Best Band of the 90s?

[dukeman92]

Generally speaking, Nirvana seems often considered the best band of the 90s. Or at least the most iconic. There are two reasons for this:

I like Nirvana. Great band. The Foo Fighters are better.

 

[dukeman92]

Matchbox Twenty

I love Matchbox 20 but they only released one album in the 90s. Granted, Yourself or Someone Like You was an amazing album but still.

 

[lawtig02]

Two bands I struggle to place in this conversation:

1. Live. Not nearly at the same level as others mentioned, but I see Lightning Crashes as the third part of the early-90s trilogy, along with Jeremy and Smells Like Teen Spirit (or Lithium, if that's your preference).

2. Bush. Totally commercial and manufactured, but I still listen to Sixteen Stone every now and then because it's just so entertaining top to bottom.

No doubt in my mind that Nirvana, AIC and Soundgarden are 1a-c in whatever order, but I do feel a sense of loyalty to those two.

 

[Oddball]

Pablo Honey (their debut album) was 1993, The Bends was 1995, and OK Computer was 1997, so they put out a lot of music in the 1990s. There are some people (I’m not one of them) who argue that their best work was from the 90s, and some of those people just like their 90s stuff and don’t care for the music they put out after that. Kid A was polarizing, and a lot of fans do their 90s work jumped ship after that. Personally, I think the music they put out in the 00s was their best work.

Just saw that Radiohead has a tour planned, 1st in 7 years... and Let Down hit the US charts last week due to viral Tik Tok.

Not sure if you guys spoke this into existence, but good job regardless!

 

[Icky Mettle]

I would say that's because they hit the late 80s Zeitgeist. By the 1990s, their sound was stale. It was never actually all that capacious.

Of course it’s not so much the decade that defines the sound as much as it is the era. For example there are generally a lot more similarities between music that came out in 1988 or 1989 and music that came in 1990 or 1991 than are between music that came out in 1991 and music that came out in 1998 or 1999 (ditto for any back-to-back decades).

There was sort of an era in music mostly before “grunge” became a big thing (but overlapping with it) where what would soon be called “alternative music” was referred to as “college rock.” That era was roughly 1987-1991/92. The Pixies were among the bands in that “college rock” era.

 

[lawtig02]

Of course it’s not so much the decade that defines the sound as much as it is the era. For example there are generally a lot more similarities between music that came out in 1988 or 1989 and music that came in 1990 or 1991 than are between music that came out in 1991 and music that came out in 1998 or 1999 (ditto for any back-to-back decades).

There was sort of an era in music mostly before “grunge” became a big thing (but overlapping with it) where what would soon be called “alternative music” was referred to as “college rock.” That era was roughly 1987-1991/92. The Pixies were among the bands in that “college rock” era.

Maybe worth a different thread, but what "undiscovered" bands do y'all remember hearing live in HS or college? For me, Hootie (in HS) and Vertical Horizon (in HS and college). Also heard Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds in college, but it was well after they'd hit it big.

 

[Icky Mettle]

Two bands I struggle to place in this conversation:

1. Live. Not nearly at the same level as others mentioned, but I see Lightning Crashes as the third part of the early-90s trilogy, along with Jeremy and Smells Like Teen Spirit (or Lithium, if that's your preference).

2. Bush. Totally commercial and manufactured, but I still listen to Sixteen Stone every now and then because it's just so entertaining top to bottom.

No doubt in my mind that Nirvana, AIC and Soundgarden are 1a-c in whatever order, but I do feel a sense of loyalty to those two.

The first concert I ever saw in a music club was Live in the summer of 1992 at the 13-13 club in Charlotte (where the Arlington a/k/a the Pink Building currently is). I went to high school with a guy who years later would take the place the band’s original lead singer (who, as I understand it, is back with the band). He also happens to be son of former Charlotte Hornets owner, George Shinn.

 

[Focker]

I don’t get the allure of Radiohead

 

[superrific]

Maybe worth a different thread, but what "undiscovered" bands do y'all remember hearing live in HS or college? For me, Hootie (in HS) and Vertical Horizon (in HS and college). Also heard Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds in college, but it was well after they'd hit it big.

1. Nirvana
2. Tool (even interviewed them)
3. Superchunk
4. Pantera
5. A whole lot that I don't remember, probably, depending on what you mean by "discovered."

I did college radio and I could get on the guest list for pretty much any show I wanted. I used to go to music clubs for shows three, four times a week. Of course, the catch was that most of the clubs were 21+ and I was considerably less than 21, so I had an arrangement with the owners/managers where I would specially promote them on my radio show if they would let me in. I promised not to drink, and I never did.

