The 150 songs that made the list for 1991 (so far, as I am always adding if I discover a song I’ve missed) was a stronger year than 1989 (also 150, but with fewer ‘Awesome’-classed songs). This is thanks to Nirvana’s timeless Nevermind album (which honestly just gets better over time), and the Hip’s Road Apples – which was an instant favorite of mine. Pearl Jam’s Ten was a huge part of my life, though it took me a year or two to truly appreciate them. Along with the Hip, Lenny Kravitz was my favorite artist at the time and I was waiting to pick up his Mama Said album the day it came out – it didn’t disappoint. And of course – Blood Sugar Sex Magik was another all-time favorite album of mine.
Lots of memories were packed into this music. I was 17. I went to a lot of parties in Stratford and St. Mary’s. This music went with me. And some of the pop music you see towards the bottom of this list were just underrated and underappreciated songs of that year because, to teenagers, they weren’t “cool”. But later in life I can certainly appreciate them. One pop album in particular, Michael Jackson’s Dangerous, was an album that I had no idea was this good until just recently listening through it.
Unlike most rankings, I haven’t been simply tossing these up in a numerical order. Because I know better than anybody that on some days, some songs kick more ass than other songs. A song that is ranked 14th today could very well rank 1st tomorrow, if it suddenly comes on the radio during the perfect moment and I start singing along. You understand. So I group them instead of presenting a hard-and-fast order:
Awesome
Great
Solid
Not Bad
…with inter-group splitting.
First, a look at videos of my favorites from that year…
37 Great Songs from 1991
Girlfriend – Matthew Sweet
November Rain – Guns N’ Roses
Like fine wine, this one gets better with age. The guitar solo is the best, and almost had me pushing this one into the ‘Awesome’ category (below).
What the F*ck are we Saying – Lenny Kravitz
An underrated song from an amazing album. So good, that if the f-bomb wasn’t so prominent (in the title!?) that it would have been a hit IMO…
Come As You Are – Nirvana
Polly – Nirvana
Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
Losing My Religion – R.E.M.
Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) – C+C Music Factory
Play With Me – Bootsauce
Nobody talks about or plays this band anymore. But the ‘Brown Album’ was actually pretty good, and included several nice songs.
Superman’s Song – Crash Test Dummies
Don’t Cry – Guns N’ Roses
Always on the Run – Lenny Kravitz
Fields of Joy (Reprise) – Lenny Kravitz
I love both (completely different) versions of this song on this album. Once again – great album. A must-own for rock lovers.
Enter Sandman – Metallica
Nothing Else Matters – Metallica
On A Plain – Nirvana
Territorial Pissings – Nirvana
Blood Sugar Sex Magik – Red Hot Chili Peppers
Give It Away – Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Luxury – The Tragically Hip
Road Apples is one of my favorite albums of all time, easily in my Top 5. These next three songs weren’t even their hits from the album, they were just damn good.
Long Time Running – The Tragically Hip
Bring It All Back – The Tragically Hip
Release – Pearl Jam
Right Here, Right Now – Jesus Jones
Shiny Happy People – R.E.M.
You May Be Right – Grapes of Wrath
It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over – Lenny Kravitz
Stand By My Woman – Lenny Kravitz
Fields of Joy – Lenny Kravitz
Here’s the ‘other’ version…
Drain You – Nirvana
Something In The Way – Nirvana
Born in the Water – The Tragically Hip
Three Pistols – The Tragically Hip
Even Flow – Pearl Jam
Life is a Highway – Tom Cochrane
This song barely made it under ‘Great’ for me, when it should have easily made it to ‘Awesome’. There is overplayed songs…and then there is this one. You think Nickelback’s How You Remind Me was overplayed? Then you weren’t around for Life is a Highway. This came out in Canada and was massive. An awesome song that was played every hour or two, all stations. Then it died down finally after a year. But then it caught on in America and ramped right back up again. Overplayed – in two different timeframes. I am a firm believer that songs get overplayed for a reason: they’re great songs. This is no exception. But even I have my limits.
