I grew up playing travel hockey which means hundreds of hours in a car listening to the radio. Remember listening to music on the radio? As a kid, I digested a wide palette in Western New York from 97 Rock, Kiss 98.5, and Oldies 104. A little mixture of The Who, MC Hammer, and The Temptations. Throw in MTV at its peak and it was a good time to love a variety of music.
Looking back, I marvel at how 1991 set the table for a wonderful discovery of music for me. I’m not the only one who remembers it fondly–if you look at most lists for the best year in music 1991 is usually among the top.
It’s difficult not to begin with Nirvana’s Nevermind album released just after the school year began in the fall of 1991. That compact disc got absolutely worn out in my household, and even to this day, remains as fresh and biting as it was nearly 30 years ago.
Grunge was about to take over!
Pearl Jam’s Ten was released in the summer of 1991 and while sharing some similarities to Nevermind they are still pretty different albums. The Smashing Pumpkins released their debut album Gish but were a couple years away from becoming stars on their second LP.
1991 did show the way to a new world where heavy metal and hair metal were on the way out for this new type of modern rock music. In August, Metallica’s self-titled album aka the Black Album dominated the charts upon its release but mostly marked the end of an era for metal. The band would embark on a multi-year tour and wouldn’t release a new album for another 5 years–I vividly remember the feeling of Metallica seeming like they were an ‘old’ group when they eventually released Load in 1996, although that corresponding tour was my first concert. Guns N’ Roses dropped their Use Your Illusion I and II albums 10 days prior to Nevermind and was the group’s last foray into the national spotlight. All of those old metal powerhouses of the 80’s were on their last gasp, as well.
This is the MTV I remember from 1991. Metal was something you’d watch at 2 o’clock in the morning not really understanding or grasping its meaning fully. That was for the weird, angry kids.
This is an interesting watch with hindsight.Â
There were a few other massive rock albums dropped in 1991. Out of Time by REM was a personal favorite of my brother’s (and won the Grammy for Best Alternative Album) and of course “Losing My Religion” was a MTV and radio staple. U2’s Achtung Baby came later in the year and gave us several hit songs. Mostly, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magic was right up my alley for someone approaching 10 years old.
Country music was beginning its slow turn from its roots into the over-produced pop country that is so prevalent today. Garth Brooks released his massive album Ropin’ the Wind in September and I can especially remember my friend’s mom blasting that for months around their house. This concludes my relationship with country music.
Of course, I was a few years away from wearing flannel, screen-printed t-shirts, corduroy pants, and Airwalks to school. In 1991, we’re talking neon shorts, Zubaz or jeans rolled at the cuff, and you know I was rocking a pair of the Air Jordan VI in the white colorway.
It’s wild to think of the juxtaposition between Nirvana and the likes of Color Me Badd, Boyz II Men, Another Bad Creation, C&C Music Factory, PM Dawn, Paula Abdul, with plenty of aftershocks from Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer, and Salt-N-Pepa from their own massive 1990 songs. For whatever reason, when I think back to this era I picture “3 AM Eternal” from The KLF pounding through a boombox.
Turn it up.
There was a softer side to indulge in, too. “More than Words” by Extreme is still one of my favorites. The Scorpions scored big with their song “Winds of Change” and Bryan Adams’ “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)” was so big we ended up singing it in my elementary chorus.
I distinctly remember the long wait for Michael Jackson’s latest album Dangerous coming off a 4-year wait from his previous CD. I was a tiny kid playing Thriller on vinyl and still too young for Bad so this was my first offering from the King of Pop that I could comprehend musically. On November 14, 1991 his lead single “Black or White” video debuted on MTV, VH1, BET, and Fox while 500 million people tuned in. I thought the song was okay but pretty weird. I wanted to like the album but recalled it being so long and unwieldy–only 14 tracks but they spanned 77:03 minutes basically two albums worth of music. I sensed Jackson’s was past his prime and that turned out to be painfully true.
