King King played a one-off show for the third straight year in Omaha, Nebraska at Playing With Fire. The set included a performance of “Waking Up.”
Watch the performance below.
The post Watch King King perform “Waking Up” at Playing With Fire 2026 appeared first on Blues Rock Review.
A Metal Hammer reader put the question to Alex Terrible directly, in a People Vs feature recorded before Slaughter To Prevail’s Bloodstock headline set: will you ever beat the Nazi allegations? His answer was no — and not because he thinks the accusations are true. He then spent the rest of the interview doing something he’s mostly avoided until now: explaining the tattoos, the crowd he ran with in Russia as a teenager, and where he draws the line on what he actually did.
STREAM THE METAL BREAKDOWN DAILY NOW:Scott Penfold gets into the Alex Terrible interview on today’s Metal Breakdown Daily — what he owned, what he disputed, and the story from his own family that reframes one of the accusations entirely. Download the free Loaded Radio App on Apple iOS and Google Play and get it every weekday morning.
No. He doesn’t think it ever goes away.
His reasoning isn’t that the accusations are unfair in substance — it’s that the internet doesn’t work that way. People who want a reason to hate him will find one regardless of what he says or how he says it. He’s used to it.
Then the detail that’s worth sitting with: he says he never gets hate in real life. Only online. At festivals like Bloodstock he says he gets nothing but respect from other bands and from people generally, and that they tell him the internet isn’t real life.
His conclusion — people read something, build an image of him that isn’t real, and it sticks. Probably forever.
You can accept that or reject it. But it’s the first time he’s framed it as something he’s stopped fighting rather than something he’s arguing about.
LIVE & LOUD: Stream the World’s Hardest Radio Station 24/7This is the part that’s different from every previous interview.
Asked about the tattoos — the Black Sun and the Othala rune, both symbols appropriated by the Nazis and used since by white supremacist groups — he doesn’t deflect and he doesn’t minimise. He says he’s paying the price for a stupid decision.
His account: he got them while hanging around right-wing guys in Russia when he was young. He describes them as right-wing rather than Nazis, and says they used those symbols to look tough — that it was the culture he was in. He says he understands the hate.
Would he do it again? No. He says his mindset has changed significantly and he doesn’t understand why he got the tattoo in the first place. He’s had the Black Sun covered.
But he also argues the whole of it — good and bad — built who he is, and that he’s a human being who makes mistakes.
Then the line the headline came from: he says he made stupid mistakes, but he didn’t kill anyone, didn’t stab anyone, didn’t bully anyone, and he isn’t a Nazi and never was a racist.
He adds something else, unprompted — that the horrible things he did, he did to himself. He talks about drug use and nearly dying from addiction. And he says whatever else is true, he never went after anybody for their colour or where they came from.
The accusations of homophobia trace back to a since-deleted 2023 Instagram post about rules for real men, and a follow-up comment about brainwashing children that several outlets connected to anti-trans rhetoric.
His explanation is that the brainwashing comment was never about anyone’s identity. He says he was talking about religious education and military propaganda being pushed at Russian schoolchildren — that eight and nine-year-olds are being fed material about the glory of the military, that he thinks the war in Ukraine is bad, and that he wants to handle his own child’s moral education rather than have the state do it.
He states plainly that he doesn’t mind if someone is gay or trans, that it’s their business, and that he supports it.
Then he tells a story that nobody covering this today is going to lead with.
He says that at sixteen or seventeen, sitting with family at breakfast, he listened to relatives talking about having a problem with gay people at a club — calling them disgusting. So he asked what they’d say if he turned around and told them he was gay.
He says he was told he wouldn’t be part of the family anymore. He describes being angry and ashamed that they’d said it.
His point: he grew up around genuine homophobia and pushed back on it as a teenager, and now the same accusation gets levelled at him.
It’s his account, unverified, and people will weigh it how they weigh it. But it’s the most human thing he’s said in four years of this.
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Context matters here, and this article isn’t going to pretend the accusations came from nowhere.
The documented flashpoints are specific. The Black Sun tattoo. The Othala rune. A photograph of him in an SS helmet. The 2023 post. Years of social media comments critics have called homophobic and transphobic. And the fact that the band’s 2025 European tour announcement triggered enormous backlash aimed squarely at him rather than at any of the supporting acts.
