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'90's Garage Rock

Last edit: 2024-11-19

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For some reason the '90s had an amazing underground garage rock scene.

Part of this is chronicled in the book, We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Undergut, 1988-2001 by New Bomb Turks frontman Eric Davidson. Some of the music from this genre is referred to by other names such as garage punk or even just misclassified as punk or punk rock. But whatever it's called, there were some seriously creative people making music around this time. In fact, a strong argument can be made that these bands were the bands who influenced the more popular wave of "garage rock revival" bands that came in their wake—bands like The White Stripes and The Hives. It's a shame that bands like The Oblivians, The Gories, Teengenerate, The Reatards, and more are overlooked by fans of this genre. These earlier bands had no less to offer, although due to the general lack of major label interest at the time, their albums were often recorded in smaller studios (or even vans or sheds) under far more constraints. On the other hand, that contributed to a sound that was more raw, more primitive, more diverse, and more fun!

Here's a list of great bands to get started on, which give you just a taste of this amazing scene:

Also related and worth checking out: Thee Headcoats, Thee Headcoatees, New Bomb Turks, The Zodiac Killers, King Khan and the BBQ Show, and Thee Oh Sees

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