The 1990s were a musical era. Record labels signed seemingly every faintly “underground” band to cash in. Outlets like MTV, Rolling Stone, and Lollapalooza pelted the masses with dizzying amounts of music. You were young—possibly drunk and stoned. Time moved quickly, and when you looked up, you were old. Your middle-aged mind couldn’t retain all that music any better than your adolescent mind could absorb it.
This post walks down fading memory lane to revisit some ’90s songs that both defined the era and disappeared during it.
These are the songs you loved, the songs you forgot, and the songs you never knew. I didn’t know some of them until last week.
It’s not meant to be comprehensive. Don’t approach it with that asshole record collector mindset of what I missed and how could I not include songs by Mary’s Danish and Sister Double Happiness?! It’s supposed to be fun. Don’t ruin it.
If you want to ruin it, do so in the comments by adding what bands or songs you loved from the ’90s that didn’t make this imperfect, totally lame, worthless list that didn’t include every single song in history.
I don’t know about you, but my Gen X wife and I have gone down some serious YouTube rabbit holes that started by playing a single ’90s song. Hey, remember this? Hey, remember that? Oh, what’s this? I missed that back in the day. There’s joy in discovery and rediscovery.
Some ’90s bands put out one album before their record label dropped them. Some bands’ greatest claim to fame is that they opened some shows with a band that got famous—and now, decades later, those band members bore strangers with drunken stories about it.
There are so many bands whose names I only know from old concert flyers and whose music I played for the first time while writing this post, bands like Billy Goat, Dead Surf Kiss, Raging Slab, Paw, You’re Soaking In It, and Cell. Others, like Mary’s Danish, I faintly remember.
Maybe you forgot about Gin Blossom’s “Hey Jealousy” and Toadie’s “Possum Kingdom.” Maybe, if you’re like me, songs like Meat Puppets’ “Backwater” and Cracker’s “Low” were too good to forget.
I tried to forget about the band Live. I fucking hated them. I also hated Spin Doctors and that incessant “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” song, but in my teens I hated a lot of stuff. We’re adults now.
The ’90s were a musical era, but they all were. The ’90s just feel different when you lived it. Let’s relive it.
This band included Soundgarden bassist Hiro Yamamoto, Screaming Trees drummer Mark Pickerel, and a singer-guitarist named Robert Roth. They played the second stage at a few shows of the 1992 Lollapalooza tour, and if I find out that missed them at the Phoenix show, I am going to be pissed!
In 1990, this album mesmerized me. I don’t think any album had given me so many chills as this. In 2023, it remains hauntingly beautiful. The band only released three albums and some B-sides and withdrew from the public eye.
Also from 1990, and one of the best dance songs of the 20th century. If you disagree, just leave now.
I loved this song in 1993, but the lyrics confused me.
Early Seattle brilliance.
Hey, Richard Linklater liked ’em.
From Long Beach, Californian, 1992. One YouTuber described them as “punk rock with pizzazz,” which nails it. Just discovered them last week and can’t get enough!
This album slayed. Watching their drummer nod out at a 1992 show and light his set list on fire when his cig slipped from his fingers was also cool. My friend JR and I saw this and were like, “Should we wake him up?” As the fire spread, someone else woke him.
It’s hard to believe a band who dressed as psychedelic jesters could be overlooked, but this band is one of the most overlooked bands of the early 1990s. They released two very catchy pop albums then disappeared, leaving nay a strand of green hair in their wake. I saw them play twice. They were great.
Speaking of pop masterpieces too few people have heard of, this British band’s 1988 debut has rocking confection after confection. My friend JR and I were obsessed in high school. The first musician I ever interviewed as Wonder Stuff singer Miles Hunt. He was drunk and came out to talk to us fans after playing with Siouxsie and the Banshees, and I don’t think he knew I was recording him. JR watched with amazement as I asked Miles questions. When JR died decades later, I listened to the song “Wish Away” and cried till my tears ran out. But this about the ’90s, so here’s one from their 1992 album.
One of my favorite songs from the early ’90s, a kind of lysergic teen anthem. It’s still a ripper.
Speaking of LSD: Here’s one of my favorite songs from the most famous anus-themed band in history. Powered by one of the greatest guitarists of the era, Paul Leary.
