50 Best Rock Albums of the ’90s
25. Marilyn Manson – Mechanical Animals (1998)
Marilyn Manson played the record industry game about as shewed as you can do it. He created an outrageous character that is part Alice Cooper, part Rob Zombie, part David Bowie, with other figures such as Blondie, David Byrne, Rob Halford, Peter Gabriel and others. Mechanical Animals is by far Manson’s best work. It’s a throbbing glam-rock opus that features some truly genius arrangements (listen to The Speed of Pain” on a good pair of headphones.) Standouts include the wicked strut of the title-song, and a couple great rockers: “The Great Big White World,” “Rock is Dead,” and the sonically brilliant “The Speed of Pain.”
24. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication (1999)
The Chili Peppers broke through earlier in the decade with their alternative radio hits like “Give it Away” and of course “Under the Bridge,” but Californication still stands as their great rock epic. It brought the return of John Frusciante to the Chili fold, and was a huge commercial success following the disappointment of their Peppers’ last album, 1995’s One Hot Minute. The versatility on display is impressive. Produced by the great Rick Rubin, Californication is basically an album full of amped up rock and funk with some supremely catchy tunes played by Kiedes, Flea and their surrounding musicians.The album spawned 6 singles: the huge crossover smash “Scar Tissue,” “Around the World,” “Otherside,” “Californication,” “Parallel Universe” and “Road Trippin.’” Californication is the RHCP at their most confident and diverse while still being focused, concise and potent. Their next album By the Way was outstanding, but their 2006 two-CD opus Stadium Arcadium ended up being just too much information for fans to absorb.
23. INXS – Welcome to Wherever You Are (2002)
It was the blistering single “Heaven Sent” that introduced the album with a bang, although two of its ballads – “Not Enough Time” and “Beautiful Girl” – had better luck on the charts. Welcome to Wherever You Are has no shortage of great tunes, like “Strange Attraction,” “Taste It” and “Communication,” all of which deserved more attention. It was a strange time for INXS which went from being one of the biggest bands in the world and then once grunge hit and the market changed completely, they responded by releasing arguably the strongest album of their career. A shame more people didn’t buy it, but it still sounds great. Sometimes it takes an album 22 years to ripen until it’s just right.
22. Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell (1993)
In 1977, Jim Steinman found the perfect vehicle for his highly dramatic, theatrical rock compositions. Meat Loaf, a big-throated Texan who’d played Eddie in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, was perfect for the role. Meat Loaf provided the big voice and personality, Steinman provided the tunes that blurred the lines between rock, theater, and irredeemable melodrama, Todd Rundgren provided the suitably bombastic production work. Bat out of Hel, hit stores in 1977, and thanks thanks to rock radio staples like “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” and “Bat Out of Hell,” the album became a monster success. Thus when over fifteen years had passed and the news hit that Meat Loaf and Steinman had agreed on a Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, fans were split between trepidation and excitement. They needn’t have worried – the duo pulled it off beautifully. Like the original, Back Into Hell is a masterpiece of overwrought symphonic rock, and Meat Loaf has the ginormous presence to stand in the middle of all the drama, the big guitars, the massive walls of vocals, and make it convincing. Lead single “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” became a huge smash, owing largely to an absolutely sincere vocal performance by Meat Loaf (and a superb job by Lorraine Crosby, his female counterpart). The high point may be the epic “Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are.” Yeah, it’s laden with melodrama but check out that vocal performance by Meat Loaf, especially during the climactic moments of each of the long verses. Steinman and Meat Loaf made an album at least as good as their 1977 bombshell, and that’s something most observers didn’t think could happen. Yeah, it requires suspension of disbelief and a willingness to embrace material that is unabashedly theatrical… but sometimes ya just gotta go there and let Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through.
21. Living Colour – Time’s Up (1990)
The follow-up to Vivid may not have had an oversized single to coalesce the project like “Cult of Personality,” but Time’s Up shows an artistic progression for the band that cannot be overstated. Time’s Up is diverse, bold, and hard rockin’ when it needs to be (like on the blazingly epic lead single “Type.”) Living Colour isn’t afraid to explore musically, and they end up with a terrific mix of rock, funk and even some R&B on the taut rock/reggae ballad “Love Rears Its Ugly Head.” “Solace of You” is another lovely ballad that shows the band has the ability to use a soft touch as needed. Time’s Up is a challenging record from a band at the peak of their artistic power, and it captures the aura of the turn of the decades perfectly. You want an audiograph of what it was like in the U.S. circa 1990, go back and pick up Time’s Up.
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