Rap was present but still lurking in the shadows. This was a weird time with acts from the 1980’s (Ice-T, Ice Cube, Public Enemy, Geto Boys, N.W.A) still dominating and mixing with newer and different acts like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. Songs like “Summertime” from DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince and “O.P.P” from Naughty by Nature played on an endless loop but it was a far cry from what would come in 1995 with the absolutely massive mainstream appeal of Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, Nas, Wu Tang Clan, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and many more.
Perhaps this is my biggest takeaway from 1991. On the one hand, some of the rock acts could’ve fooled you into believing a new Renaissance was going to emerge for the rest of the decade. While there were some big movers (Smashing Pumpkins, Oasis, Rage Against the Machine, and Weezer are some highlights I’d point out from the rest of the decade) and bands that cemented Hall of Fame legacies (Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Green Day) no one was as culturally relevant like the way, for example, Jay-Z was by the start of the 2000’s.
Nirvana effectively ceased being a band on April 8, 1994 and within a few years time rap became the dominant force of the youth culture across the United States. The 1990’s ended up being a melting pot of music but pop and rap would emerge victorious as rock music took a firm backseat in the consciousness of popular culture.
Well done. I’ve thought a lot about the ’90’s music. It’s still impressive how many really wildly different genres came into popular listening within short spaces of each other. There had never been that much variety easily accessible before. You didn’t even mention the ska trend that was starting to happen or the new alternative SK8 rock and fusion rap (311, MC 500 Foot Jesus and the like) that were happening behind the scenes or just coming into their own. Metal wasn’t dying but it was transforming…until Ministry and groups like that, electronica would have never been considered “hard” enough for the average listener. Prodigy wouldn’t have possible without it, though. Mr Bungle and Primus also had some popularity as harder rock that was just weird, looking back.
Now, in retrospect that variety didn’t equate to timeless classics. Most of what I liked at the time is terrible when I listen to it now. And I don’t feel that way about stuff from the ’60’s, ’70’s or ’80’s.
Sounds like you have quite the eclectic taste!
Not to say I liked all that stuff at the time…I was just aware of it happening. Country also seemed to be having a “moment” with Achy Breaky Heart. It’s really weird how almost every genre was getting big hits at the time…there wasn’t a true representative music of the decade. Meanwhile, every earlier decade you can mention the decade and automatically know what to expect, sound-wise.
So we just out here pretendin like Paula Abdul’s /i/ Spellbound /i/ didn’t come out in ’91 or nah?
An unforgivable mistake.
Great stuff Eric! You’re a bit ahead of me in years, but I think music is one of the first chances a tween/teen gets to develop their own identity, their “self”. It sounds like a rad time to be cognizant of those bands, I was just a 3 year old at the time, but I can remember the fervor with which I listened to the nü-metal craze of the late 90s early 2000s.
I still closely relate strong memories to music, my favorite pre-kickoff as a college football player was on the field against a Chuck Martin coached and #1 division 2 ranked grand valley state team, at their place, at night, in front of 20,000 which was massive for the D2 crowd. The icing on the cake was Slayer’s “raining blood” blaring through the speakers right up until the kick, I was full lord of the rings rabid orc. Nermind we lost like 56-14, but the music really made that scene memorable.
Cheers to this article, keep pumping out the good stuff!
Wait, are you a Tech alum?
Right conference, wrong school, Hillsdale College alum. But I knew a few dudes on MTUs team. Played up there only once in 2008, 15 hour bus ride from the southern most county in michigan up to the Keewenaw peninsula, thankfully, it was in early September, so there was only 2 feet of snow on the ground 😉
I was in the MTU pep band, and I remember Hillsdale well. I’m glad you got to play one up in the frozen north. I thought you might have been at Tech since we did lose to Chuck Martin’s GVSU squad by 56-14.
Back in those days, I think everyone was losing to chuck by that much, very common theme when he had D1 transfers at every position, and Brandon Carr at corner. 2010 though, GV went up to MTU, and i think they lost like 35-10 or something, which was awesome and super cathartic for all of us
Eric, you played travel hockey, wrote a rock music article on 1991, and forgot to mention the Tragically Hip. What would your Canadian cohort think? https://youtu.be/vPJ2rcYQC88
Remember, I was only 9 years old in 1991. I don’t recall anything about the Hip until their massive Trouble in the Hen House album in 1996. Our local rock station didn’t switch over to alternative rock until the summer of 1995, too. They were a band in that 1996 through 2001 time frame for me.
