1: THE SMASHING PUMPKINS - SIAMESE DREAM
Siamese Dream was one of the first albums I truly loved. It's sixty minutes and not a second of it is dull. The music is consistently some of the most amazing ever composed and the drumming is some of the best I've ever heard. It's wall of sound gives it a great atmosphere and thankfully drowns out some of the poor lyrics. Billy Corgan's voice here is unique but not overly nasally and grating like it is on their follow-up. Still have no clue what "The killer in me is the killer in you" means though.
2: PEARL JAM - NO CODE
I found No Code during a very shitty time in my life. It was after my first break-up and I was in state of constant and inescapable depression. At that point I'd only listened to Pearl Jam's first three albums because I'd been told they fell off after that. One day I decided to give this album a listen and thank God I did. No Code is quite different from Pearl Jam's previous albums. The song closet to anything on Vitalogy is "Lukin" and it's only a minute long. It's very warm and calm but every song still manges to be memorable. At the time I had moved away from my home, Seattle, and I missed my friends and this album reminded me so much of home. It has what are easily Eddie Vedder's best lyrics. It also helped me through the loneliness I was experiencing due to my only friend in the new city having been my girlfriend.
3: PAVEMENT - SLANTED AND ENCHANTED
An album that always makes me think of summer. The artwork perfectly shows you what you're getting into in this album. Messy as hell and filled with constantly entertaining lyrics. It has possibly the most memorable melodies I've ever heard on one album. Even the love songs are unique by asking unusual questions such as "How can I make my body shed for you?" Despite not being a particularly great singer, there's something about Stephen Malkmus's voice that I love.
4: FAITH NO MORE - ANGEL DUST
After the massive hit "Epic" Faith No More took a serious step back from the mainstream. And thank God they did because everything before this album is utter shit. Angel Dust is an incredibly unique album that I could only describe as "psychedelic funk metal" and would be a huge influence on many shitty bands in the late 90s like Slipknot, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. Oh well, the album itself is amazing and Mike Patton's vocals are insane.
5: THE SMASHING PUMPKINS - ADORE
Adore is an album I didn't appreciate when I went through a phase of loving the Pumpkins but I love it so much more now. After drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was kicked from the band after him and their keyboardist overdosed (with the keyboardist dying), they made every song on this album either acoustic or electronic, seeing as Chamberlain is an irreplaceable drummer. And it works beautifully. It has some of the most dreamy and entrancing music I've ever heard and Billy Corgan's lyrics are the most genuine here. It was a huge step away from the art rock of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It goes on for 73 minutes and never gets boring.
6: DEPECHE MODE - VIOLATOR
"Enjoy the Silence" and "Personal Jesus" are two of the best songs of all time and that isn't all this album has going for it. Songs like "World in My Eyes" and "Policy of Truth" are great as well and the album has a great atmosphere. This is also one of the few albums where the b-sides are nearly as good as the singles.
7: BEASTIE BOYS - ILL COMMUNICATION
There's not many albums that manage to be so experimental and accessible at the same. I don't know if there's an album that fuses hip hop, hardcore punk, funk and jazz as well as this one and still remains cohesive. Ill Communication and Check Your Head are nearly equally good but I put this one ahead for its standout tracks like "Sure Shot," "Sabotage" and "Get it Together."
8: NAS - ILLMATIC
There are not many albums that sound so perfectly reminiscent of the place they were made like this one. This album reeks of New York. Every song on this album is incredible. "Life's a Bitch" has the best lyrics of any hip hop song ever made and the sax solo at the end from Nas's dad Olu Dara never fails to move me.
9: BECK - STEREOPATHETIC SOULMANURE
An album that has received mostly negative reviews but is one of my all time favorites. A beautiful cohesive collage of so many genres. It simply works. Easily Beck's most underrated album. There are few songs in the world as funny as "Satan Gave Me a Taco."
