Best 90's alt-rock bands

[Chesusdog]

I forgot radiohead. They definitely belong in the conversation.

I can't be the only Primus guy, though, right? Unbelievable musicians who did their own unique dizzle. They have been touring the south recently with their new drummer, too. He's an absolute prodigy from Shreveport. They actually took open audition videos (6000+) and made a YouTube series out of the top dozen that they invited to audition in person . Really good series.

Les is an undeniable talent, but Primus is an acquired taste. Saw them open for Tool several years ago and it was awesome.

I dont know if its true, but there was a rumor that he auditioned for Metallica after Cliff died and they told him he was too good for the job.

 

[Chesusdog]

I like some of those bands like Alice In Chains, but rag me all you want my heart is still in the late 80's rock. Give me some 18 and Life, Don't Know What You Got Til it's Gone, Cherry Pie, Kickstart Your Heart, Thunderstruck, and Pour Some Sugar on Me.

 

[FreeDawg]

Top tier Nirvana, Alive in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, & STP.

Nirvana and AIC have the best 2 live rock albums of all-time, Unplugged, for totally different reasons. AIC’s acoustic performance was flawlessly executed & perfect. Nirvana didn’t know Unplugged meant acoustic so they just winged it and threw in some rando covers making it a classic. Honorable mention Pearl Jan but they got progressively worse over time.

There are too many to mention on the next tier. The only other thing I’ll offer this convo is that Rage Against the Machine is criminally overrated. Easily the most overrated band of the era who had 1 smash hit, a cpl decent songs, and not a single great album.

 

[HailStout]

It is but Load and ReLoad are kinda meh as metal albums and I’m a huge Metallica fan. I’ve seen them multiple times in concert.

Agreed. I was so excited when load came out. I tried really hard to convince myself it was amazing.

 

[patdog]

The black album is one of the greatest albums of all time. Not one bad song on it

 

[HotMop]

I hate the chili peppers. Always have. Don’t know why.

My brother had a buddy that lived in the same apartment complex as Flea. This was obviously before they were huge nationaly but had a big following in the LA area. Said the first time he met Flea he was running away from a knife wielding girlfriend yelling "she's trying to kill me!".

 

[HailStout]

My brother had a buddy that lived in the same apartment complex as Flea. This was obviously before they were huge nationaly but had a big following in the LA area. Said the first time he met Flea he was running away from a knife wielding girlfriend yelling "she's trying to kill me!".

I like them more now based on this

 

[cowboydawg]

Weezer Blue Album is hard to top.

 

[skipperDawg]

I’m not ashamed to say I know most of these bands by name only, but could not name any of their songs, but did have the pleasure of meeting Red Hot Chili Peppers at the hangout fest just over a year ago. Was close enough to see fleas knitted banana hammock.

 

[ckDOG]

I'm going to see Oasis in Dublin next weekend and all you haters can get fooked.

 

[Chesusdog]

I'm going to see Oasis in Dublin next weekend and all you haters can get fooked.

Jealous as hell. Noel is a bit of a ****, but Definitely Maybe is one of those albums that shaped my teenage years.

 

[Bowdawg]

The "Southern Rock" thread inspired this. Fwiw, the Allman Brothers Band is one of the best Rock bands ever, full stop, imo.

Phish is probably my favorite band from the 90's, but I'd like to discuss the more accessible bands of the decade (broader appeal/MTV, etc).

My Mount Rushmore are probably:
Smashing Pumpkins
Blind Melon
Primus
Soundgarden

Honorable mentions to:
Pearl Jam
Rage
Nirvana

How badly did I miss?

I’m a big STP guy. Thankful I got to see them with Weiland at Family Values before he left the band. He looked awful then. Skinniest person I have ever seen. Got to see him again before he died when he was with Velvet Revolver.
whether you are a big Alice In Chains fan or not, their unplugged on MTV prob one of the best performances of all time. You could see how tortured Lane was in that performance but he sang his *** off.
saw Pearl Jam at Wrigley years ago and was thoroughly disappointed. Eddie can sing but it was just not good.
Voice wise Chris Cornell was probably the best of the whole Era. His acoustic cover of nothing compares may be the best cover ever.
sad that 3 of those 4 I mentioned died from drugs. It was def that era.

