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Rank the big 90’s Rock Bands

C4lukin2

C4lukin2

Banned
U2
Smashing Pumpkins
Stone Temple Pilots
Nirvana
REM
Soundgarden
Pearl Jam
Alice In Chains
Guns N Roses
Oasis
Rage Against the Machine
Live
The Cranberries
Tool
Metallica
Radiohead



I realize, I am missing several big bands from the era, but just keep your rankings to these bands. Feel free to include a band a missed, in a separate Inclusion below. This is an example.

1. Pearl Jam
2. Radiohead
3. Nirvana
4. Smashing Pumpkins
5. REM
6. Stone Temple Pilots
6.2 Oasis
7. U2
8. Alice In Chains
9. Soundgarden
10. Tool
11. The Cranberries
12. Live
13. Guns N Roses
14. Metallica
15. Rage Against the Machine

Honorable mentions, but not big sellers in the US

Liz Phair
Blur
Pantera
Counting Crows
The Meat Puppets
PJ Harvey
Garbage

So yeah the game is to rank those top 16 I listed, but just on their 90’s output. So Joshua Tree and Master of Puppets do not count. Neither does Appetite for Destruction, or Murmur. Have at it.


Pearl Jam
Ten
Versus
Vitalogy
No Code
Yield

U2
Achtung Baby
Zooropa
Pop

Smashing Pumpkins
Gish
Siamese Dream
Mellon Collie
Adore

Stone Temple Pilots
Core
Purple
Tiny Music
No. 4

Nirvana
Nevermind
In Utero

REM
Out of Time
Automatic for the People
Monster
New Adventures in Hi-Fi
UP

Soundgarden
Badmotorfinger
Superunknown
Down On the Upside

Alice In Chains
Facelift
Dirt
Jar of Flies
Alice In Chains

Guns N Roses
Use Your Illusion
Use Your Illusion 2
The Spaghetti Incident

Oasis
Definitely Maybe
What’s the Story…
Be Here Now

Rage Against the Machine
Self Titled
Evil Empire
Battle for Los Angeles

Live
Mental Jewelry
Throwing Copper
Secret Samadhi
The Distance to Here

The Cranberries
Everybody Else is Doing It…
No Need to Argue
To the Faithful Departed
Bury the Hatchet

Tool
Opiate
Undertow
Aenima

Metallica
Black Album
Load
Reload

Radiohead
Pablo Honey
The Bends
OK Computer
 
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DiscoJer

DiscoJer

Member
1) Stone Temple Pilots - I own three of their cds
2) Live - I own two of their cds plus an EP
3) Smashing Pumpkins - I own two cds of theirs
4) Nirvana - Own two cds but one of them sucks.
5) U2 - Own one cd from the 90s
6) Pearl Jam - Own two cds from the 90s, but the second one I thought "Why did i buy this?" after listening to it.
 
Naibel

Naibel

Member
90's U2 is so hugely underrated they would certainly be on top of my list. They were at their most self-aware and experimental during that period. Bono was already a insufferable c-word by that point but at least he and his pals delivered the goods.

Achtung Baby is pure awesomeness but at least most people know that. The "Zoo Station"/"Even Better..." opener is such a one-two punch ! Not a big fan of "One" though, too overplayed I guess.

Zooropa shows the band at their most low-key and experimental (the title track, "Stay" and "Lemon" are my favorite U2 songs) and Pop gets a veerrry undeserved bad rep. Its rushed and underproduced nature became a bit of a grower with me. I now like it very much for what it is and what it accomplished. Btw, "Discotheque" (with its cheesy videoclip) rules, frick the haters.

And finally, their Passengers side-project they did with Brian Eno is mind-blowingly incredible ! If you haven't listened to it yet, do yourself a favor and do it ! "Miss Sarajevo" brings me to tears everytime T_T
 
Phunkydiabetic

Phunkydiabetic

Banned
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E

Evil Calvin

Afraid of Boobs
I would add No Doubt and Garbage....and how could you forget Green Day? Oh and Garbage sold a lot of albums in the 90's.
 
