15 90s Bands We Stopped Listening To After the 90s (and 11 We Still Listen To)

Laneia: I want a pizza. I should never have thought about Sbarro.
Riese: OMG I was just thinking about Sbarro.
Laneia: LIKE OMG BREADSTICKS
Riese: I knew a boy who worked there.
Laneia: Baked Ziti. I was only in it for the Baked Ziti and the breadstick.
I never knew anyone who worked at the food court b/c the malls were 2 hrs away.
Riese: Our Sbarro was across the hall from the movie theater in the mall and one time Kristyna made me walk out of Twister to go to Sbarro “for a minute” and then once we got there refused to go back to the movie. Bad movie, though.
Laneia: That movie was so bad it was good THE FLYING COW.
Riese: Oasis just came on my Pandora
To really bring me back to that time of my life when I ate at Sbarro. And listened to Oasis.
Laneia: !
Riese: SO I START A REVOLUTION FROM MY BED
CAUSE YOU SAID THE BRAINS I HAD WENT TO MY HEAD
Hey!
We should do ‘top ten bands we don’t listen to anymore but did in the 90s’
Laneia: GOO GOO DOLLS
Riese: YES. Hootie?
Laneia: !!!!!!!!!!!! all caps
Riese: I HATE HOOTIE AND HIS BLOWFISH
Laneia: I can’t say Counting Crows b/c I still listen to them.
Riese: Yeah so do I. We should have another list for that.

That’s how this happened:

[ETA DISCLAIMER: This list is completely self-indulgent and is not a definitive list reflecting anyone’s opinions but our own. When we say “WE,” we literally mean “Riese and Laneia.” Also, we focused on “rock” bands (not solo artists) but we included The Fugees for no real logical reason besides wanting to talk about The Fugees. Also, if we did pop bands, like Ace of Base, or solo artists, like Jewel, we would be here all night. This is about a certain genre of music (loosely defined as “rock”) and also The Fugees. Mmk.]:

Top 15 Bands From the 90s We Used
to Listen To But Don’t Anymore

1. Oasis

Laneia: I only pretended to be into Oasis and really couldn’t figure out what everyone loved so much about them.

Riese: I wrote a screenplay called “High on Life” and Oasis was the whole soundtrack. I went to an Oasis concert with a boy I liked and on the way home had to face the fact that he’d come with me because I had an extra ticket, not b/c he wanted to kiss me. At the concert, they were both drunk and terrible. “Where were you while we were getting high?” is one of life’s Big Questions.

2. Goo Goo Dolls

Laneia: Jennifer basically ruined “Name” for me by singing it at top volume every time it came on the radio that summer.

Riese: At the Goo Goo Dolls show at the Ohio State Fair in 1995, my Grandfather fell asleep.

3. Hootie & the Blowfish

Laneia: They came along at a time when my mother and I inexplicably shared a taste in music: just after my Mariah Carey phase and right before the time I would try to sneak out of my bedroom to smoke what I thought was pot but ended up being parsely or possibly oregano.

Riese: In ninth grade, my BFF Becky made a music video using video footage of her and I together and clips of Simba and Nala from The Lion King set to the sweet sounds of “I Only Wanna Be With You.” I think she might also be gay now too.

4. Belly

Laneia: I bought King strictly because Belly was on the Tank Girl soundtrack, which was my moral / musical compass for 1995-96. Favorite songs: “Now They’ll Sleep” and “The Bees”.

5. Lemonheads

Laneia: I wanted to make-out with Evan Dando in a way that I’m sure most of you will relate to. “Alison’s Staring to Happen” !!

Riese: GOD I CAN’T EVEN START. Look I could start loving The Lemoheads again any day now. Come on Feel the Lemonheads? COME ON! FEEL THE LEMONHEADS! “I’ll Do It Anyway” was the secret gem of the album. GOD I CAN’T.

6. Spin Doctors

Laneia: Always thought it was, “got some mint julep on his jacket” but it’s “got some big seal up on his jacket,” in case you were wondering.

Riese: My older cousin liked to listen to “2 Princes” and her best friend liked to listen to “The Macarena” and so we switched back and forth from one single to the other for a long drive between Kentucky and Columbus, Ohio. Back and forth. 2 Princes. Macarena. 2 Princes. Macarena. 2 Princes. Macarena. I can keep going, or you can get out of the car.

7. Stone Temple Pilots

Laneia: I don’t know if I’ve ever listened to Core in its entirety. I feel like that would be a fun thing to do one weekend.

Riese: I know that I knew who these people were at some point. That point has passed. I have some negative feelings about their album design however.

8. Live

Laneia: My older brother was really into Live, so we’d occasionally smoke Marlboro Lights out his bedroom window and discuss the deeper meaning of “Lightning Crashes.”

Riese: I was always so annoyed that their name was “Live.” It’s so fucking confusing. “I’m gonna go see Live, LIVE!” hahahahahaha! Whatever suck it, live/Live. Lightning Crashes, Life Live Love Living Live Live Liveylive.

9. Offspring

Laneia: Smash was what I cleaned my room to on Saturdays!

Riese: Smash was what I listened to before school on weekdays!

