The Best Artists of the 90s
My criteria for ranking the bands was based partly on how high they ranked on my lists over the years. I would put them in order of average ranking of the albums. Tie breakers would be determined by which artist had more great albums, and whether they kept improving as the years progressed, or got worse. Then, of course, there is the purely subjective, emotional gut feeling, which is how they were all ranked to begin with pretty much. No artists who released only one album in the 90s made the list. Here one has to establish some sort of pattern of consistent greatness, or at least show they won't completely suck on their sophomore effort. Plenty of artists ended up at the bottom of the list because they started out strong and then dropped some real clunkers, like Ministry or The Jesus Lizard. Others came out with their best work in the 80s and fared much better in the 20th century list.
- PJ Harvey
- Bjork
- Beck
- The Flaming Lips
- The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
- Tom Waits
- Cornershop/Clinton
- Arto Lindsay
- Asian Dub Foundation
- Walt Mink
- Natacha Atlas & Transglobal Underground
- Dog Faced Hermans
- Massive Attack
- Los Fabulosos Cadillacs
- Tortoise
- Amon Tobin
- Spiritualized
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
- Mercury Rev
- Magnetic Fields
- Tricky
- Afghan Whigs
- Yo La Tengo
- Royal Trux
- Stereolab
- Laika
- Godspeed You Black Emperor!
- Black Heart Procession
- Beastie Boys
- Radiohead
- Nirvana
- Built To Spill
- God
- The Wedding Present
- Pram
- Portishead
- Swervedriver
- Seam
- Flying Saucer Attack
- Uncle Tupelo
- Fugazi
- Mark Lanegan & Screaming Trees
- Pavement
- Talk Talk/Orang
- Eleventh Dream Day
- Wilco
- Nitin Sawhney
- The Eels
- Dirty Three
- Sixteen Horsepower
- Radio Tarifa
- Sheila Chandra
- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
- Los Lobos/Latin Playboys
- Sleater-Kinney
- Sparklehorse
- Jeremy Enigk & Sunny Day Real Estate
- Labradford
- Cafe Tacuba
- Rocket From The Crypt
- Th' Faith Healers
- Mouse On Mars
- Khaled
- Super Furry Animals
- Cul De Sac
- Einsturzende Neubauten
- Orbital
- Jim O'Rourke/Gastr Del Sol
- Neutral Milk Hotel
- Kool Keith
- Prince Paul
- Cibo Matto
- Social Distortion
- Oval
- Outkast
- Talving Singh
- Lamb
- Lucinda Williams
- Quasi
- Baaba Maal
- Low
- Helium
- The Roots
- Goodie Mob
- Squarepusher
- Pulp
- Jessamine
- Patti Smith
- The Orb
- Modest Mouse
- At The Drive-In
- Ui
- Mu-Ziq
- The Grifters/Those Bastard Souls
- The Sea And Cake (& Sam Prekop, Archer Prewitt)
- Howie B
- Vinicius Cantuaria
- Paul Schutze
- Red Red Meat
- Buffalo Tom
- Unwound
- Mule
- Moby
- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
- Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
- R.E.M.
- Sloan
- The Beta Band
- Monster Magnet
- Sonic Youth
- Soundgarden
- Fun-Da-Mental
- Teenage Fanclub
- Peter Murphy
- Blur
- Autechre
- The Jesus Lizard
- Shellac
- The Apples In Stereo
- Aluminum Group
- Yungchen Lhamo
- Dinosaur Jr.
