The Best Albums of the 90s - The Wrap-up

So the massive countdown is over.

I've done a few themed posting in the past, such as the Covers Month of April '09 or the Outsider Odyssey of February/March, and each time it's over it makes me feel a bit empty. Kind of like graduating from high school which leaves you with the feeling of "Great! It's finally over!" which then transforms into "Wait, what the fuck am I supposed to do now?". Ah well, I'll think of something.

By the way, did any of you miss the weekly Friday MP3 Shuffles? They were relocated to my other blog while the countdown was going on. Go there and download them, they're amazing.

I know there are some who are grumpy because Neurosis or Kyuss didn't make it on my list (hi Tomi!), but although I love Neurosis and Kyuss it was important to me to only include albums that mean something to me, that I have a personal connection of some sort with. If I had included every album of the 90s that I like, this would have been a top 300.

I find the statistics quite fascinating, as I have always considered 1995 to be a rather weak year in music. Apparently that's not the case at all:

1990: 0
1991: 5
1992: 2
1993: 1
1994: 3
1995: 7
1996: 3
1997: 3
1998: 3
1999: 3

As we can see 1991 and 1995 rule supreme while 1990 is such a total loser. What a lamestain. If you ever see 1990 walking by, point at it and laugh mockingly.

Here follows a little shoutout to the albums that almost made it onto the list. Check them out too.

Poison Idea - Feel The Darkness (1990)
Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss (1990)
The Dwarves - Blood, Guts & Pussy (1990)
Naked City - Torture Garden (1990)
Judas Priest - Painkiller (1990)
Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption (1990)
Exhorder - Slaughter in the Vatican (1990)
Skid Row - Slave To The Grind (1991)
Grave - Into The Grave (1991)
Slint - Spiderland (1991)
Sepultura - Arise (1991)
Gruntruck - Inside Yours (1991)
Ministry - Psalm 69 (1992)
Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain (1992)
Darkthrone - A Blaze In The Northern Sky (1992)
Fear Factory - Soul Of A New Machine (1992)
Zeni Geva - Desire For Agony (1993)
The Melvins - Houdini (1993)
Cynic - Focus (1993)
The Gits - Enter: The Conquering Chicken (1993)
Green Day - Dookie (1994)
Hole - Live Through This (1994)
Disrupt - Unrest (1994)
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (1994)
Acid Bath - When The Kite String Pops (1994)
Shellac - At Action Park (1994)
Kyuss - Welcome To Sky Valley (1994)
Tiamat - Wildhoney (1994)
Morbid Angel - Domination (1995)
Rancid - ...And Out Come The Wolves (1995)
Clutch - S/t (1995)
Death - Symbolic (1995)
Brujeria - Raza Odiada (1995)
Daemon - Seven Deadly Sins (1996)
Screaming Trees - Dust (1996)
Eyehategod - Dopesick (1996)
Social Distortion - White Light, White Heat, White Trash (1996)
The Tea Party - Transmission (1997)
The Wildhearts - Endless Nameless (1997)
Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech (1997)
Machine Head - The More Things Change (1997)
Dellamorte - Uglier And More Disgusting (1997)
System Of A Down - S/t (1998)
At The Drive-In - In/Casino/Out (1998)
Backyard Babies - Total 13 (1998)
Nasum - Inhale/Exhale (1998)
Boredoms - Super æ (1998)
Amon Amarth - Once Sent From The Golden Hall (1998)
The Haunted - S/t (1998)
Haystack - Slave Me (1998)
Darkane - Rusted Angel (1999)
Breach - Venom (1999)
Neurosis - Times of Grace (1999)
Today Is The Day - In The Eyes Of God (1999)
Testament - The Gathering (1999)
Chris Cornell - Euphoria Morning (1999)
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity (1999)
Mr. Bungle - California (1999)

Alrighty, feels good to have gotten that out of the way. Now I feel a little less guilty about leaving some of these great albums and bands off the list.

I've compiled the top 30 bands into two big zip files for your listening pleasure. I recommend listening to these backwards starting with #30 for that genuine countdown feel.

(zip) Top 30 of the 90s part 1 (1-15)
(zip) Top 30 of the 90s part 2 (16-30)

30. Nirvana - Frances Farmer will have her revenge on Seattle (1993)
29. Refused - Refused are fucking dead (1998)
28. Turbonegro - Hobbit motherfuckers (1996)
27. Sugar Ray - Streaker (1995)
26. Tool - H. (1996)
25. The Smashing Pumpkins - Zero (1995)
24. Foo Fighters - Oh, George (1995)
23. Dropkick Murphys - Road of the righteous (1998)
22. Slipknot - Eeyore (1999)
21. Pantera - Suicide note, pt. 2 (1996)
20. Therapy? - Stop it you're killing me (1994)
19. Korn - Ball tongue (1994)
18. Peace, Love And Pitbulls - On/Off (1994)
17. Stone Temple Pilots - Wicked garden (1992)
16. Metallica - The god that failed (1991)
15. Misery Loves Co. - Deny everything (1997)
14. White Zombie - Grease paint and monkey brains (1995)
13. Faith No More - The last to know (1995)
12. Mad Season feat. Mark Lanegan - Long gone day (1995)
11. The Hellacopters - The devil stole the beat from the lord (1999)
10. Queens of the Stone Age - Give the mule what he wants (1998)
9. Opeth - Serenity painted death (1999)
8. Alice In Chains - Dam that river (1992)
7. Mary Beats Jane - Blackeye (1997)
6. Strapping Young Lad - Velvet Kevorkian/All hail the new flesh (1997)
5. Down - Hail the leaf (1995)
4. Temple of the Dog - Say hello 2 heaven (1991)
3. Soundgarden - Holy water (1991)
2. Pearl Jam - Garden (1991)
1. Entombed - Through the collonades (1991)

Enjoy!