5. Smashing Pumpkins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr5_CFuzkK4 One of the most perfect alt rock albums ever made, Siamese Dream combined Billy Corgan's love for a variety of musical styles. Blending squealing metal with seventies rock, swirling from daisy-plucking psychedelia to string laden folk, Siamese Dream was his artistic masterpiece. Corgan tended to have a flair for the dramatic, and he executed this perfectly on brilliant tracks full of emotion and angst. Songs like "Disarm" capture and keep you entranced, while others like "Cherub Rock" kick you out of your seat and knock you to the floor with Corgan's distorted sludge and power. 4. Beck - Odelay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3ZsKeX2_7A The funky folk-rock gem that moved a nation out of their seats, Odelay was Beck's finest moment. Beck and The Dust Brothers go crate-digging and come out with some brilliant beats to back Beck's strange blend of folk, rock and hip hop. Filled with playful energy and California casualness, Odelay was blue collar brilliance, folk rock for everyday people. 3. R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK8HWMrAEUg Largely ditching the electric guitars, R.E.M. settled in for a mostly acoustic album, and ended up creating one of the most beautiful and powerful albums of the decade. Backed by some truly brilliant string sections arranged by none other than John Paul Jones, Stipe sings about a variety of topics including paying homage to the late Andy Kaufman. The details are intricate - like "Pet Sounds" for alt rockers - and the results are truly moving. From tear-jerking ballads (Everybody Hurts) to comedic sing-alongs (Man On The Moon) and powerful folk rock (Drive), Automatic For The People is close to perfection. 2. Radiohead - OK Computer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RByvzmmEFiQ A frightening look at the future, OK Computer is filled with Thom Yorke's creeping paranoia and anger. Yorke sings about everything from aliens to politicians to commercialism all with a tint of disdain and frustration. A brilliant album that twists and turns - the tempo rising and falling too quick to track. OK Computer's brilliant - if not disturbing and claustrophobic - songs are filled with art-rock oddities led by Johnny Greenwood's otherworldly guitar parts all snaking through the songs. Ed O'Brien's guitars echo and vibrate throughout, backed by the fuzz and thump of Colin Greenwood's bass lines. A true art-rock masterpiece, OK Computer may be one of the strangest, and most brilliant albums ever to go platinum.