Throughout the years of music history, there have been many important milestones and influential pieces that have been crucial to the advancement of music. But when the 90’s hit, it was an explosive and inventive boom for music. 

This era was home to many groundbreaking albums including massive hits like Nevermind by Nirvana, selling over 30 million copies, and relatively smaller releases like Illmatic by Nas, where although not as popular as others, has still reached over 2 million copies sold just in the United States. These albums were extremely important in defining new genres and eras in their respective groups and are my personal picks for some of the most influential of the decade.

With Nevermind, Nirvana created the cornerstone and standard for grunge music and is celebrated for its diverse range between songs throughout the album, from punk rock in “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to ballads with acoustics in “Something in the Way”. 

Another huge release in the 90’s for alternative and indie music was Radiohead’s Ok Computer. It was an incredible display of alt music with abstract concepts and uniquely recorded music, all layered in different ways and almost completely recorded live. The album also features a lyricism that depicts a separate world that can be compared to the majority of the 21st century.

On a very different side of music, many of the most influential Hip-Hop albums of all time were released during the 90’s. This includes one of, if not the most influential East Coast rap album featuring hardcore hip-hop.

This album is none other than Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). This album paved the way in this genre of hip-hop beginning the “East Coast Renaissance”, influencing many other East Coast artists like The Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z. Despite this album being mostly influential, it still had incredible content to it, breaking the ground in its style of lyricism. It was free to say what they wanted, more humorous and in many cases, explicit. It has reached triple platinum and sold 30,000 copies in the first week.

Another album is Illmatic by Nas, which would go on to be an influence of its own. It also created a huge landmark and influence in the East Coast hip-hop scene. The album features incredible production from many producers such as DJ Premier, Q-Tip, Nas, and more. The album was also given rave reviews for Nas’ incredible lyricism including complex rhyming schemes and real life experiences from Nas’ childhood and life growing up.