50 Best Rock Albums of the ’90s
30. Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Way (1993)
Featuring a classic title-song with a ferocious guitar riff, Are You Gonna Go My Way is Lenny Kravitz’ strongest album overall. From the hard-driving rock of the title, the album veers all over the place stylistically. There’s the epic spaced-out guitar ballad “Believe,” the slow-burning blues rock of “Sister,” the absolutely sweet soul of “Heaven Help” and “Black Girl,” the sizzling funk rocker “Is There Any Love In Your Heart…. The album is tied together by the great songwriting, performing, and the subtle soul/psychedelic vibe that permeates everything on the album. Kravitz is a legendary performer and he’s release some killer records, but Are You Gonna Go My Way is THE Lenny Kravitz album you must own.
29. Counting Crows – August & Everything After (1993)
“Mr. Jones” was everywhere for a while. It threatened to become the ‘90s “Brown Eyed Girl.” Counting Crows would have been a massive one hit wonders but they had the songwriting skills on their debut album to spare them that fate. “Round Here” has one of the decade’s finest set of lyrics, and “Rain King,” and “A Murder of One” are also top notch. Counting Crows have continued putting out strong records, but there is something about August & Everything After that will never be topped. It was a record that was deeply needed when it came out. Perfect for its time and place.
28. AC/DC – The Razor’s Edge (1990)
“Thunderstruck” is pure rock ‘n roll genius, especially that opening sequence that gets progressively louder while the fans go crazy. It’s the perfect opening to the album, and it now also reverberates around sports stadiums as crowds use the song to get pumped up. It’s a basic blues pattern that just repeats with the cry “Thunder!” That’s AC/DC. Pretty basic stuff mostly, but they’ve got a distinct, clean sound that takes ya by the nuts and pulls hard. The production team of Bruce Fairbairn and Mike Fraser served the band well, imparting a more commercial as with Bon Jovi and Aerosmith (Fairbairn was key to Aerosmith’s big comeback after their switch to Geffen Records). The second single “Moneytalks” became one of only three AC/DC tracks to crossover to the US pop chart (the others being “Back in Black” and “You Should Me All Night Long,” not bad company to be in.) “Are You Ready?” became another major rock hit for the band. The Razor’s Edge sold over 5 million copies in America, a huge comeback for the band and better sales figures than any of their albums except their titans Highway to Hell (1979) and Back in Black (1980).
27. Robert Plant – Manic Nirvana (1990)
Robert Plant’s post-Zeppelin work has been hit-and-miss. He had a handful of great singles in the ‘80s – particularly the bluesy, lyrically beautifully “Big Log.” Other standouts are “Heaven Knows,” “In the Mood,” “Ship of Fools,” “Little by Little,” “Tall Cool One” and the EP with the Honeydrippers that featured a lush, gorgeous version of “Sea of Love” and a kinetic take on the old dancehall classic “Rockin’ at Midnight.” On Manic Nirvana, Plant takes his post-Zeppelin mysticism that he dabbled in as a solo artist and he matches it with the strongest material yet over the course of an entire album. Rockers like “Hurting Kind,” “Big Love,” “Nirvana” and “SSS&Q” make up a solid core. He injects some bluesy psychedelia with tracks like “Tie Dye on the Highway” and the heavily rhythmic “One Love.” There’s nothing as individually strong as “Big Log,” and it’s miles away from his work with Led Zep, but Manic Nirvana is about as close as Plant has come as solo artist.
26. The Pretenders – Last of the Independents (1994)
Chrissie Hynde has never stopped rocking, and she proved it in a big way with 1994’s Last of the Independents, easily the finest Pretenders album since Learning to Crawl a decade before. It’s a hodge-podge of styles that has Chrissie Hynde sounding like she’s having the most fun in ages. “Rebel Rock Me” is old-school Pretenders at their most raucous. The jittery “Night in my Veins” was a killer lead single, and Hynde was rewarded with a Top 20 Pop hit with the sublime ballad “I’ll Stand By You.” “Love Colours” should have followed into the Top 40. The album closes with a lovely take on Dylan’s “Forever Young” that features a beautifully impassioned vocal by Hynde. Last of the Independents, which features the return of original drummer Martin Chambers, made The Pretenders matter again, and not just for their old stuff.
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