The 10 best songs from the 90's

I always forget when records are from, especially when they are new (to me)

Mine would probably be 6 old skool hardcore/jungle tunes, 2 Carcass tunes and Don't Let Go by En Vogue.

chap otm

Realised I left myself one choice, which would obviously be Regulate.

1. dirty dream number 2 - belle and sebastian

Rolling Stone’s top 500 songs of all time (2021 ed.) says it’s:

1. Public Enemy - Fight the Power
2. Nirvana - Smells like Teen Spirit
3. Dr. Dre + Snoop Dogg - Nuthin’ but a G thang
4. Notorious BIG - Juicy
5. Ms. Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop
6. U2 - One
7. Pulp - Common People
8. Oasis - Wonderwall
9. Jay Z - 99 problema
10. Alanis Morissette - oughta know

Let’s do this again:

Aphex Twin - Flim (or Windowlicker can’t pick one…)
A Tribe Called Quest - Electric Relaxation
Boards of Canada - Roygbiv
Björk - Possibly Maybe (or Hyperballad…)
Cardigans - Lovefool
Dee-lite - groove is in the heart
Len - Steal my sunshine
Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
MF DOOM - Doomsday
Stardust - Music Sounds Better with You

Might exchange Moodymann - I can’t kick this feeling when it hits for dee-lite or cardigans…

Fuck it this too complicated…

Deee-Lite - Groove is in the Heart
Breeders - Cannonball
Talk Talk - New Grass
Massive Attack - Protection
Teenage Fanclub - Everything Flows
Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
Geto Boys - Mind Playing Tricks on Me
Ultramagnetic MCs - Poppa Large (East Coast Remix)
Oblivians - Bad Man

Oops, that was only 9.
Pete Rock & CL Smooth - They Reminisce Over You

Freshly laminated this morning

Underworld - Dark & Long
Saint Etienne - Avenue
Carl Craig - Science Fiction
Outkast - Rosa Parks
Portishead - Roads
Pet Shop Boys - Being Boring
Wu-Tang Clan - Triumph
Cocteau Twins - Cherry-Coloured Funk
Foul Play - Being With You
Model 500 - The Flow

^^^^ that is a superlative selection

Agreed, love that one. Not a single song in there which I don’t love.

1990-1994:

1. Madonna – Vogue
2. Utah Saints – Something Good
3. Suede – The Drowners
4. Sade – No Ordinary Love
5. New Order – Regret
6. Nas – The World is Yours
7. The B-52’s – Roam
8. Dwight Yoakam – A Thousand Miles From Nowhere
9. Sinead O’Connor – The Emperor’s New Clothes
10. My Bloody Valentine – Soon

1995-1999:

1. The Notorious B.I.G – Juicy
2. Pulp – Common People
3. Garbage – Happy When It Rains
4. Ginuwine – Pony
5. Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott ft 702 and Magoo – Beep Me 911
6. Tricky – Black Steel
7. Jennifer Paige – Crush
8. Elastica – Stutter
9. Natalie Imbruglia – Torn
10. Jay Z – Dead Presidents II

off the top of my head, trying to avoid songs others have mentioned so far

the pharcyde - passin me by
björk - army of me
archers of loaf - web in front
tlc - creep
the notorious b.i.g. - warning
luniz - i got 5 on it
prefab sprout - scarlet nights
modest mouse - trailer trash
dj quik - tonite
ghostface killah - daytona 500

90s songs in my pretend RS songs ballot (we're all working on one, right?):

My Bloody Valentine – Honey Power
A Tribe Called Quest – Electric Relaxation
Souls of Mischief – 93 'Til Infinity
Death – Crystal Mountain
Depeche Mode – Waiting for the Night

Imma steal Alfred's split so I can get more songs in:

1990-1994:
1. A Tribe Called Quest - Electric Relaxation
2. Stereolab - Jenny Ondioline
3. Portishead - Roads
4. Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
5. Pavement - Here
6. Souls of Mischief -93’ til infinity
7. Mazzy Star - Fade into you
8. Warren G - Regulate
9. Deee-Lite – Groove is the Heart
10. Pet Shop Boys - Being Boring