Into The Great Wide Open – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong – Spin Doctors
Two Princes – Spin Doctors
17 Truly Awesome Songs from 1991
The Unforgiven – Metallica
My favorite song by this band…
Alive – Pearl Jam
When I was diagnosed with cancer (MDS, later becoming AML) in 2017, I made this my inspirational anthem of my battle. You can read about my battle here. This is probably my favorite song of all time, from the adrenaline rush of an intro to the drum-pounding finish it is the perfect song.
Here is the album version…
Black – Pearl Jam
Breed – Nirvana
I Could Have Lied – Red Hot Chili Peppers
Little Bones – The Tragically Hip
Fiddler’s Green – The Tragically Hip
A great song…an amazing song. And an interesting story behind it. The Hip never played this one in concert for many years, because it brought them too much pain. It was written for lead singer Gord Downie’s nephew, who had died of a heart ailment. It was a good 15 years before the band ever performed it in concert. I never got to see it live, as the two concerts I saw both pre-dated 2006. But I did see it on the CBC national broadcast of their final concert. I sang this one to my oldest daughter, when rocking her to sleep as a baby.
And here is the very emotional final concert version of this great song. Gord would pass away just over a year later. This is the full concert, but I tagged it to begin with this song. Go ahead and grab a tissue. By the way, the song they kick into immediate afterward is Little Bones, the song posted above this one.
In Bloom – Nirvana
Under the Bridge – Red Hot Chili Peppers
I Am Here – Grapes of Wrath
A little-known song. But give it a listen if you haven’t heard it before and I am pretty sure you’ll enjoy it.
Stop Draggin’ Around – Lenny Kravitz
Jeremy – Pearl Jam
Fight – The Tragically Hip
The Last of the Unplucked Gems – The Tragically Hip
Stuck at the end of the CD almost as an afterthought, this song turned out to be one of the best on what was an amazing album. So short that I stuck it at the end of a lot of mixed tapes early on, if there was just a couple minutes of room left…
Lithium – Nirvana
One – U2
Lounge Act – Nirvana
I have put together a YouTube playlist of these great songs here.
Here is the full list of my favorites from 1991…
| Awesome – 1 | The Unforgiven | – | Metallica |
| Awesome – 1 | Alive | – | Pearl Jam |
| Awesome – 1 | Black | – | Pearl Jam |
| Awesome – 1 | Little Bones | – | The Tragically Hip |
| Awesome – 1 | Fiddler’s Green | – | The Tragically Hip |
| Awesome – 1 | In Bloom | – | Nirvana |
| Awesome – 1 | Under the Bridge | – | Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| Awesome – 8 | I Am Here | – | Grapes of Wrath |
| Awesome – 8 | Stop Draggin’ Around | – | Lenny Kravitz |
| Awesome – 8 | Jeremy | – | Pearl Jam |
| Awesome – 8 | Fight | – | The Tragically Hip |
| Awesome – 8 | The Last of the Unplucked Gems | – | The Tragically Hip |
| Awesome – 8 | Lithium | – | Nirvana |
| Awesome – 8 | One | – | U2 |
| Awesome – 8 | Lounge Act | – | Nirvana |
| Awesome – 8 | Breed | – | Nirvana |
| Awesome – 8 | I Could Have Lied | – | Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| Great – 18 | Girlfriend | – | Matthew Sweet |
| Great – 18 | November Rain | – | Guns N’ Roses |
| Great – 18 | What the Fuck are we Saying | – | Lenny Kravitz |
| Great – 18 | Come As You Are | – | Nirvana |
| Great – 18 | Polly | – | Nirvana |
| Great – 18 | Smells Like Teen Spirit | – | Nirvana |
| Great – 18 | Losing My Religion | – | R.E.M. |
| Great – 18 | Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) | – | C+C Music Factory |
