During the 1990s, the single most impressive concentration of garage-rock bands was perhaps in Scandinavia. Hanoi Rocks had led the way, and, one decade later, a number of Scandinavian bands followed their lead, storming through programs of acrobatic rock'n' roll numbers with the sensitivity of a conquering viking.

MC5, Motorhead and New York Dolls were the role models for Sweden's Hellacopters (1), who delivered the impressive punch of Supershitty To The Max (1996) and Payin' The Dues (1997), and for Norway's Gluecifer.

Norway's Motorpsycho (1) offered perhaps the most eclectic take on the cliches of psychedelic hard-rock on monumental albums such as Demon Box (1993) and Timothy's Monster (1994). They displayed musical ambitions that went beyond the power guitar riff, and often ended in quasi-symphonic magniloquence. The four colossal suites of Little Lucid Moments (2008) stood as virtually a recapitulation of jam-oriented rock music from the 1960s to the 1990s.

Instrumental revival, 1995-98

Instrumental music staged a massive revival during the 1990s.

Raised on sci-fi serials and horror movies, Alabama's Man Or Astroman (2) invented a cyberpunk version of Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet's postmodernist surf that recalled Devo's satirical/mythological philosophy but dispensed with the silly lyrics. From the naive and exuberant Is It Man Or Astro-man? (1993) to the more adventurous Experiment Zero (1996), they defined a science of epic guitar twangs, epileptic surf hoedowns, suspenseful vibratos and menacing reverbs.

The Mermen (3), from San Francisco, altered surf music via Neil Young's blues-psychedelic neurosis and Jimi Hendrix's devastating spasms on Food For Other Fish (1994), and found a miraculous balance between revival and experimentation with the three creative jams of A Glorious Lethal Euphoria (1995). Their compositions, led by guitarist Jim Thomas, alternate between slow, tortured dirges that flowed towards controlled cacophony, somber, colloquial meditations, majestic, symphonic, twang-drenched odes, John Fahey-ian East/West fusion, jazz-rock, raga, etc. The Amazing California Health And Happiness Road Show (2000) includes their tour de force, Burn.

While not as original, an impressive number of groups offered witty and creative takes on the genre. Notable albums of the 1990s included: Interstate (1994) by Seattle's Pell Mell, the group of producer and keyboardist Steve Fisk; The Utterly Fantastic and Totally Unbelievable Sound (1995) by the Los Straitjackets in Tennessee; At Home With Satan's Pilgrims (1995) by the Satan's Pilgrims in Oregon; Savage Island (1996) by the Bomboras in Los Angeles; The Exciting Sounds Of Model Road Racing (1994) by the Phantom Surfers in San Francisco.

In Canada, Mark Brodie And The Beaver Patrol resurrected the vibrato melodies of the Ventures and Dick Dale on The Shores Of Hell (1996), thus following in the footsteps of Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet.

Shark Quest (1), in North Carolina, contaminated surf music with flavors of country and folk on Battle Of The Loons (1998).

Crampsiana, 1993-97

The spring of garage-rock was not extinguished. The Cramps, in particular, were a massive influence on American garage-rock, from Tennessee, where the Oblivians recorded Popular Favorites (1996), to Kentucky, where Bodeco recorded Bone Hair And Hide (1992). Reverend Horton Heat (Texan rocker Jim Heath) continued the tradition of mad rockabilly on albums such as the demonic The Full Custom Sounds (1993).

Seattle's Gas Huffer (2) played epileptic rock'n'roll with the psychotic impetus of the Heartbreakers and the Cramps but also with the childish silliness of the Ramones. Janitors Of Tomorrow (1991) and Integrity Technology And Service (1992) were collections of time-warp aberrations.

The Honeymoon Killers' leader Jerry Teel went on to join the Chrome Cranks (1), with whom he produced at least one aberration worthy of the Honeymoon Killers, Chrome Cranks (1994).

Ohio's Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments (1), led by Great Plains vocalist Ron House and guitarist Bob Petric, delivered a concentrate of Cramps, Stooges and Ramones on Straight To Video (1997).

In North Carolina, Southern Culture On The Skids (2) delivered a stew of old-fashioned styles (surf, rockabilly, country, garage-rock, rhythm'n'blues) with a punk attitude, reaching back to Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Cramps. They were at their best when they let the bad vibrations flow, such as on For Lovers Only (1993), a madhouse of a roots-rock album, and the even more eclectic and exuberant Ditch Diggin' (1994).

Shifting from drums to guitar (and wearing a drag-queen costume), Gories veteran Dan Kroha, formed the Demolition Doll Rods, who focused on Cramps' glam-core.

In Minnesota, the veterans of the Lee Harvey Oswald Band (1) concocted the infernal party of A Taste Of Prison (1994), which also indulged in the most perverted side of life.

That tradition continued unabated throughout the decade with decadent acts such as Georgia's Nashville Pussy , whose Let Them Eat Pussy (1998) harked back to Cramps' porno-billy.

MC5iana, 1993-95

Naturally, Michigan was the epicenter of the ferocious sound of MC5, although Go and Speedball did not live up to the same ferocious standards of previous generations.

Ohio boasted two of the best groups. Heirs to MC5's bacchanals, but also a bridge to contemporary genres such as grunge, thrash-metal and hardcore, God And Texas (2) drenched the songs of History Volume One (1992) and Criminal Element (1993) into feverish distortions and catastrophic drumming. The New Bomb Turks (2) were even more barbaric and breathtaking, particularly on Destroy Oh Boy (1993), but anchored the songs of mature albums such as At Rope's End (1998) to linear progressions and anthemic melodies.

