I was thumbing through the 90s dance thread, and thought “dance music was the least 90s sound, grunge would be a lot more definitively 90s”. But there was of course a lot of other music out then. Which music defines the 90s for you?
There was a period in about 1997 when everybody had to have trip-hop beats; the Smashing Pumpkins never quite recovered.
Gotta be grunge. Nirvana, Soundgarden, and all the others exploded onto the scene in 1991, and then completely disintegrated a few years later. Grunge was the Disco Craze of the 90’s.
Disintegrated? A lot of grunge bands (aside from Nirvana, obviously) still perform and put out good albums. If grunge is dead, someone forgot to tell Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, Billy Corgan, and a lot of other guys.
What happened is that grunge completely consumed mainstream rock so that “grunge” basically became “rock” in like 1996. There’s a reason “alternative” doesn’t refer to groups like Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters anymore.
Yeah, Grunge defined* the first half* of the 90s. The second half gave birth to, bleeech*!*, mainstream rap and Britney Spears-esque bubblegum pop. Both of which refuse to, if not go away completely, at least stop being the dominant popular music formats…
Grunge and new jack swing (Boyz II Men, En Vogue, etc) are what I associate with the early 90s. The latter half of the decade was all about bubblegum pop and a zillion indistinguishable pop-rock bands like Sugar Ray, Third Eye Blind, Matchbox Twenty, etc.
Voted other–hip hop and alternative defined the 90s for me.
I voted for Grunge but both Gangster Rap and Electronica deserve consideration, especially if we’re talking about the second half of the decade.
I would have included ‘Modern Rock’ in the poll. Grunge is a part of that, sure, but - splitting hairs and such - I wouldn’t have counted a lot of the alt-bands that did so well into grunge.
Nitpicking, I know. But Alanis, Sarah MacLachlan, The Bosstones, Third Eye Blind and such don’t really fit in the grunge category.
R&B and new jack swing are what popped into my mind. For me it’s not the same as mainstream pop of the 90s.
This is a great question, though, because the 90s brought us a lot of original music. I think it was the most diverse decade in terms of the scope of genres getting radio play. Rap probably exploded in terms of popularity more than any other genre, though, so I’ll go with that.
Third Wave Ska like Mighty Mighty Bosstones, No Doubt, and the like.
I don’t know if they belong in a separate genre, but the women of Lilith Fair certainly had a major moment in the 90s. In addition to Alanis & Sarah there was Jewel, Tori Amos, Tracy Chapman, Meredith Brooks, Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow, Natalie Merchant, and plenty of others. It was a great time for female artists.
“Which music defines the 90s for you?”
The theme to Baywatch.
I voted “Other” because I consider grunge to be a subgenre of alternative (which isn’t listed as an option), and also because ska wasn’t provided as an option either.
I’d peg Gangster Rap as late 80s/very early 90s. Straight Outta Compton came out in what, '88?
I guess it’s a matter of definition. Foo Fighters definitely are not grunge to me. Neither are Pumpkins, but they have a few songs that are kind of grungy, and they definitely have a grunge-by-association thing going on with their music. For me, grunge is firmly stuck in the early-to-mid 90s, so that’s what I voted.
Like the majority, I went with Grunge. Has to be grunge. Those are genres have been around before and after in one shape or the other.
Second after grunge would be gansta rap.