{"id":322870,"date":"2021-08-12T15:00:04","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T12:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-rock-ruled-in-1991-and-why-its-dead-30-years-later\/"},"modified":"2021-08-12T15:00:04","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T12:00:04","slug":"how-rock-ruled-in-1991-and-why-its-dead-30-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-rock-ruled-in-1991-and-why-its-dead-30-years-later\/","title":{"rendered":"#How rock ruled in 1991 \u2014 and why it’s dead 30 years later"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#How rock ruled in 1991 \u2014 and why it’s dead 30 years later<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

In 1991, rock was on such a roll that Nirvana\u2019s \u201cNevermind,\u201d the Red Hot Chili Peppers\u2019 \u201cBlood Sugar Sex Magik\u201d and Soundgarden\u2019s \u201cBadmotorfinger\u201d \u2014 now considered classic albums of the era \u2014 all came out on the very same day: Sept. 24.<\/p>\n

The week before that, Guns N\u2019 Roses dropped not one but two blockbuster LPs: \u201cUse Your Illusion I\u201d and \u201cII.\u201d And in the previous month, two monster rock albums arrived in Pearl Jam\u2019s \u201cTen\u201d and Metallica\u2019s self-titler, known as \u201cThe Black Album,\u201d which turns 30 on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Add to that other seminal 1991 albums by the likes of R.E.M. (\u201cOut of Time\u201d) and U2 (\u201cAchtung Baby\u201d) \u2014 not to mention the first Lollapalooza 30 summers ago \u2014 and there\u2019s no doubt that it was a golden age for the genre.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, there was something in the water,\u201d said Lyndsey Parker, host of SiriusXM\u2019s \u201cVolume West.\u201d\u00a0\u201cI think MTV had a lot to do with it. They were still playing a lot of videos, and \u2018120 Minutes\u2019 and \u2018Headbanger\u2019s Ball\u2019 were getting behind a lot of newer rock bands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Metallica\"
Metalliica bangs heads on the Monsters of Rock tour in 1991.<\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\u201cUnfortunately rock music kind of became known to Gen Z and millennials as their parents\u2019 music. It\u2019s the old people\u2019s music now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyndsey Parker, host of SiriusXM\u2019s \u201cVolume West.\u201d<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

That year was a perfect storm of metal, alternative rock and grunge that all came together to dominate the music industry. While today\u2019s rock seems all but dead in a sea of pop and hip-hop,\u00a0three decades ago it was the force of youthful rebellion and culture-moving creativity.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery 10 or 15 years, a new generation comes along, and it wants something for itself, and [rock] was really ripe in that particular year. The size of the songs were just indestructible,\u201d added Ronen Givony, author of the 2020 book \u201cNot For You: Pearl Jam and the Present Tense.\u201d<\/a> \u201cAll of these things crystallized that had been really bubbling up for a few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billboard deputy editor Andrew Unterberger told The Post that the year was a \u201ccrossroads in rock history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were coming off of the metal and hard-rock dominance of the late \u201980s, with hair metal sort of being the dominant strain of rock music. But alternative rock is kind of mounting its charge. By 1992, it\u2019s a done deal, and alternative is the thing for the rest of the decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nirvana\"
Nirvana led the grunge movement with \u201cNevermind\u201d in 1991.<\/figcaption>
ullstein bild via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Axl
Axl Rose and Slash powered Guns n\u2019 Roses to a double hit with \u201cUse Your Illusion I\u201d and \u201cII.\u201d<\/figcaption>
WireImage<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The big rock bang in 1991 began that March when R.E.M. released\u00a0\u201cOut of Time,\u201d the group\u2019s best-selling album, which also featured its biggest hit, the mandolin-laced \u201cLosing My Religion.\u201d<\/a> Having made their major-label debut with \u201cGreen\u201d in 1988 \u2014 after years of being the kings of college rock \u2014 R.E.M. fully leaned into its mass app<\/a>eal for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Out of Time\u2019 was the hugest record, and I think that laid a lot of groundwork,\u201d said Parker of R.E.M.\u2019s Grammy-winning smash. \u201cThey probably were the most influential in terms of ushering in a post-hair metal world of being not flashy, not sexy, very nerdy, very collegiate. They were a harbinger of things to come.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"R.E.M.\"
Michael Stipe and R.E.M. had a big \u201cOut of Time\u201d moment in 1991.<\/figcaption>
Redferns<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The enigmatic \u201cLosing My Religion\u201d video \u2014 which depicted camera-shy lead singer Michael Stipe<\/a> clad with angel wings \u2014 would win Video of the Year at the VMAs later in 1991, catapulting the band to superstardom. \u201cThroughout most of the \u201980s, Michael Stipe was very steadfast that he wasn\u2019t going to be appearing in music videos, that that wasn\u2019t going to be a part of the R.E.M. experience,\u201d said Unterberger. \u201cHe had sort of an innate underground distrust of MTV and the sort of things that it offered.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for R.E.M. and many other bands, MTV was the driving force in making 1991 such an unforgettable rock blitz. \u201cMTV was still very much at the forefront of music culture and youth culture at that time,\u201d said Parker. <\/p>\n

Like R.E.M., Metallica had been reluctant to go hardcore with MTV before \u201cThe Black Album,\u201d but that all changed with the \u201cEnter Sandman\u201d video<\/a> that helped launch the LP into selling more than 16 million copies in the US alone.<\/p>\n