He addressed a lot of it on the Downbeat podcast last year, where he denied being racist, homophobic or transphobic, said the Black Sun wasn’t political and confirmed he’d had it covered for the sake of his career, and expressed regret over the SS helmet photo. He did not apologise for promoting a band he himself described in stark terms, or for wearing a brand owned by a neo-Nazi activist.
Guitarist Jack Simmons gave his own explanation for a separate tattoo last October, while conceding the controversy is the band’s own fault.
So the list exists. What’s new is that he’s now engaging with it item by item instead of dismissing it wholesale.
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Two weeks ago, this same man posted a sarcastic apology to the trans community after his Bloodstock set, spent a day firing back at critics in his replies, then deleted the whole thing when one person told him his posts were getting other people piled on.
That was reactive. This is considered.
And whatever you make of him, that’s a meaningful difference in a genre where the standard response to this kind of pressure is either silence or escalation. He’s headlining Bloodstock. Slaughter To Prevail are one of the biggest bands in modern deathcore at exactly the moment the genre is breaking into the mainstream. He didn’t need to answer any of it.
Nothing here settles the argument. Plenty of people will read his explanations and conclude they’re insufficient, and they’ll have the documented record to point at. Others will read a guy who did something stupid at nineteen and has been paying for it ever since.
Both readings are available. That’s the honest state of it.
The full interview is at Metal Hammer, and it’s worth reading in his own words rather than through a screenshot.
In an interview with Metal Hammer published August 19, 2026, the Slaughter To Prevail frontman said he doesn’t believe he will ever escape the allegations, arguing that people who want a reason to dislike him will find one regardless. He stated directly that he is not a Nazi and never was a racist, while acknowledging he made mistakes.
He says he got the Black Sun and Othala rune — symbols appropriated by the Nazis and used since by white supremacist groups — while associating with right-wing men in Russia when he was young, and that the symbols were used within that culture to appear tough rather than for political reasons. He says he wouldn’t get them again, describes the decision as stupid, and has had the Black Sun covered.
He denies it. He says a since-deleted 2023 post about children being brainwashed referred to religious education and military propaganda pushed at Russian schoolchildren, not to anyone’s identity, and states that he doesn’t mind if someone is gay or trans and supports it. He also recounts challenging homophobic remarks made by his own family as a teenager. Critics point to the original post and to other past comments.
Aleksandr Shikolai, vocalist of the Russian deathcore band Slaughter To Prevail, formed in Yekaterinburg in 2014 and now based in Florida. He’s known for his extreme low-register vocals and separately competes as a bare-knuckle boxer.
The most direct he’s been in four years — but the record hasn’t changed. Does this move the needle for you, or is it too little? Have it out in the comments. And keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream — follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
The post Alex Terrible Was Asked If He’ll Ever Beat The Controversial Allegations Against Him appeared first on Loaded Radio.
Norwegian prog metal figureheads Enslaved have announced that they will release their latest album, Mið, through Nuclear Blast Records on October 30. The band have also shared a video for their new single, Solar Will, which features a guest appearance from Sami musician Johan Sara Jr.
Mið is an Old Norse word for ‘centre’, or ‘middle’, and is an album that sheds light on harmonies and dialogues embedded all around us: between the ways of the past, and how they can bring enlightenment to the present
“There have been sun cults as long as Magic Man has been around (at least),” explains guitarist and founding member Ivar Bjørnson. “The Sun is a nurturing and terrifying parent that can grant as well as obliterate life totally. Such a classic and awe-inspiring object of our worship and myths requires classic and awesome riffs, Bonham-esque drum grooves and blistering melodic flares celebrating its horrific glory. This is what that sounds like to me: Solar Will!”
“Solar Will explores archetypal conflicts, those that manifest in nature, the cosmos, mythology, and, above all, within the human mind,” adds bassist, vocalist and fellow founding member Grutle Kjellson. “In this instance, the central struggle is expressed through one of the enduring rivalries found in Norse mythology, embodied by two important, though often somewhat overlooked, figures within the pantheon. Readers familiar with the Norse mythological tradition will likely recognise the identities rather instantly, yet I shall refrain from naming them, allowing each reader the opportunity to engage with and decipher the lyrics on their own.
“After all, perhaps this is one of the essential functions of lyric writing: to invite interpretation and cultivate a sense of wonder? The conclusion, or more precisely, the absence of one, suggests that, for human beings, chaos and dreams are at least as significant as the realities we perceive through our senses. Ultimately, the work advocates not for resolution, but for the acceptance, assimilation, and shaping of these often contradictory forces.”