1991. Not to be confused with Butthole Surfers. More of a Headbangers’ Ball band than a 120 Minutes band, but united in their appreciation of the anus.
To keep with the butt-theme, here’s one from the margins. It includes band members Johnny Anus, Phil Colon, and Mike The Menace. It’s actually pretty good.
Hey a-holes, don’t forget Ass Pony from 1990!
Stretching this anus fixation further, I’d be remiss not to mention Imperial Butt Wizards. Sadly, this brief L.A. band only released two songs on a 45. “It went to number one in a small public housing block in Lithuania for 3 1/2 years,” one member told an interviewer, “before all copies were smashed as ‘idolatry’ and for being ‘against God’ in a rather brief and inexplicable religious uprising, instigated by residents of the third floor.” The band did open for Hole at the Jabber Jaw in LA in March 1990, though. Flipside reviewed the show: “These guys and girls are wild and wacky, sorta like a non-serious Celebrity Skin in stage presence. They have a bizarre mix of band members which includes Paul K. the head singer ring-leader, Ingrid the sexy guitar player, Alan (Bulimia Banquet) also on guitar, Mike (3 O’clock) on bass and who else I couldn’t tell under those costumes. They wear some of the wildest get-up (sic) to grace the local club circuit in some time. The fuckin’ place was packed, the PA sucked and, like, I’ve seen ’em before (they do wear thin after a few times sorry to say) so I headed out to the patio where the homeboys had the stash of ALCOHOL! Yeah! So I never saw any more bands that night. I missed the new improved Hole, but under those circumstances it was probably just as well.”
Bonus trivia: Did you know that the one-hit-wonder ’90s band Ugly Kid Joe briefly went by the name Regurgitated Anal Vapors? True story.
Moving on: all killer, no filler. Tom Price, from the U-Men, is on guitar.
Makes me want to relapse every time I hear it. Just an absolute ripper.
From 1990, and I literally have no memory of this. I was sober, too.
1991. Kristin Hersh’s band has so many great songs, but I always come back to this one. She writes books now!
In 1991, this band late-80s band toured with Pearl Jam on PJ’s first tour. Their roads diverged soon after. That must have sucked.
Jack Irons, founding member of the Chili Peppers, played drums in this band. Irons left in 1995 to tour with Pearl Jam.
A Seattle “Grunge” band that many of us missed. No connection to Pearl Jam.
I will talk about this Seattle band all day and all night with you if you want me to talk your ear off. The few songs they recorded are so short and so rad that I have to include two of them. I won’t mention Pearl Jam.
The Washington Post described this Simi Valley band as a “likable fusion of grunge and Deadhead music” and their lead singer’s voice as “a dead ringer for Eddie Vedder.” I’m not sure Pearl Jam’s singer would have liked that comparison.
Heavy, precise, filled with interesting time signatures, Helmet’s 1992 album Meantime gave your head a relentless pounding, one song after another, and really helped mark the beginning of what marketing people sold as the “alternative era.”
Hmm. I sort of remember this song. I don’t like it, but I remember it.
I don’t remember this song at all, but it sounds like they made it from a bunch of other ’90s alterna songs.
I didn’t know what this was in 1993, and I don’t know what it is now, but I love it. Put your umlauts wherever you want, guys, do your thing.
This truly underground music will have you singing along while your tits explode.
It’s hard to choose a favorite song from Scumdogs of the Universe. “Death Pod?” “Slaughterama?” No band sings about killing Nazis and hippies like Gwar does. Here’s “Maggots,” the first of many international Gwar hits.
Legends. Saw them play twice. They killed. Sorry, I sound like an asshole. What I meant to say was that in 1991 “Valerie Loves Me” was a huge hit, but power pop this good still got overshadowed by the heavy-guitar bands that got popular after Nevermind. This band was a special one. Singer Jim Ellison took his own life in 1996, and his songwriting abilities have gained increased recognition over time.
1991 was a strange year.
No, really. 1991 was a strange year.
Again 1991, a banner year. This song celebrates and skewers the very culture that was coming to prominence.
