The 90s

[Myles]

How would you describe the music of the 90s?

Which musicians or bands impacted you the most and what did this decade have to offer?

[Tone2TheBone]

The '90s were a blur for me. Didn't play as much as I do now I was too busy getting the hang of being married and building a house. Then kids. I do remember listening to a lot of "grunge" and digging it. STP, Soundgarden stuff like that. Is that grunge? Hell if I know.... I pretty much stuck with my old blues and rock stuff.

[Robert****]

I went into the world of jazz and blues... Grunge never appealed to me. I could never get into any of these guitar-based bands with no screaming guitar solos... or any kind of tasty guitar playing.

I guess I need to hear people really play their instruments, so Miles, Coltrane, Parker were the cats I listened most to. Well, guitar guys like Scofield, Metheny, Frisell too of course.

In the late 90s, I had a Jimi-moment. I re-listened closely to all his stuff. I am glad I did! I am more into Jimi these days than ever. He was/is the MAN for me.

[Spudman***]

Man I don't remember the 1890's at all. Kind of a blur with all the witchcraft problems and the slavery thing going on.

Heck, even 100 years later is tough for me to remember. It was not that memorable of a decade for me. I do remember Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Ian Moore, Queensryche, Dream Theater, Da Da and Deep Purple. Early 90's was all Stevie Vaughn.

I was playing but doing mostly original music at that time so I didn't really get into what was happening at the time. What was happening?

[Danzego]

Yeah, I'm going to agree that the 90's, especially the mid-90's were pretty barren for guitar rock. Early in the 90's (when I graduated high school), I was listening to a lot of death metal bands and a lot of those dudes were some serious players. Once I lost interest in that and hair rock took the quick "one two" from grunge, I think the only new stuff I cared for from a guitar perspective was Smashing Pumpkins (not that Billy Corgan is some virtuoso player, but he's a heck of a writer).

Oh, and I also listened to quite a bit of "smooth jazz" at the time since I was working overnights and having horrible trouble sleeping.

Looking back at the stuff I missed at the time (and got into later) were Zakk Wylde's Pride and Glory and Book of Shadows albums, not to mention Ozzy's Ozzmosis album.

But yeah, other than that, not a whole lot worth mentioning during the 90's.

[oldguy]

That was about the time I heard "Hey, where's your brother?"
Johnny and Edgar were sounding good.
Then I backed up and listened to, I think it was, "The Winter of '88".
Stevie Ray Vaughan sounded good to me.
B.B. King still sounded good to me.
Neil Young still sounded good to me.
Eric Clapton still sounded good to me.
Carlos Santana still sounded good to me.
I also believe this was about the time I began watching old "Hee-Haw" reruns and found out what great guitarists Roy Clark, Jerry Reed, Glen Campbell, Don Rich, Willie Nelson, and a few others were.
Probably didn't pay a lot of attention otherwise. Attention deficit + old age= I do whatever I like.... when I remember to....

[sunvalleylaw]

I posted a section about what I listened to in the 90s in the "Evolution" thread. But a couple of things about the 90s struck me as influential:

1) SRV's rise to fame and unfortunate death helped to lead to a renewed interest in the blues in the 90s. He led me to the likes of Buddy Guy, and interest in the older blues artists I had not paid much attention to before that time.

2) The MTV unplugged series was very influential, especially to the MTV generation (like myself) I did not like much of MTV of this period, but the unplugged series turned me and others onto the likes of Neil Young and Eric Clapton. Before that time, Eric Clapton was just "Lay Down Sally" and "Cocaine" to me, neither of which was to my taste. Unplugged showed him in a whole new light to me. Likewise, I had heard Neil Young in the past, but Unplugged caused be to go out and buy and explore some. The series also breathed life into the acoustic scene that was missing in the 80s

3) Like it or not, the Seattle grunge scene was a huge influence in the 90s. I personally liked the underproduced and emotion filled sounds. I also liked the strong male vocal performances. The Melvins, Mother Love Bone, then Mudhoney, (and others) started it (at least the Seattle scene). Cobain with Nirvana, Chris Cornell and Soundgarden (my favorites from the era, along with Alice in Chains), and Eddy Vedder and Pearl Jam, influenced and spawned a sound that went national, with imitators such as Candlebox, Collective Soul, Silverchair, Bush, Creed and Nickelback, among others. I always found it interesting that I heard the Beatle's influence so strongly in Cobain's work. I think Mrs. Spud could add a lot more and report better than I.

I listened to a lot of others, and still love my 90s playlist on my iPod. I found a lot I liked. The above are just a few things I thought were influential.

[Jimi75]

The 90's were grunge until the day Kurt Cobain died.

[SuperSwede]

I listened a lot to the seattle grunge, I especially liked (and still do) Pearl Jam & Soundgarden. I wonder what the -00 decade will be remembered for... Britney & K-fed?

[Spudman***]

I listened a lot to the seattle grunge, I especially liked (and still do) Pearl Jam & Soundgarden. I wonder what the -00 decade will be remembered for... Britney & K-fed?

Hopefully the decade that artists took control and vanquished the record company behemoths that suck them dry and promote crappy pop music.

[Danzego]

Well, they better start getting on it because they only have a couple years left here. As it stands, the -00's are the bleakest era I've ever seen in regards to pop music, what with American Idol on one side and all of the girls on the Disney channel doing their deals with their not so subtley synthesized voices and pitch correction on the other. *cringes*

I'm hoping for some progress in the 10's, but I have little faith in American mainstream culture. I predict the downward spiral continues....and I keep getting older.

[Ro3b]

I had a blast in the 90s myself. There was a whole hell of a lot of great music going on. Sugar, Sonic Youth, Living Color -- anybody remember Living Color? -- The Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM, Garbage, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine...

[sunvalleylaw]

I had forgotten Living Color before you mentioned them, but remember them well.

[Myles]

As it stands, the -00's are the bleakest era I've ever seen in regards to pop music, what with American Idol on one side and all of the girls on the Disney channel doing their deals with their not so subtley synthesized voices and pitch correction on the other. *cringes*

I wonder if its just the nature of society to hate the current era. I remember the same "bleakest era" talk of the 90s, but everyone remembers it with fond memories once they reflect back 10 years later.

(the above merely an observation not a criticism of your opinion Danzego)

[SuperSwede]

I had a blast in the 90s myself. There was a whole hell of a lot of great music going on. Sugar, Sonic Youth, Living Color -- anybody remember Living Color? -- The Red Hot Chili Peppers, REM, Garbage, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine...

I´m a big Vernon Reid fan.. He´s insanely great.

[Katastrophe]

I dunno... After about '92 or '93, the 90's were musically confusing for me... Not a lot of great, throw your fist in the air playing on mainstream radio. I wasn't playing a lot then, but when I did, it was more blues based than before.

[Danzego]

I wonder if its just the nature of society to hate the current era. I remember the same "bleakest era" talk of the 90s, but everyone remembers it with fond memories once they reflect back 10 years later.

(the above merely an observation not a criticism of your opinion Danzego)

No offense taken at all.

I'm mainly looking at it from a perspective of mainstream music and pop culture in general, which has been on the long swirling trip down the bowl for years now. What I've been listening to since the -00's started, on the other hand, I've found some good stuff that helped shake that 90's slump. There are some decent bands out there now that I've been hearing and hey....a couple of them even play solos, too!!


That's not to say they're all good at it, mind you. For as decent a writer Andrew Stockdale from Wolfmother is and his madly delightful retro sound, the one real solo on their album doesn't quite drive a good case for his ability to solo his way out of a wet paper bag.

[marnold***]

I liked stuff by Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Urge Overkill, and some Nirvana (I must admit that "Nevermind" blew me away when I first heard it). In the 90s I got into my instrumental phase with a healthy dose of Joe Satriani and a dash of Steve Vai.

Re: Living Colour, the only album I have by them is "Vivid." It came out in 1988, so that really doesn't count. It's really an incredibly diverse album that still holds up after 20 years.

[sunvalleylaw]

I liked stuff by Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Urge Overkill, and some Nirvana (I must admit that "Nevermind" blew me away when I first heard it). In the 90s I got into my instrumental phase with a healthy dose of Joe Satriani and a dash of Steve Vai.

Re: Living Colour, the only album I have by them is "Vivid." It came out in 1988, so that really doesn't count. It's really an incredibly diverse album that still holds up after 20 years.

You pick some of my favorites. Cornell (soundgarden) had the strongest vocals, Cobain, the best angst ridden wail, and I just like Alice's overall sound. They were actually from Spanaway, very close to where I grew up. I still really like a lot of that stuff. I liked some Pearl Jam pieces, but never tended to like their overall albums as well. Then, there was what I thought of as the more California sound, with the Peppers and Jane's Addiction, etc.

In truth, I am sure part of what I liked about the era was that I was a young adult with little to no real responsibility beyond my job, and discretionary income. We went to clubs a lot, mostly listening to local blues and rock, and just had a lot of fun to a lot of that music.