10. Blues Traveler

Laneia: Another band my mother and I could sing along with on our way to the mall and high school football games. Yep, we were those people.

Riese: At the Maccabi Games in suburban Illinois in the early 90’s, I danced with a boy (OK NEXT TO A BOY) who knew all the words to Blues Traveler’s “Run-Around” which was really impressive to me. I don’t know. I was thirteen what does anybody know.

11. Bush

Laneia: Sixteen Stone was a big fucking deal. I don’t know why, but it was.

Riese: That guy was one of the guys that everyone had a crush on but like — Bush? God, the 90s were like a heartland of Dumb Band Names. Chumbawumba. Goo Goo Dolls. Bush. It was like after the Red Hot Chilli Peppers (great band name) everyone else just stopped trying.

12. Crash Test Dummies

Laneia: Most of my friends and I were fairly confused by this band, but we could sing along, and sometimes that’s all that matters.

Riese: My Dad used to spend entire days only speaking to my brother and I in altered-CTD-verse… Once, there was this girl who wanted macaroni and cheese for dinner…

13. Blind Melon

Laneia: I NEED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT WHEN THEY COVERED “THREE” FOR THE SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK ROCKS CD. Pivotal moment in my life. PIVOTAL LIFE MOMENT. HOLY FUCK.

Riese: That girl in the bee costume for the No Rain video. You are RAD.

14. 10,000 Maniacs

Laneia: Really only knew of the band via their MTV Unplugged album, which I think makes me a ‘poseur,’ possibly? Don’t care.

Riese: Given the choice of angry ladies with aggressive/crazy-sounding lady-plural-nouns in their band names, I prefer the Violent Femmes.

15. Matchbox Twenty


Laneia: Yourself or Someone Like You is still one of my favorite album titles ever.

Riese: I liked one song they did. One. It wasn’t even in the nineties. So is it relevant. Do you care. Okay, it was “Bright Lights.”
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Next:
10 Bands We Still Listen To.

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Riese

Riese is the 43-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3270 articles for us.

178 Comments

  1. I grew up in the 90s and still think that decade’s music is better than most of the crap that plays on my radio today.

    Add to the list Gin Blossoms, Better than Ezra, Toad the Wet Sprocket and Collective Soul.

    • I was reading the list thinking, Gin Blossoms has to be here… Tell me do you think it’d be alright, If I could just crash here tonight?

      • there’s also another Gin Blossoms song that was on Empire Records. what a great band!

        Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is 15 years old this year, i can’t believe it.

        wait, why aren’t Soundgarden and Weezer on this list? Weezer released Death to False Metal this month– it contains a cover of Unbreak my Heart! toni braxton!

        this post is making me miss the 90s. and i hated the 90s (except for the music).

  2. This list made my day. I can’t stop giggling, mostly because it’s SO ACCURATE.

    I got that Counting Crows album as an Easter gift from my mom, and I’m pretty sure that she and my dad regretted it because I listened to it so loud so often. I had fantasies about performing to the song Sullivan Street in my junior high lip syncing contest wearing a baby doll dress and doc martens and channeling Angela Chase.

    …I’m never repeating that story again. Ever.

  3. I have no clue who ANY of these bands are, save for Goo Goo Dolls and Hootie and the Blowfish. Never hear any of their music, but I’ve heard the names before.

    Oh, how lame it is to live a sheltered life that revolved around musical theatre.

  4. “Anna Begins” goes down in history as one of my favorite songs of all time.

    She’s talking in her sleep, it’s keeping me awake, and Anna begins to toss and turn… and every word is nonsense but I understand.

    • OMG. YES! That song is just beautiful. And indeed, I still pop that CD in on occasion, pretty much strictly for “Anna Begins” … and “Sullivan Street.”

      I haven’t really loved any Counting Crows songs since, except “Color Blind.” Which always makes me think of the sex scene in Cruel Intentions, which I loved because Reese Witherspoon was one of my first celebrity crushes and Ryan Phillipe is kind of pretty too.

          • i like third eye blind because laura told me about this one song of theirs and alex told me about this other song of theirs and I like both those songs.

    • I still love 10,000 Maniacs! Natalie Merchant was one of my first lady crushes so I don’t know maybe that has something to do with it.

      • YES. Totally still love 10,000 Maniacs. But Violent Femmes do set the standard. Nothing brings me back to 16 like listening to Gimme the Car. But they’re more 80’s than 90’s, like Rosalino’s mom but I digress…

        AMAZING list.

        + Jewel, Pixies, Stoke 9, TLC, 4 Non Blondes, Sonic Youth, Tori Amos.

  5. Oh dear. YOU FORGOT NO DOUBT.

    But the rest of the list: Yes. It’s all so true.

    Seriously thought. No Doubt was MY MUSIC. More so than almost any of those. Then again, maybe it’s only because my mom LOVED the Tragic Kingdom album to the end of the earth when I was younger, and played it all the time.

    Still. Hey I still listen to Oasis. Sometimes. Why, is this not cool anymore? =(

    • YES! i recently busted out the no doubt for nostalgia sake but realized that its still totally great stuff.

      • In my mind, it will never die. I will always be a fan, every time I hear a No Doubt song I want to cry and smile at the same time.