10: BEASTIE BOYS - CHECK YOUR HEAD
Almost as good as Ill Communication. While Paul's Boutique is one of my favorite albums of the 80s, I think the Beasties peaked in the 90s with their first two albums of the decade. While Paul's Boutique was definitely a massive leap in its artistic merit from the cringey frat rap of Licensed to Ill and an indication of the great things they would later do, it was still immature party rap. Check Your Head was when they truly became great. So many cheesy lyrics but I guess that's just part of the Beastie's charm.
11: U2 - ZOOROPA
As someone who doesn't particularly like U2, this is a great album despite being disliked by the band's fan base (for being... different I guess?). It's not really anything like most U2 albums. The lyrics are a little lacking as is always the case with U2 but the (mostly electronic) music itself is among the most beautiful I've ever heard. "The Wanderer" with Johnny Cash is such a wtf moment and is one of my favorite album closers ever. Cash's voice fits shockingly well with electronic music. "Zooropa" and "Lemon" are gorgeous tracks as well.
12: THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - BLOOD SUGAR SEX MAGIK
Coulda been higher if it wasn't so unnecessarily long. This is where Frusciante develops his own style after he basically just copied Slovak on Mother's Milk. This is one of the most fun albums ever made.
13: THE LEMONHEADS - IT'S A SHAME ABOUT RAY
This album reminds me of something, but I'm not sure what. The past I guess? It really feels like it embodies the early 90s even though I didn't exist then. Anyhow, this is a very fun album and not even a horrendous cover Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" can hold it back. The title track is one of my favorite songs of all time
14: JOHNNY CASH - AMERICAN RECORDINGS
Old man Johnny singing some covers of classic country and folk songs and a few original songs for 40 minutes. I can't think of anything much better. I used to listen to this before going to sleep every night.
15: PEARL JAM - 10
The second half is a boring slog but there are few songs as great as "Once," "Even Flow," "Why Go," "Alive" and "Jeremy." And I don't know if there's a song out there more beautiful than "Black."
16: WEEZER - PINKERTON
For two albums Weezer was actually interesting, and this is the better one between the two. It's a lot more personal and is one of the handful of albums that got me through my first breakup. After the mixed reviews it received Weezer went back to the sound of their debut but to increasingly diminishing results and were never interesting again.
17: THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - ONE HOT MINUTE
Faith No More and RHCP both started out as funk-rap / hard rock bands and were rivals but both bands branched out and went in different directions. Yet in and odd turn of events, they both wound up in the incredibly specific genre of "psychedelic funk metal." Who woulda thunk. It sounds absurd to say this about an album from The Red Hot Chili Peppers of all people, but One Hot Minute is insanely underrated. An album that was maligned by critics and fans at the time; for the life of me I can't understand why. This is the only example of RHCP's mature era crossing with their energetic funk rock era. It has easily Anthony Kiedis's best lyrics (I know, that isn't saying much) and it's also the most interesting sonically. This album was made during a time when John Frusciante left the band due to disliking fame and he developed an incredibly serious heroin addiction, so they replaced him with Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro who was also a heroin addict. Anthony Kiedis had recently relapsed and the lyrics he was writing were much more serious than anything before or after. Contrary to what some say, Navarro meshes perfectly with this band - it just isn't the trademark RHCP sound. Some said this album wasn't funky enough. Have you even listened to "Walkabout?" There is very little that sounds like this album and it's a sound I love.
18: THE SMASHING PUMPKINS - MELLON COLLIE AND THE INFINITE SADNESS
This is an album I have a very odd relationship with. There was a long space of time after my first break-up where if you asked 16-year-old me what the best album ever made was, he would've told you it was this one in a heartbeat. I listened to it every day for four months and I loved all 28 songs. The drum tracks on this album are some of the best of all time and Billy Corgan came up with some amazing riffs. He also wrote some of the best lyrics of all time for "1979," the most enchanting dream pop song ever written, with "33" and "Tonight, Tonight" being nearly as good. However, this album is one I've lost a lot of my love for. Billy's incessant wailing gets really, really grating after two hours and the lyrics are mostly horrendous. I'd assume "Zero" and "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" were tongue-in-cheek but that doesn't save other songs from their unironic terrible lyrics. At least you couldn't understand shit he said on Siamese Dream.
