Top alternative albums of the 1990s

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by manco, Jul 11, 2018.

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  1. manco

    manco Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    in no order:

    alt rock:

    Oasis - What's the Story Morning Glory(1995)
    Radiohead - The Bends(1995), OK Computer(1997)
    The Verve - Urban Hymns(1997)
    Placebo - Placebo(1996), Without You I'm Nothing(1998)
    Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream(1999)
    Muse - Showbiz(1999)
    Portishead - Dummy(1994), Portishead(1997)
    Sneaker Pimps - Becoming X(1996)
    Massive Attack - Blue Lines(1991), Mezzanine(1998)

    shoegaze:

    Ride - Nowhere(1990)
    My Bloody Valentine - Loveless(1991)
    Slowdive - Souvalaki(1993), Pygmalion(1995)

    female singer-songwriter:

    Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes(1991), Under the Pink(1994), Boys for Pele(1996), From the Choirgirl Hotel(1998)
    Kate Bush - The Red Shoes(1993)
    Aimee Mann - Whatever(1993)
    Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy(1993), Surfacing(1997)
    Alison Morissette - Jagged Little Pill(1995)

    male singer-songwriter:

    Jeff Buckley - Grace(1994)
    Tom Waits - Mule Variations(1999)

    electronic:

    Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92(1992), Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2(1994), Richard D. James Album(1996)
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2018
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  2. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    [​IMG]

    Aeroplane over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

    Ok Computer is also good. The 90s is one of the hardest decades for me though.
     
  3. manco

    manco Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Looking back I think the 1990s was the best decade for music ever. It took all the innovations of the mid 60s through 80s and used that to create amazing albums from beginning to end.
     
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  4. MarkTWIC

    MarkTWIC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bradford
    The Dandy Warhols Come Down
    Mutations - Beck
    The La's
    Free Peace Sweet - Dodgy
    Tellin' Stories - Charlatans
    Push the Button - Money Mark
    There must be a lot more. It was a golden decade for alternative artists. A huge variety of music of all genres was made, then as the 2000s went on thing changed.
     
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  5. manco

    manco Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    The Cranberries - Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?(1992), No Need to Argue(1994)
    Bjork - Debut(1993), Post(1995), Homogenic(1997)
     
  6. Leonthepro

    Leonthepro Skeptically Optimistic

    Location:
    Sweden
    Daaamn, maybe I need to listen to more 90s music, because I can barely even think of any. I know a lot of great stuff when it comes to the 2000s though.
     
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  7. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    My favorites:

    Smashing Pumpkins: Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)
    Liz Phair: Exile in Guyville (1993)
    Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes (1992)
    Tori Amos: Under the Pink (1994)
    Tori Amos: Boys for Pele (1996)
    Tori Amos: From the Choirgirl Hotel (1998)
    Tori Amos: To Venus and Back (1999)
    Bjork: Debut (1993)
    Bjork: Post (1995)
    Bjork: Homogenic (1997)
    R.E.M.: Automatic for the People (1992)
    Fiona Apple: Tidal (1996)
    Fiona Apple: When the Pawn... (1999)
    Flaming Lips: The Soft Bulletin (1999)
     
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  8. FrasierNervosa

    FrasierNervosa Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    U2's Achtung Baby and Zooropa should be in the mix too
     
  9. manco

    manco Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    I hope this thread will be a great resource for people to find the best albums of the 1990s.
     
  10. manco

    manco Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Aiming not for mainstream bands.
     
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  11. FrasierNervosa

    FrasierNervosa Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    And Oasis and The Verve didn't enter the mainstream? Huge MTV hits, Top 40 radio play, multiple-million selling albums, arena level gigs, etc.

    Alternative was doing big business in that time. Everyone from Sneaker Pimps to Mazzy Star were crossing into the wider public consciousness just a little bit.
     
  12. manco

    manco Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Anouk - Together Alone(1997)
    Mazy Starr - So Tonight That I Might See(1993)
     
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  13. FrasierNervosa

    FrasierNervosa Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Not to mention Zooropa alone is more sonically "out there" than What's the Story's pop rock anthems, if we're getting pedantic about it.
     
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  14. manco

    manco Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    The weren't mainstream on Jan 1, 1990.
     
  15. jazon

    jazon A fight between the blue you once knew

    Location:
    ottawa
    For me..

    Nirvana - Nevermind
    STP - Core
    Soundgarden - Superunknown
    Alice in Chains - Dirt
    Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
    Pearl Jam -Vs
     
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  16. Obtuse1

    Obtuse1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    Pixies- Bossanova (1990)
    Smashing Pumpkins- Gish (1991), Siamese Dream (1993) (tie for me...)
    Green Day- Dookie (1994)
    Beck-Mellow Gold (1994), Odelay (1996) Midnite Vultures (1999)
    Beastie Boys- Ill Communication (1994)


    And for electronic:

    Moby-Play
    Chemical Brothers- Exit Planet Dust
    Fatboy Slim- You've Come A Long Way, Baby
    Propellerheads- Decksanddrumsandrockandroll (1998)
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2018
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  17. FrasierNervosa

    FrasierNervosa Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    I don't think they even existed on Jan 1, 1990.