        Not to mention Gwen is, and always has been, absolutely gorgeous. ;3

    • Just A Girl was a major influence on me when I was a young teen, and damn she had amazing arms in that video.

  6. I love this list. I already had it all in my 90s playlist in spotify, ‘cept for Cake. I keep forgetting Cake and how much I loved it.

    What about the Wallflowers? I remember listening to Bringing Down the Horse with like 8 of my friends squeezed into someone’s mom car.

    You just made my day! I’ll just let myself sink into bed in my Weezer, TLC, Texas, Bran van 3000 environment, thank you very much :)

    • You have to be one of the coolest people ever, simply for the Weezer.

      TLC is great too. Mostly Weezer though. <3

      • Weezer is THE BEST! Listen to their cover of Unbreak My Heart! It’s like going back in time.

        Weezer does not have a bad album. They have never disappointed me.

        You take your car to work, I’ll take my board!

  7. i spent large chunks of my allowance in the soundtrack section of tower records. between this article and my high school reunion notice i just received in the mail…i am feeling kinda old today. thanks, universe.

    • ack I also spent tons of money at tower and received my high school reunion notice via facebook yesterday! zoinks.

  8. When I was 2 years old, I lived in an apartment next door to Hootie and the Blowfish. They used to practice and annoy my parents. That is all.

  9. Third Eye Blind, anyone?
    They kind of crossed the late 90s/early 00s, but still.

    SEMI-CHARMED LIFE WAS EVERYWHERE.
    even though it’s not even their best.

    yeah I’m gonna have to say they go on the “still listen to” side for me…guilty pleasure here.

    • No shame there! I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t sing along to “How’s It Gonna Be” and “Jumper.” Those songs totally bring me back to the days of Joey and Pacey.

      Also, I still love “Deep Inside of You.” And “God of Wine.”

      • Jumper is such an anthem. I remember videotaping the vid from mtv (back in the days when there was still music there) and playing it back over and over and over again.

        Wish you would step out from the ledge my friend…

    • Ahh, we’re doing “Semi-Charmed Life” in my a cappella group this semester. It’s so much fun.

    • YES.

      Green Day were my favorite band in the 1990s. I still listen to ‘Dookie’ almost every day.

    • Yes! Time of your Life/Good Riddance/whatevs was the first song I learned to play on guitar, despite my guitar teachers insistence that I learn True Blue by John Williamson. I mean wtf? Is it veeeeggeeeemiiiiite…….

  10. Wow, you picked some of the best!

    A couple others for the dont-listen-anymore list:
    — I pretty much lost my affection for the Barenaked Ladies sometime around 2000.
    — I haven’t listened to a Mighty Mighty Bosstones CD in years.

    This list takes me back to the HORDE tour, circa 1996. Blues Traveler, Rusted Root, Natalie Merchant and Lenny Kravitz. Fond memories of all those artists but … yeah, I really don’t listen to them much anymore unless I’m feeling particularly nostalgic.

    • Rusted Root! LOL

      I remember my friends and I always trying to sing along to that crazy song of theirs and laughing hysterically. Forgot about them

    • Chickity China the chinese chicken! The only way I could effectively get over that song “One week” was learning the lyrics (through constant listening, mind you, no internet search).

  11. impeccable timing on this list, considering last night, the radio played the Cranberries on my drive home from Costco and i almost peed myself with the combined excitement for discounted bulk shopping and love for dolores o’riordan’s stellar use of repitition.

    Oh, and even though i rarely listen to it on purpose anymore, STP’s Core is amazing. i think it took 7th grade me almost six months of repeating the first four songs though before i realized that Plush was track #9 and it would blow my mind. and did anyone else wonder what a wicked garden was? oh to be young again!

    my gf hates 90s rock, but come on! how can you hate Lightning Crashes?? and does anyone remember the Toadies? Upenn’s acapella group Off the Beat did an amazing version of Possum Kingdom / Come from the Water that made all the freshman girls, gay or straight, swoon.

  12. Love that you reserved the final spot for the greatest band in the history of the universe.

    though personally I would have put Tool on the list as well. Though they aren’t for everyone.

  13. #1 CARDIGANS FAN OF ALL TIME RIGHT HERE. I have EVERY ALBUM.

    But yeah y’alls defo left off No Doubt and Veruca Salt!

    Also this is a tweet I almost sent out the other day and then did not: “I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a worse song than ‘crash into me’ by DMB.” JUST SAYIN.

    • High five! One of my all-time favorites! You can’t go wrong with a lyric like “this emery board is giving me a rash.”

      Also, less popular, but still one of my favorites: Guided By Voices.

  14. i love this post cause i just downloaded blind melon, live and some no doubt on guitar hero and was told to ‘let it go , grunge is dead’ hahaha

  15. Was I the only one whose life soundtrack was populated entirely by Madonna and Sarah McLachlan? And Buffy soundtracks?

    • dont worry, youre not the only one who knows all the words to the entirety of Once More With Feeling!!
      oh, and if it werent for those buffy soundtracks, id never have gotten into amazing bands like Rilo Kiley.

      as for sarah mclaughlin, wow. i used to fall asleep with my stereo looping between Afterglow and AFI’s Black Sails into the Sunset. Weird, i know. oh, and speaking of buffy – the use of Full of Grace after she kills Angel in S2? i definitely cried.

