I never thought I'd make this list, but these are probably my 10 Favorite Songs Of The 90s, or The 10 Greatest Songs Of The 90s, or The 10 Most 90s Songs Of The 90s.
Before I list off, you all should know I (like most people who were alive in the 90s) have biases toward alternative rock and against anything that makes you dance. Also, I understand this list is missing plenty of important things: A catchy Britpop song, So Cal gangsta rap, "Losing My Religion," any given track from Loveless, etc, etc. Anyways. Here it go.
10:CAR Built To Spill (94)
Doug Martsch is one of my favorite all-time guitarists. The first half of There Is Nothing Wrong With Love is this boy's introduction to how to play some sick guitar on a low budget. PS- he's from Idaho.
9:UNFINISHED SYMPATHY Massive Attack (91)
I figured I should add some track that represents all the chill trip-hop music from the 90s. This music seems to be everywhere these days. For the Purists and Everyday Joes alike, there's always Massive Attack.
8:YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE The New Radicals (98)
I've seen 3 different lists for best 90s songs, all very different from each other. Yet each list has a spot reserved for this song at around #100. Each one! That's because they're all afraid to rank it higher.
7:BITTERSWEET SYMPHONY The Verve (97)
Personally, I think being from England in the 90s automatically meant you were futuristic and cool and probably wore sunglasses everywhere. Universally, this is a darn good song.
6:1979 The Smashing Pumpkins (95)
#datriff #goosebumps #errtime
5:JUICY The Notorious B.I.G (94)
My favorite 90s hip-hop album is probably Nas's Illmatic. It had a meek, humble personality. This song has all the "started-from-the-bottom" humility, but Biggy shows 0% meekness. When you're Big, you're big.
4:FAKE PLASTIC TREES and/or PARANOID ANDROID Radiohead (95/97)
Scott! These are 2 totally different songs here from 2 totally different albums! You can only choose 1! Every depressing song for the last 20 years or every band who pretends to sound weird/cool for the last 20 years! Actually... I'll leave this one up to you guys.
3:GOLD SOUNDZ Pavement (94)
Why isn't this #1? Pavement is my favorite 90s band. This is my favorite song by them. When I saw Pitchfork ranked it #1, I was like- "Whoa, my actual favorite song by my favorite band!" As far as sounding like the 90s, this song captures all the jangly sunshine guitar nostalgia. And, well, Stephen freaking Malkmus.
2:ALL APOLOGIES Nirvana (93)
Scott, this Nirvana song is ranked really high... and it's not "Smells Like Teen Spirit"... why? Nirvana or no Nirvana, I've always loved this riff. I also love how the lyrics represent an external reality to pain or care... which is actually the Buddhist definition of the state of Nirvana... and what made the 90s fun.
1:LOSER Beck (94)
In 1998, the Barenaked Ladies got a #1 song in the U.S strictly because they rapped about Chinese chicken. When Beck made "Loser," he wasn't trying to make money. He was from lazy LA, he had an extremely low budget and his music influences ranged from Sonic Youth to classic blues to Bob Dylan to 80s hip-hop. This song is cheap, random, cool and fun. Aside from any grunge band, this is what the 90s sounded like.
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