Dan Tana’s Top 25 Records of the 90s

It amazes me how many phases of music there were in one decade. We had the tail end of glam rock, grunge, lezbo rock, ska, techno, swing, pop punk/emo punk, rap rock, and we even managed to squeeze in the macarena. How did it all get squeezed into one decade? It’s a mystery we’ll never solve, but I’m just glad I was there. I still think it’s funny how indie rock just didn’t exist when I was in high school and how much fashion has changed in the last ten years. I’m that old proud guy who wishes he could swear his era was the best, and it was in some ways. It got pretty ridiculous, and the crap that we listened to for the most part was pretty bad, but in that full circle kind of way. Only ten years later and indie rock exists, and it feels musicians are trying to make good music again, and the variety of music is wider as a whole. I wish we had the music scene we have now for my youth, but alas, I’ll have to settle with, “We took this trip to Garden Grove, it smelled like Lou Dog inside the van, oh yeah.”  

I decided not to count records that I got into after the 90s by bands like Neutral Milk Hotel or Sonic Youth. I was not very with it for the 90s, but I was there blasting KROQ, donned in wife beater, dangling cigarettes from the lips. These have no bearing as far as what one would read in some other schmarm magazine, where one would find either Wowee Zowee or Ok Computer as number one. That being said, below are the records that I just liked at the time in the 90s. All this really does is make me feel old and I am honestly ashamed of some of these. Stop judging me. Don’t look at me!

25. Zebrahead - Waste of Mind (1998)

Let’s start this list off strong shall we? This is one of my few one hit wonder records. I listened to this record solid for about two months then that was it. I’m actually not sure why this is on here. It’s not a good record, but at the time it blew my mind. I actually liked Playmate of the Year a little better, but we are into the 2000s at that point and I should stop talking.

24. Mad Caddies - Duck and Cover (1998)

I had The Fugees record The Score by The Fugees in this spot, and I really wanted it to stay, but I had to really be honest with myself…I just liked Duck and Cover better. Mad Caddies are completely different, but I had to cut a record, and unfortunately The Score was it. I think my dad liked The Score better than me anyway. Duck and Cover had the best horn parts I think of all the ska records I owned. I actually just re-listened to it and really enjoyed it. Their songs often go into fantastic horn sections that are very well orchestrated and even borderlines on swing sometimes. I wonder if the band is around still. Are any of the ska bands around?…That’s the real question.

23. Fatboy Slim - You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby (1998)

Great record. It’s very true, California is druggie…right guys? I got a tiny bit into the techno phase. The end.

22. Korn - Life Is Peachy (1996)

It’s in here. I had that “the harder the better” phase in my life. Life Is Peachy doesn’t have “Blind” on it, but overall was a bit more consistent. It did have “A.D.I.D.A.S.” on it, and what young virgining teenager couldn’t relate to that in the 90s? Random-thought time regarding metal/hard rock: For some bizarre reason Metallica never fully caught on for me. Metallica had two kinds of fans: The ones that enjoyed the singles and maybe had one record, and the extreme die-hard fans. If you actually were a fan of Metallica, you were a FAN. Metallica to this day has the most die hard fans I’ve ever seen. Their “run of the mill” fans will go in history as being more die hard then any other fanatic of any band anywhere. They owned all the records and sat for hours and hours in their rooms learning all the guitar parts to show their friends at school the next day. But hey, I know it’s made some great musicians today.

21. Less Than Jake - Losing Streak (1996)

What a great record. The ska era was a hoot, and for me Less Than Jake came out on top. This was a close battle between Reel Big Fish though. Less Than Jake just had more lasting power by a hair though. The horn parts were very well written for the music and every song was equally as good. It had a feel about it like they knew they wouldn’t last and were just having fun. You know you all sang “Dope Man” at some point in your car…yeah you, reading this, the guy in denial (Evan Way), I know you nodded your head at least once to this jam.

20. Limp Bizkit - Significant Other (1999)

Boo on myself. This is as low as Sublime, maybe lower…no that’s not true, most everyone made better records than Sublime. At least the guitar parts are pretty good in Limp Bizkit…for the 90s that is. Not much can be said for Fred. I wish at the time I could realize how much of a douche that guy is. Fred is going to be one of those guys twenty years from now hanging out at the Whisky managing that one band that opened up for Linkin Park ten years ago. Fred will have produced their record, maybe have gotten them on a small label, and every five years will find another band and do the same thing, barely scraping by, until he fades away into that place where all 90s rock singers go to die…aka, “the wellington extravaganza”…I don’t get it either, just roll with it.

