Although there were so many good albums in this decade, we handpicked the 10 most important albums of the ’90s to remind you how the ’90s were a great decade in terms of music and to introduce some of its defining albums to the younger generation.
Music of the ’80s was characterized by the mainstream success of the dance genre, hard rock, and glam metal. It was the time of guitar virtuosos, big arena concerts, and huge tours. Pop singers enjoyed huge success as well, with Michael Jackson having the bests elling album of all time, Madonna claiming the “Artist of the Decade” title and Prince being at the peak of his career. Until the end of the ’80s, glam metal bands alongside some hard rock bands saw a decline in popularity. Dance music started changing and being more influenced by electronic music. The late ’80s are also credited for the beginning of the golden age of hip-hop that continued in the early 90’s. Underneath of all this, there was an emergence of other artists and genres of music that will achieve massive success in the ’90s.
The beginning of the ’90s saw a continuation of the popularity of hip-hop, with new artists emerging and old ones maintaining the popularity they had in the ’80s. Gangsta rap was born, bringing to the scene more female rappers as well as some of the history’s most famous rappers like 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G. By the mid ’90s hip hop managed to become the best selling music genre in the world. In later years, some of the rappers that will define 2000’s like Eminem began emerging.
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Pop also continued to grow, with Michael Jackson and Madonna continuing their success while Whitney Huston and Mariah Carey found the initial success that continued through the ’90s. The late ’90s in pop music were marked by the invasion of boy bands and girl bands followed by teen pop stars. The Spice Girls had a major success in both the United Kingdom and the United States. On that line, numerous other bands tried to use the formula, with N’Sync and Backstreet Boys being the most successful ones. Until the end of the 90’s, Madonna and Janet Jackson recorded their most acclaimed albums, while Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera debuted with their albums and found success that will carry on in the 2000s. You’ll find some of the songs dating from this period on our list of 10 awesome remixes of hit songs from the ’90s.
Dance music turned more to electronic sound and started shaping up as we know it today. The period of the ’90s saw artists like Moby, Aphex and Prodigy releasing their critically acclaimed albums and making the breakthrough. In the United Kingdom, and new subgenre called trip hop appeared with Massive Attack being its greatest act. Even the musicians from other backgrounds like Madonna started using electronic music in their songs.
We already mentioned that glam metal saw a great decline when it comes to rock music in the ’90s. Other rock acts from previous decades were still popular but overshadowed by massive new movements in the United States and the United Kingdom. Thrash metal giant, Metallica released the self-titled album in the early ’90s that became their best-selling to date. Red Hot Chili Peppers released their 4th and most acclaimed album; Nirvana started a revolution with Nevermind putting grunge on the music map of the world while Green Day’s Dookie got them their first major success, and is credited with bringing punk into a more mainstream sphere. In the United Kingdom, Brit Pop with acts like Oasis and Blur has started taking over the Europe and gaining a respectable following in the United States, while Radiohead became one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the late ’90s.
Now that we walked you through the major music genres in the ’90s, it is time to finally begin unfolding our list of the 10 most important albums of the ’90s. As our starting point, we used Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Albums of the ’90’s. As a music journalist with six years of experience, I decided to pick the 10 albums from this list after further research. I tried to include as many genres as possible and to explain why are they so important. You are welcome to (dis)agree with these picks in the comments below. Without the further ado, here are the most important albums of the ’90s.
10. TLC – CrazySexyCool
Forget about the Spice Girls and their easy pop tunes. TLC was the girl band that marked the ’90s, if not by commercial success, at least by its importance. After the group’s debut album that featured more pop sound, 1994’s “CrazySexyCool” was a refreshing change. It set the ground for modern R&B and was the first album to combine R&B with hip hop. If you think that Rihanna mixing with Eminem is groundbreaking, think again. This album planted that idea.
9. Nas – Illmatic
Released in early 1994, “Illmatic”, the next one in our list of most important albums of the ’90s is one of the most appreciated rap albums of all time thanks to its lyrics complexity and excellent production. However, the album’s importance is in the fact that it brought back East Cost rap on the scene. In 1994 West Coast rap scene was blooming, while the East Coast rap scene was in decline. “Illmatic” was the album credited that in a particular way revived East Coast rap scene and prepared the field for the success of Notorious B.I.G. and Wu-Tang Clan among others.
