3 Alternative Rock Ballads That Every 90s Kid Will Never Forget

We often have a preference for the music of our generation, because we absorbed those songs as we were coming of age. The music that got you through high school, a first love, a devastating breakup, or the general awkwardness and anxiety of growing up. The 1990s were no different, and here are three alternative rock ballads most Gen X-ers will never forget.

“Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star

“You live your life, you go in shadows,” sings Hope Sandoval on “Fade Into You”. The dreamy and dusty ballad remains a defining 90s tune. Adrift in sadness, Sandoval drifts between despair and hope. She’s in and out of the shadows, losing herself in a partner. It’s the comfort of being held, but also knowing how hard it is to stand alone. Sandoval, perfectly aloof, distills the spirit that guided Gen X culture.

Fade into you,
Strange, you never knew.

“Black” by Pearl Jam

Occasionally, when I hear Stone Gossard’s opening chords of “Black”, I look at my feet to see if I’m wearing oxblood Dr. Martens and the year is 1991. I picture Eddie Vedder, in a brown corduroy jacket, shaking his hair and singing, “Doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo” on MTV Unplugged. Vedder sings about letting go of an ex and the bitterness that lingers following a breakup. Coming out of the previous decade, rock ballads weren’t typically this visceral.

Sheets of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay,
Were laid spread out before me as her body once did.
All five horizons revolved around her soul,
As the earth to the sun.

“Down In A Hole” by Alice In Chains

Neil Young had pioneered grunge when he and Crazy Horse turned up the volume of country music. And the DNA of Young’s earsplitting Americana remained decades later when grunge broke in the 1990s. “Down In A Hole” is a descendant of his electric folk. It features Layne Staley’s emotional howls, translating Jerry Cantrell’s relationship anxiety into a universal plea to escape.

Down in a hole and I don’t know if I can be saved,
See my heart, I decorate it like a grave.
Oh, you don’t understand who they thought I was supposed to be.
Look at me now, a man who won’t let himself be.

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