The Best Songs of the 90s

The 1990s ranked by beer score: grunge, Britpop, East and West Coast hip-hop, boy bands and one Macarena, all competing for the same places.

Top 25 of 78 songs with at least 10 ratings. Ranked by average beer score on a 0 to 11 scale.

1
Big Poppa
The Notorious B.I.G.
The smoothest Biggie ever got. Beer three approves.
1.0beers14 ratings
2
Come as You Are
Nirvana
That guitar tone is worth two beers on its own.
1.3beers28 ratings
3
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Nirvana
You either get it sober or never.
1.6beers43 ratings
4
Sabotage
Beastie Boys
The Spike Jonze video is the best three minutes of the nineties.
1.8beers35 ratings
5
Even Flow
Pearl Jam
That solo is McCready showing off, and he earned the right.
2.0beers27 ratings
6
Firestarter
The Prodigy
Keith Flint in a tunnel. Genuinely frightening in 1996.
2.0beers23 ratings
7
Heart-Shaped Box
Nirvana
The weirdest thing to ever get daytime radio play. Beautiful.
2.1beers30 ratings
8
C.R.E.A.M.
Wu-Tang Clan
Cash rules everything around me. Still does.
2.1beers11 ratings
9
Lithium
Nirvana
The quiet-loud-quiet blueprint, executed perfectly.
2.1beers41 ratings
10
In Bloom
Nirvana
A song mocking the people who love it. They love it anyway.
2.2beers35 ratings
11
Gangsta's Paradise
Coolio ft. L.V.
A Stevie Wonder sample, a school choir, and total omnipresence in 1995.
2.2beers96 ratings
12
Zombie
The Cranberries
Dolores O'Riordan's voice does something no beer can improve.
2.2beers33 ratings
13
Loser
Beck
Soy un perdedor. Accidentally the anthem of a whole generation.
2.3beers40 ratings
14
Changes
2Pac
Built on a Bruce Hornsby sample and still the most quoted Pac verse.
2.3beers10 ratings
15
Black or White
Michael Jackson
Slash opens it, and the morphing video melted everyone's brain.
2.4beers39 ratings
16
Virtual Insanity
Jamiroquai
The moving floor did the heavy lifting. The song holds up anyway.
2.4beers40 ratings
17
Bitter Sweet Symphony
The Verve
The Rolling Stones took the royalties. The song won anyway.
2.5beers28 ratings
18
Praise You
Fatboy Slim
Spike Jonze ambushed a cinema queue with a dance troupe. It won awards.
2.5beers22 ratings
19
Nothing Else Matters
Metallica
The song that made metalheads admit they had feelings.
2.5beers42 ratings
20
Enter Sandman
Metallica
Off to never-never land. Bring the whole six-pack.
2.5beers46 ratings
21
Black Hole Sun
Soundgarden
The chorus is gorgeous and the video was terrifying.
2.6beers44 ratings
22
Basket Case
Green Day
Anxiety, three chords and one hell of a hook.
2.7beers39 ratings
23
Wishlist
Pearl Jam
The most gentle Vedder has ever allowed himself to be.
2.7beers20 ratings
24
Hypnotize
The Notorious B.I.G.
He makes it sound effortless. It absolutely was not.
2.7beers14 ratings
25
Black
Pearl Jam
Too heavy for beer three. Save it for beer seven.
2.7beers32 ratings