Best Albums of the 1990s

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2.

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Nevermind 

 Nirvana

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"'IF this album were to be erased from history tonight, you would find little on what precious darlings of what is called "indie."' No! Nirvana did not invent indie rock, or even so-called alternative music. That would be Black Flag, Husker Du, The Replacements, R.E.M. The Pixies, Sonic Youth, Din...""'IF this album were to be erased from history tonight, you would find little on what precious darlings of what is called "indie."' No! Nirvana did not invent indie rock, or even so-called alternative music. That would be Black Flag, Husker Du, The Replacements, R.E.M. The Pixies, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, and a bunch of other trailblazers that predated Nirvana by 5-10 years. Go read Route 66: On the Road to Nirvana or Our Band Could be Your Life to learn the history. What Nirvana does get credit for though is bringing alternative music into the mainstream. They were the band that kicked open the door, but there were countless bands that laid the foundation for Nirvana's success. As jojoexile wrote two posts down: "Timing is everything" and Nirvana was simply the right band at the right time. "  [+]  Reply

- Mr. Shankly | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +14 votes (15 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:

1991

Appears in:

3,249 charts

Rank Score:

36,653

Rank in 1991:

1

Rank in 1990s:

2

Overall Rank:

13

Average Rating:

 87 (4,364 votes)

Comments:

414

3.

In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 

 Neutral Milk Hotel

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"It's a strange phenomenon that this record has garnered so much critical acclaim. With its simplistic harmonic progressions and expectable cadences, and with its lo-fi production value, and Jeff Magnum's vocals (under normal circumstances, underwhelming), the tracks are not exactly complex in a m...""It's a strange phenomenon that this record has garnered so much critical acclaim. With its simplistic harmonic progressions and expectable cadences, and with its lo-fi production value, and Jeff Magnum's vocals (under normal circumstances, underwhelming), the tracks are not exactly complex in a musical context. But it's these very qualities that In the Aeroplane over the Sea owes its charm. If, on the other hand, we consider the highlights, what we have is a very carefully arranged and structured work with seamless transitions from track to track, and centering around (or influenced by) the birth, experiences, death, and memory of a miss Anne Frank. This can literally be considered an album - or a concept album, if you must need call it that - as opposed to a collection of songs, which has invariably become the norm for developing records. We have beautifully elementary horn arrangements by Robert Schneider and Scott Spillane. What we have are raw, realistic vocals relating stories naturally, sanguinely, and without restraint. What we have is Magnum's lyricism that's vivid in its descriptions. While it might not be impressive in ways normally envisioned by listeners and critics of rock, ItAotS is spirited enough to ameliorate most of the complaints that arise. This piece requires more than five listens to 'get it' - it's not an instant payoff. Allow it to grow on you. "  [+]  Reply

- soundguardian | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +18 votes (23 helpful | 5 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:

2,430 charts

Rank Score:

30,672

Rank in 1998:

1

Rank in 1990s:

3

Overall Rank:

18

Average Rating:

 87 (2,974 votes)

Comments:

432

6.

Automatic For The People 

 R.E.M.

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"After years of hearing about Weaver D's--the Athens, Georgia, soul food eatery that spawned the catchphrase that R.E.M. borrowed for the title of this album--I finally had a chance to visit there in 2013, just a few months before they closed their doors for good. I can confirm that their fried ch...""After years of hearing about Weaver D's--the Athens, Georgia, soul food eatery that spawned the catchphrase that R.E.M. borrowed for the title of this album--I finally had a chance to visit there in 2013, just a few months before they closed their doors for good. I can confirm that their fried chicken and black-eyed peas were second to none, and I also can confirm that Dexter Weaver did indeed respond, "Automatic," when he took my order. As for the album that the members of R.E.M. created in honor of this Georgia institution, it's one of the band's best, and that's saying something. It's quite a bit more accessible, more radio friendly, than a lot of their work from the eighties, but still as lyrically oblique as ever. My favorite track, "Find the River," uses the song's namesake river as a metaphor for the kind of artistic seeking that has marked the band's whole career: "I have got to find the river / Bergamot and vetiver / Run through my head and fall away." A great summary of the place R.E.M.'s music has had in my life ever since I first heard them in the mid-eighties."  [+]  Reply

- buzzdainer | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 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:

1,848 charts

Rank Score:

18,934

Rank in 1992:

1

Rank in 1990s:

6

Overall Rank:

45

Average Rating:

 84 (2,234 votes)

Comments:

178

7.

Ten 

 Pearl Jam

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"Someone unfamiliar with Pearl Jam might confuse this with a greatest hits album. This is just about as good as debut albums get. Certainly top 5 debut of all time. Very emotional, powerful stuff from these guys. Their best."  Reply

- AAL2014 | 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:

1991

Appears in:

1,865 charts

Rank Score:

18,005

Rank in 1991:

3

Rank in 1990s:

7

Overall Rank:

52

Average Rating:

 82 (2,362 votes)

Comments:

181

8.