This is the only Superchunk song I ever loved. Bummer, because their band name made me want to love them more. #unpopularopinion
Always shirtless, only Iggy’s hair can date him. Timeless song thanks to Kate Pearson.
Kurt Cobain liked the Boredoms. And Beat Happening and Meat Puppets and Bikini Kill. Cobain had great taste. Cobain personally asked the Boredoms to open on part of Nirvana’s U.S. In Utero tour. Watching this video, you still might not understand why.
1993. Cobain liked them, too.
Many of us ’90s kids loved “Fade Into You.” That whole album has never lost its luster to me, but this song from their previous album is a beauty, too.
1991. Drugs may have been involved.
The first time I encountered this 1990 album cover while flipping through a record store’s bins, it scared me. I felt bad for the rabbit. My favorite Dwarves songs are on Toolin’ For A Warm Teabag, so I’m not going to include a song here.
This neo-psychedelic band had disbanded by the time they released this in 1991, but the band’s influence was huge.
“Times are changing for the worse / I wish they weren’t, but I know they are.”
Weezer’s blue album took over your life for a while in the ’90s. But did you know Weezer’s bassist had another band? You didn’t?
Weird Al knew about The Rentals.
And did you know that, in 1991, Spin magazine chose this band’s album Bandwagonesque as “Album of the Year” over Nirvana’s Nevermind? Me either. Spin was wrong, by the way.
From the 1993 album Sexy Pee Story.
One of the most unique-sounding bands from the era: sax, drums, and a singer who plays slide bass like a guitar.
This video was nominated for MTV UK’s best video in 1996. The song was not.
A character in the 1995 movie Empire Records wears a Chainsaw Kittens t-shirt during the whole movie. Allmusic calls them “Arguably the best American band who never made it…” Arguably.
No one ever said this lo-fi Northwest band was “going to make it.” The band didn’t want to. Composed of members of Bikini Kill and Bratmobile, Frumpies absolutely rip, and I could barely choose just one song to include here.
Jazz and hip-hop, celebrating the Blue Note Records catalogue. So good.
Known for hip-hop, the Beastie Boys also played a bunch of funky instrumentals on Check Your Head and Ill Communication. They collected these tunes on the all-instrumental album The In Sounds From Way Out. The music’s timeless. Titles like “Sabrosa” and “Son of Neckbone” are brilliant. Seeing them play this stuff live in 1992 and 1994 with organist “Money” Mark Nishita was one of the highlights of my adolescence.
Speaking of instrumentals, this is one of my favorite albums of all time. Nothing sounds like it. And yes, I’m biased because I grew up in the desert where the band drew their inspiration.
The only song I ever loved from this neo-lounge band. They were solid musicians, though.
A power pop band from Seattle whose presence proves that the city of Grunge was home to a lot more styles of music during that era than it gets credit for. The legendary Kurt Bloch produced this one.
Speaking of power pop, this short song slays me every time. It’s like the 1950s wrapped in punk rock then passed through a ’90s slacker filter.
“What’s Up With the Youth,” a Feldman original.
A ripper.
Super catchy.
Close the blinds and load the bong. You’re calling in sick to work today like you did in college.
How did I miss this the first go-round?
A truly super supergroup that too few ’90s survivors seemed to have heard of. I drove to Seattle to see them play. Granted, I live in Portland, but I would have driven much further.
True, no one has forgotten ODB or overlooked this hip-hop gem, but I just had to put it here. It’s genius. I don’t say that lightly.
The Mummies are one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll bands of the last 100 years, and their albums sound like shit. You’re welcome.
L7 gets all the attention. Let’s not forget this band.
Well, they had their band name going for them.
Even though I couldn’t initially tell if this song was real or satire, I loved it. I just did.
Wait, the intro to Party of Five was a song?
Beavis and Butt-Head got here first.
An incredible experimental instrumental trio.
Surf instrumental music experienced a brief, huge resurgence in the 1990s, partly thanks to the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. This song is one of my favorites from that surf revival. Weirdly, I still get the drum beat in my head at random moments.
More awesome ’90s surf music, but one of the most overlooked. They’re from Calgary, Alberta. You know. In Canada.
