Popular Rock Music Of The 90s - The Songs That Defined A Decade

Rizzo Music is back with a new article from the "Popular Music of the 90s" series. Last week I made a list of some of the best pop music of the decade and today I am going to share with you my list for the most popular rock music of the 90s. Out of all the lists and playlists I have created in the past, this was by far the hardest to come up with. There are so many great artists and songs that originated in the 90s and deciding on just 5 songs for every year was tough. I tried to get representation out of all the key rock artists and hopefully I didn't forget anyone.

After much debate I was able to compile this list of 90s rock music. There are so many songs that I really enjoy that could not be included due restrictions on space but there are 50 great singles here for your enjoyment.

How it works:
For each genre of music I will rank the top 5 singles from each year in the 90s. I will provide a link for each song (either imeem or youtube, depending on availability) for your listening pleasure.

Disclaimer: These rankings are based on my personal preferences, not on actual popularity. I think of these lists as recommendations. Hopefully these songs will bring back some good memories, and if you have never heard them before, maybe create some new ones.

Interested in 90s Pop and Rap as well? Be sure to check out these lists as well.
90s Pop Music
90s Rock Music

Starting with the year 1999:
1. "My Own Worst Enemy" by Lit
2. "Jumper" by Third Eye Blind
3. "Scar Tissue" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
4. "The Chemicals Between Us" by Bush
5. "Heavy" by Collective Soul

1998:
1. "Inside Out" by Eve 6
2. "The Way" by Fastball
3. "Sex and Candy" by Marcy Playground
4. "Shimmer" by Fuel
5. "Closing Time" by Semisonic

1997:
1. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve
2. "Push" by Matchbox Twenty
3. "Everlong" by Foo Fighters
4. "The Freshman" by The Verve Pipe
5. "Everything to Everyone" by Everclear

1996:
1. "1979" by Smashing Pumpkins
2. "One Headlight" by The Wallflowers
3. "Counting Blue Cars" by Dishwalla
4. "What I Got" by Sublime
5. "In the Meantime" by Spacehog

1995:
1. "Lightning Crashes" by Live
2. "Wonderwall" by Oasis
3. "Glycerine" by Bush
4. "Name" by Goo Goo Dolls
5. "Good" by Better Than Ezra

1994:
1. "When I Come Around" by Green Day
2. "Shine" by Collective Soul
3. "I Alone" by Live
4. "Self Esteem" by The Offspring
5. "About a Girl" by Nirvana

1993:
1. "Rooster" by Alice in Chains
2. "Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows
3. "Hey Jealousy" by Gin Blossoms
4. "No Rain" by Blind Melon
5. "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine

1992:
1. "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam
2. "In Bloom" by Nirvana
3. "Drive" by R.E.M.
4. "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica
5. "Creep" by Radiohead

1991:
1. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana
2. "Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains
3. "Enter Sandman" by Metallica
4. "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M.
5. "Right Here, Right Now" by Jesus Jones

1990:
1. "Hunger Strike" by Temple of the Dog
2. "Kool Thing" by Sonic Youth
3. "Head Like A Hole" by Nine Inch Nails
4. "Stop!" by Jane's Addicton
5. "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC

Well there you have it. The top 5 songs from each year of the 90s. Thanks for listening and enjoy.

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to share your opinion by making a comment below.


Song #92: "Don't Go Away" by Oasis

After a fairly long hiatus, RizzoMusic is back with the countdown and one of my personal favorites, "Don't Go Away" by Oasis. "Don't Go Away" is just one song in a string of successful singles that Oasis released in the 1990s. It was the fourth single released off of one of the most highly anticipated albums in music history, Be Here Now. Although, Oasis' third studio album, sold over eight million copies worldwide, it is considered by many music enthusiasts as a disappointment and none of the tracks from the album are included on Oasis' best-of album, Stop the Clocks. "Don't Go Away" is just one of my favorites from an album full of some great songs: a song that features some of Liam's best vocals.

Oasis is really a band that needs no introduction: a band that has sold over 50 million albums worldwide. Releasing three albums that each sold over 7 million copies in one decade is truly remarkable and a testament to the great music that they produced. While their album sales of late have been no where near they were in their heyday, they are still very popular. They are doing a small tour in Canada this summer and also have a new album due out in September of this year. The new album is going to be a break away from their acoustic side and have more of a feel like Be Here Now. It will be exciting to see how Oasis will be received by fans this time around as they release their seventh studio album.

I really like the music video for "Don't Go Away". The tone of the video matches perfectly with the song: displaying the feelings of loneliness, helplessness, and frustration that are represented in the lyrics. The image that really stands out is the 2 large trees in the middle of a barren field. Add to that a little bit of rain and an orchestra dressed in black and you have a solid music video that will be remembered for years. Check it out!

Interested in other songs from the countdown? Check out the other Top Songs of the 1990s here


Top 100 Songs of the 90s

After watching VH1's Greatest Songs of the 90s, I was inspired to start up a series of posts with my picks for the Top 100 Songs of the 1990s. I am going to skip out on the rap songs since I am not that big of an expert on that field of music. I am tempted to include some pop from the 90s but we will see if any of it actually makes the list. I am going to set out a few ground rules for the list and link back to this post for every entry.

Rules (subject to change):
1) An artist can only have up to a maximum of three songs on the list.
2) No rap, Hip-Hop, or R&B will be included on this list.
3) Only singles will be considered for this list.
4) I will accept suggestions but this list is in no way comprised of results from a poll or any form of voting process. It is strictly the opinion of Rizzo Music.
5) And obviously the song must have been released between Jan 1st 1990 and Dec 31st 1999.

