Top 10 Forgotten Rock Bands of the 1990’s
February 19, 2007 by Eric Hebert
Filed under General
Let’s face it; the 90’s rocked, and I mean that literally. After grunge got big in the early years, many bands came into the spotlight and then vanished by the end of the decade. They may have not been the greatest band in the world, but they gave us some great songs.
Sure, bands like Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Stone Temple Pilots will always be remembered for the era, but many other bands populated the airwaves as well. Bands like Live, Oasis, Jane’s Addiction, the Smashing Pumpkins, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers still get some credit they deserve. But what of the others?
If you were like me and you were a young kid, you’ll never forget these hits. Here’s to some of the best rock of the 1990’s.
10. Tonic
Tonic didn’t make a splash until later in the 1990’s; they would produce two big hits with “Open Up Your Eyes” and probably their most popular song, “If You Could Only See.” They would close the decade out in 1999 with the song “You Wanted More.”
9. Vertical Horizon
That same year another band would show up to provide a few hits to the post-grunge era. Vertical Horizon would pony up the hits “Everything You Want”, “You’re A God”, and “Grey Sky Morning” before disappearing into rock folklore. It should be noted that the band enjoyed critical success even before making it big, and many have never heard Vertical Horizon’s earlier works “There and Back Again” and “Running on Ice”, the latter featuring the drums of Carter Beauford of Dave Matthews Band fame.
8. Sponge
One of my favorite three hit wonder bands of the 90’s, Sponge soaked up the airwaves with the hits “Molly”, “Plowed”, and “Have You Seen Mary”.
7. Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum managed to put together a pretty decent catalog of music including the hits “Black Gold”, “Somebody to Shove”, “Misery”, and their most memorable song, “Runaway Train”. They recently hit the waves with their new single “Stand Up and Be Strong”.
6. Collective Soul
Collective Soul shouldn’t be forgotten; they’ve managed to keep producing solid hits ’till this day. They did make a splash during the early ’90s with songs like “Gel”, “December”, “Shine”, and “The World I Know”
I guess I just missed the 90’s. Alas, too old…
The good ‘ol days…
omg, i love sponge, and colective soul, i was a 90’s kid
wtf collective soul forgotten ?
Soul Asylum is still going strong…they’re just more in their element again, alternative rock instead of pop rock.
fucking. awful.
all of those bands should do a reunion concert for mentos, because they’re all fruity flavored candy crap that will rot yur teeth and yur brain. i feel sorry for kids who grew up in the mid 90’s listening to rock.
Boring, boring, boring… no wonder they’ve disappeared. 90’s rock sucked.
I’m listening to my Collective Soul mix cd right now at work. They rock, 90’s rock was the shit
Awesome!!!! I loved these bands back then and they still bring back great memories. Thanks for this!!!
Ok–with the exception of Tonic and Vertical Horizon.
dude. collective soul rocks. these are the songs on my favorite station 24/7
There was so much good stuff in the 90s.
Deep Blue Something - Breakfast at Tiffany’s (great album all around)
Heather Nova - Walk This World (her latest album, Redbird, is wonderful)
Abra Moore - Four Leaf Clover
Alana Davis - 32 Flavors
The Verve Pipe - The Freshmen (their last album, Underneath, should have been a huge success, but no one ever heard it)
Candlebox, they sorta faded away
Better Than Ezra (their most recent, Before The Robots, is their best yet)
Cracker - Low
Deadeye Dick - New Age Girl
Dishwalla, great first couple of albums, been getting weaker lately, they sound great live
Duncan Sheik had a great breakaway hit with Barely Breathing on his first album. His more recent Daylight album has a lot of great stuff on it.
Duran Duran finally had a worthy successor to the wedding album with Astronaut a couple years ago. The original re-united line-up, too.
Eagle-Eye Cherry - Save Tonight
Elastica - Connection
Gravity Kills - Blame, Guilty
Stabbing Westward - What Do I Have To Do?