North Carolina's Pipe with Six Days Till Bellus (1995) and Seattle's Tight Bro's From Way Back When, with Runnin Thru My Bones (1999), were also inspired by MC5's frantic rock'n'roll.

Closest to MC5's agit-prop intent were Washington's Love 666 with the mini-album American Revolution (1995).

Pacific Northwest, 1992-97

San Francisco's Mummies (1) were perhaps the ideological leaders of the garage revival, even if they lasted only one album, the orgiastic and lo-fi Never Been Caught (1992).

Other notable albums from the Pacific Northwest included the Mono Men's Wrecker (1992), and Outta Sight (1993), by Sinister Six (1).

Oregon's garage school, which had been revitalized in the 1980s by the Miracle Workers, continued with Marble Orchard and Gorilla.

Seattle's Makers (1) unwound a feast of fuzz, treble and feedback at full throttle on their third album, Makers (1996). The Murder City Devils (1) added the screams of vocalist Spencer Moody and the gothic overtones of an organ to the mayhem of Empty Bottles Broken Hearts (1998).

Spenceriana, 1990-95

New takes on the blues and rhythm'n'blues were tried by bands throughout the country, from Ohio's Prisonshake, with A Girl Named Yes (1990), to Boston's 360's, with Illuminated (1991), from Kansas' Mercy Rule, formed by 13 Nightmares' guitarist John Taylor, with God Protects Fools (1993), to Pennsylvania's Psyclone Rangers, Feel Nice (1993). Needless to say, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion became an increasing influence on everybody during the decade.

Some in New York had actually predated Spencer: Marcellus Hall's Railroad Jerk (1) were playing a similar brand of subnormal psycho-blues since their debut, Railroad Jerk (1990).

Los Angeles' Clawhammer, led by former Pontiac Brothers' guitarist Jon Wahl, performed the unlikely wedding of Captain Beefheart and Devo on Clawhammer (1990).

Ohio's Gits (1), featuring the witchy vocals of Mia Zapata, crossed punk-rock and blues-rock, halfway between X and Sex Pistols, with the addition of an angry feminine touch, on Frenching The Bully (1992).

Arizona's Doo Rag, a lo-fi duo fronted by Bob Log, kept the blues closer to the archaic sound of the Delta on What We Do (1996).

The punk approach to the blues and to soul music was refined by Washington's Delta 72 (1), whose The R&B Of Membership (1996) and particularly Soul Of A New Machine (1997) were derailed by Sarah Stolfa's organ and Gregg Foreman's primordial howl. Their conceptual revisitation of black music eventually led to imitate the Rolling Stones circa Exile On Main Street on the more professional 000 (2000).

Michigan's Mule (1), formed by guitarist Preston Long and Laughing Hyenas' formidable rhythm section (Jim Kimball and Kevin "Monro" Strickland), played blues-rock for hell's saloons. Mule (1993) offered harsh, truculent and discordant music that borrowed from Z.Z.Top, Captain Beefheart, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jimi Hendrix and Creedence Clearwater Revival but savagely deformed the original sources.

Chicago's Red Red Meat (12) started from similar premises but evolved towards a more intellectual exploration of music. Red Red Meat (1992) and Jimmy Wine Majestic (1993) unleashed the dirty, feverish and unstable vibrations of all the blues irregulars of the past (the Rolling Stones, Captain Beefheart, Pussy Galore, etc), but the atmospheric Bunny Gets Paid (1995) veered towards desolate free-form "pieces" that felt like scarred remnants of pop songs. This, in turn, led to the abstract framework of There's A Star Above The Manger Tonight (1997), replete with synthesizer and other sophisticated arrangements, which was, de facto, a postmodernist exercise in stylistic deconstruction, bordering on trip-hop and ambient music while retaining the cacophony of Captain Beefheart and Pussy Galore. Red Red Meat guitarist (and original founder) Tim Rutili, drummer Ben Massarella and bassist Tim Hurley set out to further investigate this unfocused sea of sounds as Califone (2). The brooding acid-blues sound of their early EPs, Califone (1998) and Califone (2000), and of their full-length albums Roomsound (2001) and Quicksand Cradlesnakes (2003) absorbed jazz, post-rock, samples and loops into the canon of blues depression and gospel ecstasy. Heron King Blues (2004) further disintegrated the format of the roots-rock song, with the mostly instrumental jam Heron King Blues performing a bold balancing act between organic free-form abstraction and geometric pulsing pattern, a worthy addition to the program of Captain Beefheart's Mirror Man. The dusty interplay of voice, guitars, banjos, hurdy gurdies, drums and electronics concocted an understated post-everything mayhem.

New York's Jonathan Fire Eater were perhaps the main followers of Jon Spencer, particularly on their debut album, Jonathan Fire Eater (1995), before they mellowed down.

In Australia, Bloodloss (1), which were basically Lubricated Goat with Mudhoney's vocalist Mark Arm replacing Stu Spasm, assembled one of the ugliest blues albums of all times, Live My Way (1995), disfigured by saxophones, trumpets and keyboards, and influenced by Jon Spencer, Captain Beefheart and the Rolling Stones.