Besides Nirvana: 13 Great Alternative Rock Albums from the Early 1990s
Aug. 12, 2025
When MTV's alternative rock program 120 Minutes aired its Best of 1991 show, you could sort of tell the genre was imploding.
Several top "alternative" videos that year were, in fact, substantial mainstream hits, including "Give it Away" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Right Here, Right Now" by Jesus Jones, "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M. and, at No. 1 on the MTV countdown, "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
Earlier this year, we surveyed some great indie-rock albums from the years before Nirvana broke. Now, let's look at some of the best alternative rock LPs that competed with Nirvana in the CD racks.
Thanks to Nirvana, it's a little tricky to define "alternative" in the Year Punk Broke, and the years immediately after. Smashing Pumpkins were indie in 1991, but very mainstream by 1993. R.E.M. were the quintessential college-radio band in 1983, but in the next decade, they were superstars. And after the runaway success of "Under the Bridge," the Chili Peppers would never again appear on a record cover attired only in socks.
Here, then, are 13 great albums from the Nirvana years.
Gish - Smashing Pumpkins, May 1991
The Smashing Pumpkins debut would eventually go platinum. Yet, at the close of 1991, Gish was merely a very good, conspicuously well-produced indie-rock album from a band at the vanguard of the fertile Chicago scene.
The Pumpkins were a musical powerhouse, anchored by drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and led by Billy Corgan, a kick-ass guitarist. They had chops to match Cheap Trick, Styx or any other Illinois arena-rock act you would care to name.
And Corgan wrote great songs. This album smolders from front to back. "Siva," a power-chord workout with a watery interlude, became a breakout video on MTV and landed on the aforementioned year-end list. The softer "Rhinoceros" and "Crush" revealed Corgan as a gifted melodicist, a skill he would bring to the fore on Siamese Dream, the 1993 Pumpkins smash.
Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet, October 1991
Indie-pop singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet seemed to come out of nowhere, and his breakthrough album sounded both cutting-edge and wonderfully retro. The songs registered like outtakes from Harvest or Younger Than Yesterday, punched up with steel-tipped guitar work courtesy of punk icons Richard Lloyd (Television) and Robert Quine (Lou Reed).
Girlfriend is a breakup album, and it's a great one, with a half-dozen flat-out classics in the mix. Sweet would record two more very good records, Altered Beast and 100% Fun. Both are worth seeking out.
Loveless - My Bloody Valentine, November 1991
We celebrated the first MBV album on our last list.
I think Loveless is nearly as good, and it seems to be widely regarded as the definitive MBV release.
The stunning opener, "Only Shallow," comes on stronger with each verse. Bilinda Butcher's vocals are breathy and ethereal, but also powerful and relentless.
Generations of musicians have picked apart the layers of glorious guitar on "When You Sleep" and "Come in Alone," but strong melodies and hooks are what make them great.
"Soon," a repurposed EP cut from 1990, might be the best song on the album, with its swirling beat and that irresistible riff that bounces between the third and sixth notes of the scale. The overall effect reminds me of the Smiths classic "How Soon Is Now?" Could it be an answer song?
Oh, and the interminable Loveless sessions nearly bankrupted the label.
Bandwagonesque - Teenage Fanclub, November 1991
With this album, a young band of Scottish power-poppers realized their musical ambitions, finding the sweet spot between Crazy Horse and Big Star.
Many critics embraced Bandwagonesque as a landmark, from the gorgeous Beach Boys coda in "The Concept" to the perfect pop sensibilities of "Alcoholiday" to the grungy glory of "Star Sign."
It's a great record -- and it's probably my third-favorite Teenage Fanclub album. Later on, the band evolved into a three-way songwriting collective in service of even better songs. I think the Fanclub reached its pinnacle with Grand Prix (1995) and Songs from Northern Britain (1997).
Can You Fly? - Freedy Johnston, April 1992
Freedy Johnston emerged in the early 1990s as a singer-songwriter who could rock. His work, and his voice, remind me vaguely of Nils Lofgren from the Grin days. Much like the Jayhawks (see below), Johnston probably could have secured a major-label deal in the '70s as a mainstream rocker.
But in the early 1990s, he was a curiosity. Can You Fly dropped on Bar/None Records, and it won a heap of indie praise, if not quite so much as the next entry on our list.
