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

20. Boards of Canada – “Roygbiv”
from Music Has the Right to Children (1998; Warp)

By now it’s well known that brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin found endless inspiration for their beautifully busted organic electronica in the National Film Board of Canada’s documentaries they watched as children living in The Great White North and their native Scotland. Fans and critics also acknowledge that some of BoC’s most entertaining music resides in the interlude-length tracks scattered across their albums. “Roygbiv” rises to the level of an unspoken classic because it rests at an intersection of both paths. At 2:31 it’s long enough to be a proper song, yet short enough (and with a long enough fade-out) that you’re never quite prepared for it to stop. And with repeated motifs of welcoming analog synths and loping, clipped percussion, it feels like it could have been playing behind the opening credits for a TV series on wildlife or a high school filmstrip on Careers for the Next 25 Years. Remove the samples of babbling children, and you’d be right to expect a voiceover to kick in from Buffy Sainte-Marie or Leslie Nielsen. This is transporting, transformative synthesized music—not just something else but somewhere else, at some other time. – AB

19. Fugazi – “Bed for the Scraping”
from Red Medicine (1995; Dischord)

There are quite a few perfect rock songs on this list; tracks that should have performed wonderfully on mainstream charts in the post-Nevermind frenzy, but didn’t for one reason or another. But D.C. post-hardcore quartet and Dischord Records poster boys Fugazi hold the rare honor of having been offered the Nirvana treatment and politely refusing it. Ever the believers in DIY, they opted to stick with the label that guitarist/vocalist/co-frontman Ian MacKaye co-founded and owned. This gave them, of course, complete flexibility and control for business aspects of the band, especially when it came to how, when and where they toured, merch sales and how they were advertised. More importantly for this list, though, it gave them complete autonomy on the writing and recording of their music.

“Bed for the Scraping” is lifted off what many fans consider to be Fugazi’s magnum opus– the ideal crossroads between hard-hitting, political post-hardcore and the band’s more experimental leanings into influences as varied as dub, noise and psychedelia. It is as much of an in-your-face punk track as anything the band ever wrote, but benefits strongly from Red Medicine‘s general ambiance. So, for as much as it is a straight-forward rocker, at all times focused on empowering MacKaye’s yelps and roars, it also showcases a stunning amount of texture and variety. Every little nuance, from Brendan Canty’s jazzy cymbal work to Joe Lally’s careful fret work on the bass, swirls together to create a rather immersive whole. It’s unlikely that Fugazi felt as if they had to prove anything at this point in their career. But “Bed for the Scraping” is clear evidence that you can craft blistering rock music and compelling art in a single stroke without compromising either element. – ATB

18. Dr. Octagon – “Blue Flowers”
from Dr. Octagonecologyst (1996; Bulk)

Dr. Octagonecologyst, the debut solo album of former Ultramagentic MC Kool Keith under the name Dr. Octagon, chronicled the misadventures of a murderous, extra-terrestrial surgeon and gynecologist. And with producer Dan the Automator behind the boards, that album was also a fearless example in integrating elements of jazz, electronic, trip hop and psychedelic music into its DNA to create an unnerving, surreal, horror-movie inspired setting, very much against the grain of what was commercially viable in the mid-’90s. “Blue Flowers” is the standout track, with eerie snippets of Herrmann-esque strings, high-pitched, undecipherable vocal samples and DJ Qbert’s innovative scratching just some of the myriad found sounds underscoring Keith’s frankly terrifying tale of paramedic fetuses, yellow rain and cybernetic microscopes. It was a far cry from the West Coast G-Funk of its day and, despite failing to chart, further established both Keith and Dan as progressive alternative forces in the hip-hop community. “Blue Flowers” has firmly stood the test of time as one of the most original and inventive sounds of the decade. – MP