HUM - Stars, Green To Me
The Nixons - Sister, Wire
Seven Mary Three - Cumbersome
The Rentals - Friends of P, Waiting
Silverchair - Tomorrow, Pure Massacre, Ana’s Song
Spacehog - In The Meantime
Toadies - Away, Possum Kingdom
Wanderlust - I Walked (Great album, way out of print)
Such a shame that so much good stuff never gets heard.
Thank God! 86% of 90’s music sucked anyway. 95% sucks now, down from 97 since Oasis, Brittany spears, and Celine arent really recording anymore.
Yeah if you remember the 90’s, you weren’t drunk enough.
Can anyone say Goo Goo Dolls. Black Balloon, Name, Slide, Iris….
Who has forgotten these songs that grew up with it? Nobody
So, I can’t see the top five, but I’m willing to bet that Refused isn’t on there… I’d have to say that they were at least twice as innovative as any of the bands you have on the list. I call for a recount.
You’ve got to be kidding me kid, jeez. I didn’t miss it i avoided it music died with the pixies and was born again with arcade fire.
MatchBox 20. So many good songs on their first album.
Hey man, there is a glaring ommission in your list. If you’re talking 90’s rock, then you’re talking THE TOADIES. One of their best hits was “I Come From The Water”, but I found a video for “Backslider”. Here it is… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yCeef-G91w
ExtraLife - Scott Johnson’s Comics, Podcasts, Blog, Artwork, Humor and MORE! » Blog Archive » Top 10 Forgotten Rock Bands of the 1990’s on Wed, 28th Feb 2007 5:03 pm
[...] Source. [...]
Great Post !! - So many memories « Stuff & Nonsense on Wed, 28th Feb 2007 7:05 pm
[...] clipped from http://www.evolvor.com [...]
i think 80’s and 90’s produced the best bands in music history. they may have been forgotten with the new generation, but for those who have seen and lived with the 90’s.. they’ll always be remembered.
Lead singer of Tonic has some very good solo stuff right now, record coming out soon on EMI/Blue Note.
Collective Soul is anything but forgotten.
They are on the radio all the time around here - and in my cd player even more often. One of the best live acts ever!
I impatiently await their new cd.
I think every “era” has good music and crap. Just gotta find the good stuff.
Who could forget classics like Stabbing westward, Filter, VAST, and Jerk. i mean come on people, it wasnt all bad. and some of them are still going strong…except Silverchair which went limpwristed a long time ago.
www.welistentothis.com on Fri, 2nd Mar 2007 10:28 am
Top 10 Forgotten Rock Bands of the 1990’s…
Someone put out a list of ten bands in the 90’s that have been forgotten about. Although I don’t agree with all of them , some of them are spot on. Also some interesting comments at the bottom of the page….
Zorro Nation » Blog Archive » For Those of Us Who Won’t Let Go of the 90s on Fri, 2nd Mar 2007 2:13 pm
[...] Top 10 Forgotten Rock bands of the 90s! [link] [...]
Collective Soul are still around and have been “back” since their 2004 album “Youth”. They also did an EP and a live DVD/CD, both in 2005/2006. They’re even working on a new album for 2007.
They were actually bigger and more successful than ANY of those other bands you listed.
They had 3 singles off of “Youth” to make the Billboard Charts. Adult Top 40 and Mainstream Rock. At high positions also.
The “comeback bands” like some of the ones listed that were gone for Years, haven’t even managed to get back on the Billboard charts.
Collective Soul were only dormant for about 2-3 years and managed to comeback and do very well independantly on the BB charts.
Some of those other bands ALSO made comeback on major labels and still cant crack the charts.
If you guys want a REAL list of the Top 90’s or the best songs in general for that matter, visit:
http://top-music.wetpaint.com/
Thanks!
3 words:
I MOTHER EARTH
Wow brought back alot of good memories.
Collective Soul was pretty sweet.
I have a band I’d like to throw in, but I must have truly forgotten them. Can any of you help me out? I remember that I at least loved their song, but I can’t remember it at all either. The only thing I can remember is that the music video had a whole bunch of people jumping off a cliff in slow motion. (and it isn’t Travis - Why does it always rain on me?) It really was a great song. Does anyone….remember this song or band?
