Best Albums of the 1990s

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311.

Incesticide 
Compilation

 Nirvana

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"The first half sits comfortably next to Nevermind, if somewhat less essential. The second half is weaker than the low points of bleach. Then it finishes with one of their best track."  Reply

- australiantibullus | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (6 helpful | 1 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1992

Appears in:

206 charts

Rank Score:

990

Rank in 1992:

27

Rank in 1990s:

311

Overall Rank:

1,727

Average Rating:

 76 (632 votes)

Comments:

31

312.

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Fully Completely 

 The Tragically Hip

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"Sadly, people outside of Canada just do not understand. I, for one, do not understand why you can call anything by Radiohead (for example) more atmospheric or resonant than Locked in the Trunk of a Car. In Canada, this album spawned five modern rock radio staples and began to crystalize the band'...""Sadly, people outside of Canada just do not understand. I, for one, do not understand why you can call anything by Radiohead (for example) more atmospheric or resonant than Locked in the Trunk of a Car. In Canada, this album spawned five modern rock radio staples and began to crystalize the band's status as icons. Stellar, haunting album tracks like Pigeoon Camera only add to this CD's greatness."  [+]  Reply

- jhuik | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1992

Appears in:

144 charts

Rank Score:

987

Rank in 1992:

28

Rank in 1990s:

312

Overall Rank:

1,734

Average Rating:

 77 (152 votes)

Comments:

14

313.

宇宙 日本 世田谷 [Uchū Nippon Setagaya] 

 フィッシュマンズ [Fishmans]

