Rage Against the Machine’s debut album was a slow-burn success. Their debut single ‘Killing in the Name’ was initially released in 1992, and became the Christmas #1 single in the UK in 2009. Parent album Rage Against the Machine didn’t…
Rich Mullins is known for the gimmicky CCM hit ‘Awesome God’. But that’s an unfair reputation – dig deeper, and he’s one of the best songwriters to emerge in the 1980s. Mullins was born in Richmond, Indiana. He was a…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 7 I Shot the Sheriff by Warren G Topped the NZ chart for 2 weeks from 13 April 1997 Warren G I’ll let Yacht Rock explain Warren G’s rise to fame. It may not be…
Ben Folds had been trying to break into the music industry for years when he formed Ben Folds Five with Robert Sledge and Darren Jessee in 1993. The trio played piano-centred music in the grunge era, but fitted in with…
Rivers Cuomo moved to Los Angeles from Connecticut with his heavy metal band in 1989. When they split, he formed a power-pop band with bassist Matt Sharp and drummer Patrick Wilson. They appeared with Keanu Reeves’ Dogstar on their first…
Prefab Sprout‘s terrific 1990 album, Jordan: The Comeback, features a song named ‘Wild Horses’. It’s about an older gentleman’s unsavoury attempt to woo a young lady. Paddy McAloon is a brilliant lyricist, and he’s in full flight here, throwing in…
Ben Folds was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, also the birthplace of The dB’s and Let’s Active. He started playing piano when he was nine after his father received a piano as payment for some construction work. Folds dropped out…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 8 I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) by Meat Loaf Topped the NZ chart for 5 weeks from 26 September 1993 Looking back, it’s interesting how conservative 1993’s single charts were…
Natalie Merchant recently released her sixth solo album, Keep Your Courage. It’s a good opportunity to revisit her catalogue. On this countdown, I rank her albums as a solo artist and as the lead singer of 10,000 Maniacs. I only…
Of the indie guitar bands proffered by Dunedin’s Flying Nun label in the 1980s, Straitjacket Fits were the most likely to break through to a mass audience. The Fits were based around two vocalists and songwriters who were an unlikely…
Joni Mitchell peaked in the 1970s with a terrific sequence of albums, particularly from 1971’s Blue to 1976’s Hejira. But she also released six studio albums in the 1980s and 1990s. None of these compositions would force their way into…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 10 Would I Lie To You? by Charles and Eddie Topped the NZ chart for 2 weeks from 6 December 1992 Four acts monopolised the NZ #1 number-one spot between 6 September 1992 and 4…
There are two prominent Sam Phillipses in popular music. This list isn’t about the Sun Records producer who worked with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Rather it’s about the idiosyncratic female singer-songwriter who launched her career in…
When Martin Phillipps passed away in 2024, the world lost a terrific, yet overlooked, songwriter. Phillipps, the son of a Methodist minister, formed The Chills in 1980. They signed to the Flying Nun label but were more sophisticated than most…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 4 I’ll Make Love To You by Boyz II Men Topped the NZ chart: from 11 September 1994 for 4 weeks. Philadelphia vocal harmony quartet Boyz II Men were successful on the New Zealand single…
Counting Crows bridged the gap between alternative and classic rock when they appeared in 1993. The band were clearly indebted to stalwarts like The Band and Van Morrison. But lead singer Adam Duritz channelled angst like his alternative contemporaries. The…
For someone born in New York City, Gillian Welch has the uncanny ability to evoke the pastoral music of a bygone America. Part bluegrass and part Appalachian folk, she’s able to sound authentic. She’s accompanied by guitarist Dave Rawlings, who…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 7 Black or White by Michael Jackson Topped the NZ chart: for 8 weeks from 24 November 1991. Michael Jackson Michael Jackson was the eighth of ten children, growing up on Jackson Street in Gary,…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 1 I Swear by All-4-One Topped the NZ chart: from 10 July 1994 for five weeks The third quarter of 1994 may be the most toothless in the history of the New Zealand singles chart.…