Nice list.
http://threepints.blogspot.com/
i vote for the toadies
The Red Hot Chili Peppers came out in 1985. Do not try to make a dismal music scene seem better than it was. The 1990’s was a horrendous era for rock. The bands that made it big in that era would not have made it in any other. Things were so bad that Pearl Jam made it big. Their lead singer can’t sing, and the band plays no better than the hundreds that came before them or since. Nirvana is the most overrated band of alltime. I’ve seen that some put them as a top 5 or 10 rock band of alltime. What a laugh. One good album and a handful of others that weren’t so good. Everybody that bought Nevermind was shocked when they heard how bad In Utero was. It was basically a horribly sounding album that no one would have bought if it’s predecessor had never came out. As for Nevermind, it’s no great rock album. For every Smell’s Like Teen Spirit or Come As You Are,there’s a horrible song like Something In The Way or Lounge Act. For an album to be great half the songs can’t suck. To say that they were a top 5 or 10 rock band of alltime is a joke. So their right up with Led Zepplin, The Beatles, Aerosmith, etc. What a joke. It was an era of weak sounding bands that couldn’t play. You know why no one played solos? Because the 80s rockers made them look like pathetic chumps and intimidated them.
I think people say too much dumb shit when it comes to music, almost as dumb as the shit they say about sports. It’s usually like “this band sucked” but I love it when they say “this era sucked”!
Get a life. Pearl Jam doesn’t suck. Stop comparing everybody to fucking Led Zepplin . Everybody ALWAYS compares bands to Zepplin. I’m scared to start my band up ’cause someone out there is going to compare me to goddamn Led Zepplin. Yes they rocked in ‘68 and no one can replace that. If anybody did, they wouldn’t be the great Led Zepplin. I really have nothing to say to someone who says a band sucks (like Pearl Jam) when in fact they’ve been playing music for 15+ years, sell out stadiums, have millions of fans, make records, and oh, they PLAY FUCKING GUITARS and they do it well. So this rant goes out to all you haters. If you don’t like ‘em, fine. But don’t sit here and say they can’t play fucking music well.
Colective Soul?!?!?! Vertical Horizon?!?!?! What the heck? Of corse their forgotten. Look at the music that emerged in the 90’s. KoRn,NiN,Manson,Limp Bizkit,Linkin Park. The last two annoy the crap out of me but come on every kid in the 90’s was listening to this stuff more than the “Forgotten Rock”. I mean heck i listened to rammstein more the collective soul just to keep my sanity.
Not that i ever would have willingly
So if by that you mean they listened to that crap more than this “crap”, they shouldn’t be as forgotten? You have no point.
these bands suck
thanks
Absolutely right– “rock” in the 90’s was some of the worst crap ever played, nothing more than music to commit suicide to. The strong will always rock, and the weak will always whine, and 90’s bands were the worst of the worst. Up the Irons!
Hey,
Great work on the site! If you want a complete list of the top underrated bands and such. Check out my site:
http://www.therockczar.com
Music News » Top 10 Forgotten Rock Bands of the 90’s on Sat, 14th Apr 2007 6:44 am
[...] They may have not been the greatest bands in the world, but they gave us some great songs. I have no idea what the hell any of these bands are doing now but I liked most of them when they were out.read more | digg story [...]
The song where they jumped off the cliff in slow motion was The Flys singing “Got You Where I Want You”
Some of the best music came out of the 90’s…..true some bands sucked but in comparison to what music is turning into with this hardcore/emo bullshit the grunge era will to be missed by many including myself
Wow! Perfectly made. Very informative sites with video and link to site of the some popular rock band. Yes your right. Not every one of the rock band gained their total success in rock music but they deliver some great rock music.