Grace 

 Jeff Buckley

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"Jeff Buckley isn’t only the most beautiful voice of the century, in my opinion; he’s also the most under-rated artist, with no doubt. Grace is his legacy, the only album he made. 1994’s Grace is outstanding, mysterious and truly sad. The lead song, Mojo Pin, is like a ray of sun almost blocked by...""Jeff Buckley isn’t only the most beautiful voice of the century, in my opinion; he’s also the most under-rated artist, with no doubt. Grace is his legacy, the only album he made. 1994’s Grace is outstanding, mysterious and truly sad. The lead song, Mojo Pin, is like a ray of sun almost blocked by a big tree. The title-song of the album shows Jeff’s vocal skills. He’s not only a great guitar player but also an incredible song writer. In the decade of grunge rock, Grace gives you sadness in a delightful way."  [+]  Reply

- arthurbittencourt | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +9 votes (9 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:

1,751 charts

Rank Score:

17,692

Rank in 1994:

1

Rank in 1990s:

8

Overall Rank:

54

Average Rating:

 84 (1,986 votes)

Comments:

173

9.

Siamese Dream 

 The Smashing Pumpkins

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"This album is tremendous. One of the best of the 90s for sure. Standout tracks to me are Mayonaise, Today, and Hummer. blackflag29, great comment. I love the Mayonaise comparison to Loveless."  Reply

- Rounder89 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (7 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:

1993

Appears in:

1,633 charts

Rank Score:

17,356

Rank in 1993:

1

Rank in 1990s:

9

Overall Rank:

55

Average Rating:

 85 (1,969 votes)

Comments:

152

11.

In Utero 

 Nirvana

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"If Lennon's Plastic Ono Band and the Pixies had a child, it wouldn't be born, it would stay in utero. :P"  Reply

- motownfreak15 | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +20 votes (20 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:

1993

Appears in:

1,793 charts

Rank Score:

17,125

Rank in 1993:

2

Rank in 1990s:

11

Overall Rank:

58

Average Rating:

 85 (2,701 votes)

Comments:

178

13.

Illmatic 

 Nas

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"well, ironically it's become one of my favourite albums.. perhaps it was a little unlike what i was accustomed to hip-hop-wise, even nas-wise for that matter.. and after declaring my indifference for it, i actually found myself listening to it all the time.. and it soon painted this awesome pictu...""well, ironically it's become one of my favourite albums.. perhaps it was a little unlike what i was accustomed to hip-hop-wise, even nas-wise for that matter.. and after declaring my indifference for it, i actually found myself listening to it all the time.. and it soon painted this awesome picture of what it might have been like to grow up in new york circa the early 90s.. it's definitely an albums album."  [+]  Reply

- telefunker | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +18 votes (18 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:

1,383 charts

Rank Score:

15,694

Rank in 1994:

3

Rank in 1990s:

13

Overall Rank:

68

Average Rating:

 86 (1,605 votes)

Comments:

113

15.

Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness 

 The Smashing Pumpkins

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"mellon collie is huge and is often knocked for being too bloated. Many critics say, if it was trimmed to a single album, it'd be even better than siamese dream. Even if it were bloated, that statement itself says that mellon collie based on some of its parts is better than siamese dream, and i'd ...""mellon collie is huge and is often knocked for being too bloated. Many critics say, if it was trimmed to a single album, it'd be even better than siamese dream. Even if it were bloated, that statement itself says that mellon collie based on some of its parts is better than siamese dream, and i'd agree. Where siamese dream is great because of great songs and the freshness of the pumpkin sound, mellon collie is even better because it has more great songs and perfects the pumpkin sound. They rock harder here than on SD -- check out "zero" or "an ode to no one" or "where boys fear to tread" or "x.y.u.". (These songs rocked harder than most of roblee's metal/rock.) They're more beautiful than on SD. They've written just as catchy pop songs as SD -- mellon collie even topped "today" with "1979". They capture frustration and pain and love perfectly. Since this is one of my favorite albums of all-time, i'll give a track-by-track review. DAWN TO DUSK [disc 1] MCATIS: Pleasant intro track. Tonight, Tonight: Sweeping and epic. Lovely and delicate. "Time is never time at all / you can never ever leave / without leaving a piece of you". I'm a fan of even-better-than-the-rest-of-the-song endings and this song has it in its particular grand summation. Believe in me...tonight. Jellybelly: Situated between two radio releases, this song holds its own between the epic and the fiery self-deprecation. It's a little overreaching with its lyrical emptiness stating "living makes me sick", but the rocking riffwork and vocal delivery makes up for the little lyrical inadequacy here. I like this wordplay: "give in to your forevers / and live for always". Zero: The shrieking "YOU!" ending "jellybelly" leads into this song which i basically have memorized. Interesting metaphors/analogies in here, like "i'm the face in your dreams of glass" and "my reflection / dirty mirror / is no connection to myself" and "emptiness is loneliness, and loneliness is cleanliness and cleanliness is godliness, and god is empty just like me ". And this song has a mad rush of terror at the end punctuated by loneliness. Here is no Why: The loneliness continues here as billy sings about "the lonely towers of long mistakes /to forgotten faces and faded loves ". Nice song to bridge the power of "zero" and "bullet". Bullet with Butterfly Wings: Interesting metaphor. Song starts out "the world is a vampire" and is about "betrayed desired" culminating in a chorus that says "despite all my rage, i'm am still just a rat in a cage". (Take "rat in a cage", remove almost all the inside letters, and you end up with "rage". Was this intended?) To Forgive: This song is a beautiful comedown from "bullet" starting "ten times removed / i forget about where it all began / bastard son of a bastard son of / a wild eyed child of the sun ". About "holding back the fool again" where "i forget to forget nothing is important". An Ode To No One: I think the "i'd never be the shine in your spit" lyric sums this song up. It's grating, pissed off and in your face. And it rocks. "This message is for anyone who dares to hear a fool". "Destroy the mind / destroy the body / but you cannot destroy the heart". A lot of fun lyrics. This song shreds at the end screaming "I DON'T NEED YOUR LOVE TO DISCONNECT!". Love: Another great comedown with the foreboding synths of "love" about "my mistakes of cowardace". It sounds offhanded and simple, but the lyric of "love, it's who you know" is generally appropriate. The guitar licks sound synth-lick too. It's like he's saying love has an artificial quality. cupid de locke: This song sounds sweet but is full of mischief and unfulfilled desires. "Your world be shattered with nary a note / Of one cupids arrow under your coat " ending in what sounds like a first-person insight upon the world of love: "And in the land of star crossed lovers / And barren hearted wanderers / Forever lost in forsaken missives and Satan's pull / We seek the unseekable and we speak the unspeakable / Our hopes dead gathering dust to dust / In faith, in compassion, and in love". galapagos: "Aint it funny how we pretend we're still a child". Soft-sung at first, this one gracefully builds into a confessional where billy pleads "rescue me from me and all that i believe". It's a song questioning whether to love at all basically saying to believe in love is to be as innocent and naive as a child regarding all the (negative) possibilities of love. In the 3 song suite about love, this concluding number is the most beautiful and endearing. muzzle: Another song with a Tnotch ending with some revealing lines like "my life has been extraordinary / blessed and cursed and won / time heals but i'm forever broken " where "the world so hard to understand / is the world your can't live without / and i knew the silence of the world ". Love unrequited. take me down: James Iha sings this one where "all i see is you". It's a nice little number by itself and doesn't seem out of place on the album, but IMO unnecessary in the grand scheme of the album. There's enough of a comedown in "muzzle" to seque well into the first track of the next disc. TWILIGHT TO STARLIGHT [disc 2] where boys fear to tread: this slow-build shredder kicks off the "twilight to starlight" second disc. It's an ominous beginning musically detailing the "king of horseflies, dark prince of death" telling of the remnants of a love lost with "A veiled promise to never die / On dead highways". bodies: "bodies" ups the ante of devastation, both lyrically and with the guitar, stating plainly "love is suicide". Those who perish to love?: "The empty bodies stand at rest / Casualties of their own flesh / Afflicted by their dispossession". You can feel the pain when he screams "no bodies!". "love is suicide" indeed. thirty-three: The above shreadfest couplet slips into 3 more georgeous songs anticing us back to the arms of love. "33" starts "speak to me in a language i can hear / humor me before i have to go". He's forgiving everyone accepting love's end yet still in denial, self-deprecating in honesty professing "tomorrow's just an excuse away". Beautiful anguish captured in this beautiful lyric "I know I'll make it, love can last forever / Graceful swans of never topple to the Earth". Another tune that can tear me up. in the arms of sleep: love is a dream. this song continues the sentiments of "33", shuffling along slowly through the residual pain. "peace will not come to this lonely heart" ending wonderfully/tragically "suffer my desire". 1979: You've heard this song. It's a trip along memory lane across a simpler time of youthful fancy. This may be the dream alluded to in the previous song. Upbeat and catchy (it's fun when the drum (machine?) kicks in), a more foot-tapping version of "today". a lot of fun lyrics in here. "on a live wire right up off the street / you and i should meet" for "Justine never knew the rules, / Hung down with the freaks and the ghouls". But no matter what happens regarding the blues or one's destiny "we don't know / Just where our bones will rest / To dust I guess / Forgotten and absorbed to the earth below". Love this song. Upbeat and yet somewhat despondant. tales of a scorched earth: you can instantly tell this song's gonna kick your ass, with the train wreck of guitar and billy's distorted screams of "farewell goodnight last one out turn out the lights" proclaiming an answer to his torturous question "why do the same old things keep on happening? / because beyond my hopes there are no feelings ". And just when you think the song is losing momentum it kicks your ass again 2/3 of the way. The line "i lie just to be real, and i'd die just to feel" is a little overdramatic, but affective in the context of this slayer. thru the eyes of ruby: an eerie calm awaits on the other side of "scorched earth". it's the surreal aftermath speaking in tongues like "wrap me in always and drag me in with maybes" and "i believe in never, i believe in all the way" but "belief is just some faith / and faith can't help you to escape". Guitars rise throughout the song following in the momentum of "scorched earth". then it trails off into pretty dreamland as an intro to... stumbleine: this is the breather between rockers singing "Boredoms in the bathroom shaking out the loose teeth" where, if you were at their concert performing the whole album straight-through, this is where you'd exit for a quick bathroom break. Not saying it's not a good song though. Some more interesting lyrics like "Mommy's in the manger with the little kids / She's got her reasons, got my forgets / Of tears and idle threats / Misplaced". While the album as a whole doesn't really tell a cohesive story, each song seems to tell its own unique story, as "stumbleine" is an example of. x.y.u.: you know your arse is in trouble again! love this song. always wish i could've seen this done live. This is a masochistic billy singing "i said, i wanna fill you up, i wanna break you, i wanna give you up " and "i couldn't feel her, and it was just a game, / cause i was lonely and she was crazy ". There are some silly lyrics, but they drown under the ferocity. There's a mild break before it ends staring into the eyes of a jackyl frantically singing "now we begin descent, to where we've never been / there is no going back, this wasn't meant to last / this is a hell on earth, we are meant to serve ". This is the last rocker on the album ending the rockfest superbly. we only come out at night: Vampiric tale drumbeat pulsating with angelic harp. Cool song. Great contrast to "x.y.u.". Another example of great sequencing on this album (for the most part). Billy tries to comfort: "once again, you'll pretend to know that / There's an end, that there's an end to this begin / It will help you sleep at night". beautiful: Pretty song. One of the few songs that actually sounds like a love song and not a facade for lovelorn torment. There's an appreciation for (a) love, as familiar as a comfy bedtime pillow. "i'll be under your stars forever ". (Beware, the beauty might be a facade hiding a stalker song!) lily (my one and only): Pretty song. Another ode to love. This song reminds me of the someone i met in 1996. by starlight: At this point, i'm on the ballad breaking point. Good song questioning love again. This would make a nice album closer into the deep, dark night. "dead eyes, are you just like me?" farewell and goodnight: Pleasant goodnight featuing iha & d'arcy singing us out as well, but either this or "by starlight" could've been left off to ease the long nighttime passing."  [+]  Reply

