'90s Rock

Nothing screams the '90s quite like the scorched-earth vocals and heat-seeking guitars of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Actually, that's not entirely true. As the rest of our '90s Rock set shows, the last decade before Y2K was overrun with mosh pit-imploding riffs and the occasional power ballad, including the fleet-footed pop-punk of "When I Come Around," the melancholic confessionals of "Under the Bridge" and "Losing My Religion," the wave pool chords of "Mysterious Ways," and the ultimate kiss-off cut, "You Oughta Know."

Don't put your mouse down just yet; this nostalgia trip's got some Next Steps to take care of first.

If the rich, curtain-raising string section of "Bittersweet Symphony" sounds familiar, it's probably because the Verve sampled a Rolling Stones song from 1965 (an orchestral rendition of "The Last Time"). It's not the only '90s rock track that logged some serious time machine miles, either. "Hey Man Nice Shot" and "Closer" tap right into the frazzled and fried minds of beat-chopping industrial icons like KMFDM and Skinny Puppy, "One Headlight" features the son of a certain Bob Dylan, and Bonnie Raitt, well, she hit one hell of a career high with the MTV-approved "Something to Talk About," her biggest crossover success in two decades.

Speaking of chart-toppers, our Deep Cuts section includes some serious Top 40 contenders, despite its underdog title.

If you could flash back to any modern rock broadcast from the '90s, chances are you'd stumble upon any one — or three — of the following arena-ready anthems. The distorted chords and punchy "woo hoo!" choruses of "Song 2" are cranked up so high they'd wake the dead; "The Beautiful People" reveals a rewarding and ravenous Marilyn Manson; "Down" is Omaha-bred rap-rock that goes straight for the jugular with swift turntable scratches and crunchy riffs; and "Buddy Holly" is Weezer at the top of their game, a geek-rallying pop song with muscle-bound hooks and a soft, gooey center.

With gravity-defying hair and circulation-cutting spandex unofficially banned at the start of the '90s, rock was ready for a revival of sorts — a do-it-yourself middle ground between sold-out stadiums and barely legal basement shows. Generation X quickly found its anxiety and angst reflected in the bruised pop singles of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and Smashing Pumpkins, but the decade was about more than just grunge. For one thing, "alternative rock" was repped by a countless subgenres and overnight scenes, including Britpop (Oasis, Blur), nü-metal (Limp Bizkit, Korn), pop-punk (Green Day, the Offspring), and even a tinge of ska-inspired SoCal tunes (No Doubt, Sublime). And then there were the rock 'n' roll icons that refused to give new-blood bands too much room for world domination — from Guns 'n' Roses at its peak to U2 in its Achtung Baby phase.