As I posted last week, the 1990s were the best era of rock music, with the so-called ‘alternative rock’ really gaining a hold on the musical airwaves.
And as I also wrote, despite the Elvis/Paul Anka era, then high school in the 1960s with the British invasion (the Beatles, Stones, The Who, the Kinks, the list is near-endless) and the appearance in the 1970s of great American rock (the Allman Brothers, the Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Heart, the Doobia Brothers, the Doors, and again, the list is also near-endless), to me the 90s provided a more musical, emotional song-scape yet.
The 1980s scene is something else all together — maybe another ‘serenade‘ subject years from now.

Anyway, this is just a sampling, as most of the albums these songs came off carried multiple great tunes. This just a way-short list of my most-favorites that I could think of on a Sunday morning.

First, a top music-sense change is Nirvana, a group I became familiar with only after the fact of Kurt Cobain’s death — this off the MTV Unplugged series:

Next couple of songs from a multi-hit album, ‘August and Everything After‘ by the Counting Crows — ‘Mr. Jones‘ first:

And ‘Round Here,’ really my pick —  aptly described the people of my apartment building where I lived at the time:

And from multi-hit, ‘Throwing Copper,’ by Live — a most-incredible song, ‘Lightning Crashes,’ ranks even with the best of Led Zepplin:

Giant album, ‘Jagged Little Pill,’ by Alanis Morissette, carried many most-excellent songs (just learned it was Morissette’s ‘second‘ album), including the next two selections — ‘Hand in My Pocket‘ acoustic verson (I played this version a shitload):

And ‘Head Over Feet,’ live:

And to get a little crazy (didn’t like the lyrics much, but loved the shit-kicking music) — ‘Self Esteem,’ by Offspring:

And strictly 90s guys, Hootie and the Blowfish with ‘Only Want To Be With You,’ the first of many short-lived hits:

And I’d be remiss not to include the master-hitters, Green Day, with ‘Basket Case’ from the album,’ Dookie‘ — loved it:

Plus, ‘Brain Stew/Jaded‘ as a refresher, off their following  ‘Insomniac‘ album:

Another big, crushing album, ‘Third Eye Blind,’ and my most-favorite, which I never did hear on the radio, unlike ‘Semi Charmed Life,’ or ‘Jumper,’ or ‘Graduate,’ or a shitload of others — love it, though, ‘Motorcycle Driveby,’ also Led Zepplin-like worthy, but more emotional:

Bonus track of non-rock — a special place in my musical heart, Enigma, who produced great music in the 90s. When I was a barista at a coffee shop in Pismo Beach (the now-long-gone Black Pearl Coffee House) in the mid-90s, I played Enigma so much, regular customers could tell who was working by the music waffing out from the Pearl and down the sidewalk.
This, ‘Mea Culpa,’ among many, many others:

And happy musical memories…

(Illustration found here)