1997

Wow, this year was pretty huge. This is generally the music I listened to through junior and senior year of high school, and represent the beginnings of a lot of different paths for me musically. A lot of these mean a ton to me for reminiscence sake too- playing these in the car on the way home from school with all of the thoughts of someone getting towards the end of a huge part of my life make a lot of these mean a lot. As always, I'm sure that helped, but even without that, this was a fantastic year for music in my life, and this list was very hard to put in order and decide who got the lower half of the top 10 and who was a runner up.

Prodigy- The Fat Of The Land: This is pretty much the album that introduced me (and most of the world) to the joys of electronic music, mostly because it was pretty much just rock music played through synthesizers and drum machines. "Firestarter" hasn't aged well, but the rest sounds just as good today as it did then, and the true gems on this are the longer instrumental songs.

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones- Let's Face It: This is pretty much the album that introduced me (and most of the world) to the joys of ska, mostly because it was pretty much just rock music played with horns and scattered pieces of ska. "The Impression That I get" is one of the best alternative rock hits of the 90s, but this album is full of great, incredibly catchy songs.

Everclear- So Much For The Afterglow: Although it sags a bit at the end, this is Everclear's best album. From the Beach Boys-esque opener, the first 7 songs are pretty much flawless alternative rock, and "Father Of Mine" is one of the best hits of the 90s- melodic and meaningful, and very loud. They improved tremendously from Sparkle And Fade.

Elliott Smith- Either/Or: For personal reasons, I wanted to put this higher on the list, but the fact is, I only really LOVE 5 songs on this and the rest are good, but not as memorable. Those 5 songs though- those pretty much introduced me to the world of folk emo and the art of crafting a beautiful and sad song with just layered quiet vocals and acoustic guitars. The ride home may never have happened if not for this album, and I will forever cherish the moment when I gave my CD to a girl I liked at work and she told me I sounded like him.

Green Day- Nimrod: A lot of people freaked out when American Idiot came out, saying how surprised they were at how well Green Day had grown up- how well they wrote anthemic rock songs that were meaningful and powerful and not just snotty and fun like their early stuff. Apparently those people never heard this album, because this is where it all started. And "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)"? Come on. 

10. Ween- The Mollusk

My second favorite Ween album (after Chocolate And Cheese), The Mollusk is a pretty much perfect representation of Ween, oddly working perfectly in all its variety to conjure up images of the sea and pirates. Songs about mollusks, eels, and worm-like tips of tentacles expanding in my mind somehow are perfect next to "Waving My Dick In The Wind," the drunken sailor theme "The Blarney Stone," and still somehow work next to the beautiful and sad "It's Gonna Be (Alright)," and my original love of this album, their take on an English traditional "Cold Blows The Wind." This is Ween at their best, working comedy, melody and outright weirdness all together in an ocean-themed mess... kind of like the cover. I always think of walking up and down my driveway in winter, listening to this over and over again. Sadly, Ween called it a day last year. Hopefully they find each other again someday and record another album as awesome as this. 

Best songs: "The Mollusk," "Mutilated Lips," "It's Gonna Be (Alright)," "The Golden Eel," "Cold Blows The Wind," "Buckingham Green," "Ocean Man"

9. Modest Mouse- The Lonesome Crowded West

My friend Matt got me into Modest Mouse in high school, and as soon as they started bending harmonics like sirens over the end rock of "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine," I knew I was a fan of Modest Mouse. This album is long, full of long songs, and full of variety the way only Modest Mouse can do it.  While some of the songs venture into stuff I'm not too keen of, this is generally the most melodic of Modest Mouse albums, and that makes it my favorite. "Cowboy Dan" somehow turns from a minor note builder to a melancholy song in the middle, and "Trailer Trash" and "Bankrupt On Selling" are beautiful all the way through, but that was as close to emo as they got, even though they were often labelled that way. Although not perfect, this is a fantastic album to listen to from front to back, and the way-too-awesome beat that finally kicks in at the end of "Styrofoam Boots/It's All Nice On Ice, Alright" is the perfect end to a weird album full of indie rock, country, occasional screaming, folk, etc. They still pretty much only sound like themselves, and this is pretty much where they perfected that sound. 

Best songs: "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine," "Lounge (Closing Time)," "Cowboy Dan," "Trailer Trash," "Shit Luck," "Bankrupt On Selling," "Styrofoam Boots/It's All Nice On Ice, Alright" 

8. Incubus- S.C.I.E.N.C.E.

I still like Incubus, but they've definitely declined over the years, becoming a very radio-friendly band of aging hippies playing alternative rock with stoner tendencies. Sadly, a lot of their stupid fans don't know where they came from, and this album showcases that. Sure, they had stuff before this, but it was overly funky, and it just didn't work as well. This one had everything- the Incubus hooks, Brandon Boyd's perfect voice, the DJ doing more than playing "soundscapes," nu metal-esque rock, funk, hip hop beats, etc. It had everything. This is the sound of an incredibly creative band showing up in the world of nu metal and showing up a lot of their friends in both musicianship, creativity, and especially songwriting. Most of this is alternative rock/nu metal ragers, but funky DJ tracks like "Magic Medicine" work fantastically with the flow of the album, just as well as the ballad/sounds-like-it-belongs-in-a-porn-movie song "Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)." (Fun Fact- I used this song in a short film made for English class, where a girl unzips her jacket and climbs on top of me as I sat at a teacher's desk, creating essentially an extremely softcore porn scene. It worked very well, and I'm still proud of having that scene in a school project.) Whatever the hell was going on in their minds with the hidden track I named "Hidden Mess" in my itunes- they should find that again. This is easily my favorite Incubus album. If you haven't heard it and think you know Incubus, it's time to listen to this. 

