True Alternative: The Top 100 Songs of the ’90s Underground

90. The Future Sound of London – “Expander”
from Accelerator (1991; Jumpin & Pumpin)

A moveable dance feast from one of electronic music’s most mobile bands, “Expander” was a more straightforward groove piece that still carried some of the more abstract embellishments that would typify FSOL’s later period. The beat’s just up front enough to make a presence, treated with high-filtered melodies, a mild case of electronic distemper and an incipient version of the ambiance that would eventually become one of their most distinguishable traits. Situated somewhere between the heedless joy of the pleasure-seeking ‘80s and the indigo brooding of trip-hop, “Expander” moved the needle exactly where it needed to go at the time without causing too many skidmarks. – PP

89. Pinback – “Tripoli”
from Pinback (1999; Ace Fu Records)

The underground punk explosion of the San Diego scene had already begun to wane a bit by the time Pinback arrived. Rob Crow and Zack Smith’s previous bands, Heavy Vegetable and Three Mile Pilot, respectively, had already ended. Drive Like Jehu was a half-decade in the rearview. And by the time the rest of the country caught up to “screamo,” Swing Kids, Antioch Arrow and Heroin had called it a day. It only stands to reason, then, that Pinback embraced a more insular, melodic lo-fi pop sound built on guitars without distortion pedals, gentle vocal harmonies and drum machines. Crow and Smith launched their low-key debut with “Tripoli,” a gorgeous and moody tune that eschewed abrasion and absurdity, and instead took a closer look at the things most of us don’t really want to think about: “I know I’m gonna die/ I hope it’s gonna happen later than I think.” – JT

88. Modest Mouse – “Heart Cooks Brain”
from The Lonesome Crowded West (1997; Up)

America’s favorite Pacific Northwestern indie rock jam band got a pretty hefty start in the ’90s, even if they wouldn’t really land on the national map until 2000’s The Moon & Antarctica and, to a greater extent, 2004’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News. But on “Heart Cooks Brain,” all the band’s crucial elements were already intact: complex, intertwined instrumentals, call-and-response song structures and, of course, a pretty heavy injection of Issac Brock’s signature pessimism (e.g. “In this place/ that I call home/ my brain’s the cliff/ and my heart’s the bitter buffalo”). Brock would later introduce a larger emphasis on hookier, pop-influenced songwriting that would lead to a well-deserved mainstream success, but—in the ’90s—Modest Mouse were already underground heroes. – ATB

87. Sparklehorse –  “Pig”
from Good Morning Spider (1998; Capitol)

Mark Linkous battled depression for his entire life, and the disease ultimately caused his suicide. (He took his life in the middle of the afternoon on March 6, 2010, shooting himself in the chest in a Knoxville alley.) So it’s difficult to hear Linkous sing—it’s more of a cry for help, really—“I wanna try and die” in the middle of the serrated lines of “Pig,” which is probably the edgiest song of his career. Linkous had been clinically dead for three minutes in 1996 following an overdose while on tour with Radiohead, who were big fans of his music. Linkous had to learn how to walk again, and it frustrated him; he wanted a new body that was strong, but he was stuck feeling like “a butchered cow.” “Pig” is short and messy, and can be heard as the soundtrack to Linkous’ own internal struggle to live. – JJM

86. Digable Planets – “Blowing Down”
from Blowout Comb (1994; Pendulum)

Digable Planets enjoyed a brief moment near the top of the U.S. charts with “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)”, but they abandoned any semblance of a hit single on 1994’s Blowout Comb, their lengthy, gritty, full-album tribute to Brooklyn. Steeped in ’70s jazz funk and blaxploitation sounds, Blowout Comb works best as a whole—one sumptuous groove and laid-back flow bleeding into another. But here’s your standout: “Blowing Down,” a deeply funky, sepia-toned jam of abstract visions and unobtrusive good times with enough of a glimpse of weirdness to open a window into the peculiar experimentation of Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler’s current outfit, Shabazz Palaces. But this is nothing so inscrutable, instead offering the jazz-fusion version of their free-flowing hip-hop, with a hook strong enough to embed itself snugly: “No doubt, we turns it out.” – JT

 85. This Mortal Coil – “You and Your Sister”
(from Blood – 1991; 4AD)

“Fears will soon fade away/Son, now, don’t be afraid,” croon Kim Deal and Tanya Donnelly, both of whom had, the prior year, made a stunning debut with The Breeders’ Pod. That’s important to understanding the band behind it: This Mortal Coil created somewhat of a façade—various artists all coming together under the physical umbrella of 4AD’s founder Ivo Watts-Russell. From their 1991 album Blood, this take on Chris Bell’s “You and Your Sister” is an acoustic friendship ballad, drawing on revolving guitar lines and warm vocals. Emphasizing the song’s balance between harmony and simplicity, a minimal but melancholic cello line ties the standout track together. Blood was a genius creation, eventually making NME’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. – VC

84. Awesome 3 – “Don’t Go (Kicks Like a Mule Mix)”
from “Don’t Go (Kicks Like a Mule Mix)” single (1992; Citybeat/XL)

In 1992, Richard Russell split his time between recording and remixing rave bangers for the London underground scene alongside Nick Halkes under the Kicks Like a Mule moniker and running his fledgling label XL Recordings. When he came across the Awesome 3’s standard breakbeat joint “Don’t Go” he heard dayglo potential in the Julie McDermott vocal sample, and set about injecting some muscle into the track, eventually releasing it on his label. The mix became a staple in the clubs and fields of England that summer, and was another step on the ladder for XL—at the time just one of countless rave imprints, but ultimately host to records by megastars including Radiohead, Adele, The White Stripes, Beck, Vampire Weekend and Gil Scott-Heron. – MP

83. Underworld – “Pearl’s Girl”
from Second Toughest in the Infants (1996; Junior Boy’s Own)

Released in March 1996, “Pearl’s Girl” represented a turning point in electronic music, taking it to a progressive new level. As others continued to experiment, Underworld was always two steps ahead, perpetually innovative. That innovation, just months before, landed them in Danny Boyle’s film Trainspotting, which featured the standout “Born Slippy .NUXX.” “Pearl’s Girl” rivals that song for dancefloor epics, with its driving beats and lengthy build. And just who is “Pearl’s Girl”? Glad you asked: She’s a greyhound from an English racing stadium. – VC

82. Quicksand – “Fazer”
from Slip (1993; Polydor)

Quicksand were ahead of their time—more emotive and surreal than Helmet, but not as close to the arena rock atmosphere as Tool, who went on to eclipse them commercially. The bass tone in the breakdown of “Fazer,” the opening track on their debut album, Slip, is mouth-watering, and their songwriting was more clever than the legions of nu-metal bands who would eventually come to cite Quicksand as an influence. “Fazer” sounds as good today as it did upon its release. – WL

81. Air Miami – “I Hate Milk”
from Me Me Me (1995; 4AD/Teenbeat)

“I Hate Milk” is one of those rare songs that says quite a lot with its attitude alone; so much so, in fact, that its composed of less than 30 individual words, but packs a punch like a hefty monologue. Part of this is due to its driving bass riff and chord progression, the same one that powered Led Zeppelin’s “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You” and Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4” and would later lend its strength to Green Day’s single “Brain Stew,” also released in ’95. But the grand prize here goes to its infectious chorus, an upbeat, almost zany repetition of the line “Please, please, someone kill me soon.”  – ATB