Embarrassment of niches
I'm both scared and intrigued that my cable digital music service now has blocks of '90s music on the Showcase channel. While each decade has plenty of disparate music that only shares a common timeframe, the '90s may have gone to the greatest extremes, especially among its biggest hits. And since radio got so specialized by the '90s, it's even more jarring to hear all these things at one. Within the time I was listening, I got some "superstar" artists of the decade (Pearl Jam, Nirvana, TLC, Notorious B.I.G, Mariah Carey), stuff stuck in the '90s but not bad (Fastball, Duncan Shiek, Savage Garden), and stuff from the early part of the '90s that you can hardly believe was part of the same decade (Londonbeat, Tara Kemp, Mr. Big, that Meat Loaf song). It will make for a freaky boxed set in a few years when Rhino decides to put one out: hmm, Ace of Base next to Soundgarden next to Whitney Houston next to Smashing Pumpkins next to Tupac.

But I leave it up to all of you. If you had to put together a CD that best covers the entire scope of popular/influential music '90s, what would be on it?