      • Soundtracks were basically how I discovered new music when I was a teenager. And OMG “Full of Grace” on Buffy! I may have written an angsty poem for my freshman English class inspired by that episode.

        It was all about Sarah, Madonna and Alanis for me. Jagged Little Pill was my JAM. That and Spice World.

      • Alex, your post cracked me up! I know all of the words to Once More With Feeling too and I cried like a baby when they played Full Of Grace at the end of season 2. Oh, the memories!

      • Buffy soundtracks made me discover The Sundays! The Sundays!!!!! A tear is shed everytime I watch The Prom.

  16. I should stop getting on Autostraddle when I have to leave for work within five minutes because I want to spend way more than five minutes reading and commenting.

    TO BE CONTINUED….

  17. Sometimes, I get really angry at the radio because a lot of the stuff that it plays makes me feel like putting pencils in my ears.

    I really like Lady Gaga and all, you know, but sometimes I just wish that it was still like, 1997 so I could love the radio again.

  18. I still listen to most of this music. Especially early Radiohead. Pablo Honey and The Bends get played in my car at least once a month. I also really have a thing for Stone Temple Pilots and the Smashing Pumpkins. Does anyone remember Candlebox? There will always be a large area reserved on my Ipod or in my cd case for my 90’s music.

    • speaking of smashing pumpkins, has anyone ever told u that u sort of look like melissa auf der maur ?

    • One of my best friends in high school was obsessed with that Candlebox song Far Behind. We use to drive around stoned listening to it on a cassete tape over and over and over again, bored out of our minds.

      • Far Behind is a really beautiful song. I got into into a few years ago, rather than when it originally was released.

    • Last night I broke out the old Dinosaur Jr. cassettes my brother gave me and the fucking Singles soundtrack. If only I could find my flannel shirt and Doc Martens.

  19. Me too. I still play Pablo Honey a lot. The other week I discovered Melissa Ferrick’s cover of Creep, and then proceeded to spend a whole afternoon comparing cover versions of Creep.

    • Somewhat irrelevant: My 50’s-plus English professor does a kick-ass cover of Creep on his guitar. Randomly, and in bizarre times and places. Such as outside the cafeteria in the middle of the lunch rush.

  20. Um, Nas with Illmatic? I mean technically he’s still making music but it’s all a downhill slide from there.

  21. Candlebox, wow…yeah i remember them…i saw them open for Metallica in ’94…

    (yep, i’m now that girl, sayin shiz like back in 94′)

  22. Um, I just had a slice of cheese pizza from Sbarro like twenty minutes ago.

    Also, Autostraddle has now taken over my dreams. Last night I had a dream with Laneia in it, even though I don’t even know what she looks like. I can’t remember the specifics, but I was at her house or something and she was telling me how to pronounce her name (she said it is like la-nay-a and I remember thinking that I thought it was like lay-ne-a). Ah, the big mysteries of my life.

  23. My 90’s experience went a little more like this: The Spice Girls, Hanson, Alanis Morisette… that’s about all I remember. And then my obsession with Britney Spears started.

    But I also listened to Live because my brother did. And I liked Matchbox 20, and “Killing Me Softly” is one of my favorite songs ever. Basically I want to go back and relive my childhood listening to better music. I’m starting to get into Radiohead now after hearing Amanda Palmer’s cover album and realizing that Fake Plastic Trees is their song. I loved the movie Clueless. So much.

    • That’s pretty much what I remember from the 90’s. Granted, I do have the whole Cranberries discography because I love them, but I didn’t start listening to them till mid 00’s hah.

      • I did too! Taylor, I think? That long blonde hair, those rosy cheeks… Yeah I was a confused little kid.

  24. Letters to Cleo…although, I still listen to them occasionally. And Belly too. If I’m in the mood I’ll still go listen to most of the old stuff I used to listen to regularly.

    Except I don’t listen to Melissa Etheridge anymore. I used to listen to her so. damn. much. I even played her songs at open mics. Now those songs seem to remind me of everything I did wrong when I first came out…I mean dating wise…or trying to date wise.

    • Letters to Cleo!! I may or may not watch Ten Things I Hate About You just to listen to them. That movie kind of just had a kickass soundtrack in general.

    • Yay! Letters To Cleo! I listen to the songs Demon Rock and Acid Jed at least once every other week and sing along loudly like I’m still 13. <3

  25. I listened to a lot of Garbage and Bjork in the 90s, but I will still totally throw on The Breeders, or Spiritualized, or Massive Attack to this day. Also Throwing Muses were great. I think I’ll put that on now.

    Natalie Merchant is one act I wish would have stayed it the 90s. She resurfaced this summer “singing old poems to life” with her super affected voice. Just the thought of it provokes my high school rage. Kill it with fire and shovels!

    • What NO I love that cd! Then again I am partial to a little cajun fiddle (or any kind of fiddle really) and also merchant’s super affected voice, so. I don’t even care how pretentious it is, it’s AWESOME!

