This is a safe place. We aren't going to judge you for that secret Spotify playlist you keep private or the CD you keep hidden in your glove compartment. There are some '90s bands, like Nirvana and Radiohead, that are timeless and everyone openly loves them. On the other hand, there are some that were insanely popular at the time, but then we realized were not very good, so they began fading into obscurity. But that's not going to happen on our watch. Here are 20 terrible bands from the '90s you (and I) still secretly love.
20. 311
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Do you know how many middle-aged men are now walking around with 311 tattoos? There should definitely be a support group for them. 311 wasn't hip-hop and didn't quite qualify as punk, but as much as you had to admit it, you know you turn back into that scene kid with JNCO jeans every time "Down" comes on the radio during a throwback playlist.
19. Everclear
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Everclear did for bleached blond hair what Courtney Love did for drug awareness. Every song felt like a sound check, but they kept putting out hit after hit. You probably know more of their lyrics than you do The National, and you always talk about how much you love them. Turn on "Father of Mine" and let all those high school arguments with your dad come rolling back in.
18. Our Lady Peace
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Our Lady Peace was the official soundtrack to riding in the back seat of the car on family vacations and questioning what's the point of it all. If you didn't grow up with them, it's hard to introduce them to new listeners since most of the time the lead singer sort of sounds like a pubescent clown reading Mad Libs through a broken drive thru speaker.
17. Collective Soul
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I was introduced to Collective Soul by a camp counselor who simply told me, "Dude, you just gotta experience this." I'm sure once the drugs wore off he wasn't quite as big of a fan, but it doesn't matter who you're with or how you're feeling; if you hear "OHHH, HEAVEN LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE DOWN" you're in pure 1993 bliss.
16. Everlast
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Boy, we really thought Everlast was bringing the truth, didn't we? The lyrics to songs like "What It's Like" and "Ends" were so heavy handed, they might as well have been after school specials. While it's admirable that he sang about real life instead of money and partying, it's hard to take him seriously when he dressed like Pitbull if he only shopped at TJ Maxx.
15. Eve 6
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There are two types of people: the ones who still know all the words to "Inside Out" and the ones who lie about not knowing all the words to it. This was back before you could just download a single from iTunes, so we all ended up buying that Eve 6 tape with the fly on the front of it, but luckily the whole thing was pretty great. Unfortunately nothing else they ever did matched that level, but at least we'll always have the summer of 1998.
14. Counting Crows
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Counting Crows are still doing their thing, but we've sort of figured out that 99% of their songs don't make any sense whatsoever. Who exactly is Mr. Jones? December is just 31 days so it can't be any longer than the last. Also, NASA would never hire a white dude with dreadlocks to recover any sort of satellites.
13. Goo Goo Dolls
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Everyone fell in love with them when they released the soundtrack to Meg Ryan riding a bicycle with her eyes closed and her arms outstretched in "City of Angels," but it seemed like one day they had just vanished. You may not think you still like them, but as soon as you hear that opening guitar riff to "Slide," you go back to being the biggest Goo Head in the world. Is that what their fans were called? Let's hope not.
12. Third Eye Blind
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I have no problems declaring my undying love of Third Eye Blind. "Semi Charmed Life" is the most whimsical song about a drug addiction that you'll ever hear. They had your mom humming along to a song about doing crystal meth. There should be a Grammy award category for that sort of accomplishment.
11. Korn
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The hardcore scene kids had loved Korn for years, but when "Freak on a Leash" came out, they completely blew up. You weren't cool unless you had the "Follow the Leader" CD hanging out of your backpack at school. Has anyone ever seen Counting Crows and Korn in the same room? Because their lead singers may or may not be each other's loopers.
10. Vanilla Ice
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Now everyone loves "Ice, Ice Baby" ironically, but in the '90s there was no irony involved in our undying love of stopping, collaborating and listening. If there's a picture of you with lines shaved in your eyebrow, you don't have to say a word. That picture tells everything we need to know about you and Vanilla Ice. It's OK, you're allowed to love anyone that choreographed a dance with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
9. The Offspring
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The only band I'm truly ashamed of loving in the '90s has to be The Offspring. How on earth were we so obsessed with the musical equivalent of an episode of "Jackass"? It was like the comment section on a Bam Margera skateboarding video on YouTube became self-aware.
8. Spice Girls
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At first you didn't mind the Spice Girls, then you really got into them, then they got so big you had to start hating them, and after a while you learned to accept your relationship with them. Thanks to the Internet and drunk girls at bachelorette parties, they're just as popular today as they ever were. If you still hate them, you're completely justified, but you know if you're all alone in the car and "Wannabe" pops up on a playlist, you're going to do the Scary Spice parts every time.
7. Creed
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Yes, Creed is terrible and Scott Stapp sounds like a syrup-covered record you left in a microwave for a week. We all know this and have accepted it. However, go to Spotify and skim through that "Human Clay" album. Then go let the "My Own Prison" album engulf your soul. You can say you hate it all you want, but there's something about those garbage albums that almost force you to sing along to every slurred lyric.
6. The Wallflowers
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We immediately accepted The Wallflowers because we felt like we owed it to Bob Dylan, for some reason. As much as we all loved "One Headlight", it didn't take long to realize that all of their draggy, mopey songs sounded exactly the same. I never want to hear them count Marlenas again, but that "Bringing Down the Horse" album will always hold a special place in our hearts, even if we have no idea what that means.
5. Spin Doctors
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Of course the Spin Doctors are completely terrible and feel like walking commercial jingles, but it is completely impossible to hate their music. If you claim to hate the Spin Doctors what you're really saying is that you hate joy and love.
4. Hanson
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Remember when you were 14 and thought the lead singer was a cute girl that you could definitely see yourself dating, but then you found out it was a boy and had to have some confusing talks with your parents? No? Haha, me neither!
3. Hootie and the Blowfish
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You could not escape Hootie and the Blowfish in the '90s. I'm not certain what caused them to go from the biggest thing in the world to the answer to a trivia question, but I would be willing to bet it involved everyone learning that the lead singer's name wasn't actually Hootie. If we can't believe in Hootie then what's left to put our trust in? Nothing, that's what.
2. Limp Bizkit
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Limp Bizkit knew that we were all listening to them during a party or getting ready for an MMA fight, so lyrics were not their top priority. This is a 100% real set of lyrics from "Rollin":
Now I know y'all be lovin' this sh*t right here
L.I.M.P Bizkit is right here
THEY RHYMED "HERE" WITH "HERE"! THAT'S NOT EVEN A RHYME!
As terrible as their lyrics were, you couldn't help but turn up the radio every time you heard that backwards hat wearing lyrical genius insist we put our hands up and hands down.
1. Ace of Base
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Our lives are divided into two sections: before you heard Ace of Base and after. There was something about that Swedish hit machine that made every day worth living. Is "The Sign" the greatest album ever made? Some may have an argument for "The White Album" or "Blood on the Tracks," but "The Sign" may be ... OK it's not that good, but it's really fun when you're on a long road trip!
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