The 10 Most Important Albums in Alternative Music in the 1990's

Alright, if you know me, you will definitely know I am a product of the 90's. From my music to my style to everything about me, the 90's are in my blood. So today, due mostly to the fact that I'd rather not review the new Kalan Porter album, I present, in my opinion, the 10 albums that shaped music more than any other in the 1990's.

10) Ten by Pearl Jam

Before the rebirth (and destruction, might I add) of punk in the 1990s, there was grunge: an alternative music force driven by a faithful fan base and the desire to push the boundaries of rock to their limits. One of the bands to emerge dominant on this scene was Pearl Jam. Lead by the raspy vocals of Eddie Vedder and the powerful guitars of Mike McCready, Pearl Jam lead the way for the Seattle grunge sound to dominate the world. Their debut album, Ten, was a monster. With powerhouse tracks like Even Flow and Once, as well as softer spins like Jeremy and Black, there was something in Ten that everyone could enjoy. This was one of the first albums to have a profound effect on me and, as a kid, Black was among my favourite songs. What Pearl Jam thought they could do to the world, musically and through actions, they did to me with Ten.

9) The Colour and the Shape by the Foo Fighters

With the passage of Kurt Cobain up into the great gig in the sky, Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl knew the past wasn't something he wanted to hold on to. He was determined as a musician to to continue spreading that message that music was a thing of beauty, no matter what form it took. So six months after Cobain's death, Grohl began recording what would be the first Foo Fighters album. He did this by himself, playing every instrument, writing and singing every word. However, the album didn't sound quite right as a solo project. In 1996, after touring a year, the newly formed band created The Colour and the Shape, an album that personifies the 90s. Influenced by the hardcore punk scene of the 80s, Black Flag in particular, the energetic record drove heavy guitars on songs like Monkeywrench and Everlong, but knew how to turn it down on songs like Walking After You. They've kept it going to this day, winning 2 Grammies in the process, and their latest record is sounding excellent.

8) (What's The Story) Morning Glory by Oasis

I've been listening to Oasis as far back as I remember. Along with U2, they were always that band that I just enjoyed listening to more than anything. Morning Glory is their magnum opus: an album where you know the words to every song and there was nothing out of place. Classic jams like Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova and Don't Look Back in Anger only began to unravel the greatness of the album. The deeper cuts like She's Electric, Hey Now! and Morning Glory made this album great. Sure Oasis is a band full of arrogant jerks who think all music before and after them is crap, but this album was and is something special to a lot of people. Just a brilliant piece of work.

7) Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

We all know the legacy of the Chili Peppers: a California band with delusions of grandeur and funk that just wouldn't quit. After the band's line-up had been stricken with tragedy with the death of Hillel Slovak, the band's former guitarist, the band's greatest fan, John Fruciante, stepped in to save them in their time of need. The newly formed Peppers went on to create Mother's Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik, two brilliant albums the infused funk and alternative rock in ways never before seen in mainstream music. The more popular of the two, yet not the inferior by any means, BSSM, sculpted the 90's for me musically. After years of hearing the same old mainstream rock like Creed, Third Eye Blind and stuff like that, the Chilis come along and introduced me to everything rock could be. Songs like Suck My Kiss, Give It Away, Power of Equality and especially Under the Bridge all made music make sense more than it already did. The Chilis were and are great. End of story.

6) Loveless by My Bloody Valentine

Alright, this is my unknown portion of the countdown, where Casey Casem would make a long-distance dedication you've never heard of on the countdown. My Bloody Valentine is a shoegazer band from Dublin, Ireland. They were formed in 1984, interested in being a punk band, but progressed way, way beyond the realm of punk. For those who don't know, the shoegazing style is defined by a massive amount of guitar effects in music. The artists playing would be more concentrated on their effect pedals than the audience in front of them, so they appeared to be looking at their shoes the whole time they played. My Bloody Valentine is the highest echelon of the shoegazer scene. Loveless opened my eyes to everything music could be: how melodies don't always have to be in one or two dimensions, how music didn't have to be completely understood to capture emotions in the listener. For that reason, Loveless made the top 10: it captured the true essence of music in something known only to very few.

5) Goo by Sonic Youth

For me, Sonic Youth is the band. No band has shown me a new vision of music quite like Sonic Youth has: turning random tunings into brilliant, lasting music. They are a band that, it's said, had a great effect on the grunge scene in the 90's with works like Daydream Nation(the best album of the 80's by the way) in the late 80's. Goo, Sonic Youth's first album of the 90's, really displays the beginning of the grunge movement: hard, distorted riffs infused with the classic back and forth singing of Kim and Thurston. The immortal Kool Thing displays that best. This song has everything: great guitar work, fantastic drums, Kim singing in classic form and Chuck D of Public Enemy providing his brilliance. This may be Sonic Youth's most noteable record in terms of air time and sales, but that doesn't mean for a second that the band sold out. Sonic Youth is as in form as ever on Goo. Pick this one up.