If you like it, pick up This Perfect World (1994), which is nearly as good.
Slanted and Enchanted - Pavement, April 1992
This is the legendary debut LP from Pavement, a band that many indie fans now consider the most important and influential act of its era, a point hammered home with customary irony in the new Pavement documentary.
Early tapes of S&E made the rounds of record critics and raised a stir. The resulting album arrived with record-of-the-year buzz, and it did not disappoint: Decades later, it still pops up on lists of greatest albums, and not just from the '90s.
It's not an entirely easy listen. "Summer Babe," "Perfume-V" and "In the Mouth a Desert" are melodic and catchy. A few other cuts get noisy, and the lyrics are impressionistic.
(Lies and betrayals/Fruit-covered nails/Electricity and lust.) This was a band, after all, whose musical touchstones included both R.E.M. and the Fall.
If Pavement is your thing, then seek out their other releases. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994) is a masterpiece.
Kiko - Los Lobos, May 1992
There are many great Los Lobos songs, spread across several albums. To my ear, Kiko is the best.
Los Lobos draw on roots rock, rockabilly, Americana, country, big band, Tex-Mex and zydeco, among other musical streams. Producer Mitchell Froom renders it all warm and accessible.
"Dream In Blue," "That Train Don't Stop Here" and the title track all endure on the Los Lobos setlist. "Wake Up Dolores" and "Reva's House" are standouts, and "Saint Behind the Glass" touches on the band's own roots.
To me, Kiko is of a piece with the moody Tom Waits masterpiece Rain Dogs. Play them back-to-back: Neither platter will disappoint.
Copper Blue - Sugar, September 1992
This album appeared a few years after the dissolution of Hüsker Dü, one of the great indie bands of the 1980s.
The Hüskers had more or less redefined hardcore, imbuing it with melody and songcraft. After the break, fans had big expectations for the band's celebrated songsmiths, Bob Mould and Grant Hart.
Naturally, neither artist met them. However much Mould and Hart might have feuded, they clearly inspired each other.
After a couple of pretty-good solo albums, Mould formed a new band, Sugar, and that seemed to do the trick. Copper Blue is a hard-rock triumph, a master class for all of the grunge rockers the Hüskers had spawned. Several songs are good enough to hold their own on a Hüskers album, which is about the highest compliment I can pay them.
Hollywood Town Hall - The Jayhawks, September 1992
Two decades earlier, the Jayhawks might have found acceptance as a mainstream rock and roll band, maybe even scoring a few hits. But in the glitzy music industry of the 1980s, they were lucky to land a deal with tiny Buckhouse Records.
We pick them up with their third album, the exquisite Hollywood Town Hall. I think it's one of their two best, along with Tomorrow the Green Grass.
The Jayhawks apparently started out mostly as a vehicle for the songwriting of Mark Olson. By Hollywood, both Olson and Gary Louris were contributing beautiful songs, and adorning them with gorgeous harmonies. Later on, Olson left, and Louris took over.
The album brims with majestic songs, and there isn't a bad one on the record. My favorite is probably "Two Angels," reclaimed from the band's very good previous album, Blue Earth.
Automatic for the People - R.E.M., October 1992
Were R.E.M. indie? Perhaps not. Michael Azerrad omitted them from his great indie-rock book, Our Band Could Be Your Life. Their label, I.R.S. Records, was considered a "major." But they were definitely alternative, and very much of the college radio movement.
If you were there, you'll remember that every R.E.M. album arrived to great critical fanfare. Decades later, the critics aren't so fond of the band's breakthrough albums, Green and Out of Time. Personally, I think it's instructive to think of each R.E.M. album as slightly lesser than the last, a pattern that begins with Murmur and ends, rather strikingly, with Automatic for the People.
Granted, the R.E.M. of Automatic bears little resemblance to the kudzu-shrouded baroque rockers of Reckoning and Fables of the Reconstruction.
In both sonic and compositional terms, R.E.M. seemed to reinvent itself on Automatic. The hard rock of Green is gone. Where much of Life's Rich Pageant sounds like variations on one good song, each song on Automatic sounds only like itself.
Rid of Me - PJ Harvey, April 1993
My favorite PJ Harvey album, by a mile, is Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000), which shows Polly Jean Harvey at her artistic peak.