8. Radiohead – OK Computer
You may recognize this band by the moniker “the guys that play that catchy song Creep”. Although it is without any doubt their most known song, it doesn’t even come close to their best ones. “OK Computer” album came after Radiohead’s successful second album “The Bands” and it didn’t meet with approval from their recording company that reluctantly released the album. Now the album is seen as being ahead its time. It showed that conceptual albums can be a critical and commercial success, and laid the grounds for experimental rock music. The style and the album’s lyrics are often viewed as an indicator of the atmosphere that will be predominant in the years after.
7. Madonna – Ray of Light
Why Madonna deserves to be on our list of 10 most important albums of the ’90s? Well, she reinvented herself and the pop music with this album, that’s why. “Ray of Light” was something of an experiment for Madonna, which eventually proved to be one of the best albums in her career. She was the first artist to combine the mainstream pop music with elements of electronic music. It was so successful that everyone started doing it after that.
6. Metallica – Metallica
Thrash metal wasn’t always part of the mainstream music. Before the ’90s, thrash metal had a smaller audience and wasn’t commercially successful as you may have thought. Metallica’s self-titled album is credited for bringing thrash metal to the wider audience and establishing it as commercially successful. It remains Metallica’s most successful album to date at least when we are talking in terms of sale. It also helped to bring other thrash metal acts to attention like Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer.
5. Green Day – Dookie
Green Day ranks 5th in our list of most important albums of the ’90s. It was already established independent label punk band before this album. After their second album that gained traction in the underground scene, Green Day signed a contract with a major label, but no one expected them to follow up on their success as much as they did. The release of Dookie saw punk being relevant again on the music scene and having the commercial potential with the mainstream audience. It was also the defining moment in establishing Green Day as a band we know today.
4. Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
Brit Pop is often dubbed as the UK’s response to grunge. Although it didn’t start with “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?”, this album is definitely the peak of the movement. Becoming one of the best selling albums in the UK’s history, “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” made Oasis one of the largest bands in the world and the largest one in the UK at the moment. The album inspired the whole new wave of bands that started to make music on the lines of the album’s established rules. Some even credit the album for being both the peak of Brit Pop as well as the start of its fall, since “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” was unmatched in the following years.
3. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Many critics and fans see “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” as the best album they ever made. The number three in our list of most important albums of the ’90s features some of their greatest and most appreciated songs like “Under the Bridge” and “Give It Away”, but also plants the funk-rock sound that will be the staple of their future career. “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” didn’t only establish funk rock as a relevant music genre, but is also viewed as setting the ground for the way alternative rock will develop in the years to come.
2. Dr. Dre – The Chronic
Before we reveal the most important albums of the ’90s, let’s give credit to the arguably the best-produced rap album in the history. Dr. Dre’s debut album is significant for numerous reasons. First, it showed that gangsta rap had a potential for commercial success in the ’90s. It brought a fresh G-funk style of hip-hop to the West Coast rap scene and also launched Snoop Dog and Nate Dog among other hip-hop artists from West Coast into having successful careers. Last, equally important, it marked launching one of the most important hip-hop labels in history, Death Row Records.
1. Nirvana – Nevermind
If you are even remotely familiar with the music scene in the ’90s, our last entry on the list of 10 most important albums of the ’90s won’t be a major surprise. “Nevermind” didn’t only made Nirvana one of the greatest rock bands in the history, but it was also an album that defined an entire generation. Songs on the album relied on personal and social topics matched with simple but effective and powerful style of playing. The rock music started losing its influence in the early ’90s until this album came along and made it popular again. It was the defining moment of grunge music and the success of “Nevermind” saw other grunge bands like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden achieving both critical and commercial success. Entire underground and alternative rock music scene saw an uplifting after Nevermind and became appealing to both audience and record labels. The interesting thing about this album is that it didn’t suppose to be remotely successful as it turned out to be. Nirvana’s record label Geffen has only projected that the album will sell just over 200,000 copies, but it ended up selling more than 30 million copies to date. After the release of the song Smells Like Teen Spirit, the selling pace was more than 300,000 copies a week. Rolling Stone named it the greatest album in the ’90s while it is often featured on lists of the greatest albums in the history of music.
