GoGo Yubari's Top 100 Songs of the '90s

[GoGo Yubari]

Shit, I skipped #61! This is officially the Quentin Tarantino-style countdown, in order to make it even more '90s, so he's a song out of order.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaoSSVQz37A

61. "Free Your Mind" by En Vogue

Best use of "ooh la la"s in music ever? The answer is yes. Backing singers in pop music are great, and the ones in the chorus are some of my favorite ever.

[GoGo Yubari]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4A-UZMjHWE

56. "I Walk On Gilded Splinters" by Paul Weller

Discovered this through season four of The Wire (and come to think of it, I should have put "Feel Alright" by Steve Earle on this list too) and have loved it ever since. There's just so much going on in the song, so many disjointed elements that feel like they shouldn't work together but they totally do.

55. "Three Strange Days" by School of Fish

Sometimes a song hits you just right and sticks with you a long, long time, and that's what happened here. I actually still remember how I got into this song perfectly; it was 2003 and I was on the bus home from high school, listening to the radio. They were doing their Resurrection Flashback theme hour (which basically translated to "'80s to more obscure early '90s alternative"), and I think I fell asleep for a while and woke up just before my stop, and the radio started playing this song. And for whatever reason, it was perfect. The song is pretty standard early '90s alt-rock fare, but I love it still and it's probably because of that experience of hearing it for the first time.

[GoGo Yubari]

54. "Forever & Ever" by Luna Sea

Sadly, by including Japanese songs I apparently run the risk of having no option but to use anime music videos. Don't watch it, just listen to the song. This is the longest song on the list for sure, clocking in at over ten minutes (hence, I guess, "Forever & Ever"), and it never really outstays its welcome for me which is rare of 10+ minute songs. It's just this long, sprawling song that somehow fuses J-Rock with, like... it sort of sounds like a '50s rock song (see:

). Two great(ish) tastes that taste great together!

53. "It's Saturday" by Marcy Playground

Oh my god, this song is hilarious. Seriously. It's the single most '90s song of all time. Detached, emotionless talk-singing! Winking references to Timothy Leary! Dumb lines about horny girls! A general sense of the song being about a gen-X slacker guy in a listless stupor! And also? It has yodeling. I couldn't in good conscience place it higher than this, but know that I was so tempted to put it in the top fifty.

[GoGo Yubari]

52. "Just" by Radiohead

As I said in Hamster's countdown thread, my choice of favorite Radiohead song is pretty obvious and generic. But hey, this is the song that actually inspired me to get a couple more Radiohead albums than I already have, so maybe I'll have a better one for GoGo Yubari's Top 100 Songs of the '90s II! (There will never be a Top 100 Songs of the '90s II.)

51. "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" by Neutral Milk Hotel

"Holland, 1945" is starting to make a serious push to topple this song from the hallowed heights of My Favorite Neutral Milk Hotel Song Out of All Twenty Songs They Have. But for now, the title track is still my favorite, and was the song that got me into them (I want to say I first heard it on like... online radio? Slacker.com? That site used to be so rad before they became desperate for paid users).

[GoGo Yubari]

50. "Badfish" by Sublime

Oh, Sublime. My relationship with Sublime is weird. Like, I think I hate the idea of Sublime more than Sublime itself, because when doing a search for this song I saw the names of a bunch of songs where I was like "oh, I actually like this." Maybe it was alternative radio overexposure when I was a kid? Anyway, in spite of my mixed feelings towards Sublime I've always really loved this song. This and "Santeria" are pretty much why I could never write them off, and "Badfish" in particular has aged pretty brilliantly.

49. "Do the Evolution" by Pearl Jam

When I was a kid I was always both in awe of and terrified by this music video. Kind of a crazy thing to see when you're like nine. Pearl Jam is another band that I'm kind of sick of now, though recently a couple of other songs by them have ended up in my good graces. But none so much as "Do the Evolution," because, well, it isn't an aggressively bland five minute song that doesn't go anywhere. "Do the Evolution" almost feels like Eddie Vedder's response to "Very Ape" by Nirvana or something, which is fantastic.

[GoGo Yubari]

48. "Stars" by Hum

One of those great semi-famous alternative singles of the '90s. Kind of a pity its primary exposure these days is from car commercials because it really deserves more credit as a song on its own right. I still love you, "Stars!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL7tz03v8wc

47. "The Truth" by Handsome Boy Modeling School

Curiously, the only thing I don't like about this song is the rapping. Which is funny because it seems like the rapping should be one of the easiest things for a Handsome Boy Modeling School song to get right. So... How's Your Girl? is one of the best hip-hop albums of the '90s, and it never really gets its due as being so. Shaaaame.

[Plubby]

So many pluses for Bouncing Souls, I don't even know where my limit is of double accounts I would create to continue to plus it

...I don't suppose there is any maximum-cheese 90s still to come? Real McCoy? Ace of Base? Feel like i'm asking the wrong person to put that stuff on a list, but I have hope.

[GoGo Yubari]

There are a couple songs that come up that have that quality to them (though most of them are actually hip-hop), but I think most of my '90s cheese entries have come and gone by now. Might be a big one in the top twenty depending on your perspective, though!

[GoGo Yubari]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeIPYpHfr4U

46. "Drive" by Incubus

One of the best things about music, in my opinion, is that it helps provide a context for the past. Like, I can listen to a song and remember when I got into it, what I was doing at the time, maybe a couple specific times I heard it, what school I was going to, my hobbies, and so on. "Drive" takes me back to seventh grade when I was super-into the local alternative station and they'd play this song, like, every other hour. And unlike a lot of songs that that station overplayed (I'm looking at you, everything by Linkin Park) "Drive" is good enough to withstand that kind of overexposure.