 

[M R DAWGS]

Collective Soul
Son Volt
Pearl Jam
Live
Bush

 

[MStateU]

Pearl Jam
Bush
Collective Soul
STP
Goo Goo Dolls
Nirvana

 

[Seinfeld]

Collective Soul
Son Volt
Pearl Jam
Live
Bush

Great call on Live. Throwing Copper and Secret Samahdi were legendary 90s albums

 

[Seinfeld]

I’m a big STP guy. Thankful I got to see them with Weiland at Family Values before he left the band. He looked awful then. Skinniest person I have ever seen. Got to see him again before he died when he was with Velvet Revolver.
whether you are a big Alice In Chains fan or not, their unplugged on MTV prob one of the best performances of all time. You could see how tortured Lane was in that performance but he sang his *** off.
saw Pearl Jam at Wrigley years ago and was thoroughly disappointed. Eddie can sing but it was just not good.
Voice wise Chris Cornell was probably the best of the whole Era. His acoustic cover of nothing compares may be the best cover ever.
sad that 3 of those 4 I mentioned died from drugs. It was def that era.

Rank all the bands where you want, but Chris Cornell is the undisputed champ vocalist of 90s alt rock, and it frankly isn’t even close. He was just in a class of his own

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Great call on Live. Throwing Copper and Secret Samahdi were legendary 90s albums

Yeah Live is a good one. Forgot them

 

[HailStout]

Good call on live and weezer

 

[22yardpunt]

The "Southern Rock" thread inspired this. Fwiw, the Allman Brothers Band is one of the best Rock bands ever, full stop, imo.

Phish is probably my favorite band from the 90's, but I'd like to discuss the more accessible bands of the decade (broader appeal/MTV, etc).

My Mount Rushmore are probably:
Smashing Pumpkins
Blind Melon
Primus
Soundgarden

Honorable mentions to:
Pearl Jam
Rage
Nirvana

How badly did I miss?

Yyyyyeaaaahhh. I’m gonna need you to just go ahead and put Stone Temple Pilots at the top or near the top of that list. Oh, yeah, and ah need you to remove Smashing Pumpkins and Blind Melon on down the list. Mmmmk? Thanks.

 

[StillTbonewannabe]

Primus is one of my favorites. Don’t know where they fall into list without being bias. Les Claypool is one of the greatest bass players in rock.

Southpark intro is the best ever.

 

[Zildjan]

Radiohead.

 

[tenureplan]

1. Alice in chains - nobody harmonized like Staley and Cantrell




2. Pearl Jam




3.STP
4. Nirvana
5. Pumpkins
6. Screaming Trees - being fat was their only problem

Temple of the Dog and Mad Season get shoutouts

 

[Dawgg]

It is but Load and ReLoad are kinda meh as metal albums and I’m a huge Metallica fan. I’ve seen them multiple times in concert.

Load and ReLoad felt like they were made to get a spot on Total Request Live. “Garage, Inc.” was kind of awesome though. I know it was just an album of covers, but their version of “Turn The Page” was 17ing great.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

If we're talking about longevity, no band goes the distance like Cake.

 

[HailStout]

If we're talking about longevity, no band goes the distance like Cake.

I played “The distance” for my 14 year old daughter. She told me it sounded like somebody’s dad in khakis just talking.

 

[Seinfeld]

Yyyyyeaaaahhh. I’m gonna need you to just go ahead and put Stone Temple Pilots at the top or near the top of that list. Oh, yeah, and ah need you to remove Smashing Pumpkins and Blind Melon on down the list. Mmmmk? Thanks.

I’m kinda with you there. STP’s Core and Purple albums are incredible, and Purple is in my Top 5 of all time alt rock.

As far as the pumpkins go, I liked a couple of their early songs, but they were just never really my thing either. Their music got really theatrical in the later 90s

 

[Dawgg]

If we're talking about longevity, no band goes the distance like Cake.

I mean, they have some good songs, but as far as my list of top bands, they were never there.

 

[POTUS]

Weezer is unquestionably on the Mt. Rushmore. The Blue album is literally a perfect album. No skips.

Say what you want about Oasis, but "Don't Look Back in Anger" & "Wonderwall" are better songs than anything in the entire Nirvana & Pearl Jam catalog (and those were great bands)!

This is just Noel, not the whole band, but good grief:

 

[Seinfeld]

Say what you want about Oasis, but "Don't Look Back in Anger" & "Wonderwall" are better songs than anything in the entire Nirvana & Pearl Jam catalog (and those were great bands)!

 

[HailStout]

Say what you want about Oasis, but "Don't Look Back in Anger" & "Wonderwall" are better songs than anything in the entire Nirvana & Pearl Jam catalog (and those were great bands)!

 

[CochiseCowbell]

 

[HailStout]

Say what you want about Oasis, but "Don't Look Back in Anger" & "Wonderwall" are better songs than anything in the entire Nirvana & Pearl Jam catalog (and those were great bands)!

 

[POTUS]

Wonderwall: 2.4 Billion streams
Don't Look Back in Anger: 1.1 Billion streams
The top 5 streamed songs by Pearl Jam combined: 2.7 Billion streams (none over 1B)

That's not the whole story, but it's pretty telling.