17. Sugar – “Helpless”
from Copper Blue (1992; Rykodisc/Creation)

The masses might not have been ready for the unbridled, unfiltered upheaval Bob Mould pursued in Hüsker Dü, but the post-Nevermind landscape gave him a renewed shot with the more fleshed-out, pop-centric sound of Sugar. Their 1992 debut Copper Blue was strewn with disciplined hooks and a base that allowed Mould to give in to his pop side, and the opening seconds of “Helpless” might be the most instantly accessible notes he ever wrote (not counting the theme to The Daily Show). Misinterpretations of the era focused on a generation’s disenfranchisement, perhaps in pursuit of eliminating emotions altogether. And granted, that would have been a superficially easier solution. Mould was having none of that, though, and the undefined frustration of “Helpless” found him searching for any scrap of noticeable resolution that he could find (“We’ve got to go to places/Somewhere I don’t mind it’s special”). It’s a way out, not really helpless at all, and the rousing triumph of the guitar line is the optimistic counterpoint Mould might need if he’s going to book that flight after all. – PP

16. Jawbox – “Savory”
from For Your Own Special Sweetheart (1994; Atlantic)

Naturally, I start humming “eeeaasssyyy nnnoowww” in my head during what could be the third chorus of “Savory,” but it’s actually the end of this excellent, dirge-worthy tune, as twinkling guitars take us out for the remaining 30 seconds. “Savory,” a not-so-veiled critique of body objectification, is Jawbox’s most popular song, and most likely their best—not many songs on this list possess the same balance of restraint and muscle. Here, there’s a slight comparison to another D.C. alternative rock band, The Dismemberment Plan, but Jawbox is a little heavier and more distorted. “Savory” has throbs, clangs, stabs, and guitar beds for scraping. Listen closely for the two moments when bassist Kim Coletta strokes the entire neck of her bass. And while you’re at it, look up the 120 Minutes live clip; it’s a good example of a band going all in. Some bands like playing to an audience, and other bands, like Jawbox, just play. – JJM

15. The Dismemberment Plan – “You Are Invited”
from Emergency & I (1999; DeSoto)

The Dismemberment Plan’s third album, Emergency & I, is defined by anxiety, fear and doubt. It’s about a particular mid-twenties angst, wherein the discovery that adulthood isn’t quite what it’s cut out to be becomes quietly defeating—enough to drive someone to live underground, or bury their troubles in a non-stop string of one-night stands. But there’s hope in every failure, and a bright side to every defeat, particularly in the captivating narrative of “You Are Invited.” More spacious and strange than even the most spastic of the Washington, D.C. punk band’s songs, “You Are Invited” is about 75 percent vocals and drum machine, following Travis Morrison’s narrative about an invitation to a party, with no name or return address. It’s an invitation that ultimately only leads to frustration and conflict, and regret for even chasing this wild goose in the first place. But there’s redemption, both in Morrison’s pay-it-forward delivery to a sobbing neighbor with a hardcore case of FOMO, and in the extension of the invitation to the listener, via the sudden eruption of the soaring, endorphin-rush chorus: “You are invited by anyone to do anything/ You are invited for all time.” – JT

14. The Afghan Whigs – “Debonair”
from Gentlemen (1993; Elektra)

Greg Dulli is a dramatic frontman, prone to grand pronouncements. “Debonair,” the best-known song by The Afghan Whigs, perfectly exemplifies this. “Hear me now and don’t forget, I’m not the man my actions would suggest/A little boy, tied to you – I fell apart, that’s what I always do,”  he yelps. “Cause it don’t breathe! And it don’t bleed! It’s locked its jaws and now it’s swallowing!” Overwrought lines like that aren’t easy, but for Dulli they’re the most honest expression of his torrential emotions. No 1990s band exposed the ugliest aspects of masculine psychology as the Whigs did. Gentlemen stands as one of the decade’s finest works, one of the greatest breakup albums ever. The strength of “Debonair” is in distilling Gentlemen’s themes—and the Whigs’ grunge/soul hybrid—down to a lean, mean four-minute package. Bassist John Curley and drummer Steve Earle (not that Steve Earle) were sneakily the ’90s’ best rhythm section, and they prove it here. The anger of punk and rhythms of funk are equally present in McCollum’s guitar—vicious but melodic like Dulli’s voice. “Debonair” still sounds fresh, both on record or when Dulli’s raging through it onstage—20 years older and a lot more sober but not faking the emotion for nostalgia. – LG

