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Post by SharksFan99 on Nov 3, 2017 23:29:39 GMT 10
I never really gave this too much thought before, but after just listening to a few songs which were released in 1990, it made me realise that it was a really cheesy year for music. In fact, it's probably one of the cheesiest years for music there has ever been, especially considering the fact that hair-metal and house-music were really popular at the time. Here are a few examples of how "cheesy" 1990 is:  No wonder why it's one of my least favourite years for music. I can't believe that I was born in the same decade as those songs.
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Post by SharksFan99 on Nov 3, 2017 23:40:03 GMT 10
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Post by SharksFan99 on Nov 12, 2017 16:30:27 GMT 10
Here's another really cheesy song from 1990. Oddly enough, this actually topped the ARIA charts! 
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Post by RockyMountainExtreme on Dec 31, 2017 8:38:19 GMT 10
1990 was cheesy as hell, but the music history surrounding the year is pretty fascinating.
Glam metal reached its apex in 1987 with cheesy radio friendly glam metal hits such as "Welcome to the Jungle" from Guns N Roses and "Girls Girls Girls" from Motley Crue. Following the success of these two songs, glam metal became even more commercialized by the big records company, and got more over saturated because of it.
1988 was the beginning of the end for glam metal, as the youth would begin to pivot to other music genres. This was when gangsta rap broke into the mainstream with NWA's "Straight Outta Compton", which struck the right cords with rebellious youth of all races (Dr. Dre even said in an interview that they had an all-white audience at a tour they did in Kentucky in the late '80s). This is also the year when grunge music started to branch out to the youth with the release of albums such as "Superfuzz Bigmuff" from Mudhoney, "Invisible Lantern" from Screaming Trees, and "Ultramega OK" from Soundgarden.
1989 and 1990 were a continuation of all of this. Glam metal only became more commercialized with the release of songs such as "Dr. Feelgood" from Motley Crue, "Love In An Elevator" from Aerosmith, and of course, who could forget, "Cherry Pie" by Warrant. Warrant is an interesting case, as they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. They had other singles that were better than Cherry Pie, but Cherry Pie was their number one hit, and it came out as glam metal was already on its death bed and just right before the emergence of other genres such as grunge and alternative rock to the mainstream. Had Warrant started no later than 1987, they could've been far more popular, and known for way more than just one cheesy one hit wonder.
But while the genre continued to become commercialized, many glam metal bands began to pivot from the scene and begin to focus on more softer and often times acoustic music. Even Guns N Roses was on this bandwagon with his acoustic single "Patience", and MTV began the series "MTV Unplugged", which was a series dedicated to acoustic music.
Meanwhile, grunge continued its rise to popularity, 1989 would see Nirvana's debut with "Bleach" and with more albums from Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, and Soundgarden.
One reason why I think 1990 in terms of music is better than 1996-1999 is because of the grunge scene in that year. 1990 is when grunge music was starting to burst out of the underground, but hadn't exactly soared into the mainstream just yet, because of that, it was a year when grunge music was still fresh, new, and still geared towards an angsty underground audience. One of these grunge albums was "Facelift", the debut album from Alice In Chains, the same album that contains this gem;
Then of course, 1991 is when grunge and alternative rock solidified themselves into the mainstream, and glam metal had its coffin shut.
A similar thing like this happened in the late 90s early 00s, with the over saturation of nu-metal and post-grunge and the rise in popularity of emo.
