There was a major transitional period in 96', in which two major music genre that defined the 90s (grunge and gangsta rap) began to vanish from pop culture. 96' was the last year in which grunge bands were considerably active. Pearl Jam released their last album that topped the charts, No Code. Alice in Chains gave their final performances with their ailing estranged lead singer, Layne Staley. Soundgarden and The Screaming Trees released their final studio albums. And Nirvana released the live album From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, the only new release from the band until the greatest hits album Nirvana in 2002. Similiarily, 1996' was the last major year for Death Row Records (home to Dre, Tupac, and Snoop, perhaps the most popular gangsta rappers of the 90s). Tupac was shot and killed (the hip hop equivalent of Kurt Cobain's death), both Dre and Snoop had left Deathrow by 96', and Suge Knight (the CEO of the label) was jailed over illegal business practices. Interestingly enough, flannel (the archetype of both genres - gangsta rappers wore it and so did grungers) was no longer considered "cool".

With that said, are we witnessing a similiar event happening, in that Emo and Glam-Rap/R&B are fading away? Everyone knows that Glam-Rap has barely impacted the charts this year. There's been numerous flops this year from several hip hop artists, T.I.'s "King" was the only hip hop album of 06' to go platinum, and there's currently only ONE hip hop album in the Top 10. In fact, I don't even think there's a hip hop single in the Top 10 anymore (compare that to 2003's chart ~ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3168554.stm) Emo is also showing signs of decline. The ratings for 2006 MTV Video Music Awards (which was headlined by several Emo bands that took all the major awards) were down 28% from the 8 million viewers it averaged in 2005 and 45 % down from 2004 when they had almost double the amount of viewers with 10.3 million.

So, as we enter the late 00s, what form of music will gain popularity? In the late 90s, it was post-grunge (Matchbox Twenty, Third Eye Blind, Creed, etc), Electronica (Fatboy Slim, Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers), post-gangsta rap (Puff Daddy, DMX, Jay-Z), and finally the infamous teen pop (Britney Spears, Backstreet Boyz, and N-Sync). For the 00s, I definately think we will see some revived form of teen pop at least.





Post-Grunge

Yeah, glam rap declined even more this year. It started to decline in 2005, because I remember by fall Kanye West was one of the few rap artists who were on the charts. This year's music was dominated by new bands/artists such as James Blunt, Daniel Powter, Natasha Bedingfield, Gnarls Barkley, Panic At The Disco as well as artists from the early 00's such as Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Shakira, Sean Paul, Nelly Furtado, Jessica Simpson, et. al. As far as hip-hop goes, T.I., Lil' Jon, Ludacris, and Chingy released albums this year, but like you said they were nothing like their previous albums. Also, Kevin Federline is releasing his hip-hop album, which will be the joke of the decade. Paris Hilton also released her debut album, which did better than expected since I'll have to admit, she has a good voice. Fergie's "London Bridge" also has been topping the charts, which I describe as having the 2005-ish style of "My Humps" meets "Hollaback Girl".

I think sometime in 2007, we will start seeing more dance/electronica music on the charts (such as Madonna, Cascada, Cassie, the Gorillaz, etc). There will be some new artists coming out with that style, but I also think current hip-hop and pop artists will implement that style of beat, just like how 80's artists like Paula Abdul and Lisa Lisa molded their music to the early 90's dance beat in their 1991 albums.

In fact, I don't even think there's a hip hop single in the Top 10 anymore (compare that to 2003's chart ~ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3168554.stm)


It's quite different in the US, hip-hop still rules the hot 100 pretty much, I don't think hip-hop is going anywhere anytime soon considering it has dominated the hot 100 since about 1995. Rap has probably weakened slightly here, but hip-hop and urban music in generally is sitll going strong.

Hip Hop has seemed to fade away here in Canada.  It's mostly rock and country songs that dominate our charts

We have had a major decrease in Rap, R and B and Hip Hop music and trends here.

People are getting on to the Indie / Emo bandwagon. I expect the late 00's to be full of Independent music, a new release on Punk, Emo will be the new Pop , alternative music and alternative rock and possibly Club music which is becoming increasingly popular around here. Rap and Hip Hop will be around but steadily decrease towards 2010. And possibly the beginning of Grunge but that is just a guess. I  do know that with the predictions of 90's nostalgia in the 10's, it's possible Grunge will be back in the scene but whether it begins this decade or not.

With Indie Hipster there will be alot of retro trends. Which could also bring back lost nostalgia's. Not sure though.