I was talking with my dad yesterday and we somehow got on the topic of music and how much majority of today's music is horrible and how he grew up with some of the greatest music in our history. Looking at the classic rock era, there are people of all ages, backgrounds, etc that listen to some of the iconic songs from the 70's and are songs that my kids will probably be listening to when they're teenagers and in their early-20's (Stairway, Layla, Freebird, Voodoo Child, etc).

Since I graduated HS in 2000, I began thinking about what songs from the 90's would have what I call "generational power," or songs that other generations will be listening to 30-40 years later. Just a few that popped into my mind:

**Edited to separate by genre (where I'd classify it)**

Rock:
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Pearl Jam - Jeremy, Black, Better Man
Counting Crows - Mr. Jones
Oasis - Don't Look Back in Anger, Wonderwall
Matchbox Twenty - 3AM
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
Hootie and the Blowfish - Only Wanna Be With You, Hold My Hand
Foo Fighters - Everlong
REM - Losing My Religion
Live - Lightning Crashes
GnR - November Rain
Green Day - When I Come Around
Bush - Glycerine
Radio Head - Creep
Fuel - Shimmer
STP - Plush, Creep
Metallica - Enter Sandman
AIC - Man in the Box, Rooster
Third Eye Blind - How's It Going to Be, Semi-Charmed Life
Sublime - Santeria
Faith No More - Epic
Kid Rock - Cowboy

Rap/Hip-Hop:
Dr. Dre - Nuthin' But a G Thang
Snoop - Gin & Juice, Who Am I?
Biggie - Big Poppa, Hypnotize
2Pac - California Love
Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back
House of Pain - Jump Around
Jay-Z - Can I Get A

Pop:
Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You
Madonna - Vogue
Backstreet Boys - I Want it That Way
The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
TLC - Waterfalls
No Doubt - Don't Stop
Alanis Morissette - Ironic
Semisonic - Closing Time
Jewel - You Were Meant for Me

AIC - man in the box, rooster
smashing pumpkins - tonight, tonight, disarm, cherub rock

How could I forget Rooster? One of my favorite songs (Down in a Hole is my favorite AIC song).

Blink 182 - All the small things

It may not be your cup of tea nor mine but.
Biggie
Tupac
Dre

Kinda a second golden age of hip hop/ rap during your timeframe .

Temple of the Dog - Hunger Strike

There's also probably quite few in the pop and hip-hop genres as well.

quote:

---

How could I forget Rooster? One of my favorite songs (Down in a Hole is my favorite AIC song).

---

love AIC. my personal favorite is Would, but I think Rooster and Man in the Box fit the description better

On the more pop side


Blind melon -no rain
Emf - unbelievable
Jesus Jones right - here right now
The breeders - cannonball
Alanis Morris eternal - you ought know (let's be honest the entire album is great)
Madonna - vogue
The prodigy - smack my butch up
The verve - bittersweet symphony
Beck - loser

Hanson - Mmmbop

Green Day - Time of Your Life

I also would throw in the Friends theme song.

quote:

---

Hanson - Mmmbop

---

if my future grandkids are listening to this in 30-40 years, I'll be taking the bullet train.

quote:

---

Hanson - Mmmbop

---

Huge hit that I'd call more of a one hit wonder than a generational song.

quote:

---

Hanson - Mmmbop

---

In the past couple of months, my soon-to-be 3 year old daughter has walked by me singing Mmmbop and Achy Breaky Heart. I need to find a way to lock my wife's radio to certain songs when she's driving.

Semisonic - Closing Time
Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta

And I'm pretty sure I still know all the words to Mmmbop. Yes there are actual words.

Rico Suave - Gerardo
I Wanna Be Rich - Calloway
Do Me - Bell Biv Devoe
You're In Love - Wilson Phillips
Hold On- Wilson Phillips
Love of a Lifetime -Firehouse
I am the One and Only - Chesney Hawkes
She Ain't Worth It - Glenn Medeiros & Bobby Brown
Rub You the Right Way - Johnny Gil
I Missed The Bus - Kriss Kross
Feeling so G-U-D - Joe Diffie

Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

Yellow Ledbetter - PJ

Two Princes - Spin Doctors

Pump Up The Jam - Technotronic

Weezer - Buddy Holly

Smashing Pumpkins - 1979, Today, Disarm
Weezer - Buddy Holly, Say It Ain't So
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
The Cure - Friday I'm In Love
INXS - Need You Tonight
Jane's Addiction - Jane Says
Foo Fighters - Everlong
Toadies - Possum Kingdom
Incubus - Drive
Cake - The Distance
Madonna - Vogue
Xtreme - More Than Words
Boys II Men - End of the Road
Bone Thugs - First of tha Month
Notorious BIG - Hypnotize, Juicy
Aerosmith - Don't Wanna Miss A Thing
Toni Braxton - Unbreak My Heart
Elton John - Candle In The Wind
Fugees - Killing Me Softly
Warren G - Regulators
Beastie Boys - Sabotage, Sure Shot
RATM - Bulls on Parade

there are tons and tons and tons

quote:

---

"The music of today is horrible. The music when I was an influential teenager is way better".

This refrain has been proclaimed by every generation of people for the last 500 years, DUCY?

---

I do think we look back in 20 years and wonder what we were thinking with most current pop music though, similar to how we view Disco or a lot of 80's pop.

quote:

---

"The music of today is horrible. The music when I was an influential teenager is way better".

This refrain has been proclaimed by every generation of people for the last 500 years, DUCY?

---

I can look back on the 90s, which I consider my generation's music, and proclaim that there was a lot of horrible, horrible music. There was also a lot of good mainstream music. What can you honestly say is good mainstream music today? What rock band is out there making it big that has a lot of staying power? I'm asking seriously, because my spotify pretty much stops at 2005.

I don't know that this current music generation (or future generations) will have the same cohesive musical experience because of the stratification that's followed the MP3/Internet generation.

In the last 100 years, you were pretty much beholden to the radio and what they were playing. Then there was MTV and you got a little more exposure. There were your neighborhood record stores and stuff like that, but in general pretty much everyone was listening to the same stuff. That's why I haven't listened to R&B or Country in years, but I can recall from memory just about every Boys II Men, Whitney Houston, Garth Brooks, George Strait, Keith Sweat, etc., song I've ever heard.

Anyway, similar to what you're saying, I feel very strongly about 90s music because of those cohesive experiences similar to the way a teen from the 80s or 70s or whatever might feel. I don't know if this current generation and future ones experience that nostalgia to the same degree.

Mad Season - River of Deceit

Tom Petty - Free Fallin/Mary Jane's Last Dance/a dozen others
Blues Traveler - Hook
Dave Matthews Band - Crash
Deep Blue Something - Breakfast at Tiffany's
Fastball - The Way
Offspring - Pretty Fly
Smash Mouth - All Star

IF you are going to put Kid Rock on the list, then you should probably put Limp Bizcuit, Nookie on it. Though I don't think either belong.

Also, like it or not, Rap needs to include Vanilla Ice, Ice Ice Baby. He brought rap to suburbia.

quote:

---

IF you are going to put Kid Rock on the list, then you should probably put Limp Bizcuit, Nookie on it. Though I don't think either belong.

---

agreed. kid rock, limp bizkit, korn, and pretty much Woodstock 99 is when it all went to ****.

The only one that really comes to mind is the Foo Fighters. They're mainstream and they're consistently making good music.

Maybe even throw in Beck

candlebox - far behind

although I know a lot of people think candlebox was sort of the first step towards nickelback, I still like that song.

quote:

---

The only one that really comes to mind is the Foo Fighters. They're mainstream and they're consistently making good music.

Maybe even throw in Beck

---

but those are 90s bands. no one thinks of foo fighters and beck and thinks 2015, even if they're still making music.

I do think of them when you think about good mainstream rock in 2015.

Foo Fighters latest album was pretty popular on radio waves, the HBO special, and their tour still sells out. Beck just won best Rock Album and Album of the year.

They may have started in the 90s and were part of the grunge era, but because of their staying power they're today's good mainstream music.

well, shows what I know

quote:

---

quote:

---

Hanson - Mmmbop

---

Huge hit that I'd call more of a one hit wonder than a generational song.

---

The song is more important than most give it credit for, simply because it was the song that ushered in the Pop/Boy Band resurgence of the early 2000's. It was also was a signal of the change in mainstream culture away from the 90's Seattle rock to a happier more care-free music of Pop. I'm not saying it was THE ONLY song, but I remember when it came out is when I noticed the change on radio, etc.