So, I came across one of my old topics yesterday and one of the users mentioned when most people discuss 90s music, all they refer to is either Nirvana, Tupac, Biggie or the late 90s teen pop. It's genuinely strange how the rest of the music scene is largely forgotten especially that genres such as R&B, Adult Contemporary, pop/cheesy rap, and house music dominated the charts. Plus, the people who really enjoyed artists like Nirvana, Tupac, Biggie or even Britney Spears were young people (mainly teenagers), who are a fraction of the musical demographic. Older people most likely were not listening to those vocalists and instead would have listened to musicians being Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion and so on. Is there a reason why the majority of 90s music is not discussed today in circles? How did the perception of the tunes from this era only include Nirvana, Tupac, Biggie and Britney Spears?

So, I came across one of my old topics yesterday and one of the users mentioned when most people discuss 90s music, all they refer to is either Nirvana, Tupac, Biggie or the late 90s teen pop. It's genuinely strange how the rest of the music scene is largely forgotten especially that genres such as R&B, Adult Contemporary, pop/cheesy rap, and house music dominated the charts. Plus, the people who really enjoyed artists like Nirvana, Tupac, Biggie or even Britney Spears were young people (mainly teenagers), who are a fraction of the musical demographic. Older people most likely were not listening to those vocalists and instead would have listened to musicians being Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion and so on. Is there a reason why the majority of 90s music is not discussed today in circles? How did the perception of the tunes from this era only include Nirvana, Tupac, Biggie and Britney Spears?


Pop-rap, modern adult contemporary, New Jack Swing, and house music were all music genres that were born in the 1980s. So, to 80s fans (early and most late Xers), pop-rap, modern AC, and house music are “80s”. The 90s are often referred to as “The Depressing Decade” by 80s fans because of the records released by Nirvana, Tupac, and Biggie all throughout the 90s. 80s fans usually choose to focus on only the negative about the 90s so they can say the 80s were a better time than the 1990s. The 80s fans I’ve come across see the year 1990 as a “watered down 1989” and 1991 as “the year the 90s started in”. 

I grew up in the 80s and I never found them to be all that special. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
 
Millennials, on the other hand, enjoy talking about the debut of Britney Spears’ first single because the late 90s were their time.

I’ll clear this up for you:

1977 = Best year in music for early Gen Xers

1989 = Best year in music for late Gen Xers/Xennials

1998 = Best year in music for Millennials

The albums sold on the dates between those times were all take-it or leave-it for the three generations. The Michael Jackson’s 90s work was horrible to early Gen Xers because it was made after Michael was known to the world as The King of Pop and Mariah Carey and Celine Dion were boring musical artists to late Xers and Xennials who own the third and fourth Janet Jackson studio albums. Boomers, Xers, Xennials, and some Millennials will all tell you that Whitney’s best efforts were on her 1985 debut album. I’m sorry to tell you this, but a large percentage of music collectors prefer 60s, 70s, and 80s music to 90s.

Pop-rap, modern adult contemporary, New Jack Swing, and house music were all music genres that were born in the 1980s. So, to 80s fans (early and most late Xers), pop-rap, modern AC, and house music are “80s”. The 90s are often referred to as “The Depressing Decade” by 80s fans because of the records released by Nirvana, Tupac, and Biggie all throughout the 90s. 80s fans usually choose to focus on only the negative about the 90s so they can say the 80s were a better time than the 1990s. The 80s fans I’ve come across see the year 1990 as a “watered down 1989” and 1991 as “the year the 90s started in”. 

I grew up in the 80s and I never found them to be all that special. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
 
Millennials, on the other hand, enjoy talking about the debut of Britney Spears’ first single because the late 90s were their time.