But Rid of Me is powerful stuff. It's her second album, famously produced by Steve Albini, Chicago's grouchy indie godfather, as a showcase of raw power.
If you want to know why Rolling Stone counts Harvey among the greatest guitarists in rock and roll, this album is a good place to start.
The title cut, "50ft Queenie" and "Man-Size" are standouts, but the point is to experience the album's aural attack as a whole. If you own the LP, be grateful for a chance to catch your breath between sides A and B.
Whatever - Aimee Mann, May 1993
Aimee Mann reigns today as one of the great singer-songwriters of the millennial era, and Whatever was her solo debut.
Mann fronted the new wave band 'Til Tuesday in the 1980s. It's easy to dismiss 'Til Tuesday as one-hit wonders, on the strength of "Voices Carry." But check out their final album, Everything's Different Now (1988), as a document of emerging talent.
Five years later, we got Whatever, a power-pop gem. The shimmering sound recalls XTC at their commercial peak, and so does Mann's songwriting.
The first cut, "I Should've Known," weds a piercing melody to a deceptively tricky progression that briefly modulates between Bb and Eb, a stunt Andy Partridge would surely appreciate. "Could've Been Anyone" pivots on a stunning guitar riff. Both songs should've been hits.
There are several great Aimee Mann albums. My favorite is Bachelor No. 2, from 2000, one of the finest albums of whatever decade 2000 is in.
Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair, June 1993
Many critics hailed this album, rather than the ones listed above, as the watershed moment for women in indie rock. Exile in Guyville topped Robert Christgau's annual Pazz & Jop Poll.
The album isn't perfect. Liz Phair sings at the bottom of her range, which probably worked fine with a tape recorder in her apartment. On disc, the effect is sort of the opposite of Alex Chilton's problem on Radio City, where he sings at (and above) the top of his vocal register.
Some of Phair's songs are mesmerizing: "Never Said," "Explain it to Me," "Fuck and Run" and "Stratford-on-Guy" are my favorites. Some cuts are weaker. To paraphrase George Martin's infamous observation on the White Album, Guyville would have made a really good single album. Or, at least, a shorter one.
But the White Album is a great listen, and so is Exile in Guyville.
Daniel de Visé is a frequent AllMusic contributor and author of King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B.B. King and The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic.
Several top "alternative" videos that year were, in fact, substantial mainstream hits, including "Give it Away" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Right Here, Right Now" by Jesus Jones, "Losing My Religion" by R.E.M. and, at No. 1 on the MTV countdown, "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
Earlier this year, we surveyed some great indie-rock albums from the years before Nirvana broke. Now, let's look at some of the best alternative rock LPs that competed with Nirvana in the CD racks.
Thanks to Nirvana, it's a little tricky to define "alternative" in the Year Punk Broke, and the years immediately after. Smashing Pumpkins were indie in 1991, but very mainstream by 1993. R.E.M. were the quintessential college-radio band in 1983, but in the next decade, they were superstars. And after the runaway success of "Under the Bridge," the Chili Peppers would never again appear on a record cover attired only in socks.
Here, then, are 13 great albums from the Nirvana years.
Gish - Smashing Pumpkins, May 1991The Smashing Pumpkins debut would eventually go platinum. Yet, at the close of 1991, Gish was merely a very good, conspicuously well-produced indie-rock album from a band at the vanguard of the fertile Chicago scene.
The Pumpkins were a musical powerhouse, anchored by drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and led by Billy Corgan, a kick-ass guitarist. They had chops to match Cheap Trick, Styx or any other Illinois arena-rock act you would care to name.
And Corgan wrote great songs. This album smolders from front to back. "Siva," a power-chord workout with a watery interlude, became a breakout video on MTV and landed on the aforementioned year-end list. The softer "Rhinoceros" and "Crush" revealed Corgan as a gifted melodicist, a skill he would bring to the fore on Siamese Dream, the 1993 Pumpkins smash.
Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet, October 1991Indie-pop singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet seemed to come out of nowhere, and his breakthrough album sounded both cutting-edge and wonderfully retro. The songs registered like outtakes from Harvest or Younger Than Yesterday, punched up with steel-tipped guitar work courtesy of punk icons Richard Lloyd (Television) and Robert Quine (Lou Reed).
