For the next installment of our series looking back at the Diamond selling albums of the 1990s, we're revisiting the 1991 debut album Ten by Pearl Jam. Though it wasn't an immediate smash upon release, Ten built success on the back of singles like "Alive," "Evenflow," and "Jeremy" with heavy support from radio and MTV. Though the band pulled the plug on videos from then until their 1998 album Yield, demand for the band didn't diminish, as the follow-up Vs. became one of the bestselling debut...

"Ágætis byrjun" by Sigur Rós was released in 1999 but didn't get proper attention until touring with Radiohead in 2000. The Icelandic post-rock band's sophomore album is lead by Jónsi Birgisson's haunting falsetto vocals partially in Hopelandic, a nonsensical language created by the band, is unlike anything from the time period. The album blends ambient, classical, and rock elements, creating a dreamlike and cinematic atmosphere. Each track is like it's own mini-movie, exploring a new sonic...

After a string of indie label seven inch releases, Velocity Girl from College Park, Maryland, released their debut album Copacetic on Seattle's legendary Sub Pop records. Taking their name from the Primal Scream track, the band leans into the UK sound of shoegaze with a layer of American indie and noise rock. Lead singer Sarah Shannon's vocal hover above the fray, the anchor in the three-to-four minutes of brittle guitars and thin rhythms that hamper the potential of Copacetic. This episode...

It's our fourth year of getting the patrons together and giving thanks for the new music that gave us happiness and good vibes in 2023. There's a wide array of bands and artists, new and old, that helped make 2023 a great year for music. New albums from 1980s, 90s and 00s artists like Slowdive, The Hives, Louise Post of Veruca Salt, Depeche Mode, Drop Nineteens, Samiam, Gaz Coombes of Supergrass, Madder Rose, Juliana Hatfield, The Hold Steady, Brad, Ash, OMD, Allen Epley of Shiner and The...

Elastica burst onto the scene in 1995 with their highly acclaimed self-titled debut album, showcasing the band's distinctive blend of punk-inspired energy and catchy pop hooks. Elastica's minimalist sound and frontwoman Justine Frischmann's laid back vocals separated the band from their Britpop counterparts Blur, Suede, Oasis and Pulp. To help us revisit their freshman effort, we're joined by Rob Harvilla, host of the 60 Songs That Define the 90s podcast and his new corresponding book, out...

Leaving behind traditional rock 'n roll structures for more experimental avenues is nothing new for post-rock bands stretching back to The Velvet Underground drones or Brian Eno's ambient albums. It's stretches boundaries into free jazz, krautrock, math rock, and more often with a mechanical feel. That is quite the opposite of what the Dirty Three accomplish on their 1996 album Horse Stories, filled with the improvisations of Warren Ellis on violin, Mick Turners on guitars and bass, and Jim...

Superdrag first gained recognition with their debut album, "Regretfully Yours," which featured the hit single "Sucked Out." Elektra records upped the dough for a sophomore album hoping the band would follow-up the hit with more radio friendly singles. Instead, "Head Trip in Every Key," marked a significant departure from their freshman effort. The band continued to deliver their trademark catchy melodies, but this time, they incorporated more diverse musical elements, like psychedelic rock...

Dark, brooding atmospheres with intense, pulsating rhythms complemented by searing guitar work and haunting, enigmatic lyrics roughly sum up the wild ride that it is self-titled debut album by Course Of Empire. If an album can be called "dystopian," which is usually reserved for science fiction novels and movies, Course Of Empire may qualify. Thanks to hypnotic, almost tribal percussion via a pair of drummers, the band stretches from tabla jams to industrial beats to ambient drone guitar to...

Duster's 1998 debut Stratosphere came out to little fanfare at the time of release. Featuring a distinctive blend of dreamy, reverb-soaked guitars, buried vocals, and a deliberate, slow tempo, the band creates an atmospheric sound that is occasionally mesmerizing. Characterized by its introspective and melancholic mood, tracks like "Heading for the Door" and "Gold Dust" transport listeners to a sonically immersive and otherworldly place, making it a cult classic in the indie rock and shoegaze...

Following the release of 1994's Clumsy for Atlantic, Samiam took their completed fifth album back from the major label and found a new home with Ignition. Unfortunately, that label ran into money troubles, leaving copies of You Are Freaking Me Out difficult to come by. For a band that evolved out of the same Bay Area punk scene as Green Day, Bad Religion, Operation Ivy, and many more, the band never reached the same commercial heights as some of their contemporaries, but maintains a dedicated...

Having blazed a trail with some of the most successful Britpop albums of the 1990s, Blur was heading for implosion following their tabloid battle with Oasis in 1995 and inter-band turmoil. To reorient themselves, they turned to the country that used to be a target of scorn - America. Specifically, American indie rock like Pavement. You can hear the influence throughout the album as the band takes the noise, the jagged guitar lines, the lo-fi aesthetics, and put their unique spin on it. That...

Major label debuts for any artist can be a double-edged sword. Recording a group of songs you've had years to craft means they've spent plenty of time in the woodshed, but the pressure to produce a hit, especially in the back half of the 90s, means sometimes the obvious singles get the most attention in the studio and post-production. That is the semi-issue with Tracy Bonham's 1996 freshman release The Burdens of Being Upright. Chock full of interesting, catchy tunes like the hit single...

