By: Lauren Jonik

Music has always been one of my passions. When I began my writing career in earnest, it made sense that I gravitated to music journalism. Through a string of coincidental occurrences, I found myself first writing music-related features for a Los Angeles-based publication and then, heading their local music section. The catch? I didn’t live in LA. In fact, I hadn’t even been there yet. But, in the mid-1990s, I had developed a strong longing to live in California that I couldn’t explain. It lasted until around 2003. During that phase, I soaked up a lot of musical knowledge about local and national bands hailing from the Golden State.  It wasn’t a stretch for me to write about bands in Los Angeles—I had already found ways of becoming connected to that scene and I knew a lot about who was whom.

The only other place I felt an inexplicable kinship with—a certainty of sorts that I belonged there—was New York City. When I was 5 years old, I told my mom I was packing my stuffed animals and high-tailing it out of there to go live on my own. (I wasn’t exactly a “kid’s kid.” In fact, at the time, I didn’t consider myself a kid at all, but rather a tiny adult stuck inside of a time machine where every moment dragged on too slowly.) She responded that that was fine—I just wasn’t allowed to cross the street alone. Frustrated and outwitted (and not for the first time!), I sighed and waited two decades before moving to NYC.

When I moved to the city in 2005, it was for music journalism and to work at a music management company.  My love of music had again led me to where I belonged.  Following our greatest passions has a way of doing that—sometimes, our trails of breadcrumbs are more like a stream of hearts that show us, through what we are drawn to, through what we love, where we are destined to go. In NYC, I gravitated towards covering a thriving local scene. I wrote about and photographed artists who, in another universe, should have been national household names. Their talent surely warranted it, but the politics of the industry made reaching that point unfairly difficult for many incredible artists and bands.

While the music I love crosses genres and time spans, ‘90’s music has a special place in my heart. It connected me to a group of friends who I consider to be some of my best. (High five if you remember the AOL music message boards back in the day.)

In recent years, ’90’s nostalgia has become a definite trend. Here are 8 female artists you probably already know. But, some of these songs may not be as familiar as their hits.

Alanis Morissette – “Perfect”

No ‘90s list would be complete without Alanis Morissette.  Songs from her 1995 debut Jagged Little Pill dominated the charts.  “You Oughta Know,” one of the best break-up anthems ever, came out in the summer of that year and launched Alanis, who at the time was mainly known in Canada, into international fame. “Ironic,” “Head Over Feet” and “Hand In My Pocket,” all got plentiful airplay.

But “Perfect,” stands out as one of her most poignant and confessional. We’ll love you just the way you are/ If you’re perfect.

Meredith Brooks –“Shatter” 

I spent the summer of 1997 singing along to Meredith Brooks’s breakthrough single “Bitch” from the album Blurring the Edges.  I’m a bitch, I’m a lover/ I’m a child, I’m a mother / I’m a sinner, I’m a saint/ I do not feel ashamed. Yes! I was just on the cusp of understanding womanhood and where I fit in in the world as a woman.  But, I knew that I wanted to be able to acknowledge all sides of myself without apology. Meredith’s song gave me (and a lot of other listeners) a soundtrack to do just that. The album went platinum. Another strong track on the record was the lesser-known, “Shatter.” In it, Meredith sings I may break, but I’ll never shatter. I understood then that through music women could empower each other by relating our experiences.

Natalie Imbruglia – “Beauty on the Fire”

The Australian singer and actress gained fame in the United States with the cover of Ednasnap’s “Torn” in 1997. Natalie Imbruglia’s debut, Left of the Middle, gave her 3 Grammy nominations. Because I wasn’t exactly an early adopter of new technology at the time, I remember owning the cassette of this record.  (In the early days of mainstream  CD adoption, they were more expensive than cassettes—an average CD could be $18 whereas the same cassette was only $12.)

Natalie’s second album, White Lilies Island came out in 2001 and featured the lush, sweeping tracks “Sunlight” and “Beauty on the Fire.”

Garbage – “When I Grow Up” 

Garbage formed in Madison, WI in1993 as a collaboration between Butch Vig, Duke Erickson and Steve Marker. The band decided they needed a female vocalist and hired Scottish singer Shirley Manson who added a distinct voice and personality to the band. Their self-titled debut album Garbage, came out in 1995. “Only Happy When It Rains” and “Stupid Girl” shot up the charts over the next year, in part due to the band’s touring efforts and plentiful radio and MTV airplay—the primary means songs found their audience in a pre-internet world.

The band’s second album, 1998’s Version 2.0, also had a string of radio-friendly alt-rock hits like “Push It,” “Special,” and “I Think I’m Paranoid.” The catchy “When I Grow Up” reflected a certain cultural mindset that was changing before we even knew it: a loss of a kind of innocence and the idea of what “growing up” would bring. The widespread accessibility of internet access that had reached American homes in the late 1990s was a game changer—far more than many of us realized. In hindsight, that time in the late 1990s  before technology dominated every aspect of our lives, before 9/11, before Russian hacking and litany of other changes now seems more innocent—not necessarily less complex, but different in a way that the world will never again be.