Girlfriend is a breakup album, and it's a great one, with a half-dozen flat-out classics in the mix. Sweet would record two more very good records, Altered Beast and 100% Fun. Both are worth seeking out.
Loveless - My Bloody Valentine, November 1991We celebrated the first MBV album on our last list.
I think Loveless is nearly as good, and it seems to be widely regarded as the definitive MBV release.
The stunning opener, "Only Shallow," comes on stronger with each verse. Bilinda Butcher's vocals are breathy and ethereal, but also powerful and relentless.
Generations of musicians have picked apart the layers of glorious guitar on "When You Sleep" and "Come in Alone," but strong melodies and hooks are what make them great.
"Soon," a repurposed EP cut from 1990, might be the best song on the album, with its swirling beat and that irresistible riff that bounces between the third and sixth notes of the scale. The overall effect reminds me of the Smiths classic "How Soon Is Now?" Could it be an answer song?
Oh, and the interminable Loveless sessions nearly bankrupted the label.
Bandwagonesque - Teenage Fanclub, November 1991With this album, a young band of Scottish power-poppers realized their musical ambitions, finding the sweet spot between Crazy Horse and Big Star.
Many critics embraced Bandwagonesque as a landmark, from the gorgeous Beach Boys coda in "The Concept" to the perfect pop sensibilities of "Alcoholiday" to the grungy glory of "Star Sign."
It's a great record -- and it's probably my third-favorite Teenage Fanclub album. Later on, the band evolved into a three-way songwriting collective in service of even better songs. I think the Fanclub reached its pinnacle with Grand Prix (1995) and Songs from Northern Britain (1997).
Can You Fly? - Freedy Johnston, April 1992Freedy Johnston emerged in the early 1990s as a singer-songwriter who could rock. His work, and his voice, remind me vaguely of Nils Lofgren from the Grin days. Much like the Jayhawks (see below), Johnston probably could have secured a major-label deal in the '70s as a mainstream rocker.
But in the early 1990s, he was a curiosity. Can You Fly dropped on Bar/None Records, and it won a heap of indie praise, if not quite so much as the next entry on our list.
If you like it, pick up This Perfect World (1994), which is nearly as good.
Slanted and Enchanted - Pavement, April 1992This is the legendary debut LP from Pavement, a band that many indie fans now consider the most important and influential act of its era, a point hammered home with customary irony in the new Pavement documentary.
Early tapes of S&E made the rounds of record critics and raised a stir. The resulting album arrived with record-of-the-year buzz, and it did not disappoint: Decades later, it still pops up on lists of greatest albums, and not just from the '90s.
It's not an entirely easy listen. "Summer Babe," "Perfume-V" and "In the Mouth a Desert" are melodic and catchy. A few other cuts get noisy, and the lyrics are impressionistic.
(Lies and betrayals/Fruit-covered nails/Electricity and lust.) This was a band, after all, whose musical touchstones included both R.E.M. and the Fall.
If Pavement is your thing, then seek out their other releases. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994) is a masterpiece.
Kiko - Los Lobos, May 1992There are many great Los Lobos songs, spread across several albums. To my ear, Kiko is the best.
Los Lobos draw on roots rock, rockabilly, Americana, country, big band, Tex-Mex and zydeco, among other musical streams. Producer Mitchell Froom renders it all warm and accessible.
"Dream In Blue," "That Train Don't Stop Here" and the title track all endure on the Los Lobos setlist. "Wake Up Dolores" and "Reva's House" are standouts, and "Saint Behind the Glass" touches on the band's own roots.
To me, Kiko is of a piece with the moody Tom Waits masterpiece Rain Dogs. Play them back-to-back: Neither platter will disappoint.
Copper Blue - Sugar, September 1992This album appeared a few years after the dissolution of Hüsker Dü, one of the great indie bands of the 1980s.
The Hüskers had more or less redefined hardcore, imbuing it with melody and songcraft. After the break, fans had big expectations for the band's celebrated songsmiths, Bob Mould and Grant Hart.
Naturally, neither artist met them. However much Mould and Hart might have feuded, they clearly inspired each other.
After a couple of pretty-good solo albums, Mould formed a new band, Sugar, and that seemed to do the trick. Copper Blue is a hard-rock triumph, a master class for all of the grunge rockers the Hüskers had spawned. Several songs are good enough to hold their own on a Hüskers album, which is about the highest compliment I can pay them.
