There is a narrative of the 90s now that after the death of Kurt Cobain, Rock fans’ only options were to either jump ship and get into Hip-hop and Dance music, accept whatever watered-down garbage-grunge, or sink into premature old-man nostalgia. This happened for many, and in my 2013 year-end post I felt the need to attack late 90s rock while making back-handed compliments towards Tricky. This might have been funny if you know I was in a rock band at the time and find self-deprecation amusing. But I’ve been thinking about it. I liked the idea of rewriting that period with me totally not even caring about Rock at that point because it makes the band’s complete failure seem like not a big deal. However, me care(d) a lot.

The big (non-fatal) disapointments of the late 90s were by the big alt-rock bands. Faith No More, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Helmet, all took a nose dive. Even Sonic Youth starting phoning it in. There was still Radiohead, I guess. I like Radiohead. (Sorry?) But there’s no reason to tell you OK Computer is a good one. It’s great. But it’s not making my list. Neither is Stereolab, one of my favorite bands at that time, but there’s no reason to reach even slightly into hyphenated compoundword quasi-genres or even any band with a keyboard player or DJ. There were still great rock bands, they just didn’t become household names. And yet, it was—and is—still possible to enjoy. Imagine listening to music your parents have never, and will never hear, or even hear of. This happened, to me.

(Also, I listened to all that other stuff at the same time. And there was some Metal but I feel like that's another list. Almost everyone I knew listned to all of that. I'm just saying, I accept that people born during or after the late 90s could be reading this, and: you did not invent that. That's all I'm saying. But hopefully we can still be friends because if not I am doomed.)

1. 
   

   Jon Spencer Blues Explosion | Now I Got Worry

   
   Some people don’t “get” JSBX. But some people’s favorite Nirvana album is Unplugged. I don’t get those people. The medium is the goddamn message and the medium is Rock. The Beat. The Guitar. The…Other Guitar. That’s pretty much it. Except that’s not really “it”. It’s the energy of the performance. I think an amp blows up in one of the songs. The followup to this was the more subdued and soulful Acme which is alright in my book, and technically more “late 90s” since it was ’98 and this one was early ’97 but was recorded in ’96 so it’s kinda on the borderline of being mid-90s, and I think there’s a distiction to be made in the general mood or trend of rock that is perhaps exemplified with those two albums, BUTT, when anyone says Rock died with Cobain this is the first thing I think of, played the hell out of this thing. Parts of it still give me the feeling of not caring if the world is about to end or whatever. Maybe I’m dumb.

2. 
   

   Sleater-Kinney | The Hot Rock

   
   I couldn’t possibly take a list like this seriously that did not include stone cold ’97 classic Dig Me Out. Yet, I didn’t have that record myself until post-2000. Many probably equate this release with Spencer’s Acme (The two groups also share the minimal drums&guitars setup.); there’s a few high-energy numbers, but the focus is on songwriting and those quaint pre-millennial themes like “questioning”, “introspection”, “ethics”, all those things that immediately became obsolete. Really it’s mostly about relationships like most of their stuff, but does it really matter what it’s about when the music is this great? The most original stance most bands took in the 90s was ripping off a different decade than everyone else, but there’s nothing retro about this stuff: mostly clean, linear, interlocking drum, guitar and vocal melodies in the style of no one before or since.

3. 
   

   Shonen Knife | Happy Hour

   
   Altho it starts off with an unecessary (but fun) psudo-rap number (a throwback to an earlier one, on 712, I’m guessing Tom Tom Club-inspired), this is mostly straight up pop-punk, the only such album that makes this list. I liked a lot of those bands like The Queers and Mr. T Experience but I feel the albums had a similar drop-off as the big Alternative bands. One reason this holds up over the intentionally funny or clever stuff can be found in the insanely hyper Ska of Cookie Day, charmingly years after anyone gave a shit about Ska with zero irony, and unlike some other of their songs, unambiguously literal: finishing off one of the simplest, happiest songs ever made with a truck driver’s key change, there is no implied wink, no hint of, “can you believe this?” You simply don’t. (And I can't belive it's not on youtube. I do believe this song begins with the offering a cookie to a dog, which I have never questioned until now. Get it.)

