My personal faves also skew to the early 90s but have a more Mancunian bent. The Charlatons, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Ride and Inspiral Carpets formed the soundtrack to my university days so they will always resonate a little deeper for me than some of the other music in the decade. Commercial alternative radio was showing promise up to 1994/1995 but quickly embraced whiny, retread grunge-ish acts like Bush, Moist, Matchbox 20, Days of the New, etc. Anytime I hear the words 'Modern Rock' I shudder and spin the dial towards the all dance stations--at least they know they're insipid.

Anyhoo, my list:

-Vapour Trail by Ride, with its swirling, noisy melody and lovely strings to quietly close

-Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead, which gets better and a little sadder each time I hear it

-Not Too Amused by Sebadoh, with its gradual, growling buildup

-Cannonball by the Breeders for that awesome bass line and the little gap in the middle of the song that suggests an abrupt ending but wait…here come those drums and the screaming chorus

-Today by Smashing Pumpkins, for the layered guitar sound that blazes in after the quiet beginning of the track and the fact that the video successfully recreates some of the cool scenes from Antonioni’s ‘Zabriskie Point’

Honourable mentions/Six place ties go to: ‘Moon Palace’ by Luna, ‘Excursions’ by A Tribe Called Quest, ‘Glory Box’ by Portishead, ‘Sunshine State’ by Superchunk, ‘Only Shallow’ by My Bloody Valentine, ‘Obscurity Knocks’ by Trash Can Sinatras, ‘Elevate Me Later’, ‘Goldsoundz’, and ‘Here’ by Pavement, ‘Venus as a Boy’ by Bjork, ‘Laid’ by James, ‘Connection’ by Elastica, ‘Step On’ by Happy Mondays, and ‘Natural One’ by Folk Implosion.

The CBC will choose:

-Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana (obvious)

-You Oughtta Know - Alanis Morissette (cancon, plus big seller)

-Loser – Beck (embodiment of slacker, gen-x angst, with massive airplay in late 1993/early 1994)

-Song 2 – Blur (made the all important step to stadium anthem and beer commercial)

-The Rockafeller Skank - Fatboy Slim (right about now, the funk soul brother, check it out now, the funk soul brother….try to get this out of your head now, i dare you)

I debated adding 'One' by U2 but figured their inclusion in the 80s list negated a second appearance. I like 'Nothing Compares 2 U', which could very well end up in the final list but it was written by Prince, who was already included on the 80s list.

If the Spice Girls, NSync, Backstreet Boys, or Britney Spears are somehow included, I may have to kill.

Best of luck to all.