SharksFan99 likes this
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Post by SharksFan99 on Dec 31, 2017 9:40:12 GMT 10
1990 was cheesy as hell, but the music history surrounding the year is pretty fascinating. Glam metal reached its apex in 1987, as cheesy radio friendly glam metal hits such as "Welcome to the Jungle" from Guns N Roses and "Girls Girls Girls" from Motley Crue would top the rock charts. Following the success of these two songs, glam metal became even more commercialized by the big records company, and got more over saturated because of it. 1988 was the beginning of the end for glam metal, as the youth would begin to pivot to other music genres. This was when gangsta rap broke into the mainstream with NWA's "Straight Outta Compton", which struck the right cords with rebellious youth of all races (Dr. Dre even said in an interview that they had an all-white audience at a tour they did in Kentucky in the late '80s). This is also the year when grunge music started to branch out to the youth with the release of albums such as "Superfuzz Bigmuff" from Mudhoney, "Invisible Lantern" from Screaming Trees, and "Ultramega OK" from Soundgarden. 1989 and 1990 were a continuation of all of this. Glam metal only became more commercialized with the release of songs such as "Dr. Feelgood" from Motley Crue, "Love In An Elevator" from Aerosmith, and of course, who could forget, "Cherry Pie" by Warrant. Warrant is an interesting case, as they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. They had other singles that were better than Cherry Pie, but Cherry Pie was their number one hit, and it came out as glam metal was already on its death bed and just right before the emergence of other genres such as grunge and alternative rock to the mainstream. Had Warrant started no later than 1987, they could've been far more popular, and known for way more than just one cheesy one hit wonder. But while the genre continued to become commercialized, many glam metal bands began to pivot from the scene and begin to focus on more softer and often times acoustic music. Even Guns N Roses was on this bandwagon with his acoustic single "Patience", and MTV began the series "MTV Unplugged", which was a series dedicated to acoustic music. Meanwhile, grunge continued its rise to popularity, 1989 would see Nirvana's debut with "Bleach" and with more albums from Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, and Soundgarden. One reason why I think 1990 in terms of music is better than 1996-1999 is because of the grunge scene in that year. 1990 is when grunge music was starting to burst out of the underground, but hadn't exactly soared into the mainstream just yet, because of that, it was a year when grunge music was still fresh, new, and still geared towards an angsty underground audience. One of these grunge albums was "Facelift", the debut album from Alice In Chains, the same album that contains this gem; Then of course, 1991 is when grunge and alternative rock solidified themselves into the mainstream, and glam metal had its coffin shut. A similar thing like this happened in the late 90s early 00s, with the over saturation of nu-metal and post-grunge and the rise in popularity of emo. Good post and I agree with the points you raised in regards to glam-metal. I think the music industry was in quite an interesting state in 1990. In many ways, I believe 1990 was a precursor to what the music industry would become in the Y2K-Era. Glam-metal and "house" music were essentially to 1990 what "teen-pop" and "nu-metal" were to the Y2K Era. Had Grunge not emerged in the mainstream the following year, I believe the music industry would have eventually become over-commercialised. In relation to "Cherry Pie", it was very much a "record company" product. Columbia Records had wanted a "rock record" and the song was penned in just 15 minutes by the band. I think that's the direction music was heading in and there were already indications of this at the time. As you suggested, glam-metal and "house" music were easy to produce and that's why we ended up with songs like "Sucker DJ", "U Can't Touch This" and "Ice Ice Baby". In addition to those songs, there was also "Do the Bartman" and bands/artists like New Kids on the Block, Milli Vanilli, Vanilla Ice and Pet Shop Boys. Music was beginning to become over-commercialised and record companies were beginning to exploit talent. It would have been interesting to see which direction music would have taken, had Grunge music not emerged into the mainstream. I know Grunge music wasn't the "be-all and end-all" of '90s music, however it certainly influenced the music scene at the time and the general trajectory of pop culture. Even if Grunge music hadn't emerged, I believe glam-metal still would have died-out around the time that it did.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2017 10:18:10 GMT 10
1990 was cheesy as hell, but the music history surrounding the year is pretty fascinating. Glam metal reached its apex in 1987, as cheesy radio friendly glam metal hits such as "Welcome to the Jungle" from Guns N Roses and "Girls Girls Girls" from Motley Crue would top the rock charts. Following the success of these two songs, glam metal became even more commercialized by the big records company, and got more over saturated because of it. 1988 was the beginning of the end for glam metal, as the youth would begin to pivot to other music genres. This was when gangsta rap broke into the mainstream with NWA's "Straight Outta Compton", which struck the right cords with rebellious youth of all races (Dr. Dre even said in an interview that they had an all-white audience at a tour they did in Kentucky in the late '80s). This is also the year when grunge music started to branch out to the youth with the release of albums such as "Superfuzz Bigmuff" from Mudhoney, "Invisible Lantern" from Screaming Trees, and "Ultramega OK" from Soundgarden. 1989 and 1990 were a continuation of all of this. Glam metal only became more commercialized with the release of songs such as "Dr. Feelgood" from Motley Crue, "Love In An Elevator" from Aerosmith, and of course, who could forget, "Cherry Pie" by Warrant. Warrant is an interesting case, as they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. They had other singles that were better than Cherry Pie, but Cherry Pie was their number one hit, and it came out as glam metal was already on its death bed and just right before the emergence of other genres such as grunge and alternative rock to the mainstream. Had Warrant started no later than 1987, they could've been far more popular, and known for way more than just one cheesy one hit wonder. But while the genre continued to become commercialized, many glam metal bands began to pivot from the scene and begin to focus on more softer and often times acoustic music. Even Guns N Roses was on this bandwagon with his acoustic single "Patience", and MTV began the series "MTV Unplugged", which was a series dedicated to acoustic music. Meanwhile, grunge continued its rise to popularity, 1989 would see Nirvana's debut with "Bleach" and with more albums from Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, and Soundgarden. One reason why I think 1990 in terms of music is better than 1996-1999 is because of the grunge scene in that year. 1990 is when grunge music was starting to burst out of the underground, but hadn't exactly soared into the mainstream just yet, because of that, it was a year when grunge music was still fresh, new, and still geared towards an angsty underground audience. One of these grunge albums was "Facelift", the debut album from Alice In Chains, the same album that contains this gem; Then of course, 1991 is when grunge and alternative rock solidified themselves into the mainstream, and glam metal had its coffin shut. A similar thing like this happened in the late 90s early 00s, with the over saturation of nu-metal and post-grunge and the rise in popularity of emo.That was probably closer to around 2002-2003.
