'90s Alt Rock

A sound doesn't define the alternative rock of the '90s so much as a sneer and a searing, blatant refusal to repeat the new wave and hair-metal inclinations of the Reagan years. It's epitomized in Nirvana's Beatles moment, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," which goes to work on a pristine pop skeleton with blunt instruments. And it's hammered home by refined riot grrrl rock ("Just a Girl," "You Oughta Know"), soccer hooligan scores that are somber ("Wonderwall") and smashing ("Song 2"), and a sludgy, scorching set of Northwestern grunge ("Black Hole Sun," "Would?").

Talk about being all over the place. While our '90s Alt Rock playlist is certainly buoyed by breakneck riffs and raging against the machine (including those very rap-rock pioneers), it also soars on the strength of a Rolling Stones string section ("Bittersweet Symphony"), digs in a grave plot of industrial dirt ("Hurt"), props up inescapable pop-punk ("All the Small Things"), dives into the depths of a deep depression ("Fade Into You"), and bounces back like a kid who's just eaten a bag of sugar ("Walkin' on the Sun").

Some of these songs are, indeed, Deep Cuts — college rock classics stained with tears ("Joey," "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?"), spilled beer ("Nobody," "Kool Thing"), and candle wax ("Sour Times"). But most of them also jockeyed for position on the same airwaves as our Basics, because they were innovative and infectious. "Human Behaviour" is like a chase scene between Björk and some very restless natives, "Block Rockin' Beats" introduced America to the napalm beats of electronica, and "Novocaine for the Soul" is a black comedy scored by xylophones and battery-powered chords.

Didn't the '90s end, like, yesterday? Not exactly, but it's gonna feel that way after revisiting these 75 slacker-approved singles. Close your eyes for a moment and press play: You'll immediately be transported to a place where anyone can be a funk soul brother ("The Rockafeller Skank"), where rappers rock ("Sabotage") and rockers rap (311, Rage Against the Machine, Limp Bizkit), where the nerd with the Coke bottle glasses gets the girl ("Buddy Holly"), and where punk (Green Day, the Offspring, Blink-182), sludgy riffs (Soundgarden), and filthy industrial jams (Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Filter) are somehow conquering the charts.