    • My 90s was all about Massive Attack and Tricky. I’ve had the same “sexy times playlist” for about 15 years. If I don’t get off by track 3, I call it a night coz it ain’t gonna happen.

      I wasn’t into rock though. Well, just Christian rock. Oh, and DC Talk was my induction into hip hop. That makes me laugh.

      I didn’t discover Radiohead until much later, but my iPhone is full of Radiohead and Johnny Cash. I know. Weird mix. But it makes me happy.

  26. I feel really sad that No Doubt’s “Tragic Kingdom” is not on this list. I lived and breathed that album.

    Also loved The Cardigans, still do.

  27. THE FUGEES! CAKE! FUCKING NIRVANA!! I love all of this. Nirvana makes me wear more eyeliner. Weird huh?

  28. 90’s music!! I can’t let it go! Gin Blossoms, Del Amitri, Ace of Base and the Barenaked Ladies. Also, it’s basically the only bands my parents let me listen to after my uncle gave me Prince’s “Diamonds and Pearls” tape for my 8th birthday.

  29. Woah now. I love the 90s and I still listen to Bush. Swallowed is my Bush song that I’ve been playing the most lately. And Matchbox Twenty. I remember being a kid and thinking they were cool. Ah yes, I’m a 90s baby to the core ^_^

  30. I had no discernible taste in music during the ’90s. I was born in ’87, so throughout most of the following decade, I was just listening to whatever my older sister was listening to (which was pretty much limited to Celine Dion). It wasn’t until highschool that I started listening not to then-current music, but revisiting stuff from the ’90s.

    My favourites are/were No Doubt, Sloan (went to see them 5 times in 2005, and that year, also met my favourite member of the band on the streets of Toronto during an outing with my best friend, the purpose of which was to meet one of the members. It was creepy/amazing!), The Flashing Lights, Velocity Girl, Jale, The Super Friendz, and Eric’s Trip. I recommend looking into the East Coast Canadian rock scene during of the early-mid ’90s. Some good tunes!

  31. I listen to more on the first list than I’ve even heard of on the second, but I guess I was between 0 and 9 in the 90’s so maybe that has something to do with it? Thanks for the list tho.

  32. Great lists!

    The following albums are still on my regular rotation:

    The Verve – Urban Hyms (can’t believe how good this album still is)
    Radiohead-The Bends (I know you mentioned it, but it is so good it is worth mentioning again)
    Uncle Tupelo-Anodyne
    Wilco- Being There (One of my favorite bands)
    Hole-Live Through This (A classic… the words to Olympia can be twisted to describe any annoyingly cliquish group in life)
    Beck-(I can’t decide if Nightmare Hippy Girl is about me or my ex-gf)
    PJ Harvey-any album
    Soundgarden (mostly just the song Burden in my Hand)

    Albums/groups I very rarely listen to, if at all:
    My Bloody Valentine
    Faith No More
    Janes Addiction
    Rage Against the Machine (we really needed them during the Bush years)
    The Breeders
    Liz Phair

    Ahhh….the memories

    • Fantastic list… especially Mellow Gold
      Hole- yessss
      Sunken Treasure is my favorite song off the Wilco double album

    • Anodyne is in my all-time top 10. My brother introduced me to Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt/Wilco when I was about 8 and I listen to all that on the regular now too.

  33. I own most of the Blues Traveler albums, love those guys. Bridge is possibly their best, the one they made in tribute to their dead bassist.
    Also Barenaked Ladies will always be fun and emotional for me.
    Tool and A Perfect Circle(Helloooo, hot lady bassist!) defined my late high school/college experience and I am now obsessed with Maynard’s new project Puscifer

    • I’m with you on Tool & APC. I think Ænima was definitely one of the best albums to come out of the 90s.

  34. I still listen to the Stone Temple Pilots regularly, ‘Trippin On A Hole In A Paper Heart’ is one of my favorite songs.

    90s nostalgia drove me to go and see Live’s frontman Ed Kowalczyk in concert last year. He was SO CHEESY.

    • I really loved Live back in the day but seeing them Live back in ’03 was TERRIBLE. They are the worst Live band I’ve ever seen. Ironic, no?

  35. I still listen to a bunch of the 90s music regularly too. I actually stopped turning on my radio once it hit the 00s. Though now I can rejoice because it seems like I am one of the few who have a good 90s local radio station that manages to play most of these artists all the time. Yay for Richmond, VA!

  36. SCHOOL HOUSE ROCKS ROCKS cover album was like my favorite thing ever! I felt so awesome with that in my 1989 Honda in a constant rotation with two garbage albums, white chocolate space egg, cake and wilco … And of course Hole…

  37. Too many nostalgia/procrastination induced thoughts/itunes scavenging. Here are the top two.

    1. Um, the Pixies?

    2. I once walked out of a Barenaked Ladies concert and hung out with this random girl working a concession stand and listening to Radiohead. I still thought I was straight but I knew she was WAY cooler than the concert.

  38. I just Dave on Saturday night with my mom. Last time we saw them, I came out. It was fantastic experience both times we saw Dave together.

  39. I still listen to Bush on a regular basis. They’re an amazing band. Really guys, you don’t listen to Bush anymore?!? :(

  40. I literally own or owned every single one of these CDs (except Crash Test Dummies). The 90s rocked and would be my all time favorite music decade if there was more of Tegan & Sara’s music around back then.