19. Pearl Jam - Vs. (1993)

This was a hard decision. I really almost put Ten instead, but alas here we are with Vs. I did like a lot of this record and played it a LOT, but for some reason, it didn’t have quite the lasting power as some of the other bands in their genre did. But I never liked Nirvana and never will. I know some of you are waiting to see it on the list, but I didn’t care for Kurt’s angry, nasally complaining.

18. Red Hot Chilie Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)

You know, “Under The Bridge” is actually a pretty good song…this album probably sucks, but at the time I thought this record was great. Every young guitar player learned “Under The Bridge” in their lessons (aside from Metallica songs) as one of the first “more advanced” songs to learn. Californication was another favorite at the time, but after that, they had their official major decline, even though they had declined from the beginning. Who knows, maybe they got away with it all because it was the 90s, I do know I was there rocking my tape of Blood Sugar Sex Magik on my Walkman.

17. Cake - Fashion Nugget (1996)

I’m officially stating that you can’t have said you listened to music in the 90s without owning Fashion Nugget, Blue Album, What’s the Story Morning Glory, and Dookie. You just weren’t there if you didn’t own these. It’s the pass to being in your mid-twenties.

16. Oasis - What’s the Story Morning Glory (1995)

Like I just said, this is one of the passes to having grown up in the 90s. This is just a solid record, even to this day. There isn’t much to be said for these classic 90s records because you all know them. This record had probably five “hits” on it as well. I’m also going to give Ryan Adams a shout out for doing a great cover of Wonderwall. If you look hard enough, you can find Radiohead doing a cover of it as well.

15. Green Day - Dookie (1994)

Again, who didn’t own and love this record? No one. I give full credit to Green Day and this record for introducing the world to Pop Punk…or something in that genre. From there came Blink and the rest of it. They put it on the map. Remember the video of them playing in the living room and the couch gets ripped up? That was totally sweet brah.

14. Sublime - Sublime (1996)

Oh man this record sucks. But I LOVED it when it came out. I listened to it over and over and over and over. It was huge for me. I will not listen to this record ever again because every time I hear one song from it I want to puke just a little…this doesn’t account that most of its songs are extremely overplayed. I can’t get over how bad this record is. I’m vaulting it in the “this never happened” part of my mind.

13. Unwritten Law - Unwritten Law (1998)

This record definitely goes along with Blue Skies and Enema of the State for favorite “emo punk” record. I remember being on trips with the baseball team and we would play this record over and over. “Caitlin” seemed to be a hit among us…and I guess that song got them started for mainstream radio too. “Harmonic” is still up there with one of my favorite opening songs. To this day, every time I hear someone tuning I think of this song.

12. Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine (1992)

This was a tough battle with Evil Empire for favorite Rage record. This just sneaks by as my favorite. It’s just a hair more cohesive and consistent. It’s one of those records that I put on and go, “Oh yeah, this song…oh yeah this one is amazing, oh my it keeps getting better as it goes!” I think my favorite Rage song is “Bullet In Your Head” too. I’m glad they have played some shows sort of recently after their Audioslave debacle. Audioslave seemed like they just had to take a huge diarrhea shit for years and years and one day it exploded all over the place, and now hopefully they are better and cleansed from it all.

11. Stone Temple Pilots - Core (1992)

“I am smelling like a rose that somebody gave me on my birthday death bed”…need I say more? This record doesn’t stop rocking song after song. This record had to have at least five or six pretty decent “hits” on it as well. “Sex Type Thing”, “Plush”, “Dead and Bloated”, “Wicked Garden”, etc. This was just a solid record. I might like this record now even. It’s interesting that I have Rage, STP, and Soundgarden all together. Each somehow were involved in their later “supergroup” diarrhea fiascoes.

10. Soundgarden - Down On The Upside (1996)

First concert I ever went to was Soundgarden. I must say that was a pretty amazing concert. That was the first fight I saw, the first time I officially smelled weed, and Carson Daly was a DJ at KROQ. I remember him being an idiot on a microphone yelling out to no one. Perhaps KROQ had a year where they played good music, and that was it…perhaps not though. Now they just repeat that year over and over again along with the rest of the 90s, adding bands like Bloc Party to the mix to “give them an edge”. Down On The Upside barely sneaks in there as number one for me of their records. But I can pretty much say that Superunknown is about as equal.

9. Offspring - Smash (1994)

This is an OLDIE. I got into this when I was really young. I remember the first time I kissed a girl I went back up to my room and put on this record and stared at the ceiling in awe. I’d like to kiss a girl again someday.

