Who would have guessed that the 90s would be such a good time to be Carlos Santana? Probably not Carlos Santana, who by the late 90s was a revered guitarist and classic rock icon, but a guy three decades past his commercial prime, without so much as a record contract. Then in 1999 came Supernatural.

Under the guidance of legendary music man Clive Davis—then head of Arista Records—Santana teamed with an assortment of more-or-less younger, more-or-less relevant artists, lending his fleet fingers and unmistakable, clean tone to songs in a variety of styles, with a few of his trademark instrumental jams thrown in for good measure. Seemingly against all odds, the resulting album was the best of both worlds, with Santana lending style and weight to a strong set of tracks.

Two songs from the album topped the charts: the Rob Thomas collaboration “Smooth” and the Wyclef/Product G&B number “Maria Maria.” Both videos featured alternating shots of the vocalists mugging, slinky and sweaty babes undulating alone in hot apartments, and the 52-year-old guitarist of outrageous fortune grinning from ear to ear.

On the album’s last track, “The Calling,” Santana trades licks with Eric Clapton, another veteran guitarist who the 90s were kind to musically (though, given the accidental death of Clapton’s young son, not personally). What were other classic rockers up to in the 90s?

The Beatles: Made more millions with the Beatles Anthology project. George Harrison survived a 1999 knife attack when his wife beat his assailant off with a fireplace poker. Paul McCartney composed a bunch of orchestral music, and mourned the 1998 death of his wife Linda. Ringo Starr stayed sober and released a bunch of happy-sounding music, and no one really cared.

The Rolling Stones: Released several albums as solo artists and as a group; everyone agreed the albums could have been worse. Made insane amounts of money touring. Keith Richards managed not to fall out of any trees.

The Who: Got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Released a box set. Kind of sort of got back together a few times.

Led Zeppelin: Got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Released a box set. Jimmy Page and Robert Plant did an MTV Unplugged thing.

But who was the one with the #1 hit singles? That’s right, the Mexican-American bro with the mustache, the curls, and the million-dollar smile. In December 2010, he married jazz musician Cindy Blackman, the pair releasing a flock of doves to celebrate their union. Together, they compose “flows of consciousness” (“Can you say/ I love/ More/ Than you say/ I hate/ If you say YES/ Then embrace your absoluteness now”) that they post to Facebook. Santana guest-stars on American Idol, and runs a chain of Mexican restaurants called (natch) Maria Maria. Hell yeah, it’s still pretty good to be Carlos Santana.

– Jay Gabler

The 1990s Project is my attempt to give the decade’s music a fair shot at disproving my offhand assessment that the 90s were the armpit of modern musical history. My goal is to visit, or revisit, 100 of the decade’s most acclaimed, popular, and/or interesting albums. Here’s the road map.