 

[Enigma94]

Maybe worth a different thread, but what "undiscovered" bands do y'all remember hearing live in HS or college? For me, Hootie (in HS) and Vertical Horizon (in HS and college). Also heard Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds in college, but it was well after they'd hit it big.

I saw DMB at the Sigma Chi house at UNC in the early 90's. Couldn't have been more than 30 people there. I didn't really think much of them at the time, they were just another band among dozens I saw play at fraternity houses.

I was living in Old West when Jane's Addiction played Memorial Hall and missed it. Kicking myself for that one.

 

[superrific]

I saw DMB at the Sigma Chi house at UNC in the early 90's. Couldn't have been more than 30 people there. I didn't really think much of them at the time, they were just another band among dozens I saw play at fraternity houses.

I was living in Old West when Jane's Addiction played Memorial Hall and missed it. Kicking myself for that one.

DMB played my college in that time and they drew thousands. DMB is Dave Mathews Band, right?

I couldn't avoid the concert. I was miserable. Best I could do was start a sarcastic mosh pit, which was pretty funny and also earned a rebuke from the band. This conversation happened:

DM: "There are a few guys here in front making a scene" [not exact words]
ME: "We're moshing" I yelled from the crowd.
DM: "This isn't really moshing kind of music."
ME: "No shit. But we have to entertain ourselves somehow."

 

[Enigma94]

DMB played my college in that time and they drew thousands. DMB is Dave Mathews Band, right?

I couldn't avoid the concert. I was miserable. Best I could do was start a sarcastic mosh pit, which was pretty funny and also earned a rebuke from the band. This conversation happened:

DM: "There are a few guys here in front making a scene" [not exact words]
ME: "We're moshing" I yelled from the crowd.
DM: "This isn't really moshing kind of music."
ME: "No shit. But we have to entertain ourselves somehow."

That's right. I've never been a big fan of theirs, but it's just an interesting footnote that I saw them when they were playing frat houses. One of my best friends played drums in a band that had Hootie open for them at the Mad Monk in Wilmington. We always laugh about how they blew up not long after that.

 

[Batt Boy]

Outkast

 

[finesse]

J. Geils Blues Band (Blues was dropped later) played at a dorm party at James in 1970. Saw them later that spring at Jubilee. I think they had just recorded their first album a month before or something.

 

[duluoz]

It always amuses me when threads like this -- "best bands of the 1990s" -- devolve into lists of bands that nobody thinks are the best.

Also, the Pixies sound super 80s to me. They weren't ahead of their time. They were successful because they were perfect fits for their time.

They blended punk and new wave into a garage sound. Not many bands were doing that in the ‘80s, and it led right into the ‘90s sounds — whether on the grunge side, garage, or “alternative” as it was called back then.

*and think of it as a “favorite” bands of the ‘90s if you’re going to get your tighty whities in a wad over ”best.”

 

[Oddball]

I saw DMB at the Sigma Chi house at UNC in the early 90's. Couldn't have been more than 30 people there. I didn't really think much of them at the time, they were just another band among dozens I saw play at fraternity houses.

I was living in Old West when Jane's Addiction played Memorial Hall and missed it. Kicking myself for that one.

I saw DMB then too. Pretty sure that was Fall of 93, Sigma Chi Derby Days.

DMB also played our high school mixers in the Charlottesville area, never paid them too much attention bc was trying to score, but the ladies liked 'em so we always knew there would be a bunch of girls if we went to those events

 

[superrific]

They blended punk and new wave into a garage sound. Not many bands were doing that in the ‘80s, and it led right into the ‘90s sounds — whether on the grunge side, garage, or “alternative” as it was called back then.

*and think of it as a “favorite” bands of the ‘90s if you’re going to get your tighty whities in a wad over ”best.”

The comment about "best" was more intended as a wry observation. And come on -- people aren't just nominating their favorite bands. They are nominating bands that are less than their favorite but still deserve consideration, lol.

As for the Pixies, plenty of bands were doing that in the 1980s. Fellow MA band Mission of Burma was. So too the Mekons, the Fall, the Dead Milkmen, half the SST catalog, late Husker Du. Hell, what was U2 doing in the 80s if not that?

The Pixies' main innovation was to tone down the guitars and let Kim sing, which meant they appealed to girls. Back in those days, punk and alt-rock was almost exclusively XY, and the women who were in that scene generally tended toward techno and goth. That's certainly my experience. At my radio station -- one data point, but we are talking about 100-150 kids over my tenure there -- most of the men were lukewarm about the Pixies. Some liked them quite a bit, but I don't remember any guy being really into the Pixies. By contrast, the girls loved the Pixies. The Pixies were their introduction to sub-radio pop. It was a huge gender divide. Of course, it was even more stark in metal.