8. Pennywise - About Time (1995)

This was probably the first real “punk” record I got into. I know it’s not Misfits or even Dead Kennedys, but I’m ok with being a wannabe punker. I didn’t have pins, or ripped tight clothes. I had Hurley shirts, cargo shorts, and a baseball hat, and that’s what Pennywise was. This was my favorite Pennywise record, though they had many good ones. I really related to “Perfect People” and enjoyed screaming the lyrics out the window being a rebel in La Canada, California. But no truer words have been said, “No one in cargo shorts since Nam has gotten an hj”.

7. Primus - Frizzle Fry (1990)

I’m sorry, this record is amazing. I’m sorry but it is. I put this on like a year ago and still loved it. In fact, I re-bought it because I lost my tape of it. The musicianship is like nothing I’ve heard, even to this day. Every single musician in Primus is one of the best in the world I think, and they are in the same band, which at the time blew my mind even more. I know Les might have the whiniest voice ever, but that motherfucker can play bass and writes some really catchy songs. Even James Hetfield can be quoted somewhere saying how Les tried out for Metallica after Burton died, and they turned him away because he was too good and just needed to do his own thing. I agree.

6. The Ataris - Blue Skies, Broken Hearts…Next 12 Exits (1999)

This is my number one blow my voice out at “I hate girls” era…wait, I still hate girls (har har, lame). Songs like “Your Boyfriend Still Sucks” and “San Dimas High School Football Rules” just get me. I remember I saw The Ataris at the smallest community center where like maybe 30 kids showed up (we thought hundreds would), and my friends and I screamed the lyrics to every song like little girls in the front row. After the show Chris came up and was like, “How the hell do you know who we are and know every song?” Then they did their shitty cover song, got famous, made terrible records, and died out just as fast as that all started. Blue Skies will always have a place in heart, and every now and then I will set aside an hour and blow my voice out to this record.

5. Guns N’ Roses - Use Your Illusion II (1991)

I was there. And thank God I was. I was 10 when this record came out. It was the first record I ever bought. It was the first record that showed me that music existed. Guitar and drums were real after this record. I listened to this record a LOT, and to be honest, it might hold up to this day.

4. Weezer - The Blue Album (1994)

It’s Blue Album. Enough said. Probably my most “cred” record on this list.

3. Blink 182 - Enema of the State (1999)

Man what a fantastic record. I’ve re-bought this record probably three or four times, and I need to do it again. This summed up my high school pretty well and could quite possibly be my most played record junior year. Tom and Mark were some of the best pop songwriters ever…yet the whole time, you could feel that they didn’t actually give a shit and it was all one big joke to them. Then they end off with the self-titled record, which was such a good way to go if you are going to do it and a solid record all around. That was my favorite Blink record, but here we are, sticking to the 90s. I can’t wait to re-buy Enema of the State, and when I do, I’m going to get the wife beater and oversized Dickies out.

2. Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (1997)

The first time I heard this record I was at a party and a friend put it on over the speakers for all to hear. Kids were running around and not paying attention, but I was. I heard the first song and like a rabbit my ears perked up. I ran around asking everyone who it was, but no one knew. I finally found the friend who had put it on, and he enlightened me on the subject at hand. The next day I ran out and bought S.C.I.E.N.C.E., which at the time proved to change my life. I hadn’t heard anything like it since 311, and I was looking for anything to follow suit or be in a similar category AND change my life. Incubus came right on time and delivered. I’m not sure I’d like this record now, but at the time lyrics like “you stare at me like I’m a vitamin, on the surface you hate, but you know you need me” were poetry to the ears. I also got to see 311 and Incubus live on the same bill when Make Yourself came out, and to this day that has to be one of my favorite concert experiences. I really enjoyed some of their earlier records such as Enjoy Incubus and Fungus Amongus, but S.C.I.E.N.C.E. had everything I needed from them and more. I should admit now, that I actually got upset when Brandon cut off his dreads…good move man, good move.

1. 311 - Transistor (1997)

This is it. This sums up my high school and childhood in its entirety. I loved all the 311 records, and I don’t think I can even call this my favorite of theirs, but it just encompasses me and all their music well and was my favorite band growing up. It’s a long record too…21 songs, along with a pretty good variety, yet still very cohesive. I think to this day it’s musically their most mature and “adventurous” record. There are a few songs in particular like “Running” that I’d play over and over thinking of that one girl/baseball game the next day. This record is very close to my heart in that regard as well. My friend and I were talking recently about getting together and having a 311 listening party. This needs to happen, and with a few bottles of wine. Perhaps we’ll document the entire thing and post it up here, or perhaps we’ll do it and never speak of it again…like that one time we hooked up…what? (Har har, lame).

End Scene,
Dan Tana