Best songs: "Redefine," "Vitamin," "New Skin," "A Certain Shade Of Green," "Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)," "Nebula"

7. Limp Bizkit- Three Dollar Bill, Y'all

I was already into Korn and Rage Against The Machine and without really looking, hoping more bands would come out that sounded like them. I can still remember the day when Murphy and Meintel (future members of our awful nu metal/rapcore band Chewtoy) told me I needed to listen to something, bringing me into the art room (the only room in high school where we knew there was a tape player). They put this in, and my jaw pretty much dropped to the floor. Horrible sounding guitars produced by the king of horrible sounding guitars Ross Robinson, disgusting screams, huge nu metal riffs, a great drummer and bassist, and just fury and digusting metal all mixed with rap coming from a crazed lunatic. It was like Rage, but messier, angrier- like Rage meeting Korn. And I was in love. Sure, Limp Bizkit quickly went downhill (although their most recent album Gold Cobra was surprisingly decent), Fred Durst became the most mocked laughing stock of music (and it was mostly deserved), and people generally decided that Limp Bizkit was the worst thing to ever happen to music (I love telling people who think I have good taste in music and music discovery that this is one of my favorite albums), but this album stands the test of time and still rocks just as hard as it did back then. Over the years, my favorite song has changed a hundred times, finally landing on the absolutely disgusting and sloppy "Clunk," solely for the Funkdoobiest-esque rap buildup and end incredibly heavy, odd timed breakdown. It's soooo awesome. Fun Fact- in high school, we had a week of small events culminating in a class vs. class series of competitions, both mental and physical. One of these was a lip-synch performance. After my class completely gave up on a horribly lame cover of Beastie Boys' "Girls," I went up with 1 classmate and 2 underclassmen, performing "Faith" with barely any warning. I stage dived onto a table and underclassmen, people played brooms, etc. It was absolutely horrible and insanely awesome. We, of course, won. It remains one of the better moments of my life.

Best songs: Pollution," "Counterfeit," "Stuck," "Nobody Loves Me," "Sour," "Stalemate," "Clunk," "Faith," "Indigo Flow"

6. Deftones- Around The Fur

I had heard their name before, but I didn't really check them out until after Limp Bizkit, when I caught the video for "My Own Summer (Shove It)" on MTV's 120 Minutes. I was instantly very impressed and bought this before a long roadtrip with my parents. What an awesome sound Deftones have: super metal guitar, perfectly produced drums, and minor note, creepy melodies turned into throat shredding screams, all while maintaining a strong sense of melody, and at times, absolute beauty. These guys perfected the whole "sad beautiful song sent through metal filters" sound long before the hundreds of bands that would follow. I tend to like Adrenaline more, but I usually change my mind whenever I put this or White Pony on- they're all so solid. This has three of my all time favorite Deftones songs too- the beautiful and powerful "Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)" and the driving turned absolutely brutal "Around The Fur" (also featuring one of my favorite drum beats ever AND the first one I learned to play), and the full on metal-fest of "Headup," featuring Max Cavalera. I understand their need to constantly change, but this album was the sound of a band perfecting a sound they created and I wish they'd just have this sound again- this may have been the best frontman Chino Moreno ever sounded too.

Best songs: "My Own Summer (Shove It)," "Lhabia," "Mascara," "Around The Fur," "Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)," "Headup"

5. Built To Spill- Perfect From Now On

My favorite Built To Spill Album by far, this was originally higher on the list, but Foo Fighters just lasted more and became more legendary over time. This was the first I had heard Built To Spill, and I remember my friend Matt (yes, the same one) playing it for me in his car for a few minutes, then later hearing random songs on mixtapes friends would pass to each other (each adding a different song- I loved that). This is the best Built To Spill album for me for three main reasons- 1. The production and sound of Doug Martsch's voice have never sounded better, 2. The songwriting was the perfect mix of Built To Spill's incredible pop rock songwriting mixed with their need to solo and build layer upon layer of guitar live, and 3. this featured a cello-heavy string section over the whole album. Whether it was a beat-heavy catchy rock song ("I Would Hurt A Fly"), a beautiful building mood song ("Velvet Waltz"), a sunny, ever shifting head-bobber ("Kicked It In The Sun"), or a darker rocker about God ("Untrustable Part 2 (About Someone Else)"), the strings and musicianship were all perfect on this album. On a personal level, this album always makes me think of my friends Matt and Colin and high school in general, from singing along to the songs together or listening to this on mixtapes or on the way to school, to the biggest of them all- listening to "Velvet Waltz" on the drive to graduation. I always felt like it sounded like a marching song and the end of something, and it fit the mood perfectly when I timed it so I'd hear it as we drove up the hill to school. On a strictly musical level, every song is long and epic in the good way- the songs shift drastically while repeating little, and still maintain a perfect feel of completion. Every song is a journey, and the album as a whole is a masterpiece. More people should know the wonder of this album. 

Best songs: "I woudl Hurt A Fly," "Velvet Waltz," "Out Of Sight," "Kicked It In The Sun," "Untrustable Part 2 (About Someone Else)"

4. Foo Fighters- The Colour And The Shape

At first, I wasn't in love with this album. It had a feel, the songs were catchy and good, but it didn't rock like the self-titled before it. Over time, I grew to love the overall flow of it. I began to realize that yes, it wasn't a joke- "Monkey Wrench" is one of the most perfect rock songs ever written (I've said it a million times and won't stop). I began to see that "Everlong" truly was one of the best songs of the 90s, and yes, through all of the different moods and sounds, there truly wasn't a bad song on here. Probably the least memorable song "February Stars" still hits home. I have a very specific memory of this album being put on late at a party with all my closest friends. It was a moment when I was like "ok, I like this album, I'm fine with this" and then I slowly realized that although it had been years since I'd listened, I knew every song, all my friends knew every song, and we were all happy to sing along and play air guitar to it. It starts slow and pretty with the intro song "Doll," flows through rockers and ballads, and ends with a personal favorite of mine, "New Way Home," and it's great all the way through. This has not only become the best Foo Fighters album in my opinion, but one of the best albums of the 90s. And nearly all of it was written and half of it recorded by one person. God Bless you, Dave Grohl (even though you essentially kicked out the drummer when you re-recorded all his takes). 

Best songs: "Monkey Wrench," "Up In Arms," "My Hero," "Everlong," "New Way Home" 

3. Blink 182- Dude Ranch

I'm one of very few people I've known who was a Blink fan before this album. This was their introduction to most of the world, with the instantly memorable "Dammit (Growing Up)," and it was right away a better album than Cheshire Cat: better production by a mile, catchier hooks, better vocals, etc. The songs suffer a bit from they-all-sound-the-same-itis, drummer Scott Raynor's fast but limited drumming (this would be his last album before the light years better Travis Barker joined), and it's still full of immature stupidity like the way-too-long joke that ends the album of a dog drinking a toilet full of pee. But the album has a feel through the whole thing, and although some are much better than others, there isn't a bad song on it. This was a constant in the car, and I have a very specific memory of listening to it on the way back from a tennis match (I'm so punk rock), when it fully hit me how much I loved it. This was the album that showed Blink's beginnings in straying from run-of-the-mill pop punk, from the sad, slower paced "Dick Lips," the surprisingly complicated "Enthused," the very pretty "Emo"(fun fact: I didn't know what "emo" was before this, and pronounced it like ehm-o), the beautiful and driving ender "I'm Sorry," and easily the best song on the album and instant Blink classic, "Josie." They showed they were immature and punk, but they could write beautiful melodies. And when driving, rocking songs hid beautiful melodies and lyrics about growing up all over the album, I stood no chance- this would instantly become a classic in my book. Ahh... high school. 