While America celebrates itself for being the greatest most amazingest c’untry in the universe, other countries are doing things, too. New Zealand is a country in the Southern Hemisphere. Believe it or not, they have music there. Some of it is very, very good.
Active since the late-70s, one of New Zealand’s greatest bands released one of their greatest albums in 1990, but it sounds timeless. Time is so arbitrary, it’s like, whatever.
Clean guitarist David Kilgour briefly had this band Stephen. Although they released this song in 1988, they rereleased it on an LP in 1993, so I’m slipping it in here. It’s just too good.
England has always had some shit going on, too. This song was HUGE. You can hear why.
England, you rock!
England, you kill me!
A riot grrrl band from North London!
Scotland not England!
This song is on fire with passionate love.
English people call trashcans ‘dustbins,’ even though they put more than dust in them. True story.
But have you killed your television yet? You’ve had, like, three decades.
Inside secret: Sneaker means shoe.
Iconic video. The entire British Isles fit inside this guy’s hat.
Okay, enough English stuff. Here’s a dashing American male with long hair singing about drugs.
Just no.
Yes.
Sharing is not endorsing. Remember that.
You love this. Just admit it.
He scats. To music.
The movie Wayne’s World popularized this song in 1992. I’m sorry.
Founded in the late-70s and popular throughout the ’80s, Fishbone released their masterpiece in 1991. They’re one the greatest live bands on Earth and they remain one my absolute favorites.
Jane’s Addiction is one of the greatest, most influential underground bands of all time. After they first broke up in 1991, bassist Eric Avery and guitarist Dave Navarro created a one-off side project that is a cult masterpiece. It’s so incredible I wrote a whole book about it.
These indie legends have so many searing songs, but this 1999 instrumental might not get enough love.
One of the most beloved and versatile musicians around, Mike Watt has played with everyone, from his own band Minutemen to touring with The Stooges. Watt’s 1995 solo album contains a who’s-who of musical friends and a wealth of styles and colors.
My friends and I saw Rollins Band play five times in two years in the early ’90s. Henry sprayed us with a lot of sweat. It’s no Black Flag, but it’s something.
Like Rollins’ face from the above, except from Eugene, Oregon.
Speaking of Rollins, in 1990, he teamed up with Bad Brains to do a cover of MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams” for a film soundtrack. It’s a real oddity in the Bad Brains canon.
The 1990s weren’t the best years for the influential punk-reggae band Bad Brains. Their singer HR had many ups and downs. He and his drummer disagreed with the band’s guitarist and bassist about their musical direction. The result is a lack of focus and inconsistent performances, which is a bummer considering their ferocity in the ’80s. This song comes from the original members’ first studio album since 1986.
One of my favorite songs from the Hype! documentary.
I never heard of Lifter until last week. Sad, because I really thought I was cool.
John Popper is a brilliant musician who played harmonica with speed, feeling, and precision. Even though it didn’t seem cool for a rock kid to like Blues Traveler back in the day, I loved Blues Traveler back in the day. It often seemed more like hippie music than blues, but I did play it a lot while traveling, so the band name is 50% accurate.
This self-described “jazzy, funky, rocky” instrumental band falls into the “doesn’t fit the early ’90s mold” category. That said, it is from Seattle and has a Pearl Jam connection: PJ guitarist Stone Gossard released this album on his own record label. Beyond that, it’s way outside the “alternative music” cosmos.
Here’s another band that defies genre, convention, and understanding. We Bungle fans always talk about the crazy clown album, but this band’s second album can’t be ignored. Although it’s hard to listen to, it is masterful.
This influential 1994 album mesmerized me for a while, especially while my friends and I drove long distances on drugs. The band led many songs with bass. They had some catchy, pop elements buried under the guitars, too.
Here’s a Bay Area funk-trash-metal band whose song titles that sound better than their music. (Sorry.)
In place of Pavement, here’s some similar indie pop from 1996. I just stumbled on it on YouTube. I told you I went down the rabbit hole!
1996. Extremely trippy.
1996. This duo created so much sound.
From the shoegaze band’s 1993 masterpiece Souvlaki.
After Slowdive broke up in 1995, three of its members formed Mojave 3.
From 1990, a song so good that any band would want to copy it. Hasn’t aged a bit.
