Just a bunch of off-the-top of my head hard rock and pop rock songs from that period.
And as far as the radio went, "real" metal in the form of Metallica was being played on the radio at this time:
Okay, maybe not that version.
And I admit, I hate this band and don't appreciate the sentiment much, but I kinda dig this. I'm sure no one else likes it:
All of those were radio hits to one extent or another. Well, maybe Popular was just an MTV thing, and maybe Saints wasn't a hit, but the Breeders Cannonball off the same album was.
There are good bands around. But Nirvana, love 'em or hate 'em, made rock widely popular (and of course before them -- Guns 'N Roses).
And then came the Spice Girls, and boybands, and Britney, and now everything is just crooning or skank-pop. At least on popular radio, which, yeah, needs to be avoided like the plague. Just saying that the last time actual rock was well represented on the singles charts was this period.