Acclaimed Music Top 30 Albums from 1992 poll

This is true. It's definitely the decade when I was the most on top of what was being released at the time.

The idea that the '90s were drought years for pop is insane to me. As soon as R&B and hip-hop started charting on the Hot 100, radio became so much more awesome.

Not sure how Mom afforded it but having MTV in the 90s was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.

MTV was literally the only inlet for new music during my first two years of high school (early '90s) while living in the middle of nowhere (and then to only a slightly lesser degree during the following two years spent a touch nearer to civilization). Its impact on my musical taste cannot be overstated.

Well, it's true that at the time it seemed like there was plenty of new and interesting kinds of dance/techno/hip-hop stuff to listen to, even on the radio, but for some reason I don't feel very emotionally connected to that music today, as good as it may have been. I still get a kick out of putting on an old disco LP or an '80s freestyle record, but most of the '90s stuff is mentally filed away as stuff I liked back then, for just a moment. It may have something to do with what kind of dance music is imprinted on you at whatever your impressionable age was.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I was aged 16-25 over the course of the 90s and was on top of all the music as it was happening and was really excited about it at the time, but look back on nearly all of it now with disinterest or contempt. No idea why that is, as I don't have particularly bad life associations with the decade. I just think most of the music isn't as good as I'd convinced myself it was.

kiko deserved a vote

All of these acts released music during the 90s that I consider to be among the music I've ever heard:

Orbital
Portishead
Squarepusher
Aphex Twin
Erykah Badu
Wu-Tang Clan (as a group and solo)
A Tribe Called Quest
De La Soul
TLC
Toni Braxton
PJ Harvey
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Prodigy
Outkast
2Pac
Snoop Dogg
Babyface
Madonna
Nine Inch Nails
Ice Cube
Underworld

I'd follow suit but the list of the music I've ever heard would be super, super long.

In seriousness, though, there's also a lot of overlap in my own personal Venn diagram of 'best music ever' and 'best music of the '90s'.