- paladisiac | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +11 votes (11 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:

1,519 charts

Rank Score:

14,482

Rank in 1995:

3

Rank in 1990s:

15

Overall Rank:

82

Average Rating:

 83 (1,878 votes)

Comments:

169

16.

Weezer (Blue Album) 

 Weezer

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"Makes you nostalgic for some stereotypical American high-school/college fantasy life you never lived. Loud and bold pseudo-grunge sound with positive undertones that makes it wonderfully upbeat. Insanely catchy but without the usual cheesy baggage you get with other pop songs. Yet, it's hardly an...""Makes you nostalgic for some stereotypical American high-school/college fantasy life you never lived. Loud and bold pseudo-grunge sound with positive undertones that makes it wonderfully upbeat. Insanely catchy but without the usual cheesy baggage you get with other pop songs. Yet, it's hardly an album of its time; it still sounds fresh and stands up well against modern pop rock. It's real accomplishment, however, is its accessibility. It's got more depth that most pop records, yet its just as easy to get into. That's the real reason it never gets old. A must-listen for anyone wanting to get into 90s alt rock, and an essential soundtrack for any teenager out there."  [+]  Reply

- DeusExMackia | Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +7 votes (8 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:

1994

Appears in:

1,494 charts

Rank Score:

14,470

Rank in 1994:

4

Rank in 1990s:

16

Overall Rank:

83

Average Rating:

 84 (1,970 votes)

Comments:

141

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Total albums: 530. Page 1 of 53

Best Albums of the 1990s composition

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%
Beck	5	1%
Tori Amos	5	1%
Pavement	5	1%
Suede	5	1%
Stereolab	5	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	530	53%
	270	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%