[yearly] 52 best singles of the 90s

Submitted by Nick Vane on Thu, 11/07/2002 - 06:13
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  1. Sigur Rós - Svefn-G-Englar
  2. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
  3. Oasis - Wonderwall
  4. Ben Folds Five - Brick
  5. Chumbawamba - Tubthumping
  6. R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts
  7. Beastie Boys - Sabotage
  8. Weezer - Undone (the Sweater Song)
  9. Blind Melon - No Rain
  10. Sebadoh - Gimme Indie Rock!
  11. Pearl Jam - Jeremy
  12. Nirvana - All Apologies
  13. Eminem - My Name Is
  14. Fatboy Slim - The Rockafeller Skank
  15. Jay-Z - Hard Knock Life
  16. Shawn Colvin - Sunny Came Home
  17. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away
  18. Radiohead - Creep
  19. Alanis Morrisette - Hand in My Pocket
  20. The Flaming Lips - She Don't Use Jelly
  21. The Pharcyde - Passing Me By
  22. Gomez - Get Myself Arrested
  23. Elliott Smith - Baby Britain
  24. R.E.M. - Losing My Religion
  25. The Cardigans - Lovefool
  26. Jay-Z - Can I Get A...
  27. Pearl Jam - Alive
  28. U2 - The Sweetest Thing
  29. Massive Attack - Teardrop
  30. Nas - If I Ruled the World
  31. Pavement - Cut Your Hair
  32. Eels - Last Stop: This Town
  33. Wilco - A Shot in the Arm
  34. Aimee Mann - That's Just What You Are
  35. The Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be
  36. Backstreet Boys - Quit Playing Games With My Heart
  37. Radiohead - High & Dry
  38. Pulp - Common People
  39. Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand
  40. The Rentals - Friends of P
  41. Jill Sobule - I Kissed a Girl
  42. Cows - The Woman Inside
  43. Blur - Song 2
  44. Cake - Never There
  45. Britney Spears - ...Baby One More Time
  46. The Breeders - Cannonball
  47. De La Soul - A Rollerskating Jam Named Saturdays
  48. Oasis - Shakermaker
  49. All Saints - Never Ever
  50. TLC - Waterfalls
  51. Lo Fidelity All Stars - Battle Flag
  52. Squirrel Nut Zippers - Hell
Author Comments: 

this'll take some tinkering for me to be happy, but I wanted to give it a start...needs more hip-hop.

lbangs11/07/2002

Wow, I rather like this list. I'm not sure that The Fly wasn't my favorite U2 single of the 90s, even if it bombed, and I'm not really a fan of No Rain (or anything by Blind Melon, really), oh, and I would probably nudge Cut Your Hair up a bit, but then, of course, it would be my list. And it ain't. It's your glorious list, and I love it!

Although, do you really think the disjointed, jammed-together Hand in My Pocket beats You Oughta Know? Is (GULP) Song 2 really your favorite Blur single of the 90s? Really? Over Country House, The Universal, Popscene, For Tomorrow, Chemical World, To the End, or even M.O.R. or On Your Own? Beetlebum, Stereotypes, Tender, or Coffee and TV? (Yep, I'm a huge Blur fan, and one who doesn't really think Song 2, as great as it is, is really one of the band's major songs...)

OK, I'll shut up now. Love the list.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

Nick Vane11/07/2002

true, Tender, Boys and Girls, etc. all good (possibly better!) choices. I had a vague idea of what I wanted from this list: I wanted to pick songs that sound great as singles. "You Never Give Me Your Money" - my fav Beatles track. As a single "Help!" is miles above. (Why the Sigur Ros song then? I guess I respected the naivete of releasing a 10 minute single, especially a song as beautiful as theirs) I guess the immediacy of "Song 2" got me as I was hurriedly typing this list. But yeah, more stuff deserves to be on here. This list could be twice as long. We'll see...

Yeah, I found "You Oughta Know" too vindictive. I enjoyed the scattershot wisdom of "Hand in My Pocket". In "You Oughta Know", it seemed like she was trying to be Angry Everywoman, with (in my own opinion only) mixed results. "Hand" had a lovely and rare guitar/harmonica interplay; a laid-back, white-bread groove; and as a bonus/rarity from Ms. Alanis, non-preachy lyrics.

'Course, I thought the video was cool, too. It's where I first heard the song, and probably influences my enjoyment to a degree.

thanks for your scholarly input as always!

mtrobert11/07/2002

I would put in
Pearl Jam Yellow Ledbetter, Monster Magnet Space lord, and Nine INch Nails Hurt ANd some others i cant think of i never even heard of your # 1

c_eagle07/08/2004

Forget hearing about it. I'm having trouble pronouncing it!

Great to see that 'Last Stop: This Town' made your list. By far my favourite Eels song and probably in my top 20 songs of all time.

M.Sturm11/30/2005

Shakermaker? Really? I mean, wasn't Live Forever both a bigger single and better song?
Solid list though. I support the (apparent) lack of genre bias

M.Sturm11/30/2005

Also, who makes a 52 item list?

dgeiser1312/01/2005

Nick Vane does.