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PART 1 - A LESSON IN RECENT MUSICAL HISTORY (1990-94) Just about any music critic is likely to tell you that one of the most significant musical events of the nineties was the release of Nirvana's Nevermind, and the subsequent explosion in grunge's popularity. Nevermind was the album that changed everything about how alternative music worked, permanently blurring the line between it and the mainstream. The album rather symbolically knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous off the top of the charts, making way for a slew of similar artists/bands (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Beck, etc) to take on the major label deals they'd only dreamt of, creating the general selection of music known commonly (and oxymoronically) as "popular alternative." An interesting follow-on effect of this was the introduction of the "new alternative" scene. With more and more groups being tagged as "alternative," while, somewhat perplexingly, still selling multi platinum albums, there was a general backlash from many musicians who felt that rock had lost its momentum and ability to evolve to new places. The 90s "indie rock" scene was born, which shall be talked about in a later chapter. With such an immense movement stemming from one album, you'd assume Nevermind would have to be one of the greatest albums of all time. While this is a matter of personal opinion, I do consider it to be an indispensible part of musical history (and, admittedly, one of the greatest albums of all time). Its pop structure surrounded by layers of distorted guitar and angst ridden lyrics made it frighteningly addictive. Pearl Jam's Ten was released around the same time, and is considered as the other big album in the grunge movement (it actually went on to outsell Nevermind). It was a solid record, although lacking somewhat in creativity. Late 93 and early 94 saw the releases of two of the most important albums of the 90s. Nirvana's followup to Nevermind, entitled In Utero, and Soundgarden's Superunknown. In Utero proved to be one of the most deliberately challenging followup records of all time. It was clear that lead singer Kurt Cobain was disgusted with the MTV audience by whom he was adored, and was trying desperately to shed them. The album was made somewhat more radio-friendly than it's initial cut, which is rumoured to have been a wall of noisy, impenetrable guitar & drums combined with Cobain's shrieking, tormented voice. Supposedly, he even wanted to open the album with a bass frequency so low it would be capable of destroying home stereo speakers (now that's effort!). The final cut is still difficult, and many young fans found its harsher, unpolished sound difficult to absorb after the fuzzy tunes that made up most of Nevermind. With Cobain killing himself not long after, it's difficult not to view this album as a suicide note, especially given the content of tracks like "All Apologies" and even more so the ommitted "I Hate Myself and Want to Die" (which later showed up on bootlegs). All this combines to make In Utero a truly shattering listen, only strengthened by the gravity of its content and the bleak knowledge of what was to come. Superunknown was almost equally dark, yet while In Utero focused on loud guitars and noisy, distorted production, Soundgarden's masterpiece was built on the drifting, psychdelic stylings of groups like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Through the combination of Chris Cornell's almost indescribably cool vocals (he was able to lauch into a pitch perfect wail at any moment, and then hold it for about 30 seconds) and the groups newfound use of sprawling epic songcraft (they'd previously been, more or less, a punk band), they achieved a truly memorable, layered sound. Superunknown became a big hit, owing much of its success to the single "Black Hole Sun," which placed highly on the commercial charts. The other big movement to occur in the early to mid 90s was the UK's britpop scene. The movement was hinted at with The Stone Roses self titled debut in 1989, but britpop became a total phenomenon all of its own in 1993 with the release of Blur's Modern Life is Rubbish, which many people consider to be the first real britpop record. Influenced greatly by The Stone Roses in style, Blur went on to also record Parklife and The Great Escape, two more albums considered by many to be britpop landmarks. The style stems mostly from the pleasant, guitar-based pop of The Beatles, but also has roots in punk, shoegazing, 70s glam and new wave, among others. Most britpop bands are likely to cite a range of influences, including The Smiths, Marc Bolan, The Kinks and Elvis Costello. Along with Blur, the other leaders in the movement were Suede and Oasis, whose albums Suede and Definately Maybe were both massive hits in the UK. Oasis were more of a standard rock group, but due to their being a catchy Brit rock group, they managed to get caught in a musical trend which didn't really apply to their style of music. Suede were a different matter again, borrowing largely from David Bowie and eccentric 80s groups like The Fall, resulting in a very sensual, almost theatrical sound. Their second album Dog Man Star was another artistic triumph, but with guitarist Bernard Butler leaving the group shortly before its release, the quality of subsquent releases dropped somewhat. While Oasis managed to find a large American following with What's the Story Morning Glory (due almost entirely to the single "Wonderwall"), most of britpop found comparitively little success overseas. The beginning of the end for britpop was forshadowed with Blur's restyling themself as an indie rock group for 1997's Blur, as well as the decreased level of interest in Oasis' subsequent releases. While the genre faded out after this, its influence can be heard in a range of bands, including Supergrass, Pulp, Alfie, Elastica, Gomez, The Manic Street Preachers, Ash, Placebo and Catatonia. END OF PART 1. Album Recommendations. Nirvana Nevermind (1991) Nirvana In Utero (1993) Suede Suede (1993) Blur Modern Life is Rubbish (1993) Soundgarden Superunkown (1994) NEXT: PART 2 - "ALTERNATIVE" POP/ROCK (or "THE STUFF THEY PLAY ON TRIPLE J") |