I am into all of these bands… I like the list alot. I have a ton of songs by all these bands on my site. http://www.therockczar.com/
great top ten man..all these bands rocked. it was a great thing growin up listening to all this music and still bein able to go back and listen to more
I made a list of the Top Ten Rock Albums of the 90s.
buzz ballads has a few of these on there it’s a pretty good collection of 90’s “forgotten” rock
rage against the machine kicked ass
sublime kicked ass
dave matthews kicked ass
foo fighters kicked ass
incubus kicked ass
green day kicked ass
offspring kicked ass
jamiroquai kicked ass
so on and so on
you people that hated the ninties have to remember it was good cause recrding was at its peak then and thats all we had growing up as kids. so yes its does sound better than most older recordings despite the technicalities of the music. so fuck you older generation…..cause i love your music too…. embrace that what you really don’t know about cause your afraid off it. fuckin fools
Top 10 Forgotten Rock Bands of the 90’s « Music Top News on Tue, 9th Oct 2007 6:50 am
[...] read more | digg story [...]
This list is a joke. There were plenty of great bands in the ’90s… but not any of these.
this list aint no fcking joke. screw the fucking rap hip hop crap. these rock bands are inspirations. learn your music and get it right. sure you may like r&b, but they will never compare to the great rock bands of the 90’s.
The 90’s were one of the best times for rock, the 60’s too oh Elivs is the God of rock. Most other decades suck balls. IMHO
What the hell, forgotten….?
You have just listed part of my iPod playlist. Lol.
Never forgotten.
Nic
No, they’re not forgotten by those who really enjoyed them. The rest of the world seems to have, though.
Dude, you hit it right on the head. Candlebox, Better than Ezra, Silverchair, Dishwalla…some of my favorites. By the way I’m very excited about the STP reunion.
Great list but you left out a big one: Third Eye Blind “Semi-Charmed Life”, “Graduate”, and others, also Garbage was huge “Only Happy When it Rains”.
UMMMMM Guns and roses
Wow - no black lab? They had two number #1 hits, something of which none of the ones listed above can say. Look up “time ago” and “wash it away” and see if you don’t remember the songs.
Wow I DO remember these guys - here’s the track “Wash It Away” to jump start anyone’s brain that has forgotten.
to me HUM was one of the most under-rated bands of the 90tis
just wanted to let u know i loved the list
it actually saved my ass
im a dj for my school station and one of my shows was to create a theme and i chose to do “forgotten bands of the 90s” ur list was a perfect guidline and i liked to see different peoples inputs about the music so i could relate this to my listeners. everyones intitled to the own opinions but as for mine i loved the bands and so do my listeners.
mad love
rock » Blog Archive » Top 10 Forgotten Rock Bands of the 90’s on Sun, 18th May 2008 2:14 am
[...] read more | digg story [...]
all i can say is rock and roll was at its best through the 70’s-90’s i mean Green Day is awsome there great the made their first Album 1039 smoothed out slappy hours and moved on from there its amazing
What about;
Pure …Denial
Live …Selling the drama
The Flys …Got you where I want you
The Flaming Lips …She don’t use jelly
Filter ….Hey man nice shot
the red hot chili peppers are not forgotten.
radiohead any1
wut the fuck kind of drugs did u smoke in the 90s? wut in the hell happened to stp or pearl jam or even beck you fucking idiot!!!
Hey rob, can you READ? I mention all those bands in the beginning of the post, except for Beck, cause he’s in a genre of his own. The article is not about them, you “fucking idiot”. Why don’t you go back to being an ignorant fuck and smoke something yourself instead of bringing your foul mouth and nonsense to the discussion.
…Hiccup….if you remember the 90s..then you were’t there..man..hehe
Hey, I just found this site while looking for songs to plug into my Pandora. All of the bands mentioned throughout the blog are great. It just depended on what you were into. The same thing goes for todays music.
Cool list. Just a few extras (if not already mentioned):
(1) Our Lady Peace - Superman’s Dead, Somewhere Out There, Where Are You
(2) King’s X - Black Flag, Over My Head
(3) Mad Season - I Don’t Know Anything
(4) Live - All Over You, I Alone, Lakini’s Juice
(5) Garbage - #1 Crush, I Think I’m Paranoid, Queer, Special
(6) Stroke 9 - Little Black Backpack
(7) Faith No More - Epic, Falling To Pieces, Midlife Crisis
Splendid list. None of these bands should’ve fallen out of the mainstream.
The 80’s and 90’s just had the best. Music nowadays is completely lame. I dont even listen to the radio anymore because everything thats on blows.