If only everyone who attempted this song at karaoke night could muster the same sense of world-weariness. When Linda Perry sings, “Twenty-five years and my life is still / Tryin’ to get up that great big hill of hope / For a destination” at the start of 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?,” her voice practically cracks with disappointment, as if she’s been living and searching for even longer. Looking to explore some of our best alternative songs of the 90s? Check out our exclusive playlist on Spotify. You’ll see a lot of grunge and Brit-pop represented below, but alternative was a worldwide phenomenon, and that’s why you’ll also see artists from Mexico, Iceland, France, and more.įrom one-hit wonders to era-defining anthems, here are some of the best 90s alternative songs. We’ve got groups whose work in the 80s laid the groundwork for a 90s breakout, and some that were just getting started when they were catapulted to stardom. There’s no one particular sound to alternative, which is why any attempt to whittle the genre down to just 100 songs is almost a Sisyphean endeavor. Suddenly, A&R executives and MTV kids alike were eager to find the next Nirvana or Alanis Morissette, the next songwriter to pen an anthem that would define a generation. These subgenres, and their stylistic origins, existed on the fringes until, paradoxically, alternative rock went mainstream.

For one, “alternative” resists easy definition: It’s less of a genre unto itself, such as jazz or blues, and more of a descriptor, an umbrella term that encompasses various strains of guitar-driven music, including grunge, indie rock, shoegazing, and emo, to name a few. What makes music “alternative”? It’s been three decades since the advent of alternative rock, and it’s still a tricky question to answer.

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