501 Essential Albums of the '90s: The Music Fan's Definitive Guide

by Gary Graff (Editor), Helene Dunbar (Contributor)

Break out the flannel, scrunchies, and high-rise jeans and indulge in this nostalgic illustrated trip through the 1990s’ most influential albums across all genres. In 501 Essential Albums of the ’90s, Gary Graff leads a cast of fellow music journalists in presenting the music of everyone’s favorite decade…the last decade before the proliferation of social media and digital downloads. With lively descriptions of the releases and over 600 images, this hefty 448-page volume curates 501 albums spanning genres and subgenres—pop, hip-hop, R&B, grunge, metal, country, world music—and   Year-by-year organization Knowledgeable rundowns of every album featured Album art for each selection Artist imagery Record label, release date, and producer(s) for each Soundtracks and compilation releases also included The journalists detail the circumstances of the releases, notable singles from each, their influence on contemporary and later artists…in short, why each is considered one of the best of the decade. Britney or Body Count, Nirvana or NSync, Metallica or Morisette, Garth or Green Day, Weezer or Wu Tang—whatever your tastes, you will relish this ultimate retrospective of the decade’s music.

Genres: Music, History

448 pages, Hardcover

Published November 5, 2024

Reviews

[Joni Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, the 90s are the best and most diverse music decade. I loved this book. It brought back so many memories. I owned a huge portion of these albums (thanks Columbia House. 10cds for a Penny 🤣) and i spent a good majority of time looking up songs to reminisce while reading this book!

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, what is the number one album of the 1990s? Well, this book doesn't try and tell us – it's in year-by-year chapters, and is probably randomised on top, too. But it does start with the imperious "Violator", so there is that. But then after just one other spread of album cover artwork and basic details in micro-essay form, we get a recommendation for – wait for it – an MC Hammer album. Yes, even when the writing declares "there was nothing artistically remarkable" here, we get the MC Hammer debut set. Evidence, then, that this is for those with no taste, or at the best for those with an American-only taste, and that yes, it is as the introduction declares, up for a fight – this is a book that is cruisin' for a bruisin'.

Don't get me wrong, this ticks the right boxes – as far as I can remember what I was listening to and when in the 1990s, at least. It seems to be a touch too friendly towards shoegaze, oddly, but the grunge smashes, the Portisheads, the Britpop, the Titanic soundtracks – all are here. With the scope of all those seeming thousands of specialist Billboard charts to cover, there are no end of acts I'd never heard of – Drivin' n' Cryin' or Neutral Milk Hotel, anyone? – and a lot of country and religious artists I could skip by, alongside all the to-my-ears interchangeable R&B/rap people.

This is very much an American book, showing the tastes that side of the pond – specialist charts regardless. Nowhere in Britain would a Hanson album have the respect of a page to itself, and if the naff cover to Fatboy Slim's album didn't tell you this was American, the talk in the text of all bands being an "it" as opposed to a "them" sure does. But this does as well as any such book can – it brings back memories, it may well inspire (re-)discoveries, and it causes no end of potential pub arguments. Mission accomplished.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a neat book to flip through and didn't take me very long to read. The pictures are great and I liked learning more about albums that I liked. The book starts out by stating that it's meant to cause arguments. I wouldn't argue over much in this book except for the fact that it relegated Freak on a Leash by Korn to a small blurb and didn't mention AFI at all.
A lot of different genres and artists are covered in the book. I hadn't even heard of some of them and I grew up in the 90's. I loved seeing Green Day's Dookie, The Offspring's Smash, The Spice Girls' Spice and Hanson's Middle of Nowhere in the book. It's also entertaining that Blink-182's Enema of the State and Backstreet Boys' Millennium are next to each other. If you know, you know.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Simi · Rating 4 out of 5]

“This is a book that’s designed to start arguments.”

Right off the bat, this book acknowledges that music lists are just someone’s opinion, and this ranking aims to showcase the diversity of the music that defined the 90s, while also giving attention to each year (I particularly liked how it covered many genres, including film soundtracks). It’s no small feat and this is an insightful read that hopefully inspires people to try out some music they have not listened to before.

Although this was a digital copy, I can imagine that this will be a wonderful conversation starter on someone’s coffee table. The artwork is both nostalgic and eye catching, without being tacky.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun walk down memory lane through a decade where, as a teen and 20-something, I became forever enthralled with some albums and forever annoyed by others. As with any book of this type there will be some omissions and/or inclusions that readers disagree with, but overall this was a pretty well-rounded collection. And it reminded me how lucky I am to have been young during this incredible era.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Half the fun of this type of book is arguing with the selections, but I found myself agreeing with the author more often than not; I don't always like the albums selected, but they definitely typify the '90s.

Two final thoughts:

1. There was a lot of really bad music that was really popular in the '90s.

2. Although I think the decade only produced a few truly great albums, it produced tons of truly great singles.


Received via NetGalley.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an interesting collection of music from the 90s. The music covers wide genres and lots of fun albums. There is lots of good information and lots of pictures. I viewed a digital version but I could see that this would be an amazing coffee table book to revisit over time.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this title.

[Jeanette H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent walk down memory lane and nostalgia! Music has a way of unlocking memories and feelings associated with it. Thank you for this wonderful book and advanced copy! It's time to update my music playlists with some songs I'd forgotten about.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

501 Essential Albums of the the '90s is a collection of albums that define the decade. It highlights key songs that have been cemented in history, along with other key points.

[Araya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arc Review:
Overall Rating: 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a fun and interesting collection of songs from the 90’s. They’d pick an album then share the key highlights of the songs on that album. I also like how the music spreads across all genres of music.

Thank you NetGalley

[Jed Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable nostalgia exercise. Hits all the key albums but also features tons of offbeat and obscure entries.