The 25 Best Albums of the 90s

Hip hop, death metal, bachata, and more!

Index of all best albums of the decade posts.

The 90s was more or less when I actually started being the kind of music nerd who listens to what’s coming out when it’s coming out. I was listening to a bunch of these albums  back in the day. A list of just indie rock and crossover hip hop would be kind of dreary (and perhaps too telling) though, so I also tried to include things younger me wasn’t necessarily paying attention to—which would include R&B, non-Anglophone releases, and maybe things here and there I missed. So, some nostalgia, but also a list that might introduce younger me to some music he didn’t know about (but would like eventually!)

25.
Butterfly (1997)
Mariah Carey

The title-track here is perhaps the quintessential Carey song—a slow burn groove over which she unleashes her stunning voice in a pop gospel aria of bombastic over-emoting that ranges from piercing whistle notes to sensual whispers, setting a standard that Celines and Adeles would aim for but never surpass. And then she does it again and again on “My All,” “Close My Eyes,” and (especially) on Prince’s “The Beautiful Ones,” with Dru Hill providing encouragement as she just about steals the song from the Purple One himself. As a break from the ballads, Carey almost offhandedly provides a blueprint for hip-hop/R&B collaborations to come, with joyfully slinky funk tracks like “Honey” and “Breakdown.” The album is a ridiculous and glorious apotheosis of schmaltz.

24.
Ethiopiques, Vol. 4: Ethio Jazz 1969-1974 (1998)
Mulatu Astatke

The Paris-based world music label Buda Musique began releasing compilations of popular Ethiopian music in its Ethiopiques series in 1997. No volume has been as important as one of the first, dedicated to the fusion jazz of composer, vibes and conga player Mulatu Astatke. Trained in the west, Astatke put together a band whose cosmopolitan performances blend soul-jazz, Latin percussion, and Ethiopian melody into a smooth, perfect groove. Tracks like “Tezeta (Nostalgia)” seem to come from some other dimension of lounge, where easy listening is suffused with soul.

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