didn’t start listening to them till mid 00’s hah.
i had a crush on the second Hanson brother- the one who looks like a girl.
I did too! Taylor, I think? That long blonde hair, those rosy cheeks… Yeah I was a confused little kid.
Letters to Cleo…although, I still listen to them occasionally. And Belly too. If I’m in the mood I’ll still go listen to most of the old stuff I used to listen to regularly.
Except I don’t listen to Melissa Etheridge anymore. I used to listen to her so. damn. much. I even played her songs at open mics. Now those songs seem to remind me of everything I did wrong when I first came out…I mean dating wise…or trying to date wise.
Letters to Cleo!! I may or may not watch Ten Things I Hate About You just to listen to them. That movie kind of just had a kickass soundtrack in general.
Yay! Letters To Cleo! I listen to the songs Demon Rock and Acid Jed at least once every other week and sing along loudly like I’m still 13. <3
I listened to a lot of Garbage and Bjork in the 90s, but I will still totally throw on The Breeders, or Spiritualized, or Massive Attack to this day. Also Throwing Muses were great. I think I’ll put that on now.
Natalie Merchant is one act I wish would have stayed it the 90s. She resurfaced this summer “singing old poems to life” with her super affected voice. Just the thought of it provokes my high school rage. Kill it with fire and shovels!
What NO I love that cd! Then again I am partial to a little cajun fiddle (or any kind of fiddle really) and also merchant’s super affected voice, so. I don’t even care how pretentious it is, it’s AWESOME!
My 90s was all about Massive Attack and Tricky. I’ve had the same “sexy times playlist” for about 15 years. If I don’t get off by track 3, I call it a night coz it ain’t gonna happen.
I wasn’t into rock though. Well, just Christian rock. Oh, and DC Talk was my induction into hip hop. That makes me laugh.
I didn’t discover Radiohead until much later, but my iPhone is full of Radiohead and Johnny Cash. I know. Weird mix. But it makes me happy.
I feel really sad that No Doubt’s “Tragic Kingdom” is not on this list. I lived and breathed that album.
Also loved The Cardigans, still do.
THE FUGEES! CAKE! FUCKING NIRVANA!! I love all of this. Nirvana makes me wear more eyeliner. Weird huh?
90’s music!! I can’t let it go! Gin Blossoms, Del Amitri, Ace of Base and the Barenaked Ladies. Also, it’s basically the only bands my parents let me listen to after my uncle gave me Prince’s “Diamonds and Pearls” tape for my 8th birthday.
Woah now. I love the 90s and I still listen to Bush. Swallowed is my Bush song that I’ve been playing the most lately. And Matchbox Twenty. I remember being a kid and thinking they were cool. Ah yes, I’m a 90s baby to the core ^_^
I had no discernible taste in music during the ’90s. I was born in ’87, so throughout most of the following decade, I was just listening to whatever my older sister was listening to (which was pretty much limited to Celine Dion). It wasn’t until highschool that I started listening not to then-current music, but revisiting stuff from the ’90s.
My favourites are/were No Doubt, Sloan (went to see them 5 times in 2005, and that year, also met my favourite member of the band on the streets of Toronto during an outing with my best friend, the purpose of which was to meet one of the members. It was creepy/amazing!), The Flashing Lights, Velocity Girl, Jale, The Super Friendz, and Eric’s Trip. I recommend looking into the East Coast Canadian rock scene during of the early-mid ’90s. Some good tunes!
I listen to more on the first list than I’ve even heard of on the second, but I guess I was between 0 and 9 in the 90’s so maybe that has something to do with it? Thanks for the list tho.
Great lists!
