Tom Dunne: Why the 1990s was the best decade for music, bar none
Portishead, Nirvana and Radiohead were among the artists who gave us incredible albums in the 1990s.
Hot takes: who doesn’t love them? As winter gets ever closer and a small group of people who live in a permanent state of either looking forward to Christmas or being sorry it’s over, become ever more agitated, I have this to keep you warm: The 1990s was the music decade.
The ’60s were magical, the ’70s both very good and very bad, the ’80s at times too close to a prolonged bad coming of age movie, but the’ 90s, oh my God! It is the decade where music as we know it came of age. It is the boss, the King, the supreme being of music.
A lot in there I admit, and I’m not dismissing entire generations, genres, movements, ground-breaking albums, not to mention the entire post punk 1979 explosion of excellence – Costello, The Jam, The Clash, Joy Division – but I am qualifying it. It was great, but it was all leading to the ’90s.
It is no accident that it is the last decade that rock music and its associated branches enjoy cultural dominance. R&B and hip hop take over from here. By the end of the ’90s, rock/pop had done its job. It had peaked. All that was left was self-conscious self-reference.
So, before we continue, some respect: The ’60s were magical. Young artists expressed themselves in a way never seen before. Pioneers emerged who toyed with the idea of what was possible in a recording studio. Taboos were blown out of the water. Optimism and the sense of what was possible grew exponentially.
The ’70s had many a misstep: It got bloated. There was the awfulness of bands like Mud, and movements like prog rock. It was saved by many things - songwriters, Bowie and notably punk – and when it recovered it was magnificent.
It set up the early ’80s and The Smiths, but in retrospect a lot of that ’80s output looks quite earnest. It has awful moments – Stock, Aiken and Waterman – and was particularly blighted by fashion choices. Hard to remember the music without the hair, make up and shoulder pads. And, as for the ladies..
The ’90s start with a bang. Nirvana are a once in a generation band, another generational palate cleanser. There is before ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and after it. At first it looks like Kurt and his mates are outliers, as in the UK, The Wedding Present, Happy Mondays, Stereo MCs, Sugar and Teenage Fanclub continue apace.
But then 1994 arrives. It might be mainly remembered for the Blur v Oasis debate, but that does it a great disservice, there is so much more to the ’90s.
So strap in: 1994, alone, produces amazing albums by, Oasis, Blur, Beastie Boys, Nirvana, Portishead, Suede, Nick Cave, Massive Attack, Pulp, Stone Roses, Pearl Jam, Manic Street Preachers, Public Enemy and REM.
New talents arrive like The Verve, The Prodigy, Beck, DJ Shadow, Super Furry Animals, Green Day, Nas, Supergrass, Tricky, Soundgarden and Jeff Buckley.
Circling we also have Paul Weller, PJ Harvey, De la Soul, Bjork, Elastika, Blue Tones, Ash, Orbital, Lemonheads, Underworld, Fugees, Mogwai, Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Eels, Cornershop and Wilco.
Johnny Cash records the first in his career defining American Recordings. U2 will discover irony and deliver their best ever album, Achtung Baby. By 1997 we will be spoiling ourselves with Urban Hymns and OK Computer in the same year!
How did it all get so good? There are, I think, a few reasons. Beats have become incredibly sophisticated. People like Massive Attack are producing rhythm tracks the likes of which have rarely been heard before. Plus computers have delivered that ’60s dream, of being able to use the studio like it is an instrument itself, into the hands of all.
Live-wise, with samples and a drummer playing to a click track, those effects are easily reproduced on tour. Bands can tour albums as complex as Tears for Fears’ Sowing The Seeds (1997) with relative ease.
Sampling too has become commonplace. It is now as much a part of an artist’s palate as a guitar or keyboard.
And all this technology is in the hands of a generation that has grown up on what is now over 30 years of recorded, modern music. They are the equivalent of the “digitally native” generation of today, except it is a world of genius music they have grown up on, not mobile phones.
The 1990s is the first genuine grown up music decade. Go on then, discuss.
