10 Best 1990s Alt-Rock Albums You Need To Hear
1. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (1994)
Nine Inch Nails wrote two unbelievably brilliant albums in the 1990s: The Downward Spiral and The Fragile. The former saw the band perfect the industrial sound, and push their anger and emotions to newfound levels, whereas The Fragile set the template for what the band would become: full of range, beautiful and yet still hyper emotive. The Fragile is usually the fan favourite, however The Downward Spiral defined a generation and like many of the albums on this list, it tore up the parameters in which bands could express what they truly felt.
Melding electronic racket with genuine massive rock music, the band pushed limits that grunge would only test. The album's narrative spirals into despair, hopelessness and loneliness, it explores what it’s like to be nothing. Everything Trent Reznor wrote was direct and devoid of metaphor, he never had a soul to sell and framed The Downward Spiral with directness.
The Downward Spiral continues to reach the kids plagued by both the devil and God. It’s a challenging, tortured, essential album and it’s like nothing you’ll ever hear again.