1995-1999:
1. Boards of Canada - Roygbiv
2. Stardust - Music Sounds Better with You
3. Björk - Possibly Maybe
4. Aphex Twin - IZ-US
5. Nearly God - Poems
6. Moodymann - I can’t kick this feelin when it hits
7. Low, Transient Waves & Piano Magic - Sleep at the bottom
8. Outkast - SpottieOttieDopaliscious
9. Len - Steal my sunshine
10. MF DOOM - Doomsday

Off the top:

"Little Fluffy Clouds" - The Orb
"The Humpty Dance" - Digital Underground
"How I Could Just Kill a Man" - Cypress Hill
"I Play It Off Legit" - Ween
"Trigger Cut" - Pavement
"Divorce Song" - Liz Phair
"Socket" - Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
"Linger" - The Cranberries
"Diamonds and Wood" - UGK
"How Bizarre" - OMC

Fuck I'm going through a list and I want to change mine again.

It's like killing your own children but I'd love to scratch some of those and put these instead:

Saint Etienne - Avenue
Madonna - Drowned World / Substitute for Love
Donna Lewis - I Love you Always Forever
Slowdive - Blue Skied An' Clear

maybe on a good day:

Porno for Pyros - Pets
Camp Lo - Luchini

it's hard enough to pick only one song from artists like bjork, stereolab or afx...

switch out luniz and put in ugk's "pinky ring"

for mine

Bel Biv Devoe - Poison
Deee-Lite - Groove is…
Saint Etienne - Spring (did eeny meeny moe to pick one of theirs)
Mazzy Star - Fade Into You
Björk - Hyperballad. Or Possibly Maybe. Possibly.
Snoop - Ain't No Fun
2Pac - So Many Tears
Wu Tang - Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nuthin to Fuck With
Aphex Twin - Alberto Balsam
Digital Underground - Humpty Dance

How different would yall's list be if you made it Jan 1 2000?

How different would yall's list be if you made it Jan 1 2000?

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger)

Mine would honestly be close. Maybe exchanging the songs but Aphex Twin, Portishead, Massive Attack, Bjork, BOC, Pavement, Stereolab were all in heavy rotation in my early teens… hip hop would probably be missing… I got into it until the mid 00s and I realized I had been missing on some amazing albums.

I’d very probably have some Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse, Garbage and maybe a track from OKC in my top 10 if you had asked me in 2000.

I actually still have a cd that I used to burn for friends circa 1999/2000 with the following songs:

Aphex Twin - Windowlicker
Bonobo - The Plug
Massive Attack - Teardrop
Bjork - Unravel
Everything but the girl - wrong
Cardigans - erase / rewind
Depeche Mode - Useless
Boards of Canada - In a beautiful place out in the country
Stereolab - Miss Modular
Amon Tobin - Slowly
Hooverphonic - 2wicky
Groove Armada - superstylin
Geggy Tah - whoever you are
Lightning Seeds - you showed me
Air - sexy boy
Cat Power - Cross bones style

I remember loving those and I still haven’t grown tired of most of them.

That wasn’t the actual sequencing btw I have to listen to it to post the correct one. I can even provide proof with the cd info on my computer.

In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country is my favorite Boards of Canada track but was released in 2000

my favorite 1990s, from what comes to mind

Tricky - Christiansands
Björk - Big Time Sensuality
Liz Phair - Fuck and Run
Yo La Tengo - Barnaby, Hardly Working
Sonic Youth - Kool Thing
My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow
Neutral Milk Hotel - King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1
Portishead - Glory Box
PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
Air - La Femme d'Argent

I have a more “alt rock” oriented one too but I don’t have a copy of that one nearby… it had fountains of wayne, smashing pumpkins, offspring, throwing muses, garbage, nine inch nails, radiohead, luscious jackson, pixies and mano negra top of my head.

In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country is my favorite Boards of Canada track but was released in 2000

― Dan S,

I know! It’s mine too. Was recollecting from a burnt cd from my early teens with mostly music from the 90’s… there were 2000 maybe even 2001 songs in there.

this is the Tricky Christiansands you all should hear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmcOFp5__jQ

Love love love Christiansands btw, I’d probably pick that one after Poems as my favorite song of his.

Fuck and Run also my favorite Liz Phair song, everyone goes with Divorce Song usually in these sort of lists but it’s a lesser song.

fuck and run was astonishing to hear at the time

Some great music on this thread! I could definitely see myself popping back on here to revise a few of these. Some of them were impulsive decisions; others would be on any top ten list.

