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A Look Back at 1991

Posted at 12:17 PM on October 21, 2011 by Peter Valelly (7 Comments)

A look back at 1991

When we at the Current were prepping our celebration of the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's Nevermind, we noticed something that hadn't occurred to us—that Nevermind was released on the same day as the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Someone else pointed out that A Tribe Called Quest's seminal and superb The Low End Theory was also released that same day. Twenty years later, with Nirvana's stature in rock history firmly in place, the remembrance and reflection around Nevermind is certainly deserved, but the fact is that it was just one of many important, interesting, influential, excellent or otherwise notable albums to come out that fall.


I'm not gonna lie: I was four years old in 1991, so my mental image of the year's role in music history is heavily skewed by the ways it's been remembered and referenced years—and now decades—after the fact. But after scouring Wikiepdia (and Spotify) for research and chatting with older members of The Current staff, I was amazed to discover how much important music came out that year. So while Nevermind may have, on its own, been responsible for a major shift in the musical landscape—see Jim McGuinn's recent essay on the album for an excellent and eloquent invocation of this change by someone who, you know, actually lived through it—1991 was an amazingly fertile time for change across the musical spectrum. So let's travel back, and take a look at some of the music that made 1991 so special.


The Rise of Grunge

Nevermind wasn't the only harbinger of the breakthrough of alternative rock and the rise of grunge. Pearl Jam's debut album, Ten came out just a month earlier. Although, like Nevermind, its sales would take a while to get going, it would actually wind up outselling Nirvana's album within a year and a half (twenty years later, domestic sales figures have roughly evened out, with both records certified diamond by the RIAA). Soundgarden's third album, Badmotorfinger, meanwhile, was released only a couple of weeks after Nevermind, and it would become another touchstone of the rising grunge movement (although its eventual chart success was modest compared to Nirvana and Pearl Jam). Another Seattle grunge band, Mudhoney, put out one of their best albums earlier that summer with Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge.

Of course, the rise of grunge also meant the end of hair metals' reign—and sure enough, 1991 was the year that '80s hard-rock icons Guns 'N Roses' career began to decline. Sales and critical reception for their two Use Your Illusion albums (released one week before Nevermind) were still fairly strong, but the indulgent quasi-double-album format and their sprawling, less-hard-rockin' and more eclectic sound were harbingers of the band's impending downfall with "The Spaghetti Incident?" and the fifteen-year wait for Chinese Democracy.


The Rest of Rock

Grunge wasn't the only sound coming out of the alternative rock scene in the early '90s of course. Across the pond, U2 reinvented themselves with the eclectic and experimental Achtung Baby to massive success, with the album and its singles topping charts across the world and landing on many critics' year-end lists. 1991 was also the year that Blur released their debut album Leisure, as well as the year Teenage Fanclub put out their landmark record Bandwagonesque. Primal Scream also put out a widely admired and respected album with their dance-rock fusion opus Screamadelica.


In the U.S., '80s college rock vets R.E.M. found their biggest audience yet, as their single "Losing My Religion" became a global smash hit (as did their album Out of Time). 1991 also saw the popuarity of the power-pop stylings of Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend and the weird, mischeivous lo-fi rock of Ween's The Pod.


Hip-Hop Comes of Age

1991 was also a great year for hip-hop, with a diversity of sounds and regional scenes flourishing and coexisting. A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory marked the maturation of the playful, jazz and funk-influenced style of hip-hop's Native Tongues collective, a loose-knit coalition of artists including not only Tribe but De La Soul. De La Soul Is Dead, that group's second album released in the spring of '91, was a sarcastic, sprawling record that sought to undermine De La's "hippie" image. Public Enemy had a number of classical albums under their belt by 1991, and while arguments rage to this day over whether Apocalypse '91... The Enemy Strikes Back is one of the band's masterpieces, there's no denying the brute force of the album's awesome single "Shut 'Em Down" (and its remix by Pete Rock).


1991 also saw the debut album from 2Pac, as well as both EP and full-length releases from his West-Coast compadres Digital Underground. Ice Cube continued his solo career with Death Certificiate, while the remaining members of NWA continued on without him, putting out their final release, N*****z4life. Ice Cube's cousin, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, released an underground Bay Area hip-hop classic with I Wish My Brother George Was Here. Nas, who three years later would release the stone-cold East Cost rap classic Illmatic, made his very first appearance on the track "Live at the Barbecue" from hip-hop group Main Source's great, if neglected, album Breaking Atoms.