The following albums are still on my regular rotation:
The Verve – Urban Hyms (can’t believe how good this album still is)
Radiohead-The Bends (I know you mentioned it, but it is so good it is worth mentioning again)
Uncle Tupelo-Anodyne
Wilco- Being There (One of my favorite bands)
Hole-Live Through This (A classic… the words to Olympia can be twisted to describe any annoyingly cliquish group in life)
Beck-(I can’t decide if Nightmare Hippy Girl is about me or my ex-gf)
PJ Harvey-any album
Soundgarden (mostly just the song Burden in my Hand)
Albums/groups I very rarely listen to, if at all:
My Bloody Valentine
Faith No More
Janes Addiction
Rage Against the Machine (we really needed them during the Bush years)
The Breeders
Liz Phair
Ahhh….the memories
Fantastic list… especially Mellow Gold
Hole- yessss
Sunken Treasure is my favorite song off the Wilco double album
Anodyne is in my all-time top 10. My brother introduced me to Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt/Wilco when I was about 8 and I listen to all that on the regular now too.
I own most of the Blues Traveler albums, love those guys. Bridge is possibly their best, the one they made in tribute to their dead bassist.
Also Barenaked Ladies will always be fun and emotional for me.
Tool and A Perfect Circle(Helloooo, hot lady bassist!) defined my late high school/college experience and I am now obsessed with Maynard’s new project Puscifer
I’m with you on Tool & APC. I think Ænima was definitely one of the best albums to come out of the 90s.
I still listen to the Stone Temple Pilots regularly, ‘Trippin On A Hole In A Paper Heart’ is one of my favorite songs.
90s nostalgia drove me to go and see Live’s frontman Ed Kowalczyk in concert last year. He was SO CHEESY.
I really loved Live back in the day but seeing them Live back in ’03 was TERRIBLE. They are the worst Live band I’ve ever seen. Ironic, no?
I still listen to a bunch of the 90s music regularly too. I actually stopped turning on my radio once it hit the 00s. Though now I can rejoice because it seems like I am one of the few who have a good 90s local radio station that manages to play most of these artists all the time. Yay for Richmond, VA!
SCHOOL HOUSE ROCKS ROCKS cover album was like my favorite thing ever! I felt so awesome with that in my 1989 Honda in a constant rotation with two garbage albums, white chocolate space egg, cake and wilco … And of course Hole…
INCESTICIDE!
Too many nostalgia/procrastination induced thoughts/itunes scavenging. Here are the top two.
1. Um, the Pixies?
2. I once walked out of a Barenaked Ladies concert and hung out with this random girl working a concession stand and listening to Radiohead. I still thought I was straight but I knew she was WAY cooler than the concert.
I just Dave on Saturday night with my mom. Last time we saw them, I came out. It was fantastic experience both times we saw Dave together.
“If you don’t like this album, then you’re an idiot.”
My sentiments exactly.
I still listen to Bush on a regular basis. They’re an amazing band. Really guys, you don’t listen to Bush anymore?!? :(
I literally own or owned every single one of these CDs (except Crash Test Dummies). The 90s rocked and would be my all time favorite music decade if there was more of Tegan & Sara’s music around back then.
I was 12 in 99, so Spice Girls were my hit, oh and my aunt bought me baby one more time against my will, she’s never been forgiven.
Garbage! What about Garbage? Oh, Shirley. You can has my heart. I gives it to you.
Garbage ftw. Seeing them in concert just solidified my love of red-headed Scottish women in denim hotpants.
YES! Loved Garbage’s first album. Classic.
YES!! I still love Garbage and may have swooned when I heard last week that they are working on a new album. I will fight you all for Shirley.
YESSS! Garbage is a huge omission. :(
I can still listen to all the played out singles like Stupid Girl and they actually don’t feel old to me. I think Garbage is timeless. My favorite band <3
i forgot to add Laneia’s Special Addition: TRIPPING DAISY.
THE SPICE GIRLS.
also: better than ezra, third eye blind, blink-182, ELLIOT FUCKING SMITH, neutral milk hotel, our lady peace, the tragically hip…
okay, i totally just went through my itunes.
<–ELLIOTT FUCKING SMITH. Yes. Also Neutral Milk Hotel, which is still on repeat, always, in my head and in my electronics. Does this make me a very depressive hipster man from five years ago in college? Is that ok?
