Okay -
A few questions/request for memories:
What did the teenagers of this era listen to?
What about the college aged kids (19-27 let’s say)
The 30-somethings?
Also, where did Genesis fit in in the late 80s/early 90s?
Just kinda curious about all the musical subcultures/demographics of that time period. Was there a big division where rap and rock fans hung in different circles, for example? What about pop fans?
This 30-something at the time switched to classical music.
Genesis had made the switch from some of the best progressive rock ever made (mid 70s) to commercial rock. I think most fans of the former disliked the latter very much (I know I did).
My college years. One guy on my dorm floor loved Camper van Beethoven (post-punk, I guess). Another was into Shinehead (dance-hall reggae). Another liked Michelle Shocked (pop-folk-rock). Just about everyone dug R.E.M. – if you had seem them in concert during the Lifes Rich Pageant tour (1986) or earlier, you were way cool.
Genesis? Everyone knew them as British pop stars whose career was on the downside (as their frontman Phil Collins was starting to write songs for Disney movies and whatnot). Nerds familiar with 70s prog rock were aware of their previous incarnation led by Peter Gabriel.
1987 through 1993 I was 17 through 23. All I remember was the death of Hair Metal, and the birth of Grunge. Late 80’s Guns and Roses and Motley Crue, etc., were becoming mainstream pop. Nevermind was released by Nirvana in Sept, 1991, and that started the great exodus out of Metal and into Grunge.
Oh, and i need to add that Metallica became pop at that point also. This is all from the POV of a Metalhead, BTW.
Genesis had entered the worst phase of their pop music “Invisible Touch” which has some nice music and We Cant Dance which is horrible.
Kids? All kinds of stuff. Industrial was favored in my circle.
Genesis became a “yuppie/dad rock band” with career trajectories similar to Paul Simon, Sting, Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton and Billy Joel, in that they were all artists with roots that went back a ways but were now scoring hits playing fairly mellow lite rock. I think this is your answer for what the 30-something Boomers were mostly listening to, because it’s what my parents’ radio station was playing and I doubt many teens found this music cool.
Genesis did have some art-rock album cuts, but the singles were pretty safely commercial and hard to distinguish from Phil Collins’ solo stuff. Even photos of the band from this era scream out "dad humor".
I remember while in graduate school at the U of Hawaii in 1993 waking up every single morning for a long stretch to 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?” And I mean a LONG stretch. The radio stations here really liked that song.
One exception/hybrid was “Tonight, Tonight” whereas a portion was used as a beer commercial, but the full version is surrounded by some nice prog (IMHO) stuff.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers released their magnum opus, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, in autumn 1991 – that was huge. Kind of blended alt rock and grunge with styles more associated with African Americans, like rap and funk. Not musically gifted (maybe Flea, a little), but they knew how to have fun.
The brief mid-80s heyday of (arguably) non-racialized, non-gendered MTV-fueled pop music (Michael Jackson and the like) was definitely over, though. The one musically cool thing MTV did during the period in question was the unplugged series, presenting a stripped-down acoustic version of a surprisingly diverse range of acts.
1987 to 1993 would’ve been when I was in college and law school. I remember getting more into so-called “college rock” (a.k.a., alternative) during that time as well as rock and R&B from the 60’s and early 70s. I really didn’t care much for most of the mainstream rock (e.g., Genesis) and pop (e.g., Phil Collins) from that period though.
The Spin Doctors came and went.
The Replacements released their last classic LP Pleased to meet me in 1987. They went on til 93 I think. They were the best, coolest band in the land for a good time long there, but maybe earlier than your OP. And there was REM, Husker Du, American Music Club…
I didn’t hear anything new after the mats until Liz Phair and Guided By Voices. For each of the years you are citing there was always something new going on but it’s hard to sift it out. It was about a lull between the time when Husker DU and the mats were on major labels and there was going to be some eye on the future via that, and then “grunge,” which was the hard rock redemption and riches story that came next.
Todd Rundgren and Brian Wilson were two prior generation artists who made really great work, maybe the last in a class with their earlier. A Capella from 1985, Nearly Human from 1988, and Brian Wilson from 1988 are great.
The Stone Roses entire fling with glory was in 1989.
