The five most iconic songs of the 1990s, according to science
Iconic is a somewhat subjective term brandished with blissful abandon in the modern age. The word is ascribed to anything from Kurt Cobain and Nelson’s Column to the Kardashians and various buffoons basking in their five minutes of fame on TikTok. When it comes to iconic music, we’re still just as inconsistent. But supposedly, the term pertains to songs that are popular, memorable and culturally impactful.
Today, we can assume the word “iconic” means popular, so the pieces listed below are ranked in order of overall popularity. In light of this, we don’t intend to suggest that ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ is the best song of the 1990s. Thankfully, there is no categorical answer to that question. If you were to ask me, I might suggest Julian Cope’s ‘The Tower’ or Radiohead’s ‘Paranoid Android’, but these aren’t as popular, nor are they necessarily your favourites.
The 1990s is an interesting period to study when it comes to music. Between the 1950s and the late 1970s, rock ‘n’ roll sat in the driving seat as it steered popular music and dictated cultural revolutions, such as the hippie wave and the punk phase. Over this time, rock music evolved, with artists blending it with all manner of preexisting styles and cutting-edge sound production equipment.
Throughout the 1980s, rock took something of a backseat while synth-pop had its day in the sun. All the while, traditional guitar-based rock prevailed in the background and made a comeback in the 1990s in the popular music of Britpop groups in the UK and grunge bands, namely Nirvava, in the US. By this time, a swathe of subgenres, some more related to rock than others, had arrived in the consciousness of major radio stations.
Although the 1990s was inundated with popular rap, contemporary pop, soul and electronic music, rock dominates our list of “iconic” songs resoundingly. Although Jeff Buckley was classed as an indie rock artist, his beautiful rendition of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ was more of a singer-songwriter/soul type of performance. With this one mild exception, all of the below-listed tracks are landmark releases of 1990s rock music.
Before I leave you to enjoy the Spotfy playlist below, it remains for me to explain how the list was created. It all began with Dr. Grierson of Goldsmiths University, London. The musically inclined stat-monger compiled multiple “all-time best song” lists from various sources to create an aggregated hierarchy. He then used analytical software to study the various parameters of the songs, including lyrical composition, beats per minute, chord progression and more.
After studying the attributes of the ideal pop song, the tracks were arranged into a final hierarchy. As you can see, Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ comes out on top as a work that appears on most “best song” lists and is most consistent with popular attributes. Presumably, the song ranked high due to its catchy guitar hook and Kurt Cobain’s captivating vocal performance in the chorus.
Dr Grierson found that 80 per cent of “iconic” songs are in the major key, and their average tempo is 125 BPM. Furthermore, he noted that chord changes were minimal, with high timbral dissonance, dynamic melodies and an abundance of repeated buzzwords like “Baby”, “Feel”, and “Love”.