    But again if you want to be pedantic about it, wouldn't Kate Bush be excluded as she was technically mainstream/popular? Even in the US she had a solo Top 40 hit plus that duet with Peter Gabriel on "Don't Give Up".

    Or R.E.M., one of the most seminal alternative acts of the 80s and 90s had already scored multiple US Top 10 singles, platinum records, and a major label deal by then.

    Sonic Youth too had signed to Geffen Records. Were they not alternative?
     
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  18. bob_32_116

    bob_32_116 Forum Flaneur

    Location:
    Perth Australia
    Some genre names are more useful than others, but I think "alternative" is one of the silliest. It probably meant something originally, such as "alternative to the mainstream".
    "Alternative" when applied to acts that had chart topping songs or albums, as many of these acts did, begs the question: "alternative to what?" The label certainly tells me little or nothing about the nature of the music.
     
  19. bvb1123

    bvb1123 Rock and Roll Martian

    Location:
    Cincinnati Ohio
    Top 20 alternative albums, in order of how much I like them:
    1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
    2. R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
    3. Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
    4. Ass Ponys - Mr. Superlove
    5. U2 - Achtung Baby
    6. Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
    7. Pearl Jam - Vilalogy
    8. Beck - Odelay
    9. Weezer - Pinkerton
    10. Pulp - Different Class
    11. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
    12. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
    13. Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
    14. Sonic Youth - Goo
    15. Pixies - Bossanova
    16. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
    17. The Verve - Urban Hymns
    18. Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory
    19. Nirvana - Nevermind
    20. Radiohead - OK Computer
     
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  20. FrasierNervosa

    FrasierNervosa Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    I always thought of it being a subset or continuum of various styles/genres/scenes being "alternative" to the status quo and sonic stylings of mainstream, particularly rock. Often times it would foreshadow what would be coopted by the mainstream later or at least in part accepted by it. Alternative acts/genres can indeed become the thing that later "alternative" acts rebel against.

    Listening to, say, The Cure and R.E.M. even when they were fairly popular was the "alternative" to the sheer domineering hair/thrash metal of the day or, say, totally insipid Top 40 acts like Paula Abdul and Bryan Adams that were aimed at the older market.

    But after awhile, the start to become part of that mainstream cultural fabric and the tide of "coolness" turns against them, to a younger, less aware generation, R.E.M. are just "those guys with that mandolin song that plays over the grocery store PA", or "music my mom/dad/uncle liked ie. old people".
     
  21. $tinkfoot

    $tinkfoot Forum Resident

  22. Chrome_Head

    Chrome_Head Planetary Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA.
    Swervedriver - Mezcal Head, Raise, Ejector Seat Reservation
    PJ Harvey - Rid Of Me, To Bring You My Love, Is This Desire?
    Failure - Fantastic Planet
    Tool - Undertow
    Catherine Wheel - Ferment, Chrome
    Morphine - Cure For Pain
    Mark Lanegan - The Winding Sheet
    Pavement - Wowee Zowee
    Sonic Youth - Goo, Dirty, Washing Machine
    Kyuss - Welcome To Sky Valley
    Helmet - Betty
    Spiritualized - Ladies & Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space
    My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
    Bjork - Homegenic
    Tricky - Maxinquaye
    Hum - You'd Prefer An Astronaut
    Shudder To Think - Pony Express Record
    Squarepusher - Music Is Rotted One Note
    DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
    Blur - 13
    Elliot Smith - Either/Or
    Slint - Spiderland
    Beta Band - The Three EP's
     
  23. Ignatius

    Ignatius Forum Resident

    Literally does not exist on Youtube, curse them! Surprised Christgau didn't review it, since it's a married couple.
    [​IMG]
     
  24. Lightworker

    Lightworker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Deep Texas
    1990s stuff I liked then that I still enjoy hearing now:
    THE BREEDERS
    TEENAGE FANCLUB
    PULP
    BMX BANDITS
    SHACK
    REDD KROSS
    LAs
    DANDELION WINE
    BEACHWOOD SPARKS

    1990s stuff I liked then but got overplayed:
    PIXIES
    SONIC YOUTH
    SHONEN KNIFE
    OASIS
    BLUR
     
  25. malcolm reynolds

    malcolm reynolds Handsome, Humble, Genius

    Location:
    Oklahoma
    I still listen to all of these today. Good stuff.


    The Flaming Lips - In A Priest Driven Ambulance
    The Flaming Lips - Hit To Death In The Future Head
    The Flaming Lips - Transmissions From The Satellite Heart
    The Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic
    The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
    Radiohead - The Bends
    Radiohead - OK Computer
    Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
    Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
    Nirvana - Nevermind
    Nirvana - In Utero
    Pearl Jam - Ten
    Pearl Jam - Vs
    Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
    Liz Phair - Exile In Guyville
    Garbage - Garbage
    Tool - Undertow
    Tool - Aenima
    Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
    Mazzy Star - She Hangs Brightly
    Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See
    Mazzy Star - Among My Swan

    Top 5 of those listed:
    The Flaming Lips - In A Priest Driven Ambulance
    The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
    Liz Phair - Exile In Guyville
    Radiohead - OK Computer
    Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2018
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