20 underrated bands from the 1990s 

Long recognized as the leader of the 1990s' "riot grrrl" movement, Bikini Kill made feminist punk and hard rock cool. Thanks to anthems like "Rebel Girl," Kathleen Hanna and Co. spoke to a generation of young women looking for their place but never seemed to generate consistent mainstream success. Though the group has not put out a studio album since 1996, its popularity resurfaced thanks to its influence on internet-sensation, all-girl teenage punk rockers The Linda Lindas.

A mix of Celtic punk rock with some pop tendencies, Black 47 was formed in New York in the late 1980s by guitarist-vocalist Larry Kirwan and former NYC policeman-turned-musician Chris Byrne. When former Dexys Midnight Runners co-founder Geoff Blythe joined, the group became a regular attraction on Manhattan's East Side. Then, with production help from The Cars' Ric Ocasek, the band's second studio release, Fire of Freedom (1993), led to some decent mainstream success, thanks to the tune "Funky Céilí." Unabashedly political, Black 47 released almost 20 albums in various formats through 2014, but all its notable success came during the '90s.

Rising from the ashes of late-1980s hip hop/soul group Guy, performer/producer Teddy Riley formed a new act with fellow production ace Chauncey "Black" Hannibal. Blackstreet released three of its four albums during the '90s. Its 1994 self-titled debut featured a raw, more durable hip-hop sound than anything its members delivered prior. In 1996, Blackstreet put out Another Level, which featured the Billboard Hot 100 hit "No Diggity." But there was much more to the act than that one single, and revisiting the Blackstreet catalog is time well spent for any hip-hop fan.

As of 2018, this Boston-based alternative rock outfit had released nine studio albums. Five came out during the 1990s and enjoyed some noteworthy success. Always considered a great live band, Buffalo Tom's prominence spanned outside the East Coast thanks to 1993's Big Red Letter Day, which featured two songs ("Sodajerk" and "Late at Night") included in the short-lived but severely underrated ABC teen drama My So-Called Life, which featured Claire Danes and Jared Leto. Buffalo Tom has toured recently and is worth catching if playing at a venue nearby.

When it comes to appreciating the greatness of Cake, it may not be for everyone. The band formed in 1991 as the brainchild of multi-talented musician John McCrea. With the horns and dabbles in alternative, pop, funk, indie, and even some country rock, Cake is a smörgåsboard of sound. It enjoyed a sizable hit with "The Distance," from 1996's Fashion Nugget, but the band is far from a one-hit-wonder. Perhaps there just wasn't enough mainstream interest to sustain notable success. Cake kept going into the 2000s and is still making music in the present.

Aside from "The Humpty Dance" and the fact this outfit helped jumpstart Tupac Shakur's career, what else do casual rap and hip-hop fans know about Digital Underground? Perhaps not much. How about the fact that the underappreciated "Doowutchyalike" was the band's first hit in late 1989 and early 1990? Or that the Underground, heavily steeped in a soul and funk background, had four albums during the 1990s chart within the top 30 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart? Well, now you know.

There was more to New York's Fountains of Wayne than "Stacy's Mom" and its popular music video featuring Rachel Hunter. That song came out in 2003, but these alt-power poppers, led by songwriters bassist Adam Schlesinger and singer Chris Collingwood, put out some of their best work in the late 1990s with tracks like "Radiation Vibe" and "Red Dragon Tattoo." The latter featured on the brilliantly underappreciated conceptual Utopia Parkway (1999) album. Sadly, Emmy and Grammy Award winner Schlesinger, who also wrote the theme song to the Tom Hanks-directed That Thing You Do! (1996), passed away from COVID-19 complications in April 2020.

Really? How is a band that sold more than 17 million albums since its exceptional self-titled 1995 debut considered underrated? Garbage, which put out an equally stellar follow-up Version 2.0 (1998), followed the path of other innovative and creative alternative bands and got caught in the changing tide of the 2000s music scene. Fronted by the magnificent Shirley Mansion and featuring some of alternative music's most respected musicians, songwriters, and producers in Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, and Butch Vig, Garbage — also appreciated by fans of electronica and industrial music — should have been one of the biggest bands in the world. Like, Smashing Pumpkins-type popular.

It's fair to say that this Boston-based band never got the attention it deserved. Perhaps because the alternative rock/pop punk market had become so saturated by the middle-to-late 1990s. Fronted by the underrated Kay Hanley, who has worked with Dropkick Murphys, played Mary Magdalene in a stage production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and sang Rachael Leigh Cook's parts from 2001's Josie and the Pūssycats, Letters to Cleo put out three records during the 1990s. Its most notable success came through inclusion in the 1999 teen rom-com 10 Things I Hate About You. The band brilliantly covered Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind," the Cheap Trick classic "I Want You to Want Me," and performed its own tune "Come On."

Amid the mess of boy bands popping up in the 1990s, LFO can easily be classified as a one-hit wonder for the 1999 tune "Summer Girls," which hit No. 3 on the Hot 100 and had guys wanting to date girls who wore clothes from Abercrombie & Fitch. The truth is, this Massachusetts-based trio, which worked with New Kids on the Block's Danny Wood for its self-titled 1999 debut album, had more of a hip-hop sound than straight boy band bubble-gum pop that dominated the decade. Sadly, LFO made just one more album in 2001. Members Rich Cronin and Devin Lima died from cancer in 2010 and 2018, respectively.