I’ll clear this up for you:

1977 = Best year in music for early Gen Xers

1989 = Best year in music for late Gen Xers/Xennials

1998 = Best year in music for Millennials

The albums sold on the dates between those times were all take-it or leave-it for the three generations. The Michael Jackson’s 90s work was horrible to early Gen Xers because it was made after Michael was known to the world as The King of Pop and Mariah Carey and Celine Dion were boring musical artists to late Xers and Xennials who own the third and fourth Janet Jackson studio albums. Boomers, Xers, Xennials, and some Millennials will all tell you that Whitney’s best efforts were on her 1985 debut album. I’m sorry to tell you this, but a large percentage of music collectors prefer 60s, 70s, and 80s music to 90s.


I definitely also see 1968 as the best year in music for Boomers based on your scale, even if many believe 1966, 1967, or 1969 are better. I'll bet 2010 for "Zennials" and early Gen Zers due to the peak of electrpop/Lady Gaga around that time. That said, I still take word that the '90s were when pop music all went downhill. Still, many people don't rank 1989 as one of the best years of music. 1977 is indeed one of the better years (peak of punk, last year of disco before it sold out along with funk still being popular on its own, progressive rock still popular, and some romantic ballads). 1998 was the best year of Nu Metal, while urban/R&B/hip hop was at its best, and was a fun year for pop music. But 1989 often gets a bad rap due to the bad glam metal scene, Milli Vanilli, NKOTB (watered down from New Edition), Paula Abdul being a watered down Janet Jackson/Madonna clone, S-A-W pop at its worst, synthpop/new wave dead outside of The Cure and The B-52's, and others. It wasn't as bad as 1988 or 1990, but many agree that the best year for '80s music was either 1982, 1983, or 1984 from the many sites I've seen.

That said, the '90s are slow to gain acceptance on classic hits radio stations compared to previous decades, mostly due to the changing listening habits and more fractured formats of that era, and the pigeonholing of the grunge/teen pop with a side of gangsta rap and house/eurodance doesn't paint a complete picture. Alternative music was at a new high, and of course, not everyone has listened to everything produced from then, and you even had all this world music suddenly accessible everywhere. Underground club music was still very popular in its niche, as was very minigenres from acidjazz to thrash metal to rock-rap. Nostalgia was also quite strong during the decade itself, and thus you hear stories about how many people were "stuck" in the '60s/'70s and not giving the-then current '90s stuff a chance, leading them to fall out of touch to what really was new, and people who discover this stuff still laugh about what kind of music this is. In the '80s, everyone had time to turn off the oldies station and give the MTV-era stuff a chance, but with MTV in the '90s gradually focusing away from music, it turned those casual listeners off. It hasn't gained classic status the way a lot of movies, TV shows, comedians, video games, and even toys from that decade have.

The 90's are commonly regarded as the decade music forgot.  There weren't many hits, and not even many #1 singles.  These days, everyone focuses on the 60's.  And the 80's.  Artists like TLC, GemmyBob, and Cher are largely forgotten.  Can someone please confirm whether or not Backstreet Boys started in the 90's or the 10's?  I hear conflicting reports.

I definitely also see 1968 as the best year in music for Boomers based on your scale, even if many believe 1966, 1967, or 1969 are better. I'll bet 2010 for "Zennials" and early Gen Zers due to the peak of electrpop/Lady Gaga around that time. That said, I still take word that the '90s were when pop music all went downhill. Still, many people don't rank 1989 as one of the best years of music. 1977 is indeed one of the better years (peak of punk, last year of disco before it sold out along with funk still being popular on its own, progressive rock still popular, and some romantic ballads). 1998 was the best year of Nu Metal, while urban/R&B/hip hop was at its best, and was a fun year for pop music. But 1989 often gets a bad rap due to the bad glam metal scene, Milli Vanilli, NKOTB (watered down from New Edition), Paula Abdul being a watered down Janet Jackson/Madonna clone, S-A-W pop at its worst, synthpop/new wave dead outside of The Cure and The B-52's, and others. It wasn't as bad as 1988 or 1990, but many agree that the best year for '80s music was either 1982, 1983, or 1984 from the many sites I've seen.