Best songs: "Pathetic," "Dammit," "Dick Lips," "Enthused," "Untitled," "Emo," "Josie," "I'm Sorry"

2. Radiohead- OK Computer

I can remember the first time I heard this album- it was on the way home from my first real concert (Tha Alkaholiks, Blink-182 and Primus), in the car of my friend Kagan (he's Turkish). It was very late, we were driving a stretch of road I had never been on, and he decided to put this in. Neither of us were ready for what was about to play. Essentially, this is the beginnings of Radiohead being a weird band who could get away with anything (which has hurt their career in my opinion), but at the same time, it's just a collection of songs- many of them sad and beautiful. It only has a little bit of the spacey, weird computer stuff. The lyrics are all over the place, and there's a few songs that I didn't really care about then ("Airbag," "Electioneering"). But it has just enough of those factors added onto absolutely amazing songs that were at times oddly haunting (the middle of "Paranoid Android"), creepy and incredibly weird ("Fitter Happier" which I hated then and absolutely love now), and at times just flat out beautifully sad ("Let Down," "No Surprises"). It took us into a weird world and a weird feeling that I still get just looking at the album cover. Radiohead did a phenomenal job of branding themselves with this album- from the full-of-computer-gibberish layout to their website, which was incredibly easy to get lost in, and hours later, still not have a clue what you had just looked at. In college, I re-fell in love with this album, when my friend Dustin told me how much he was obsessed with it and we both spent way too much time on the website, writing to each other over AIM. I learned things that changed my feeling of some songs too- like the scream in the background of "Climbing Up The Walls," and the fact that that was recorded in a huge thunderstorm and Thom Yorke was apparently terrified during the recording (not gonna look up to see if that's actually true). This album has aged fantastically and still remains Radiohead's absolute greatest album (and their last as a rock band, which makes me sad). It's produced perfectly, has a perfect alienated, creepy, sad mood through the whole thing and contains pretty much every one of my favorite radiohead songs (except for the 3 gems on The Bends). A true classic on pretty much everyone's best-of lists for this year, or even the entire 90s. I miss you, Radiohead. Please come home.

Best songs: "Paranoid Android," "Exit Music (For A Film)," "Let Down," "Karma Police," "Climbing Up The Walls," "No Surprises,""Lucky,"

1. Third Eye Blind- Self Titled

It's hard to put anything above OK Computer, and I wrestled with this decision a lot more than someone should on a blog that 4 people will read, but in the end, I had to give the number 1 spot to Third Eye Blind's debut. This album has, without a doubt, meant more to me than anything else in 1997, and features what I am proud to say is my favorite song ever. More on that later. 

This album really was something special- it's a super pop rock album with insanely catchy songs, but all with a weird indie rock vibe to it. "Losing A Whole Year" is a very odd way to start an album. The format of "Narcolepsy" is not like anything that was on the radio then. The fact that it started with 2 fairly melodic and sad songs and ended with 3 incredibly sad songs was kind of weird too- and that's what I loved about it. Generally, the middle of this album is fairly forgettable ("Good For You" and "London" in particular- "London" is one of the stupidest songs ever in history"), but the first 7 songs on this flow so well and are absolutely perfect. It's like a greatest hits album. The legit hits were massive and deserved it, especially "Semi- Charmed Life," a song I have probably heard a billion times and I still don't skip when I listen to this album. I love it- it's a perfect pop song even though I still only know half the words. 

What really gets to me about this album though, is the last 3 songs. I love a good sad song or love ballad. They're my absolute favorite songs, and these 3 are fantastic. At one point, each one was my favorite song on the album. "The Background" is a perfect builder that explodes into distortion at the end and it always hit me on the many car rides into school when I listened to my super-emo-and-ahead-of-the-curve mixtapes "slow and pretty mixes, volumes 1-3." It always made me think of a girl I liked, who, sometimes, perfectly to the level of feeling like I was in a movie, was getting out of her car right when we got to school, with this song playing. 

"God Of Wine" was my favorite for awhile. It was (and still is) one of the best late night drive home songs, again, with my best friend driving, and a billion high school thoughts in my head, mostly about girls. I'm sure the fact that this came out at the end of 11th grade for me (and I listened all through senior year) helped a lot (in fact, the exact moment I realized how much I loved "Graduate" was when my high school blasted it right at the end of the day on my last day of high school). I'm sure the fact that the second biggest crush/infatuation with a girl I never got was going on at this time. I had a LOT to think about, and these 3 songs always got to me. And they still make me think of high school. This is also one of the best last songs on an album I know. 

But the true gem of this, which, if this album was nothing but duds other than it would still land it somewhere on this list, my favorite song of all time, is "Motorcycle Drive By." This is the most perfect sad song I know of. Starting with beautifully meandering finger picking, and slowing building to a huge ending, then getting as loud as possible and going back to the quiet part at the end... It's pretty much a format of all my favorite sad songs, and I've ripped the idea off several times myself. In fact, I accidentally ripped off the opening part of this in one of the first songs I ever wrote (but still haven't recorded). The lyrics of this are perfect too- just a girl lost and a guy remembering her leaving, with images of her, him paddling out to the coast and thinking about her, feeling alone etc. And it really doesn't even have a chorus- I mean, there's a repeating line, but it's nowhere near a conventional chorus. And it's one of my favorite lyrics ever, which of course I put on my yearbook page: "I've never been so alone, and I've never been so alive." It would literally take me several pages to explain how much that line has meant to me and my love and always evolving appreciation of sad music in my life, so I won't bother. Simply enough, this song always makes me think of my first ever love/crush/infatuation (which would also take several pages to explain the importance of), and of course I saw her for the first time in years one summer- the summer that I wrote that song that accidentally ripped this off. Since then, the song has meant more to me than any other song I can think of, and will always remain an absolute perfect song to me. 

So yea. An album flooded with hooks, great melodies, super catchy guitar lines, perfect production, an awesome singer (I've always loved his voice) that starts and ends with pretty songs and other than a few duds in the center, is fairly perfect all the way through, that not only contains one of the top 5 best singles of the 90s ("Semi-Charmed Life") but also my favorite song ever, that I listened to throughout my senior year of high school? Yea. That's the best album that came out that year, and is easily in my top 5 of all time. Which is pretty much why I just wrote 80 pages talking about it. 