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Post by RockyMountainExtreme on Dec 31, 2017 12:17:23 GMT 10
1990 was cheesy as hell, but the music history surrounding the year is pretty fascinating. Glam metal reached its apex in 1987, as cheesy radio friendly glam metal hits such as "Welcome to the Jungle" from Guns N Roses and "Girls Girls Girls" from Motley Crue would top the rock charts. Following the success of these two songs, glam metal became even more commercialized by the big records company, and got more over saturated because of it. 1988 was the beginning of the end for glam metal, as the youth would begin to pivot to other music genres. This was when gangsta rap broke into the mainstream with NWA's "Straight Outta Compton", which struck the right cords with rebellious youth of all races (Dr. Dre even said in an interview that they had an all-white audience at a tour they did in Kentucky in the late '80s). This is also the year when grunge music started to branch out to the youth with the release of albums such as "Superfuzz Bigmuff" from Mudhoney, "Invisible Lantern" from Screaming Trees, and "Ultramega OK" from Soundgarden. 1989 and 1990 were a continuation of all of this. Glam metal only became more commercialized with the release of songs such as "Dr. Feelgood" from Motley Crue, "Love In An Elevator" from Aerosmith, and of course, who could forget, "Cherry Pie" by Warrant. Warrant is an interesting case, as they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. They had other singles that were better than Cherry Pie, but Cherry Pie was their number one hit, and it came out as glam metal was already on its death bed and just right before the emergence of other genres such as grunge and alternative rock to the mainstream. Had Warrant started no later than 1987, they could've been far more popular, and known for way more than just one cheesy one hit wonder. But while the genre continued to become commercialized, many glam metal bands began to pivot from the scene and begin to focus on more softer and often times acoustic music. Even Guns N Roses was on this bandwagon with his acoustic single "Patience", and MTV began the series "MTV Unplugged", which was a series dedicated to acoustic music. Meanwhile, grunge continued its rise to popularity, 1989 would see Nirvana's debut with "Bleach" and with more albums from Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, and Soundgarden. One reason why I think 1990 in terms of music is better than 1996-1999 is because of the grunge scene in that year. 1990 is when grunge music was starting to burst out of the underground, but hadn't exactly soared into the mainstream just yet, because of that, it was a year when grunge music was still fresh, new, and still geared towards an angsty underground audience. One of these grunge albums was "Facelift", the debut album from Alice In Chains, the same album that contains this gem; Then of course, 1991 is when grunge and alternative rock solidified themselves into the mainstream, and glam metal had its coffin shut. A similar thing like this happened in the late 90s early 00s, with the over saturation of nu-metal and post-grunge and the rise in popularity of emo.That was probably closer to around 2002-2003. Emo had an underground following that grew in popularity in the late 90s with Drive Thru Records promoting bands such as Midtown and The Starting Line, but the genre's breakout into the mainstream was in the summer of 2002 when Jimmy Eat World's "Bleed American" went platinum, and with the rise in popularity of other emo bands such as Dashboard Confessional and Taking Back Sunday. The explosion of emo into the mainstream is largely attributed to the media's search for a new counter culture in the wake of 9/11, as stated by Andy Greenwald; " The media business, so desperate for its self-obsessed, post-9/11 predictions of a return to austerity and the death of irony to come true, had found its next big thing. But it was barely a "thing", because no one had heard of it, and those who had couldn't define it. Despite the fact that the hedonistic, materialistic hip-hop of Nelly was still dominating the charts, magazine readers in the summer of '02 were informed that the nation was deep in an introverted healing process, and the way it was healing was by wearing thick black glasses and vintage striped shirts. Emo, we were told, would heal us all through fashion."
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Post by #Infinity on Feb 3, 2018 13:55:16 GMT 10
1990 I think actually produced a decent amount of really good music, though most of it was confined to the first half of the year. 1991, in my opinion, was when music got cheesy to the point of absurdity. Argh.
Kind of a guilty pleasure, but it makes so little goddamn sense that thinking about it makes my head explode. Supposedly it's about the illuminati or something, but it's still such a cluster of clashing musical elements that I'm appalled by its mere existence.
I hate this song. That's seriously one of the worst choruses ever. Imagine Dragons' "Thunder" has absolutely nothing against that train wreck of a hook.
I actually liked this one at first, but the more I heard it, the more ear-wormy it became. Definitely a perfect example of the forced chirpiness that plagued popular music that year.
