My Top Ten
As a life-long music enthusiast, I have acquired a very eclectic taste. Join me on a journey through my top ten albums of the 1990s!
Nirvana - Nevermind
Some consider this to be the single most important rock album of the 1990s. The album opened the door to a number of Seattle-based angst-ridden bands. Grunge was the new style for the 1990s and the glam-metal rock bands were on their way out.
Rock tracks Smells Like Teen Spirit, Lithium, and Come As You Are have since become classics of this raw, slick album. Selling well over ten million copies the album skyrocketed Kurt Cobain into the orbit of rock icons. No Grammy Awards for this one, though.
Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
U2 - Achtung Baby
The band’s eighth album came about during their retreat to Berlin, Germany. Achtung Baby brought together three of my favorite producers. Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, and Steve Lilywhite, a winning combination which resulted in more than nine million copies sold.
Eno was especially keen to transform the U2 sound as he had previously done with David Bowie on the albums Low, Heroes, and Lodger. U2’s new sound was reflected in the first song on the album, The Fly, where you hear The Edge’s gritty guitar with Bono’s distorted vocals. The single attained number one spot in the UK.
The album won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group.
U2 -One
Green Day - Dookie
In the 1990s I shared an appreciation of this album with my teenage sons. It is always a good thing when parents and teens agree on listening (loudly) to the same music!
This nuevo punk album followed the formula of “loud, snotty, catchy, three-minute pop-punk anthems, delivered with a sneer and a smile”. On the Billboard chart the album reached Number Two. More than ten million copies were sold and the album netted one Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance.
Green Day – She
Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
This angst-ridden album proves that “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” through a collection of painful love songs.
In 1995, when the album was released Morissette, at the age of nineteen, had already released a couple of albums in Canada. It was Jagged Little Pill which made her known across the globe.
The album did very well at the Grammy Awards, winning Album of the Year, Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song and Best Female Rock Performance for You Oughta Know.
Alanis Morissette – You Oughta Know
Shania Twain - Come On Over
Another top album from another Canadian woman, this album holds the top spot of all 1990s albums based on the number of platinum and multi-platinum sales as certified by the Recording Industry Association of America and the British Phonographic Industry.
This was Twain’s second album with her husband and producer Matt Lange. The winning combination of talents resulted in 22 platinum awards.
Grammy Awards include Best Female Country Vocal Performance for Man, I Feel Like A Woman, Best Country Song for Come On Over. You’re Still the One, won the same two awards the previous year.
Shania Twain – Man! I Feel Like A Woman!
Oasis - What’s The Story Morning Glory
Oasis, fronted by brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher, reached their peak in the UK with this album. While the single Don’t Look Back In Anger was a Number One in Britain it failed to make the same impact in the US only reaching Number 55 on the charts. After being hailed as the new Beatles in the UK, this Brit-pop album managed to hit Number 4 on the Billboard charts in the USA.
The single Wonderwall was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance. Even though the album found some success in America, no singles from the album were popular nor did it win any Grammy awards.
Oasis – Don’t Look Back In Anger
Fugees - The Score
Bringing together three different tastes from three MCs, Lauryn Hill, Pras and Wyclef, The Score offered a different take on rap, not quite the macho-gangster type that was so evident in the mid 1990s.
The Score mixes up hip-hop with a combination of reggae, soul, gospel, and blues. Even though the singles Killing Me Softly and Ready Or Not didn’t appear on the Top 40 in the US the album managed to go multi-platinum.
Grammy awards were received for Best Rap Album, Best R&B Performance By A Duo or Group for Killing Me Softly With His Song.
Fugees – Killing Me Softly With His Song
Brian Eno - Nerve Net
This is one of my all-time favorite albums. Referred to as “mood music for science geeks,” there is plenty that is experimental electronic dance music due to the funk-rock elements, synthesizers, and the guitar genius of Brian Eno and guitarist Robert Fripp.
The tracks Ali Click, Ju Ju Space Jazz, and Fractal Zoom quite often find their way into my DJ dance mixes. These two songs have also inspired remixes from Moby, Markus Dravs, and Isaac Osapanin. No Grammy for this one.
Brian Eno – Ali Click
1990s Music Books at Amazon
1990s Music at Amazon
20th Century Music at Radio.Garden
A selection of oldies and classic rock music radio from across the globe to enjoy at Radio.Garden
Radio.Garden – Stream the planet! Radio Garden works by crawling the web for radio streams from across the globe. Using this data, the stations are arranged by geolocation and grouped by cities, represented by a dot, with larger dots representing numerous stations within the town or city.
- 90s Radio (Germany)
- c97.7 (Canada)
- Cronos 90s (Mexico)
- Heart 90s Radio (UK)
- La Ponderosa 90s (Columbia)
- Nation 90s (UK)
- ON 90’s (Germany)
- Oxygen The 90s Hits (Hungary)
- RMF Radio Dance (Poland)
- Radio Austria Best of the 90s
- Radio 10 90s Hits (Netherlands)
- Retro FM 90s (Russia)
- Rouge 90s (Switzerland)
- Tangerang Radio 90s (Indonesia)
Resources Consulted:
100 Best-Selling Albums of the 90s,
Amber Books, 2004
More to Explore
U2 Achtung Baby 30th Anniversary – Thirty years ago, Bono described Achtung Baby as “the sound of four men chopping down The Joshua Tree” while Jon Pareles of the New York Times wrote that “stripped-down and defying its old formulas, U2 has given itself a fighting chance for the 1990’s“. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance and became one of the most significant records of the nineties and of U2’s career.
Now That’s What I call Music! Vol.78 and Now That’s What I Call A Decade! 1990s – Celebrate the best top hits AND the best hits of the 1990s!
Who Was David Bowie’s Great-Great-Grandfather? – One doesn’t need to be a famous person to come across a similar dilemma when climbing a family tree and comparing it with those who have climbed before you on Ancestry or similar communities. What can you do when an individual leads to more than one possible set of parents? How can you determine which is the correct line?
1980s Music My Top 10 – As a life-long music enthusiast I have acquired a very eclectic taste.
Shop With Me – As an independent content creator my income comes from purchases via my affiliates. These hand-picked partners were chosen with care. This shopping directory provides an eclectic shopping experience and I appreciate any purchases you may enjoy as it supports my efforts to provide content.