Singing drummer Andy Sturmer and keyboardist Roger Manning started playing together at high school in Pleasanton, California. They formed their own power-pop band in 1989. Jellyfish were never commercially successful and only lasted half a decade. But they’re the most…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 10 Killing Me Softly by Fugees Topped the NZ chart: from 2 June 1996 for three weeks The Fugees topped the New Zealand singles charts with their cover of ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’.…
As I wrote in Part 1 of this Paul Kelly series, he’s barely known outside of his native Australia. But he’s one of his country’s most beloved musicians. His literate songs are plain and unadorned, often with a rock band…
Counting Crows formed in the Bay Area. Vocalist Adam Duritz was formerly in The Himalayans, who recorded an album with producer David Bryson in 1990. The album was unreleased until 2002, but Bryson and Duritz started playing together at open…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 9 Chains Topped the NZ chart: from 4 August 1996 for 5 weeks ‘Chains’ is like New Zealand hip-hop and soul’s equivalent to Queen and Bowie’s ‘Under Pressure’. Two musicians from different bands quickly improvised…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 1 Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!! Topped the NZ chart: from 8 August 1999 for 1 week Danski and Delmundo were Danish DJs in the early 1990s, and named their project The Vengaboys. In 1997 they used…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 8 End of the Road by BOYZ II MEN Topped the NZ chart: from 18 October 1992 for 7 weeks. Philadelphia vocal harmony quartet Boyz II Men were successful on the New Zealand single charts…
Crowded House’s Woodface was released in 1991. It marked a turning point in their commercial fortunes in pop music’s major English-speaking territories. The lead single ‘Chocolate Cake’, particularly the line “excess of fat on your American bones”, effectively killed their…
Introduction Rage Against the Machine were surprisingly successful in the 1990. They twice topped the Billboard 200 twice with albums espousing revolutionary left-wing politics. Guitarist Tom Morello and vocalist Zach de la Rocha were both children of immigrants to the…
California’s Tom Waits is effectively the patron saint of this website. My Waits album ranking was the first post from this site to become popular, and it’s still one of its most-visited posts. With recently accounted reissues of Waits’ peak…
Jeff Buckley is best known for his sensitive reading of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’. It’s well done, but taken alone it undersells Buckley’s immense talents. Far more than a crooner, he was also a talented guitarist and a sophisticated songwriter –…
In tandem with Robert Forster, Grant McLennan was a vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for literate Australian jangle-pop band The Go-Betweens. While The Go-Betweens were on hiatus during the 1990s, Grant McLennan embarked on a solo career, releasing four solo albums,…
Grant McLennan was taught to play and drafted into The Go-Betweens by Robert Forster. Because of this, he’d never played with another band when they split in 1990. After releasing an album with The Church’s Steve Kilbey as Jack Frost,…
The Boo Radleys emerged in the shoegaze scene of the late 1980s. They came from Wallasey, a town just across the Mersey from Liverpool. They shifted closer to pop/rock in the 1990s, and achieved critical acclaim, particularly for their 1993…
The Fyfes have always been strong spellers, but not as strong as the Robichauds, one of whom dominated last week’s quiz. This week your challenge is to fill in the blanks in 1990s song titles. I knew enough of…
The classic lineup of Nirvana – Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl – first recorded together on the first day of 1991. They ran through seven tracks, all captured in just one take. Cobain later added vocals to two…
Tori Amos was the youngest ever person admitted to the prestigious Peabody Institute before she was asked to leave for musical insubordination at the age of 11. After a false start with her synth-pop band on 1988’s Y Kant Tori…
The late Tom Petty was a great singles artist – tracks like ‘The Waiting’, ‘Refugee’, and ‘Free Fallin” sound terrific blasting from cars and on classic rock radio. Petty had so many enjoyable hits through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s…
Born Myra Ellen Amos, in North Carolina, Tori Amos took her stage name when a friend’s boyfriend told her that she resembled a Torrey pine. Her family moved to Maryland when she was two, where her father was a Methodist…