Garbage continues to tour and will be on the road this summer.

Paula Cole – “Tiger”

Many people know Paula Cole as the singer of “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” and “I Don’t Wanna Wait,” which beamed from televisions each week when the channel was tuned to the opening credits of the coming of age show, “Dawson’s Creek.”  This Fire, the album that houses those tracks, garnered Cole a 1997 Grammy nomination for Producer of the Year. She was only the third woman to be nominated. The Grammy Awards started in 1959.

“Tiger,”the opening song on This Fire fills sets the tone.  I’ve left the girl I was supposed to be and /Someday I’ll be born / I’m so tired of being shy / I’m not that girl anymore / I’m not that straight A anymore. I understood every word she sang as if those were words I was singing myself. Art, at its best, gives us permission to be who we already are and who we are becoming.

Like many of the musicians on this list, Cole has remained a working artist for multiple decades.

Jewel – “Down So Long”

With a hard-luck story that was far ahead of its #MeToo time (she lived in her car after being fired from a job where her boss sexually harassed her. It was then that she fully dedicated herself to music) and an angelic, unique voice (yodeling, anyone?), Jewel Kilcher found critical and mainstream success– often with stunning , heart-wrenching ballads in an era of alt rock/grunge. Jewel moved to San Diego from her native Alaska where she was raised by her father.

Her music first became widely known from the single “Who Will Save Your Soul?” which appeared on 1995’s Pieces of You. Jewel’s career came of age during the MTV era and her videos received ample airplay on both the channel and on VH1. (This was back in the glorious days before reality shows took over and music television meant just that…)

Jewel’s follow-ups “Foolish Games” and “You Were Meant For Me” also became hits. Pieces of You remains one of the best selling debut albums of all time.

Jewel’s second album, Spirit, also produced numerous hits, including “Hands,” “Jupiter” and “Life Uncommon,” whose lyrics give a clear blueprint for how to live an authentic life. And lend your voices only/ To sounds of freedom/ No longer lend your strength/ To that which you wish/ To be free from/ Fill your lives/ With love and bravery/ And you shall lead/ A life uncommon. “Down So Long” that also carried a poignant message of hope by acknowledging that all things must change.  I’ve been down so long/ It can’t be longer still/ I’ve been down so long/ The end must be drawing near. I chanted that to myself quietly in the confines of my childhood bedroom while dealing with serious illness. It reminded me that though good things come to an end, so do horrible things. It was a message I needed to hear, so that I could embody the meaning of it.

Sophie B. Hawkins – “Right Beside You”

Sophie B. Hawkins first became known with “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover,” from her 1992 debut Tongues and Tales.

Her 1994 follow-up album Whaler had a collection of equally strong tracks and garnered attention with the sweet lullabyesque “As I Lay Me Down,” and the soaring, magical “Right Beside You.”

Patty Griffin – “One Big Love”

I’ve met a lot of famous musicians and seen a lot of concerts that ended up with me getting backstage (press passes will do that!). But, one of the only times, I felt truly starstruck was when I met Patty Griffin in a Barnes and Noble in NYC sometime around 1994. To this day, I don’t know why I had that reaction, but when I was getting my CD signed, I suddenly felt really awkward and shy and like I couldn’t speak without sounding like an idiot.

Perhaps, it had more to do with the connection I had made with her music than anything else. When I was first madly falling in love with New York City, a friend and I were driving across the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset to where his band was playing. He turned up “One Big Love” from Flaming Red on the stereo and in that moment, I knew with certainty once again what I had known at 5 years old: that I was meant to be a New Yorker. Every single thing I did from that point on oriented me in that direction for the next two years until I officially made the move. Nothing could deter me. I was resolute in my joy and firm in my commitment to the leaping into the unknown. “One Big Love” was the soundtrack to the celebration of that decision.

Honorable mentions: PJ Harvey‘s Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (“Good Fortune”), Sarah McLachlan’s Surfacing (“Building A Mystery” and “Sweet Surrender“), Fiona Apple’s Tidal (“Sleep to Dream”) and Joan Osborne’s Relish (“One of Us” and “Right Hand Man“), Letters to Cleo’s Aurora Gory Alice (“Here and Now” – I dare you to try to memorize the chorus and sing it at the top of your lungs when you are alone.), Leah Andreone’s Veiled (“It’s Alright, It’s OK“) and Eleanor McEvoy’s What’s Following Me (“Precious Little”).

This list is incomplete– on purpose. There are many more artists worthy of our attention, but we want to hear who your favorites are. Who would you add to this list? Share in the comments below!

And, stay tuned for a future article where we highlight male artists and bands of the ’90s.

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Lauren Jonik is a writer and photographer in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has appeared in 12th Street, The Manifest-Station, Two Cities Review, Amendo, The Establishment, Bustle, Calliope and Ravishly.

When she is not co-editing TheRefresh.co, she is working towards her Master’s degree in Media Management at The New School. Follow her on Twitter: @laurenjonik.