Mið is available as a CD jewelcase, a CD digipack (with bonus track and sticker) and as a gatefold vinyl LP(black, transparent blue, arctic blue pearl, blue/white/dark green/black marbled). You can see the new artwork and tracklisting below.
Enslaved: Mið
1. Non-Being
2. I Am Ice (featuring Johan Sara Jr)
3. Solar Will
4. Mountain
5. Spirit Helper (featuring Kevin Kicking Woman)
6. Parting
7. Tales of Trees
8. I Miðju
The pop/R&B group Color Me Badd formed in Oklahoma City in 1985. In the early ’90s, the group scored a few major hits, including “I Wanna Sex You Up,” “I Adore Mi Amor,” and “All 4 Love.” Since their success faded, Color Me Badd have had a tumultuous history, with original members coming and going as they play the nostalgia circuit. The only original member in the current Color Me Badd lineup is Mark Calderon. Another original member, Kevin Thornton, originally left Color Me Badd in 1998 to become a minister in Fort Worth, Texas, though he made a couple of temporary returns in later years. Now, the current version of Color Me Badd has issued a statement about Thornton after his estranged daughter accused him of running a violently strict and “cult-like” household.
The post Color Me Badd Distance Themselves From Co-Founder Accused Of Abuse By Estranged Daughter appeared first on Stereogum.
The ’90s were the last decade when rock bands ruled the charts. Grunge came roaring out of Seattle, Britpop answered from across the Atlantic, pop-punk turned skate parks into arenas, and MTV played all of it on repeat. It was also a decade with a heavy cost, and too many of its greatest voices are gone.
As a musician and music teacher, I ranked these bands on what they did in the ’90s: the albums, the songs that still get played, how much they changed rock and how well the music holds up today. Bands that started earlier, like Metallica and R.E.M., count only for their ’90s run.
Here are the 22 greatest rock bands of the ’90s, ranked, with the one album from the decade to start with for each.
No band defined the ’90s more than Nirvana, and it happened almost overnight. Nevermind came out in September 1991 with modest expectations, and by January 1992 it had knocked Michael Jackson’s Dangerous off No. 1 on the Billboard 200. One music video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” made the hair-metal bands of the ’80s look ancient.
Kurt Cobain wrote songs with Beatles-sized melodies and punk-rock noise, and that mix opened the door for nearly every band on this list. Nevermind has sold more than 30 million copies, and In Utero and MTV Unplugged in New York showed how much further he could go.
Cobain died in April 1994 at 27, and Nirvana ended with him. Drummer Dave Grohl went on to build one of the biggest rock bands of the next 30 years, and you’ll find it further down this list.
Essential ’90s album: Nevermind (1991)
Pearl Jam rose out of a tragedy. When Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood died of an overdose in 1990, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament started over with a new band and a singer from San Diego named Eddie Vedder. Their debut, Ten (1991), is now certified 13 times platinum in the US, thanks to “Alive,” “Even Flow,” “Jeremy” and “Black.”
The follow-up, Vs., sold more than 950,000 copies in its first week in 1993, a record at the time, and it was the first of three straight No. 1 albums. Then Pearl Jam did the opposite of cashing in. They stopped making music videos, fought Ticketmaster over service fees and even testified before Congress about it.
That stubbornness kept them credible and kept them together. More than 35 years later, Pearl Jam is still filling arenas, and the band joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.
Essential ’90s album: Ten (1991)
Soundgarden were grunge pioneers before anyone called it grunge. Formed in Seattle in 1984, they became the first band from that scene to sign with a major label, and they brought something the others didn’t: Black Sabbath-sized riffs in strange time signatures, topped by Chris Cornell’s nearly four-octave voice.
Badmotorfinger (1991) made them stars, and Superunknown (1994) debuted at No. 1 with “Spoonman,” “Fell on Black Days” and “Black Hole Sun,” which won a Grammy. Plenty of musicians consider Cornell the greatest singer the Seattle scene produced, and it’s hard to argue.
Cornell died in May 2017 at 52, hours after a show in Detroit. In 2025, Soundgarden finally entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Jim Carrey giving the induction speech.