Sure, Living Colour is a multi-Grammy-winning metal/punk/soul/funk act, but in terms of true mainstream notoriety, the well ran somewhat dry following its stellar 1988 debut Vivid. The album housed the MTV favorite "Cult of Personality." Living Colour was praised for its '90s releases Time's Up (1990) and Stain (1993), though, by that time, grunge and hip-hop dominated the mainstream, and the band was forced to succeed in relative obscurity. After years apart, singer Corey Glover and guitarist Vernon Reid got the band back together, and they remain a must-see live act.

Yes, the Beastie Boys had a major hand in helping Luscious Jackson get off the ground by using the group as a support act and signing the foursome to its Grand Royal label in the early '90s. However, Jill Cunniff, Gabby Glaser, Vivian Trimble, and Kate Schellenbach (the Beastie's early touring drummer) did the rest. Its creative blend of alternative rock, rap, and hip-hop was a breath of fresh air during the 1990s and deserved a much larger audience beyond the appreciation of the mainstream hit "Naked Eye" from 1996.

The Melvins put out its first album in 1986 and released more than 30 projects, including EPs, over the decades. Considered the creator of "sludge metal" and one of the early groups of the grunge movement, Melvins' most recognizable work, as seen through the eyes of casual fans of those genres, came during the 1990s — even if it never enjoyed a serious mainstream hit. That said, the Melvins were a major influence on such bands as Nirvana, Soundgarden, Tool, and Mr. Bungle/Faith No More.

During the 1990s, the market for pop-punk bands became so saturated that some of the better music of the time was slipping through the mainstream cracks. The Muffs, from Los Angeles, had more of an actual raw punk vibe but was lumped into the bubble-gum punk that rose to prominence in the middle-to-late end of the decade. The driving force of the band was singer-guitarist-bassist Kim Shattuck, who wrote notable tracks like "Big Mouth," "Lucky Guy," and "Funny Face." Sadly, Shattuck passed in 2019 at age 56 due to complications from ALS. 

Again, another example of an act that should be known for more than just one or two songs. Sure, Naughty By Nature will forever be associated with "O.P.P." But what about "Uptown Anthem" and "Everything's Gonna Be Alright," also from the group's 1991 self-titled second album? Naughty By Nature scored its second top-10 hit with "Hip Hop Hooray" from 1993, then won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album for 1995's shrewdly sensational Poverty's Paradise long after the group fell out of the mainstream rotation.

When influential East Bay ska punks Operation Ivy disbanded, members Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman formed Rancid. Drummer Brett Reed joined, and the trio put out its 1993 self-titled debut. After adding guitarist Lars Frederiksen, things really took off. Let's Go (1993), ...And Out Come the Wolves (1994), and Life Won't Wait (1998) rounded out the band's '90s contribution with some of the greatest, raw, power-punk music from the movement. While Rancid had moments of prominence during the decade, it didn't reach the popularity level of Green Day or even No Doubt. Dropkick Murphys, however, are just one of many bands influenced by Rancid.

While Screaming Trees weren't poster boys for grunge, it played a big part in getting the Seattle-based hard rock sound to the masses. Highly revered among other pioneering contemporaries like Melvins, Mudhoney, Green River, and Malfunkshun, Screaming Trees earned its most significant commercial success with the single "Nearly Lost You" from 1992's Sweet Oblivion. Internal issues kept the group from maintaining any lasting success. Sadly, highly respected lead singer Mark Lanegan passed away in February 2022 at age 57.

It took six studio albums for Soul Asylum to finally break through into the mainstream. From 1992, Grave Dancers Union produced MTV favorites "Runaway Train," "Somebody to Shove," and "Black Gold." However, 1995's follow-up Let Your Dim Light Shine (featuring underrated gems "Misery" and "Just Like Anyone"), and the rest of the 1990s are pretty undervalued. As recently as 2020, Dave Pirner and Co. were putting out new material and still actively touring.

Yes, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was a Britpop/alternative favorite — and nominated for a Grammy — upon its 1997 release, but The Verve had much more to offer. "The Drugs Don't Work" and "Lucky Man" are two of singer/songwriter Richard Ashcroft's most personal works. And it should not be discarded how the band's off-stage dysfunction played into its stellar collection of music. Often stuck in the shadows of Oasis, The Verve was well-renowned in its native England but never enjoyed extensive success in the United States.

Perhaps the major intrigue regarding Ween is its overall sound. Undeniably alternative, there are elements of funk, metal, punk, and even some soul and country. Gene and Dean Ween (a.k.a. Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, respectively) and Co. were consistently among the most creative and ingenious groups during the 1990s and 2000s. Not to mention the Ween's allegiance to Boognish, the Demon God, that has pretty much fueled the band throughout its existence. The cult-like following of fans is impressive for a group that never received consistent mainstream notoriety beyond the 120 Minutes crowd.