pearl jam and the 80s

[Heathen]

The 90's were definitely more than alt. rock.

Alt. Rock dominated, but in addition to everything you listed alt. Country started taking off with WIlco, Uncle Tupelo, etc...

Also, The Beastie Boys dominated the 90's. They were the cat's meow.

yes, obviously. My compilation was just alternative rock, broadly understood. I was not implying that this is all the 90s had, although I would argue that more than anything else it probably helped define the decade.

Maybe for you but I'd bet for a ton of people the 90s were about boys bands, girls bands, dance music etc. The best selling stuff from that era wasn't grunge/altrock for the most part. Ten and Nevermind were exceptions.

[stip]

so we're measuring importance by album sales now?

[Heathen]

so we're measuring importance by album sales now?

You never said anything about importance, but if we're going to talk about defining the decade, alt rock isn't that much more decade-defining that all that other stuff that was also huge back then and I'd bet that there might be a lot more of that stuff than there is alt rock in what's left of the 90s today in the collective memory (and not just Nirvana/PJ fans).

[stip]

it seemed more culturally significant to me than a lot of the dance stuff--at least in the US. But these currents will all exist on top of each other, and for the purposes of this thread I think the generally dark and dour nature of so much of the rock music of the 90s is a fair claim to make--especially in the context of how we perceive pearl jam

[mray10]

so we're measuring importance by album sales now?

You never said anything about importance, but if we're going to talk about defining the decade, alt rock isn't that much more decade-defining that all that other stuff that was also huge back then and I'd bet that there might be a lot more of that stuff than there is alt rock in what's left of the 90s today in the collective memory (and not just Nirvana/PJ fans).

Ten is only the 18th best selling album of that decade. Nevermind is 29th.

They're behind lots and lots of Shania Twain, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Garth Brooks, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, even Kenny G and the Forrest Gump soundtrack.

I don't know that anyone thinks of the 90s as the time that Celine Dion was really big, though. There's always a Celine Dion type that's really big on the charts. And BSB/NSync stuff was technically late 90s, but feels like the start of the new decade. Trends don't line up in neat ten year gaps and when most people talk about the 90s they're remembering roughly 91-97 or so.

[Heathen]

No doubt it must have been very different in the US. The only iconic grunge band here is Nirvana. What the general public remembers from the 90s is not the dark stuff for the most part. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the 80s are overall seen as a darker era music-wise (with all the punk, goth, new wave stuff).

[stip]

look, no matter what happens I will be happy that this exchange caused you to use an empirical measure to assess music

[Heathen]

I'm not assessing music per se, just its impact and reception

[BurtReynolds]

I always thought of the 90s as 3 different parts: first grunge, then gangsta rap, and lastly britney spears/backstreet boys crap.

[Norah]

Don't forget hip hop. You can't talk about 90s musical culture without talking hip hop.

[BurtReynolds]

80s seemed like mostly new wave and hair metal. and maybe some corporate arena rock here and there.

[Lounge Lizard]

I always thought of the 90s as 3 different parts: first grunge, then gangsta rap, and lastly britney spears/backstreet boys crap.

oh YEAH?
Portishead, The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Tricky, Apollo 440, Orbital, Future Sound of London, Blueboy... and I'm just getting started

[harmless]

The UK had a massive explosion of folk rock in the 90s, spearheaded by the Levellers, the Cranberries, the Beautiful South etc.

[Lounge Lizard]

everyone was headbanging to "zo-hom-bie! zo-hom-bie!"

[BurtReynolds]

I always thought of the 90s as 3 different parts: first grunge, then gangsta rap, and lastly britney spears/backstreet boys crap.

oh YEAH?
Portishead, The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Tricky, Apollo 440, Orbital, Future Sound of London, Blueboy... and I'm just getting started

that lasted all of about 5 minutes in mainstream culture.

[harmless]

Yeah, I remember loving 'Zombie', and then looking into the rest of their catalogue and finding no grunge in it. I was gutted, even though I loved other folk bands. Expectations, eh?

[harmless]

I always thought of the 90s as 3 different parts: first grunge, then gangsta rap, and lastly britney spears/backstreet boys crap.

oh YEAH?
Portishead, The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Tricky, Apollo 440, Orbital, Future Sound of London, Blueboy... and I'm just getting started

that lasted all of about 5 minutes in mainstream culture.

It was a pretty long 5 minutes dude

[Lounge Lizard]

I always thought of the 90s as 3 different parts: first grunge, then gangsta rap, and lastly britney spears/backstreet boys crap.

oh YEAH?
Portishead, The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Tricky, Apollo 440, Orbital, Future Sound of London, Blueboy... and I'm just getting started

that lasted all of about 5 minutes in mainstream culture.

And we loved all 300 metaseconds of it

[Lounge Lizard]

Yeah, I remember loving 'Zombie', and then looking into the rest of their catalogue and finding no grunge in it. I was gutted, even though I loved other folk bands. Expectations, eh?

Right, but I was in love and I sang "and the daffodils looked lovely today" at every opportunity to my girlfriend at the time

[BurtReynolds]

and who could forget about the ska explosion! changed music forever.