Best songs: "Narcolepsy," "Semi-Charmed Life," "Jumper," "Graduate," "How's It Going To Be," "The Background," "Motorcycle Drive By," "God Of Wine"

1996

1996: Another solid year full of variety. Let's do this!

Modest Mouse- This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About: A great album, but the differentiation of songs hurts them more than helps them on this, as some of the songs are duds next to classics like "Dramamine"- one of the first songs I learned how to play on guitar. But it does help, as not-so-ironically, the variety on this makes this a great album for a long drive.

Dave Matthews Band- Crash: I truly hated a lot of their upbeat hits and their more recent "rock" songs, but this album is full of a lot of slower, more melodic and not lame songs. Lots have become staples in their live show, and it's easy to see why- the sound and feel of the last 60% of this album is fantastic and all the songs work incredibly well with each other.

Reel Big Fish- Turn The Radio Off: This album dominated my summer the year I found ska (along with the rest of the world). They may have felt like they were selling out and sounding like everyone else, but ska wasn't THAT big, and they did it better than pretty much everyone other than the Bosstones. This is full of hooks and memorable horns. AND, they made an appearance in the immortal classic Baseketball after this. 

Primus- Tales From The Punchbowl: Sandwiched between lackluster and bass-heavy-without-much-melody albums Pork Soda and Brown Album, Tales From The Punchbowl is one of the more melodic and varied Primus albums; in the vein of earlier stuff, but somehow weirder and with better production. Don't dismiss this as "the one with 'Wynonna's Big Brown Beaver'"- it deserves much more credit than that.

Fatboy Slim- Better Living Through Chemistry: The year I got into ska was pretty much the same year I got into electronica or whatever you want to call it. I found The Prodigy first in 97, but Fatboy Slim was probably the second best album of that time and genre. Some of this album is a bit blah, but the rest embodies everything that 90's electronica sound was.

10. Outkast- ATLiens

Most of the rap I listened to came from my brother being obsessed with it and playing it on the way to school every morning. We usually liked the meaner, gangsta rap type stuff, and he had started finding really obscure groups that went nowhere. Based on the decency of Outkast's first album Southernplayalisticcadillacmuzik, and the creepy hit "Elevators (Me & You), my brother got this. Boy we were in for a surprise. This is years before Andre 3000 got weird and "Hey Ya" dominated the world, years before Cee-Lo (who sings on this as part of Goodie Mob) was the host of a singing show, and years before Outkast got their reputation as a perfect combination of opposing personalities creating some of the weirdest, most groundbreaking hip hop out there. And it was better. Their later albums have classics on them, but also some huge misses. This album is perfect, from front to back- every song sounds alike in an incredibly consistent manner, and they did an amazing thing in creating a creepy, at times very melodic and spacey album with alien references all over it. It's maybe the most consistent rap album I've ever heard, and it remains at the top of my list of best rap albums for that very reason. It may be my favorite. Just listen to "13th Floor/Growing Old" if you have any doubt in Outkast- who samples quiet classical piano and adds nothing to it? It's literally just a beat over sad piano with weird bong/alien sounds in the background, and it's fantastic. 

Best songs: "Two Dope Boyz (In A Cadillac)," "ATLiens," "Wheelz Of Steel," "Elevators (Me & You),""Babylon," "13th Floor/Growing Old"

9. Tool- Aenima

Like most people into darker music in the 90's, I loved the videos for "Prison Sex" and "Sober" from their first album, Undertow. But I never got into that one too much. Based on the awesomeness of "Stinkfist" I decided to give Tool a better chance when some department store was going out of business and CDs were half off. I got this and Ween's The Mollusk on the same trip. Good trip. This album is incredible. It's super dark and mysterious like Tool strives for, yet the songs are instantly memorable while being heavy. Sure, the hits were good, but the real perfection of this album is in its flow and some of the non-hits- especially "Eulogy" with its super long build up and odd middle section and structure to the outright fury and heaviness of "Hooker With A Penis." The production is perfect, the guitars sound amazing, and Tool proved they were onto something else entirely from their original, now kind-of-boring material. This would be the blueprint to their next 2 albums, where they'd continue to grow, get more mysterious and weird, and become the legends they are. 

Best songs: "Stinkfist," "Eulogy," "Hooker With A Penis," "Jimmy," "Aenima"

8. Korn- Life Is Peachy

This is the first Korn album I heard, and I instantly found myself confused as to what I saw in the sloppy mess of disgusting chords, rap beats, detuned bass wet fart sounds, and vocals from someone who sounded like they had some serious problems. A few years later, Korn would dismiss this album and say that it was phoned-in and terrible. The fact that it has 2 covers, the first few songs aren't exactly their best efforts, there's an entire song based on saying as many bad words as possible, and one of the more memorable songs ("A.D.I.D.A.S") stood for "all day I dream about sex" made that claim seem pretty legit. Maybe this was recorded quickly without the best of intentions or the band was just having too much fun, but it all sounds great to me as a perfect representation of the messiness of Korn's early music. And they can hate this album all they want, but it has 3 of my all time favorite Korn songs ("Good God," "Ass Itch," and "Kill You")- songs that embody everything I love about Korn and are incredibly dark, heavy, and instantly memorable and catchy. And you know what Korn? Some of the "dumb" songs on this are fantastic and a lot better than whatever garbage you've been putting out since Issues. Maybe it's time to show it some respect.

Best Songs: "Twist," "Good God," "Mr. Rogers," "K@#0%!," "No Place To Hide," "A.D.I.D.A.S.," "Ass Itch," "Kill You"

7. Converge- Petitioning The Empty Sky

If I had heard this in 1995, this would probably be much higher, as it is legendary in the world of hardcore/metal/whatever converge is. But no, I didn't hear it until freshman year of college, when I discovered this kind of stuff. It blew my mind then, and still does regularly whenever I listen to it. Converge was at least 10 years ahead of their time with this, crafting a complete mess of every type of metal and hardcore mixed with screeched vocals that may or may not even be words. They did things that no other band was doing this well, and few have matched since. While this is a bit uneven and not their best work, ends with an awful live song where Jake Bannon breaks the mic in the middle of the song, and features easily his worst vocals (at least singing-wise), it also has 2 of my (and most fans') favorite Converge songs- "Forsaken," featuring one of my all time favorite breakdowns, and arguably Converge's greatest contribution to the world of hardcore/metal, the absolutely legendary 7 minute mess of "The Saddest Day." Listening to it now, it's easy to see why my jaw dropped the first time I heard it, forever having my musical tastes start to change with 1 song. 