13. Swans – “Love Will Save You”
from White Light from the Mouth of Infinity (1991; Young God)

Ask ten different Swans fans to describe their music to someone who isn’t already initiated, and you’ll get ten different answers. It’s the goth-industrial of Children of God, or the grinding no wave of Filth, or the ambient soundscapes of Soundtracks for the Blind, or the shoegazing post-punk of The Great Annihilator. Yet no song quite captures all of their beauty and horror in such concise perfection as “Love Will Save You,” the centerpiece of their 1991 album White Light from the Mouth of Infinity. Released in what was their most accessible period, as well as the one that ultimately led frontman Michael Gira to retire the name for 15 years, “Love Will Save You” is an immaculate struggle. It’s alternately a song of hope and a song of hopelessness, and the melodies are arranged in such a way as to create total confusion between the two. In its ominously rumbling goth-rock verse, Gira chants, “Love will save you when the cold wind blows right through you.” But when the song rises up into a gorgeously opulent chorus, seemingly overflowing with a kind of divine glory—no doubt informed by Jarboe’s backing vocals—Gira drops the punchline: “But it won’t save me.” Swans are legendary for making music that outdoes just about anyone on a scale of darkness, but what’s so gutting about “Love Will Save You” is just how much is sounds like joy. – JT

12. Sleater-Kinney – “Words and Guitar”
from Dig Me Out (1997; Kill Rock Stars)

There’s a reason that Sleater-Kinney’s return this year was so highly anticipated: We were pretty hard pressed when choosing which of the trio’s monumental tracks should represent them on this list. But, with 2005’s The Woods out of the picture for obvious reasons, we were probably always going to pick from S-K’s third LP, Dig Me Out. For starters, it’s the record where the band began mixing its fierce, riot grrl mentality with just plain kick-ass songwriting. It’s also the debut record for Janet Weiss, whose straightforward yet impressive style on the drums has become as synonymous with the Sleater-Kinney name as their guitars or vocals. But, perhaps most importantly, it is a record that crafts the band’s powerful ethos and shows that it’s OK (and, perhaps, ideal) to be a vulnerable songwriter and a kick-ass punk rocker at the same time.

Nestled smack in the middle of Dig Me Out, “Words and Guitar” reads like a mission statement, with Corin Tucker declaring, in so many words, that she’ll be singing about whatever the fuck she wants, however the fuck she wants, and that your only options are to listen or to not. (As Carrie Brownstein puts it so well in her back up vocals: “Well you want it or you don’t/ Either you’ll come or you won’t.”) It’s a simple and effective declaration from a band that spent a prolific career speaking their mind both politically and artistically, and an homage to the instruments that allow them to express themselves so freely. With S-K, you know that message carries a great deal of merit—the trio (both together and as individuals; on stage, on record and on interview) are still speaking their minds with unprecedented style and prowess. – ATB

11. Bikini Kill – “Rebel Girl”
from Pussy Whipped (1993; Kill Rock Stars)

The sheer title of Pussy Whipped raised eyebrows, and the tracks featured on it would indeed drop jaws. Fueled with feminist anthems and gritty epiphanies regarding society, Bikini Kill was the ultimate ’90s game changer. “Rebel Girl” was a modern day, third-wave feminism-infused anthem. Kathleen Hanna sings about her admiration for the titular rebel girl, a refreshing answer to slut shaming. Hanna instead takes this opportunity to praise a girl, not tear her down. Her activism through music would inspire the likes of Sleater-Kinney and The Gossip, and Hanna’s work would significantly impact the Olympia, Washington region. Bikini Kill had a dedicated, riot grrrl following—the tour for Pussy Whipped sparked a documentary directed by Lucy Thane, titled It Changed My Life: Bikini Kill in the U.K. Hanna’s visionary views developed over the years, leading to projects like Le Tigre and Julie Ruin, but this is the song that made her an icon. – VC