  41. I was 12 in 99, so Spice Girls were my hit, oh and my aunt bought me baby one more time against my will, she’s never been forgiven.

    • Garbage ftw. Seeing them in concert just solidified my love of red-headed Scottish women in denim hotpants.

    • YES!! I still love Garbage and may have swooned when I heard last week that they are working on a new album. I will fight you all for Shirley.

    • YESSS! Garbage is a huge omission. :(

      I can still listen to all the played out singles like Stupid Girl and they actually don’t feel old to me. I think Garbage is timeless. My favorite band <3

  42. THE SPICE GIRLS.

    also: better than ezra, third eye blind, blink-182, ELLIOT FUCKING SMITH, neutral milk hotel, our lady peace, the tragically hip…

    okay, i totally just went through my itunes.

    • <–ELLIOTT FUCKING SMITH. Yes. Also Neutral Milk Hotel, which is still on repeat, always, in my head and in my electronics. Does this make me a very depressive hipster man from five years ago in college? Is that ok?

    • I really miss The Spice Girls, Emily. Really I do. Occasionally I will listen to Spice World in the car and dance my way down the freeway. My girlfriend shakes her head at me. :-/

  43. oh man yeah
    This just makes me feel so incredibly old
    Some that I still keep in rotation: Portishead, PJ Harvey, Sleater Kinney

    …man I played the sh*t out of my Sixteen Stone cassette tape
    & I might’ve maybe cried to Live when I was in 3rd grade..

  44. Matchbox 20 got super popular the summer between high school and college. My then “best friend” (current girlfriend) LOVED Matchbox 20. I spent every one of my crappy-summer-minimum-wage-job dollars on tickets to their concert. When we got there it was so crowded that she couldn’t “deal” and told me to just sell the tickets to someone else.

    I was PISSED for about 2 minutes until she suggested that we use the illicitly obtained scalper money to rent a hotel room for the night instead. I think it was that moment that I knew she was a keeper.

  45. I still listen to all of these things. Regularly. And frequently put them on mixtapes. I saw Live live (ugh), and it was fabulous. I wanna daaaaaaaance with you!

  46. I still listen to Offspring on the regular. Did everyone else stop? Am I like 10 years out of the loop?
    Also, Riese, you can’t move to Cali and claim that Sublime is not quite as good as Cake. Cake is awesome. Totally. But if you are going to live in Cali, you can’t deny Sublime of their awesome awesomeness.

  47. YES!!! the “Singles” soundtrack, indeed. I wanted to BE Bridget Fonda. I wore my Docs with black tights and an oversized flannel shirt from the salvation army and a black Bowler hat…I had the poster tacked above my bed…I dreamed about living in my own apt, eating salad alone, and being desperately in love…that’s what the 90s were all about for me.

  48. I listen to 90’s music non-ironically, because growing up in the weird, almost cultish environment that I did, it’s all pretty much new to me. HAVE YOU GUYS HEARD THIS BAND CALLED NIRVANA? IT LIKE….TOTALLY SPEAKS TO ME. LIKE FOR REAL.

  49. i agree with pretty much all of this (except that i haven’t heard of half the bands you refer to on the first page..) counting crows! a&ea is amaze.

  50. I sure do love 90’s music. Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine, The Verve (esp. Storm in Heaven), Spiritualized, Slowdive, Catherine Wheel, Jesus and Mary Chain, Medicine, Galaxy 500… pretty much everything shoegaze-ee with some Spice Girls, Sarah Mclachlan and Natalie Merchant thrown in there.

  51. wow, this list makes me feel sad/happy/old.on a related sidenote, there is a classic rock station that i listen to sometimes and theyve started playing some of this music i.e. STP, Bush, Nirvana, Pearl Jam. so weird.

  52. Since i turned ten in 1999 i never really listened to 90’s music in the 90´s. But i have since heard a song or two.

    Oasis first two records, Defiantly maybe and what´s the story morning glory are the shit.

    My bloody Valentine

    Jesus and Mary chain

    Wilco

    Pulp

    Blur

    Radiohead(i do like their 00’s stuff more but it´s still awesome.)

    Pavement.

    Neutral milk hotel.

    Weezer (blue album and pinkerton.)

    Pixies.

    Elliot smith

    Do the Stone roses count?

    All breathtakingly awesome stuff

  53. The following bands are missing from the awesome list:

    BLUR-that one music video with the animated carton of milk was the shit, also if there had been no blur there would be no gorillaz.

    Pixies!!!- this is possibly the best thing to come our of the 90’s and kim deal is the coolest chick on earth.

    GARBAGE- i knew i was gay when i saw the naked femme-bot Shirley Manson in the music video for that one 007 soundtrack. i must have been like 10 years old.

    BECK- genius and still blowing our minds.

    and last but not least VIOLENT FEMMES!- how could you have forgotten them?! Blister in the sun..”big hands i know you’re the one”. also there’s a scene in Lost and Delirious when the girls spike up the punch and go crazy dancing to the violent femmes at a school dance. this scene puts a smile on my face.

