The 1990s

The 1990s

1. Genres

   • Rock and indie
     • Typical rock band lineup with occasional vocals and keyboards.
     • Guitars act as main harmony instrument and are fairly light in tone with jangly arpeggios.
     • Long, loosely structured songs like extended jams.
     • Solos and backing vocals are less important to the music.
     • The Smiths, Blur, The Stone Roses
   • Britpop
     • Oasis, Blur and Menswear
     • Emphasis of British working class life and culture
     • Melodic, guitar based tunes, often reminiscent of the Beatles.
   • More dance styles
     • Chillout
     • Ambient
     • Trip hop
     • Acid house
     • Use more down tempo beats and thinly spaced textures.
   • Electronica/New Age
     • Down tempo music
     • Fuses features of jazz, dance music and other elements of popular genres
     • Modal harmonies and a mixture of synths and acoustic instruments
     • Peaceful atmosphere often used to inspire feelings of optimism, calm, relaxation and artistic inspiration
     • Can be used for yoga or meditation
     • Steven Halpern's album is said to be the kickstarter for this genre.

2. Manufactured pop

   • Artist/band created by a record company
   • The company can make and retain most of the profit made from the music.
   • One Direction, Girls Aloud, Olly Murs, The Spice Girls
   • Exemplary definition used is often The Monkees

3. Technology

   • In 1991 the World Wide Web was publicised by CERN which had a huge impact on the music industry (Youtube is the main site for finding music videos for independent and mainstream bands).
   • In 1995 DVD became an accepted standard.
   • In 1997 the first mp3 format came online.
   • In 1998 the first 24-bit recording was made.