My Elliot Smith playlist makes me hate my life at work a little less everyday.
DJFKLASJFKAL;SDJFKALS
THIRD EYE BLIND
BETTER THAN EZRA.
<3 <3 <3 <3
I really miss The Spice Girls, Emily. Really I do. Occasionally I will listen to Spice World in the car and dance my way down the freeway. My girlfriend shakes her head at me. :-/
oh man yeah
This just makes me feel so incredibly old
Some that I still keep in rotation: Portishead, PJ Harvey, Sleater Kinney
…man I played the sh*t out of my Sixteen Stone cassette tape
& I might’ve maybe cried to Live when I was in 3rd grade..
Yessss…..
Portishead, Massive Attack and Mazzy Star are still great to listen to.
Matchbox 20 got super popular the summer between high school and college. My then “best friend” (current girlfriend) LOVED Matchbox 20. I spent every one of my crappy-summer-minimum-wage-job dollars on tickets to their concert. When we got there it was so crowded that she couldn’t “deal” and told me to just sell the tickets to someone else.
I was PISSED for about 2 minutes until she suggested that we use the illicitly obtained scalper money to rent a hotel room for the night instead. I think it was that moment that I knew she was a keeper.
I still listen to all of these things. Regularly. And frequently put them on mixtapes. I saw Live live (ugh), and it was fabulous. I wanna daaaaaaaance with you!
I still listen to Offspring on the regular. Did everyone else stop? Am I like 10 years out of the loop?
Also, Riese, you can’t move to Cali and claim that Sublime is not quite as good as Cake. Cake is awesome. Totally. But if you are going to live in Cali, you can’t deny Sublime of their awesome awesomeness.
Yes yes yes.
Also, Riese’s mention of the Maccabi Games made me smile.
YES!!! the “Singles” soundtrack, indeed. I wanted to BE Bridget Fonda. I wore my Docs with black tights and an oversized flannel shirt from the salvation army and a black Bowler hat…I had the poster tacked above my bed…I dreamed about living in my own apt, eating salad alone, and being desperately in love…that’s what the 90s were all about for me.
i miss my 90s music..i am glad I have sirius radio so that I can rock “90s on 9.”
I listen to 90’s music non-ironically, because growing up in the weird, almost cultish environment that I did, it’s all pretty much new to me. HAVE YOU GUYS HEARD THIS BAND CALLED NIRVANA? IT LIKE….TOTALLY SPEAKS TO ME. LIKE FOR REAL.
Sneaker Pimps first album ..luud that
i agree with pretty much all of this (except that i haven’t heard of half the bands you refer to on the first page..) counting crows! a&ea is amaze.
I sure do love 90’s music. Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine, The Verve (esp. Storm in Heaven), Spiritualized, Slowdive, Catherine Wheel, Jesus and Mary Chain, Medicine, Galaxy 500… pretty much everything shoegaze-ee with some Spice Girls, Sarah Mclachlan and Natalie Merchant thrown in there.
wow, this list makes me feel sad/happy/old.on a related sidenote, there is a classic rock station that i listen to sometimes and theyve started playing some of this music i.e. STP, Bush, Nirvana, Pearl Jam. so weird.
Since i turned ten in 1999 i never really listened to 90’s music in the 90´s. But i have since heard a song or two.
Oasis first two records, Defiantly maybe and what´s the story morning glory are the shit.
My bloody Valentine
Jesus and Mary chain
Wilco
Pulp
Blur
Radiohead(i do like their 00’s stuff more but it´s still awesome.)
Pavement.
Neutral milk hotel.
Weezer (blue album and pinkerton.)
Pixies.
Elliot smith
Do the Stone roses count?
All breathtakingly awesome stuff
No Nirvana? Start at the beginning of life and try again.
I used to like them but then i stopped being 14.
But then how do you explain the Oasis thing?
Good taste.
This is a shocking comment.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free
The following bands are missing from the awesome list:
BLUR-that one music video with the animated carton of milk was the shit, also if there had been no blur there would be no gorillaz.