That said, the '90s are slow to gain acceptance on classic hits radio stations compared to previous decades, mostly due to the changing listening habits and more fractured formats of that era, and the pigeonholing of the grunge/teen pop with a side of gangsta rap and house/eurodance doesn't paint a complete picture. Alternative music was at a new high, and of course, not everyone has listened to everything produced from then, and you even had all this world music suddenly accessible everywhere. Underground club music was still very popular in its niche, as was very minigenres from acidjazz to thrash metal to rock-rap. Nostalgia was also quite strong during the decade itself, and thus you hear stories about how many people were "stuck" in the '60s/'70s and not giving the-then current '90s stuff a chance, leading them to fall out of touch to what really was new, and people who discover this stuff still laugh about what kind of music this is. In the '80s, everyone had time to turn off the oldies station and give the MTV-era stuff a chance, but with MTV in the '90s gradually focusing away from music, it turned those casual listeners off. It hasn't gained classic status the way a lot of movies, TV shows, comedians, video games, and even toys from that decade have.


I never even knew that people viewed 1989 negatively.

By what I have seen on here and on other websites, it seems to be praised, especially when it came to movies.

Celine Dion’s English-language studio first album hit the United States in the wrong period. The early 90s were the time when almost every guy thought they were the king of cool (“too hype”/“badd”) and women wanted to dress like Paula, but dance like Janet. Fido Dido shirts, posters,commercials, and the CBS Saturday morning bumpers from ‘91 to ‘92 really represent the early 1990s perfectly when you think about it. Celine’s sound did not fit in well with the other sounds on the radio at the time.

Some of my female friends don’t like Mariah Carey, to this day, because of all of the oversinging and screaming in her songs. We all agreed that “Hero” by her was one of the worst songs of the 90s. That one went on forever.  Janet’s work in ‘93 was not any better, but I’ll take it over “Hero” any time.

1991-1992 and 1995-1996 were really solid years for music. The best after 1983, imo.

The people who mostly miss 90s music are millennials and younger xers so that's why rap, grunge and pop is mainly discussed because those genres have a large teen audience. New Jack Swing, Neo Soul and Nu metal also had a presence in the 90s. The 90s had a lot of diversity in music but it was very segregated because rock was (and still is seen as white boy music), rap while had a growing white audience was still mainly seen as a genre for inner city Blacks and Hispanics.

Pop-rap, modern adult contemporary, New Jack Swing, and house music were all music genres that were born in the 1980s. So, to 80s fans (early and most late Xers), pop-rap, modern AC, and house music are “80s”. The 90s are often referred to as “The Depressing Decade” by 80s fans because of the records released by Nirvana, Tupac, and Biggie all throughout the 90s. 80s fans usually choose to focus on only the negative about the 90s so they can say the 80s were a better time than the 1990s. The 80s fans I’ve come across see the year 1990 as a “watered down 1989” and 1991 as “the year the 90s started in”. 

I grew up in the 80s and I never found them to be all that special. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
 
Millennials, on the other hand, enjoy talking about the debut of Britney Spears’ first single because the late 90s were their time.

I’ll clear this up for you:

1977 = Best year in music for early Gen Xers

1989 = Best year in music for late Gen Xers/Xennials

1998 = Best year in music for Millennials

The albums sold on the dates between those times were all take-it-or-leave-it for the three generations. The Michael Jackson’s 90s work was horrible to early Gen Xers because it was made after Michael was known to the world as The King of Pop and Mariah Carey and Celine Dion were boring musical artists to late Xers and Xennials who own the third and fourth Janet Jackson studio albums. Boomers, Xers, Xennials, and some Millennials will all tell you that Whitney’s best efforts were on her 1985 debut album. I’m sorry to tell you this, but a large percentage of music collectors prefer the 60s, 70s, and 80s music to 90s.
Are you sure? Last time I checked, the majority of music on the charts were not by Nirvana, Tupac, and Biggie. For one gangsta rap and grunge were underground at best and the only people who listened to those sub-genres at the time were black and white young people. As I mentioned before, there is no way older people would have jammed to songs that discussed violence, suicide, and drugs as the content provided. They most likely would have listened to tracks that were relevant to them and more family oriented that their kids would have enjoyed.