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Nymphae

Nymphae

Banned
Evil Calvin said:
I would add No Doubt and Garbage....and how could you forget Green Day? Oh and Garbage sold a lot of albums in the 90's.
Click to expand...

I love Garbage, but they were not well appreciated in their time. They had a few mild radio hits and that's it. Love all their albums though.
 
Revolutionary

Revolutionary

Member
Foo Fighters
Their 90's output was fucking amazing
Self-titled, The Colour and the Shape and There's Nothing Left to Lose are all excellent albums.

Sadly, they've been very hit and miss since 2000... but I still love em.
 
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#Phonepunk#

#Phonepunk#

Banned
Nirvana is my all time GOAT.

Other big 90s rock bands I love descending order:
Boredoms
Stereolab
Weezer / The Rentals
My Bloody Valentine
Pixies
NIN
Sonic Youth
No Doubt
Radiohead
Sublime
Green Day
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Smashing Pumpkins
Offspring
U2 (dat Batman song was dope)
Foo Fighters
Guns N Roses
 
Last edited:
Gp1

Gp1

Member
No love for 90's red hot chilli peppers?
91 - blood sugar sex magic
99 - Californication

Overplayed for sure but def. a great decade for them

My personal list:
  1. Pearl Jam
  2. Nirvana
  3. Sound garden
  4. red hot
  5. foo fighter (it would be at top if includes the 2000 albums)
  6. oasis
  7. alice in chains
  8. u2 (not my favorite phase but still...)
  9. metallica
 
Last edited:
Weilthain

Weilthain

Banned
They are all good in their own way trying to rank them seems a bit pointless because some days I’ll be all into Radiohead and the next oasis.

its all shite next to real music so who cares at the end of the day.
 
tkscz

tkscz

Member
You just going to do The Offspring dirty like that?

1. Alice In Chains
2. REM
3. OffSpring
4. Smashing Pumpkins
5. Guns N Roses
6. RadioHead
7. Nirvana
8. U2
9. SoundGarden
10. Tool
11. Metallica

The rest I've never really listened to.

Stone Temple Pilots
Pearl Jam
Oasis
Rage Against the Machine
Live
The Cranberries

Hell, some of those I wouldn't consider 90's bands but I do understand why they are up there.
 
LegendOfKage

LegendOfKage

Member
Smashing Pumpkins - Probably my favorite 90s rock band.

Radiohead - Probably my second favorite, although they're so close and so different.

Nine Inch Nails - How could you forget?

Pearl Jam - Even not counting their albums, they have so many great singles.

Stone Temple Pilots - So close between STP and Soundgarden, but I think the former had more hits.

Soundgarden

The Cranberries - Their first few albums are really great.

Rage Against the Machine - Always put out solid albums.

Tool - Not big on the first EP, but really good albums.

Nirvana - Sorry. Good band, but became way too overrated after an early death, and it's hard to judge them properly because of it. See also: Sublime.

Alice In Chains - Mostly a singles band for me, but some great songs.

Live - I really don't like where they went after Throwing Copper, but the first two albums are great.

Oasis - Some great songs, and some that I never want to hear. How Wonderwall was a larger hit on US radio than Don't Look Back in Anger is anyone's guess.

(Not 90s bands)

REM - A lot of great music in the 90s.
Metallica - Never cared for load and reload. That was the beginning of the end for my appreciation of Metallica.
U2 - Some good radio singles, but their best work was already close to behind them.
Guns N Roses - Same with this band.


brap said:
  1. Smashing Pumpkins
  2. The rest
Click to expand...
Virex said:
1. Smashing Pumpkins
And the the everything after. SP is still my favourite band of all time.
Click to expand...

And here I thought I'd be the only one with SP at the top.

CryingMinotaur said:
1. Radiohead

End
Click to expand...

You're also not wrong.


Artists I'd put above at least half that list: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beck, The Offspring, Green Day, They Might be Giants, The Toadies, Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters... I think I'll stop now.
 