Essential ’90s album: Superunknown (1994)
The Chili Peppers had been around since 1983, but the ’90s made them superstars. Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991), produced by Rick Rubin and recorded in a rented Hollywood Hills mansion, mixed Flea’s funk bass with real heartbreak. “Under the Bridge,” Anthony Kiedis’s song about loneliness and addiction, went to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Then it nearly fell apart. Guitarist John Frusciante quit in the middle of a 1992 tour of Japan, and the band spent years trying to replace him. When Frusciante came back in 1998, the reunion produced Californication (1999), which has sold more than 15 million copies.
Few bands have had a second act that big. The Chili Peppers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 and spent much of the 2020s playing stadiums.
Essential ’90s album: Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)
Months after Kurt Cobain’s death, Nirvana’s drummer quietly booked a week at a Seattle studio and recorded a set of songs by himself, playing nearly every instrument. That tape became the first Foo Fighters album in 1995, and Dave Grohl went from “the drummer from Nirvana” to frontman of one of rock’s last great arena bands.
The Colour and the Shape (1997) gave them “Everlong,” “My Hero” and “Monkey Wrench,” songs that still close their shows, and drummer Taylor Hawkins joined that same year. They have since won more than a dozen Grammys and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
Hawkins died suddenly on tour in Colombia in March 2022, at 50. The band carried on, and Grohl’s story remains the most remarkable second act of the decade.
Essential ’90s album: The Colour and the Shape (1997)
Alice in Chains were the heaviest and darkest of the big Seattle bands. Jerry Cantrell’s sludgy, metal-trained riffs met Layne Staley’s haunting voice, and their two-part harmonies became one of the most copied sounds in rock. “Man in the Box,” from 1990’s Facelift, had them on MTV before Nevermind was even released.
Dirt (1992) is a harrowing, brilliant album about addiction, and the acoustic Jar of Flies (1994) became the first EP ever to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Their 1996 MTV Unplugged set is still one of the best in the series.
Staley’s addiction kept the band off the road for much of the decade, and he died in 2002 at 34. Cantrell rebuilt Alice in Chains with singer William DuVall in 2006, and the band has been touring and recording ever since.
Essential ’90s album: Dirt (1992)
Billy Corgan’s Smashing Pumpkins were the most ambitious band of the alternative boom. Out of Chicago, they mixed heavy, layered guitars with dreamy psychedelia, and Siamese Dream (1993), with “Today” and “Disarm,” made them stars.
Then they went bigger. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995) was a 28-song double album that debuted at No. 1 and was eventually certified Diamond. “1979,” “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” and “Tonight, Tonight” were everywhere, and the “Tonight, Tonight” video won Video of the Year at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards.
The success came with chaos. In 1996, touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin died of an overdose and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was fired. The band has split and reunited since, but no alternative band of the decade aimed higher.
Essential ’90s album: Siamese Dream (1993)
Metallica were already thrash legends, but in the ’90s they became the biggest rock band in the world. For their 1991 self-titled album, known as the Black Album, they slowed down, tightened up and hired producer Bob Rock for a huge, radio-ready sound. “Enter Sandman,” “The Unforgiven” and “Nothing Else Matters” took them from metal clubs to every rock station in America.
The Black Album debuted at No. 1 and has become the best-selling album in the US since Nielsen began tracking sales in 1991. Metallica toured it for almost three years.
Later in the decade they cut their hair and went bluesier on Load (1996) and Reload (1997). Longtime fans still argue about that era, but both albums debuted at No. 1 too.
Essential ’90s album: Metallica (the Black Album, 1991)
Green Day took punk from Berkeley’s tiny 924 Gilman Street club to the top of the charts. Their major-label debut, Dookie (1994), was loaded with three-minute singles like “Longview,” “Basket Case” and “When I Come Around,” and it has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.
That summer, their set at Woodstock ’94 turned into a mud fight with the crowd, and bassist Mike Dirnt lost teeth when a security guard mistook him for a stage-crasher. In 1997, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” became the soundtrack to every graduation and farewell montage, including the one that sent off Seinfeld.
Green Day went even bigger with American Idiot in 2004, but Dookie is where it started. They entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, their first year of eligibility.
Essential ’90s album: Dookie (1994)
Rage Against the Machine sounded like nothing else in 1992. Zack de la Rocha rapped furious political lyrics over Tom Morello’s guitar, which he bent, scratched and toggled until it sounded like a DJ’s turntable. Their debut included “Killing in the Name,” one of the angriest songs ever to become a radio staple.