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"One of the ways the Fishmans online community stokes the fire of their fandom is through the creation of "The Seasonal Report", a fanzine consisting of all things concerning the Japanese outfit. Said volumes contain recent Fishmans-related news, fan retrospectives and even occasional poetry. Howe...""One of the ways the Fishmans online community stokes the fire of their fandom is through the creation of "The Seasonal Report", a fanzine consisting of all things concerning the Japanese outfit. Said volumes contain recent Fishmans-related news, fan retrospectives and even occasional poetry. However, the passion project can only be accessed on 'The Fish Tank' (Fishmans' Discord), issuu.com and archive.org. This narrowness of access is an emblematic reminder of the legacy the band has left in its wake. It's a portrait of veracious artisans whose existence and collected works are shrouded in just as much mystery as truth. This attaches value to excavating deep within cavernous labyrinths to find gold among endless, pedestrian sediment. Some things are meant to be uncovered by happenstance and, due to this, many don't find Fishmans. Fishmans find you. Furthermore, it seems fitting that the closing studio effort was 1997's 'Uchu Nippon Setagaya', an eight-chapter odyssey that saw the band fully harness and deploy the optimal strength of their dream pop powers. See, just as Fishmans was destined to be difficult to discover, they also curated a candle which burned ineffably bright for a finite amount of time. At the risk of inducing melodrama, Fishmans' catalog extends beyond the plane of human achievement and dexterity. To put it plainly, it was the music of the angels. Album seven is the final entry in Fishmans' Wakiki Trilogy, so named for the new studio HQ, "Waikiki Beach", provided by the band's record label (Polydor). The sonic space birthed fruitful products, as they went on to release three of their most acclaimed records in this new auditory ecosystem. The upgrade in capital also aided a transition to a more evocative and mellifluous sound, supplanting their dub roots. The new look artistic temperament is unabashed and unshrouded in the opening track of 'Space Japan Setagaya', entitled 'Pokka Pokka'. The opening melody coos with a delicate, childlike disposition, almost with the intention to softly awaken one from a dream. Kin-Ichi Motegi's patient drum beat gently breaks the serenity to pull you in as Sato's falsetto safely ushers you to the next soundscape. His lyrics craft a vision more mournful than on previous records. He sings, "I wish I could be kind only to someone; I wish I could live without relying on tomorrow." Honzi's violin, which served as a lynchpin for the band's dream pop realignment, softly puts the track to bed and marks another tender moment in an already alluring discography. At the close, it becomes clear that it's a heinous crime that 98 percent of the western world will never experience this music but it also functions as a magnificent anomaly to those who greet its majesty. It's like finding a four-leaf clover or witnessing a double rainbow by accident. Track two advances the dynamism as icy keys give way to a submerged bassline from Yuzuru Kashiwabara, who's always been a phenomenal bass player, but 'Weather Report' is one of his finest hours. Also, the production done by ZAK is another highlight, as the song shares DNA with Joy Division's 'Atmosphere'. The glassy, sweeping walls of sound contrast the throbbing, ever-present bassline. It's a heavier, but no less comely moment for the group. 'うしろ姿'opens with concordant ticking, evoking a hair-triggered clock. The bass again buoys as Sato sings, "Sometimes I walk a little too far, sometimes I go a little crazy." The track evolves into a pleasing cacophony of dueling rhythms and melodies, all while reverbed vocals hover in the distance, watching the sounds perpetually crawl over each other. Next, comes one of the album's more tranquil passages. The tale goes that when Sato provided his mates with a demo tape which would become 'Uchu Nippon Setagaya', most of the demos were nearly complete. The band was reluctant to tamper with the grandeur of the work, especially 'In the Flight'. On the final version, Sato's dove coos are obscured and hauntingly placid. A disciplined, observant drumbeat lingers behind as the song slowly dissipates into the ether. It's squarely doleful, ruminating on Sato's own personal sense of creative and personal unfulfillment after the band's first 10 years. The juxtaposition of beauty and sorrow coagulate to create a hymn with an idiosyncratic, potent aura. These are the sort of triumphs Fishmans make look elementary. 'Magic Love' commences with what sounds like junkyard percussion and stakes its claim as the cheeriest cut on the record. There's a lot brewing here and the bombastic production furnishes the immediacy. Its flamboyance isn't to its detriment as 'Magic Love' is still distinctly Fishmans and, therefore, funkily merry. The band rekindle their trip-hop ethos with 'バックビートにのっかって', a slow-churning sway which steadily unravels to don a new sonic identity. Honzi's polite keyboard strokes give way to a more ethereal tone which elicits violin and a more ominous vocal style. "Anxiety hovers in the air at night, it must be ruining someone's life," Sato croons. It's a patient exercise which precurses the maximalist leanings of the subsequent anthem. For the penultimate effort, the album recedes back into itself during the intro of 'Walking in the Rhythm'. Alternating sets of key strokes frame the outer edges of the track as a harmonious chant begins in lock-step while encouraging the listener to 'Walk in the Rhythm'. Clocking in at nearly 13 minutes, this 'Walk' is the record's most prolonged but possibly most serene. Honzi's violin blots the midpoint, as the strings are purposely manic, sonically abyssal and the reverberation creates an illusion of ricocheted amati lost in a spectral wilderness. Soon after, the song shrinks again as a subdued, elongated coda allows the once triumphant harmonies to be ingested subtly by the Earth. 'Walking in the Rhythm' is a masterstroke of simplicity, intention and cognizant repetition. The LP leaves us with its defining statement. 'Daydream' is a bubbling, dilating, caliginous opus that starts with a modest drumbeat. Sato bellows overtop, "A figure in the sunset, standing with a quiet face; They looked so defenseless; They blankly stood." The track oscillates with progressive whimsy, coalescing into a multi-pronged beast of arpeggio. The weighted wheel of guitar that arrives at the track's latter half conjures the sensation of being kissed by the sun after a brief summer rain storm. 'Daydream' gives in to its own anxiety as fragments begin to decouple in a heavenly fashion before dissolving ahead of its full maturation. It remains the most poignant exhibition amongst a marvelous octet of culminating art. When Shinji Sato presented his decade-long collaborators with his sparkling demo tape for what would become the final record, they were puzzled and questioned their place in an outfit that was rapidly becoming singular. However, Sato's intentions were noble and driven by a pursuit to make music that had the capacity to "change a person's life". In reality, Sato trusted his bandmates to interpret and execute his artistic vision and they too checked their egos in order to produce something wholly momentous. Despite not knowing the full vulnerability of Sato's personal headspace, Kashiwabara and Motegi were aware of the pain he carried as a result of watching his band dissolve in front of his eyes. So, as a reactionary measure, Sato employed loneliness to combat future loneliness. The byproduct was a record marked by solemnity but bathed in a whimsical elixir of creative utopia, a paradise which Sato deeply longed for. His relentless pursuit of perfection was his final undertaking. Sato died in March of 1999, but his bandmates still visit his grave to politely conversate. For theirs is a bond which never can be severed, not even by death. Fishmans still exist, as Sato would've surely wanted, never straying from their desire to plot a path through rain clouds to reach the gleaming sun of ambition and the vivid sky of artistic fulfillment. "I'm filling the holes in my heart, little by little" -Pokka Pokka 1. Daydream 2. Walking in the Rhythm 3. In the Flight 95.3"  [+]  Reply

- DriftingOrpheus | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1997

Appears in:

108 charts

Rank Score:

986

Rank in 1997:

33

Rank in 1990s:

313

Overall Rank:

1,735

Average Rating:

 81 (146 votes)

Comments:

7

314.