- Trans Am
- Guided By Voices
- Missy Elliott
- The Fugees
- Seefeel
- Everything But the Girl
- Belle & Sebastion
- The Walkabouts
- Souled American
- Buddy Miller
- Cesaria Evora
- Freakwater
- Giant Sand
- The Gun Club
- Luna
- Gaunt
- Ministry
- Ani DiFranco
- Arcwelder
- Aphex Twin
- Hole
Best Albums of the 90s
- Tricky - Maxinquaye (Island) 95
- DJ Shadow - Endtroducing (Mo Wax) 96
- Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet (Def Jam) 90
- Disco Inferno - DI Go Pop (Rough Trade) 94
- Slint - Spiderland (Touch & Go) 91
- My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (Sire) 91
- Tom Waits - Bone Machine (Island) 92
- Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die (Thrill Jockey) 96
- Massive Attack - Blue Lines (Virgin) 91
- Talk Talk - Laughing Stock (Polydor) 91
- Public Enemy - Apocalypse '91...The Enemy Strikes Black (Columbia) 91
- Björk - Homogenic (Elektra) 97
- Portishead - Dummy (Go! Discs) 94
- Radiohead - OK Computer (Capitol) 97
- PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love (Island) 95
- Björk - Post (Elektra) 95
- Laika - Silver Apples Of The Moon (Too Pure) 94
- Tom Waits - The Black Rider (Island) 93
- Tortoise (Thrill Jockey) 94
- Chico Science & Nação Zumbí - Afrociberdelia (Chaos) 96
- PJ Harvey - Rid Of Me (Island) 93
- Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (Arista) 97
- Arto Lindsay - Noon Chill (Bar/None) 98
- PJ Harvey - Is This Desire? (Island) 98
- Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (Merge) 98
- Asian Dub Foundation - Facts And Fictions (Nation) 95
- Radiohead - The Bends (Capitol) 95
- Dirty Three (Touch & Go) 95
- The Breeders - Pod (4AD) 90
- Asian Dub Foundation - Rafi's Revenge (London) 98
- Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst (75 Ark) 96
- Labradford - A Stable Reference (Kranky) 95
- Dirty Three - Horse Stories (Touch & Go) 96
- Labradford (Kranky) 96
- Tom Zé - Fabrication Defect (Luaka Bop) 98
- Fugazi - Repeater (Dischord) 90
- De La Soul - Three Feet And Rising (Tommy Boy) 90
- The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs (Merge) 99
- The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin (WB) 99
- Souled American - Around The Horn (Rough Trade) 90
- The Jungle Brothers - Straight Out The Jungle (Warlock) 93
- Arto Lindsay - Prize (Righteous Babe) 99
- Baaba Maal - Lam Toro (Island/Palm Pictures) 93
- Björk - Debut (Elektra) 93
- PJ Harvey - Dry (Island) 92
- Liz Phair - Exile In Guyville (Matador)
- Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen (Elektra) 93
- Beastie Boys - Check Your Head (Capitol) 92
- Seam - The Problem With Me (Touch & Go) 93
- Dog Faced Hermans - Hum Of Life (Project A Bomb) 93
- Nirvana - In Utero (Geffen) 93
- The Jesus Lizard - Goat (Touch & Go) 91
- Laika - Sounds of the Satellites (Too Pure) 97
- Arto Lindsay - Mundo Civilizado (Bar/None) 97
- Walt Mink - Miss Happiness (Caroline) 92
- God - Possession (Virgin) 92
- The Jesus Lizard - Liar (Touch & Go) 92
- Nirvana - Nevermind (Geffen) 91
- A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory (Jive) 91
- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Devotional & Love Songs (Real World) 92
- Walt Mink - Colossus (Deep Elm) 97
- The Jungle Brothers - J. Beez Wit The Remedy (WB) 93
- The Young Gods - Only Heaven (Interscope) 95
- Cornelius - 69/96 (Trattoria) 95
- Chico Science & Nação Zumbí - De Lama Ao Caos (Chaos) 95
- Cornelius - Fantasma (Matador) 98
- Finley Quaye - Maverick A Strike (550 Music) 97
- Oval - 94 Diskont (Mille Plateaux) 95
- Massive Attack - Protection (Circa) 94
- Amon Tobin - Bricolage (Ninja Tune) 97
- Pavement - Slanted And Enchanted (Matador) 92
- God - The Anatomy of Addiction (Big Cat) 94
- `O'rang - Herd of Instinct (Echo) 94
- Seam - Headsparks (Homestead) 92
- Spiritualized - Lazer Guided Melodies (Dedicated) 92
- The Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic (WB) 95
- Fugazi - Red Medicine (Dischord) 95
- Gallon Drunk - In The Long Still Night (City Slang UK) 96
- Sheila Chandra - ABoneCroneDrone (Real World) 96
- Beck - Odelay (Geffen) 96
- Natacha Atlas - Diaspora (Mantra/Beggars Banquet) 95
- Cornershop - When I Was Born For the 7th Time (Luaka Bop/WB) 97
- Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - Fabulosos Calavera (BMG) 97
- Richard Horowitz & Susan Deyhim - Majoun (Sony Classical) 97
- Outkast - Aquemini (LaFace) 98
- Dog Faced Hermans - Those Deep Buds (Alternative Tentacles) 94
- Mano Negra - Casa Babylon (Virgin) 94
- Café Tacuba - Re (WEA) 94
- Bark Psychosis - Hex (Caroline) 94
- Son Of Bazerk - Bazerk Bazerk Bazerk (Soul/MCA) 91
- Clinton [Cornershop] - Disco & The Half Way To Discontent (Hut) 99
- The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I (De Soto) 99
- Café Tacuba - Reves/Yosoy (WB) 99
- Yo La Tengo - Painful (Matador/Atlantic) 93
- The Orb - Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld (Mercury) 91
- The Jesus Lizard - Head (Touch & Go) 90
- Mano Negra - In The Hell Of Patchinko (Virgin) 92
- Einsturzende Neubauten - Tabula Rasa (Mute) 93
- Kyuss - Blues For The Red Sun (Dali) 92
- Uncle Tupelo - No Depression (Rockville) 90
The Best Artists of the 00s
The Best Artists of the 20th Century
