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Pop music in the 90's

Grunge

Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is a subgenre of alternative rock that got success in the 90's in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and alternative rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song dynamics, "growling" vocals and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics. The grunge aesthetic is stripped-down compared with other forms of rock music, and many grunge musicians were noted for their unkempt appearances and rejection of theatrics.

The most important rock band was Nirvana, but there were others like Pearl Jam or Sound Garden

Nirvana - Smell like a teen spirit

 

Pearl Jam - Even flow

Sound Garden - Black Hole Sun

Pop-Punk

Pop punk (also known as pop-punk or punk-pop) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music to varying degrees. The music typically combines fast punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars with pop-influenced melodies and lyrical themes. It was stylistically similar to power pop. It's a strand of alternative rock that typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk rock tempos, chord changes and loud guitars.

Green Day - American Idiot

The Offspring - Pretty Fly

The Offspring - Self-esteem

Blink-182 - All the small things

Brit-Pop

Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s, taking as reference rock bands like The Beatles or the Rolling Stones. The movement developed as a reaction against the grunge phenomenon from the United States. They tried to reference British guitar music of the past and writing about uniquely British topics and concerns. They used acoustic guitar, as well as electric, drum set, elec. bass, and sometimes bow instruments, just like the violin and the cello.

Oasis - Wonderwall

Fool's garden - Lemon Tree

Blur - Song 2

Coldplay - Yellow

Vocal Bands

Vocal Bands were the main stream music in the 90's. It was created as a mixed-up from disco, new wave or even techno music. They were the first ones to use the autotune device, and the bands were formed by music industry through a casting. They used electronic instruments, and sometimes a drumset or electric guitar. Each member of the band had a explicit role, to draw the audience's attention. It was a music oriented to teen audience.

NKOTB - Tonight

 

Spice Girls - Wannabe

 

Backstreet Boys - I want it that way

 

Take that - Back for good

 

N'Sync - It's gonna be me

Post - Grunge

After Kurt Cobain's death in 1994, Grunge style had passed. Post-grunge bands emulated the attitudes and music of grunge, particularly its thick, distorted guitars, but with a more radio-friendly commercially-oriented sound. Unlike early grunge bands, they often worked through the major labels and came to incorporate diverse influences like pop punk, ska revival, and slightly different interpretations of alternative metal and hard rock.

Foo Fighters - My hero

 

Creed - One last breath

Audioslave - Like a stone

 

3 doors down - Here without you

 

Matchbox twenty - She's so mean

Indie Rock

Indie Rock (short of Independent music) is music produced independently from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording and publishing. The term indie is sometimes also used to describe a genre (such as indie rock, indie metal or indie pop); as a genre term, "indie" may include music that is not independently produced, and most independent music artists do not fall into a single, defined musical style or genre and usually create music that can be categorized into other genres. Indie rock has been identified as a reaction against the macho culture that developed in alternative rock in the aftermath of Nirvana's success. It has been noted that indie rock has a relatively high proportion of female artists compared with preceding rock genres.

Sonic Youth - Kool thing

My chemical romance - Famous last words

Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses

Tori Amos - Winter

Nu Metal

System of a down - Chop Suey!

Nu metal (also known as new metal, neo-metal, nü-metal, or aggro-metal is a subgenre of alternative metal that fuses elements of heavy metal music with those of multiple other genres, most notably ones like hip hop, funk, and grunge.

Bands associated with nu metal have derived influence from a variety of diverse styles, including multiple subgenres of heavy metal. Nu metal music is largely syncopated and based on guitar riffs, although guitar solos are rare. Many nu metal bands use seven-string guitars with a low "B" to create a heavier sound. DJs are also sometimes used for rhythmic scratching and electronic backgrounds. Nu metal vocal styles range between singing, rapping, screaming and growling.

In 1997, nu metal was beginning to rise in popularity. 1998 is generally recognized as the year nu metal broke into the mainstream. In the late 1990s, some bands were blending nu metal with other genres (e.g., industrial metal). In 2002, critics began claiming that nu metal's mainstream popularity was declining, but some bands still had commercial success. By the mid 2000s, metalcore was the most popular genre within the New Wave of American Heavy Metal. During this period, many nu metal bands experimented with other genres and sounds. In the 2010s, despite a lack of radio play and mainstream popularity, some nu metal bands still had critical and commercial success.

Rage against the machine - Bulls in parade

Marilyn Manson - The beautiful people

Experimental music

Muse - Knights of Cydonia

 

Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique. The origins of this style are symphonic rock and psychedelic rock. Some of the more common techniques include:

  •    Extended techniques

  •    Prepared instruments—ordinary instruments modified in their tuning.

  •    Unconventional playing techniques.

  •    Extended vocal techniques.

  •    Incorporation of instruments, tunings, rhythms or scales from non-Western musical traditions.

  •    Use of sound sources other than conventional musical instruments.

  •    Use of dissonance, atonality and noise

  •    Use of electronic devices, digital manipulations and modular synthesizers

Muse - Exogenesis Symphony Part III

 

Radiohead - How to disappear completely

 

Radiohead - Climbing up the walls

Dance Pop

Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that got success in the late 1990's. Developing from post-disco and synthpop, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Dance-pop music is generally characterised by strong beats with easy, uncomplicated song structures which are generally more similar to pop music than the more free-form dance genre, with an emphasis on melody as well as catchy tunes. The genre, on the whole, tends to be producer-driven, despite some notable exceptions. At the beginning of the 2000s, dance-pop music was still prominent, and highly electronic in style, influenced by genres such as house and techno. Nonetheless, as R&B and hip hop became extremely popular from the early part of the decade onwards, dance-pop often borrowed a lot of its influences from urban music.

