50 Best Rock Albums of the ’90s
45. Ozzy Osbourne – No More Tears (1991)
Ozzy got a little lost as the ‘80s drew to a close; his record sales were steady but he seemed to be treading water a bit. No More Tears was the big, bold album that Ozzy needed to reconnect with his audience. It sold over 4 million copies – the most since his debut – and launched a series of major rock hits: “No More Tears,” “Mr. Tinkertrain,” the Top 40 pop crossover ballad “Mama I’m Coming Home,” “Road to Nowhere,” and “Time After Time.” He also landed a Grammy for Best Metal Performance for the track “I Don’t Want to Change the World.” No More Tears is Ozzy at the top of his game, with a band surrounding him that knows how to deliver (Guitarist Zakk Wylde was Ozzy’s primary collaborator although he also co-wrote 4 tracks with Lemmy Kilmister, frontman of Motörhead).
44. Better Than Ezra – Deluxe (1995)
New Orleans-based rockers Better Than Ezra definitely suffused some of that southern gothic vibe into the 13 tracks on their outstanding debut, Deluxe. You take 3 absolutely A+ rock songs singles, and then you fill up the rest of the album with often haunting, contemplative material like “Southern Girl” and “The Killer Inside,” and you wonder why it wasn’t more successful. A shame that great bands like Semisonic and Better Than Ezra got lumped in with the tepid post-grunge noise, and so haven’t really been able to escape their era. “Good” is so simple and catchy that it burned up radio right away, and the outstanding “In the Blood” was almost as big as a follow-up. Third single “Rosealia” would be the lead single for most bands. Better Than Ezra’s second major release, 1996’s Friction, Baby, is also excellent and contains back to back brilliant rockers: “The King of New Orleans” and “Desperately Wanting.”
43. Dig – Dig (1993)
Dig was a powerful collective out of Los Angeles whose ace single “Believe” shot up both the Billboard Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts, and even garnered some MTV flirtation. The rest of their self-titled album is excellent, with standouts like “Unlucky Friend,” “Let Me Know,” “Feet Don’t Touch the Ground,” and of course “Fuck You,” but they couldn’t get any traction beyond their big debut single. A shame. Their second album, 1996’s Defenders of the Universe, is another must-have rock album of the ‘90s. Dig were a tight band with big riffs, hazy vocals and melodies and lyrical lines that, although buried a bit in the mix, still manage to give the songs strong sense of immediacy. Dig is just one of many great unknown bands out there whose music is just waiting to be discovered (or re-discovered).
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42 Melissa Etheridge – Yes I Am (1993)
By the time Melissa Etheridge’s fourth album Yes I Am was released in 1993, she’d already scored eight hits on the Mainstream Rock Chart including Top 10s like “Similar Features,” “Bring Me Some Water,” and “No Souvenirs.” Yes I Am allowed Etheridge to cross over for the first time to Top 40 radio, with three major singles: “Come to My Window,” “I’m the Only One” and “If I Wanted To.” She also scored on rock radio with “All American Girl.” She had courageously come out as a lesbian in January 1993, and Yes I Am proved that such openness was not necessarily a barrier to success as the album sold over 6 million copies. Yes I Am is a musical and cultural breakthrough, and one of the cornerstone rock albums of the ‘90s.
41. Foo Fighters – The Colour and the Shape (1997)
Following the dissolution of Nivana in the wake of Kurt Cobain’s death, drummer Dave Grohl started his own project, Foo Fighters. In 1995, Grohl released as the Foo Fighters’ first album a raw collection of tunes that he lad recorded almost entirely on his own. For the Foo’s second album The Colour and the Shape, Grohl brought in producer Gil Norton, primarily known for his work with The Pixies. Grohl also surrounded himself with a proper band, including guitarist Pam Smear, bassist Nate Mendel, and drummer Taylor Hawkins. The second album was a huge leap forward from the first; the band sounds tight as nails in the studio and the songwriting is a clear step forward. Song like “Monkey Wrench,” “My Hero,” and “Everlong” leap out of the speakers with a frantic urgency, and all became Top 10 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. A remix of the lovely acoustic ballad “Walking After You” was also a radio hit. The Colour and the Shape went platinum in America and gave Foo Fighters the template for a successful career that is still ongoing.
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