Give the Finger to the Rock N’ Roll Singer

By Aaron

24 Oct

(another lazy, shameless cross-post)

Just call it “Progressive Music List Bloat:” my first Best Of list, covering the 1960’s, contained all of ten albums. The 70’s list was 20 items long. By the time the 80’s rolled around, I had expanded to 25 titles. Wellsir, for the 1990’s, we’ve blown it all the way out to thirty five.

It’s the curse of familiarity. After all, I wasn’t alive in the 60’s; I was a preteen in the 70’s; and I went to high school in the 80’s. By the dawn of the 90’s, I was Officially An Adult, a college student with a job and disposable income to spend…which I did, on music, music, and more music (a debilitating habit that continues to the present day.)

More music means more trouble narrowing down. Throw in the 90’s alt-rock explosion, which irrevocably split popular music into zillions of new genres, sub-genres, sub-sub-genres, and micro-genres, and winnowing the damn thing down becomes well nigh impossible.

Yadda, yadda, yadda. Here’s the list. As always, positioning is in no way indicative of rank.

Nirvana – In Utero
The Beastie Boys – Check Your Head
Radiohead – OK Computer
Kyuss – Welcome to Sky Valley
Dr. Dre – The Chronic
The Beta Band – The 3 EP’s
Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger
Uncle Tupelo – Anodyne
Fishbone – The Reality of My Surroundings
Slayer – Seasons in the Abyss
Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Ragged Glory
The Roots – Things Fall Apart
Sugar – Copper Blue
Alice In Chains – Dirt
The Black Crowes – The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion
Dr. Octagon – Dr. Octagonecologyst
Radiohead – The Bends
Sigur Rós – Ágætis Byrjun
PJ Harvey – Rid of Me
Pearl Jam – Vitalogy
A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory
Opeth – Still Life
Masters of Reality – Sunrise on the Sufferbus
Grant Lee Buffalo – Mighty Joe Moon
Johnny Cash – Unchained
Tool – Undertow
Faith No More – Angel Dust
The Melvins – Stoner Witch
Wilco – Being There
Beck – Mellow Gold
Portishead – Dummy
Rage Against The Machine – S/T
Sleater-Kinney – Dig Me Out
Ol’ Dirty Bastard – N***a Please
Lo-Fidelity Allstars – How to Operate With a Blown Mind