That said, the '90s are slow to gain acceptance on classic hits radio stations compared to previous decades, mostly due to the changing listening habits and more fractured formats of that era, and the pigeonholing of the grunge/teen pop with a side of gangsta rap and house/Eurodance doesn't paint a complete picture. Alternative music was at a new high, and of course, not everyone has listened to everything produced from then, and you even had all this world music suddenly accessible everywhere. Underground club music was still very popular in its niche, as was very minigenres from acid jazz to thrash metal to rock-rap. Nostalgia was also quite strong during the decade itself, and thus you hear stories about how many people were "stuck" in the '60s/'70s and not giving the-then current '90s stuff a chance, leading them to fall out of touch to what really was new, and people who discover this stuff still laugh about what kind of music this is. In the '80s, everyone had time to turn off the oldies station and give the MTV-era stuff a chance, but with MTV in the '90s gradually focusing away from music, it turned those casual listeners off. It hasn't gained classic status the way a lot of movies, TV shows, comedians, video games, and even toys from that decade have.
It's really a shame because the 90s had a large variety of music that had an audience for everyone whether it was House, NJS, Alternative, Hip-Hop, adult contemporary etc. It felt like no one was left out and had something that directly spoke to them. I hope 90s music gains classic status one day.


The people who mostly miss 90s music are millennials and younger Xers so that's why rap, grunge, and pop are mainly discussed because those genres have a large teen audience. New Jack Swing, Neo Soul, and Nu-metal also had a presence in the 90s. The 90s had a lot of diversity in music but it was very segregated because Rock was (and still is seen as white boy music), rap while had a growing white audience was still mainly seen as a genre for inner-city Blacks and Hispanics.
I agree with the last statement that Rock and Rap were segregated (and somewhat still is today) which is a reason why most of the latter wasn't on the charts. Its also true the 90s had diversity in music, but why do people assume that the music during that era only targeted young people? There were a ton of tracks that was for everyone regardless of age such as adult contemporary, house music, R&B/NJS, Ballads, and much more.

Are you sure? Last time I checked, the majority of music on the charts were not by Nirvana, Tupac, and Biggie. For one gangsta rap and grunge were underground at best and the only people who listened to those sub-genres at the time were black and white young people. As I mentioned before, there is no way older people would have jammed to songs that discussed violence, suicide, and drugs as the content provided. They most likely would have listened to tracks that were relevant to them and more family oriented that their kids would have enjoyed.
It's really a shame because the 90s had a large variety of music that had an audience for everyone whether it was House, NJS, Alternative, Hip-Hop, adult contemporary etc. It felt like no one was left out and had something that directly spoke to them. I hope 90s music gains classic status one day.
I agree with the last statement that Rock and Rap were segregated (and somewhat still is today) which is a reason why most of the latter wasn't on the charts. Its also true the 90s had diversity in music, but why do people assume that the music during that era only targeted young people? There were a ton of tracks that was for everyone regardless of age such as adult contemporary, house music, R&B/NJS, Ballads, and much more.


While I agree that pop and rnb were bigger than grunge and gangsta rap, I wouldn't say they were underground. The grunge scene and gangsta rap scene were definitely mainstream. Trap is mainly a young people thing right now. Doesn't make it any less visible.

While I agree that pop and RnB were bigger than grunge and gangsta rap, I wouldn't say they were underground. The grunge scene and gangsta rap scene were definitely mainstream. The trap is mainly a young people thing right now. Doesn't make it any less visible.
So it was more like 50/50 then. I can understand that since young people at the time would have heard those songs in concerts, clubs, house parties etc. where they had a presence, but not so much on the mainstream radio where everything else was played. That's how I got my decent share of listening to gangsta rap during that period.