Each song will get it's own post with a little history of the song (chart positions, band trivia, song trivia ect.) and the music video. I will constantly update this post with links to each post so that this article may be used to find any song on the list. With each article I will link back to this article so to provide easy access to each song. I hope to write about 1 article pertaining to this list a week so that should set a preliminary completion date for the list on August 20, 2009. It would be nice to finish the list before then but that seems like a realistic date for the amount of work required for this sort of project. Comments? Suggestions? I would love to hear them. Thanks!

Links (More Coming Soon)
Songs 100-91
Song #100: "Take A Picture" by Filter
Song #99: "Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn
Song #98: "How Bizarre" by OMC
Song #97: "Meet Virginia" by Train
Song #96: "Down" by 311
Song #95: "Found Out About You" by Gin Blossoms
Song #94: "Greedy Fly" by Bush
Song #93: "The Impression That I Get" by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Song #92: "Don't Go Away" by Oasis
Song #91: "Touch, Peel and Stand" by Days Of The New
Songs 90-81
Song #90: "Hanginaround" by Counting Crows
Song #89: "Man on the Moon" by R.E.M.
Songs 80-71
Songs 70-61
Songs 60-51
Songs 50-41
Songs 40-31
Songs 30-21
Songs 20-11
Songs 10-1

Be sure to sign up for email updates or subscribe with your favorite feed reader to stay up to date with all of the latest additions to the list. If you are having any trouble with this, feel free to email me at "web at rizzomusic dot com".


SNL In The 90s: A Look At The Music

A great recap to a great decade. Saturday Night Live is a show that I really have enjoyed over the last decade or so. From Chris Farley to Chris Rock, this show was stacked with comedic geniuses. This television special had plenty of commentary from almost all the great cast members of the 1990s but it was lacking a little in the video clips. With such a long span to cover, it was hard to fit everything into a two hour special but I think that they did a good job. You really can't go wrong with Chris Farrley's Matt Foley skit or Will Farrell's Cowbell performance.

It was really fun to see all the old cast members come back to talk about the golden age of SNL that was the early 90s. The cool thing about it was that there were only a few missing from the commentary. The only one that I noticed that was missing was Adam Sandler. I, being such a avid 90s music fan, loved that fact that they included a bunch of past performances from so many good bands. The musical acts have always been an intricate part of Saturday Night Live, and it was nice to see them be included in the special.

I had to compile this list by memory because I didn't get a chance to tape it but I am pretty sure this is fairly accurate and almost complete. If you see any mistakes or additions that should be made, please feel free to leave a comment.

Musical Performances Featured on "SNL In The 90s":
Barenaked Ladies - "It's All Been Done"
Gin Blossoms - "Follow You Down"
Christina Aguliera - "What a Girl Wants"
Blues Traveler - "Hook"
Green Day - "When I Come Around"
R.E.M. - "Shiny Happy People"
Pearl Jam - "Not For You"
Dave Matthews Band - "So Much To Say"
Foo Fighters - "Learn to Fly"
Beck - "Sexx Laws"
Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
Sheryl Crow - "If It Makes You Happy"
Garbage - "When I Grow Up"
Oasis - "Don't Go Away"

I was really happy to see the lesser known bands like Blues Traveler get some air time as well as the more popular acts like DMB, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., and Nirvana. My favorite part of the whole show was the decision to have Oasis' "Don't Go Away" be the last act shown. This is one of my favorite songs from Oasis and from the 90s in general. A fitting end to a great decade of music and comedy. Thanks for listening and hope you check out some of these classic songs.


Top 10 Songs You Should Know Playlist: Week #9

It's time for another weekly playlist. I know I promised an album review and/or a music video tribute but I was really busy last week. This week I will guarantee both of them. This playlist has no real theme to it other than greatness. Enjoy and thanks for listening once again.

Top 10 Songs You Should Know - Week 9 - Jan. 15-21 2006
1. Everybody's Changing - Keane
2. Get Ready - Live
3. Free to Everyone - Hootie & the Blowfish
4. On Her Mind - Duncan Sheik
5. Conversation - Eagle Eye Cherry
6. Then the Morning Comes - Smash Mouth
7. Landslide - Smashing Pumpkins
8. Long Way Down - Goo Goo Dolls
9. Stop Crying Your Heart Out - Oasis
10. Rain King - Counting Crows

Looking for more playlists? We've got plenty.


Top 10 Songs You Should Know Playlist: Week #4

It is once again time for for another playlist. This time I tried to stick to introducing artists I have not mentioned before, but I don't know how long this will last. I tried to mix this playlist up a little with some really famous artists, some not so famous artists, and lead it off with one of my favorite songs even though it was fairly popular when it was released. "Fast Car" kind of goes against what this playlist is all about, since it was her one of her most famous songs but since it came out eighteen years ago, you might not of heard it yet. These are some of my favorite songs of all-time so please at least check some of them out. It is so hard to choose a favorite from this list but if you are only going to listen to one of them, I would have to go with "Compliment" by Collective Soul. This song is just too good to pass up.

Top 10 Songs You Should Know - Week 4 - Dec. 4-10 2006
1. Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
2. Compliment - Collective Soul
3. Lucky Man - The Verve
4. My Big Mouth - Oasis
5. Stealing Babies - Our Lady Peace
6. Swallowed in the Sea - Coldplay
7. Change Your Mind - The Killers
8. With a Bullet - Sam Roberts
9. Gone to the Movies - Semisonic
10. Have You Seen Me Lately - Counting Crows

Looking for more playlists? We've got plenty.