    ….aslo does anyone remember Sixpence None the Richer? i don’t listen to them anymore but its nice when “kiss me” comes on at a department store as background music or something.

    • The Blur video with the milk is Coffee and TV! I love the song Boys and Girls. And Parklife. So many feelings in Parklife.

  54. The Goo Goo Dolls, Live, Matchbox Twenty, Bush, the Counting Crows, the Cranberries, Veruca Salt, Hanson, silverchair, Letters to Cleo, Garbage, the Barenakes Ladies. Oh my, life is good.

  55. OMFG I’m having a meltdown right now. You guys had me at Counting Crows – best band EVER. I’m noticing a glaring omission – R.E.M. Definitely on my list of enduring bands. I am a STP tragic so let’s not even go there (you know, to the bad place where all you can hear is Velvet Revolver…)
    Another couple of omissions are Elliott Smith and Ben Folds Five (in the days before 5 minus 2 equals 1). They provided the soundtrack to my relationship with my first gf, before she ripped out my heart and left me listening to Jeff Buckley non-stop for three months…
    To all the Aussies out there, I say: Something For Kate, Spiderbait, Silverchair, The Whitlams (or Shitlams depending on how you feel), You Am I and The Cruel Sea.

  56. I still love Oasis. (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? is probably still my favourite CD of all time, and sometimes I sit in my empty bathtub and sing Wonderwall and cry for no reason (hey menstruation, how’s it goin’?)

    I used to feel kind of bad about myself because of this, but my girlfriend always wants to fuck to Blur’s self-titled album and she sings Eve 6 like eeeeeeeeevery night when I’m trying to sleep so I’m pretty okay with myself now.

  57. better man by pearl jam pretty much summed up my life for a while.

    Waitin’, watchin’ the clock, it’s four o’clock, it’s got to stop
    Tell him, take no more, she practices her speech
    As he opens the door, she rolls over…
    Pretends to sleep as he looks her over

    Talkin’ to herself, there’s no one else who needs to know..

    it would pop into my head daily.
    poor guy.

  58. A girl on OKCupid and I were just talking about this – we were reminiscing over Aqua and Savage Garden! The moment I Want You hit “retro” status I felt super old.

  59. Hey………did you like copy the names off my ipod? but seriously….music from the 90’s still rox my sox off! I have to add a couple of things to that list though like early green day music and ace of base. Not forgetting Bryan Adams who i SAW IN CONCERT IN SOUTH AFRICA in the mid nineties – that guy can put on a show.

  60. Ok um… did I just read this whole page and not see one reference to Tori Amos???? AND YOU CALL YOURSELVES LESBIANS?!?!?!?

  61. God, I feel old yet nostalgic…
    Most of these CDs emerged my senior year of high school/freshman year of college.
    Counting Crows-Color Blind…la sigh
    Sarah Mac…hell I had the cassette of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and just saw her live last week in Houston. Always worth the money because she is as awesome live as she is on an album…oh and hot!
    10,000 Maniacs…more partial to Natalie’s Tiger Lily but still have the unplugged album on the Ipod. Saw her this year too and the whole 19th/20th century children poems as songs…not a fan. My bad because I should have looked at the concert reviews prior to going.
    What about the Murmurs??? All it took was seeing All Over Me and I became a Leisha Hailey fan…

  62. A few that weren’t mentioned:
    Everclear(So Much for the Afterglow)
    Nada Surf(The Proximity Effect)
    Matthew Sweet(Girlfriend)
    Ben Folds Five(Whatever and Ever Amen)
    The Posies(Frosting On the Beater)

  63. Ummm…Kid A came out in 2000. Way to do the research there. Maybe you are too stoned or stupid to figure out how to use Google.

  64. I absolutely love the stuff mentioned!
    and I’d like to add:
    SEMISONIC :D
    I still listen to their songs <3

  65. Alice In Chains should be in the “Still Listen To” category. They were far&away the best ‘grunge’ band.

  66. Kid A is garbage and not as good as OK Computer. OK Computer was phenomenal.
    STP is awesome and always in the mix. Those guys got the shaft.
    Nirvana is freakin awesome…still.
    Offspring must be the most underrated kickass band out there.
    Cake is ok, their current tour is selling out. they got a song or two in there.
    Pulp…yeh, Pulp that is good stuff, still getting the love.
    Blind Melon is iconic, always in the playlist.
    Beck gets a pass cuz he is just too creative for his own musical talent.

    Pearl Jam and DMB have a few decent tunes each but are sooooo overhyped I avoid that sh#t cuz i don’t have to show that I’m “cool”.

    the rest? meh, i traded all them cd’s in for new stuff.

  67. Wow. What is STP doing in the stopped listening to list? Do you hate music? Core was only their debut release and you’ve ignored Purple, Tiny Music, and No. 4, all of which had several hit singles.

