My Favorite Songs of The 1990s, Pt. 1

Ah, the '90s...

The music of the 1990s is my music, or so I feel. Even though I was still pretty young when the decade came to a close, I was old enough to have been transformed by its culture. I was old enough to have breathed its air, watched its cartoons, and played with its action figures. And I was old enough to hear its music.

Nearly all of my earliest, most transformative, most influential music memories deal with songs from the '90s, most of which are on this list. From first humming along to the striking power-pop of Hanson to awkwardly grooving to the soul music of TLC to eventually getting my mind blown and falling in love with rock n' roll after first hearing, you guessed it, Nirvana--the music of the '90s is ingrained in my DNA like The Stones or The Who are in that of a baby boomer. Even if a lot of my favorite albums/artists/songs of all time nowadays come from other decades, this '90s music will always be with me as my first: my first experience with music and the power it has.

Obviously I didn't hear all of these songs actually in the '90s when they came out. (I would've been a pretty cool six-year-old listening to Guided By Voices or Aphex Twin, huh?) But many of them did blast from my six-year-old boombox, and the ones that came later have often had equally profound effects on me. While you look at this list, you may question a few of the choices if they're stupid pop songs, but remember that some of these stupid pop songs are the reason I love music, and this is a list of my favorites. A list of my 180 favorite songs of this particular decade (plus 60 honorable mentions). So there.

While you look at this list, you may also think, "He's ripping off Pitchfork," and, well, you're a little right, I guess. It was indeed their list that inspired me to make my own. But there are a few differences, namely the restrictions that are on the list--see, I didn't put any concrete restrictions on what could be on and what couldn't (except for, of course, that each song needed to be released between 1990 and 1999). I did, however, semi-try to limit single artists' number of songs to around four or five or six in order to allow for some diversity, but I wasn't too strict on anything. Now that all that's out of the way, let's get to the list.

This part of the list (part 1) deals with the honorable mentions, of which there are sixty. These are songs I love, songs I truly wanted to put on the list; they just don't quite have the emotional tug or musical intrigue that the top 180 have. As a result, they're honorable mentions. Honorable indeed. They're listed below in alphabetical order. (The top 180 will be listed in order of favorites, don't worry.)

Acen--Trip II The Moon

Air--Sexy Boy

Aphex Twin--Girl/Boy Song

Arthur Russell--Keeping Up

The Auteurs--Unsolved Child Murder

Bardo Pond--Limerick

Black Tambourine--For Ex-Lovers Only

Boards of Canada--Happy Cycling

Boredoms--Super Are You

Daft Punk--Da Funk

Daniel Johnston--Walking The Cow

Digital Underground--The Humpty Dance

Disco Inferno--The Last Dance

Dr. Octagon--Earth People

Fastball--The Way

The Field Mice--Emma's House

Future Sound of London--Papua New Guinea

Geto Boys--My Mind Playin' Tricks On Me

Green Day--When I Come Around

Guided By Voices--Hot Freaks

The Halo Benders--Lonesome Sundown

Harvey Milk--A Small Turn of Human Kindness

Jawbox--Savory

The Jesus Lizard--Then Comes Dudley

The La's--There She Goes

Lightning Bolt--Into The Valley

Madonna--Ray Of Light

The Melvins--Hooch

Metalheadz--Terminator

Morrissey--Everyday Is Like Sunday

Napalm Death--Twist The Knife (Slowly)

Nirvana--Rape Me

The Notorious B.I.G.--Big Poppa

Orbital--Chime

Palace Music--More Brother Rides

PJ Harvey--Rid Of Me

Primal Scream--Higher Than The Sun

R.E.M.--Drive

Raekwon--Ice Cream

Red Hot Chili Peppers--Give It Away

The Roots--Without A Doubt

Slint--Nosferatu Man

Slowdive--Alison

Smog--Let's Move To The Country

Snap!--The Power

Sonic Youth--Disappearer

Suede--The Drowners

Talk Talk--Ascension Day

Third Eye Blind--Semi-Charmed Life

Tindersticks--City Sickness

TLC--Sumthin' Wicked This Way Comes

Tom Waits--Get Behind The Mule

A Tribe Called Quest--I Left My Wallet In El Segundo

A Tribe Called Quest--Award Tour

Unrest--Make Out Club

The Vaselines--Son Of A Gun

The Verve Pipe--The Freshmen

Ween--Dr. Rock

Wesley Willis--Rock N Roll McDonald's

Wu-Tang Clan--Can It Be All So Simple

That's what I think. The official countdown will begin with #'s 180 through 61. Look for it on Il Buono in the next day or two or three.