How
are you?
Following
the last week, I am going to start my 60th lecture.
The
lecture topic for this week is “Pop Music in 1990s”. It is a summary of the
contents of “60th ACJ Music Academy, History of Pop Music: 5. 1990s”, which was
introduced on September 3, 2016.
In the 1990s, the popularity of teen pop and dance pop, appeared in the
1970s, continued. Rock music was still popular in the 1990s following the 1980s
but unlike the 1980s, when glam metal gained great popularity, punk rock and
the newly appeared Grunge and Industrial Rock gained popularity. During this
period, Contemporary Country music, which began in the 1980s, also gained great
popularity.
First of all, for rock music, in the 1990s, with the advent of the band
Nirvana, Alternative Rock entered the major music charts, and many alternative
rock bands were commercially successful.
Nirvana
Grunge, a subgenre of alternative rock, was born in the 1980s in the
Northwestern United States of Washington and Oregon. Grunge bands began to gain
popularity from the early 1990s, and Nirvana and Pearl Jam made great
contributions to the development of grunge. However, many grunge bands were
disbanded in the mid-1990s, and the death of Nirvana’s vocalist and guitarist
Kurt Cobain in 1994 led to a decline in this genre.
Pearl Jam
Punk rock in the United States revived with the advent of Green Day in
1994 and entered the mainstream of the music industry in the mid-1990s.
Green Day
Many subgenres of metal were outsiders for the commercial aspect in the
1980s, but as the Thrash Metal genre emerged in the early 1990s, it made a
breakthrough for success. This breakthrough was especially a major success of
the fifth album with the same title as the band name released by Metallica in
1991, and as a result, Thrash Metal was firstly able to enter the mainstream.
Metallica
In the late 1990s, Industrial Metal gained popularity, including Nine Inch
Nails and Marilyn Manson, the best American industrial metal bands of the time.
Nine Inch Nails
Marilyn Manson
Michael Jackson released the album “Dangerous” in 1991 and sold 35 million
copies, continuing popularity and commercial success in the 1990s.
Album "Dangerous", Michael Jackson
The British girls’ group, The Spice Girls, targeted the US market and
became the most commercially successful British group in North America after
the Beatles, and their influence expanded the entry opportunity of teen pop
genre to the American charts that were dominated by grunge and hip-hop.
The Spice Girls
In the late 1990s, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera gained great
popularity by releasing the hit singles "…Baby One More Time" and
"Genie in a Bottle", and Céline Dion gained a worldwide success with
the soundtrack of film Titanic “My Heart Will Go On”.
Britney Spears
Christina Aguilera
Céline Dion
Film "Titanic"
For Contemporary R&B, Whitney Houston's hit song "I Will Always
Love You", which was the soundtrack for the film The Bodyguard in 1992,
made number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 14 weeks, and it was sold
over 40 million albums worldwide, recorded as the most sold single of female
singers of all time.
Whitney Houston
Film "The Bodyguard"
In 1990, Mariah Carey began to gain popularity with hit songs such as
"Vision of Love" and "Love Takes Time."
Mariah Carey
In 1993, Janet Jackson signed a contract with Virgin Records, and released
her fifth studio album, "Janet", which was sold over 20 million copies
worldwide.
Album "Janet", Janet Jackson
The popularity of country music peaked in the early 1990s, and the most
notable musician was Garth Brooks.
Garth Brooks
In addition, new singers continued to appear
between the mid- and late 1990s, among which the most successful new singers
include LeAnn Rimes, Martina McBride and Faith Hill.
LeAnn Rimes
Martina McBride
Faith Hill
You
can also review this lecture from following media.
Next
week, I will lecture 6th topic of “History of Pop Music” for "2000s."
Thank
you.
