I've been thinking about this recently - it seems 1991 was a very diverse year, especially for rock music. It was the year when hairmetal finally got the boot, as NO hairband reached the top 10 of the Hot 100 that year (I don't count Van Halen or GnR as hairbands), and that a much harder rock began to dominate with Metallica's Black Album and GnR's Use Your Illusions all debuting at #1 (and #2 for UYI1  :)). The Black Album would go on to sell 14 million copies and become the biggest selling metal album of all time, though many old fans of the band used this to prove Metallica sold out. Megadeth got some momentum as well, culminating in them having a double platinum album the following year. Something altogether different was going on in the alternative community, though, that was pulling the genre to the forefront. REM released the single 'Losing My Religion', the first alternative song to ever crack the top 10, and won several awards for it. Also, the Red Hot Chili Peppers released their breakthrough album 'Blood Sugar Sex Majik', which was also a very successful record that spawned the renowned 'Under the Bridge'. Though they wouldn't gain momentum until the following year, Pearl Jam released what is considered a landmark grunge album called 'Ten', which would eventually sell over 12 million copies. This all led to the end of an era of style over substance, culminating with the release of Nirvana's 'Nevermind' in September '91, which would gain momentum over the coming months and hit #1 at the beginning of 1992, officially kicking off the grunge movement.

So let's look at this in retrospect - 1990's biggest band was probably Warrant or Winger, the biggest jokes of their era, and was also the time of sheeshty one-hit-wonder hip hop like MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice. Pop was probably the biggest genre of the year with Madonna releasing 'Vogue' and Paula Abdul still being huge. 1991, though, saw the rise of alternative rock, the explosion of Metallica, the return of GnR, the subsequent death of hairmetal, the backlash against Vanilla Ice, and the death of late 80's teen pop. 1992 was the year of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Megadeth (yes I know they're thrash), Singles, and Wayne's World.

So...

1990 = hairmetal          1991 = hard rock and metal              1992 = grunge

I've been thinking about this recently - it seems 1991 was a very diverse year, especially for rock music. It was the year when hairmetal finally got the boot, as NO hairband reached the top 10 of the Hot 100 that year (I don't count Van Halen or GnR as hairbands), and that a much harder rock began to dominate with Metallica's Black Album and GnR's Use Your Illusions all debuting at #1 (and #2 for UYI1  :)). The Black Album would go on to sell 14 million copies and become the biggest selling metal album of all time, though many old fans of the band used this to prove Metallica sold out. Megadeth got some momentum as well, culminating in them having a double platinum album the following year. Something altogether different was going on in the alternative community, though, that was pulling the genre to the forefront. REM released the single 'Losing My Religion', the first alternative song to ever crack the top 10, and won several awards for it. Also, the Red Hot Chili Peppers released their breakthrough album 'Blood Sugar Sex Majik', which was also a very successful record that spawned the renowned 'Under the Bridge'. Though they wouldn't gain momentum until the following year, Pearl Jam released what is considered a landmark grunge album called 'Ten', which would eventually sell over 12 million copies. This all led to the end of an era of style over substance, culminating with the release of Nirvana's 'Nevermind' in September '91, which would gain momentum over the coming months and hit #1 at the beginning of 1992, officially kicking off the grunge movement.

So let's look at this in retrospect - 1990's biggest band was probably Warrant or Winger, the biggest jokes of their era, and was also the time of crappy one-hit-wonder hip hop like MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice. Pop was probably the biggest genre of the year with Madonna releasing 'Vogue' and Paula Abdul still being huge. 1991, though, saw the rise of alternative rock, the explosion of Metallica, the return of GnR, the subsequent death of hairmetal, the backlash against Vanilla Ice, and the death of late 80's teen pop. 1992 was the year of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Megadeth (yes I know they're thrash), Singles, and Wayne's World.

So...

1990 = hairmetal           1991 = hard rock and metal               1992 = grunge


Mc Hammer was not a one hit wonder he had hits like "Lets Get It Started", "Pray", "U Can't Touch This", "Have You Seen Her", and "Too Legit Too Quit." Also besides "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice why wasn;t "Play That Funky music" ever listed as a hit for Vanilla Ice?

Hiar metal was dead by 1990 I'd say. While I agree that Winger and Warrant were big (and jokes), the biggest singers of that year was probably Madonna or Janet Jackson or somebody like that. Even though Nevermind "officially" killed it, it probably would have permanently faded out around that time anyway, or at least a little later. Hell, by 1989 I think it was considered worthless by most.

  Well, I don't know about "hair" but it's not too long of a jump from "metal" to "grunge", right? (I hate calling grunge "grunge", btw...)

  Our resident PhD. in Seattleology ought to be able to clarify...

1991 was the last big year for hair metal. In 1992 and even for a little while in 1993 it had kind of had a half-life with groups like Saigon Kick, Extreme, Nelson, and those late-era hair metal stars still having a slight chart presence even though grunge was much more popular by that point.