4. 
   

   Shellac | Terraform

   
   People seem to skip over this record when they talk about Shellac, maybe it’s just my experience. I think it’s just the name and artwork are kinda generic for the 90s. The songwriting is consistant, they have no hits and sound exactly the same on every record. They are beholden to no trend. But they happened to record and release a record in this time period so here they are. Starts with a long slow-burner you might skip but I don’t.

5. 
   

   Guitar Wolf | Planet of the Wolves

   
   I don’t even need to comment on this except that I didn’t think about the order of this list too much. If you don’t have this your situation is fucked and/or you don’t like Rock’n’Roll.

6. 
   

   Sebadoh | The Sebadoh

   
   There were very few rock records in the 90s you could have sex to cause everyone was on heroin or aggro or ironic or straightedge or some combination of those. You can only listen to the first side of Little Earthquakes so many times. (That doesn’t sound like an undersell, does it?) All Uncle Loobie is about is pot and lovin’. And maybe some speed. And co-dependency. Emotional turmoil. Which is all very sexy, with the right person. Until it isn’t. But then it is again, until it isn’t again. But then it really, really is, better than it’s ever been…until it really, really isn’t. But a record can always start over, which is why we love records. This record stands out as being somewhat “produced”, which somehow did not bother me at the time, and it still doesn’t, unlike other things which have bothered me quite a bit. On most days, I would prefer Bakesale or Harmacy, but haven’t had sex to either, so it’s hard to make a side-by-side comparison.

7. 
   

   Cramps | Big Beat from Badsville

   
   On a really good day the band I was in was mostly like the Cramps, if the Cramps were boring, depressed weirdos who couldn’t be bothered to come up with a gimmick. (We mostly had bad days.) I had to look this one up to make sure it was really a late 90s record. Feels like these songs have always existed. Actually better than their early 90s records if you ask me.

8. 
   

   Cake Like | Goodbye, So What

   
   I really had a thing for this band. Partly because I had a crush on Kerri Kenney from The State, and partly because I had not heard Dig Me Out. But I think they were good, all the albums. This one they get into harmonies. Maybe it’s hard to make them out to be “important” as a band that you need to listen to, but I guess this album in particular was a big deal (to me, I got it in the cutout bin). The emotion of this album is closure. It was something I wished I felt more than felt directly. Like listening to happy music when you want to kill yourself. You know. Right? Uh. They come up with some pretty original stuff musically if you haven’t listened to a whole lot of post-hardcore and indie pop stuff yet but I bet you have. The worst tho is if 90s bands comes up in some casual conversation and I mention this band and I get, “Oh, I love Cake!” Because, FUCCCKKKK YOOOUUUUU.

9. 
   

   Modest Mouse | Lonesome Crowded West

   
   Not my favorite album by them and no special memories attached, but it has some pretty killer songs. I guess I didn’t get into them until this record came out but I listened to the earliest stuff more, where it sounds like it’s barely hanging together. Hard to believe they eventually went more Pop. Good production does Issac Brock no favors, I mean, Lou Barlow actually has a nice voice. But the way he bends strings was crazy. Of course his hand is fucked up now. That was part of the appeal at the time, listening to it like, “He’s gonna totally fuck up his hand! That’s awesome!” We were sick fucks.

10. 
    

    Blonde Redhead | In an Expression of the Inexpressible

    
    To be honest, after I eliminated all of the records that were definitely in my heavy rotation at the time but that I felt could not really count, I had trouble coming up with a tenth record. So we have this. A great record, a Rock record (BR are now decidedly much more post-rock), a record I didn’t own until relatively recently, but which was played a lot on college radio. (In my memory, much earlier, like early-90s, but it turns out not.) There’s some pretty hard tunes on here but ironically, the song that got the most airplay was actually the least rocking. (Even a flute on that track, ye gods.) The vocal is so alien, and the way it’s produced, I guess it reminded me of went I first heard indie music on the radio, like Slint and Rapeman, it just overturns and upsets your expectations of what music could sound like or be about, but still be made by a rock band.

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