These top 20 were broadcast on air as one of the final Chandelier Swing broadcasts on August 17, 2018.
These are my top 20 songs of 90s indie rock. Not necessarily bands or albums. One song per band. Release date has to be between 1990 and 1999.
My complaint with this list is, in coming up with the best-of-the-best-of-the-best, it smoothed out a lot of the eclecticism that made the 90s so interesting. So, to make this list complete, maybe play some Stereolab, and Sonic Youth, and Dub Narcotic, and Low, and Wesley Willis, and....
20. Jimmy Eat World - Christmas Card / Untitled
Source: Jimmy Eat World / Blueprint split 7", Abridged Records 1996.
Also available on Singles CD, Big Wheel Recreation, 2000
Jimmy were always better on 7" than on their full-lengths, and this is long before they jumped the shark. These two songs (always together. always) show why this band used to matter, if only for a brief period of time.
19. Texas Is the Reason - Nickel Wound
Source: Do You Know Who You Are?, Revelation Records, 1996
One of my faves. Just good rock music. Always picks me up when I'm down.
18. Radiohead - Climbing Up the Walls
Source: OK Computer. Capitol Records, 1997
The only Major Label entry in here. What a great, creepy song.
17. Hum - Diffuse
Source: Feast of the Sybarites comp, Lotuspool records, 1993 as well as reissues of the Electra 2000 album (Cargo Records, etc., 1997 onwards)
Such an epic song.
16. The Stella Brass - Fine Day for the Lake
Source: Figure Eights and Heart Shapes 7", Culvert Records 1997
From a posthumous 7" from this amazing SLC band. (this video is a pretty poor audio quality rip). I love everything about this song except for the 2 minute flanged drum solo opening.
15. Mineral - February (March Version)
Source: February 7", Caulfield Records, 1997
Also available on 1994-1998: The Complete Collection, Arena Rock Recording Co., 2014
Hard to pick a favorite Mineral song, but I think this one wins. "I think I finally know what they mean when they talk about joy"
14. Braid - Killing a Camera
Source: Frame and Canvas LP, Polyvinyl Records, 1998
Also hard to pick a Braid song, but this one is certainly catchy enough. Love the last verse.
13. Seven Storey Mountain - Incomplete
Source: A Million Miles Away: The Emo Diaries Vol.2, Deep Elm Records, 1998
Also available on Conservatory compilation online.
Also available for purchase here:
https://sevenstoreymountain.bandcamp.com/album/conservatory
7SM's Lance Lammers is a genuinely nice guy, but I think he's taken a prince-like stance towards digital music, so it's tough for me to link you this awesome song. It's got a chorus that's about 14 stories tall.
12. Secret Stars: Whisper:Eye
Source: TSS LP, Shrimper Records, 1995
Delicate as an eylash. Pulling on the heartstrings with just the basics: vocals, guitar.
11. Rodan - The Everyday World of Bodies
Source: Rusty LP, Quarterstick Records, 1994
Sometimes less isn't more. Sometimes More is More. Jeff Mueller, Tara Jane O'Neil, Jason Noble, Kevin Coultas, and 12 minutes of tension and release.
10. Pohgoh - Friend X
Source: What's Mine Is Yours: The Emo Diairies Vol. 1, Deep Elm Records, 1997
Also available on "All Along" Discography LP, New Granada Records, 2014
Sad song, powerful vocals, timeless feels.
9. Juno - All Your Friends Are Comedians
Source: This Is the Way it Goes and Goes and Goes... CD, DeSoto Records, 1999
A criminally underrated, powerful band. Plus, these guys helped me break into my car when I locked my keys in it after a show.
8. Slint - Good Morning, Captain
Source: Spiderland LP, Touch and Go Records, 1991
I MISS YOU!
7. Jeremy Enigk - Carnival
Source: Return of the Frog Queen LP, Sub Pop Records, 1996
Sunny Day Real Estate implodes at the height of their mystique and popularity, and singer Jeremy Enigk constructs a strange masterpiece out of acoustic guitar and orchestra. Unexpected, unprecedented, unparalleled, unequaled.
6. Halo Benders - Virginia Reel Around the Fountain
Source: The Rebels Not In CD, K Records, 1998
For some reason, this song stands taller than anything Doug Martsch or Calvin Johnson ever did with their respective 90s bands, and is better than the sum of all of them. Throw in an obscure Smith's reference, and whatever Calvin's doing, and it's the epitome of cool.
5. Modest Mouse - Cowboy Dan
Source: The Lonesome Crowded West LP, Up Records, 1997
A soundscape as lush and stirring as anything Built to Spill ever created, but twisted. Cowboy Dan inhabits a world of exurban existential angst that taps a nerve, at least with me.
4. June of 44 - Of Information and Belief
Source: Four Great Points LP, Quarterstick Records, 1998
A hypnotic 7/8 groove. This is the greatest place on earth.
3. The Van Pelt - The Speeding Train
Source: The Van Pelt EP, Gern Blandsten Records, 1997.
Also available on Imaginary Third LP, La Castanya Records, 2014
This song feels... like the aspirations of a generation. "Do not be afraid to let it take you."
2. Shellac - Copper
Source: Terraform LP, Touch and Go Records, 1997
One Minute and Forty-Eight Seconds of purity.
1.Sunny Day Real Estate - Song About an Angel
Source: Diary LP, Sub Pop Records, 1994
More powerful than words.