19: THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - CALIFORNICATION
My first time listening to Californication may be one of my most vivid recollections of a musical experience. We were poor and my dad had stopped paying our internet so I didn't have shit to do. I had a laptop - stolen, mind you - but there was damn near nothing on it besides hundreds of photos of the lady who owned it. Other than the pictures, the only things on it were Minesweeper, solitaire, and Californication by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I didn't know how to play Minesweeper so I plugged in some headphones and listened to Californication while playing some solitaire. I didn't think much of the first two tracks but the moment "Scar Tissue" came on I was covered in goosebumps. I don't know how I didn't know this song was by the Chili Peppers. I'd heard it so many times years and years ago as a kid and loved it but hadn't heard it in ten years. It was like a memory you forgot you had coming back. It's such a nostalgia invoking song. I listened to the song over and over and over. John Frusciante's guitar work manages to evoke emotions like no other and he does it everywhere on this album. Call it a sellout album, but this is some top tier melodic cheese. Wouldn't've stuck with me so long if it wasn't. "Otherside" is the second best song.
20: NINE INCH NAILS - BROKEN
I'll preface this by saying I'm not a fan of Nine Inch Nails. While there are a few songs from them I love ("Hurt," "Head Like a Hole") most of their 20th century albums are plagued by melodramatic nonsense lyrics that I can't ignore. If I'm being honest, last year's Bad Witch is my favorite LP from them. But despite Broken still having some of my major problems with NIN, it completely makes up for it in its abrasiveness and brevity. It doesn't quietly and pathetically wallow for minutes on end like The Downward Spiral or The Fragile, it's just an explosion of pure anger for 30 minutes. It's never dull, it's never meandering, every second of this album needs to be there. Never before has an album's artwork fit so incredibly perfectly with the content of the music. I fucking love this shitty EP, so long as I can forget that there's a song on it titled "Happiness in Slavery" (which is a good song... so long as you can forget it's titled "Happiness in Slavery").
21: FAITH NO MORE - KING FOR A DAY... FOOL FOR A LIFETIME
The album where Faith No More went art rock and to great success. An album that was and continues to be panned by critics but a fan favorite, this is almost on the same level as Angel Dust. Faith No More became a band that is pretty much unrecognizable as the one that made The Real Thing six years ago. Their guitarist was replaced by Trey Spruance from Patton's other band Mr. Bungle, who definitely fits this album better than their last guitarist would have. The highlight is the lounge jazz "Evidence," one of those songs you'd be surprised is by the same band that made "Epic."
22: NO DOUBT - TRAGIC KINGDOM
Gwen Stefani has been a part of three albums I really like, this one sadly being the last. Her voice was off-putting for me at first but I love it now and the music is consistently fun as hell. My favorite third wave ska album, but not by far.
23: SUBLIME - SUBLIME
This was my dad's favorite album while I was growing up so maybe nostalgia has tied me to this one. Bradley Nowell's voice is another that I love despite not being technically great. His voice on "Seed" (the song that best demonstrates this band's abitlity to merge genres) is incredible.
24: NIRVANA - IN UTERO
I think In Utero is an album I'd like much more if I hadn't been so overexposed to some of the songs on it. "Scentless Apprentice" is the best song this band ever made.
25: RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE - EVIL EMPIRE
Maybe less fresh and groundbreaking than their debut but more consistent and enjoyable.
26: NIRVANA - NEVERMIND
An album I'd gladly never listen to again but I can't ignore how much I loved some of these songs in my early teens.
27: OUTKAST - ATLIENS
One of the very first albums I loved. The first several tracks and "13th Floor" are some of my favorite OutKast songs.
28: RAEKWON - ONLY BUILT 4 CUBAN LINX...
Undoubtedly the best Wu-Tang album, solo or not. RZA's production has never been better and every track is a banger. There are so few albums that aren't boring after 70 minutes. This is one of them. Side note: "Criminology" is the best beat in hip hop history.
29: RADIOHEAD - PABLO HONEY
Hate me all you want but this is my favorite 90s Radiohead album (Kid A easily beats it for me). I like its atmosphere and "Creep" is still such a great song no matter how many times I've heard it.