\"The
Nirvana\u2019s \u201cNevermind\u201d sold over 10 million copies after its September 1991 reelase.<\/figcaption>
Alamy Stock Photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t do music videos for a long time. They were really resistant to it,\u201d said Parker. \u201cThen they got onboard with MTV in a way they absolutely hadn\u2019t before. \u2018Enter Sandman\u2019 was on, like, constantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Pearl Jam\u2019s \u201cJeremy\u201d<\/a> to Nirvana\u2019s \u201cSmells Like Teen Spirit,\u201d<\/a> iconic videos also played a major role in the successes of other rock bands in 1991. Certainly, that was the case for Guns N\u2019 Roses. \u201cThey were sort of the first hard-rock band that dreamed on the same level of, like, a Michael Jackson or a Madonna in terms of these \u00fcber-conceptual videos that a cost a million dollars each and lasted for seven or eight minutes,\u201d said Unterberger, referring to classic clips such as \u201cNovember Rain,\u201d \u201cLive and Let Die\u201d and \u201cKnockin\u2019 on Heaven\u2019s Door.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was so much anticipation for Guns N\u2019 Roses\u2019 follow-up to their mega-selling debut, 1987\u2019s \u201cAppetite for Destruction,\u201d that Axl Rose\u2019s gang decided to release two \u201cUse Your Illusion\u201d albums separately and simultaneously.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of the first real event releases, where people were counting down the days until the albums came out,\u201d said Unterberger. \u201cPeople were lining up around the block at Tower Records at midnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

But with the releases of Pearl Jam\u2019s \u201cTen,\u201d Nirvana\u2019s \u201cNevermind\u201d and Soundgarden\u2019s \u201cBadmotorfinger,\u201d grunge \u2014 which featured sulky, rather than preening, frontmen in oversized clothes, instead of skin-tight leather \u2014\u00a0began to shake up rock. In fact, \u201cNevermind\u201d would go on to out-sell both of Guns N\u2019 Roses\u2019 \u201cUse Your Illusion\u201d albums and have far more cultural impact.<\/p>\n

\"Red
Red Hot Chili Peppers Flea (left) and Anthony Kiedis perform at the first Lollapalooza in 1991.<\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden you have working-class dudes in flannel and jeans who are talking about dysfunction and talking about family and talking about divorce,\u201d said Givony. \u201cBy comparison to what was before it \u2014 Guns N\u2019 Roses, M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce and stuff \u2014 there was just a feeling of working-class authenticity that these guys had that was not common. And there was kind of a political element to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pearl Jam, whose \u201cTen\u201d turns 30 on Aug. 27, won the battle of the Seattle bands commercially, going 13-times platinum. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were really the Cinderella story of that whole class,\u201d said Givony. \u201cThey literally came together just months before [making \u2018Ten\u2019]. It was just one of those things where they got into a studio, and six days later \u2018Ten\u2019 was written.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pearl
Pearl Jam celebrates the 30th anniversary of its massive \u201cTen\u201d debut on Aug. 27.<\/figcaption>
WireImage<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then in November 1991, U2 \u2014 rock gods ever since 1987\u2019s \u201cThe Joshua Tree\u201d \u2014 went alternative with their other masterpiece, \u201cAchtung Baby,\u201d showing those grunge upstarts that they still had plenty of edge and that they weren\u2019t going anywhere. \u201cU2 had sort of gone over the top with \u2018Joshua Tree,\u2019\u201d said Unterberger. \u201cAt a certain point, they kind of had to change the game<\/a> up or else they were gonna become cartoon versions of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, 30 years later, rock has gone quiet in a music landscape ruled by pop and hip-hop. \u201cIt has become a very retro-minded sort of genre at radio,\u201d said Unterberger. \u201cWe don\u2019t really see the breakout bands that we did in 1991.\u201d<\/p>\n
\"U2's
Bono\u2019s U2 reinvented itself with \u201cAchtung Baby\u201d in 1991.<\/figcaption>
Alamy Stock Photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But Givony noted that it was a very different world in the music industry back then: \u201cIt was still a time when MTV, radio, retail \u2014 all of these things were in play that are just no longer [important] now.\u201d Indeed, the very record-store culture that made hardcore rock fans flock to those must-buy 1991 classics \u2014 from all of the merchandise to the cool album covers that made you feel as if you could own a piece of your favorite bands \u2014 isn\u2019t around today.<\/p>\n

Parker said today\u2019s takes on the genre feel too derivative. \u201cI\u2019m sorry \u2014 it\u2019s gonna take more than Greta Van Fleet [who are often compared to Led Zeppelin] to save rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. I think they\u2019re talented, but what they\u2019re doing is so copyist. It\u2019s not innovative. If rock \u2018n\u2019 roll is gonna come back, it\u2019s gonna come back with something that sounds new.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Soundgarden's
Soundgarden, led by the late Chris Cornell, made its grunge breakthrough with \u201cBadmotorfinger\u201d in 1991.<\/figcaption>
FilmMagic<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While rock used to be \u201cthe music that pisses your parents off,\u201d Parker said that now the script has flipped. \u201cUnfortunately rock music kind of became known to Gen Z and millennials as their parents\u2019 music. It\u2019s the old people\u2019s music now.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#How rock ruled in 1991 \u2014 and why it’s dead 30 years later” In 1991, rock was on such a roll that Nirvana\u2019s \u201cNevermind,\u201d the Red Hot Chili Peppers\u2019 \u201cBlood Sugar Sex Magik\u201d and Soundgarden\u2019s \u201cBadmotorfinger\u201d \u2014 now considered classic albums of the era \u2014 all came out on the very same day: Sept. 24….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":322871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/1991ROCKNROLL.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[114047,72626,107983,70845,39579,109433,104996,75230,104466,74479],"class_list":["post-322870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-8-12-21","tag-albums","tag-guns-n-roses","tag-michael-stipe","tag-music","tag-nirvana","tag-pearl-jam","tag-r-e-m","tag-red-hot-chili-peppers","tag-rock-and-roll"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}