You want to say Smells Like Teen Spirit (2.5B) & Come As You Are (1.7B) are better songs? Okay, it's a conversation, but I disagree.

But in 50 years, people will still be singing along to those Oasis songs. They are iconic.

 

[Seinfeld]

Wonderwall: 2.4 Billion streams
Don't Look Back in Anger: 1.1 Billion streams
The top 5 streamed songs by Pearl Jam combined: 2.7 Billion streams (none over 1B)

That's not the whole story, but it's pretty telling.

You want to say Smells Like Teen Spirit (2.5B) & Come As You Are (1.7B) are better songs? Okay, it's a conversation, but I disagree.

But in 50 years, people will still be singing along to those Oasis songs. They are iconic.

I’m actually not the world’s biggest fan of Nirvana although I do love In Bloom and their unplugged album. With them, I just tip my hat for how much they pushed the grunge scene forward.

I just can’t put Wonderwall in the same pantheon as Jeremy, Yellow Ledbetter, Black, and Corduroy though, and this is from someone that doesn’t hate Oasis at all

As far as the streaming numbers, I mean Cardi B and Miley Cyrus probably have better numbers than Pearl Jam too, so I’m not sure what to do with that data

 

[JackShephard]

Can't believe nobody mentioned Green Day. Not that they're that high on my list either, but they are certainly an iconic group from that time period. It's hard for me to find a whole lot of bands from that era that I didn't like.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Weezer is unquestionably on the Mt. Rushmore. The Blue album is literally a perfect album. No skips.

Say what you want about Oasis, but "Don't Look Back in Anger" & "Wonderwall" are better songs than anything in the entire Nirvana & Pearl Jam catalog (and those were great bands)!

This is just Noel, not the whole band, but good grief:

 

[Darryl Steight]

If I gotta choose just one, it would be AIC. Any of the Chris Cornell bands rank high for me. Smashing Pumpkins was one of my favs as a teen.

But man, I can listen to 90s music all day every day. So many had just one great album that I loved (Third Eye Blind & Matchbox 20 were my go to late night, chill while driving home with the windows down cds). Refreshments / Roger Clyne is one band I’ve been listening to for 30 years. Last 10 years or so I’ve gotten into a lot of other bands that I didn’t listen to growing up (Pixies, Dinosaur Jr). I’ve got a For Squirrels pandora channel that plays some great stuff.

For whatever reason I hate Pearl Jam and RHCP. Guess I got burnt out on them early.

Are we doing gangsta rap next?

Pixies/Dinosaur Jr. - great calls, but they (along with Sugar, Husker Du, etc) were really 80's bands who influenced all those 90's grunge era bands.

Not to get off track, but I think I'd have to put rock/pop decades in this order for best music:
1. 70's
2. 80's
3. 60's
4. 90's
5. 50's

<big gap>

6. 00's
7. 20's
8. 10's

 

[JackShephard]

Rage Against the Machine
3 Doors Down
Beastie Boys
Better than Ezra
Collective Soul
Counting Crows
Dinosaur Jr
Everclear
Goo Goo Dolls
Green Day
Cranberries
Breeders
Veruca Salt
Janes Addiction
Metallica (80s maybe?)
Live
GNR (80s too?)
Matchbox 20
Nirvana
NIN
Korn
Oasis
Pearl Jam
Primus
Radio Head
RHCP
Silverchair
Smashing Pumpkins
Soul Asylum
Soundgarden
STP
311
Third Eye Blind
Toadies
Tool
Tripping Daisy
Weezer

So many good ones. Hard to pick a top 5 for me, but I bolded my favorites (I guess).

 

[POTUS]

As far as the streaming numbers, I mean Cardi B and Miley Cyrus probably have better numbers than Pearl Jam too, so I’m not sure what to do with that data

Like I said, not the whole story. But it is telling. We aren't comparing streaming numbers of a 90's band with a current star. It's like for like. So they do say something.

I like Pearl Jam & Nirvana. They were instrumental to my adolescence. (I think In Bloom holds up the best of all Nirvana's songs). I can acknowledge their influence while also admitting that those two Oasis songs are just better. Noel just caught lightning in a bottle with those two songs and you can let almost anyone of any age hear them and they'll know they are all-timers. Pearl Jam just doesn't have a song like that. Kind of like Dave Matthews Band, their catalog and longevity is phenomenal, but no one song is as great as those two.

 

[BoDawg.sixpack]

Completely discounting live performances and focusing on albums, nothing will ever top Ten and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. What those albums meant to alternative rock means more than any other two albums ever meant to their respective genres.