Best Album of the ‘90s — Winner Takes All

cato

cato

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If you are like me, you have a long-standing goal. You want a definitive answer to a burning question: what was the best album of the 90s?

Why Now?

It’s been 25 years since we left the 90s. 35 years since it started.

During the decade from 1990-1999, lots of people moved from cassettes to CDs. Walkman to discman. One friend of mine bought Nevermind on cassette because that is what his car played. I bought it on CD because I could connect my discman to my cassette player in the car using one of those tape-to-cd converters.

And I listened to a lot of music.

4 or 5 years ago, I realized that I didn’t listen to much of that music anymore. Just a few albums that I would dip back into from time to time.

Ten by Pearl Jam. Gov’t Mule.

Maybe Nevermind.

Exile in Guyville.

So those must be in my top 5, right? The only ones I actually have listened to all the way through in the past 5 or 10 years?

No! You can’t decide a high-stakes question like this just by looking at one metric. You need depth. You need rigor.

You need this contest to determine a winner.

The Contest

Name the top best album of the 90s. Contenders will be considered and entered into a tournament format.

The format will be international football style, with a round robin group stage and then a knock-out round.

The Stakes

Glory

The Contenders
  • Ten - Pearl Jam
  • Nevermind - Nirvana
  • OK Computer - Radiohead
  • Automatic for the People - REM
  • The Miseducation of Lauren Hill - Lauren Hill
  • The Downward Spiral - NIN
  • Grace - Jeff Buckley
  • Endtroducing - DJ Shadow
  • Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair
  • Dig Me Out - Sleater-Kinney
  • The Chronic - Dr. Dre
  • Dummy - Portishead
  • Ready to Die - Christopher Wallace aka Frank White aka Big Poppa aka Biggie Smalls aka the Notorious B.I.G (RIP)
  • Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers) - Wu Tang Clanh
  • Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain - Pavement
  • Sublime - Sublime
  • Gov’t Mule - Gov’t Mule
  • Siamese Dream - The Smashing Pumpkins
Submissions

What other albums should be entered into this contest?
 
I'm going to be on with a contingent of country albums because there were some amazing albums that should not be off of this list. It might take me all day because I'm taking care of sick babies in Washington DC right now.
 
In an Uber on the way to the Children’s hospital. I would say "Wide Open Spaces" by The Chick's. I could listen to Natalie Maines sing the phone book and I would pay for it. "Come on Over" by Shania Twain (not a fan, but HUGE album), "Brand New Man" by Brooks and Dunn and "No Fences" by Garth Brooks have to be here.

Garth has to make at least an Elite 8 or you are all monsters. Absolute monsters. Now I despise Garth, because I hold him responsible for the pop country movement that took over and still predominates (read: ruined) country music. But when this came out, it seemed Garth was going to be the answer to who's going to fill their shoes. Also, go to hell Chris Gaines.
 
Incredible topic and great starting list.

The second half of the 90s was the on-set of "frat boy rock" for lack of a better explanation (I was not a frat boy but loved it). So to represent that I will throw out Under the Table and Dreaming by Dave Matthews Band, but there are likely other options that others prefer - brain isn't working great this early in the morning. But that was an iconic, life-changing album for me when it came out during my time at Duke.

Pocket Full of Kryptonite by Spin Doctors or a Blues Traveler album (four?) could also be on the list. I don't think they deserve to win, but they should be considered. Or Hootie - don't laugh but it was huge at the time.
 
Since this is DBR, I would be remiss in not pointing out that it's "Lauryn Hill."

Also apropos of nothing:

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magic
Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
Rage Against the Machine - self titled
Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual
REM - Out of Time, not Automatic
Depeche Mode - Violator
U2 - Achtung Baby
Tom Petty - Wildflowers

Yer gonna need a pretty big table.
 
ClemmonsDevil said:
In an Uber on the way to the Children’s hospital. I would say "Wide Open Spaces" by The Chick's. I could listen to Natalie Maines sing the phone book and I would pay for it. "Come on Over" by Shania Twain (not a fan, but HUGE album), "Brand New Man" by Brooks and Dunn and "No Fences" by Garth Brooks have to be here.

Garth has to make at least an Elite 8 or you are all monsters. Absolute monsters. Now I despise Garth, because I hold him responsible for the pop country movement that took over and still predominates (read: ruined) country music. But when this came out, it seemed Garth was going to be the answer to who's going to fill their shoes. Also, go to hell Chris Gaines.
Click to expand...
I was going to say something similar regarding the need to include albums from the country genre.
 
Some others for consideration:

Metallica - Metallica (Black Album)
Snoop - Doggstyle
Cranberries - Everybody else is doing it, so why can't we
Rage Against the Machine
No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom
Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill (hated it, but everyone else seemed to love it)
TLC - CrazySexyCool
Eminem - Slim Shady LP (was that 90s?)
 
GREAT topic!!!!!!! 90s era music from the rap, rock/grunge era was absolute fire. I loathed 80s pop/rock music and was all country all the time in the 80s. The 90s were an incredible and wonderful time for everything except country. It got way worse, while everything else got way better.
 
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