| Great – 18 | The Luxury | – | The Tragically Hip |
| Great – 18 | Bring It All Back | – | The Tragically Hip |
| Great – 18 | Release | – | Pearl Jam |
| Great – 18 | You May Be Right | – | Grapes of Wrath |
| Great – 18 | Drain You | – | Nirvana |
| Great – 18 | Something In The Way | – | Nirvana |
| Great – 32 | Play With Me | – | Bootsauce |
| Great – 32 | Superman’s Song | – | Crash Test Dummies |
| Great – 32 | Don’t Cry | – | Guns N’ Roses |
| Great – 32 | Always on the Run | – | Lenny Kravitz |
| Great – 32 | Fields of Joy (Reprise) | – | Lenny Kravitz |
| Great – 32 | Enter Sandman | – | Metallica |
| Great – 32 | Nothing Else Matters | – | Metallica |
| Great – 32 | On A Plain | – | Nirvana |
| Great – 32 | Territorial Pissings | – | Nirvana |
| Great – 32 | Blood Sugar Sex Magik | – | Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| Great – 32 | Give It Away | – | Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| Great – 32 | Long Time Running | – | The Tragically Hip |
| Great – 32 | Right Here, Right Now | – | Jesus Jones |
| Great – 32 | Shiny Happy People | – | R.E.M. |
| Great – 32 | It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over | – | Lenny Kravitz |
| Great – 32 | Stand By My Woman | – | Lenny Kravitz |
| Great – 32 | Fields of Joy | – | Lenny Kravitz |
| Great – 32 | Born in the Water | – | The Tragically Hip |
| Great – 32 | Three Pistols | – | The Tragically Hip |
| Great – 32 | Even Flow | – | Pearl Jam |
| Great – 32 | Life is a Highway | – | Tom Cochrane |
| Great – 32 | Into The Great Wide Open | – | Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers |
| Great – 32 | Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong | – | Spin Doctors |
| Great – 32 | Two Princes | – | Spin Doctors |
| Solid – 56 | Here We Go (Let’s Rock and Roll) | – | C+C Music Factory |
| Solid – 56 | Get Ready For This | – | 2 Unlimited |
| Solid – 56 | I Can’t Dance | – | Genesis |
| Solid – 56 | Breaking the Girl | – | Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| Solid – 56 | Twist My Arm | – | The Tragically Hip |
| Solid – 56 | Cordelia | – | The Tragically Hip |
| Solid – 56 | On the Verge | – | The Tragically Hip |
| Solid – 56 | Porch | – | Pearl Jam |
| Solid – 56 | Learning To Fly | – | Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers |
| Solid – 56 | Mysterious Ways | – | U2 |
| Solid – 56 | Me In Honey | – | R.E.M. |
| Solid – 56 | Jimmy Olsen’s Blues | – | Spin Doctors |
| Solid – 68 | These Are The Days Of Our Lives | – | Queen |
| Solid – 68 | My Town | – | Glass Tiger |
| Solid – 68 | Til I Am Myself Again | – | Blue Rodeo |
| Solid – 68 | Everyone’s a Winner | – | Bootsauce |
| Solid – 68 | Flowers For Zoe | – | Lenny Kravitz |
| Solid – 68 | More Than Anything in This World | – | Lenny Kravitz |
| Solid – 68 | All I Ever Wanted | – | Lenny Kravitz |
| Solid – 68 | Stay Away | – | Nirvana |
| Solid – 68 | Sir Psycho Sexy | – | Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| Solid – 68 | Suck My Kiss | – | Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| Solid – 68 | Movin’ On Up | – | Primal Scream |
| Solid – 68 | To Be With You | – | Mr. Big |
| Solid – 68 | Oceans | – | Pearl Jam |
| Solid – 68 | Wash the Rain | – | World on Edge |
| Solid – 68 | Outshined | – | Soundgarden |
| Solid – 68 | I Touch Myself | – | The Divinyls |
| Solid – 68 | Bring The Noise | – | Anthrax |
| Solid – 68 | Life Could Be Worse | – | Barney Bentall |
| Solid – 68 | Jam | – | Michael Jackson |
| Solid – 68 | Heart of Soul | – | The Cult |
| Solid – 68 | So Cruel | – | U2 |
| Solid – 68 | Radio Song | – | R.E.M. |
| Not Bad – 90 | You Could Be Mine | – | Guns N’ Roses |
