From 80s leftover Pop to New Jack Swing, from Grunge to Pop again, music during the 1990s was like watching Madonna come full circle. The Material Girl started off with electronica-inspired tunes, but later dabbled in everything from Big Band, to Babyface ballads to Evita, only to return as a yoga-loving electronica-mama.
Same thing with music from the 90s. Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson and New Kids on the Block were huge in the early 90s. But then everything went grungy and next thing you know your kids are wearing flannel and shorts. Presto, it's the Grunge Era. But before you could make sense of Kurt Cobain's death, comes another love child of grunge, Modern Rock (cringe). Oh why do you label, Billboard magazine? But wait! The industry suffers a slump in the mid 90s but later makes a platinum comback with....Whaddaya know..Pop!
Let's put it this way, the number one album in the United States in 1990 was Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814. The number one album in 1996 was Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill. The number one album in 1999 was Backstreet Boys' Millennium.
OK that's just chart stuff. Really boring sometimes, don't you think? I don't know why I remember all this stuff anyway. It's just that as long as I can remember, the Billboard Hot 100 and all its year end countdowns were very important to me. I'd always made it a point to find out lah.
Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 was jam-packed with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis-produced fun lovin' songs. Among nostalgic notable tunes from that album was Escapade (the quintessential weekend song). How can you beat lyrics like
"well i like to be with you nad you know it's Friday too..
come one baby let's get away..Let me take you on an escapade,"
Gosh. And those Janet Jackson dancing baby! Her best dance video back then was "MISS YOU MUCH," the cutest song ever about missing your loved one.
Of course, three years later she topped herself with the 'If' video, but that's okay. It's all good.
I swear I can stil remember Miss Jackson's dance moves in that black and white video clip.
Remember Hit Video USA on TV3? Remember they used to play THAT video to death? Along with all the Madonnas, Paula Abduls, New Kids On the Blocks and MC Hammers in the day.
Let's just say the string Janet Jackson hits continued till early '91 with Black Cat, Come Back To Me and Love Will Never Do Without You.
For other artists, the early 90s were all about getting that beat just right.
Typically, a respectable R&B singer would have a repertoire of lush ballads as well as funky (a word people used to use) dance numbers. So when Mariah Carey showed up in 1990, she became famous for her confessional ballads Vision of Love and Love Takes Time. But then she released Somday and put in a phat beat to it and voila, 1991 began!
Honey, it was all about that funkayyy beat and those tight bicycle shorts during those days. (Were we mad or what?) And no other group embodied the dance floor sound better than C+C Music Factory. Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) created waves all over the world not just for its signature groove but also because of the controversy surrounding the vocals.
Aie! Imagine hearing that voice but having somebody else lipsyncing it in the video.
C+C music factory continued to define most of the early 90s. If you wanted your tracks remixed, you had to go with Robert Cliviles and David Cole.
The New Kids On The Block were at the tail-end of their glory. When Step By Step was released, it churned out two number one songs, the title track and Tonight, but their star dimmed towards the end of '92.
Two of the NKOTB returned at the end of the decade with solo albums. Joey McIntyre had sweet success with his believe-in-yourself anthem Stay The Same, while Jordan Knight took the suave R&B/hip hop route and spurned the infectious Give It To You.
I guess teh other phenomenon that came out of the earky 90s was grunge. Honestly I wasn't into it when it came out because I really did not dig Nirvana. I kinda liked Pearl Jam's Jeremy.
But the band that got me digging grunge was Stone Temple Pilots. Their firts Asian hit, Plush was like a song made in heaven. And the acoustic version of it, phuuaaarrrr....Best giler!
Scott Weiland's voice was like honey in a coarse rock 'n roll kinda way. And the images which accompanied STP's Plush.....Weiland's striking red shortly cropped hair, his distinctively grunge goatie.
The gloomy mysterious world of Plush depicted in the video. It was one their most successful songs, winning a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1994 and an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artiste in a Video in 1993.
Sadly the hardly sings the song during gigs. They need not perform it at all now since they have a large catalogue of songs. Album-wise, STP were attheir best with Purple (1994) and No.4 (1999). Ah Heck, even 1996's Tiny Music....Song from the Vatican Gift Shop was hot too. Sorry, man. I'm pretty biased when it comes to STP, my favourite band.
But let me tell you this, they have never been a criticaly acclaimed band. Even Spice Girl's made it on Rolling Stone magazine best 90 albums of the 90s. Not STP. They were never good at any genre in particular. They are many different bands rolled into one. They're Led Zeppelin, they're AC/DC, they're the Beatles.
Unforgettable songs of the 1990s
Best get-back-together-after-taking-a-break song:
STAY (I MISSED YOU) - LISA LOEB AND NINE STORIES (from the Reality Bites Soundtrack)
Best song about ass ever (no matter what the decade is):
BABY GOT BACK - SIR MIX-A-LOT
Best Music Videos:
IRONIC - ALANIS MORISSETTE (Insane Alanis, Level-headed Alanis, Scaredy cat Alanis and superstitious Alanis out on a field trip)
IF - JANET JACKSON(Her best dance video ever)
BARING IT ALL: A promotional photo for her 1993 album, Janet.
JEREMY - PEARL JAM (Pre-Columbine. Powerful.)
