Four 90s Soundtrack Albums That Hold Up

The 90s were the golden age of many things; rock music, rap music, the X-Files, landline telephones, VHS tapes and movie soundtracks. There was a beautiful time when soundtrack albums were both marketing tools and well crafted collections of music that stand on their own. Especially if like me, you were into rap music and kind of think that as a whole ti's gone downhill since about 1997. Oh, man I sound like such an old man.

Here are four of my favorites that still hold up in 2015.

Menace II Society (1993)

This is the album that got me thinking about this topic. The movie is set in 1993 South Central Los Angeles so the song on the soundtrack musically reflect the gritty urban tone of the film. It's full if hardcore west coast rappers and that marvelous 90s gangsta rap sound. Check out this line up: Spice 1, MC Eiht, Too Short, Brand Nubian, Da Lench Mob, BDP, DJ Quik! And every song on the album is strong enough to be a single. "Packin' a Gun" by Ant Banks is a deceptively fun track, "Streiht Up Menace" is a great song that loosely tells the movie's story over a strings and piano infused beat.

Higher Learning (1995)

This soundtrack is a great collection of rap, rock and R and B songs. Ice Cube does the song "Higher" that recaps the movie's plot. The real gems are "Soul Searchin' (I Wanna Know If It's Mine)"  by Me'Shell NdegéOcello, an epic groove; a Tori Amos cover of "Losing My Religion" and the moody "Phobia"  by Outkast.

CB4 (1993)

Chris Rock stared in this comedy about wannabe rappers. The soundtrack has three songs by the fake group from the move, it also has awesome tracks by MC Ren, Beastie Boys and Fu-Schnickens. Ren's "Mayday on the Front Line" is a different, and I think better, mix than is on his Shock of the Hour album. Another standout is "Lifeline" by the Southern hip hop group Parental Advisory. it's all just good straight up rap music.

Judgement Night (1993)

It looks like 1993 was a golden age in the golden age. This soundtrack was a bit of a concept album. Each song is by a rapper or rap group teaming up with rock band. There is Living Colour and Run DMC, Slayer and Ice-T, Pearl Jam and Cypress Hill among the collaborations. Two of my all time favorite song are on this album; "Missing Link" by Dinosaur Jr. and Del tha Funkee Homosapien and "Fallin" by Teenage Fanclub and De La Soul. "Missing Link" is a growling walk of realness, it's a comfortable disaffected blanket of swagger. "Fallin" is a bouncy journey of sublime sadness and beginnings.

Hearing both these songs take me right back to my 1980-something grey car, late night hanging out at a truck stop in Western Nebraska. Hey, we didn't have a lot of entertainment options.