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Post by Telso on Oct 2, 2020 23:38:28 GMT 10
1991 is a gross year for music, but also a very seminal one for 90s music. Not only because of a certain Seattle band releasing a certain album, but how much of popular music is transitioning into becoming "core-90s" sounding by itself. While it's already quite destinct from the late 80s at this point, 1991 is still defined by a fight between super hard hitting new jack swing beats and softer, bouncier housey ones (the latter would go on to dominate most of the pop landscape in the coming years). Another trend developing this year (and one of the most underrated trends of the 90s in general) are downtempo beats, which are house ones taken to their most relaxing and introspective. Mainstream hip hop is also caughting up on the gangsta rap trend slowly. Mainstream rock is still stuck in its arena and crappy ballads phase while alternative is trying its best to wrench back control on the rock charts.
As such I won't really call 1991 a terrible year for the charts, but a very interesting hot mess with tons of crappy stuff instead. Without further ado, here are my gems:
1. P.M. Dawn - "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss"
2. R.E.M. - "Near Wild Heaven"
3. Massive - "Unfinished Sympathy"
4. Heavy D and the Boyz ft. Aaron Hall - "Now That We Found Love"
5. Naughty By Nature - "O.P.P."
6. Metallica - "The Unforgiven"
7. Mariah Carey - "Emotions"
8. R.E.M. - "Losing My Religion"
9. Pearl Jam - "Alive"
10. Jesus Jones - "Right Here, Right Now"
11. Cathy Dennis - "Touch Me (All Night Long)"
12. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince - "Summertime"
13. Shanice - "I Love Your Smile"
14. Crystal Waters - "Gypsy Woman (La Da Dee)"
15. Queen - "The Show Must Go On"
16. Roxette - "Joyride"
17. Salt-N-Pepa - "Let's Talk About Sex"
18. Amy Grant - "Baby Baby"
19. The Scorpions - "Wind of Change"
20. Paula Abdul - "Rush Rush"
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Post by SharksFan99 on Oct 4, 2020 19:47:44 GMT 10
I agree, 1991 would have to be my least favourite year for music out of the '90s. It may have been the year legendary albums such as Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten were released , however they didn't define the music scene to the extent that their cultural legacies would lend you to believe. 1991 was very much the year of new-jack swing, house music and lingering hair-metal. That being said, it was a particularly interesting year for Australian music though. Believe it or not, Nirvana weren't actually the ones responsible for breaking alt-rock into the mainstream here; it was actually a Sydney band called Ratcat. No kidding, this was far more successful on the charts than "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and it even finished as the second best-selling single of 1991! I'd highly recommend checking out some of the Australian charts from this year if you're interested in checking out some new music, the charts diverge from the US and UK ones quite a lot. 1. "Stay Away" - Nirvana 2. "On A Plain" - Nirvana 3. "In Bloom" - Nirvana 4. "Don't Go Now" - Ratcat (Still hard to believe that this predates Nevermind).
5. "Jeremy" - Pearl Jam 6. "That Ain't Bad" - Ratcat 7. "Baby Baby" - Ratcat 8. "Joyride" - Roxette 9. "Hieronymus" - The Clouds (an obscure Australian alt-rock track that was a minor hit here weeks before Nevermind was released). 10. "Outshined" - Soundgarden 11. "Souleater" - The Clouds 12. "Shiny Happy People" - R.E.M 13. "Give It Away" - Red Hot Chili Peppers 14. "The Horses" - Daryl Braithwaite 15. "Love Rears Its Ugly Head" - Living Colour 16. "Wind of Change" - Scorpions 17. "Unbelievable" - EMF 18. "I Touch Myself" - Divinyls 19. "Sucker DJ" - Dimples D 20. "Strike It Up (DJ Lelewel Mix)" - Black Box
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Post by slashpop on Oct 5, 2020 13:14:04 GMT 10
I agree, 1991 would have to be my least favourite year for music out of the '90s. It may have been the year legendary albums such as Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten were released , however they didn't define the music scene to the extent that their cultural legacies would lend you to believe. 1991 was very much the year of new-jack swing, house music and lingering hair-metal. That being said, it was a particularly interesting year for Australian music though. Believe it or not, Nirvana weren't actually the ones responsible for breaking alt-rock into the mainstream here; it was actually a Sydney band called Ratcat. No kidding, this was far more successful on the charts than "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and it even finished as the second best-selling single of 1991! I'd highly recommend checking out some of the Australian charts from this year if you're interested in checking out some new music, the charts diverge from the US and UK ones quite a lot. 1. "Stay Away" - Nirvana 2. "On A Plain" - Nirvana 3. "In Bloom" - Nirvana 4. "Don't Go Now" - Ratcat (Still hard to believe that this predates Nevermind).
