50 Best Rock Albums of the ’90s
10. Queensryche – Empire (1990)
Hailing from Washington state, Queensryche started in a progressive metal direction that grew more assured and accomplished as they matured. 1988’s Operation:Mindcrime was brilliant, but they bettered it with their tour-de-force 1990 release Empire. The title track and first single is kinetic and brimming with intensity and power. Geoff Tate is a vocalist with few peers, and his performances on Empire are spellbinding. There’s one powerhouse track after another: “Jet City Woman,” “The Thin Line,” the stunning opener “Best I Can” and the epic closer “Anybody Listening?” Then of course there was the surprise crossover hit, the gorgeous and haunting acoustic ballad “Silent Lucidity.” Empire has a great deal of cohesion and has aged particularly well. Yeah it’s 24 years old, but it still rocks hard.
9. Pantera – Cowboys from Hell (1990)
Pantera had been somewhat of a glam metal band until their breakthrough with 1990’s Cowboys from Hell. Vocalist Phil Anselmo veers between his blood curdling shrieks to a more guttural sounding vocal style. Diamond Darrell (as Dimebag Darrell was still called) shows off impressive guitar histrionics, pioneering a groove metal style with his rhythm section Rex Rocker and Vinnie Paul. Cowboys from Hell elevated the band, and brought their first success which they would ride to new heights in the years to come. In the years since its release Cowboys from Hell is widely considered a pivotal metal album, and in the 24 years since its release it’s racked up over 1 million in U.S. sales alone. Standout tracks include “Psycho Holiday,” “Shattered,” “Heresy,” “Cowboys from Hell” and “Cemetery Gates.” Get it, turn it up, rock it out.
8. The Black Crowes – The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion (1991)
The Black Crowes made waves with their 1990 debut Shake Your Money Maker, including rock hits like “Jealous Again,” “Twice as Hard,” a scorching take on the old R&B standard “Hard to Handle,” and the powerful acoustic ballad “She Talks to Angels.” With the follow-up they can back even harder and rootsier. “Remedy” is about as good as it gets, an amped up hybrid of southern rock and late-60’s R&B. Chris Robinson knocks the vocals out of the park time and time again. In addition to “Remedy,” The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion placed 4 singles at #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart: “Thorn in My Pride,” “Sting Me,” and “Hotel Illness,” and “Sometimes Salvation” hit #7 for good measure. The Black Crowes would continue to record consistently solid albums, but they’d move further away from commercial melodies and their subsequent albums haven’t caught on like their first two. That said, but there are still gems to be discovered throughout their catalog (check out the smokin’ hot “Nebekanezer” from the Three Snakes and One Charm album as just one prime example).
7. Tom Petty – Wildflowers (1994)
Tom Petty’s Wildflowers was his big songwriter’s album. Produced by Rick Rubin and Petty’s collaborator in the Heartbreakers Mike Campell, Petty had an overflow of great material and the album stretched to 15 tracks. The endless versatility of studio drummer Steve Ferrone helps to navigate this wide range of material (he was formerly in Average White Band, and he did wonders on Duran Duran’s Notorious album). The first single is the sharp-as-nails stoner anthem “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” and he captures that same vibe in “It’s Good to Be King,” a languid track built on piano that fits neatly into the thick billows of pot smoke that wind in and out of Wildflowers. Petty channels Neil Young on the acoustic ballad “Only a Broken Heart,” and several other lovely acoustic ballads. “You Wreck Me” is a stand-out rocker, and the bluesy “Honey Bee” is another highlight “A Higher Place” is one of catchier tracks on the album , a breezy acoustic rock number that would fit right on “Full Moon Fever.” Wildflowers is an easygoing mixture of rock and acoustic numbers with a relaxed vibe and some of Petty’s finest compositions – a pleasure to sit back and really absorb.
6. Guns N’ Roses – Use Your Illusion I & II (1991)
It was never going to be easy to follow-up their razor sharp and multi-platinum debut, Appetite for Destruction, but Guns N’ Roses pulled it off by going BIG. Two full discs worth of often ambitious material, Use Your Illusion I & II (released individually and simultaneously), was audacious enough to be a worthy follow-up to Appetite for Destruction. With 30 tracks over two discs, many of them epic in scope like the stupendous “November Rain,” there is a lot of information to absorb here – – fortunately the vast majority of it is top-notch material. There are many high points, but the brutal, edgy first single “You Should Be Mine” must be singled out, as well as the spine-tingling ballad “Don’t Cry.” “Civil War,” “14 Years,” “Breakdown,” “Estranged,” and “Coma” are all key tracks. The band covers just about any stylistic territory you can imagine, from the motoric honky-tonk of “Bad Obsession” to their explosive take on “Live and Let Die.” It seems like GNR may have left it all on the table with this one. The core line-up disintegrated and, apart from a covers album, it would be 17 years until they’d next issue a studio album, Chinese Democracy, an album fabled more for how long it took to hit stores than for its music. But when GNR was in its prime – Appetite for Destruction, Use Your Illusion I & II – they were indisputably great.
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