I dont think i'll ever enjoy an era of music as much as i did the early to mid 90's. It doesnt get much better for me than Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam (was never a Nirvana fan but it'd be remiss not to mention them), Living Colour, RHCP, Faith No More, RATM, Helmet, NIN Pantera, Sepultura, Slayer, Anthrax, Corrosion of Conformity, Kyuss, Queensrÿche, Extreme, Skid Row, Motley Crue* & Metallica* (* as a live band at least)all in or around their peak at the same time.
What an era!
And thats without mentioning what was a pretty significant time in the UK (Stone Roses, Suede, Ride, Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Primal Scream, The Charlatans, Elastica, Manic Street Preachers, Radiohead etc) as well as that whole American College/Indy thing (Pixies, Pavement, Teenage Fanclub, Dinosaur Jnr etc etc)
Then you have what were young or new bands/artists like Fear Factory, Tool, Dave Matthews Band, Jeff Buckley, Deftones, Weezer, Shihad all either establishing themselves or about to come on the scene
And then there was Massive Attack, Tricky, Portis Head, Depeche Mode, St Etienne, Chemical Brothers, Prodigy etc etc coming out with some fresh exciting sounds.
The whole skater/punk thing was actually interesting too (NOFX, Bad Religion)
And the likes of De La Soul, Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, Naughty By Nature, Arrested Development and Cypress Hill making hip hop that was about the beats and the rhymes first, not the image and the bling. What Dr Dre, Tu Pac and Snoop Dog came up with in the early/mid 90's probably shouldnt be over looked either, even if i do hold alot of that stuff responsible for the crap that parades around as "hip hop" today.
I wish it was 1990 again.