Unlike most of you I find 90s rock (esp. Seatle sound) ponderous and turgid, so…
1990 Fear of a Black Planet - Public Enemy
1991 Blue Lines - Massive Attack
1992 Hand on the Torch - US3
1993 Body Blow - Headless Chickens
1994 Dummy - Portishead
1995 Post - Bjork
1996 Odelay - Beck
1997 Urban Hymns - The Verve
1998 You’ve Come a Long Way Baby - Fat Boy Slim
1999 Grand Slam - Spiderbait
Maybe 1994 should get its own thread?
My cut list.
Leisure Noise 1999
Achtung Baby 1991
Post 1995
August and Everything After 1993
Blood Sugar Sex Magic 1991
MTV Unplugged 1994
ICON 1990
Baby Animals 1991
Garbage 1995
Superunknown 1994
1994: Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins - Sparks
Has several genius songs, including “When Do I get To Sing My Way?”:
Good list I had a bunch of those on my extended list. Dummy in particular could have been #1 in many years.
Did you give any thought to The KLF in 91?
KLF kinda passed me by at the time. I followed music less & less thru the 90s, so more a reflection on me than them. Given that, I was surprised how much I like my list!
I don’t want your excuses, fly-boy.
Ok, B-list time:
1990 The Breeders - Pod
1991 Screeching Weasel - My Brain Hurts
1992 The Frank And Walters - Trains, Boats And Planes
1993 Slowdive - Souvlaki
1994 Weezer - The Blue Album
1995 Supergrass - I Should Coco
1996 Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go
1997 Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West
1998 Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane…
1999 Built To Spill - Keep It Like A Secret
I did a big nerdy thing today, and went through my collection to see which years I had the most stuff from. There were two distinct 5-year peak periods where so many of my purchases are from: 1979-83 (post-punk, new wave, hardcore punk, electro, 80s chart pop) and 1990-94 (90s alternative, indie, shoegaze, pop-punk, Brit-pop). 1992 and 1994 are the years I own the most albums from. For some reason 1993 really dipped, but I have dozens of 7”s from that time.
Anyway, I’m off to make some bar graphs and flow charts. Carry on.
This was way too difficult to choose only one (by and large). Just couldn’t do it…
1990:
Flood - They Might Be Giants
1991:
Trompe Le Monde - Pixies
Astronauts - The Lilac Time
(HM: Achtung Baby - U2, Nevermind - Nirvana,
Bloodsugarsexmagik - Red Hot Chili Peppers)
1992:
Little Earthquakes - Tori Amos
Copper Blue - Sugar
(HM: Wish - The Cure)
1993:
Laid - James
Together Alone - Crowded House
(HM: Nonsuch - XTC, Spilt Milk - Jellyfish)
1994:
The Blue Album - Weezer
Troublegum - Therapy?
(HM: Grace - Jeff Buckley, Thud - Kevin Gilbert
Dummy - Portishead, Parklife - Blur, Be A Girl - The Wannadies)
1995:
The Bends - Radiohead
1996:
Pinkerton - Weezer
Amazing Disgrace - The Posies
(HM: Crash - Dave Matthews Band, Futura - The Clouds, Unplugged - Alice In Chains, In A Bar Under The Sea - dEUS)
1997:
The Ideal Crash - dEUS
OK Computer - Radiohead
(HM: Maximum Sincere - Big Heavy Stuff)
1998:
Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb - Tripping Daisy
(HM: Daisies of The Galaxy - Eels)
1999:
Utopia Parkway - Fountains Of Wayne
(HM: Hey! Album - Marvelous 3)
Phew… a truly life-changing decade - both musically and personally!.. 1991 through to 1997 is just a stunning era…
Loved the KLF.
Thought of them more as a singles band though.
They kind of passed me by too, as I considered them nightclub music to a large degree. But one of my mates who wouldn’t have been seen dead in a nightclub (well, maybe the Lizard Lounge or Goo) swears that the KLF is genius.
You could take a bit of time and enter a list of your own…with as much Bjork as you can fit 
Great to finally see dummy posted. Also am a big fan of that Massive Attack album plus Mezzanine 
Alright, my honourable mentions that couldn’t take the top spot
90 Flood. And as an EP Tingles - Ratcat.
Penny Century - Clouds. I still love this album so much, this could easily have been my #1, but Out of Time was pretty important at that time of my life. Also thoughts to Nevermind, Tribal Voice - Yothu Yindi and The Baby Animals
TBH nothing was going to oust Dry. I would have called it my favourite album of all time for years, before I realised that trying to have a single favourite was ridiculous. If I had to look elsewhere I’d have considered 3 years 5 months and 2 days in the life of … - Arrested Development. I also enjoyed Little Earthquakes - Tori Amos, Hey Babe - Juliana Hatfield, RATM and even Funky Divas - En Vogue.
