Women in Music Killed it in the 90s and Today’s Youth Will Never Know What it Was Like.

Let me share ten tracks with you all, that took the world by storm. All women. All epic tracks. All great producers. You will not be forgotten for your service, ladies.

Admit it. Music is complete garbage today. Even the “Oh, I listen to all kinds” groups can easily admit it these days.

It’s just not listenable anymore.

Lack of creativity, the internet (which killed physical copies, hence plummeting music sales, thus destroying the industry) and social media are to blame.

So if we get physically sick (hell, I do) from listening to today’s music, why don’t we reminisce about the best times of music?

That’s right. The 90s.

Moreover, even though there were tons of great bands during that time, I sincerely believe that women in the 90s were in their prime as far as expressing their musical prowess.

Below are ten specific tracks from female artists which I still consider “epic”.

That is to say, if you don’t get chills from these tracks, you’re simply not human.

1. Fugees — Killing Me Softly

I always thought that this track would end up being a ballad in schools when the future approached — Kind of like The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine”.

As of yet, it hasn’t. In fact, like most tracks of the decade, it’s slowly become forgotten.

Most of these tracks bring very clever musicianship in the writing. But lyrics as poetic as I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd, I felt he’d found my letters and read each one out loud, I prayed that he would finish, but he just kept right on — well, that’s just genius.

Of course, you know, Lauryn Hill, the frontwoman of The Fugees went on and focused on her solo career, which also kind of faded as well.

2. En Vogue — Don’t Let Go

I just think it’s awesome that R&B songs of days past used to actually use orchestra and timpanis. Just listen to the first 30 seconds of this hit and you’ll see what I mean.

You don’t hear shit like that at all anymore.

You don’t hear it because every “hit” on the radio these days are made in tiny bedrooms by some dude who just smoked massive bowls while pressing buttons.

Hooray for talent.

En Vogue started in 1988 but didn’t really hit it big until the mid-90s because of a change in their style.

A style such as the one you hear in this track.

When it comes to expressing the meaning and power of love in music, few songs can match the beauty and intensity of “Don’t Let Go”.

3. Madonna — Live To Tell

OK, OK, technically this song was released in 1986, but I urge you, URGE YOU, to watch the live rendition of this track.

It’s an insane tear-jerker and a very clever live production of Madonna singing while crucified on a giant cross as it moves toward the audience.

The lyrics, as intense as they are, are just as epic as the live production, too.

Madonna was a genius during her prime, and this live performance, which many have never seen, is as intense as the subject the song is about.

Although Madonna states that the song is about her childhood and her relationship with her parents, I strongly have a feeling that it’s simply not.

I personally feel that the song relates to the world’s tribulations, hypocrisy, and inability to help another in turmoil (especially since the conclusion of the live performance references the injustice in Malawi).

But that’s just my artistic interpretation.

4. TLC — Waterfalls

You don’t hear many tracks that tell stories, these days.

We usually hear first-person accounts of a dude trying to sleep with a girl or even more, today’s woke culture will sing about “shoot a child in your mouth while I’m riding”, as such in the track “Montero”.

You freaking kidding me?

Tracks back in the day could tell stories, such as Simon & Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence, or hell, even P.O.D.’s “Youth of a Nation”.

That’s what TLC does with this track. It tells the listener not to bite more than you could chew.

Within each verse are unfortunate subjects going through unfortunate life events that they (or their mothers) will regret.

Beautifully done.

5. Alanis Morissette — Hand In My Pocket

Another clever ballad that has fun with words.

Something like this only takes a creative person to write. And Alanis wrote her own lyrics, might I add.

The song is a hopeful one, not really a sad one, but it’s in my epic list for a good reason.

The songwriting is very well-done. The lyrics, as I mentioned are very well-placed. Truth is, this track became an anthem for an entire generation.

Can you do that with one track?