Technically a hit in early 1992, but it's from a 1991 album. It plain bites.
Seal was so much better later in his career. Like "Things That Make You Go Hmmm...," this song is hurt badly by its lame, irritating chorus.
Other songs that I'm actually much more forgiving of but which prove just how cheesy 1991 was include:
* MC Hammer - Addams Groove
* Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy
* Gerardo - Rico Suave (I like the beat and it's kinda too benign to irritate me like the linked songs do)
* Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up
* Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch - Good Vibrations
* Roxette - Joyride (Roxette in general were naturals for killer pop anthems, but this is still pretty silly)
* Huey Lewis & The News - Couple Days Off
* Shanice - I Love Your Smile
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Post by RockyMountainExtreme on Feb 3, 2018 16:52:57 GMT 10
I personally wouldn't call 1991 cheesier than 1990, because I feel 1991 had more sophisticated music to balance out the cheesy pop hits, mostly related to the grunge and alternative movement hitting the mainstream with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, REM, Metallica, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Plus, I don't feel music progressively got cheesier in the 90s. I feel that the 90s as a decade were way less cheesier than the 80s. In the 80s, you had songs like "Foot Loose", "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "Like a Virgin", "It's Tricky", and even in the rock department songs like "Summer of 69", "Welcome to the Jungle", and "Girls Girls Girls", which were the epitome of cheesy music. The 90s, and even the 00s to a certain extent, felt more sophisticated by comparison. The grunge and alternative movement gave rock music more angst and edge, rap music was way edgier, and even pop music felt more sophisticated in the 90s, with artists such as Maria Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Alanis Morisette, and with the band No Doubt. The only genre I feel was cheesier in the 90s than in the 80s was country, especially with songs like "Friends in Low Places", "Achy Breaky Heart", and "Should've Been a Cowboy".
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Post by #Infinity on Feb 3, 2018 18:39:11 GMT 10
I personally wouldn't call 1991 cheesier than 1990, because I feel 1991 had more sophisticated music to balance out the cheesy pop hits, mostly related to the grunge and alternative movement hitting the mainstream with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, REM, Metallica, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Aside from R.E.M., who had a frankly cheesy hit in "Shiny Happy People" in 1991, those bands only blew up later in the year and, aside from Metallica didn't even reach the height of their popularity until 1992. Most of the big rock songs in 1991 were still hair metal and other cheesy pre-alternative pop rock like FireHouse, Extreme, Winger, Nelson, and the like. If you focus specifically on the pop charts of 1991, the vast majority of hit songs were dancey pop rap, kitschy hair metal and pop rock, and overly excitable house. Albums like Blood Sugar Sex Magic, Nevermind, and the Black Album only seem bigger in hindsight because far more people continue listening to them to this day, which is not the case for all the cheesy mega-hits from 1991 that already sounded dated barely a year after they came out. The cheesiness definitely receded during the mid-90s, but it picked up again full force in 1997, albeit in a better way, in my personal opinion, than all the stiff blandness that dominated 1991. Aside from the first and last songs you listed, I don't agree with any of those being the epitome of cheesy music. I don't find them absurdly irritating, flawed, or amusing on strictly an ironic level. Someone like Michael Bolton or MC Hammer would be a much better example of cheese.
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Post by aja675 on Feb 3, 2018 23:22:11 GMT 10
So what would be the cheesiest years of the '80s, '00s, and the '10s?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2018 0:13:30 GMT 10
Cheddar, Colby Jack, Brie, or Gouda?
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Post by SharksFan99 on Feb 4, 2018 13:47:36 GMT 10
I can understand why many people pinpoint 1990/1991 as the time when music went downhill. For the most part, music was pretty lacklustre and uninspiring. The emergence of Grunge/alternative-rock truly did revitalise the music industry. Who knows what direction music would had of headed in, had Grunge not emerged.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2018 13:52:25 GMT 10
I can understand why many people pinpoint 1990/1991 as the time when music went downhill. For the most part, music was pretty lacklustre and uninspiring. The emergence of Grunge/alternative-rock truly did revitalise the music industry. Who knows what direction music would had of headed in, had Grunge not emerged. What do you think of Eurodance, which was a genre that was popular around the same time as grunge?
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Post by SharksFan99 on Feb 4, 2018 13:56:11 GMT 10
I can understand why many people pinpoint 1990/1991 as the time when music went downhill. For the most part, music was pretty lacklustre and uninspiring. The emergence of Grunge/alternative-rock truly did revitalise the music industry. Who knows what direction music would had of headed in, had Grunge not emerged. What do you think of Eurodance, which was a genre that was popular around the same time as grunge? I'm not overly keen on the genre, but I guess it's not too bad. I don't dislike it. What do you think of it? 
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