In 1995, 21 year old Alanis Morissette launched her career with the hit album “Jagged Little Pill”. Prior to her music career, Morissette had been on a Nickelodeon show called: “You Can’t Do That On Television” (1986). While she was only featured in the first five episodes, Jagged Little Pill was mostly based on those experiences.

With hit songs like “Ironic”, “You Oughta Know” and “Hand in My Pocket”, Morissette reached number one on the Billboard 200 and stayed there for 12 consecutive weeks. Along with this, Jagged Little Pill sold over 30 million copies in 1995 alone and became the number one album of 1995 worldwide.

Tori Amos debuted as a solo artist with the album “Little Earthquakes” in 1992 at the age of 29. She went on to release four more albums during the 1990s, one being the iconic “Boys For Pele.” Known for songs like “Professional Widow” and “Caught a Lite Sneeze,” The album was released in 1996 and was an almost instant hit.

“Boys For Pele” debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and the UK. Album Chart and reached platinum status in the U.S. and Australia. Since ‘96, “Boys For Pele” has been talked about by critics and seen as Amos’s most powerful work both lyrically and musically. Boys For Pele talks about two main topics: how women are treated in marriage and in Christianity. This is an album people should try out because it has a little bit of everything, from emotional ballads to upbeat pop songs.

Prior to when Björk released “Homogenic” in ‘97, she had been known as only mildly experimental but as more of a pop artist. Björk announced “Homogenic” only a couple of weeks before its release in September. At the time, fans expected something similar to her jazzy solo debut, ironically titled Debut; this was not the case.

Björk opened the album with “Hunter” and the fan favorite “Joga” followed by tracks that got more experimental as the album went on. The volcanic atmosphere of “Homogenic” was a very new concept at the time, but critics loved it. “Homogenic” peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and reached gold status in the UK. The album is also one of the 150 albums to receive a 10/10 rating on Pitchfork. This album was a turning point in both Björk’s career and the electronic music genre. It gives a new perspective on sound design as a whole and what people can do with just a computer.

Richard D. James, best known as Aphex Twin, released “Selected Ambient Works Volume II” in 1994 as a follow-up to his debut album “Selected Ambient Works 85-92” (1992). The album consists of 24 long, slow and eerie ambient tracks, which was a complete flip from James’ first album.

Even though “Selected Ambient Works Volume II” is an ambient album, it peaked at number 11 on the UK Album Chart and was very critically acclaimed and successful. All of James’s work has a lot of variety and this album is only one of his best works. While Richard D. James/Aphex Twin may not be for everyone, knowing his influence on music is important.

Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard formed Pearl Jam in 1990, recruiting Mike McCready and Eddie Vedder. They released their debut album, “Ten,” just a year later after only a week of production and some poetry Vedder had written years before he joined the band.

At first, “Ten” was not very successful, but in 1992, after a lot of touring, “Jeremy” reached number two on the Billboard 200. After this, Pearl Jam soared to fame, selling 13 million copies and going platinum 13 times. Songs like “Alive”, “Even Flow” and “Jeremy” stayed on the Billboard 200 for almost 5 full years. “Ten” solidified Pearl Jam’s place among grunge 90’s bands like Nirvana and Alice in Chains. It isn’t just a good album, it’s a classic and it’s an influential masterpiece.

In 1989, Courtney Love and Eric Erlandson formed Hole after Erlandson saw a poster Love had put up asking people to join her band. After recruiting a few more people, they released their debut in ‘91 with “Pretty On The Inside.” Hole’s sophomore album, “Live Through This,” was released about three years later in April of ‘94 with some new band members and a lot of anger.

When the album was released, Hole instantly went mainstream, selling 2 million copies in the first year of release. It peaked at 52 on the Billboard 200 and was ranked 106 on Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums in 2020. Hole’s “Live Through This” is still being talked about to this day even though they’ve disbanded. The feminine rage captured in this album is unlike anything else recently released and it’s pulled off perfectly.