By the time Sebadoh released their fifth album in 1994, Lou Barlow was a low-fi hero – a man who buried his melodies under noise and was loath to repeat a hook. Bakesale was where Barlow brightened up a bit: By no means slick, it's still leaps and bounds more accessible than even Sebadoh's previous LP, Bubble and Scrape. Despite some cacophony, some tunes are downright pretty (a fact highlighted by the acoustic and four-track versions of songs like "Magnet's Coil" and "Not a Friend" on this reissue's bonus disc). The sweetly hummable "Skull" even had a video on MTV. Barlow's new approach made for one of the best indie-rock albums in a year full of stellar ones – and Sebadoh's greatest work.

Listen to "Rebound":

Related: Random Notes, Rock's Hottest Photos

“Too Close”

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'"