I think there was a shorter period of '80s-'90s transitionals than with the '90s-'00s, but here's a list of things I think count:

-M.C. Hammer, Easy-E, Vanilla Ice, etc.
-Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson (their 1989-1991ish stuff.)
-Guns N' Roses.
-Sinead O'Connor.
-Married with Children.
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
-Saved by the Bell.
-Some 1990ish alt rock songs by the likes They Might Be Giants, The Lemonheads, The Church, etc.

Any thoughts?

Don't forget NWA and Ice-T.  They started the whole Gangsta Rap thing and started the process of West Coast Rap getting big.  Also, I would say REM and Jane's Addiction are definitely the start of the transition to the 90's Alternative Rock Revolution, though I guess you could lump them into your "1990ish alt rock" category.

Don't forget NWA and Ice-T.  They started the whole Gangsta Rap thing and started the process of West Coast Rap getting big.  Also, I would say REM and Jane's Addiction are definitely the start of the transition to the 90's Alternative Rock Revolution, though I guess you could lump them into your "1990ish alt rock" category.


Along with RHCP, though their 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik is more early '90s than transitional. The Pixies are part of the transition, too, away from the Replacements and older college rock and into '90s stuff. Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation is pretty influential that way, too. Yeah, N.W.A. is transitional. So is Tracy Chapman. The '80s-'90s actually had a fairly substantial transition.

Don't forget NWA and Ice-T.  They started the whole Gangsta Rap thing and started the process of West Coast Rap getting big.  Also, I would say REM and Jane's Addiction are definitely the start of the transition to the 90's Alternative Rock Revolution, though I guess you could lump them into your "1990ish alt rock" category.


AND don't forget "LL Cool J", "A Tribe Called Quest" and "Public Enemy" doing it for the East Coast

Alot of late 80s gangsta rap groups like N.W.A. sounded quite 90s, as alot of late 80s rock groups, such as the Pixies in particular, whose album 'Surfer Rosa' sounds very much ahead of its time. Apart from that, a lot of the ones you mentioned, as well as shows like 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air', 'Full House', later episodes of 'Cheers', 'Rosanne.' T.A.M.N.T. seems more of an 80s thing; I remember watching it as a kid, it had that 'vintage Mario brothers' feel about it. Oh yeah, 8-bit consoles seemed a very 89-90 thing: though released in the mid-80s, I think the peak their popularity was the 89-90 cusp. The Mega-drive came out in '89 and the SNES in 1990.

M.C. Hammer screams 1992-1994, haven't heard Paula Abdul's music. G'n'R would be a good example too; 'November Rain' and 'Sweet Child o' Mine' sound distinctly hair metal, while there later releases sound different.

Alot of late 80s gangsta rap groups like N.W.A. sounded quite 90s, as alot of late 80s rock groups, such as the Pixies in particular, whose album 'Surfer Rosa' sounds very much ahead of its time. Apart from that, a lot of the ones you mentioned, as well as shows like 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air', 'Full House', later episodes of 'Cheers', 'Rosanne.' T.A.M.N.T. seems more of an 80s thing; I remember watching it as a kid, it had that 'vintage Mario brothers' feel about it. Oh yeah, 8-bit consoles seemed a very 89-90 thing: though released in the mid-80s, I think the peak their popularity was the 89-90 cusp. The Mega-drive came out in '89 and the SNES in 1990.

M.C. Hammer screams 1992-1994, haven't heard Paula Abdul's music. G'n'R would be a good example too; 'November Rain' and 'Sweet Child o' Mine' sound distinctly hair metal, while there later releases sound different.




Paula Abdul's music still has that totally glossy, synthesizer-heavy sound to it redolent of the '80s, but the dance-club style beats and general arrangement and character of the music are more '90s. Download "Straight Up"...she's not all that different from Janet Jackson. Some of Janet Jackson's 1989 stuff like the song "Come Back to Me" sounds like it could've easily been released in 1996 or 1997. I attribute that to the influence of that album, Rhythm Nation 1814. Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation, with the noise-rock turned into pop-rock subtly, has a more '90s than an '80s sound to it, definitely. It's from 1988. 1987-1989 saw the release of alot of albums that were important on '90s alt rock.

Paula Abdul's music still has that totally glossy, synthesizer-heavy sound to it redolent of the '80s, but the dance-club style beats and general arrangement and character of the music are more '90s. Download "Straight Up"...she's not all that different from Janet Jackson. Some of Janet Jackson's 1989 stuff like the song "Come Back to Me" sounds like it could've easily been released in 1996 or 1997. I attribute that to the influence of that album, Rhythm Nation 1814. Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation, with the noise-rock turned into pop-rock subtly, has a more '90s than an '80s sound to it, definitely. It's from 1988. 1987-1989 saw the release of alot of albums that were important on '90s alt rock.


She also kind of looks like Janet Jackson. Don't you reckon? (I didn't know who she was until I saw American Idol for the first time).

I'd say the '80s-'90s transitional period is about 1989-1992 (with 1989-early 1991 being more '80s, and late 1991-1992 being more '90s).  The '90s-'00s transitional period is 1998-2003.

Yeah, the "transitional period" for the '80s was 1989-1992, though 1991-1992 was more '80s, even though there were specific transitional things, like Surfer Rosa, Daydream Nation, Solitude Standing, from 1987-1988 or so.

Yeah, the "transitional period" for the '80s was 1989-1992, though 1991-1992 was more '80s, even though there were specific transitional things, like Surfer Rosa, Daydream Nation, Solitude Standing, from 1987-1988 or so.


I would say the "Late Eighties" is Fall of 1986 to Spring of 1991.  "Early Nineties" is Summer of 1991 to Spring of 1994.  However the "Eighties world" lasted from about 1981 to 1992, inclusive.  The "Nineties world" existed from 1993 to 2000, inclusive.

I would say the "Late Eighties" is Fall of 1986 to Spring of 1991.  "Early Nineties" is Summer of 1991 to Spring of 1994.  However the "Eighties world" lasted from about 1981 to 1992, inclusive.  The "Nineties world" existed from 1993 to 2000, inclusive.


I think:

Late '80s: Late 1986-Mid 1989 (some '90s transitional things like SY, R.E.M, Pixies, Jane's Addiction, Suzanne Vega, alternapop, but overall still late '80s. Stuff like soft-rock, cheesy A/C, hair metal, '60s comebacks are popular, alternative rock, rap, and cheesy dance stuff becoming popular but not quite there yet. VHS and CDs totally have market saturation, TV changed alot from the earlier '80s for the better.)
Transitional '80s-'90s: Mid-Late 1989-Mid 1991 (cheesy dance stuff, African pride, Vanilla Ice et. al., old school rap reach popularity peak. '80s world but people act '90s.)
Early '90s: Fall 1991-Spring 1994.