Last week’s Band by Long Song Title quiz favoured younger contestants – King Clover narrowly beat Jprobichaud for bragging rights. This week’s quiz possibly has a similar demographic skew. You need to link lyrics to a song by a 1990s…
After Hüsker Dü broke up, singer-guitarist Bob Mould dabbled with a solo career. In the wake of Nirvana’s success, he formed a new power trio with bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcolm Travis. Needing to come up with a band…
Frederic Fatzer grew up in the small town of Kinsley, Kansas, notable for its equidistance between New York City and San Francisco. He sensibly adopted the stage name Freedy Johnston. His small town background initially constrained his music career –…
The past week marked the 30th anniversary of The Beach Boys’ Summer in Paradise. I’ve been filling in the gaps in my Beach Boys album review page, so it seemed a good time to revisit the most maligned album from…
Making mellow music with his wife paid off for Rich Kamerman last week – he scored perfect marks in the ‘Margaritaville’ quiz. This week you need to identify the Unplugged album by three songs. I scored 23/24 – I’m…
After leaving Hüsker Dü, Bob Mould released a pair of solo albums, before forming another power trio. Unlike Hüsker Dü, where Grant Hart was an important songwriter and Greg Norton was central to the band’s sound, Sugar is Mould’s show.…
Don McGlashan had already made an impact on the New Zealand music scene before he formed The Mutton Birds. He was the drummer for the punk-influenced band Blam Blam Blam, remembered for fabulously titled songs ‘There Is No Depression in…
When New York power-pop band Fountains of Wayne were nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist in 2004, they’d already recorded three albums. The nomination was on the back of the hit ‘Stacy’s Mom’ – the gimmicky, new-wave flavoured…
Pearl Jam grew from the remnants of Mother Love Bone, whose singer Andrew Wood overdosed. Rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament started a new band with Mike McCready on lead guitar and recruited surfer Eddie Vedder as their vocalist.…
It’s not an overstatement that Jeff Buckley was one of the most singularly talented musicians of his generation; blessed with a beautiful and athletic voice, a more than adequate guitar technique and an ability to write songs that escaped from predictable…
Pavement’s debut album Slanted and Enchanted was recorded in 1991 and swansong Terror Twilight was released in 1999. Because their recording career so neatly covers the 1990s, Pavement are a very respectable choice for the best band of their decade. Their…
San Francisco’s Jellyfish were underappreciated during their existence in the early 1990s, but have since gained a devoted following. Their power-pop is fun and sometimes bombastic but is often sincere. They’re notable for their ornate arrangements, especially on 1993’s Spilt…
Congratulations to EclecticMusicLover, who scored the fastest perfect score in last week’s Signs quiz. There’s just a brief quiz this week, with ten questions: I only answered 8 of those 10 questions correctly – I didn’t recognise a couple…
Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood met at Williams College in Massachusetts. They formed Fountains of Wayne, christening themselves after a garden furniture and statuary store in Wayne, New Jersey. Although the pair recorded their debut largely independently, they were joined…
Jeff Tweedy was always the junior partner in the pioneering alt-country band Uncle Tupelo. When the group split into two factions, all indications were that Jay Farrar’s Son Volt would be the more consequential band. But after 1995’s A.M., multi-instrumentalist…
The streaming era has scattered previously held views on the hierarchy of popular music. Despite a critical pasting, Queen have emerged as the dominant classic rock band. The number one spot on the Billboard 100 in early 2022 has largely…
Lauryn Hill was born and raised in New Jersey. She hit the big time, as a member of The Fugees and as a star of Sister Act 2, while still a teenager. Romantic tensions with Wyclef Jean caused the end…
Dunedin has a small population and is located in the deep south of New Zealand. But Dunedin’s Flying Nun record label produced a string of critically acclaimed and influential guitar bands throughout the 1980s, including The Chills, The Clean, The…
1990s power-pop star Matthew Sweet was born in Nebraska – also the home of Josh Rouse, Conor Oberst, Randy Meisner, and JoJo Siwa. After finishing school he moved south to Athens, Georgia, to attend college and join the alt-rock scene.…
Not to be confused with the Sun Records boss of the same name, Sam Phillips started her career in 1980s Christian pop. She used her birth name, Leslie Phillips, in the 1980s and was marketed as the Christian Cyndi Lauper.…
