Pioneers of the 90s radical feminist musical movement named Riot Grrrl, USA's Bikini Kill were widely perceived to be the transatlantic cousins of UK band Huggy Bear - an impression confirmed when they joined that band for a 1993 shared album that wa…

In the wake of Bikini Kill's split during the late 90s, singer-songwriter Kathleen Hanna took little time to get back in the "Riot Grrrl' ring with Julie Ruin, and soon afterwards, Le Tigre. While the former project proved to be a one-off, Le Tigre w…

Indie singer-songwriter Chan Marshall somewhat reluctantly began recording under the name Cat Power in the mid-1990s. Often withdrawn and always unapologetically eccentric, Marshall nonetheless managed to win over a steadily growing following, thanks…

Drawing equally from punk rock and new-music pioneers such as John Cage and Glenn Branca (whom guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo both played with), Sonic Youth employed a palette of white noise that deconstructed punk-rock orthodoxy into radi…

Led by Black Francis (AKA Charles Thompson), this Boston band reveled in the raw, loud energy of punk, but harnessed it in service of catchy melodies laced with bizarre lyrics. Their 1989 album, DOOLITTLE, is widely considered to be one of the best a…

In the early 1990s, Polly Jean Harvey's music was a bracing post-punk battle cry, staking out new territory for female alt-rock artists without resorting to didactic feminism. Over time, Harvey has grown more subtle and moody, embracing a more expans…

Formed in 1996, and hailing from Scotland, Belle & Sebastian are a musical collective with a penchant for ellipticism, declining to have their pictures on album covers or in the press, shying away from interviews, and never listing their individual n…

Inaugurators of the "lo-fi" alternative rock sound, Pavement set the course for college rock in the 1990s. Their skewed, shambolic guitar pop, slacker vocals, and dense wordplay endeared them to those disenchanted by lumpen grunge sounds. Over time, …

Elliott Smith started out as the leader of Portland-based alt-rock band Heatmiser, who made three mid-1990s albums achieving good reviews but disappointing sales. Eventually Smith reinvented himself as a solo singer-songwriter, and his first couple o…

Musically minimalistic and visually outrageous, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were at the center of the revival of post-punk and garage rock that made New York City a rock & roll hotspot again in the early 2000s. After the success of the Strokes, the trio (led…

Following the highly successful example of the White Stripes, a number of bass-less garage rock outfits emerged at the dawn of the twenty-first century, including the trio Gossip. Beth Ditto (vocals), Nathan Howdeshell (guitar), and Kathy Mendonca (d…

Combining the influences of new wave, post-punk, and lo-fi, Washington's Modest Mouse spent the second half of the 1990s becoming one of the most renowned indie-rock bands in America. Though often tagged an emo group, Modest Mouse transcends sub-genr…

Yo La Tengo started out in the mid-1980s and became perhaps the ultimate critics' band. Led by former NYC rock journalist Ira Kaplan, they syncretized numerous, often esoteric influences to eventually create a distinctive sound. They started out in h…

Liz Phair burst onto the indie rock scene in 1993, riding a wave of hype and acclaim that heralded her Matador Records debut, EXILE IN GUYVILLE. Conceived as a song-for-song response to the Rolling Stones' EXILE ON MAIN STREET, GUYVILLE boasted cleve…

Amidst a field overcrowded with teen-pop and nu-metal, Detroit's White Stripes emerged at the tail end of the 1990s as a new hope for gutsy, no-frills rock & roll. Their doggedly minimalist sound--just one guitar and a drum kit--heralded a return to …

The ultimate expression of the DIY ethic, iconoclastic singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco burst onto the contemporary folk scene while still in her teens. Her confrontational lyrics, aggressive, percussive acoustic guitar playing, and unconventional imag…

The mastermind of the Magnetic Fields is Stephin Merritt, an urbane songwriter with a scathing wit, equally influenced by the Pet Shop Boys and Stephen Sondheim. Since 1991, Merritt has married sophisticated wordplay with elegant melodies and (partic…

Radiohead burst onto the Britpop scene in the early 1990s with a clamorous, post-U2 take on guitar rock, buoyed by the hit "Creep." They subsequently developed their songwriting and production skills on THE BENDS and achieved iconic status with their…

Indie rockers with a sound that pays homage to classic power pop and New Wave, the Canadian band the New Pornographers made a major impact with their 2000 debut album, MASS ROMANTIC. Something of an indie supergroup, the band includes members of Zump…

Who would have guessed that one of the more influential indie rock bands of the 1990s would emerge from Boise, Idaho? That's exactly what happened in the case of Built To Spill, who started out as a somewhat ragged, lo-fi outfit. By '97, though, they…