Better yet, the lyrics of Hand In My Pocket are deceptively simple, yet packed with meaning. The song’s chorus, in particular, has become iconic in its message of self-acceptance and inner strength.

Morissette wrote this song while coming off tour and suffering from anxiety and depression.

Hard to imagine such positive verses come from such a dark time in someone’s life.

6. The Cranberries —Zombie

A song about war? Or a song about inner turmoil?

A fine line between the two, even though Delores O’Riordan has stated that the words paint a protest story about The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The Troubles were a conflict that lasted in Ireland for 30 years, from the 60s to the 90s.

More than 3,500 people lost their lives in an attempt to end British rule in Ireland. Specifically, the song was written in response to the deaths of Jonathan Ball and Tim Parry, ages 3 and 12, respectively.

Both had been killed in the Warrington bombings when the IRA (Irish Republican Army) hid two improvised bombs in litter bins that detonated in shopping areas.

O’Riordan wrote all the lyrics herself.

7. Aaliyah — Try Again

Here’s another track that doesn’t talk about breakups or drugs numbing your face or how many gold chains you have around your neck.

This is one of those songs that just pump you up.

If you’re like me and listen to music during creative sessions as I do while painting, these songs of never giving up, or trying harder, or getting smarter than your previous self, well that’s all you need.

I get denial letters almost weekly. Songs like this are sometimes the force behind my work.

Aaliyah, passed away in a plane crash at 22, but many have said that had she lived, she would have reached even larger amounts of success as her third album was about to be released and she was scheduled to be in The Matrix sequel — comparing her potential to the next Whitney Houston.

8. Bjork — Army of Me

The first time I ever heard this woman was from the track Army of Me in her sophomore album Post.

Goddamn, this shit blew me off my feet.

Her depressing, gravely, low-register singing in this track isn’t even what she normally sounds like.

But as any Bjork fan knows, once you begin listening to the Post record, this is the very first thing you hear.

I included her because she’s a force to be reckoned with. But I included this track because it’s the first time I ever heard her.

There are just too many tracks in which Bjork totally dominates every sense of my body.

Possibly Maybe, The Hunter, Joga, Isobel, and Venus as a Boy are just as epic. I implore you to listen to all of these to ensure that you’re human.

9. Whitney Houston — I Have Nothing

As someone who loved my genre of metal and discovering all kinds of different bands — especially in the 90s — I didn’t listen to Whitney until way later.

She’s popular for so many tracks and even a live performance of the Star Spangled Banner (deemed to be the best-ever performance of the song, actually), but the track that sticks in the walls of my mind is “I Have Nothing”.

It’s a very show tunes-esque musical piece with even a key change toward the last chorus, but damn, it travels everywhere within the heart.

The song is a power ballad about deep love and the confusion that happens to lovers due to the different perceptions of women and men when it comes to relationship commitment.

It’s been covered by numerous artists including Ariana Grande, Patti LaBelle, Christina Aguilera, and Natalie Cole.

10. Sinead O’Connor — Nothing Compares 2 U

I remember hearing this song over and over again when I was a kid.

It wasn’t until way later when I heard the original version by Prince.

That’s when I realized how absolutely dark O’Connor’s version was. Damn!

During its release, the song topped every chart around the world and remains one of the most powerful ballads to this day.

It was Sinéad O’Connor’s manager, Fachtna O’Kelly, who came up with the idea for Irish star O’Connor to cover the song.

O’Connor later said of the song: “I think I’m probably similar to millions of people who loved the song, and we’re all people who associated the song with a loss of some kind.”

While many assume that the song is about a lost lover, others have said that it was actually inspired by Prince’s housekeeper, Sandy Scipioni, who left him to be with her family after her father died.

Yeah, yeah, I get it. I missed plenty of great artists. I didn’t mention Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Selena, Gwen Stefani, Beyonce, Shania Twain or even Patti Smith or Mia Zavala for that matter. But this is my article, so there. When you write yours, you can include them.