Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s
by Romanelli

• Chart updated: 38 hours ago
• (Created: 12/04/2011 20:30).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

There are 22 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s has an average rating of 87 out of 100 (from 45 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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54. (=)

Down By The Old Mainstream 

 Golden Smog

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1995 – RYKODISC
Produced By GOLDEN SMOG & SIR JAMES BUNCHBERRY

1. V
2. Ill Fated
3. Pecan Pie
4. Yesterday Cried
5. Glad & Sorry
6. Won’t be Coming Home
7. He’s A Dick
8. Walk Where He Walked
9. Nowhere Bound
10. Friend
11. She Didn’t Have To See You
12. Red Headed Stepchild
13. Williamton Angel
14. Radio King

Bands are rarely as much fun as Golden Smog. Not exactly a supergroup (because they really do not take themselves seriously at all), the lineage of this group is often more entertaining than their albums. The core and constant members are Gary Louris and Marc Perlman (Jayhawks), Dan Murphy (Soul Asylum), and Kraig Johnson (Run Westy Run), with a revolving door that includes members of Wilco, Big Star, and The Replacements. Originally conceived as a blow off steam cover band, they added Jeff Tweedy for their full length debut album, Down By The Old Mainstream. It contains all of the things that make the band so much fun, and it also has enough weaknesses to make you wonder, “what if?”. The band has an arsenal of three very good songwriters in Tweedy, Louris and Murphy, and the members are all excellent players. So, what in the world could possibly go wrong with a project like this?

On the plus side, the songs by the above listed three are all very good. The real highlights are in Louris’ “V” and “Won’t Be Coming Home”, Tweedy’s “Pecan Pie”, and Murphy’s “Ill Fated”. The collaboration “Radio King” and the Ronnie Lane cover, “Glad & Sorry”, are also excellent choices. But…the album sounds as if it was recorded almost in one take. There is not a whole lot of care taken to make sure things are right (particularly vocally), which makes for some pretty sloppy performances. And, the band’s biggest weakness, Kraig Johnson, sings and writes more songs than anyone else, and they are all significantly lesser tracks than the ones contributed by the other members. With a bit more thought, this album could have been great…more care in the studio, less emphasis on Johnson, and a little bit more desire to be more than just a fun side project would make the high moments on this album really stand out. Fun, uneven, entertaining, and man, I wish they would have cared more. [First added to this chart: 09/10/2013]

Year of Release:

1995

Appears in:

20 charts

Rank Score:

51

Rank in 1995:

333

Rank in 1990s:

3,220

Overall Rank:

20,207

Average Rating:

 71 (9 votes)

Comments:

1

81. (=)

Weird Tales 

 Golden Smog

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1998-RYKODISC
Produced By BRIAN PAULSON

1. To Call My Own
2. Looking Forward To Seeing you
3. Until You Came Along
4. Lost Love
5. If I Only Had A Car
6. Jane
7. Keys
8. I Can’t Keep From Talking
9. Reflections On My
10. Making Waves
11. White Shell Road
12. Please Tell My Brother
13. Fear Of Falling
14. All The Same To Me
15. Jennifer Save Me

Easily the most fun of any supergroup in history, Golden Smog began life in 1987 as Take It To The Limit, when they played a show of Eagles covers and “Walk Like An Egyptian”. Their next show was as Her Satanic Majesty’s Paycheck. The original recording band was Dan Murphy (Soul Asylum), Gary Louris and Marc Perlman (Jayhawks), Kraig Johnson (Run Westy Run) and Chris Mars (The Replacements). Mars was eventually replaced by Big Star drummer Jody Stephens, and the band added Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. After an EP of covers called On Golden Smog, they released their first album, Down By The Old Mainstream, in 1995.

Weird Tales came next. Part of what makes Golden Smog so appealing, their sense of fun and not taking themselves too seriously, is what makes most of their albums a disappointment. And while the Louris and Tweedy material is fine, the songs by Murphy tend to be a downer, and Kraig Johnson is a pretty awful singer (you’ve got a band full of lead singers, Kraig…give it up!). You get the feeling that they could have taken their time a bit more and come up with a better finished product. Plus, on Weird Tales, there’s nothing as fine as the previous album’s “Radio King” or “Pecan Pie” to hold it up. Weird Tales is a good sounding album with nothing that will stick in your head to enjoy later. [First added to this chart: 12/08/2011]

Year of Release:

1998

Appears in:

20 charts

Rank Score:

58

Rank in 1998:

290

Rank in 1990s:

2,932

Overall Rank:

18,368

Average Rating:

 74 (16 votes)

Comments:

4

Total albums: 2. Page 1 of 1

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s composition

Year	Albums	%
1990	9	9%
1991	10	10%
1992	15	15%
1993	17	17%
1994	13	13%
1995	11	11%
1996	6	6%
1997	9	9%
1998	8	8%
1999	2	2%

Artist	Albums	%
Uncle Tupelo	4	4%
Nirvana	3	3%
Pearl Jam	3	3%
The Smashing Pumpkins	2	2%
The Black Crowes	2	2%
Golden Smog	2	2%
Son Volt	2	2%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	79	79%
	11	11%
	3	3%
	3	3%
	1	1%
	1	1%
	1	1%
Show all

Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 7 from 66th to 59th Foolish by Superchunk

Biggest fallers
Down 1 from 59th to 60th Get A Grip by Aerosmith
Down 1 from 60th to 61st Core by Stone Temple Pilots
Down 1 from 61st to 62nd I Am The Cosmos by Chris Bell

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s ratings

Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 45 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
50/100	02/09/2023 22:04	pedro1976	107	85/100
65/100	02/06/2023 02:26	jonatascv1990	14	78/100
100/100	02/10/2022 00:40	Larcx13	1,142	86/100
90/100	06/26/2021 23:01	zwiebel	189	86/100
100/100	05/03/2021 09:53	jnfbn	310	96/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 86.8/100, a mean average of 85.9/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 87.1/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 17.1.

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s favourites

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Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s comments

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Rating:  

65/100

From jonatascv1990 02/06/2023 02:27

Good chart!

#293622 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

100/100

From Larcx13 02/10/2022 00:44

Good descriptions and a bunch of new records for me to check out. Favorited.

#281051 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

95/100

From henrygreen0203 05/04/2021 18:49

This is an excellent list. Lots of "alt-country" here, which is much more Replacements-Meets-Bruce Springsteen than traditional folk or country.

#269358 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

From seb7 05/03/2021 18:04

I can't really give a good rating because I haven't listened to 96 of these albums, but I just want to say that I am convinced that Romanelli and AM are the same person

#269325 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From Johnnyo 05/03/2021 09:28

Great chart

#269302 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From ExTeaSea 01/18/2020 16:05

I really appreciate some of the more personal picks. This is a really good chart. 14 albums in common is pretty good. Perhaps one day I'll check out Uncle Tupelo.

#246969 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

85/100

From ForegroundNoise 05/30/2019 07:36

Really love the detailed notes and careful selections!! I still feel it's a little too focused on American alt-rock for my liking however, would be nice to see some electronic releases/more hip hop besides Public Enemy at no.73!

#236903 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

90/100

From RoundTheBend 05/30/2019 02:57

23 albums in common. Solid other picks!

#236900 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

100/100

From edubs 05/29/2019 20:20

awesome chart!

#236889 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:  

100/100

From HoldenM 10/01/2017 05:52

Ahhh... That's a great chart right there.

#198955 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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