A Tribe Called Quest - Award Tour
Common & Sadat X feat. Talib Kweli - 1-9-9-9
Death in Vegas - Rocco (Dub)
Godflesh - Spite
Meat Beat Manifesto - Edge of No Control, Pt. 2
Orbital - Attached
Photek - KJZ
Public Enemy - Fight the Power
Skinny Puppy - Mirror Saw (Dub version)
Techno Animal - Anthrazite

Aerosmith - Eat the rich
Aerosmith - Cryin’
Aerosmith - Living on the edge
Aerosmith - Pink
Aerosmith - fallin In love is hard on the knees
Aerosmith - Crazy
Aerosmith - I don’t want to miss a thing
Aerosmith - deuces are wild
Aerosmith - lizard love
Aerosmith - Amazing

Big Time Sensuality video, a love letter to NY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Q9XaCmYno

Boyz II Men - End of the Road
Suffocation - Infecting the Crypts
Cannibal Corpse - I Cum Blood
New Radicals - I Don't Wanna Die Anymore
Slayer - Dead Skin Mask
Bone Thugs 'n Harmony - Crossroads
N'Sync - Tearing Up My Heart
Cryptopsy - Graves of the Fathers
Radiohead - Let Down
Immolation - No Jesus, No Beast

Roughly one per year, and off the top of my head:

Sinead O'Connor - The Emperor's New Clothes
U2 - Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
Neneh Cherry - Move with Me
Rickie Lee Jones - Stewart's Coat
Liz Phair - Nashville
Emmylou Harris - Blackhawk
Toni Braxton - There's No Me Without You
Kenickie - People We Want
Patty Griffin - Tony
Aimee Mann - Deathly

with Kool Thing it's always the guitar riff starting at 2:37 and the subsequent blowout that gets to me

Ten at the moment

Massive Attack - Protection
Mazzy Star - Halah
Low - Starfire
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen ...
Slowdive - Alison
Uncle Tupelo - Chickamauga
Everything But the Girl - Five Fathoms
Stereolab - Metronomic Underground
Portishead - Wandering Star
Belle & Sebastian - Seeing Other People

How different would yall's list be if you made it Jan 1 2000?

I think I have mine saved somewhere.

1. Bjork - Hyperballad
2. Pet Shop Boys - Being Boring
3. Stereolab - French Disko
4. Lauryn Hill - Ex Factor
5. Broadcast - The Book Lovers
6. Saint Etienne - Nothing Can Stop Us
7. Cocteau Twins - Cherry-Coloured Funk
8. Underworld - Jumbo
9. George Michael - Fastlove
10. Binary Finary - 1998

I’ve decided the 90’s is a fucking weird decade for me. I’ll never be able to make a top 10 I’m satisfied with this decade. Gimme any other decade and I can easily enlist a top 20 that I feel satisfied with… not this decade though.

I have trouble separating what I actually listened to in the 90’s from the good stuff I found about later as an adult. There’s also stuff which keeps being pushed as “best of the 90’s” which I just can’t hear anymore no matter how good they might be (eg: Nirvana’s Nevermind and to a certain degree OK Computer), stuff which I loved as a child in the 90’s and I still think it’s funny but I find too immature nowadays to truly enjoy (eg: cafe tacvba, blink 182, hombres g), and cheesy dance tracks like say Scatman, Another Night, Believe, Better Off Alone, Rhythm of the Night…which immediatly make me smile if I overhear them somewhere but would probably never consider seriously in a top 10.

I went from being 5 to 15 years old in that decade. There’s too much going on in those years, it feels like 3 or even 4 different eras in time for me. Idk.

I agree. There was just so much going on. Even coming up with the ten I did, I left out some of my favorite genres let alone albums. The 90s sucked in a lot of ways looking back, but sometimes I feel like the 00's and even early 10s were a continuation of a 90s explosion (that started in the late 80s). I'm biased, though, being as I turned 17 in '90, and I guess everybody overvalues the music they listened to in those years.

That said, it'd be just as difficult coming up with the ten worst songs of the 90s.

Ya totally relate to that too, Moka

a lot of songs I love from the 90s the most are one hit wonder songs

i gotta new age girl
TELL US WHAT SHE'S LIIIIIKE