Best songs: "The Saddest Day," "Forsaken," "Dead," "Farewell Note To This City," "Color Me Blood Red"

6. Rage Against The Machine- Evil Empire

I remember getting this for my birthday when it first came out, and at first, I was a bit let down. It didn't seem to have the thickness and anger of their first album- they were starting to experiment with less riffy songs and more weird sounds. Songs seemed simpler and less powerful. While I still feel that way a little, this is still basically a perfect Rage Against The Machine album (like all three were). From the funk of "People Of The Sun" to the instantly memorable hit "Bulls On Parade," to the creepy fury of "Revolver," this was a step forward for Rage, and it showed just what they were capable of. Tom Morello really stepped up on this one, really establishing himself as a "how'd he do that?" guitar god (how awful/awesome is the opening line to "Year Of Tha Boomerang"?). Although the songs don't flow as perfectly as on the self titled album, I think this is their most varied and interesting album, their most funky and hip hop-esque, and definitely a fantastic second album. Over time, my favorite song has become "Roll Right" with its perfect use of feedback and opposing guitar and bass lines. I wish this band still existed. Enough with Audioslave, The Nightwatchman and whatever the hell Zack de la Rocha is doing these days. Time to get to work.

Best songs: "Bulls On Parade," "Revolver," "Snake Charmer," "Down Rodeo," "Without A Face," "Roll Right" 

5. Local H- As Good As Dead

Like most people, I first heard Local H on the radio with their hit "Bound For The Floor," which still remains one of my all time WCYY alternative rock hits. I heard "High Fiving MF" and hoped that it wasn't the same band (it sounded very different and let's face it, the chorus is pretty dumb), but once I heard "Eddie Vedder," it was time to buy this from BMG Music Service. Putting the CD in my CD player was the beginning of something big. Somehow, because of the endless variation of songs that still managed to have enough similarity to work as an album, this would become my "clean my room" album for the next 10 years. It still remains one of my favorite albums to listen to all the way through because of variety, and because of how catchy nearly every song is in a different way. It works perfectly as an entire piece, especially with the last song being a fuller version of the intro (why don't more bands do stuff like this?) Sure, it sounds EXACTLY like Nirvana at times, but I'm ok with that. Local H may not have known exactly what they wanted to be, but they were a great alternative rock band, and that was good enough for me. If you never gave this album a chance, you may be very surprised at its quality. 

Best songs: "Bound For The Floor," "I Saw What You Did And I Know Who You Are," "No Problem," "Eddie Vedder," "Back In The Day," "Fritz's Corner," "Manifest Destiny, Pt. 2"

4. Cake- Fashion Nugget

The reason I loved this album is pretty much for the same reason I loved Local H. Cake didn't sound like anyone else (and still don't), and every song on this is completely different sounding and catchy and fantastic in its own way. Some of the songs towards the end weren't as good as the beginning, but their variety and willingness to do anything makes this another great album to put on from start to finish. Cake mixed funk, country, blues, old time rock and roll and somehow made it modern with occasional record scratching, incredibly catchy hooks and lots of weird "alright" and "oh yea"s from the singer, who, in keeping with the uniqueness of Cake, doesn't really sound like anyone else. This made Cake immediately stand out, and makes this album (and honestly, pretty much all of their stuff) somehow timeless. It sounds like it was either just released, or came out 20 or 30 years ago. This is still their best album, mostly because of the perfection of at least track 1 (my favorite Cake song, "Frank Sinatra") through their better-than-the-original cover of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." Oh, you sure will Cake, you sure will.

Best songs: "Frank Sinatra," "The Distance," "Friend Is A Four Letter Word," "Open Book," "Race Car Ya-Yas," "It's Coming Down," "Nugget," "Sad Songs And Waltzes"

3. Sublime- Self Titled

I later would work with some moron stoner who insisted on playing this every day at work. The sheer amount of douchebag college frat boys and moron stoners who worship this album makes it a little hard to remember just how much I love this album, and how immediately it struck a chord with me the first time I heard it. Much like Local H and Cake, the variety of this album is what made me love it so much. Ska, punk rock, alternative rock, reggae, rap, etc. It's all here, and it's all done fairly perfectly. I never liked "Under My Voodoo" or "Jailhouse," and was sick of "Wrong Way" before it was on the radio every 8 seconds, but other than that, there isn't a bad song on this, and most are some of the best alternative songs of the 90's, especially "Santeria" and "What I Got." The level of quality on this album is light years ahead of their previous album, 40 Oz.  To Freedom (which for some reason, most moron fans of Sublime like more), and these guys were primed to take over the world before main songwriter and singer Bradley Nowell died (apparently before this was released? I forgot that. Weird...) therefore ending Sublime and starting the never-ending release of demos, b-sides, remixes, etc. But reputation and over-saturation aside, this album is perfect and will forever be a late spring, early summer classic after I got it in high school and played it nearly every morning on the way to school. Lots of memories attached to this one...

Best songs: "Garden Grove," "What I Got," "Same In The End," "April 29, 1992 (Miami)," "Santeria," "Seed," "Burritos," "Caress Me Down," "Doin' Time"

2. Weezer- Pinkerton

Like a lot of people, I was fairly underwhelmed with Pinkerton the first time I heard it on the Christmas morning I unwrapped it. I loved "El Scorcho," but was surprised that its messiness, oddball style shifts and sometimes ugly production went across the rest of the album. I didn't feel like any song was any better than "pretty good" until I got to "The Good Life," which was an instant favorite (and easily as good as anything they've done). Clearly, Weezer was going for being a weird rock band rather than the perfect hook machine on The Blue Album. But over time, it grew on me, and I realized that, while the songs as a whole aren't anywhere near the perfection of The Blue Album, they were all fantastic in their own way, and they were interesting listens, with weird little flourishes and parts of songs that took me awhile to even really notice. I still don't quite get the "first emo album ever" legendary status that most magazines and a lot of fans give this album. To me, it's just a great album that has some sad and refreshingly honest lyrics, that was composed by a band and singer in a certain amount of turmoil, confusion, and/or conflict. That being said, I absolutely love "Across The Sea," and its incredibly sweet/sad lyrics, love the funny-but-not-so-funny-if-its-happened-to-you lyrics of "Pink Triangle" (it's happened to me twice), and the completely honest and heartbreaking "Butterfly." It's an odd album full of sad lyrics sang over all-over-the-place music, and it all works together perfectly in an "it's not perfect, therefore it's perfect" way. I've kind of hit music writer mental explosion right now, but you know what I mean. Nearly all of my friends love this album, and although we don't always agree on the order of the best Weezer albums, this one is always in the top 2 (usually second to The Blue Album). The classic that wasn't supposed to be a classic, that sent the band into a 5 year disappearing act. Maybe this came from hardship and created more, but I'm sorry Weezer, I sure wish you still wrote stuff like this. 