Named after a Talking Heads song, Radiohead are the most critically acclaimed band to emerge in the 1990s. They convened informally in 1986 as teenagers while attending Abingdon School in Oxford, and were originally known as On A Friday. Front-man Thom…
Despite a dozen years with the 10,000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant was still in her twenties when she departed for a solo career. She told Entertainment Weekly that she “didn’t want art by committee anymore,” and opted for a simpler sound…
Last week’s US Presidents quiz featured the cover image of Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album Sour. The second single from that album was ‘Deja Vu’, and it’s Deja Vu on the scoreboard this week, with Rich Kamerman and EclecticMusicLover again tying…
Aaron Freeman (Gene Ween) met Mickey Melchiondo (Dean Ween) in their eighth-grade typing class in 1984. They made several homemade albums before their first official release, GodWeenSatan: The Oneness, in 1990. Their fourth album, 1994’s Chocolate and Cheese, marked a change…
It’s tempting to write Ween off as a novelty band – their biggest hit single, ‘Push th’ Little Daisies’, is gimmicky and stoned. But lurking beneath all the silliness is an ace duo who are students of popular music, with the…
The 10,000 Maniacs formed in upstate New York in 1981. They were initially an eclectic new wave outfit, with interesting elements like dub and folk within their sound. By 1987’s breakthrough In My Tribe, it was clear that vocalist Natalie Merchant…
Tired of making art by committee, Natalie Merchant left the 10,000 Maniacs in 1993. She wasn’t yet 30, but had served as lead singer for the alternative band for more than a decade. She immediately eclipsed her former band with…
Portishead formed in the city of Bristol, where a vibrant, multi-cultural music scene spawned trip-hop in the early 1990s. Trip-hop took the beats from hip-hop and slowed them down, adding textures and songs. Alongside Portishead, Massive Attack and Tricky also…
Breaking up Split Enz, Neil Finn retained drummer Paul Hester from the final Enz lineup and created a more streamlined band. They recruited Australian bass player Nick Seymour (brother of Hunters and Collector’s lead singer Mark) and secured an American…
Congratulations to Tony, who top-scored with 15/16 in last week’s badly drawn sexy album covers quiz. This week we’re up to the 1990s – can you match the title to the badly drawn image? I scored 19/20 – I…
The 1990s are fondly remembered in hindsight, the decade of grunge, gangsta-rap, trip-hop, and Brit-pop. This list of the 10 best songs of the 1990s is more rock-oriented than I expected, given the diverse nature of the decade. Apart from…
R.E.M. emerged from Athens, Georgia, part of a fertile scene that also produced The B-52s, Pylon, and Matthew Sweet. They played their first gig in 1980 when the four members were attending the University of Georgia. Drummer Bill Berry and…
It’s easy to look back at the 1990s with rose-coloured spectacles. You may assume that the charts were dominated by respected and cutting-edge acts like Nirvana and Nas. But like every decade, plenty of less illustrious artists sold truckloads of…
Queen formed in 1970 in London, originally a hard rock band with shades of progressive rock and metal. They adapted as musical fashions changed; they flirted with disco on 1982’s Hot Space and produced stripped-down, synthesizer-fuelled pop hits on 1984’s…
Congratulations to Max from , who scored a perfect 30/30 in last week’s 1970s lyrics quiz, with commiserations to Felix who knew them all but had technical difficulties. This week, same format but in the 1990s: This one’s a…
My first encounter with the music of Paul Westerberg was my sister’s copy of the Friends soundtrack. I wasn’t impressed – his rough-hewn vocals were out of place among slick alt-rock tracks from Hootie and the Blowfish, The Rembrandts, and…
I’m just the right age to have accumulated a collection of friends who were obsessed by The Smashing Pumpkins. One friend went for at least two years where he listened to at least one Pumpkins song every single day. Another…
Congratulations to Tony from Mumbling About… who scored full marks with the quickest time last week while eliminating his options. This week’s challenge is double-pronged – you need to unscramble the anagram of a 1990s vocalist, then match it to…
Los Angeles power-pop band Weezer have pumped out records since 1994, but they’re largely beloved for their first pair of albums; 1994’s Weezer and 1996’s Pinkerton. Both records featured bass player Matt Sharp and were the only records Weezer made…
