Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Quote of the Week “You're never too old to do goofy stuff.” - Ward Cleaver The ‘90s: Something for Eveiyone ■ mmm _i r_■■ i by Ann Marie Miani ETCETERA EDITOR Here we are, six months into 2000, and as I look back on the 1990s, I realize something. There was not one particu lar genre of music that was prominent, as there had been in the past. For example, in the 1950s came the birth of rock ‘n’ roll, with artists such as Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. Rock ‘n’ roll was a revolution in music where many of these artists broke the es tablished rules. Elvis with his hip-shaking and Jerry Lee Lewis with his taboo song lyrics. Teen-agers rebelled against their parents by listening to “devil’s music.” In the 1960s, the counter-culture sprung up with artists such as the Beatles, Jirni Hendrix, and Janis Joplin. The ‘60s were an other revolution altogether. Teen-agers protested the Vietnam War as a half a million hippies gathered together on a New York farm for three days of love, peace and music, and songs dealt with na tional issues such as the war and drugs. In the 1970s, the emergence of disco brought with it the Vil lage People, KC and the Sunshine Band and the Bee Gees. Studio 54, drugs, flashy clothes and mirrored balls were all part of the ‘70s. In the 1980s, MTV was born and with it came a wave of syn thesized pop music. The video music revolution also bore artists such as Madonna, Michael Jackson and Prince who have withstood mmm sm zmm, uamm the test of time and many one-hit wonders who have not. And then there were the 1990s - a decade without one spe cific genre. It was more of a montage of different genres that somehow all fit together. The ‘90s were a decade of al ternative rock, Latin pop, rap, teen pop, country, and basically any thing you could imagine. The ‘90s offered so many different gen res to the world of music that it was sometimes hard to keep up with all that was going on. The music industry opened its mind to almost anything. However, because of its openness to diversity, the music industry suffered and flourished at the same time. Since record labels had to compete with each other, they would often over-indulge one genre while completely ignoring another. In the early ‘90s, alternative rock or grunge was the music of choice. Bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam dominated Top 40 radio waves. During this period, record labels overflowed the mar ket with so many grunge bands such as Seven Mary Three and Sponge that the music became more mainstream than alternative. In the mid ‘90s, grunge was on its way out and pop was on its way back in. After the overkill of alternative, people wanted a change. Pop bands such as Hootie and the Blowfish and punk bands such as Green Day and the Offspring began to dominate the air waves. The late ‘90s brought pop back into full swing. Teen pop, latin pop and country pop control the airwaves. MTV’s “Total Re quest Live” launched artists such as *NSYNC, Britney Spears, Ricky Martin and Matchbox Twenty. Of course, thoughout all of this, other genres flourished. Women made serious contributions to rock in the ‘90s. Ac cording to Soundscan, Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill was the top selling album of the ‘90s. Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair tours proved that there was a market for female rockers. Gangsta rap was one of the more rebellious genres. Rap artists released bleeped-out singles and appeared on soundtracks. Both major and indie labels enjoyed success. (g0s SEE PAGE 7