10 Perfect Soft Rock Albums Of The '90s

After the alternative revolution got into full swing, there were no set rules about what constituted a rock star anymore. Since you had people like Kurt Cobain talking about how sh*tty the commercialism side of the industry was, there were a slew of anti rock stars coming up in his wake that were looking to lash out in song. Some made it by turning their amps up loud, others tried to be pin up stars, but all Fiona Apple needed was a piano to get her point across.

In just 10 songs, Tidal is one of the most complete singer songwriter records of the decade, putting Fiona in the same conversation as people like Tori Amos from around the same time. You could tell that Tori put some time and effort into crafting each song though, whereas Fiona practically sounds like she's exorcising some demons every time she steps up to the mic, like the dark relationship going on in Criminal or the loneliness that she feels in songs like Shadowboxer.

Compared to most singer songwriters though, you never listen to Tidal and feel like you're being given a lecture or anything. If anything, this feels like catching up with an old friend that you haven't seen in a while. The other grunge boys could scream all they wanted, but as for Fiona, she had her own hell to raise.