Evil Empire (1996) and The Battle of Los Angeles (1999) both debuted at No. 1, remarkable for a band that railed against corporate America from a major label. They also helped invent rap-rock, for better and for worse.
Their songs never really went away. In 2009, a fan campaign made “Killing in the Name” the UK’s Christmas No. 1, beating that year’s X Factor winner, and the band entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023.
Essential ’90s album: Rage Against the Machine (1992)
Radiohead started the decade looking like a one-hit wonder. “Creep” flopped in the UK when it came out in 1992, then became a hit after American radio picked it up, and the band grew so tired of it that they stopped playing it for years.
Instead of chasing another “Creep,” they got better. The Bends (1995) was full of soaring guitar songs like “Fake Plastic Trees” and “High and Dry,” and OK Computer (1997), a dark, brilliant record about technology and modern life, won a Grammy and regularly shows up on lists of the greatest albums ever made.
Radiohead kept reinventing themselves after the ’90s, but those two albums are as close to perfect as the decade got. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
Essential ’90s album: OK Computer (1997)
Critics wrote off Stone Temple Pilots as grunge copycats when Core came out in 1992. Fans didn’t care. “Plush,” “Creep” and “Sex Type Thing” made it a multiplatinum smash, and “Plush” won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.
Purple (1994) debuted at No. 1 and proved the doubters wrong, with “Interstate Love Song” and “Vasoline” showing off the DeLeo brothers’ gift for melody and Scott Weiland’s chameleon-like voice. Few bands of the era wrote better hooks.
Weiland’s addictions shadowed the band for years. He died on his tour bus in December 2015, at 48. Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, who had fronted STP from 2013 to 2015, died less than two years later. The DeLeo brothers and drummer Eric Kretz carried on with singer Jeff Gutt.
Essential ’90s album: Purple (1994)
Oasis were Britain’s answer to grunge, except they wanted to be the Beatles. Definitely Maybe (1994) became the fastest-selling debut album in British history at the time, and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (1995), with “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.
In August 1996 they played two nights at Knebworth for 250,000 people, and around 2.5 million applied for tickets. The other half of the story was the fighting. Liam and Noel Gallagher’s feud made headlines for years, and the band finally split after a backstage fight in Paris in 2009.
After 16 years apart, the brothers reunited in 2025 for a world tour that sold out almost instantly, proof the songs never went away.
Essential ’90s album: (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (1995)
R.E.M. spent the ’80s as America’s favorite college-radio band, then spent the ’90s as one of the biggest bands on the planet. “Losing My Religion,” built on a mandolin riff, went to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991 and helped Out of Time top the charts.
Automatic for the People (1992) was even better, a quiet, beautiful album about mortality that gave the world “Everybody Hurts” and “Man on the Moon.” In 1996, R.E.M. signed a reported $80 million deal with Warner Bros., the biggest record contract ever at the time.
The decade also brought a scare. Drummer Bill Berry collapsed on stage in Switzerland in 1995 with a brain aneurysm. He recovered but left the band in 1997. R.E.M. joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 and called it quits in 2011.
Essential ’90s album: Automatic for the People (1992)
Pantera started out as a glam band from Texas and ended up making the heaviest music ever to top the American charts. Cowboys from Hell (1990) introduced their new sound, built on Dimebag Darrell’s razor-sharp riffs and Phil Anselmo’s roar, and Vulgar Display of Power (1992) perfected it with “Walk” and “Mouth for War.”
In 1994, Far Beyond Driven debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, an astonishing result for an album that heavy. While grunge and alternative took over the radio, Pantera kept heavy metal alive for a whole generation of fans.
The story ended in tragedy. Dimebag was shot and killed on stage in Columbus, Ohio, in 2004, and his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul, died in 2018. Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown revived Pantera in 2022, with Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante filling in.
Essential ’90s album: Vulgar Display of Power (1992)
Weezer proved you didn’t need flannel and angst to be a ’90s rock band. Their 1994 debut, known as the Blue Album, wrapped nerdy heartbreak in huge, fuzzy guitars. “Buddy Holly” came with a Spike Jonze video that dropped the band into an episode of Happy Days, and it was even included on the Windows 95 installation CD.
