Few and far between are the albums which transcend normal shelf life. They instead become part of the landscape and a snapshot of life as it was at the moment. They slowly intertwine themselves into the very fabric of our daily lives. We use them as place markers on which we can look back and reflect upon what was happening to us personally and societally. Everyone knows the words to the songs, and the songs mean everything to us.
Here is a small collection of albums from the 90′s that fall in this category. No matter how hard you tried you just simply could not avoid them. Songs from these albums appeared in movies, television shows, commercials, sporting events, the mall, gas station, and even the Gap. They saturated the radio waves and had their own end-cap displays at the record stores. These songs and albums had lives of their own.
1) Counting Crowes: August & Everything After (1993)
From the opening moody guitar and the unmistakable morose vocals of Adam Duritz, our collective consciousness knew that there was something special about this album. “Round Here” was the song that introduced the general public to the Counting Crows. It was quickly followed up by “Mr. Jones”, “Sullivan Street”, and “Time And Time Again”. Even though this album weighed heavily on somber issues, listening to it was good for the soul.
2) Gin Blossoms: New Miserable Experinece (1992)
With their breakthrough hit “Hey Jealousy”, the Gin Blossoms showered us with light, upbeat songs about love, self doubt, and a hope that the future will be a bit brighter than the past. Luckily for us, the Gin Blossoms were no one-hit wonders. ”Mrs. Rita”, “Hold Me Down”, “Found Out About You”, and “Allison Road” lie scattered about on this album like stepping stones to guide us over the churning, tumultuous waters of New Miserable Experience.
3) The Lemonheads: It’s A Shame About Ray (1992)
Only someone like Evan Dando could breathe new life into a Simon and Garfunkel tune and capture the attention of the world. Breathy, personal, and with a folky edge, Dando sang about deeply personal subjects in a way that made you think that he was talking about somebody else. He didn’t half-step around subjects such as drug use and death. Instead he tackled them head-on and lent them a softening, pop edge that we couldn’t help but sing along with. This album is like a who’s-who of songs, which included not only “Mrs. Robinson”, but also “Confetti”, “It’s A Shame About Ray”, “Rudderless”, “Alison’s Starting To Happen”, “Kitchen”, “Ceiling Fan In My Spoon”, and my personal favorite, “Bit Part”.
4) Spin Doctors: Pocket Full Of Kryptonite (1991)
We quickly learned that “Two Princes” will do anything to earn the love of a particularly special woman, and damn it if we couldn’t stop ourselves from bopping our heads along with the song. It seemed as if the Spin Doctors appeared out of nowhere overnight with a song that was catchy as hell, grabbed us firmly by the ears, and before their momentum ran out turned us on to equally uplifting tunes such as “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues”, “What Time Is It?”, “and “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong”. As I write this I’m having difficulty pulling myself away from this album. Good stuff.
5) Ben Folds Five: Whatever And Ever Amen (1997)
Sure, the piano confused us at first, but once you got over the fact that it was the central instrument of Ben Folds Five, “The Battle Who Could Care Less” took center stage, and could soon be heard on just about every radio station you turned to. And it deserved such status. Ben Folds didn’t leave us hanging with just one fantastic song. One spin of this album made instant converts with songs such as “One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces”, “Fair”, “Song For The Dumped” (I wonder if he ever got his black t-shirt back?), “Kate”, “Smoke”, “Evaporated”, and a song about an abortion (“Brick”). Unfortunately, Ben Folds Five is no more, but Ben Folds has continued on with an amazing solo career.
6) The Black Crows: Shake Your Money Maker (1990)
Rare is the band that achieves the stature and heights such and The Black Crowes. With their heavy blues rock sound, they grabbed our attention with the theme song of the year “Hard To Handle”, mellowed us out with the pseudo-ballad “She Talks To Angels”, eased us back into their groove with “Twice As Hard”, then stunned us with the hits “Jealous Again”, “Could I’ve Been So Blind”, “Think N’ Thin”, “Struttin’ Blues”, and “Stare It Cold”. Southern rock never sounded so good.