30: RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE - RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
Like Angel Dust, this is another album that I wish hadn't influenced so many shitty bands. It's very cheesy but I love this album's energy and catchiness.
31: JANE'S ADDICTION - RITUAL DE LO HABITUAL
An improvement over their debut Nothing's Shocking (another great record), this one benefits from its incredible psychedelic second side.
32: OUTKAST - AQUEMINI
Lots of great songs here like "Return of the G," both parts of "Da Art of Storytellin'" and "SpottieOttieDopalicious." Maybe a bit too long and a lot of the skits are uninteresting.
33: KYUSS - WELCOME TO SKY VALLEY
The quintessential stoner metal album and better than the stuff Josh Homme would later go on to do with Queens of the Stone Age.
34: GUNS N' ROSES - USE YOUR ILLUSION I
The better of the two albums Guns N' Roses released on the same day in 1991 (Use Your Illusion II has got some serious duds on it). Cheesy but enjoyable for the whole 80 minutes.
35: BECK - MELLOW GOLD
The album that opens with Beck's most famous song "Loser." Like Stereopathetic Soulmanure but less weird.
36: PAVEMENT - BRIGHTEN THE CORNERS
This album opens with two of Pavement's very best songs "Stereo" and "Shady Lane." The whole album is chill and filled with ballads that remind me of late summer / early fall and it's a very sincere record.
37: PAVEMENT - CROOKED RAIN, CROOKED RAIN
There aren't many songs as charming as "Silence Kit" and "Gold Soundz."
38: RADIOHEAD - THE BENDS
Radiohead's second best 90s album has phenomenal songs like the title track, "High and Dry" and "Street Spirit." The true highlight though is Radiohead's best song "Fake Plastic Trees."
39: JAY-Z - REASONABLE DOUBT
Jay turned into a bit of a zombie after this album. On the In My Lifetime trilogy he sounds like he really doesn't give a shit. On this album he's at the top of his game lyrically and and he sounds much more ambitious.
40: SOUNDGARDEN - SUPERUNKNOWN
An album that suffers from being too long. 40 minutes of hard rock is exhausting, let alone 80. That said, this album contains some of my favorite songs of all time like the first two tracks.
41: WEEZER - WEEZER
Not anywhere near as deep as Pinkerton but a fun and unique album nonetheless.
42: PETER GABRIEL - US
An underrated album that's nearly as good as So. "Steam" is like a spiritual successor to "Sledgehammer" but better.
43: SIGUR RÓS - ÁGÆTIS BYRJUN
A very chill and beautiful album that I used to go to sleep to every night.
44: PEARL JAM - VS.
There aren't as many famous songs on Vs. as there are on 10 but it's more consistent and "Daughter" is probably my favorite Pearl Jam song.
45: 2PAC - THE 7 DAY THEORY
2Pac was much more of a singles guy and this is his only album worth listening to. It's a very haunting album and hearing him rap knowingly about his death weeks before it happened is eery. "To Live and Die in L.A." is one of those songs that whisks you away. One of the best songs ever written.
46: MY BLOODY VALENTINE - LOVELESS
Some gorgeous shoegaze. Contains "When You Sleep," one of my favorite songs of all time.
47: BECK - ODELAY
Featuring production from The Dust Brothers, Odelay feels like a white trash version of Paul's Boutique. In other words, it's fucking great.
48: ALICE IN CHAINS - DIRT
The first and last tracks are some of my favorite songs but there's not much that I love in between. Perhaps I need to give it a few more listens.
49: BJÖRK - HOMOGENIC
Another great album I used to go to sleep to. I like all of Björk's first four solo albums nearly equally so this was a tough pick.
50: ALICE IN CHAINS - JAR OF FLIES
A quick half hour EP of some phenomenal Alice in Chains songs. There isn't anything as great as the peaks of Facelift or Dirt but it's more consistent..
What're your favorite albums of the 90s?
Submitted March 30, 2019 at 03:57PM by DungeonessSpit https://ift.tt/2UnZ6By
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