Last edited:
Scopa

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
I can’t take this thread seriously because you left out the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gp1
HotPocket69

HotPocket69

Banned
brap said:
That's (c)rap not rock.
Click to expand...

They have rock jam interludes on Check Your Head and Ill Communication. They were a hardcore punk band before they met Rick Rubin.

You’re really young so I wouldn’t expect you to be into them.

Also, Sabotage isn’t rap.
 
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brap

brap

Banned
VedderOA said:
They have rock jam interludes on Check Your Head and License to Ill. They were a hardcore punk band before they met Rick Rubin.

You’re really young so I wouldn’t expect you to be into them.
Click to expand...
I listened to them as a kid. They're rap. Old boomers are so annoying when they always want to act like Run DMC and Beastie Boys are rock.
 
HotPocket69

HotPocket69

Banned
brap said:
I listened to them as a kid. They're rap. Old boomers are so annoying when they always want to act like Run DMC and Beastie Boys are rock.
Click to expand...

Beasties were a genuine blend of it..

Run DMC sucks.

Please refrain from using gen z tard terms like “Boomers” around me. TIA.
 
brap

brap

Banned
VedderOA said:
Beasties were a genuine blend of it..

Run DMC sucks.

Please refrain from using gen z tard terms like “Boomers” around me. TIA.
Click to expand...
Please refrain from using old man terms like "TIA" around me. Idk what that means. Not like they really played instruments unlike RATM which was straight up rock with rap vocals.
 
lock2k

lock2k

Banned
brap said:
Please refrain from using old man terms like "TIA" around me. Idk what that means. Not like they really played instruments unlike RATM which was straight up rock with rap vocals.
Click to expand...
They played instruments constantly. Listen to Sabotage live version. The bass is fucking killer.
 
brap

brap

Banned
lock2k said:
They played instruments constantly. Listen to Sabotage live version. The bass is fucking killer.
Click to expand...
Could you please point out some songs on pauls boutique, the mix up, hello nasty and 5 boroughs they played instruments on? I know they played instruments on a handful of songs but I wouldn't consider them a rock band for it.
 
C4lukin2

C4lukin2

Banned
Evil Calvin said:
I would add No Doubt and Garbage....and how could you forget Green Day? Oh and Garbage sold a lot of albums in the 90's.
Click to expand...

Garbage never sold a ton of albums but were very popular in the US. No Doubt was even bigger. But it was just one huge album with No Doubt. Actually sales wise Garbage was probably comparable with No Doubt on that second album.
 
C4lukin2

C4lukin2

Banned
brap said:
Is Weezer, Dig, Nada Surf, King Missile, Cake, etc not big enough or not rock enough?
Click to expand...

Weezer Blue album was huge. Cake had a few huge singles, but never anything album sales wise to the bands I mentioned. Big singles, not huge album sales.

Nada Surf and Dig had a big single each. But they were more like one hit wonders when it came to being popular.. King Missle, never heard of them in the US. I know Republica, Elastica, Byonica...

I just made up Byonica.

But yeah King Missile, never heard of them. That is a band that never made it in the US. Or maybe they do not exist.
 
C4lukin2

C4lukin2

Banned
But yeah, No Doubt had at least three big albums in the US. I

Tragic Kingdom was huge.. Return of Saturn is my favorite album, but it did not do crazy numbers like Tragic Kingdom,..

And the Rock Steady which had a couple of big songs. I actually love that album as well. But the popularity of No Doubt ended there. And Gwens not so good solo projects took center stage.

But her solo shit was popular. And she did not have to share the wealth with three other people.
 
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C4lukin2

C4lukin2

Banned
brap said:
I heard this song on the radio all the time as a kid
Click to expand...


Ok I remember detachable penis, never knew the name of the band, and never saw the music video until now. But yes that was a song that got airplay back in the day.

Similar to Sweater Song, Popular, and what Cake was doing around that time. Not a big hit, but it did get AirPlay.
 
Last edited:
Tesseract

Tesseract

Banned
cannot rank, skipped out on almost all those bands

i'm just gonna say kmfdm (industrial rock to some extent) since i have no better options
 
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