These 14 Alternative Rock Songs Will Remind You Why You Loved 90s Music So Much
The 90s was an odd time in the history of humanity: the music and the fashion of that decade alone can serve as proof to that statement. People were just so odd, and yet so contempt about stuff. The had the sad feels before that term was a thing. The 90s is when people were just so 90s. That sentence kind of makes sense, because that's what the 90s was: 90s. If that all makes sense to you, you definitely rocked a chain wallet or frosted tips at some point while listening to these tracks.
"God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes// 'Cause then you really might know what it's like to sing the blues //Then you really might know what it's like"
Blasting this out of a Walkman and feeling contempt for the downtrodden world that was the late 90s comes to fruition with this late part of the decade anthem. For some reason I want to go put on JNCO jeans and attach a chain wallet to them while listening to this: it just feels right.
Morissette's voice embodies everything that is the 90s, and with this chilling track she made everything that was 90s feel completely legitimate. "You're uninvited" to this super sweet rave you 90s dingbat, but at least you can listen to this while crying and perfecting your frosted tips.
When this track drops in, you feel everything that is the 90s:
"I would swallow my pride, I would choke on the rinds // But the lack thereof would leave me empty inside // Swallow my doubt turn it inside out // Find nothin' but faith in nothin' // Want to put my tender, heart in a blender // Watch it spin around to a beautiful oblivion // Rendezvous then I'm through with you"
This just sounds like a skatepark full of teens wearing beanies on a 90º day.
Get out your Polaroids and start ushering in the new era with memorable moments with Filter. Well, it seems Filter was the segue into taking pictures with, dare we say it: filters. This song should be brought back to popularity since this is now how we live our lives.
"Could you take my picture // 'Cuz I won't remember // Could you take my picture // 'Cuz I won't remember // Could you take my picture // 'Cuz I won't remember //Yeah"
So lonely. So 90s. The song that plays as a typical 90s rave starts winding down and the molly is wearing off.
"She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly // Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere // She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly"
When you came-to you wondered why you'd been wearing a florescent jumpsuit all night sucking on Ring Pops.
Can't you just picture a bunch of teens sitting around in the late 90s in their oversized clothing and weird haircuts at a house party cranking this song? It sounds like everything the decade stood for.
"Now I cannot speak, I've lost my voice // I'm speechless and redundant // 'Cause I love you's not enough // I'm lost for words"
A thought you had at that time more than likely: 'I'm going to print those lyrics off and stick them in my trapper-keeper because this is the 90s and I'm disgruntled.'
FM radio was the way "The Way" showed us the way to 90s pop enlightenment. Although, by the end of the 90s we were all ready to run the other way from "The Way" and get on with our lives, "The Way" is the way thing were back then.
Dark vocals over the top of slow, eery dance beats? Sign me up! But first: let put on a sweater that doesn't fit and a frown. Ah yes, that's certified 90s alt. rock mastery.
The lead singer, Adam Duritz, dated Jennifer Anniston. So yeah, whatever the heck this 90s ballad is about, somehow we're tying it back to Friends and calling it the greatest 90s alt. rock track for any association we can falsely connect the two. Don't know what we're going for here, but only in the 90s could that hair-do be allowed. Again, haven't said anything about the track, so here's this: take a time machine back to the saddest 90s bar you can find and this depressing song will be playing.
This video will make you remember just how 90s the 90s were. Okay, that doesn't really say anything, but you get what we're getting at: stuff being written on chalkboard, out of focus footage and weird lean in close ups. So much 90s attitude rhyming "copacetic" with "pathetic" and saying why the former is the latter. "And you don't" ever want to stop being 90s butt-hurt about stuff after hearing this.
CHORUS:
"For the life of me // I cannot remember // What made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise // For the life of me // I can not believe we'd ever die // For these sins // We were merely freshmen"
Well then, if I must say, 'for the life of me, I cannot remember' why people liked this song.
Never-mind what this song may or may not be about–the lead singer rocks frosted tips so hard, alongside multiple lips and ear piercings, it's no wonder MxPx was allowed to piece the eardrums of 90s audiences with this garbage. Not Garbage the 90s band, but garbage as in 90s alt. rock garbage from a different band not ironically called Garbage, but rather just playing garbage.
There was (according to the plethora of 90s teen movies) nothing more important in the 90s than being popular. Well, these 90s dudes had it figured out:
"I'm head of the class // I'm popular // I'm a quarterback // I'm popular // My mom says I'm a catch // I'm popular // I'm never last picked // I got a cheerleader chick"
This is seen as more of a bonus entry than anything being Bowie got his start in the 60s, but he unapologetically accepted the wave of the 90s and frosted his hair tips to perfection for this video–for that we'd like to thank him.