7) Blues Traveler: Four (1994)
It seemed as if John Popper of the Blues Traveler was everywhere in 1994. This overweight giant of a man came off as a joke if you didn’t know any better. Wearing an odd brimmed hat and sporting what looked like ammunition belts slung across his chest which he used to carry around a quiver of harmonicas instead of bullets, he looked as out of place as anybody ever could. But, once the Blue Travelers began playing and John started in on his harmonicas like a man with the devil on his mind, then grabbed the mic and belted out songs such as “Run-Around”, “Fallible”, “Hook”, and “Price to Pay”, he shed the skin of an outsider and became one of the best frontmen in the blues/soul/rock business.
8 ) Jane’s Addiction: Ritual De Lo Habitual (1990)
The opening jumbled spanish sentence proclaiming that Jane’s Addiction had “more influence over your children than you do” made us do a double-take, then twisted our heads all the way around with some of the most far reaching and in-your-face tunes ever to grace your CD player. Jane’s Addiction ruled our world in 1990, spitting out the soon to be classics “Stop”, “No One’s Leaving”, “Ain’t No Right”, “Been Caught Stealing”, “Three Days”, etc..etc…etc… Heck, there wasn’t one bad song on the album. Not a one! To top it all off the album cover was considered controversial in its day. So much so that it was issued with two different covers to appease the more cordial and tightly-wound members of society.
9) Metallica: “The Black Album” (1991)
Say what you will about Metallica, but they officially became rock gods with the release of the “Black Album”. This is the album that turned your Care Bare-watching kid brother into a metalhead overnight. The “Black Album” cemented Metallica’s place in music history with songs that bore deep into our brains and ground our skulls into a fine powder…and we enjoyed every second of it. So throw your devil-horned hands into the air and bang your heads along with me to the songs “Enter Sandman”, “Sad But True”, “The Unforgiven”, “Wherever I May Roam”, “Nothing Else Matters”, “The God That Failed”, “My Friend Of Misery”, and “The Struggle Within”. Bask in the glory of this album, and ignore anything else of theirs that came after.
10) Pearl Jam: Ten (1991)
Sure, Nirvana was the trendsetter, but it was Pearl Jam that put more of an indentifiable, personal touch to their songs that almost everyone could relate to or understand. Once the world became aware that Pearl Jam was “Alive”, they quickly forked over their hard-earned cash and picked up their groundbreaking album, Ten. It wasn’t long before “Once”, “Even Flow”, “Jeremy”, “Porch”, and “Black” could be heard spilling out of every redneck’s IROC-Z and college kid’s Volkswagen bug. Pearl Jam owned, and to this day continue to make fantastic music under the radar. Check out their latest offering, “Backspacer”!
11) Smashing Pumpkins: Siamese Dream (1993)
This is the album that your sister owned. This is the band that your brother followed. And before anyone realized what a prima donna Billy Corgan was, this was the album that you jammed to in your car at maximum volume. In fact, it’s probably still sitting in your glove compartment, unplayed and unloved for far too long. Go get it. Quick. Go on…I’ll wait for you. *twiddles thumbs*…*whistles aimlessly*…You’re back? Great. Now, I dare you to listen to “Cherub Rock”, “Quiet”, “Today”, “Rocket”, “Disarm”, “Mayonaise”, and “Spaceboy” without cranking up the volume on your now-pathetic computer speakers. These songs rock much harder than you remember, don’t they?
12) Radiohead: The Bends (1995)
Yeah, yeah…Pablo Honey came first, but that was merely a teaser for one of the greatest albums ever made by one of the greatest bands that ever existed. The Bends was Radiohead’s way of smashing you over the head with a 10-ton boulder and making you beg for a second dose. Everything melancholy, desperate, and beautiful was puréed, sifted, flash frozen, shattered, processed, then packaged up and given upon the public who loved and embraced this band wholeheartedly. This album contained gems such as “Planet Telex”, “The Bends”, “High And Dry”, “Fake Plastic Trees”, “Just”, “My Iron Lung”, and “Black Star”. And to think that Radiohead followed up on The Bends with OK Computer, Kid A, and Hail To The Thief. Mindblowing.
