10 Amazing '90s Bands That Everyone Forgot About
Irony's Greatest Secrets.
Going through every single genre of the '90s, you almost need to have some sort of score card to keep up. In between hair metal dying a pretty ugly death, you also had the alternative revolution coming up, along with adult alternative, ska, lounge, pop punk, and the kitchen sink vying for some sort of place on the charts. So while we remember some of the bands that managed to get to the top, the lowlights were just as important.
While these acts aren't nearly on the same level as the Nirvanas or the Green Days of the world, it's hard to ignore the kind of impact that they had on the rock scene when they were active. From legendary musicians trying something new to fresh new faces on the scene, each of these artists brought something interesting to the table that was a breath of fresh air at the time.
Even if they were riding the coattails of some of the more successful acts of the day, there was a lot more potential than any of us give them credit for. So whenever you put on those rose colored glasses when thinking about your '90s days, just make sure you don't forget to mention these guys. They might not be alongside the greats, but that back catalog says something a little bit different.
10. Kula Shaker
As soon as the waves of grunge started to fizzle out, rock started getting a lot more optimistic across the pond. Once acts like Oasis started climbing up the charts, the Britpop movement ushered in a new brand of rock and roll, bringing back the loud guitars and a subtle retro vibe dating back to the Summer of Love style of rock. While the Gallagher Brothers may have gotten their inspiration from '60s Beatles, Kula Shaker were a lot more in the vein of psychedelia.
Throughout records like K, you can see the kind of jam band scene that they were trying to create, especially on songs like Govinda that build the entire song off of just one chord. Compared to the happy go lucky side of things, this was the kind of rock and roll that catered to the more stoner rock set, as if a band like the Grateful Dead had been born just a few decades too late.
The aesthetic wasn't just window dressing either, with the band getting more into the psychedelic aspects of their sound later down the road, and still managing to have some great solo work mixed in on songs like Hey Dude. Britpop may have only been around for a little while, but the bands in the scene were far from just one note. These were the kind of people that learned all the lessons that the '60s had to teach and were trying to share it with the next generation of rockers.