Top 100 Songs of the ’90s

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It’s been almost 17 years since Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill (and later Le Tigre) told Kurt Cobain that he smelled like Teen Spirit. What a difference two decades makes: From Nirvana’s sulking, smarmy instruction, “Here we are now, entertain us,” to Generation MySpace’s inherent understanding that really, we’re all just here to entertain each other, is a gulf, a sea change in the way we think about culture and those who make it. (The Internet, by the way, makes a convenient scapegoat in case you’re looking for one.) VH1 returns to explore the innocent, mostly pre-digital age with The 100 Greatest Songs of the ’90s, a hits show that counts down the best of the best from the flannel decade. No. 1? You guessed it — “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana (see the video above).

Other highlights include “Cannonball” by the Breeders and “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys, but there’s plenty of non-college-dorm fare here, too. Like, do you remember “Informer” by Snow? How about “I Wanna Sex You Up” by Color Me Badd? Madonna’s “Vogue”? Guilty pleasures and desperate measures await. Check the show out next Monday, December 17th, at 10 p.m. (EST) on VH1. And if you can’t wait that long, see the full list of all 100 best songs after the jump.

1. Nirvana “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
2. U2 “One”
3. Backstreet Boys “I Want It That Way”
4. Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You”
5. Madonna “Vogue”
6. Sir Mix-A-Lot “Baby Got Back”
7. Britney Spears “…Baby One More Time”
8. TLC “Waterfalls”
9. R.E.M. “Losing My Religion”
10. Sinéad O’Connor “Nothing Compares 2 U”
11. Pearl Jam “Jeremy”
12. Alanis Morissette “You Oughta Know”
13. Dr. Dre (featuring Snoop Doggy Dogg) “Nuthin’ but a “G” Thang”
14. Mariah Carey “Vision of Love”
15. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Under the Bridge”
16. MC Hammer “U Can’t Touch This”
17. Destiny’s Child “Say My Name”
18. Metallica “Enter Sandman”
19. Beastie Boys “Sabotage”
20. Hanson “MMMBop”
21. Celine Dion “My Heart Will Go On”
22. Beck “Loser”
23. Salt-N-Pepa with En Vogue “Whatta Man”
24. House of Pain “Jump Around”
25. Soundgarden “Black Hole Sun”
26. Eminem “My Name Is”
27. Counting Crows “Mr. Jones”
28. Ricky Martin “Livin’ la Vida Loca”
29. Vanilla Ice “Ice Ice Baby”
30. *NSYNC “Tearin’ Up My Heart”
31. Radiohead “Creep”
32. BLACKstreet “No Diggity”
33. Spice Girls “Wannabe”
34. Third Eye Blind “Semi-Charmed Life”
35. Oasis “Wonderwall”
36. C+C Music Factory “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)”
37. Green Day “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”
38. Christina Aguilera “Genie In A Bottle”
39. Goo Goo Dolls “Iris”
40. Color Me Badd “I Wanna Sex You Up”
41. Spin Doctors “Two Princes”
42. Collective Soul “Shine”
43. En Vogue “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)”
44. The Fugees “Killing Me Softly With His Song”
45. Hootie & the Blowfish “Only Wanna Be With You”
46. Shania Twain “You’re Still the One”
47. Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch “Good Vibrations”
48. Matchbox Twenty “3 AM”
49. Jewel “Who Will Save Your Soul”
50. Alice in Chains “Man in the Box”
51. Tupac (featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman) “California Love”
52. Sugar Ray “Fly”
53. Naughty by Nature “O.P.P.”
54. Joan Osborne “One of Us”
55. Fiona Apple “Criminal”
56. L.L. Cool J “Mama Said Knock You Out”
57. Jay-Z featuring Amil and Ja Rule “Can I Get A…”
58. Sophie B. Hawkins “Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover”
59. Weezer “Buddy Holly”
60. Bell Biv DeVoe “Poison”
61. Sheryl Crow “All I Wanna Do”
62. Live “I Alone”
63. The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Mase & Puff Daddy “Mo Money Mo Problems”
64. The Presidents of the United States of America “Peaches”
65. Digital Underground “The Humpty Dance”
66. Edwin McCain “I’ll Be”
67. Deee-Lite “Groove Is In The Heart”
68. Will Smith “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It”
69. Korn “Freak on a Leash”
70. Jamiroquai “Virtual Insanity”
71. Arrested Development “Tennessee”
72. Barenaked Ladies “One Week”
73. Marcy Playground “Sex and Candy”
74. Cher “Believe”
75. Kris Kross “Jump”
76. Blues Traveler “Run-Around”
77. Ice Cube “It Was a Good Day”
78. Lenny Kravitz “Are You Gonna Go My Way”
79. Meredith Brooks “Bitch”
80. Right Said Fred “I’m Too Sexy”
81. Paula Cole “I Don’t Want to Wait”
82. Geto Boys “Mind Playing Tricks on Me”
83. The Breeders “Cannonball”
84. Snow “Informer”
85. Cypress Hill “Insane In The Brain”
86. The Cranberries “Linger”
87. Billy Ray Cyrus “Achy Breaky Heart”
88. Duncan Sheik “Barely Breathing”
89. Liz Phair “Never Said”
90. New Radicals “You Get What You Give”
91. Sarah McLachlan “Building a Mystery”
92. Public Enemy “911 Is A Joke”
93. Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories “Stay”
94. Fastball “The Way”
95. Montell Jordan “This is How We Do It”
96. Nelson “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection”
97. Prince & The New Power Generation “Gett Off”
98. EMF “Unbelievable”
99. Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”
100. Gerardo “Rico Suave”

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