The final of my favorite albums from my teen years is Weezer’s Blue Album. I remember seeing the video for “Undone – The Sweater Song” on 120 Minutes one night and instantly fell in love with Weezer. The next day I picked up the album and was a fan for life. Pinkerton is probably my favorite Weezer album, but I was 21 when it came out, so it didn’t qualify for this list. I’ve seen Weezer in concert more than any other band that isn’t Motion City Soundtrack. Weezer are definitely one of my top five favorite bands.

It’s been fun going back and listening to some of my favorite albums every week these posts.

Punk in Drublic was the first album that I learned about online. If I remember right, I learned about NOFX and a bunch of other punk bands reading music usenet newsgroups on AOL. Back in 1994 there were very few ISPs in our little town. AOL was about it, and they didn’t have the web yet. It was mostly just email, usenet, and AOL chat rooms. fun times.

I discovered so many bands on the usenet those days. I would make lists in hopes to find them at Best Buy. It was always a hit or miss if they had them or not. NOFX is by far my favorite from those days, and still love them to this day.

Pavement’s first album, Slanted and Enchanted, is often thought of as their best album. I love all of their albums, but Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was the first I heard. It holds a special place in my heart. I remember seeing the “Cut Your Hair” video in college and instantly fell in love with Pavement. Their third album, Wowee Zowee is probably my favorite, but I was 20 when it was released so it’s disqualified from this list.

It was a toss-up for what Letters to Cleo album to put on this list. I love Aurora Gory Alice and Wholesale Meats and Fish pretty equally, but Aurora Gory Alice is the album that made Letters to Cleo a household name. Letters to Cleo are one of my all time favorites from the 90s. I’m bummed I’ve never had a chance to see them live. It’s great that the band is back together making music again, maybe someday I’ll get to see them.

Most people probably don’t know who Frente! is. They are an Australian band that have been together on and off since the early 90s. They basically only have two studio albums, and I really fell in love with Marvin the Album in college in 1993. I’m listening to it now for the first time in probably 15 years, and it’s still great. I wish I knew how to describe it better, but you know what, you have the internet. You can go listen yourself.

I was a little late at discovering the Pixies. I actually became of fan of Frank Black first, and then went back and listened to the Pixies. Teenager of the Year is the first Frank Black album I discovered. I just love this album. So many quirky, catchy songs. It’s probably one of the most underrated 90s albums.

I discovered the Smashing Pumpkins with the Gish sometime in high school after seeing the video for “Rhinoceros”. While I liked the album, I didn’t love it. Siamese Dream came out the summer after my senior year. From the beginning riff of “Cherub Rock”, I new the Smashing Pumpkins were going to be huge. I love the beginning lyrics of “Cherub Rock”, “Freak out,And give in, Doesn’t matter what you believe in, Stay cool, And be somebody’s fool this year”. The album only gets better from there. Billy Corgan driving around the ice cream truck in the “Today” video is one of the memories from my freshman years of college. “Disarm” got so much air play, I kind of got sick of it. This album probably makes it into my top 10 favorite albums of all time list.