The follow-up, Pinkerton (1996), was raw and painfully personal, written partly while singer Rivers Cuomo was studying at Harvard, and it flopped. Over the next decade, fans and critics came around, and Pinkerton is now seen as a blueprint for emo.
Weezer came back bigger in the 2000s with “Island in the Sun” and “Beverly Hills,” and they’re still making records and touring today.
Essential ’90s album: Weezer (the Blue Album, 1994)
Tool were the band musicians argued about most in the ’90s. Out of Los Angeles, they mixed metal heaviness with odd time signatures, long songs and Maynard James Keenan’s eerie vocals, and they refused to play the usual music-industry games. Their stop-motion videos, directed by guitarist Adam Jones, looked like nothing else on MTV.
Undertow (1993) built a cult following, and Ænima (1996) turned it into a phenomenon, winning a Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Drummer Danny Carey became a hero to a generation of musicians who studied his parts like math problems.
Tool famously take their time. Their 2019 album, Fear Inoculum, arrived 13 years after the previous one and still knocked Taylor Swift off No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Essential ’90s album: Ænima (1996)
Nine Inch Nails was essentially one man, Trent Reznor, and he dragged industrial music into the mainstream. After 1989’s Pretty Hate Machine, he recorded his masterpiece, The Downward Spiral (1994), in the Los Angeles house where members of the Manson family had murdered Sharon Tate in 1969.
It was a dark, abrasive album about self-destruction, and it still went quadruple platinum. “Closer” became a hit, and “Hurt” became even more famous in 2002, when Johnny Cash recorded a devastating cover near the end of his life.
Reznor has since become an Oscar-winning film composer with Atticus Ross, for The Social Network and Soul. Nine Inch Nails entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.
Essential ’90s album: The Downward Spiral (1994)
The Offspring made the best-selling punk album of the decade on a small independent label. Smash (1994), released by Epitaph Records, rode “Come Out and Play” and “Self Esteem” to sales of more than 11 million copies, making it one of the best-selling independent-label albums of all time.
They went even more mainstream with Americana (1998), whose novelty hit “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)” reached No. 1 in the UK in 1999. Love it or hate it, you’ve heard it.
Singer Dexter Holland was always an unlikely punk star. He had studied molecular biology at USC before the band took off, and in 2017, decades into his music career, he went back and finished his PhD.
Essential ’90s album: Smash (1994)
Deftones came out of Sacramento in the mid-’90s alongside the nu-metal crowd, but they never really fit in. Chino Moreno could whisper, croon and scream in the same song, and Stephen Carpenter’s crushing guitars left room for beauty and atmosphere.
Adrenaline (1995) built a following the hard way, through constant touring, and Around the Fur (1997), with “My Own Summer (Shove It)” and “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away),” made them one of the most influential heavy bands of the decade. White Pony (2000) went on to win a Grammy for “Elite.”
Tragedy struck in 2008, when bassist Chi Cheng was badly injured in a car accident. He died in 2013. Today, Deftones are as popular as they’ve ever been, with a new generation discovering them online.
Essential ’90s album: Around the Fur (1997)
Blink-182 turned pop-punk into a mainstream phenomenon at the end of the decade. After years of touring out of the San Diego area, they added drummer Travis Barker in 1998, and Enema of the State (1999) exploded, selling more than 15 million copies worldwide.
“What’s My Age Again?” came with a video of the band running naked through Los Angeles, and the “All the Small Things” video parodied the boy bands they were competing with on MTV. Underneath the jokes were catchy, surprisingly sincere songs about growing up.
The band has split and reunited more than once, but the classic lineup of Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Barker came back in 2022, and their 2023 album One More Time… debuted at No. 1.
Essential ’90s album: Enema of the State (1999)
The Verve’s peak was short, but it produced one of the greatest songs of the decade. Built on a sweeping string loop, “Bitter Sweet Symphony” from Urban Hymns (1997) was everywhere, and the album became one of the best-selling records in British history.
There was a catch. The string loop came from an orchestral version of the Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time,” and after a legal fight, the songwriting credit and royalties went to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Singer Richard Ashcroft finally got his rights back in 2019, when Jagger and Richards signed them over.
The Verve split in 1999, reunited for one more album, Forth, in 2008, then broke up again. But Urban Hymns, with “The Drugs Don’t Work” and “Lucky Man,” holds up as well as anything on this list.
Essential ’90s album: Urban Hymns (1997)
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