Before changing their name to Diffuser and scoring a couple of hits in the early 00s, the long island quartet Flu Thirteen banged out jagged post-hardcore riffs and rhythms on par with bands of the time. Getting producer J. Robbins, whose work in the 90s on albums by Braid, Texas Is The Reason, The Promise Ring, and many more helped define the late 90s indie rock sound, was a perfect match to help refine and define the band's sound. On their 1998 album In The Foul Key of V, the band unleashes...

"Sell-out" was a phrase tossed around in the 1990s whenever an indie or small-label band jumped to a major record label. Among the most surprising were Bad Religion because their guitarist Brett Gurewitz owned the label they had released their first seven albums on Epitaph Records. While sell-outs were accused of trading integrity for money, Bad Religion's eighth album "Stranger Than Fiction" makes the case that not only was the jump a good move, but helped kick-start the pop-punk takeover of...

Incorrectly tagged as Rage Against The Machine followers (they actually existed before Rage), downset. offer a glimpse into the Los Angeles hardcore and metal scene as it transitioned from the 80s to the 90s. Like Rage, downset. combined big guitar riffs with social and political commentary on their self-titled 1994 debut, but traded the guitar histrionics of Tom Morello for a more streamlined approach. The result is a prime example of the unique 90s rock subgenre of rap rock, which would...

We don't think of many bands coming out of the UK in the early nineties that could fit nicely on a bill with The Jesus Lizard or Mudhoney, but the 1991 album Tantrum by UK band Milk makes the case that noise rock wasn't just an American phenomenon coming out of hardcore. Frenetic rhythms and dissonant guitars shine on the record, covering for a solid but unremarkable vocal performance. The band is at its best when the volume and intensity quickly shift into quasi-blues riffs and thrash metal...

The slowcore sound can be simplified down to tempo and a minimalist approach, but like every genre or subgenre of rock music, there are always those pushing the boundaries and reinventing. On the 1996 album Three Sheets To The Wind by Idaho, the boundary pushing comes as a pair of straight-up rock songs that wouldn't sound out place on a Dinosaur Jr. or Heatmiser album. From there, the band adds jazzy and soulful elements - brushed drums here, an electric piano there - paired with Jeff...

Ever wonder what it would sound like if Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam, famous for producing the likes of Janet Jackson and Boyz II Men, got behind the board of a three-piece rock band? And what if that band drew influence from bands like Queen, Van Halen, and Faith No More? You might end up with the 1992 self-titled (and lone) album from T-Ride, a record that sounds simultaneously of the time and completely out of place during the grunge explosion. Though tagged as "heavy metal," even a cursory...

An established band changing lead singers is always a tricky proposition. With the departure of founding member, singer, and bassist Ian Masters following their second album In Ribbons due to a lack of interest in touring, Pale Saints could have called it quits. Instead, guitarist and backing vocalist Meriel Barham stepped into the fire, having briefly filled the same spot in Lush well before the band established themselves. The result draws obvious comparisons to Barham's former band, but...

After splitting from Depeche Mode in 1995, Alan Wilder focused his full attention on Recoil, his side-project going back to the mid-1980s. In 1997, the same year DM released "Ultra," Wilder released the fourth Recoil studio album, "Unsound Methods." Free to explore the electronic soundscape, Wilder enlisted several vocalists to tackle the electronic/trip-hop material, including Douglas McCarthy from Nitzer Ebb and NYC spoken word artist Maggie Estep. The result is both of the time and ahead...

Skirting the edges of stardom, Chris Whitley passed away far too young at 45, but left a catalog of albums more influential than they were ever popular. A wide array of artists, from John Mayer to Joe Bonamassa have lauded Whitley's playing and songwriting, so we're diving into this 1995 sophomore album Din of Ecstasy. Whereas his debut was a slickly produced blues rock album that produced a Top 40 Mainstream Rock chart hit, the follow-up sounds more in line with the happenings of the decade....

The line between rock and metal is a thin one, often based on the listener and their personal preferences. Numerous bands in the 1990s blurred the line, injecting heavy riffs and guitar tones into their sound that pushed bands like Alice in Chains and Soundgarden onto Headbanger's Ball alongside Metallica and Slayer. But other bands like Spot took their inspiration and applied it differently, like on their self-titled debut from 1995. Opening with "Drop Down," the rhythm section gallops like...

The story of Glide is one of potential cut short with the death of lead singer William Arthur before the end of the decade. Commanding a voice with equal parts sneer and croon, the appropriately titled debut Open Up & Croon from 1995 manages to fuse a variety of sounds into a coherent vision. Jangly acoustic guitars accompany fuzzed electrics and a potent rhythm section across the twelve tracks that range from the uptempo title track opener to a wide array of moods, from the Westerbergian...

From the cover art for Ritual de lo Habitual by Jane's Addiction to the music videos for Jeremy by Pearl Jam or Closer by Nine Inch Nails, the 1990s were full of controversial and provocative artists and music. Whether it was rapper Ice-T fronting hardcore thrash band Body Count and their single "Cop Killer" to Marilyn Manson pushing boundaries musically and visually, there was no shortage of outrage and hysteria aimed at Gen-X musicians and their fandom. Bands and artists as varied as Tool,...

After her 1996 self-released EP was picked-up and re-released by MCA, Holly McNarland set out to make her debut album Stuff. In the wake of the success of fellow Canadian singer/songwriters Alanis Morissette and Sarah McLachlan, the table was set for McNarland to make similar waves even if the alternative rock field was getting more crowded by the day. While there is no "You Oughta Know" or "Building a Mystery" on Stuff, there is McNarland's voice, which finds the balance between on edgy...