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10. The Flaming Lips
 The Flaming Lips formed in Oklahoma in 1983 and accrued some decent albums in the late 80's with "Here it is" and "Telepathic Surgery", although they were sometimes over-the-top with their psychedelic Syd Barettesque musings. It was their 90's output that garnered the Flaming lips both their commercial and critical reverence. "Transmissions from the Satellite Heart" was filled with the obvious single that became a staple on modern rock radio and even on "Beavis and Butthead". The album acquiesced its early love for oblique psychedelic with more modern pop themes creating a pert mix of each that was easy on the ears. However, with all the success that came The Flaming Lips way with their mid 90's work, it was their 1999 opus entitled "The Soft Bulletin" that took them from amateur psychedelic popsters into one of the more sophisticated and dovetailing pop bands in the world. "The Soft Bulletin" would clearly be heard as their best album to date and probably their best album they would ever create. With the Soft Bulletin, the Lips would continue the same sonic palette on their albums afterward, especially "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots". It was the employing of David Fridmann on the production boards that turned this more Lo-Fi sounding band into a majestic, sprawling beast in the likes of a "Mercury Rev". "Race for the Prize" and "Spiderbite Song" were soaked in large reverb with Wayne Coyne taking on philosophical themes as aggrandized as 19th century German Idealism. The style of The Lips afterwards would be sustained in its large chamber pop modes, all the better for them, because it was this unique style in the Soft Bulletin that clearly broaches them into the best of the 90's.
9. Belle and Sebastion
 Belle and Sebastion released their first album in 1996 entitled "Tiger Milk" that was recorded in three short days. What the public procured was perfect pop music challenging the Smiths best baroque moments. Clean production and precise playing added to Stuart Murdoch's floating songwriting that swooned and laid back ubiquitously. "If you're feeling sinister" followed suit with more of a dark emotional palette invoking the best of Syd Barret's solo work amalgamated with modern production techniques. Over the course of all of B and S's work is standard great songwriting touching the listener in an always romantic place, but never overly romantic to the point of coquettishness. The honesty in Murdoch's approach to songwriting has established B and S with an extremely loyal fan base and placed them in the upper ranks of the best bands of the 90's. As we have watched them grow from the expansive chamber pop of "Boy with the Arab Strap" to the 70's boogie/glam rock of "The Life Pursuit", they have continually perfected their songwriting craft with always infectious chorus's and witty aphorisms. Anyone at this point in music listening who hasn't heard "The State I'm In" or "White Collar Boy", are missing out on some of the best moments in modern pop that are always conspicuous when one looks beneath the surface. Belle and Sebastian are often and appropriately referred to as "ear candy", that which great music should always aspire to.
8. Suede
 In 1993, when pop music was seemingly in the mud with cacophonous personality, Suede came along and wrote a new age glam rock album so heavy on bolanesque riffs and enjoined with lascivious themes, that it felt like the glam rock era of the early 70's had been perfectly justifiable and not "decadent". What Suede accentuated with style, they equaled with their songwriting. "Animal Nitrate" had the slinkiest of hooks, throwing an audience into a wild frenzy of loose grooves and hip moves. "So Young", would hit at the type of music that would define much of Suede's greatness being lost in "being young", "chasing dragons", and "tigers eyes". Their conspicuousness in dreaming large and epitomizing the glory of youth was a refreshing rejoinder to those other bands who glorified being miserable who wouldn't know a groove if it hit them straight in the ears VIA "Queen Bitch". Suede would go on to write the epic forlorn "Dog Man Star" in 1995 striking a mood so sophisticated yet so dirty, it was as if Marc Bolan himself had entered into the spirit of the band as they were recording the album in the broken down church where the sessions took place. In 1997, "Coming Up" would prove to be hugely successful as every song on that album could have been released as a single. What Brett Anderson famously stated about wanting to "make an album to do your hair to" was accomplished in this hook heavy monster of a pop album. Those who listen to music with their ears and their hips will understand the greatness of Suede in reinvigorating the 90's. Those who listen to music for other reasons that usually have nothing to do with music, may not understand the grace and slide in which a band like Suede can move you.
7. The Happy Mondays
 While some could consider the Mondays an 80's band because of the success of their early material, especially "Bummed", it was their 1990 release "Pills Thrills and Bellyaches", that established them as the most wild coming of age band the music world had ever seen until that point. Part dance, part hip hop, and all thick Manchurian accents would establish the Happy Mondays as the premiere "Madchester" band efflorescing ecstasy based raves that would go on to the early hours of the morning. The groove of the 90's starts with the Happy Mondays who made no bones of their love for funk base lines and Wah-Wah effected guitar lines. Shaun Ryder would become the poster boy for 90's rock star excess being reported as having his stomach pumped 12 times for a variegated amount substances, often being cited as the "human doctor bag". Rock star excess withstanding; "Pills Thrills and Bellyaches" was an untold accomplishment creating the utmost sense of looseness in the listener who took on the album. From the affable groove of "Step On", to the purposely extraneous musings of "Holiday", The Happy Mondays would dominate the bands of the early 90's who were overtly concerned with themselves in their smarmy modesty and who were afraid to have a good time, or at least fooled themselves into thinking it wasn't possible. While those little adolescent boys were sulking in corners, Shawn Ryder and Co were stranded on islands having the time of their life even while having no money to get back to where they actually lived. This non-self-concerned lifestyle is perfectly embodied in "Pills Thrills and Bellyaches". The groove, the rave, and the much often cited absurdity of this band absolutely places them in the best of the 90's.
6. Radiohead
Radiohead in the 90's matched mellifluous melodies with overtly lugubrious personality, paving the way for bands who could write pop music in a more "dismal" setting. "The Bends" and "Ok Computer" were clearly their crowing achievements released in 95' and 97' respectively. The Bends is often perceived as a "dark rock album", but what is often ignored is how strong of a pop songwriter Thom Yorke is which is most conspicuous when listening to "Black Star", and even "Just". "Street Spirit" would establish Radiohead perennially for their moodiness that was never short in perfect execution and assiduousness. Radiohead were perfectionists and the way they may have saw the world never got in the way from their realization that music can always sound great. "Ok Computer" would go on to garner enormous success both commercially and critically, dominating peoples play lists for years to come. It's protention into a bleak future of salesmen and merchant class "middle men" scared the listener into listening to his inner gut on what was really genuine in his life. The quality of songwriting never suffered in the band's image and thought about the world they lived in. Songs like "Paranoid Android" and "No Surprises" were first and foremost focused on strong melodies rather than philosophical thought. The later becomes justified in the former, and Radiohead is one of the few bands in the 90's who understood this and could execute their craft well because of this. Radiohead would go onto more baroque and oblique directions in the new century, but it was these two albums in the 90's that made them one of the most formidable bands of the decade.
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