top 10 rock albums of the 90's

Nothing like x-mas day to find a good reason to contemplate the top 10 rock (for lack of a better term) albums of the 90's. I guess I've been meaning to do this for a while and better late than never. I feel like more and more these days bands are represented by a single song, and I figure that's not just itunes culture and the depletion of our attention span but also because bands are getting suckier. Honestly. These are the best ALBUMS, with at least 80% of the songs kicking extensive ass. I chose rock because at the core it's MY music. What I grew up on, what came to represent me as a person. Perhaps I'd go so far to call these albums "punk," although I personally find this to represent non-corporate music or "music for the people," meaning user-friendly, meaning playing benefits, playing all ages, keeping door costs low, writing socially relevant lyrics or at least post-modern lyrics, but it's rare to find a band embodying these definitions, or at least 10 of their albums:

1. Fugazi- Red Medicine
Far from being hailed as one of their best, I think a brilliant uniqueness was achieved on this recording that separated it from all Fugazi's albums, past or future. But it was still distinctly Fugazi, it just felt like they all had something new in their water...like LSD. Nothing makes me dance harder in this world than this album.

2. Guided by Voices- Under the Bushes, Under the Stars
I first heard GBV here, and had no idea what was going on. How did anyone think to distribute this? Why is someone recommending this? I drove around with it playing quietly in the background, wont of leaving any album playing for months at a time. Then one day I tuned back in, and discovered the brilliance. The songs turned into surreal anthems in my life that I never stop listening to.

3. Pavement- Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
The perfect definition of a complete album. Every song is better than the next, and Malkmus certainly redefined a lot of what it meant to be cool, and what a powerful song could actually be about. Or what you thought it was about.

4. Lagwagon- Trashed
This is probably out of left field for most of you, but the pure hardness, speed, and emotion generated from almost all these songs has been enough to bring tears to my eyes. Yes the movie excerpts are corny and a 1 or 2 songs miss the mark, but overall this is one of my all time favorite albums, not to mention their rendition of Brown-Eyed Girl reignited my love for rock in mid-90's (I got accustomed to only listening to girls complain about me at that point).

5. Tom Petty- Wildflowers
How could I almost forget Petty? He really is so hard to define, some sort of combination of Americana, folk, and rock n' roll. This album has so many nuances and it's as complete as complete gets.

6. Rancid- ...And Out Come the Wolves
This is probably my most listened-to album of all time. It almost hurts to put it on the list as much to consider leaving it off. Semi-cool radio stations have a strong adoration for Time Bomb not to mention this album has been in every friends car I've stepped into since I was 14...so needless to say it's gotten a lot of playing time. But it deserves it. Track after track is hard-hitting and just a brilliant combo of influences. And regardless of how many times I've heard it, listening to Lars sing Little Sammy live last month was a meaningful experience.

7. Weezer- Self Titled
I hate to put it because it's not special or unique and everyone and their brother, mother, sister has owned or still keeps it around. But it was a masterpiece, start to finish, and that's the way you have to listen to it, start to finish. The sound is brilliant, and the low-profile but grinding riffs and drums mesh wonderfully with the kid-who-just-found-his-voice vocals.

8. Bad Religion- Against the Grain
Welcome to metaphysics and the hardest hitting 3-chord anthems of your existence young padewon. Every impressionable kid should be looking up the meaning of anthropomorphic at 13 right? Not to take any credit away from a great compilation; I say compilation because it doesn't have the same cohesiveness of many of these albums, but my god did it change my expectation of music and still remains powerful as ever.

9. Jawbreaker- TIE - Bivouac and Unfun
I'm really not sure if Jawbreaker should've made the list because their albums aren't complete successes from the perspective of a listen-thru. But overall they're still so important and influential enough from my perspective to make the list. It's a unique and intelligent sound. They're also doubly lucky because they get two albums in the top 10, but really it's because separately they might not have made it.

10. Frank Black- Self Titled
So addicting these songs. Again, great from start to finish. I originally thought this album was more recent, so that goes to show the relevance of this album even 20 years later. Frank Black is one of the great (and I'd go so far to say underrated) musical talents of our time.