Best songs: "Why Bother," "Across The Sea," "The Good Life," "El Scorcho," "Pink Triangle," "Butterfly"

1. Marilyn Manson- Antichrist Superstar

Most of my friends will probably be horrified that I put Marilyn Manson ahead of Weezer, but to me, this is a far superior album, and I was fairly obsessed with it between 1996-1997. 

I got into Marilyn Manson only a few months before this came out, seeing "Sweet Dreams" on MTV and being absolutely blown away at just how disgusting, creepy, evil, etc it was. I wondered how in the hell something like that got on MTV, and freaked out and bought it as soon as I could. But that EP wasn't that good. When "The Beautiful People" hit the radio, I made sure to buy this album immediately, in hopes that it would be all I wanted Marilyn Manson to be- a perfect combination of really heavy metal and industrial music with creepy dudes dressing in weird clothes and being weird and creepy. I'd been very much into the darker side of music for a long time, and Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral brought me farther in. Seeing a guy as disgusting and horrifying as Marilyn Manson make music that was like Nine Inch Nails but heavier and catchier made me pretty psyched- I instantly liked and hated him. Based on seeing kids in the mall wearing his shirts, I didn't want to like his music, but I couldn't fight it- it was perfect to my ears. 

From the opening crowd noise and grunting to the violent explosion of fuzz riffs to the chorus of "FUCK IIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTT" of track 1, "Irresponsible Hate Anthem," I knew this album was going to be everything I wanted. I remember sitting in my room, playing it quietly on my boombox so my parents wouldn't hear what sick shit I was listening to, mind being blown more with every song. The production was phenomenal, Marilyn's vocals were perfect in every voice he chose to use, the album artwork was creepy and satanic-themed, the cover was horrifying, the booklet was the same, the back had a picture of him with tubes coming out of his crotch, going to gasmasks on band member's faces, etc. The font was even perfect. Song titles were words I didn't understand. There were references to biblical themes just as much as Satanic themes. I didn't understand a lot of the points, but it was all perfect, creepy lyrics bringing out imagery of everything I wasn't supposed to be thinking, hearing, or seeing. He ripped up the Bible at shows, he cut himself and fought people on stage. He was sick, perverted and as vocal as the best of rock stars. And it all worked towards the feel of this, their greatest work. This was an ALBUM, from the flow of track to track to the complete feel of everything surrounding the band and album itself. 

And the music is the only album I can think of that was the perfect mix of the heavier side of alternative rock mixed with the creepy nihilsm and destructive darkness of Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor's involvement in this certainly helped. As did drugs.

Lots of drugs. Sure, lots of this was just sex, drugs and rock and roll. Sure, a lot of it turned out to be shock rock image or Marilyn trying to make points that a lot of people didn't care about. Sure, the band (or Marilyn and whoever he hired) would really only put out one decent album (Mechanical Animals) after this followed by a ton of garbage. But this album stands as perfect in my eyes. A classic collection of angry, destructive evil that blew a suburban white kid living in the woods of Maine's mind. This slowly became a standard album to listen to on long drives in the dark in the backseat of my parent's car, but they never really knew what I was listening to. I hid this from my parents just as I hid his book (which was also great), and kind of broke it easily to my friends how much I loved this at the time, but now I'll shout it from the rooftops. And it still sounds fantastic and works just as effectively. "The Reflecting God" (my favorite) in particular is still massive and terrifying. A lot of friends may disagree, but I love everything about this album and wish so so so much that I had gotten to see them live in this era. That, and that they still made music like this. 

Best songs: "Irresponsible Hate Anthem," "The Beautiful People," "Little Horn," "Cryptorchid," "Mister Superstar," "Kinderfeld," "1996," "The Reflecting God," "Man That You Fear"

1995

1995 was a bit more balanced, with not as many legendary albums. This was a tough year, because a lot of bands got popular out of nowhere and put out albums with 5 or 6 good songs (Alanis Morisette owned 1995), but, at least to me, the rest of their albums weren't worth listening to. Most of my runners-up and the albums that fought with them for a spot (like No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom) were basically what those 5 songs meant to me and how much I liked them, while ignoring the others. It's weird to do that, but as you'll see by my 3rd spot, some albums can have an entire half of them be "just whatever" while still being legendary in my book. 

Oasis- What's The Story Morning Glory?: I'm guessing most of my readers would put this WAAAY higher, but frankly, I never really got that into it. The hits are all classic, and I originally put this much higher, but I had to be honest- other than the hits and "Hello," I never really cared about the rest of this album. The hits though... Damn.

Jars Of Clay- Self Titled: Yup! Jars of Clay. Deal with it. This is completely over the top religious music, but once you get past that (if you can- I could), there are some great songs on here with fantastic vocals that I reaaally liked singing along with (and singing acapella with a friend in high school). The end of "Worlds Apart" can be rough to someone who cringes from religion, but it's a beautiful song.

Goo Goo Dolls- A Boy Named Goo: Half of this is flat out terrible, based on their bassist's need to sing (they've finally pretty much stopped letting him sing songs), but the half with Johnny Rzeznik show the early signs of what would soon be a hit machine. "Name" still gets to me- it's one of my favorite songs ever.

311- Self Titled: A lot of this is hard to listen to nowadays, but enough still works or works through reminiscing that this still gets a runner-up spot. I think they got WAY better when they started incorporating more melody and reggae sounds rather than the white-boy rap on this, but some of the songs on her are classics- from the obvious "Down" to the (I'm assuming) fan-favorite, "Purpose."

Green Day- Insomniac: This may be the most obvious example of a lazy, "we just put out a huge album" strike-while-the-irons-hot, phoned-in album I've ever heard. It's absurdly short, very few songs are memorable, and it definitely showed a band trying to get something out fast that probably wasn't their best work. But it says a lot for Green Day's songwriting, as this is still better than a lot of what came out in 1995. 