STAY (I MISSED YOU) -LISA LOEB AND NINE STORIES (so fuck it if it's a simple clip)
SPOONMAN - SOUNDGARDEN (Before 1998, the princes of Grunge had used still photographs in music videos)
OTHER FAMOUS GRUNGE ALBUMS:
Superunknown - Soundgarden
Jars of Flies - Alice in Chains
Vs. - Pearl Jam
Same thing with music from the 90s. Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson and New Kids on the Block were huge in the early 90s. But then everything went grungy and next thing you know your kids are wearing flannel and shorts. Presto, it's the Grunge Era. But before you could make sense of Kurt Cobain's death, comes another love child of grunge, Modern Rock (cringe). Oh why do you label, Billboard magazine? But wait! The industry suffers a slump in the mid 90s but later makes a platinum comback with....Whaddaya know..Pop!
Let's put it this way, the number one album in the United States in 1990 was Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814. The number one album in 1996 was Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill. The number one album in 1999 was Backstreet Boys' Millennium.
OK that's just chart stuff. Really boring sometimes, don't you think? I don't know why I remember all this stuff anyway. It's just that as long as I can remember, the Billboard Hot 100 and all its year end countdowns were very important to me. I'd always made it a point to find out lah.
Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 was jam-packed with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis-produced fun lovin' songs. Among nostalgic notable tunes from that album was Escapade (the quintessential weekend song). How can you beat lyrics like
"well i like to be with you nad you know it's Friday too..
come one baby let's get away..Let me take you on an escapade,"
Gosh. And those Janet Jackson dancing baby! Her best dance video back then was "MISS YOU MUCH," the cutest song ever about missing your loved one.
Of course, three years later she topped herself with the 'If' video, but that's okay. It's all good.
I swear I can stil remember Miss Jackson's dance moves in that black and white video clip.
Remember Hit Video USA on TV3? Remember they used to play THAT video to death? Along with all the Madonnas, Paula Abduls, New Kids On the Blocks and MC Hammers in the day.
Let's just say the string Janet Jackson hits continued till early '91 with Black Cat, Come Back To Me and Love Will Never Do Without You.
For other artists, the early 90s were all about getting that beat just right.
Typically, a respectable R&B singer would have a repertoire of lush ballads as well as funky (a word people used to use) dance numbers. So when Mariah Carey showed up in 1990, she became famous for her confessional ballads Vision of Love and Love Takes Time. But then she released Somday and put in a phat beat to it and voila, 1991 began!
Honey, it was all about that funkayyy beat and those tight bicycle shorts during those days. (Were we mad or what?) And no other group embodied the dance floor sound better than C+C Music Factory. Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) created waves all over the world not just for its signature groove but also because of the controversy surrounding the vocals.
Aie! Imagine hearing that voice but having somebody else lipsyncing it in the video.
C+C music factory continued to define most of the early 90s. If you wanted your tracks remixed, you had to go with Robert Cliviles and David Cole.
The New Kids On The Block were at the tail-end of their glory. When Step By Step was released, it churned out two number one songs, the title track and Tonight, but their star dimmed towards the end of '92.
Two of the NKOTB returned at the end of the decade with solo albums. Joey McIntyre had sweet success with his believe-in-yourself anthem Stay The Same, while Jordan Knight took the suave R&B/hip hop route and spurned the infectious Give It To You.
I guess teh other phenomenon that came out of the earky 90s was grunge. Honestly I wasn't into it when it came out because I really did not dig Nirvana. I kinda liked Pearl Jam's Jeremy.
But the band that got me digging grunge was Stone Temple Pilots. Their firts Asian hit, Plush was like a song made in heaven. And the acoustic version of it, phuuaaarrrr....Best giler!
Scott Weiland's voice was like honey in a coarse rock 'n roll kinda way. And the images which accompanied STP's Plush.....Weiland's striking red shortly cropped hair, his distinctively grunge goatie.
The gloomy mysterious world of Plush depicted in the video. It was one their most successful songs, winning a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1994 and an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artiste in a Video in 1993.
Sadly the hardly sings the song during gigs. They need not perform it at all now since they have a large catalogue of songs. Album-wise, STP were attheir best with Purple (1994) and No.4 (1999). Ah Heck, even 1996's Tiny Music....Song from the Vatican Gift Shop was hot too. Sorry, man. I'm pretty biased when it comes to STP, my favourite band.
But let me tell you this, they have never been a criticaly acclaimed band. Even Spice Girl's made it on Rolling Stone magazine best 90 albums of the 90s. Not STP. They were never good at any genre in particular. They are many different bands rolled into one. They're Led Zeppelin, they're AC/DC, they're the Beatles.
Unforgettable songs of the 1990s
Best get-back-together-after-taking-a-break song:
STAY (I MISSED YOU) - LISA LOEB AND NINE STORIES (from the Reality Bites Soundtrack)
Best song about ass ever (no matter what the decade is):
BABY GOT BACK - SIR MIX-A-LOT
Best Music Videos:
IRONIC - ALANIS MORISSETTE (Insane Alanis, Level-headed Alanis, Scaredy cat Alanis and superstitious Alanis out on a field trip)
IF - JANET JACKSON(Her best dance video ever)
BARING IT ALL: A promotional photo for her 1993 album, Janet.
JEREMY - PEARL JAM (Pre-Columbine. Powerful.)
STAY (I MISSED YOU) -LISA LOEB AND NINE STORIES (so fuck it if it's a simple clip)
SPOONMAN - SOUNDGARDEN (Before 1998, the princes of Grunge had used still photographs in music videos)
OTHER FAMOUS GRUNGE ALBUMS:
Superunknown - Soundgarden
Jars of Flies - Alice in Chains
Vs. - Pearl Jam
Comments