Hollywood Town Hall - The Jayhawks, September 1992Two decades earlier, the Jayhawks might have found acceptance as a mainstream rock and roll band, maybe even scoring a few hits. But in the glitzy music industry of the 1980s, they were lucky to land a deal with tiny Buckhouse Records.
We pick them up with their third album, the exquisite Hollywood Town Hall. I think it's one of their two best, along with Tomorrow the Green Grass.
The Jayhawks apparently started out mostly as a vehicle for the songwriting of Mark Olson. By Hollywood, both Olson and Gary Louris were contributing beautiful songs, and adorning them with gorgeous harmonies. Later on, Olson left, and Louris took over.
The album brims with majestic songs, and there isn't a bad one on the record. My favorite is probably "Two Angels," reclaimed from the band's very good previous album, Blue Earth.
Automatic for the People - R.E.M., October 1992Were R.E.M. indie? Perhaps not. Michael Azerrad omitted them from his great indie-rock book, Our Band Could Be Your Life. Their label, I.R.S. Records, was considered a "major." But they were definitely alternative, and very much of the college radio movement.
If you were there, you'll remember that every R.E.M. album arrived to great critical fanfare. Decades later, the critics aren't so fond of the band's breakthrough albums, Green and Out of Time. Personally, I think it's instructive to think of each R.E.M. album as slightly lesser than the last, a pattern that begins with Murmur and ends, rather strikingly, with Automatic for the People.
Granted, the R.E.M. of Automatic bears little resemblance to the kudzu-shrouded baroque rockers of Reckoning and Fables of the Reconstruction.
In both sonic and compositional terms, R.E.M. seemed to reinvent itself on Automatic. The hard rock of Green is gone. Where much of Life's Rich Pageant sounds like variations on one good song, each song on Automatic sounds only like itself.
Rid of Me - PJ Harvey, April 1993My favorite PJ Harvey album, by a mile, is Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000), which shows Polly Jean Harvey at her artistic peak.
But Rid of Me is powerful stuff. It's her second album, famously produced by Steve Albini, Chicago's grouchy indie godfather, as a showcase of raw power.
If you want to know why Rolling Stone counts Harvey among the greatest guitarists in rock and roll, this album is a good place to start.
The title cut, "50ft Queenie" and "Man-Size" are standouts, but the point is to experience the album's aural attack as a whole. If you own the LP, be grateful for a chance to catch your breath between sides A and B.
Whatever - Aimee Mann, May 1993Aimee Mann reigns today as one of the great singer-songwriters of the millennial era, and Whatever was her solo debut.
Mann fronted the new wave band 'Til Tuesday in the 1980s. It's easy to dismiss 'Til Tuesday as one-hit wonders, on the strength of "Voices Carry." But check out their final album, Everything's Different Now (1988), as a document of emerging talent.
Five years later, we got Whatever, a power-pop gem. The shimmering sound recalls XTC at their commercial peak, and so does Mann's songwriting.
The first cut, "I Should've Known," weds a piercing melody to a deceptively tricky progression that briefly modulates between Bb and Eb, a stunt Andy Partridge would surely appreciate. "Could've Been Anyone" pivots on a stunning guitar riff. Both songs should've been hits.
There are several great Aimee Mann albums. My favorite is Bachelor No. 2, from 2000, one of the finest albums of whatever decade 2000 is in.
Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair, June 1993Many critics hailed this album, rather than the ones listed above, as the watershed moment for women in indie rock. Exile in Guyville topped Robert Christgau's annual Pazz & Jop Poll.
The album isn't perfect. Liz Phair sings at the bottom of her range, which probably worked fine with a tape recorder in her apartment. On disc, the effect is sort of the opposite of Alex Chilton's problem on Radio City, where he sings at (and above) the top of his vocal register.
Some of Phair's songs are mesmerizing: "Never Said," "Explain it to Me," "Fuck and Run" and "Stratford-on-Guy" are my favorites. Some cuts are weaker. To paraphrase George Martin's infamous observation on the White Album, Guyville would have made a really good single album. Or, at least, a shorter one.
But the White Album is a great listen, and so is Exile in Guyville.
Daniel de Visé is a frequent AllMusic contributor and author of King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B.B. King and The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic.