| History of the United States | |
|---|---|
| Military - Postal - Diplomatic - Expansionist - Religious - Industrial - Feminist - Music | |
| Music of the United States | |
| Colonial era - to the Civil War - During the Civil War - Late 19th century - Early 20th century - 40s and 50s - 60s and 70s - 80s to the present | |
| Ethnic music | |
| Native American - English: old-time and Western music - African American - Irish and Scottish - Latin: Tejano and Puerto Rican - Cajun and Creole - Hawaii - Other immigrants |
The 1980s saw New Wave entering the year as the single
biggest mainstream market, with heavy metal, punk
rock and hardcore punk, and
In the beginning of the 1990s, formulaic metal bands dominated the charts until 1991, when G Funk gangsta rap, led by Dr. Dre, and Seattle-born grunge music, led by Nirvana, knocked metal off the charts. Both genres were full of energy at the beginning of the decade, with grunge reacting against the perceived superficiality of recent rock trends, and Dr. Dre's Death Row Records stable of artists proudly placing the West Coast on the hip hop map. Both genres died out, however, both in the matter of the few months later in the decade. In its place arose a variety of brief, minor trends that failed to catch on. In rock, third wave of ska and pop punk bands, British techno music, funk metal, nu metal, riot grrl, alternative rock and industrial rock achieved sporadic success. Hip hop saw the East Coast reassert its primacy, and other cities, including Atlanta, Saint Louis, Detroit and New Orleans became major centers of commercial hip hop. Alternative hip hop also flourished into the next millennium, when it accompanied the much-hyped garage rock revival and a massive pop interest in teen idol boy bands and divas, many with a Latin flourish.
1980s
The American music industry of the very early 1980s was in a state of flux, which Reebee Garofolo claims reflects the state of American society, in turmoil with the election of Ronald Reagan (p. 353). Disco, the most popular style of the late 1970s, was dead, and the once vibrant field of punk rock was fractured, producing offshoots like New Wave music. The term New Wave was used very loosely, describing a vast range of styles from the arty punk of Elvis Costello to the Talking Heads and the New Romantics; this vagueness temporarily threw the "marketing categories of the music industry" into "disarray" (Garofolo, 353). The record industry itself suffered a recession during this period, a feat which many had thought impossible during the early 1970s, when the industry's profits had risen phenomenally quickly. Between 1978 and 1979, sales within the United States dropped by 11% (Garofolo, 354).
New Wave's main-stream popularity was brief. By 1984 (1984 in music), hair metal, long a dormant part of the Los Angeles music scene, started its reign on the charts. Led by hypermasculine bands like Quiet Riot (Metal Health), Van Halen (Van Halen) and Mötley Crüe (Shout at the Devil), hair metal reached its popular peak in the late 1980s with Def Leppard's Hysteria and Bon Jovi's New Jersey. Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction burst onto the scene late in the decade, and launched a new, short-lived era of more machoistic posturing and harsh, critical lyrics, mixed with the occasional ballad and virtuosic riff.
Black music in the 1980s focused on two developments. A smooth, ballad-oriented pop-soul
fusion labeld contemporary R&B evolved and dominated the pop charts, especially
in the early part of the decade. Lionel Richie (Can't Slow Down), Michael Jackson
(Thriller), Whitney Houston
(Whitney Houston) and Prince
(Purple Rain) exemplified this field. The other major development in black
music was the rise of
Hip hop
Hip hop began its course to mainstream popularity with occasional fringe success in the early 80s -- Kurtis Blow (Kurtis Blow) and LL Cool J (Radio) introduced the sound to white
listeners, while Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force ("Planet Rock") and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five
("The Message") innovated new methods in MCing and DJing. Distinct regional
variations including Miami bass, LA electro hop, DC
go go and Chicago
Rock
In the 1980s, punk music began incorporating reggae, ska and other international influences, while heavy metal diversified in the wake of the success of hair metal. Thrash, death and power metal emerged. Bands like R.E.M. (Murmur) also led an interest in the alternative rock scene. All around the country, pop- and hard rock-oriented bands evolving in a state of popular dismissal but critical acclaim had developed a unique sound. Bands like the Pixies (Doolittle) and Hüsker Dü (New Day Rising) made only minor waves on the charts, but fermented a serious revolution in music. A new generation of listeners hated the bombastic, corporate sterility of formulaic glam metal bands, and reacted against them.
Other genres
The 1980s also saw intense diversification in salsa music, which added Latin rap, jazz and other influences. Cuban
1980s gospel was marked by a slick, pop form of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), most influentially performed by artists like Amy Grant, as well as both traditional and radical singers and choirs, including Kirk Franklin and the Sounds of Blackness. The Detroit Sound of gospel arose during the '80s and remained current in the '90s, dominated by The Winans and The Clarks.
Klezmer music took two different directions during the 1980s. Perennial favorites The Klezmatics, alongside artists like the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band and Brave Old World, radically reinvented the genre, adding influences from around the world. Another movement, based primarily in Europe, brought klezmer back to its traditional roots.
In 1983, R. Carlos Nakai, a Navajo-Ute, released Changes, a multi-platinum album that launched a revival in the Native American flute. Combined with sounds of nature and ambient electronics, this set the stage for the modern incarnation of New Age music. Three years later, a tradition of Navajo spoken word poetry began with John Trudell's Aka Graffiti Man.
In 1981, David Byrne and Brian Eno released My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, which defined what came to be known as world music by fusing African and Arab vocals over trance-like dance beats. A year later, Peter Gabriel launched WOMAD in Britain; the festival has since become a world music showcase and launched the careers of artists like Youssou N'Dour. In 1986, Paul Simon's blockbuster Graceland made world music briefly mainstream, bringing in South African artists like Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens. In 1989, David Byrne and Peter Gabriel founded record labels (Luaka Bop and RealWorld, respectively) that soon dominated the field.
1990s
Grunge
The result of hair metal's decline was the grunge explosion in the early 1990s. By 1992 (1992 in music), hair metal bands were massively unpopular as grunge groups like Nirvana (Nevermind), Pearl Jam (Ten) and Alice in Chains (Dirt) dominated the charts. As some bands such Nirvana, and Pearl Jam, changed their sound and techniques to be less mainstream, bands like Alice in Chains and Soundgarden who were never as successful as Nirvana or Pearl Jam in the mainstream.
Nevermind changed everything and carried a number of other grunge albums around it into popularity. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" gained "anthem of a generation" status. The following singles "Come as You Are," "Lithium," "On a Plain," and "In Bloom" all charted very successfully and tickets on the supporting Nevermind tour were impossible to get. However, in 1994 leader Kurt Cobain committed suicide in his Seattle home. Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl formed his own band called Foo Fighters who have achieved success in their own right. Krist Novoselic remains active musically but is also very active in politics. And Pat Smear joined Foo Fighters but after only one album he quit and is now reunited with his trademark band The Germs.
Though Nevermind had more of a jumpstart Pearl Jam's Ten album is the most successful grunge album to date, with the hit songs "Alive," "Jeremy," "Even Flow," "Once," and "Black" gaining popularity on radio and MTV. Since Ten Pearl Jam has had seven studio albums to date and they are still continuing to tour and produce albums. Pearl Jam's new singles "World Wide Suicide," and "Life Wasted" are currently getting heavy rotation on alternative rock stations.
Alice in Chains hit the mainstream in 1990 with their singles "We Die Young," and "Man in the Box." But in 1992 they released their follow-up album Dirt, and the singles "Would?," "Them Bones," "Rooster," and "Angry Chair." Though not as successful as Nevermind and Ten, Dirt is considered to be one the best albums of the grunge era. In 2002 lead singer Layne Staley died of a drug overdose. However, Alice in Chains continue to tour but have not recorded an album since 1995.
Soundgarden was the second band labeled grunge, although they formed in the mid 80s. However, they were the last in the grunge era to enjoy major success. Though nominated for a Grammy, Louder than Love was not very successful commercially. Their second hint of success came in 1991 with the release of Badmotorfinger with 2 hit singles and a sold out tour with Guns N' Roses. But four years later after extensive touring and writing Soundgarden released their breakthrough album Superunknown, with the singles "Spoonman," "Fell on Black Days," and the most successful, "Black Hole Sun." By that time, Soundgarden were considered the next big thing though they only released one more album, which was not as successful as its predecessor. The band broke up on the tour, Chris Cornell is currently in the band Audioslave.
Other grunge bands that enjoyed lesser degrees of success include Stone Temple Pilots with the lead single "Plush." Kurt Cobain's wife Courtney Love had a popular band entitled Hole with the lead singles "Miss World," "Doll Parts," "Malibu," and "Celebrity Skin." And least notably L7, Mudhoney, and Mother Love Bone.
Gangsta Rap
In addition, former N.W.A. member Dr. Dre
(The Chronic) brought gangsta rap to pop
audiences. By the mid-90s, alternative rock groups had died out among mainstream listeners, and gangsta rap took over. The middle
of the decade also saw a boom in electronic music's (sometimes referred to generically
as "electronica") popularity. Despite the fact that Detroit originally developed techno and Chicago developed house both in the mid-1980s, these
forms remained largely underground and unknown in their country of origin. Electronic music genres were popularized primarily in
Britain through the acid house,
Gangsta rap in the 1980s had focused on the two coasts originally, with West Coast pioneers like Ice-T ("6 N Da Mornin'") and
Alanis Morissette also reached popularity during this point, giving rise to the singer-songwriter traditions of predecessors Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman. Her album Jagged Little Pill became one of the most popular albums of the decade. Following her success included other popular female performers including Fiona Apple and Jewel.
Other 90s trends
Power pop bands like Weezer (The Blue Album), jam bands like Phish (A Picture of Nectar) and pop-punk and skacore groups like Green Day (Dookie) and Sublime (Sublime) rose to some prominence, with late punk and ska bands achieving the most mainstream success. No Doubt (Tragic Kingdom), Rancid (...And Out Come the Wolves) and similar bands released blockbuster albums in the middle of the decade.
The American indie rock scene also thrived in the early and mid 90s, with bands such as Pavement, Guided by Voices, and Sonic Youth having a little success. Mostly these bands went unnoticed by the average music consumer but indie albums such as Slanted and Enchanted, Bee Thousand, and Goo are now acknowledged as some of the best of the decade.
After a decade of hip hop influenced R&B recordings from artists such as Mary J.
Blige, TLC, and BLACKstreet, early
1970s the sounds of soul music re-emerged with a sub-genre called neo
soul; Lauryn Hill (The
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill), Erykah Badu (Baduizm) and D'Angelo (Voodoo) spearheaded this movement. Most of the conteporary music scene continued to follow the
pop-styled template set by Michael Jackson, Prince, Whitney Houston and others during the 1980s,
and continued by Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey, and
Thrash metal, invented in the early 80s by bands like Metallica (Kill 'Em All) and Slayer (Reign in Blood), achieved some mainstream success before mutating into nu metal (such as System of a Down (Toxicity)) in the latter half of the 1990s. Rapcore bands (that mix hip hop and metal) also emerged; Limp Bizkit (Significant Other) and KoЯn (Life Is Peachy) were the most popular, drawing heavily upon early pioneers in the field like Pantera (A Vulgar Display of Power), Faith No More (Angel Dust) and Anthrax (Among the Living). The 1990s also saw a boom in funk metal bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers (Californication) and female singer-songwriters like Tori Amos (Boys for Pele), relying on late 80s pioneers like Tracy Chapman (Tracy Chapman) and P.J. Harvey (Rid of Me).
Another major musical style of the 1990s was pop-country groups, beginning with honky tonk crooners like Clint Black (Killin' Time), Alan Jackson (A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'Bout Love)) and Garth Brooks (Ropin' the Wind), the sound exploded into mainstream audiences with the crossover success of Shania Twain (Come on Over), the Dixie Chicks (Fly), Faith Hill (Breathe), and other female singers in the middle of the decade.
Verdell Primeaux and Johnny Mike released , an influential album that fused Peyote Songs with electronic backwashes and other modern flourishes. In 1994, part Mohawk Robbie Robertson (of The Band) put together the soundtrack for a documentary as part of an exploration of his Native American heritage. The resulting album, Music for the Native Americans, was extremely popular and has proven itself influential, bringing Native American artists to some segments of mainstream audiences.
2000s
Since the turn of the millennium, two major developments in American popular music have occurred. The dominance of
bubblegum pop like *NSYNC (No Strings Attached) and Backstreet Boys
(Backstreet's Back) continued from the 90s, and also grew to include Latin
stars like Shakira (Laundry Service),
A return to the roots of American country-rock music is slowly becoming an American music trend as artists like Brandi Carlile emerge. Also, with the echo boom generation taking over, more music is starting to influence the music of baby boomers and many teenagers and young adults are starting to be interested in music from older decades, especially the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
Other styles that emerged in the 2000s includes a newer form of hip-hop, which is more melodic and has cleaner themes than the older hip-hop that was dominate in the 1980s and 1990s. Examples of those include snap music and crunk, and the rise of emo and pop-punk, which was rising since the late 1990s.
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