Fair.
This may be slightly or a lot OT, depending on how one defines the topic of this (once again excellent) article — as The Music of 1991, or extrapolate to the music of epic moments as related to ND football.
In which case — cue 1964 with the arrival of Ara, rolling through 66’s Natty, and the simultaneous explosion of incredible music. English rock (which helped us in the USA rediscover our own roots), so the Beatles and surely the Stones. (Speaking of whom, thanks boys for Living in a Ghost Town…) All of that morphed into the whole wave of what became counter-culture bands, which played (loudly!) as our background as we watched the likes of Hanratty and Seymour, and Rocky Bleir, and then Joe Theismann.
I know, none of you youngsters have heard much of all of that, but as they say, It’s All Meat From the Same Bone 🙂
Part II will explore some stuff about a certain British band.
You talkin’ Oasis?
The greatest British band since The Beatles?
Looking forward to it!
Nice article on the 90’s stuff Eric. I was never much of a fan of the 90’s music, very little I liked…. probably goes for the 80’s as well. I just mainly listen to my old vinyl from the 60’s and early 70’s. I would gladly trash all 197 albums just to have college football played this year.
Me too, me too.
I went to college in the late ‘6000s too so the ’60s and ’70s are my favorite. The stuff I like from the ’90s is REM, the Cranberries and the Lillith Faire artists but maybe that just shows my age. From the 2000s, Arcade Fire, Of Monsters and Men, Mumford and Sons, Fleet Foxes and Lumineers.
late ’60s
I was lucky enough to live within range of two great radio stations for breaking new music in the 80’s and 90’s. WBCN 104.1 and WFNX 101.7 stressed new and breaking music and bands. Add in WCHC 88.1 in my hometown and you know why my friends would ask, ” where do you find this stuff?”. I’m so out of touch now with how to find new and interesting music. New stuff that I can stomach anyways.
Rock steady fellas.
I feel you, the streaming era definitely makes it seem like it’s easier to find new music but in most ways it is so much more difficult. Plus, there are so many more acts today than 30 to 50 years ago.
Just getting into streaming…there’s something about holding a LP or CD in your hands…..One of my favorite bumper stickers….I May be old but, I saw the best bands.
If I could turn on my radio to the top 40 stations and hear the modern day equivalents of REM, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Weezer et al………I would actually turn on my radio .
Where did we go wrong?
I don’t even mind some Rap/R&B, but the stuff they put on the popular stations is so redundant and over-produced with lyrics that bottle the mind.
Rock kind of died, I’ll cover this a bit in Part 3 of the series.
I look forward to it. It was definitely diminished, but I think part of it was just a shift in what was being marketed.
2000s had some bright spots with the Chili Peppers, Audioslave, Foo Fighters, The Killers, U2 mini resurgence.
More indie/alt rock bands like The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire had plenty of good stuff that didn’t get full credit.
Even the Nickleback, Breaking Benjamin, Linkin Park and Three Days Graces of the world could produce a tolerable hit from time to time.
+1 for the Killers
Just want to add, tip to taint, Hot Fuss is an awesome album.
Would also add in that “Rock” may have died as an idea, but in reality, it just splintered off a whole lot, as well as the methods in which we consume music. More niche sounds being made + more niche avenues for consumption = fewer overall “successful” bands. (Hopefully this wasn’t the essence of Part 3)
Eric, if you haven’t you should really check out Alan Cross’s podcast “The Ongoing History of New Music”. He does it as a radio show in Toronto, the podcast version has the talking but sadly due to streaming rights only has 15 second snippets of the songs he includes in the shows. Anyway, he has an awesome nine-part series on music of the 90s, and really gets into all the various and eclectic sounds that got lumped into “alternative radio”. Definitely one of the things I remember most from this era is the variety of types of music you could hear on your standard rock radio station. Things have definitely gotten more fragmented in the years since.
Here’s a link to Alan’s podcast:
https://edge.ca/show/the-ongoing-history-of-new-music/