5. "Jeremy" - Pearl Jam 6. "That Ain't Bad" - Ratcat 7. "Baby Baby" - Ratcat 8. "Joyride" - Roxette 9. "Hieronymus" - The Clouds (an obscure Australian alt-rock track that was a minor hit here weeks before Nevermind was released). 10. "Outshined" - Soundgarden 11. "Souleater" - The Clouds 12. "Shiny Happy People" - R.E.M 13. "Give It Away" - Red Hot Chili Peppers 14. "The Horses" - Daryl Braithwaite 15. "Love Rears Its Ugly Head" - Living Colour 16. "Wind of Change" - Scorpions 17. "Unbelievable" - EMF 18. "I Touch Myself" - Divinyls 19. "Sucker DJ" - Dimples D 20. "Strike It Up (DJ Lelewel Mix)" - Black Box Were the stone roses quite massive in Australia like in the Uk ? I dunno I consider madchester a form of alt rock. I think the pixies and rem may not have been big as nirvana but quite popular enough to spread the most awareness of the genre prior to nevermind. Out of time was released in earlier in 1991, most of the big hits from the groups 89-91.
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Post by SharksFan99 on Oct 5, 2020 13:38:15 GMT 10
Were the stone roses quite massive in Australia like in the Uk ? I dunno I consider madchester a form of alt rock. I think the pixies and rem may not have been big as nirvana but quite popular enough to spread the most awareness of the genre prior to nevermind. Out of time was released in earlier in 1991, most of the big hits from the groups 89-91. "Fools Gold" managed to chart at #13 here in 1990 and finished as the 93rd best-selling single of the year. They also had another Top-40 hit years later in 1994 with "Love Spreads". I wouldn't say they were massive in Australia, but they clearly had a decent sized fan base here. Both of their albums charted within the Top-40 as well. I agree that alt-rock was relevant enough and was gradually gaining further momentum in the mainstream a number of years before Nirvana made it big in Late 1991, but the reason as for why I consider Ratcat's Mid 1991 breakthrough to have been so significant is because they were the first to fully cross the mainstream threshold. They had a number one album, two chart-topping singles, and they quickly became a household name across the country. They pretty much had their own "Smells Like Teen Spirit" moment before Nirvana themselves would months later.
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Post by slashpop on Oct 5, 2020 13:42:48 GMT 10
Were the stone roses quite massive in Australia like in the Uk ? I dunno I consider madchester a form of alt rock. I think the pixies and rem may not have been big as nirvana but quite popular enough to spread the most awareness of the genre prior to nevermind. Out of time was released in earlier in 1991, most of the big hits from the groups 89-91. "Fools Gold" managed to chart at #13 here in 1990 and finished as the 93rd best-selling single of the year. They also had another Top-40 hit years later in 1994 with "Love Spreads". I wouldn't say they were massive in Australia, but they clearly had a decent sized fan base here. Both of their albums charted within the Top-40 as well. I agree that alt-rock was relevant enough and was gradually gaining further momentum in the mainstream a number of years before Nirvana made it big in Late 1991, but the reason as for why I consider Ratcat's Mid 1991 breakthrough to have been so significant is because they were the first to fully cross the mainstream threshold. They had a number one album, two chart-topping singles, and they quickly became a household name across the country. They pretty much had their own "Smells Like Teen Spirit" moment before Nirvana themselves would months later. Yeah makes sense. Australia had a rich alt rock and proto grunge since from at least 1985. It’s a shame it isn’t exposed enough.