4) Mellon Chollie and the Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins dominated the 90's with attack after attack of alternative rock oozing with distortion. Yet it took until 1995 for the band to achieve their peak of ability with Mellon Chollie. This album was special, not only because it was a double disc and each disc was incredible, but because it was The Wall of our generation. The sound was special, unlike anything heard before: it opened into Billy Corgan playing a two-minute long piano intro, extending into Tonight, Tonight, a rock song with strings that went together like peanut butter and jelly. Then the classic Pumpkins sound reoccurred in Jellybelly, Zero, Here is No Why and Bullet with Butterfly Wings. From there it twisted and turned every which way imaginable, closing on disc 2 with the entire band singing the closer. This one's a modern classic.

3) Nevermind by Nirvana

This list would not be complete without Nevermind. Nirvana's classic grunge triumph of teenage worship and universal acclaim, home of Smells Like Teen Spirit and a host of other, brilliant songs, the 90s simply wouldn't be the 90s without it. Grunge gets no better than this. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, the Screaming Trees, all of them were eclipsed by Nirvana. Kurt Cobain was one of the greatest song writers of our time: taking influence from the Pixies, Black Flag, the Beatles and numerous indie artists from the underground. The combination of Cobain with bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl created a sound unlike any other the world had seen. I'm not trying to sound like Nirvana is the greatest band on the planet, but in the 90's, for quite a long time, that's exactly what they were. Up until Kurt's suicide in 1994, nobody made grunge like Nirvana, musically and lyrically.

2) OK Computer by Radiohead

Every once in a while, an album comes along that is perfect from start to finish. This album starts with an obtuse rock track infused with layers of guitar and a completely synthed sound completing the package. It progresses into long tracks, both hard and soft, with that same layered sound and, once it ends, you know you are truly listening to a masterpiece. That is OK Computer. Thom Yorke, a British lyricist, guitar enthusiast and electronica aficionado, recruited some of his friends from college to play a new breed of alternative rock. The band delved into shoegazer and the 80s indie scene, but always had a desire to play straight-up guitar rock with a twist. Including Yorke, three guitar players as well as a keyboardest, bass player and drummer made a massive, looming sound over their audiences. In the mid 90's, while everyone was searching for that next album to bounce them back after the Pumpkins went goth, Radiohead released OK Computer to massive acclaim and universal appreciation. A band that had been known for depressing lyrics and melodies dove headfirst into spacey art rock with more positive annotations. This album is a masterpiece of alternative rock. There has never been anything like it before and there will never be anything like it again, even 10 years later.

1) Grace by Jeff Buckley

Has there ever been an album that is so good you can not find the right words to give it the due credit? If so, this one is mine. Jeff Buckley was on track to be the next Dylan, the next Lennon, the next _____ (put your opinion of the greatest songwriter of all time in that space). The man was 28 when he released this record and he would die two years later. Yet this album has gone on to affect artists worldwide, being noted as an influence to Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Neil Peart, Chris Cornell, Sir Paul McCartney and even the great Bob Dylan himself. And it wasn't just his ability to craft words either, the man could sing. He could reach octaves high above the average male voice, which allowed his music to moan with passion and cry with emotion. His guitarwork was brilliant as well. On tracks like Grace and So Real, you could hear the work put into it on the musical front. However, it was his lyrics and the intensity with which he sung them that stood out above all else. The greatest shame of all was that he would never complete a second album. Demos of this project, entitled "My Sweetheart, The Drunk" were set to be produced and released for 1997, yet Buckley drowned while swimming in a lake a year earlier. What was already created was produced and released by Chris Cornell, a long-time friend of Buckley, and we retitled "Sketches for 'My Sweetheart, The Drunk'". The album was still brilliant, yet so incomplete. One thing is for certain, however, Grace is a modern classic. Absolute perfection.

Alright, that's my list. There'll be a ton of disagreement with my views on the music, yet I feel this representation of 90's music was accurate to an extent. It wasn't a decade as musically fulfilling as the 60's or 70's, yet it wasn't nearly as horrible as the 80's so we can all be thankful for that. Either way, between 1990 and 1999, a lot of amazing things happened in the world of music. A lot of things went horribly wrong (a.k.a. the boy-band revolution, the majority of the punk revival, Brittany Spears & company, etc..) but one thing is for certain: the spirit and beauty of music will always survive as long as there is someone to listen to it.