Again Last Splash was an onvious choice for me here. Other options were Rid of Me - PJ Harvey, Stain - Living Colour, Puddle Dive - Ani Di Franco.
Again the answer was obvious to me. Crooked Rain Crooked Rain is an all time favourite. But it meant I had to skip a couple of other all time favourites. I go back to Liz Phair’s Whip Smart often, and am always transported to a different time. And I reckon Hole’s Live Through This is an absolute stone cold classic (given the context of its release? perhaps). I also go back to the Nirvana MTV Unplugged album regularly, and also love Alice in Chains Jar of Flies and Portishead’s Dummy. A defining year for sure. But still, Crooked Rain Crooked Rain it is, and I didn’t think for a second.
I actually had a very long list against this year, including Alanis (although I don’t think it’s aged well, it was year defining), Betty Serviert, Garbage, Pulp, Oasis and PJ Harvey. It came down to Maxinquaye, To Bring You My Love and Different Class. In the end I leant towards Tricky because it has no weaknesses. It doesn’t have the high point singles of Down by the Water or Common People, but it’s an album I can stick on and hit any track and know I will see it through.
I thought was a weaker year. I ended up going for the Lucksmiths purely because their live shows were a staple of the time and I know every word on the album. It’s pop genius, but a little twee for me these days. But life defining for sure.
I feel like choosing a live album was a bit of a cop out, but I needed to get some Ani DiFranco in there and I return to this one often. It captures the energy of her live show and the best tracks from about 6 albums. Other options included Ben Harpers The Will to Live and the 2nd Portishead album, which is so much more industrial than Dummy, but still genuinely good.
For an artist that has disappointed me so often live, Cat Power has a couple of absolute stunning albums that just work. I love Moon Pix. The other options here were Belle and Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap, Ani DiFranco - Little Plastic Castle and Mermaid Avenue - Wilco and Billy Bragg. This year was closer than most.
I loved Fear of Fours. It was introduced to me my a Bombers supporting friend and was the soundtrack of my life for a time. The other contender here was Fiona Apple’s “When the (Pawn) Hits the Conflicts He Thinks like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He’ll Win the Whole Thing 'fore He Enters the Ring There’s No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might so When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won’t Matter, Cuz You’ll Know That You’re Right.” but who can be bothered writing that out…
edit: Seriously swear filter, don’t you like chess?
What I was actually listening to in the 90’s…
90 Bad Religion - Against the Grain
91The Meanies - Come n See
92 Bad Religion - Generator
93 Pennywise - Unknown Road
94 NoFX - Punk in Drublic
95 Silverchair - Frogstomp
96 Frenzal Rhomb - Not so Tough
98 Unwritten Law - Unwritten Law
99 Grinspoon - Easy
Rust in Peace - 1990
Nevermind - 91
Dirt - 92
Undertow- 93
Illmatic - 94 ( indeed difficult)
Me against the world - 95
Endtroducing - 1996
Ok Computer 1997 (even more difficult how can I leave out homework. wtf)
Moon Safari 1998
the slim shady LP 1999.
stuff it. Ok Computer is a masterpiece. Daft Punks homework is also super important.
I might recondsider a switch 97. might not have gone hip hop in 94 either. and 91…geebuz.
the early to.mid 90s were so good. eminem in hindsight kinda officially stuck a fork in rock by 1999.
I wont be able to read the 00s for the most part…have to vomit.
Nice to see Endtroducing get a run.
Found it harder to do the B list, but anyway…
1990 Against the Grain - Bad Religion
1991 Nevermind - Nirvana
1992 Vulgar Display of Power - Pantera
1993 Why Do They Call Me Mr. Happy? - NoMeansNo
1994 Scratch the Surface - Sick of It All
1995 Hello Bastards - Lifetime
1996 Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues - Strung Out
1997 Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes - AFI
1998 In/Casino/Out - At the Drive-In
1999 The Battle Of Los Angeles - Rage Against The Machine
I did think about that.