Your grandparents had the 1940s and your parents had the 1970s but for many of us, the golden era of music was in the 1990s! Yes, spanning for ten glorious years, that decade was packed with a wide range of talented artists who generated enough classic hits to last us a lifetime.
Whether people were fans of Hip-Hop, R&B, Country, Rock or Dance, their appetites for good music were kept satisfied throughout the 1990s era, thanks to a generation of artists who were all at their creative peaks. Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, The Notorious B.I.G. and many other icons of that period etched their names into the history books forever, and today Way Back Wednesday will show you how they did it.
So, watch some of the greatest 1990s artists perform their memorable hits below:
Aaliyah – ‘If Your Girl Only Knew’
Celine Dion – ‘My Heart Will Go On’
Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg – ‘Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang’
Fugees – Medley
Janet Jackson – ‘That’s the Way Love Goes’/’If’
Mariah Carey – ‘Honey’
Mary J. Blige – ‘Real Love’
R. Kelly – ‘Bump n’ Grind’
Spice Girls – ‘Say You’ll Be There’
The Notorious B.I.G, Lil Kim & Junior Mafia – Medley
Toni Braxton – ‘Breathe Again’
Whitney Houston & Wyclef Jean – ‘Until You Come Back’/’My Love is Your Love’
If somebody would have predicted 15 years ago that the industry today would be plagued with so much garbage music and untalented artists then I would have labelled them a dirty liar who watches kiddy porn. However, the greatness of the 1990s is now just a fairytale that we talk about while talking to young children.
What went wrong? How did the landscape of music change do drastically? The answer to those questions can be found by addressing the rise of file sharing on the internet, the economic downturn of the mid-2000s and the push by label executives to promote marketable “artists” instead of those with actual talent.
Just look at the careers of the surviving acts listed above and its obvious that their declines coincide with the changes in the industry climate. Now, we a forced to live with Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and their peers telling us that ringtones are “classics”. Does anybody have a time machine that I can borrow?
Who was your favourite 1990s artist? Who was best artist of those listed above? Vote in our Way Back Wednesday poll and share your opinion below!