Most Unrightfully Ignored Albums of the 1990s – LeBrain’s List Part 3

In alphabetical order, here’s Part 3:  88 albums that meant the world to me in the 1990′s but never got the respect I felt they deserved.  

King’s X – Faith Hope Love (most KX discs didn’t get the attention they deserved!)
King’s X – Dogman
King’s X – Ear Candy
King’s X – Tape Head
Kiss – Carnival of Souls (while you can’t argue it wasn’t a sellout, it sure wasn’t wimpy!)
Leadfoot – Bring It On (Karl Agell and Phil Swisher ex-COC)
Marillion – Brave (what a brave, brave album)
Marillion – Radiation (a lot of people don’t like this one, but I consider it a highlight for them)
Duff McKagan – Believe In Me (diverse, fun and pissed off)
Kim Mitchell – Aural Fixations (a little soft, but Kim in the 1990’s was scarce indeed)
Kim Mitchell – Kimosabe
Motley Crue – Motley Crue (they were better without Vince, honestly)
Vince Neil – Exposed (…and Vince wasn’t doing too badly himself)
Ozzy Osbourne – Ozzmosis (it sold by the buckets, but I think today it’s ignored which is a shame)
Poison – Native Tongue (Ritchie Kotzen took them to a new level of maturity and virtuosity)

Pride & Glory – Pride & Glory (Zakk Wykde’s first album without Ozzy, and one of the best)
Queen – Innuendo (in North America, most of what Queen did went ignored before Freddie passed)
Queensryche – Promised Land (spacey and mature)
Queensryche – Q2k (riffy)
Quiet Riot – Terrified (the only thing they’ve done since the 80’s worth playing)
David Lee Roth – Your Filthy Little Mouth (I didn’t need to hear Dave do reggae but it ain’t bad)
David Lee Roth – DLR Band (John 5 on lead guitar…crank it up)

28 comments

  1. Oh yeah…King’s X! A truly underappreciated band. Even their “bad” albums are really good. On a related note, Ty Tabor’s first couple of solo albums would certainly fit in this category (and if you do one for the 2000’s, the rest of his solo output would apply).

    I need to get more Kim Mitchell. I have “Akimbo Alogo” and “Shakin’ Like A Human Being” on LP, which I’ve been wanting to go back to, and recently got “Rockland” which completely floored me (it sounded like a cross between Trevor Rabin’s “Can’t Look Away” and Toto from that same era). Also need to check out his work with Max Webster.

    Agreed about Queen’s “Innuendo,” but it was #1 in the UK and Top 30 in the US. I know it was released at the tail end of the ’80s, but “The Miracle” is probably Queen’s most undervalued album. Wouldn’t apply to this list, of course.

    Also, glad you included Marillion here. My favorites of theirs in the ’90s were “Brave,” “Afraid Of Sunlight” and “Radiation,” but everything they released in that decade is worth hearing.

    Now I’m looking forward to part 4.

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    1. I love King’s X! (Dug Pinnick has a solo single out now.) I used to own Ty’s second album, Moonflower Lane I think it was called. I unwisely got rid of it. Why? Storage space I guess. I need to move into a bigger place.

      I applaud the UK for having the good taste to put Innuendo to #1! (I like The Miracle too.) Sadly Queen was a non-entity here for much of the 80’s. Very sad indeed. Then we jumped on the bandwagon with everybody else when Wayne’s World came out.

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  2. The Mötley Corabi 94 album is there best….too bad they imploded with that line up….
    They dumped the cheese that made them tons of cash in the 80s and got serious about the songs and for some reason the vocal change/serious nature of the songs ,the masses did not buy into it…except us of course!

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  3. The Mötley Corabi album kicks ass,even after all these yrs….too bad they imploded after it tanked!
    I guess the masses did not buy into the vocal change/seriousness of the songs/music climate change …whatever the reason it is a great album…no cheese….

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    1. T-Rev and I were both really heavily into that disc. I think it was too mainstream for the grunge kids, but they would never have bought it at the time, because Motley Crue was a dirty word at the time. They considered the Crue a joke. Too bad. And the so-called die-hard Crue fans never gave it a chance.

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  4. The Motley album was inevitable! I really like Radiation too, and would probably have included Holidays in Eden and Afraid of Sunlight on my list too. And Brave is one of my all-time faves.
    I didn’t like Ozzmosis (apart from a couple of good songs) and I couldn’t get into Q2K at all although it has grown on me a little. It’s like you were saying the other day, I think you really notice the lack of DeGarmo on that one.

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    1. Both those albums have grown on me a lot.

      A thought: If the 90’s were of generally better quality than they were, I wonder if an album like Q2k would have grown on me at all. If there was more to choose from, maybe it wouldn’t have had a chance at all.

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        1. This is something T-Rev once asked of me, when I was listening to Voyeurs, by Two. (Notice that didn’t make my list!) He said, “Would you have even bought this if it was by someone else?” No, I wouldn’t.

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        3. It was a different time then. I had about 2000 FEWER discs then, a discount, and lots of space in more collection for more.

          There are a couple good songs on it. A few still make my mix discs today. Bed of Rust isn’t bad.

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        5. I gave almost all my old cassettes to an ex-girlfriend. Still have a couple cases left tucked away, with some indi music on them. Gypsy Jane? Attitude? Check! Now that I think about it, I should dig them up and rip them this weekend.

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  5. Lots on this list I have not heard. But I agree on the Motley. And Poison, man, I had that on tape, I think. It was good but I liked Flesh And Blood better. Do you really think Kim Mitchell was underrated here in Canada? Maybe in the States or Europe, but here? And DLR? Man, you just put that on here ‘cos you like him so much. He’s always had his audience.

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    1. Well Aaron, that Kimosabe record barely made a dent. It was on some indi label that probably doesn’t exist anymore. And DLR was his first serious career flop. I remember sitting on stacks and stacks of them at the store. It wasn’t a good time for DLR. He went to Vegas the following year!

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  8. Ok so a little late on timely replies so apologies for this.

    The Pride & Glory album is IMMENSE! I was introduced to by a friend of mine back in the mid-90s and totally fell in love with the mixture of metal, country, blues and southern rock. It’s still one of my fav. albums to this day.

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      1. I always held off on buying the 2CD re-release as the bonus disc didn’t really catch my fancy.

        But now you’ve brought it up I might well have to go a-hunting for it!

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