Americana 

 The Offspring

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"A couple of great songs on here which combine pop and punk very effectively to create a fun fusion. This is mainly due to the energy and the catchy choruses which easily get lodged in your head and I end up singing them for days. Most of the better songs are near the beginning of the release such...""A couple of great songs on here which combine pop and punk very effectively to create a fun fusion. This is mainly due to the energy and the catchy choruses which easily get lodged in your head and I end up singing them for days. Most of the better songs are near the beginning of the release such as Staring At The Sun, Have You Ever and the best song on the record which is The Kids Aren't Alright. All of these stick to the style of music they are going for perfectly and are so infectious. You do get a few good tracks near the conclusion but most of them are filler. However, the biggest downfall of this album is that it can be very cringey at times making it hard to take the music seriously. Also, it is very repetitive in its song structure and style. Overall, there is a lot of fun to be had on this album but the quality is questionable. "  [+]  Reply

- Untitled | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1998

Appears in:

203 charts

Rank Score:

983

Rank in 1998:

35

Rank in 1990s:

314

Overall Rank:

1,741

Average Rating:

 72 (316 votes)

Comments:

18

315.

Sixteen Stone 

 Bush

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"Sixteen Stone, sixteen degrees of awesomeness. As far as debut albums go this is one of the best. Sadly Bush would never came within a Bulls Roar of repeating Sixteen Stone ( though Swallowed is pretty awesome) . I’ve had a long love affair with this album and often play it to this day . All kill...""Sixteen Stone, sixteen degrees of awesomeness. As far as debut albums go this is one of the best. Sadly Bush would never came within a Bulls Roar of repeating Sixteen Stone ( though Swallowed is pretty awesome) . I’ve had a long love affair with this album and often play it to this day . All killer and no filler bar Testosterone which is easily the albums only weak link. This Album has amazing space, meaning it’s best listened to on a HIFI or car stereo, listening on head phones doesn’t do the album justice. I am proud to say Sixteen Stone sits comfortably in my top dozen favourite albums of all time ."  [+]  Reply

- Brad1770 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1994

Appears in:

200 charts

Rank Score:

979

Rank in 1994:

47

Rank in 1990s:

315

Overall Rank:

1,748

Average Rating:

 72 (266 votes)

Comments:

20

316.

A Northern Soul 

 The Verve

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"The songs, such as they are, are long and have little structure, the production is murky and raw and harrowing, the tempo is unchanging to the point of testing endurance. There is no joy or even solace to be found in this record, only unforgiving turmoil. It is a traumatic realisation of the hope...""The songs, such as they are, are long and have little structure, the production is murky and raw and harrowing, the tempo is unchanging to the point of testing endurance. There is no joy or even solace to be found in this record, only unforgiving turmoil. It is a traumatic realisation of the hopelessness of human existence, a document of fractured mentalities, the sound of four young men old before their time, scarred by life, already dead once and now desperately striving to be alive for just a moment before it all fades. Songs in the key of pain. Modern, urban, tortured psychedelic soul [...] A wall of noise, a sea of anguish, a masterpiece. On a hillside somewhere in the distance a man screams his desolation at the sky and curses his birth, overcome with fear that this emptiness may be all he can ever know. This record is his scream."  [+]  Reply

- marazico | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1995

Appears in:

210 charts

Rank Score:

972

Rank in 1995:

32

Rank in 1990s:

316

Overall Rank:

1,758

Average Rating:

 74 (293 votes)

Comments:

14

317.

Clarity 

 Jimmy Eat World

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"Much, much, much better than Bleed American. More ambitious, diverse, melodic, angsty, better sung, and in general considerably less constrained with superficial stuff like "trying to make an album that will sell". On Clarity there's the confrontational blissful opener "Table for Glasses", the ca...""Much, much, much better than Bleed American. More ambitious, diverse, melodic, angsty, better sung, and in general considerably less constrained with superficial stuff like "trying to make an album that will sell". On Clarity there's the confrontational blissful opener "Table for Glasses", the catchy as hell "Lucky Denver Mint" (catchier than anything Weezer was doing at the time this record was released, for sure), the adorable hook and bell arrangements on "A Sunday", Jim Adkins powerful vocal performance on the title track, and the imaginative sprawling beauty of "Goodbye Sky Harbor". The fact that a band like this spent so much time working on that final track in order to make a statement that deserved to be remembered never ceases to make me admire the 90's as a fantastic time for popular music."  [+]  Reply

- Lacobra | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1999

Appears in:

137 charts

Rank Score:

971

Rank in 1999:

35

Rank in 1990s:

317

Overall Rank:

1,761

Average Rating:

 73 (210 votes)

Comments:

5

318.