Fringe Sounds

Of course, there are plenty of albums that had modest to non-existent chart performance, but later went on to be recognized by critics and fans as cult classics, lost masterpieces or innovative game-changers. One of these is My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, released in November 1991. Although it was the culmination of the UK's shoegaze movement, and was lauded by British critics when it appeared, Loveless peaked at 24 on the British album charts and failed to chart at all in the United States. Today, the album is recognized as an ahead-of-its-time magnum opus by many fans and continues to be cited as an influence by indie bands worldwide.


Meanwhile, the Kentucky quintet Slint released Spiderland, an album that became a touchstone of post-rock. The British band Talk Talk were most successful during the '80s as a synth-pop act, but their dark, experimental 1991 release Laughing Stock also contributed to the rise of post-rock, and is still cited today as an influence (Radiohead, for example, had Laughing Stock session violist Levine Andrade arrange the strings on their 2011 track "Codex"). Similarly, Massive Attack's debut album Blue Lines featured a sound so new that it didn't have a name at the time, though the album's intoxicating fusion of dub, electronica and hip-hop is recognized today as the primary progenitor of the '90s trip-hop sound.



Now, we've covered only a fraction of what came out in 1991, so the rest is up to you. Tell us—what are we missing? What's the most overrated album of 1991? What are that year's unfairly neglected classics? What's aged well, and what hasn't? What were the best shows you saw in 1991? Let us know in the comments section below!






(Text by Peter Valelly; images by Phillip Drier)


Comments (7)

"Sailing the Seas of Cheese" from Primus came out that year. I had to pull over the car the first time I heard Tommy the Cat on the college radio station (KRNU 90.3 in Lincoln, NE) because the sound was different than anything else going on at the time.

I think I had a stupid grin on my face the whole time it was playing.

Posted by Michael | October 21, 2011 3:03 PM

Uncle Tupelo put out Still Feel Gone that September. Their song, "Gun," put them on my metal-head radar. I remember finding the tape left inside the dishroom boombox at work and playing it over and over again while washing plates and sundae glasses. I love that album. Jay Farrar is my favorite songwriter to this day. (Jeff Tweedy ain't too shabby, either [understatement]).

Screaming Trees put out Uncle Anesthesia very early in the year, as well. Also a good album - not quite the caliber of Dust or Sweet Oblivion - but still good.

P.S. God Bless the Current for finding a frequency to call home! Congrats on another successful member drive.

Posted by Tom Bob | October 21, 2011 6:28 PM

read.

Posted by ltothekuhniswhatitis | October 22, 2011 4:44 AM

I had moved to River Falls in May of 1991. I instantly fell in love with KJ 104. As the year wore on, that station was in the right place at the right time. They played all the modern rock releases as they came out; one by one. Sadly the station was forced off the air in September 1992. Nevertheless, I was so glad the station was around for all of 1991. It was an amazing year for music! Also, the decline of KJ 104, and later, REV 105, were reasons I became a founding member, and sustainer of the Current. For all we know...2012 could be the next historical year for music!

Posted by Ted Griner | October 22, 2011 4:37 PM

Orbital's first full length, self titled, album came out in '91. True pioneers of the current electronica scene.

Also, the album "God Fodder" by Ned's Atomic Dustbin came out in '91. "Kill Your Television" & "Grey Cell Green" were huge hits!

Don't forget about Metallica's self titled album (aka...The Black Album). Sure was a great year for music!

p.s. I too would love to give kudo's to KJ104. Great station back in the day.

Posted by Jamie Hmielak | October 22, 2011 5:57 PM

No love for Red Hot Chili Peppers and "Blood Sugar Sex Magik"? My favorite of all-time

Posted by Alex | October 23, 2011 1:54 PM

Smashing Pumpkins - Gish
Luna - Anethesia EP
Galaxie 500 - This is Our Music
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

***can you see where I'm going with this***

Posted by Joy | October 28, 2011 1:12 AM

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