Pixies!!!- this is possibly the best thing to come our of the 90’s and kim deal is the coolest chick on earth.
GARBAGE- i knew i was gay when i saw the naked femme-bot Shirley Manson in the music video for that one 007 soundtrack. i must have been like 10 years old.
BECK- genius and still blowing our minds.
and last but not least VIOLENT FEMMES!- how could you have forgotten them?! Blister in the sun..”big hands i know you’re the one”. also there’s a scene in Lost and Delirious when the girls spike up the punch and go crazy dancing to the violent femmes at a school dance. this scene puts a smile on my face.
….aslo does anyone remember Sixpence None the Richer? i don’t listen to them anymore but its nice when “kiss me” comes on at a department store as background music or something.
The Blur video with the milk is Coffee and TV! I love the song Boys and Girls. And Parklife. So many feelings in Parklife.
The Goo Goo Dolls, Live, Matchbox Twenty, Bush, the Counting Crows, the Cranberries, Veruca Salt, Hanson, silverchair, Letters to Cleo, Garbage, the Barenakes Ladies. Oh my, life is good.
OMFG I’m having a meltdown right now. You guys had me at Counting Crows – best band EVER. I’m noticing a glaring omission – R.E.M. Definitely on my list of enduring bands. I am a STP tragic so let’s not even go there (you know, to the bad place where all you can hear is Velvet Revolver…)
Another couple of omissions are Elliott Smith and Ben Folds Five (in the days before 5 minus 2 equals 1). They provided the soundtrack to my relationship with my first gf, before she ripped out my heart and left me listening to Jeff Buckley non-stop for three months…
To all the Aussies out there, I say: Something For Kate, Spiderbait, Silverchair, The Whitlams (or Shitlams depending on how you feel), You Am I and The Cruel Sea.
Why is my pic a little dog with a pink bow? How do I get some awesomeness up in here?
I just remembered Everclear. And Sister Hazel. And Liquido.
I love Everclear. My best friend drags me to see Sister Hazel every time they come to Mississippi, which is more often than you would think.
You and your best friend have excellent taste.
Skunk Anansie
De La Soul
Black Sheep
Aaliyah – back n forth ‘It’s friday..HEY!..’
My sole interest in Oasis: seeing Natasha O’Keeffe (Sadie in Lip Service) on this videoclip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPcq0SBe6N4&ob=av2e
I still love Oasis. (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? is probably still my favourite CD of all time, and sometimes I sit in my empty bathtub and sing Wonderwall and cry for no reason (hey menstruation, how’s it goin’?)
I used to feel kind of bad about myself because of this, but my girlfriend always wants to fuck to Blur’s self-titled album and she sings Eve 6 like eeeeeeeeevery night when I’m trying to sleep so I’m pretty okay with myself now.
better man by pearl jam pretty much summed up my life for a while.
Waitin’, watchin’ the clock, it’s four o’clock, it’s got to stop
Tell him, take no more, she practices her speech
As he opens the door, she rolls over…
Pretends to sleep as he looks her over
Talkin’ to herself, there’s no one else who needs to know..
it would pop into my head daily.
poor guy.
A girl on OKCupid and I were just talking about this – we were reminiscing over Aqua and Savage Garden! The moment I Want You hit “retro” status I felt super old.
Hey………did you like copy the names off my ipod? but seriously….music from the 90’s still rox my sox off! I have to add a couple of things to that list though like early green day music and ace of base. Not forgetting Bryan Adams who i SAW IN CONCERT IN SOUTH AFRICA in the mid nineties – that guy can put on a show.
Ok um… did I just read this whole page and not see one reference to Tori Amos???? AND YOU CALL YOURSELVES LESBIANS?!?!?!?
So true. We should all be ashamed. The things that woman can do with a piano.
yeah… I used to get a kick out of imitating her when I was the pianist for my church.
God, I feel old yet nostalgic…
Most of these CDs emerged my senior year of high school/freshman year of college.