| Not Bad – 90 | Dangerous | – | Michael Jackson |
| Not Bad – 90 | Why You Wanna Trip on Me | – | Michael Jackson |
| Not Bad – 90 | If You Have To Ask | – | Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| Not Bad – 90 | Mama, I’m Coming Home | – | Ozzy Osbourne |
| Not Bad – 90 | Set Adrift On Memory Bliss | – | P.M. Dawn |
| Not Bad – 90 | Garden | – | Pearl Jam |
| Not Bad – 90 | Why Go | – | Pearl Jam |
| Not Bad – 90 | Even Better Than The Real Thing | – | U2 |
| Not Bad – 90 | Until The End Of The World | – | U2 |
| Not Bad – 90 | Joyride | – | Roxette |
| Not Bad – 90 | Crazy | – | Seal |
| Not Bad – 90 | Rusty Cage | – | Soundgarden |
| Not Bad – 90 | 3 A.M. Eternal | – | The KLF |
| Not Bad – 90 | It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday | – | Boyz II Men |
| Not Bad – 90 | (Everything I Do) I Do It For You | – | Bryan Adams |
| Not Bad – 90 | The Difference is Why | – | Lenny Kravitz |
| Not Bad – 90 | When the Morning Turns to Night | – | Lenny Kravitz |
| Not Bad – 90 | Butterfly | – | Lenny Kravitz |
| Not Bad – 90 | O.P.P. | – | Naughty by Nature |
| Not Bad – 90 | Remember The Time | – | Michael Jackson |
| Not Bad – 90 | Who Is It | – | Michael Jackson |
| Not Bad – 90 | Will You Be There? | – | Michael Jackson |
| Not Bad – 90 | Roll The Bones | – | Rush |
| Not Bad – 90 | The Path of Thorns | – | Sarah McLachlan |
| Not Bad – 90 | Can’t Truss It | – | Public Enemy |
| Not Bad – 90 | Once | – | Pearl Jam |
| Not Bad – 90 | All I Want | – | Toad the Wet Sprocket |
| Not Bad – 90 | Walk on the Ocean | – | Toad the Wet Sprocket |
| Not Bad – 90 | Right Now | – | Van Halen |
| Not Bad – 90 | Belong | – | R.E.M. |
| Not Bad – 90 | What About Now | – | Robbie Robertson |
| Not Bad – 90 | Kiss Me You Fool | – | The Northern Pikes |
| Not Bad – 123 | Too Hot | – | Alanis Morissette |
| Not Bad – 123 | Motownphilly | – | Boyz II Men |
| Not Bad – 123 | Things That Make You Go Hmmmm… | – | C+C Music Factory |
| Not Bad – 123 | Walking In Memphis | – | Marc Cohn |
| Not Bad – 123 | Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey) | – | De La Soul |
| Not Bad – 123 | Good Vibrations | – | Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch |
| Not Bad – 123 | When a Man Loves a Woman | – | Michael Bolton |
| Not Bad – 123 | Give In To Me | – | Michael Jackson |
| Not Bad – 123 | Heal The World | – | Michael Jackson |
| Not Bad – 123 | My Lovely Man | – | Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| Not Bad – 123 | Into the Fire | – | Sarah McLachlan |
| Not Bad – 123 | Wild Hearted Son | – | The Cult |
| Not Bad – 123 | Shut ‘Em Down | – | Public Enemy |
| Not Bad – 123 | Cream | – | Prince |
| Not Bad – 123 | Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World | – | U2 |
| Not Bad – 123 | Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses | – | U2 |
| Not Bad – 123 | Everything About You | – | Ugly Kid Joe |
| Not Bad – 123 | Only the Lonely | – | World on Edge |
| Not Bad – 123 | Standing Push and Fall | – | World on Edge |
| Not Bad – 123 | Blowing Kisses in the Wind | – | Paula Abdul |
| Not Bad – 123 | I’m Too Sexy | – | Right Said Fred |
| Not Bad – 123 | Go Back to Your Woods | – | Robbie Robertson |
| Not Bad – 123 | If | – | The Cult |
| Not Bad – 123 | Sweet Salvation | – | The Cult |
| Not Bad – 123 | How Long Can a Man Be Strong | – | The Jeff Healey Band |
| Not Bad – 123 | Get A Leg Up | – | John Mellencamp |
| Not Bad – 123 | Sad But True | – | Metallica |
| Not Bad – 123 | Something To Talk About | – | Bonnie Raitt |
Dobber's Take 
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