10. White Zombie- Astro-Creep 2000: Songs Of Love, Destruction And Other Synthetic Delusions Of The Electric Head 

The cover and layout of this album perfectly describes the album- mean metal filled with everything in the world they felt fit, from samples galore to weird sounds, to crazy lyrics to dance beats. This is THE White Zombie album, and the best thing Rob Zombie has ever done- it's the last time he made music that was consistently heavy while still being catchy. Sure, his monotone vocals get old after awhile, but the music doesn't. Although some riffs are sometimes boring and repetitive, this album is pretty much riff city, with a dance party thrown in- songs usually build enough to work. It's like Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails realizing they love clubbing. To 90's reference it, it's hard to not Beavis-headbang while Butthead-dancing to it. I listened to it a lot on bus rides to JV basketball games to get pumped up. Sadly, after this album, Rob Zombie pretty much ran out of ideas and eventually switched to being a bad director. But, thanks for this album Rob.

Best songs: "Electric Head: The Agony) Pt. 1," "Super-Charger Heaven," "More Human Than Human," "Blur The Technicolor," "Blood, Milk And Sky"

9. Red Hot Chili Peppers- One Hot Minute

This was the worst Red Hot Chili Peppers album in an otherwise fairly flawless 15 year block (starting with Blood Sugar Sex Magik and ending with the newest one), but it's still good enough to get the number 9 spot on my list. The problem is that it's pretty inconsistent and weird to the point where it at times feels forced. They also had the fact that MTV/radio played the singles so much I never want to hear them again for the rest of my life (at least "Aeroplane") going against them. But when the different sounds worked, they worked very well- from the intense rockers ("Warped") to sunny pop songs ("My Friends") to creepy stoner funk ("Falling Into Grace") to an odd but effective solo song by Flea, "Pea, " the album works- just not as good as any of their other albums (or at least the albums featuring John Frusciante (which could easily be argued are the only true RHCP albums) 

Best Songs: "Warped," "Aeroplane," "My Friends," "Pea," "Falling Into Grace," "Transcending"

8. Nine Inch Nails- Further Down The Spiral

Going against my own rules again, I have to feature this Downward Spiral remix album, because, in what I would soon learn is true Trent Reznor behavior, Nine Inch Nails' remixes are more often than not entirely different songs. This collection took the dark hopeless nihilism of The Downward Spiral and well, went further down the spiral. The 3 part "Art Of Self Destruction" and "Eraser" remixes are lessons in production- what you can do to already creepy songs if you're a crazy genius. The sounds are distorted and digusting, and right when they're verging on being solely background/mood music, fragments of the original song make their way in, reminding you that you are in fact listening to a remix album. The best song ("At The Heart Of It All") is a building bit of evil that relies on a distorted drum and bass loop and Inception-like doom horns/synths/HAARP sounds to create a soundtrack to falling, well, fine- I'll go there again- further down the spiral.

Best songs: "Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)," "Art Of Self Destruction (Part One)," "Eraser (Polite)," "At The Heart Of It All"

7. God Lives Underwater- Empty

The first time I heard "All Wrong" on 94.3 WCYY, I freaked out. I instantly loved everything about it and had to wait to hear it again a week later to finally find out who it was. This band mixed driving and catchy alternative rock with industrial/techno sounds and wrote melodic songs with nasal and airy vocals in the vein of Layne Staley's (Alice In Chains). Of all of the bands trying these sounds, this is probably my favorite attempt, right down to the awesome cover and even more awesome band name. Stabbing Westward was really good too, but these songs had more variety and this album is pretty consistent all the way through, save for a few mistakes ("Fool"). I used to sing these songs with a friend in high school hallways (I wonder why I wasn't more popular?) and it was pretty awesome to find out that a recent co-worker loved this album, prompting me to revisit the hell out of it last year. Although the abundance of techno sounds dates this quite a lot, the songs still work because, well... they're good. "All Wrong" is one of the best alternative rock songs to come out of the 90s, and "Weaken" remains one of the better examples of techno, beautiful melodies and super evil riffery somehow working together to create a fantastic song.

Best songs: "Still," "All Wrong," "Empty," "No More Love," "Weaken"

6. Faith No More- King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime

I got this on tape the day I got on a bus to take me to a plane and off to Washington D.C. with my entire 8th grade class. It's impossible to listen to it without thinking of that bus ride, and it's impossible to listen to the beautiful country ballad "Take This Bottle" without thinking of my super emo nights listening to it when I went to bed in a hotel room, thinking about Alisa Young, the girl I had a crush on at the time. But reminiscence aside, this remains my second favorite Faith No More album. I'd argue that it has the most variety of all the albums, while maintaining the most consistent songwriting. Every song is catchy, and whether the song is a standard rock song ("Get Out"), a disgusting exercise in screaming/being ridiculous (still one of my favorite FNM songs, "Ugly In The Morning"), being beautiful in a grand, musical-esque way (the wonderful "Just A Man," which took me years to realize the perfection of), or whatever the hell genre of music "Evidence," "Star A.D." or "Caralho Voador" were, everything worked through the strength of their songwriting and Mike Patton's endlessly awesome vocals. This album proved Faith No More could do anything they wanted well, and it makes me forever sad that they don't exist anymore. This doesn't get the credit it deserves, both as a great FNM album, and a great rock album in general.

Best Songs: "Get Out," "Ricochet," "Evidence," "Ugly In The Morning," "Take This Bottle," "Take This Bottle," "King For A Day," "Just A Man"

5. Everclear- Sparkle And Fade

I bought this because I really liked "Santa Monica" and wanted more. Let's be honest here- 75% of Everclear songs are pretty much exactly the same. But something about this album just stuck with me, and although there are clunkers, it's generally all good. Stop and go riffing mixed with Art Alexakis' completely unique voice mixed with absurdly catchy hooks- how could you go wrong? Although not as catchy or strong as So Much For The Afterglow and held back somewhat by serious topics making lyrics feel sometimes lame, I liked the whole album, but have mostly stuck with the 5 or 6 that original struck a chord with me. With time, they sound even better. The key one of these is "The Twistinside," and I can't listen to it without thinking about my father. My dad and I have always had a small collection of songs that we used to listen to on long drives to Celtics games or to and from college. "The Twistinside" became one of those, with its odd beginning evolving into a full on air guitar/mouth guitar rock out at the end that still gives me shivers today. My dad always loved the lyrics and felt they worked pretty perfectly for rides to college- "Gotta get ready for the real world, yea, gotta grow up." The song showed what Everclear was capable of, and sadly, they never quite lived up to the power and uniqueness of it, but this album still launched a career of lots and lots of great songs.