 

 

 

Britney Spears - Baby, one more time

 

Christina Aguilera - Genie in a bottle

Justin Timberlake - Cry me a river

 

Kylie Minogue - Can't get you out of my head

Teen Pop

Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards preteens and teenagers. Teen pop copies genres and styles such as pop, dance, R&B, hip hop, country and rock. Typical characteristics of teen pop music include auto-tuned vocals, choreographed dancing, emphasis on visual appeal (photogenic faces, unique body physiques, immaculately attended hair and designer clothes), lyrics focused on teenage issues such as (sexual/emotional) love/relationships, finding yourself, friendships, coming of age, fitting in, and growing up, regardless of the artists' age and repeated chorus lines along with a generally happy tune in the background. Since the mid 2000s, many teen stars have developed careers through their involvement with Disney, like singer-songwriters Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers, although some did many years before that. Other teen pop stars emerged by 2007, such as American Idol winner Jordin Sparks and Nickelodeon stars Victoria Justice and Miranda Cosgrove.

Hannah Montana - Nobody's perfect

Jonas Brothers - SOS

 

Avril Lavigne - Complicated

 

Tokio Hotel - World behind my wall

 

Rock Revival

The Killers - When you were young

Arctic Monkeys - Do I wanna know?

In the early 2000s, a new group of bands that played a stripped down and back-to-basics version of guitar rock, emerged into the mainstream. They were variously characterised as part of a garage rock, post-punk or new wave revival. Because the bands came from across the globe, cited diverse influences (from traditional blues, through New Wave to grunge), and adopted differing styles of dress, their unity as a genre has been disputed. There had been attempts to revive garage rock and elements of punk in the 1980s and 1990s and by 2000 scenes had grown up in several countries.

They use electric guitars, bass and drum set. Sometimes a keyboard, just like in the 70's.

 

 

 

 

 

The Strokes - Reptilia

Linkin Park - Numb

Hip-Hop Revival

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music, or hip-hop music, is a music genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing.The popularity of hip hop music continued through the 2000s. The continuation of hip hop can also be seen in different national contexts: more rhythmical patterns from Africa, and more technology use from US and Japan (known as KPop and JPop). Hip hop has globalized into many cultures worldwide, as evident through the emergence of numerous regional scenes. It has emerged globally as a movement based upon the main tennets of hip hop culture. The music and the art continue to embrace, even celebrate, its transnational dimensions while staying true to the local cultures to which it is rooted. Hip-hop's inspiration differs depending on each culture. Still, the one thing virtually all hip hop artists worldwide have in common is that they acknowledge their debt to those African American people in New York who launched the global movement.

Eminem - Not afraid

Black Eyed Peas - I gotta feeling

David Guetta - Where them girls at

Kayne West - Stronger

Contemporany R'n B

Destiny's child - Say my name

 

Contemporary R&B, also known as R&B, is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, pop, soul, funk, and hip hop. Some sources refer to the style as urban contemporary (the name of the radio format that plays hip hop and contemporary R&B). Contemporary R&B has a polished record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, an occasional saxophone-laced beat to give a jazz feel (mostly common in contemporary R&B songs prior to the year 1995), and a smooth, lush style of vocal arrangement. Electronic influences are becoming an increasing trend, and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness and grit inherent in hip hop may be reduced and smoothed out. Contemporary R&B vocalists are often known for their use of melisma, popularized by vocalists such as Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey.

 

MIchael Jackson - You are not alone

 

Mariah Carey - Hero

 

Mariah Carey - We belong together

 

British Soul

British soul, Brit soul, or the British soul invasion, is soul music performed by British artists. Soul has been a major influence on British popular music since the 1960s, and American soul was extremely popular among some youth subcultures, such as mods, skinheads, and the northern soul movement. In the 1970s, soul gained more mainstream popularity in the UK during the disco era.However, a clear genre of British soul did not emerge until the 1980s, when a number of black and white artists who made soul their major focus, influenced by contemporary R&B, began to enjoy some commercial success. British soul artists began gaining popularity in the United States in the late 2000s, leading to talk of another British Invasion, this time a soul invasion (in contrast to the 1960s rock and 1980s synthpop invasions).

 

 

Amy Winehouse - Back to black

 

Duffy - Mercy

 

Adele - Rolling in the deep

 

Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love

Latin Pop

Latin pop generally refers to pop music that has what may be perceived a Latin influence. Geographically, it could refer to pop music from Latin America or Latin Europe (Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Romania). It was a develop of the traditional music for these countries, mixed up with the urban music, specially techno music and hip-hop. Like new wave and dance pop, it's a high commercial music. In addition to the rock instruments, you can often find latin instruments, like spanish guitar, requinto, differents size of drums, tambourines, timpani and a lot of small percussion (triangle, claves, güiro). There are also brass instruments like trumpets and trombones. Normally, it's a very danceable music. This style uses other latin styles like tango, bachata, merengue, reggaeton or vallenato.

 

Shakira - Hips don't lie

Marc Anthony - I need to know

Ricky Martin - Pegate

Mana - Corazon Espinado

Alejandro Sanz & Shakira - La Tortura

Ricky Martin - Livin la vida loca

Santana - Maria Maria

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