10 Perfect Music Albums That Defined The 90s

10. Green Day: Dookie (1994)

After punk rock's short lived moment in the limelight, it retreated into the underground, where it festered and mutated throughout the majority of the '80s. The genre largely survived off the backs of small and independent labels, set up either by bands themselves, or run by punk rock enthusiasts.

Groups like the Offspring, NOFX and Green Day all found initial success through the support of indie labels. But, after the buzz generated by Green Day's second record, Kerplunk, major labels started sniffing around. A plethora of groups were signed, Green Day among them. In the eyes of the underground, the signing to major label, went against the DIY ethos of punk. It was seen as a betrayal to the indie labels that had given many pop-punk groups their start.

Despite this, Green Day weathered the scorn. Dookie went on to be one of the group's biggest selling albums. It was a more pop-centric form of punk, but it suited the era. When the genre first popped up in the '70s, it railed against economic disparity, corrupt governments, and racial injustice. But, in the '90s, the youth were less engaged with matters of social injustice, rather they felt bored and disillusioned by a consumerist culture. Tracks, like Welcome to Paradise, Basket Case, and When I Come Around, spoke to this sense of disillusionment, becoming the new expression of rebellion for America's youth.