Best songs: "Heroin Girl," "Santa Monica," "Strawberry," "Heartspark Dollarsign," "The Twistinside"

4. Foo Fighters- Self Titled

In the wake of Kurt Cobain's death in 1994 and the inevitable end of Nirvana, Dave Grohl was probably pretty sad and confused as to what to do with his life. Instead of doing nothing or becoming the drummer of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers (had no idea about this- just read it on wiki), he did the first of many things that make him a personal hero of mine- he went into a studio 5 months after Cobain died and recorded every instrument on an album full of songs he had been secretly writing. Hype exploded and nowadays I may have been cynical, but then, I pretty much watched the video for "I'll Stick Around" in pure awe. Holy crap, I thought. He can sing and play guitar?! And he is that good? Holy crap. I was blown away and after the song was played another 400 times on MTV (another thing that makes him a personal hero is his sense of humor and pure awesome, which would be fairly consistently shown in their videos), I got the album and was blown away for the entire thing. The songs were like Nirvana, but more complicated, more melodic at times with his sunny harmonies, and at times heavier and even more headbangy (like in "I'll Stick Around" and "Watershed"). I used to wonder what these songs would have sounded like as Nirvana, but now I don't care (although now that I type that, it would be interesting)- they're perfect as they are, and the variety of these songs while every one of them manages to still connect with me shows that although Kurt Cobain was a fantastic songwriter, they really missed out by not having Dave contribute more. Foo Fighters' career further solidifies that, but they have still yet to replicate the perfection of this and their second album, which will be written about soon. 

Best songs: "This Is A Call," "I'll Stick Around," "Big Me,""Alone+Easy Target," "For All The Cows," "X-Static," "Watershed"

3. Radiohead- The Bends

I feel weird having this album not be higher because of just how much I love "Fake Plastic Trees," "High And Dry" and "Streep Spirit (Fade Out)." I've been saying "Fake Plastic Trees" is my second favorite song for about 10 years now (you'll have to wait for number 1), and the strength of those as well as about half of this album makes this album pretty important to me (and the reason why it's ahead of albums that are, as a whole, better). The other songs just aren't strong enough though. This is one of the best examples of an album being carried by half of it- none of the songs are bad, but the better ones are light years ahead of the lesser ones. I usually only listen to about half of this album and even made a mix of the best from this mixed with the best from OK Computer (it's amazing). While Radiohead still had some of their brit rock that dominated Pablo Honey, they discovered the sound that I feel they did best- melancholy melodies, and flat out sad and beautiful songs. The first single was "Fake Plastic Trees," and featured Thom Yorke sitting in a shopping cart in a supermarket filled with unhappy people. I hadn't really heard a band focus so much on sadness and melodies like this before, and for someone who loves sad music, this was mindblowing. This album is overflowing with memories of high school. I learned how to play some of the songs when I got into guitar, I sang songs in the halls with different people, and mixtapes with the hits dominated my car rides to and from school and many, MANY art classes. The sadness of the songs made the girls I liked more beautiful, and my teenage angst more important. And to this day, these songs still hit me the same way and bring up the same feelings. Why couldn't you stay this way, Radiohead? 

Best songs: "High And Dry," "Fake Plastic Trees," "(Nice Dream)," "Just," "Bulletproof... I Wish I was," "Black Star," "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"

2. Deftones- Adrenaline

My favorite Deftones album switches quite often from this to Around The Fur to White Pony. This one usually wins though, as it's arguably the most consistent and heavy. I found Deftones shortly after Korn, around the same time as Limp Bizkit. I heard Around The Fur first, and was immediately pretty excited about them. They were heavy and nu-metal-ish, but had a ton of melody, both in memorable guitar lines and Chino's creepy, nearly always minor-key vocals. His scream sounded truly painful, and his spastic spit-filled raps were pretty awesome too. Some of the songs on this sound a little too much alike, but this is such a good headnod, moody album- not super moshy or angry, just kind of cool in its heaviness- a sound Deftones would come to fully embody and often perfect in the 17 years since this. I think the best songs to illustrate the perfection of this album are "Bored" and my favorite, "Birthmark." Both start creepy and cool with quiet minor singing, slowly evolve into high pitched and long-held choruses of just a few words, and eventually explode into extremely heavy headbangers with Chino screeching like a lunatic. Some people would call this formulaic. I call it perfect aggressive music. All the heaviness of this album (except for "7 Words" and "Engine No.9") is earned through building melodies and creepiness. And best of all, this album isn't even close to dated- they were doing things no other bands were doing then, and they're pretty much in the same boat now.

Best songs: "Bored," "Root," "7 Words," "Birthmark," "Engine No. 9"

1. The Smashing Pumpkins- Mellon Collie And the Infinite Sadness

This album hasn't meant as much to me as some of the others on this list, but I feel weird putting it anywhere else on the list for the sheer amount of good songs on it. A 28 song album that my extremely critical "if I don't like a song, it's gone" self felt had only 3 duds says a lot. 25 songs that are either great on their own or work perfectly with the flow of an album? That's impressive. And what's truly the most impressive is that this is a double disc album, and it's just that- an album. It's not a collection of songs from a band who wrote too many songs and couldn't trim the fat like a lot of double albums represent, it's a band at its all time creative peak, putting 25 songs together to form a cohesive album where all the songs, as drastically different as some of them are, work together perfectly. To truly understand how ridiculous The Smashing Pumpkins were at this time, they were able to put out a boxed set with 33 B-sides from the same recording sessions (The Aeroplane Flies High), and the majority of those songs are pretty solid, and some, like "Cherry" and the title track are good enough that I think they should have been on Mellon Collie. 

There are hits all over this album, but for me, some of the non-hits were what made me love this. Songs like "Love," (especially the solo) "To Forgive," and "We Only Come Out At Night" are nearly as special to me as the best of the hits- "1979," (how could anyone not like that song?) "Bullet With Butterfly Wings," "or "Thirty-Three." This album also features one of the best openings ever. The gorgeous and yes, melancholy title track into the astonishing "Tonight, Tonight" works so well that although the variation of the rest of the album is its strength, I kind of wish the whole album was as magical as those two songs. This may not mean as much to me on a personal level as some of the other albums on this list, but it's the best album of The Smashing Pumpkins' career, one of (if not THE) best double albums ever, and truly a masterpiece in a time when Hootie And The Blowfish dominated the radio (sorry, hootie (don't worry, I had the album too)). 

Best songs: "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness," "Tonight, Tonight," "Zero," "Bullet With Butterfly Wings," "To Forgive," "Love," "Thirty-Three," "1979," "We Only Come Out At Night"