None of the great things in “Rock” coming from the underground got big until after Nirvana, (if you think they are that.)
I started high school in the summer of '87, and had joined the Marine Corps in Feb. '93.
I was listening to classic rock for a while (Aerosmith, Boston, Pink Floyd, Queen, Zeppelin, etc.)… then I switched over to rap/hip-hop for a while (Public Enemy, Tuff Crew, NWA, Big Daddy Kane, Run-DMC, etc.)… then went pop radio for a while (honestly, the only song that comes to mind is MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This”, since it got HUGE airplay on the Philly pop radio stations)… then went metal for a while (Metallica, Megadeth, Yngwie Malmsteen, Slayer, Anthrax [yes, I know calling Anthrax metal is a stretch…]). Not necessarily in that order. I had Nirvana’s “Nevermind” CD, as the vast majority of other high school kids did at that point in history, and I did listen to it periodically, but I never drank the Kool-Aid like a lot of my peers did.*
Aside from the pop , I still have a lot of that music in my regular listening rotation. Always fun to have something like Big Daddy Kane’s “Ain’t No Half-Steppin’” followed by something like Led Zeppelin’s “Achilles’ Last Stand”.
Damn, I came in here to post this. I was 26 in 1987, and Pleased to Meet Me was officially the last album I purchased by a band that was currently “cool.”
I still love the 'Mats, but completely switched over to classical, jazz, vintage rock, '40s R&B, and '20s pop (Annette Henshaw, Ruth Etting, Russ Colombo, Rudy Vallee) by 1988.
I saw the mats in 87, 89, and 91. I have been listening to jazz on the radio for decades. I just incorporate everything. I left some things behind, but the mats are the ne plus ultra for me. I’ve left more behind than I’m keeping and that’s good.
You can try to check an internet archive for the Boston Pheonix for these years. Just see who the music features are on and you can get a solid idea. The Stone Roses was an example I can think of. They were the “next thing,” we tried them out, and it fell apart or something. This model was broken by Nirvana.
Genesis were on the Invisible Touch tour through the summer of 1987. Invisible Touch was definitely their “pop” album, but it was very good pop. They had some prog elements on the album as well. (Two of the tracks from the IT sessions were superior but left off because they were not single material.)
They regrouped in 1991 and We Can’t Dance was released that November, with a stadium tour the following summer. Genesis continued to lean more mainstream on WCD, but the album had a polished feel to it and sort of pushed the band into Adult Cotemporary. It did have two prog epics on it, though. Unfortunately, the setlist on that tour was disappointing - no ITC medley, no Los Endos.
It wasn’t Genesis’s strongest era but it doesn’t deserve the hate it gets.
As solo artists:
1987 - Peter Gabriel was on the So tour.
1988 - Mike + The Mechanics released “Living Years.” Phil Collins did “Buster.”
1989 - Bankstatement & But Seriously are released. Living Years tour.
1990 - But Seriously tour
1991 - Mike + The Mechanics released “Word of Mouth.” They do not tour because of Genesis commitments and the album tanks in the U.S.
1992 - Peter Gabriel releases “Us.” Tony Banks releases “Still.”
1993 - Peter Gabriel tours to promote “Us.” Steve Hackett releases “Guitar Noir” and tours.
I probably forgot something.
I was 12-18 in this period. Some of the people I listened to/CDs I bought (don’t judge me; or do, i don’t care):
-DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper
-Sir Mix-a-Lot, Mack Daddy
-Spin Doctors, Pocket Full of Kryptonite
-Arrested Development, 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of…*
-Pearl Jam, 10
-Guns n Roses, the Use Your Illusions
-Meatloaf, Bat out of Hell II
-Michael Jackson, Dangerous
-Dr. Dre, The Chronic
Those are the albums (or singles from those albums) I remember buying.
I was also buying a fair share of classic rock and older stuff: Steve Miller Band, Aerosmith, Prince. I think I bought Genesis’ Invisible Touch; lot of radio-friendly songs that a 11/12-year-old liked.
Mid to late 30s. I mostly remember listening to Reba McEntire, the Bellamy Brothers, T G Sheppard, Randy Travis, Moe & Joe, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks…
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2368008-1279921702.jpeg.jpg){kind=link}