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Post by SharksFan99 on Oct 5, 2020 13:54:02 GMT 10
"Fools Gold" managed to chart at #13 here in 1990 and finished as the 93rd best-selling single of the year. They also had another Top-40 hit years later in 1994 with "Love Spreads". I wouldn't say they were massive in Australia, but they clearly had a decent sized fan base here. Both of their albums charted within the Top-40 as well. I agree that alt-rock was relevant enough and was gradually gaining further momentum in the mainstream a number of years before Nirvana made it big in Late 1991, but the reason as for why I consider Ratcat's Mid 1991 breakthrough to have been so significant is because they were the first to fully cross the mainstream threshold. They had a number one album, two chart-topping singles, and they quickly became a household name across the country. They pretty much had their own "Smells Like Teen Spirit" moment before Nirvana themselves would months later. Yeah makes sense. Australia had a rich alt rock and proto grunge since from at least 1985. It’s a shame it isn’t exposed enough. Yep. I've read up on this a bit in the past, but there's actually something of a debate over whether the alt-rock/grunge sound truly originated in Seattle or if the genre's actual origins come from Australia. Kurt Cobain even mentioned once that the Australian alt-rock scene had a significant influence on his music. Like you mentioned, the local scene here dates as far back as 1985 with bands such as The Scientists and Cosmic Psychos, however it doesn't seem to receive enough recognition for it's role in developing the genre's sound/style.
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Post by slashpop on Oct 6, 2020 5:18:05 GMT 10
Yeah makes sense. Australia had a rich alt rock and proto grunge since from at least 1985. It’s a shame it isn’t exposed enough. Yep. I've read up on this a bit in the past, but there's actually something of a debate over whether the alt-rock/grunge sound truly originated in Seattle or if the genre's actual origins come from Australia. Kurt Cobain even mentioned once that the Australian alt-rock scene had a significant influence on his music. Like you mentioned, the local scene here dates as far back as 1985 with bands such as The Scientists and Cosmic Psychos, however it doesn't seem to receive enough recognition for it's role in developing the genre's sound/style. Yeah it is under recognized unfortunately. By 1991, even a bit earlier, there was also grebo music, which is alt rock mixed with various genres. It was quite mainstream in the Uk with bands like pop will eat itself and other hits like these: Wonder if similar groups or hits were in Australia, it wasn’t really popular in America, I don’t think there was an American or Canadian version of this kind of music.
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Post by Telso on Oct 6, 2020 5:32:17 GMT 10
This is a thread for posting top 20s, please take this discussion to the 1990s music thread
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Post by SharksFan99 on Oct 6, 2020 21:32:21 GMT 10
This is a thread for posting top 20s, please take this discussion to the 1990s music thread To be honest, I would consider it to be on-topic, because the conversation is naturally flowing on from that point I brought up in my original post about alt-rock's early breakthrough here in Australia. People can still post their top 20s if they wish to. Wonder if similar groups or hits were in Australia, it wasn’t really popular in America, I don’t think there was an American or Canadian version of this kind of music. I'm not sure in all honesty, it's not something I've researched too much about.
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Post by slashpop on Oct 7, 2020 0:19:28 GMT 10
This is a thread for posting top 20s, please take this discussion to the 1990s music thread To be honest, I would consider it to be on-topic, because the conversation is naturally flowing on from that point I brought up in my original post about alt-rock's early breakthrough here in Australia. People can still post their top 20s if they wish to. Wonder if similar groups or hits were in Australia, it wasn’t really popular in America, I don’t think there was an American or Canadian version of this kind of music. I'm not sure in all honesty, it's not something I've researched too much about. I think jesus jones were mentioned in the first post in this thread which might have implied they were popular or on the charts in America in 1991, possibly earlier than nevermind, I would assume. EMF were alt rock and close to the grebo style and also had a hit in 1991 with Unbelievable in the US which reached #1 in July but 1990 in UK. It seems like the bands I mentioned and the grebo genre, produced quite a number of hits in the mainstream charts in the UK in this year as well. I could probably dig more into Australia, but I would guess it would be more popular there just based on the adjacent styles that were already established. Overall it seems that alternative rock in general in UK and some extent Australia were more mainstream a bit earlier and diverse than the US prior to the release of Nevermind/Smells Like Teen Spirit. I do know the pixies were bigger in the UK and Europe in the time frame as well, I remember reading that their music videos and hit singles were played more outside of the US.
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