Counting Crows-Color Blind…la sigh
Sarah Mac…hell I had the cassette of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and just saw her live last week in Houston. Always worth the money because she is as awesome live as she is on an album…oh and hot!
10,000 Maniacs…more partial to Natalie’s Tiger Lily but still have the unplugged album on the Ipod. Saw her this year too and the whole 19th/20th century children poems as songs…not a fan. My bad because I should have looked at the concert reviews prior to going.
What about the Murmurs??? All it took was seeing All Over Me and I became a Leisha Hailey fan…
A few that weren’t mentioned:
Everclear(So Much for the Afterglow)
Nada Surf(The Proximity Effect)
Matthew Sweet(Girlfriend)
Ben Folds Five(Whatever and Ever Amen)
The Posies(Frosting On the Beater)
Kid A, the greatest album of the 00s, came out in October 2000.
Ummm…Kid A came out in 2000. Way to do the research there. Maybe you are too stoned or stupid to figure out how to use Google.
I absolutely love the stuff mentioned!
and I’d like to add:
SEMISONIC :D
I still listen to their songs <3
Oasis are back, sort of:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/nov/10/beady-eye-bring-light
This is really important:
ASK THE PEOPLES ON MY BLOCK I’M AS REAL AS CAN BE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KL9mRus19o&ob=av2e
Are you thinking OK Computer for 1997? Kid A was 2000!
Kid A was released in 2000…OK Computer was released in 97.
Alice In Chains should be in the “Still Listen To” category. They were far&away the best ‘grunge’ band.
Kid A is garbage and not as good as OK Computer. OK Computer was phenomenal.
STP is awesome and always in the mix. Those guys got the shaft.
Nirvana is freakin awesome…still.
Offspring must be the most underrated kickass band out there.
Cake is ok, their current tour is selling out. they got a song or two in there.
Pulp…yeh, Pulp that is good stuff, still getting the love.
Blind Melon is iconic, always in the playlist.
Beck gets a pass cuz he is just too creative for his own musical talent.
Pearl Jam and DMB have a few decent tunes each but are sooooo overhyped I avoid that sh#t cuz i don’t have to show that I’m “cool”.
the rest? meh, i traded all them cd’s in for new stuff.
Wow. What is STP doing in the stopped listening to list? Do you hate music? Core was only their debut release and you’ve ignored Purple, Tiny Music, and No. 4, all of which had several hit singles.
Good music from the 90s:
Nirvana
Pearl Jam
Alice in Chains (how did you leave them out??)
Soundgarden
Stone Temple Pilots
Smashing Pumpkins
Nine Inch Nails
Filter
Rage Against the Machine
Weezer
Radiohead
White Zombie (late 80s/90s til Rob went solo but peaked in the 90s)
Pantera (also 80/90s and probably too heavy for this site, but peaked in the 90s)
Meh:
Green Day (popular post-Nirvana, overrated but filling a void, turned into modern-day emo mascots)
Oasis (overrated like most brit exports of their time)
Screaming Trees (Nearly Lost You is a great track)
Forgettable:
Lemonheads
Spin Doctors
Counting Crows
Dave Matthews Band
Seems like half your still listening to list is made up of some of the more generic bands of the era, which is what caused a lot of people to move away from the core bands who were still putting out decent, original music.
What I want to know is: Where the hell is Crazy, Sexy, Cool by TLC???
First off, HIGHLY entertaining. All the way through. Really, well done.
Secondly, some albums you missed:
– Soundgarden – Superunkown: C’mon. How fucking heavy AND brilliant was this album?!
– Tool-Aenima: Again, a fucking game changer for heavy music, attractive to the pop audience and ambiguous enough for the elitest pricks. This album has it all.
– Korn – Korn: Visceral and raw. Delicious from start to tear-soaked end.
– Eminem-Slim Shady L.P.: for the suburban miscreant who couldn’t get their hands on a Snoop Dogg album.