1991. Huge hit. Total earworm. Then everyone got sick of hearing it. Taking a three decade break helps you appreciate it.
Resembles a mix of The Charlatans and EMF’s “Unbelievable”?
The English 4AD label put out some great music. From 1992.
As beautiful as the band’s namesake. From 1991.
Matador Records, Juliana Hatfield’s guitarist brother Jason, indie-icon Mary Timony—it’s all here.
Björk is brilliant, musically and visually. She’s also interesting. In place of a song, here she is, discussing television.
1997. These guys arrived late to the alternative music party. They definitely got the Kurt Cobain Halloween kit, though.
Geez, big record labels would just sign anybody with longhair.
Yeesh.
Makes me wonder what Eve’s Cantaloupe is like.
This song rules.
This song rules, too.
This song is pretty good. His dad’s songs are better, but Jakob Dylan’s probably in therapy for that.
’90s R&B and hip-hop was one catchy, soulful booty jam after another. This is tip of the iceberg.
So catchy.
So catchy.
So catchy.
So catchy.
So catchy.
So. Good.
Yes, please.
Sorry for having so much fun right there. In the ’90s, white men wrote a lot of unfun, angry music. Time to get serious.
Hey. I said it’s time to be serious.
Get it together. This is 1993. Stop smiling and start complaining about how early you have to wake up to drive to school and how you still feel tired even after you smoke two cigs, drink a cup of coffee, and play Quicksand.
For a brief time in high school, I played this album a lot. Then I had to quit it. Vulgar Display of Power combined with Marlboro Reds sent my nervous system into a recovery program. I guess I’m weak.
Okay. Relax. Unclench your anus. Call me crazy, but I still like this song. Sure, this guy looks like a member of Limp Bizkit, but the song always felt like pure summer fun. Being angry gets boring.
If I couldn’t have new Operation Ivy songs in the 1990s, I was happy to settle for this one Rancid song. Feels good to feel good.
Just kidding. I’m not putting that in here.
Another masterpiece from the 1993 album Cereal Killer.
These musicians were from great bands, but this supergroup was…. not super.
Don’t worry. No one understood this in 1992 either.
Not the most enticing band name, but the YouTube algorithm served me this video because I’m a middle-aged person looking at ’90s videos. Apparently, this band had a nice following. The video looks truly of its time.
That dog lived from 1992 to 1997.
Did you know that Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard cofounded this other band, Brad, in 1992? And did you see that they released an album in 1993 and in 1997 and went on a huge tour and released other albums in 2002 and 2005?!? To be honest, I kind of noticed but was like eh.
You remember the hit songs “Lovefool” and “My Favorite Game,” but this Swedish band’s first album, Life, was a fun, catchy take on ’60s pop. I was briefly addicted to it in 1996. When singer Nina Persson signed my concert ticket soon after, I turned to mush and had to be reassembled.
This album White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean was fun enough that I was into it for a bit in high school. It got old, but this song is still pretty clever. “Almost every line is sung on time / Almost every verse ends in a rim / The only problem we had was writing enough words.”
1990. Let’s Grunge some more. Beavis and Butthead hated everything, but they liked this band. “I must be hallucinating now,” Butthead said during the “Crazy Love” video. “I can’t believe they’re playing something cool.”
A singer-songwriter and visual artist often labeled as a punk outsider artist, Willis’ unique aesthetic was shaped partially by his schizophrenia. Jello Biafra released his Greatest Hits album on Alternative Tentacles in 1995, and Willis had fans in bands like Pearl Jam, Beastie Boys, and Sublime. In fact, Rocket From the Crypt turned a Willis lyric into the name of their 1995 album Scream, Dracula, Scream!
Williams is very talented and original, and it doesn’t seem like a lot of folks know her music. They may know the version of “Crazy Mary” that Pearl Jam does, though. PJ first covered Williams’ song on the 1993 Sweet Relief CD to help pay for Williams’ medical bills after she got diagnosed with MS. Both versions are beautiful.
Giant Sand’s a Tucson band that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. This combination here is a real trip. Cannabis was still very accessible before it was legal.