If you’re not from Australasia, chances are that you’re not familiar with Dave Dobbyn – he’s ubiquitous in New Zealand, but obscure everywhere else. When a panel selected the New Zealand’s best ever popular songs in 2001, five Dave Dobbyn…
Sting’s reputation is a little shaky as a solo artist. After leading The Police to the status of the biggest band in the world in 1983, he pursued a high-brow, jazzy direction in his solo career. When I first became…
Jeff Tweedy was the junior partner in alt-country outfit Uncle Tupelo, playing bass and fronting the occasional song. When the group split, Tweedy formed Wilco with other Uncle Tupelo musicians – notably bassist John Stirratt, Wilco’s only other constant member.…
Writing about Dire Straits’ discography this week, I learned that 1985’s Brothers in Arms was one of ten albums nominated in 2010 for the title of best British album of the previous 30 years. I was especially intrigued by a…
Singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega emerged in the mid-1980s after serving an apprenticeship in folk music in New York’s Greenwich Village. Her introspective and gentle songs were immediately successful at a time when singer-songwriters weren’t popular. Her first two albums spawned hits…
Faith No More have covered a lot of ground over their career – in particular, 1995’s King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime utilises a different genre for every track. Mike Patton is one of the most talented vocalists…
Power pop band Fountains of Wayne was formed by Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood – they took their name from a now-defunct lawn ornament store in New Jersey. Apart from one fluke hit (2003’s ‘Stacy’s Mom’) they were never huge…
Emma Paki was born in Whakatane, the New Zealand town closest to where White Island erupted in December 2019. She was born to a Maori heritage; and received her first guitar at the age of 8. Paki’s debut single was…
The Red House Painters took their name from a Tennessee painting crew named The International League Of Revolutionary House Painters. Leader Mark Kozelek came from Ohio, but formed the band in San Francisco. Kozelek was joined by drummer Anthony Koutsos,…
Americana artist Gillian Welch was born in New York and adopted by a pair of comedy music entertainers. Welch later learned that her mother may have grown up in the mountains of North Carolina, possibly an explanation for how her…
Power-pop legend Matthew Sweet was born in Nebraska, but moved to Athens, Georgia, to join the local alt-rock scene. He recorded two unsuccessful records in the 1980s, before his 1991 breakthrough Girlfriend. The record showcased the brilliant lead guitar of…
No-one scored full marks last week, but we had three contenders who fell agonisingly close at 17 Congratulations to Rich Kamerman, Tony, and Paul! This week you need to identify the artist behind some 1990s one-hit wonders. I scored…
Sheryl Crow was already on the wrong side of 30 when she released her debut album. After attending the University of Missouri with Brad Pitt, Crow spent her twenties working as a music teacher, writing advertising jingles, and performing as…
In The Beatles, George Harrison often suffered the indignity of being limited to two songs per LP. It worked fine at the start of the group, when he was the junior partner in the band. By the end of The…
Jars of Clay were formed when keyboardist Charlie Lowell met vocalist Dan Haseltine at Greenville College, Illinois; Lowell initially noticed Haseltine’s Toad The Wet Sprocket t-shirt. The four-piece band was completed with guitarists Stephen Mason and Matt Odmark – unusually,…
Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is one of the great cult records. Issued in 1998, it’s full of enigmatic lines, like “Now she’s a little boy in Spain/Playing pianos filled with flames”, and Jeff Mangum’s raw…
Last week’s quiz generated a bunch of scores in a narrow range – congratulations to Rich, Max, and Bruce all made it to 20 This week’s quiz requires you to click the 1990 album covers – it’s the era of…
The Seattle rock band Pearl Jam were formed from the remnants of Mother Love Bone. Bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard recruited lead guitarist Mike McCready and vocalist Eddie Vedder, and Pearl Jam played their first show in October…
The two main creative forces in Slint, vocalist/guitarist Brian McMahan and drummer/guitarist/vocalist Britt Walford, both played in the Louisville punk band Squirrel Bait in the mid-1980s. Along with guitarist David Pajo and bassist Ethan Buckler, they formed Slint in 1986.…