Pygmalion 

 Slowdive

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"To me, this is so clearly Slowdive's masterpiece. It's potent, and has a timelessness to it. If I had heard this, and someone had told me it came out today, I could totally believe that. There are albums from ten years ago that don't hold up as well as this breezy, haunting collection of songs."  Reply

- HoldenM | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1995

Appears in:

178 charts

Rank Score:

965

Rank in 1995:

33

Rank in 1990s:

318

Overall Rank:

1,768

Average Rating:

 77 (235 votes)

Comments:

12

319.

Fashion Nugget 

 Cake

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"I shouldn't like that album and that band but I can't help myself. "The Distance" is great. the texts hilarious, the melodies catchy. And that version of "I Will Survive" on which the singer sounds half dead or full-gone on Prozac. Too lol."  Reply

- Robert Anton Wilson | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1996

Appears in:

222 charts

Rank Score:

954

Rank in 1996:

30

Rank in 1990s:

319

Overall Rank:

1,786

Average Rating:

 74 (310 votes)

Comments:

11

320.

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Eureka 

 Jim O'Rourke

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"A comprehensive conclusion in catharsis and joy Jim O'Rourke has never ceased to confuse me. The more I learn, the less I know, but I guess that's with anything. I think I first discovered this album through BEA on some random chart I can’t remember. I was, like most, visibly and audibly shocked ...""A comprehensive conclusion in catharsis and joy Jim O'Rourke has never ceased to confuse me. The more I learn, the less I know, but I guess that's with anything. I think I first discovered this album through BEA on some random chart I can’t remember. I was, like most, visibly and audibly shocked by the cover. Who wouldn’t be? Bright pink and some fat dude pleasuring himself with what appears to be a plush bunny. The stuff of fever dreams and nightmares. Suffice to say, my expectations were far off from what this album truly is. Because there isn’t an album more gorgeous. The night is dark and full of bad memories. The dreams didn’t live up to reality and now you’re stumbling on the sidewalk towards the opposite direction of wherever you need to be going. There is no work, there is no school, there is no joy, there is no love. There only is the life you’re running from and the few people who are also up and out in these wee small hours. There is only the sidewalk that fills vision. The dew makes it into your shoes and the grime covers your hands; car exhaust fills your nostril and tears fill your eyes. Stupid tears. It is over. Once again, this time is the last, it is utterly and completely over. Fatigue increases and the stumble slows. You give up on walking, just like you’ve given up everything else. You pick a nice spot on the sidewalk at your side. You sit up against a wall and rest for just a few minutes. You look up for the first time in what seems like your whole life. In one fleeting moment, the crack of thunder in a brain fog, the dawn breaks above. The world is tremendous. I can’t explain the effect this album has had on me. When I learned there was a movie, I had to see it. Yurika by Shinji Aoyama is a deep expression of a human cry into the night. A dark, cynical movie about trauma and loneliness. It is one of the greatest films ever made. The title track of this album, Eureka, plays a prominent role. The greatest 9 minutes in all of cinema. It hasn’t left my head since and it never will. This album will always be here for me. This is the album. -Sen "  [+]  Reply

- seb7 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful) A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.

Year of Release:

1999

Appears in:

131 charts

Rank Score:

951

Rank in 1999:

36

Rank in 1990s:

320

Overall Rank:

1,789

Average Rating:

 79 (139 votes)

Comments:

9

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Total albums: 1,000. Page 32 of 100

Best Albums of the 1990s composition

Top 1,000 Top 500 Top 250 Top 100

Year	Albums	%
1990	84	8%
1991	85	9%
1992	105	11%
1993	105	11%
1994	127	13%
1995	103	10%
1996	108	11%
1997	98	10%
1998	101	10%
1999	84	8%

Artist	Albums	%
Blur	6	1%
The Flaming Lips	6	1%
Tori Amos	5	1%
Pavement	5	1%
Suede	5	1%
Yo La Tengo	5	1%
Radiohead	5	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	529	53%
	271	27%
	42	4%
	28	3%
	23	2%
	16	2%
	12	1%
Show all

Compilation?	Albums	%
No	986	99%
Yes	14	1%

Live?	Albums	%
No	981	98%
Yes	19	2%

Soundtrack?	Albums	%
No	992	99%
Yes	8	1%