45. "Quavers" by Shonen Knife

Shonen Knife is so awesome. Having actually gotten to see them live a couple years back was one of the more awesomely surreal concert experiences I've had because I really didn't think I'd get that chance, and they not only met but exceeded my expectations. My one bit of disappointment, though, was that they didn't play this. This and "Riding in the Rocket" are them at their most Japanese Girl Ramones (they played the latter, though, and it ruled).

[GoGo Yubari]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-BRlrVJCKc

44. "Then She Appeared" by XTC

Actually, now I think this is a bit high. Oh, the fickleness of trying to rank 100 songs I like! But Nonsuch is a very good XTC album (I think the last good XTC album. Take that, Apple Venus!) and this is a very good song off of it.

43. "Otha Fish" by The Pharcyde

Which reminds me, I should really get a copy of Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde seeing as I like a bunch of songs off of it. Everything about this song clicks perfectly, and plus it's a breakup song, and I've discovered I really enjoy well-crafted breakup songs (see: "Fuck You," also all classic country).

[Skummy]

I wish that was the video to that XTC song >_>

[GoGo Yubari]

I have no idea what you're talking about

[Guest mr. potato head]

There are a couple songs that come up that have that quality to them (though most of them are actually hip-hop), but I think most of my '90s cheese entries have come and gone by now. Might be a big one in the top twenty depending on your perspective, though!

BACKSTREET'S BACK ALL RIGHT!

[GoGo Yubari]

No. Shut up.

42. "Touche-Moi" by Stereo Total

So this is the point in the list where the level of difficulty in ordering songs jumps up a ridiculous amount once again. I actually did a bunch of shuffling of the next few, this song was originally at something like #38. Moreover, if I were doing it in the style of Hamster I would have to rate picking a favorite Stereo Total song as being VERY HARD. Like, it could have been this, it could have been http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtz3ZHoaWFg, or it could have definitely been I Love You, Ono. Stereo Total rules, and they're Very European to boot.

41. "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" by Wu-Tang Clan

Another really impossible choice between this, "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing ta Fuck Wit," and "C.R.E.A.M." But ODB's verse puts Chessboxin' over the top, because it's pretty much one of the best single verses in the history of hip-hop, if not the best.

[GoGo Yubari]

40. "Lover, You Should've Come Over" by Jeff Buckley

True story; this song, at one point, was at #100. And then, well, I listened to it and realized that was insane, and it eventually made it all the way to kick off the Top #40. This song is so much better than the "Hallelujah" cover, I don't even care, all the hype for that song needs to back up and head to this one. It's got a backing chorus and everything!

39. "Rusty the Skatemaker" by Rasputina

Like the song that precedes it on this list, just an incredibly beautiful song. Sometimes Rasputina goes aggressive with the cello-rock sound, but here it's simple, sparing, and hauntingly effective.

[GoGo Yubari]

38. "I Like Fucking" by Bikini Kill

Yes, EWB's token asexual loves a song called "I Like Fucking." Hilarious! I mean, I love this song to the point where it's hard for me to not dance when I hear it, which is probably not very apropos because I'm probably not the target audience. But I believe there's something beyond troll god reality, and I believe this song is one that's never really gotten its due for being as great as it is. Possibly because of the title.

37. "Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger

This one, though, got the success it rightly deserved. Harvey Danger is awesome. I think if I were actually capable of writing songs they'd probably be a lot like some of the stuff Sean Nelson writes (that or Chris Bellew of the Presidents of the United States of America, Harvey Danger's compatriots in post-grunge Seattle rock). His lyrics and his singing combine to make him '90s alternative's Voice of the Smart-Ass, and I can get behind that.

[GoGo Yubari]

36. "Hit 'Em High" by B-Real, Coolio, Method Man, LL Cool J, and Busta Rhymes

I just... look at this lineup, and process that they got together and made a song for a Looney Toons movie. A member of Wu-Tang Clan! A member of Cypress Hill! Busta Rhymes! And... okay, Coolio and LL Cool J are a lot less surprising than B-Real, Meth, and Busta Rhymes. But the best part is it's a pretty great song even if occasionally the lyrics veer too much to being about Space Jam and I have to remember what the song is about and laugh. Back in 1996 this was like... my favorite song of all time, basically. Nothing could touch "Hit 'Em High."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7dDNeDIgf8

35. "Tonight, Tonight" by Smashing Pumpkins

I love Smashing Pumpkins when they're like this and not all obnoxiously angsty and THE WOOOOOORLD IS A VAMPIIIIIRE/AND GOD IS EMPTY JUST LIKE ME/etc. I'll take wide-eyed, awestruck sentimentality over snotty teen bullshit any day of the week.

[GoGo Yubari]

34. "Kiss Them For Me" by Siouxsie and the Banshees

I hate that weird descent into scat music that happens midway through the song, though. What was up with that?

33. "Thru & Thru" by The Rolling Stones

Just like I discovered the Paul Weller song through an HBO show's season-ending montage, I discovered this one through the same means (this time it was The Sopranos, season 2). It's awesome and it's sung by Keith Richards too, so that's a bonus.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Siouxsie and The Banshees? I approve, wholeheartedly.

[GoGo Yubari]

32. "De-Luxe" by Lush

This song is one of the most underrated and fun songs to play on Rock Band. Not even kidding. Fairly simple (well, no, it drives me nuts in Expert mode because strumming sucks but that's why I always play it in Hard instead) and actually really calming and relaxing to play.

... yeah. At this point I'm pretty much going to write whatever in these sections. "De-Luxe" is a good song. That's why it's at #32. Listen to it!

31. "Blow Up the Outside World" by Soundgarden

Best Soundgarden song. More disaffected jaded '90s angst, too, and we all know how much I apparently love that! Some of my favorite sing-screaming from Chris Cornell, too.