Transitioning from New Wave of the 1980s to the plethora of genres that dominated the 1990s is a huge jump that skips over some important eras such as disco, heavy metal, hair bands, etc; I did not want to skip these genres initially, but since I am writing less blogs, I feel forced to exclude some. While these genres still contributed to overall culture in the U.S., I want to focus on specific genres that not only influenced culture, but me personally.
With that said, the 1990s rejuvenated, created, and said good-bye to all sorts of genres. Disco was rejuvenated into RnB and electronic dance music, grunge was created in Seattle, and hair-bands slowly drifted out of style. The 1990s was popularized by alternative rock and sub-genres introduced under this title. While most of these bands started in the 80s, maybe even had some hits, alternative rock dominated all radios. Bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, R.E.M, Stone Temple Pilots (STP), Bjork, PJ Harvey, and Depeche Mode (R.E.M. and Depeche Mode were also big in the 80s, but I connote them with the 90s).
These artists introduced notably darker themes woven into their albums. Grunge was known for its dark lyrics, almost growling voice, and strong backing instruments (guitar, bass, and drums). During the 80s, synthesizers, keyboards, and sampling was popularized. These concepts were completely flipped, reintroducing the standard singer, guitar, drums, bass melodies.
Within this grunge culture was sadly a negative subculture, drug use (notably heroin during this time). While drug use has always been connoted with music, heroin among others destroyed many musicians lives. Nirvana lead singer’s drug use lead to suicide. Depeche Mode lead singer, Dave Gahan, had a drug induced heart attack on stage, and overdosed on a separate occasion, eventually going to rehab and becoming clean. Alice In Chains lead singer Layne Stanley struggled with drug addiction until he overdosed in 2002. Stone Temple Pilots lead singer, Scott Weiland, died of an accidental overdose after many years of drug use, too. There are many others who have similar stories, many of which within the 90s rock community.
While drug addiction afflicted many in the 90s rock community, it was one of the most creative eras of music. The genre of rock opened up into many sub-genres during the 90s. Beforehand, rock was just classic rock. During this time, new genres emerged like grunge, alternative, alt-pop, brit-pop, nu-metal, and others. Artists began associating themselves within these genres and many different sounds emerged. In grunge, there was Nirvana, Hole, Pearl Jam, STP, etc. Alt-pop was dominated by the Cranberries, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sublime, etc. A massive brit-pop battle started between Oasis and Blur during this time, which only heightened the bands competing sounds. Nu-metal was beginning with Korn, Limp Bizkit, Rage Against the Machine, and Deftones managing the harder rock sounds.
90s rock was so important to the US culture during this time. As the turn of the century was happening, so was a turn in music. 90s rock majorly affected the sound of the 2000s. While not all the genres lived into the next decade, radios still constantly play 90s music with influences easily heard in all genres today. For example, listen to Dua Lipa’s new song “Love Again”. She samples an alternative song from the 90s, “Your Woman” by White Town. There are many more examples, but this is the most recent one I could think of that blatantly highlights the 90s influence.