RADIOHEAD AND NIRVANA. Both are definitely frequented on my 857 playlists for every occasion, emotion, time of day, etc.
Also, can I get a little Rage Against The Machine? Yes? No?
Obligatory 90s confession: Spice Girls. Did I watch Spice World less than a year ago? YES. Have I listened to “Never Give Up On The Good Times” this week? YES. Will I ever forgive myself for not going to their reunion tour? NEVER.
I got a 13 year old student to listen to Neutral Milk Hotel a few days ago. Actually she whined and annoyed me until I let her hear it. She didn’t want to give my ipod back. I think/hope/find hilarious that 90’s noise might become a thing with middle schoolers. Just saying.
Aenima yes. Korn, no. I have never fully figured out why I feel this way.
Too bad Kid A came out in 2000. Perhaps you were thinking of OK Computer?
heads up: i will be reblogging this awesome.
thanks for this.
Not getting the Blues Traveler part of the list. Those guys are everywhere still. Just because they aren’t relavent on the radio or MTV doesnt mean people dont listen to them. Radio is archaic. BT tours ten times more than crap bands we are forced to hear in the 10’s. This list is generic and predictable.
well, that was unecessarily mean. who knew blues traveler fans were so opinionated? did someone give you the run-around and put you in the mood for a north hollywood shootout?!?
but seriously, thx for the opinion. kbye!
Nope….just an optimistic thought.
My reasons are because they are a relic band in the vein of The Grateful Dead and Phish. They are dedicated to their craft and fans, not top 40 radio…
No Alice in Chains = no list.
The following music I still listen to:
FILTER!!
THE CULT!!
NINE INCH NAILS!
Tool
SARAH MCLACHLAN! (Still listen to “Building a Mystery”!)
SINEAD O’CONNOR!!
DURAN DURAN (Still LOVE “Come Undone”!)
USHER (My Way!)
STING!!
Stone Temple Pilots
THE TOADIES!
OUR LADY PEACE!
A perfect Circle!
SEVEN MERRY THREE!
EMINEM!!
AEROSMITH!!
MICHAEL JACKSON
FUEL
THE FUGEES!!
Nirvana
SLIPKNOT!!
DEFTONES!!
GEORGE MICHAEL
SALT N’ PEPA!
Hole
CandleBox
The Verve
Silver Chair
Garbage
Radiohead
Alanis MORISSETTE
Uncle Tupelo
TOM PETTY
Bush
SEVEN DUST!
Mazzy Star
Portishead
Varuca Salt
Smashing Pumpkins
Massive Attack
Matchbox 20
Beck
BLUR
Violent Femmes
Chemical Brothers
Lords of Acid
PJ Harvey
Stone Temple Pilots
Soundgarden
Cranberries
Jane’s Addiction
Music I still own, but rarely listen to:
SpaceHog
Powerman 5000!
My Bloody Valentine
Sponge
UGLY KID JOE
PRETENDERS!
TLC!
CREED
Faith No More
Republica!!
EXTREME!
PM DAWN (LOL!)
BON JOVI (LOL!)
FASTBALL!
ERIC CLAPTON
SOUL ASYLUM
Liz Phair
ROXETTE (LOL!)
PEARL JAM
Rob Zombie
Rage Against the Machine
Days of the New
GROOVE THEORY
Ben Folds Five
Semisonic
The Breeders
Tonic
Third Eye Blind
Aaliyah
Erasure
Lenny Kravitz
Maxwell
Genesis
Natalie Merchant… GAWSH! Too much music to name! LOL!
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Ummm as much as he is hated, how can anyone not have Snoop on this list
how did R.E.M. not make it onto this list? (and don’t say “they were more ’80s” because a. it’s not true, they were prolific until 2011 and b. i will fight you.)
Did I just step into an alternate universe where L7 never existed?? They’re still the soundtrack to my life!
Ridiculous. In hindsight, Oasis has a *much* better legacy than Counting Crows. When do Counting Crows come out with a documentary and special edition CDs??