    Good music from the 90s:

    Nirvana
    Pearl Jam
    Alice in Chains (how did you leave them out??)
    Soundgarden
    Stone Temple Pilots
    Smashing Pumpkins
    Nine Inch Nails
    Filter
    Rage Against the Machine
    Weezer
    Radiohead
    White Zombie (late 80s/90s til Rob went solo but peaked in the 90s)
    Pantera (also 80/90s and probably too heavy for this site, but peaked in the 90s)

    Meh:

    Green Day (popular post-Nirvana, overrated but filling a void, turned into modern-day emo mascots)
    Oasis (overrated like most brit exports of their time)
    Screaming Trees (Nearly Lost You is a great track)

    Forgettable:

    Lemonheads
    Spin Doctors
    Counting Crows
    Dave Matthews Band

    Seems like half your still listening to list is made up of some of the more generic bands of the era, which is what caused a lot of people to move away from the core bands who were still putting out decent, original music.

  68. First off, HIGHLY entertaining. All the way through. Really, well done.

    Secondly, some albums you missed:

    – Soundgarden – Superunkown: C’mon. How fucking heavy AND brilliant was this album?!
    – Tool-Aenima: Again, a fucking game changer for heavy music, attractive to the pop audience and ambiguous enough for the elitest pricks. This album has it all.
    – Korn – Korn: Visceral and raw. Delicious from start to tear-soaked end.
    – Eminem-Slim Shady L.P.: for the suburban miscreant who couldn’t get their hands on a Snoop Dogg album.

  69. RADIOHEAD AND NIRVANA. Both are definitely frequented on my 857 playlists for every occasion, emotion, time of day, etc.

    Also, can I get a little Rage Against The Machine? Yes? No?

    Obligatory 90s confession: Spice Girls. Did I watch Spice World less than a year ago? YES. Have I listened to “Never Give Up On The Good Times” this week? YES. Will I ever forgive myself for not going to their reunion tour? NEVER.

  70. I got a 13 year old student to listen to Neutral Milk Hotel a few days ago. Actually she whined and annoyed me until I let her hear it. She didn’t want to give my ipod back. I think/hope/find hilarious that 90’s noise might become a thing with middle schoolers. Just saying.

    Aenima yes. Korn, no. I have never fully figured out why I feel this way.

  71. Not getting the Blues Traveler part of the list. Those guys are everywhere still. Just because they aren’t relavent on the radio or MTV doesnt mean people dont listen to them. Radio is archaic. BT tours ten times more than crap bands we are forced to hear in the 10’s. This list is generic and predictable.

    • well, that was unecessarily mean. who knew blues traveler fans were so opinionated? did someone give you the run-around and put you in the mood for a north hollywood shootout?!?

      but seriously, thx for the opinion. kbye!

      • Nope….just an optimistic thought.

        My reasons are because they are a relic band in the vein of The Grateful Dead and Phish. They are dedicated to their craft and fans, not top 40 radio…

  72. The following music I still listen to:

    FILTER!!
    THE CULT!!
    NINE INCH NAILS!
    Tool
    SARAH MCLACHLAN! (Still listen to “Building a Mystery”!)
    SINEAD O’CONNOR!!
    DURAN DURAN (Still LOVE “Come Undone”!)
    USHER (My Way!)
    STING!!
    Stone Temple Pilots
    THE TOADIES!
    OUR LADY PEACE!
    A perfect Circle!
    SEVEN MERRY THREE!
    EMINEM!!
    AEROSMITH!!
    MICHAEL JACKSON
    FUEL
    THE FUGEES!!
    Nirvana
    SLIPKNOT!!
    DEFTONES!!
    GEORGE MICHAEL
    SALT N’ PEPA!
    Hole
    CandleBox
    The Verve
    Silver Chair
    Garbage
    Radiohead
    Alanis MORISSETTE
    Uncle Tupelo
    TOM PETTY
    Bush
    SEVEN DUST!
    Mazzy Star
    Portishead
    Varuca Salt
    Smashing Pumpkins
    Massive Attack
    Matchbox 20
    Beck
    BLUR
    Violent Femmes
    Chemical Brothers
    Lords of Acid
    PJ Harvey
    Stone Temple Pilots
    Soundgarden
    Cranberries
    Jane’s Addiction

    Music I still own, but rarely listen to:

    SpaceHog
    Powerman 5000!
    My Bloody Valentine
    Sponge
    UGLY KID JOE
    PRETENDERS!
    TLC!
    CREED
    Faith No More
    Republica!!
    EXTREME!
    PM DAWN (LOL!)
    BON JOVI (LOL!)
    FASTBALL!
    ERIC CLAPTON
    SOUL ASYLUM
    Liz Phair
    ROXETTE (LOL!)
    PEARL JAM
    Rob Zombie
    Rage Against the Machine
    Days of the New
    GROOVE THEORY
    Ben Folds Five
    Semisonic
    The Breeders
    Tonic
    Third Eye Blind
    Aaliyah
    Erasure
    Lenny Kravitz
    Maxwell
    Genesis
    Natalie Merchant… GAWSH! Too much music to name! LOL!

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  74. how did R.E.M. not make it onto this list? (and don’t say “they were more ’80s” because a. it’s not true, they were prolific until 2011 and b. i will fight you.)

  75. Did I just step into an alternate universe where L7 never existed?? They’re still the soundtrack to my life!

  76. Ridiculous. In hindsight, Oasis has a *much* better legacy than Counting Crows. When do Counting Crows come out with a documentary and special edition CDs??

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