Pronounced oh-p-eight, like opiate, or maybe OP-8, like the eight operation, OP8 was a one-off project from Giant Sand and Lisa Germano. Their one album had some really good off-kilter songs on it, including this cover of Lee Hazelwood’s “Sand.” I love Lee, but I think this version is better than the original!
This track comes from one of the Tucson band’s more accessible and focused albums. Some fans think Glum is their masterpiece. Others don’t know it exists. You do. You’re old, but don’t you feel cool? I really do love this song.
Nerd computer space surf. This is still one of my favorite albums of the 1990s. Constant rotation.
Surf music from Tokyo. Fire.
Ferocious Japanese woman stripping rock ‘n’ roll to its nuts and bolts. Quinten Tarantino heard this band playing in a Japanese airport before boarding his play. He got the store clerk to sell him their CD and ended up putting the band in his huge hit Kill Bill. This song came before all that. Now you can feel even more cool.
Let’s do Grunge, Australian style.
Okay, you twisted my arm. Here’s more actual underground music from the ’90s. It’s American singer-songwriter-animator April March covering a Serge Gainsbourg song that French singer France Gall made into a hit in 1964. I just can’t resist rattling off annoying musical facts like that!
And then there was this one other underground band who didn’t make MTV or play the Lollapalooza side stage but who will score you big points if you name drop them in the Northwest. Also name drop Dead Moon.
Fine. Here’s Dead Moon. I wasn’t going to go this underground, but I cannot shoulder this burden of coolness alone! They released “54/40” in 1989, but ’80s, ’90s. Time is just a construct, man.
This song came out in 1989 but played a lot in the early ’90s, and the YouTube rabbit hole is not a straight path. So to make things more confusing, here’s a version of them playing it at what a doctor might call “an advanced age.”
Even though this classic was recorded in 1989, it got released as a single in January 1990, so unlike “Last Cigarette,” this just makes the cut. Too bad Biz Markie’s “Just A Friend” doesn’t.
Of course you remember this song. The singer’s a bit much, but it’s a good song.
From their 1992 album, right before they disbanded.
The Verve’s 1993 album A Storm in Heaven is their psychedelic masterpiece, but this hit, 1997 song hypnotized me. The video did, too.
Smart chaps, they.
Fresh and original, and refreshingly not all white.
Beautiful, tender, tragic, multi-instrumentalist Mark Linkous’s music isn’t nearly as well-known as the music of his many admirers, but many believe it’s just as powerful.
You don’t hear about many bands from Modesto, California, but you don’t hear many bands who sound like Grandaddy, either. Their singer-guitarist Jason Lytle used to be pro skateboarder, but he had to quit after injuring his knee. He made music instead.
Say what you want about Sublime, but it was only toward the end of the ’90s that I realized I like them. Many people know them as these drunk, rowdy, beach dudes who play ska-punk, but singer Bradley had a tender side and so much soul. These acoustic songs are beautiful examples of his depth and range—and the qualities he probably would have highlighted in his music had he lived long enough to outgrow his wilder side.
In 1999, this song was huge all over the US, UK, Australia, and Europe.
1999 also sounded like this, Eric Avery’s band.
1999. Not a hit, but a timeless holiday classic for those of us who like sad beautiful things.
1996. Love this video and chorus.
One of the best bands of the ’90s that I didn’t hear about until the 2000s. I wrote all about them here.
1997.
1999. Great song.
1999, but still looks very ’90s.
This influential riot grrrl band paved the way for bands like Sleater-Kinney. In The New York Times, writers Evelyn McDonnell and Elisabeth Vincentelli called Soda Pop * Rip Off “arguably the best album of the riot grrrl era.” Sorry to get all record store clerk on you again.
Do you like math? I don’t. You might like math rock/metalcore, though.
Post-punk instrumental band who helped create “post-rock,” whatever that is.
From 1998, and kind of where MTV and radio was heading at that time. Probably a good time to wind this post down before we run into KoЯn and Limp Bizkit.
I do, too. (But I’m not right now.)
Bidding you farewell with this one. Goodbye from the future, 1990s! We love you but our bodies require blood pressure medication and knee braces now, which sucks! I still have my Mr. Bungle shirt from that first tour, though, but I try not to talk about it because it makes me sound desperate!!!