3 Alt-Rock Songs From the 1990s You Won’t Forget No Matter When You Hear Them

When you walked into a record store in the 1990s, there were a lot of options at your fingertips. Not only were there classic rock and pop albums from the 1970s and 1980s, but there were new, burgeoning genres popping up, too. Here below, we wanted to explore one of those new genres. We wanted to highlight three songs from back in the day that have since stood the test of time. Indeed, these are three alt-rock songs from the 1990s you won’t forget, no matter when you hear them.

“Loser” by Beck from ‘Mellow Gold’ (1993)

Today, Beck is a known commodity. But back some 33 years ago, no one knew who the single-named songwriter was. Chances were that if you mentioned him, people probably thought you were talking about Jeff Beck. But then the young, capricious artist released his breakout single, “Loser” in 1993, and all bets were off. He became known for his self-deprecating track that featured a loud, sticky slide guitar. Beck may have called himself a loser, but he was winning with every note.

“Santa Monica” by Everclear from ‘Sparkle And Fade’ (1995)

When this song came on the radio in the mid-1990s, it made everyone want to drop what they were doing and head to California. More specifically, it urged people to head to the beaches. To get there, shed your clothes, dive into the waves, and swim. What else could be better? As the song said, you could wade out, past the breakers, and watch the world, well, end. But it didn’t matter because you still had song, you still had the ocean, and you still had the 1990s!

“Ironic” by Alanis Morissette from ‘Jagged Little Pill’ (1995)

The first-half of the 1990s was dominated by grunge. The dour, sour music from the Pacific Northwest went global and made legends of bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden. But the second-half of the decade was not grunge-focused. Along with jam bands and pop acts, rockers like Alanis Morissette dominated the stage. Indeed, when her 1995 LP, Jagged Little Pill, hit shelves, the former child actor became an icon. Her songs like “Ironic” and “You Oughta Know” became standards of a generation.

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