Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 1990s continued to develop and diversify. While the singles charts were dominated by
boy bands
A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many ...
and
girl groups
A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...
,
British soul
British soul, Brit soul, or (in a US context) 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 yout ...
and Indian-based music also enjoyed their greatest level of mainstream success to date, and the rise of
World music helped revitalise the popularity of
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
. Electronic rock bands like
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...
and
Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat genre ...
began to achieve a high profile.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
reached the mainstream, emerging from the
Madchester
Madchester was a musical and cultural scene that developed in the English city of Manchester in the late 1980s, closely associated with the indie dance scene. Indie-dance (sometimes referred to as indie-rave) saw artists merging indie music w ...
scene to produce
dream pop
Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such as ...
,
shoegazing
Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...
,
post rock Post Rock may refer to:
* Post-rock, a form of experimental rock music
* Post Rock (South Georgia)
Elsehul (also Paddocks Cove, Else Cove, Elsie Bay, Elsa Bay, Else's Hole, and Else Bay) is a bay along the north coast of South Georgia Island in t ...
and
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...
, which led to the commercial success of
Britpop
Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...
bands like
Blur and
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
; followed by a stream of
post-Britpop
Post-Britpop is an alternative rock subgenre and is the period in the late 1990s and early 2000s, following Britpop, when the media were identifying a "new generation" or "second wave" of guitar bands influenced by acts like Oasis and Blur, but ...
bands like
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
and
The Verve
The Verve were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Wigan in 1990 by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones (musician), Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboard player Simo ...
.
Rock
Madchester
![Happy Mondays June 30 2006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Happy_Mondays_June_30_2006.jpg)
The independent rock scene that had developed in Manchester in the second half of the 1980s, based in
The Haçienda
The Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, North West England, which became famous during the Manchester years of the 1980s and early 1990s. It was run by the record label Factory Records.
The club opened in 1982, eventually ...
nightclub and around
Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus.
The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Durutt ...
, dubbed Madchester, came to national prominence at the end of the decade, with the
Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up was Shaun Ryder (vocals), his brother Paul Ryder ( bass), Gary Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry later joined t ...
, the
Inspiral Carpets
Inspiral Carpets are an English rock band, part of the late-1980s/early-1990s Madchester movement. Formed in Oldham in 1980, the band's most successful lineup featured frontman Tom Hingley, drummer Craig Gill, guitarist Graham Lambert, bassist ...
, and
Stone Roses
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
charting late in 1989.
[V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, ''AllMusic Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), pp. 1346–7.] The scene became the centre of media attention for independent rock in the early 1990s, with bands like
World of Twist
World of Twist were an English indie pop band, formed in Sheffield in 1985.
History
The original line-up of the band consisted of James Fry (vocals), Andrew Hobson (bass guitar), Gordon King (guitar), Tony Ogden (drums), Rory Conolly (saxophon ...
,
New Fast Automatic Daffodils
New Fast Automatic Daffodils (later shortened to New FADS) were an alternative rock group from Manchester, England, active between 1988 and 1995.
History
The band was formed in 1988 by former members of the punk rock group Pariah.Strong, Mart ...
,
The High
The High are an English rock group from Manchester, whose sound combines alternative rock with a 1960s pop/ psychedelic guitar sound.
History
The band was formed in 1989 by former Turning Blue singer John Matthews, along with former Buzzc ...
,
Northside
Northside or North Side may refer to:
Music
* Northside (band), a musical group from Manchester, England
* NorthSide, an American record label
* NorthSide Festival (Denmark), a music festival in Aarhus, Denmark
* "Norf Norf", a 2015 song by Vinc ...
,
Paris Angels
Paris Angels were an English seven piece band, hailing from Guide Bridge, Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England, associated with the Madchester scene of 1989 -1991. Their music fused indie guitars with electronic dance music. The ban ...
, and Intastella also gaining national attention.
[ The period of dominance was relatively short lived with The Stone Roses beginning to retreat from public performance while engaged in contractual disputes, the Happy Mondays having difficulty in producing a second album and ]Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus.
The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Durutt ...
going bankrupt in 1992.[ Local bands catching the tail-end of Madchester, such as ]The Mock Turtles
The Mock Turtles are an English indie rock band, formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester, in 1985, who enjoyed some success in the early 1990s. Their most famous song " Can You Dig It?", which was released in the UK in 1991, charted at numb ...
, became part of a wider baggy
Baggy was a name given to a British alternative dance genre popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with many of the artists referred to as "baggy" being bands from the Madchester scene.
History
The genesis of indie-dance was the Balearic ...
scene. The music press in the UK began to place more focus on shoegazing
Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...
bands from the south of England
Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes Gr ...
and bands emerging through US grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
.[
]
Dream pop and shoegazing
Dream pop had developed out of the indie rock scene of the 1980s, when bands like Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins was a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instrum ...
, The Chameleons
The Chameleons are an English rock band, formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester in 1981. The band's classic line-up consisted of lead vocalist and bassist Mark Burgess, guitarists Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding, and drummer John Lever.
The ...
, The Passions, Dif Juz
Dif Juz were an English instrumental post-punk band, formed in London in 1980 and remaining active until 1986. The band comprised Dave Curtis (guitar), Alan Curtis (guitar), Gary Bromley (bass guitar) and Richard Thomas (percussion and saxopho ...
, Lowlife
A low-life (or lowlife) is a term for a person who is considered morally unacceptable by their community. Examples of people society often labels low-lives include aggressive panhandlers, bullies, criminals, drug dealers, freeloaders, hobos, ...
and A.R. Kane
A.R. Kane (sometimes AR Kane or A.R.Kane) was a British musical duo formed in 1986 by Alex Ayuli and Rudy Tambala. After releasing two early EPs to critical acclaim, the group topped the UK Independent Chart with their debut album '' 69'' (1988 ...
began fusing post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
and ethereal
Ethereal may refer to:
* Ethereal (horse), a horse that won Australia's Caulfield Cup as well as Melbourne Cup in 2001
*Ethereal wave, or simply ethereal, a subgenre of dark wave music
*Wireshark, formerly named Ethereal, a free and open-source pac ...
experiments with bittersweet pop melodies into sensual, sonically ambitious soundscapes. The 4AD record label is the one most associated with dream pop, though others such as Creation
Creation may refer to:
Religion
*''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing
* Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it
* Creationism, the belief tha ...
, Projekt, Fontana, Bedazzled, Vernon Yard, and Slumberland also released significant records in the genre. A louder, more aggressive strain of dream pop came to be known as shoegazing
Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...
; key bands of this style were Lush, Slowdive
Slowdive is a British rock band that formed in Reading, Berkshire, in 1989. The band consists of Rachel Goswell on vocals and guitar, Neil Halstead on vocals and guitar, Christian Savill on guitar, Nick Chaplin on bass and Simon Scott on drum ...
, My Bloody Valentine, Alison's Halo
Alison's Halo is a band from Tempe, Arizona. Their sound, distinguished by dreamy vocals and loud, spacey guitars, is often also associated with shoegaze and dream pop.
History
Alison's Halo formed in Tempe, Arizona, in October 1992. The origi ...
, Chapterhouse, Curve
In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line (geometry), line, but that does not have to be Linearity, straight.
Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point (ge ...
and Levitation
Levitation (from Latin ''levitas'' "lightness") is the process by which an object is held aloft in a stable position, without mechanical support via any physical contact.
Levitation is accomplished by providing an upward force that counteracts ...
. These bands kept the atmospheric qualities of dream pop, but added the intensity of post-punk-influenced bands such as The Chameleons
The Chameleons are an English rock band, formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester in 1981. The band's classic line-up consisted of lead vocalist and bassist Mark Burgess, guitarists Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding, and drummer John Lever.
The ...
and Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...
.
Indie pop
Initially dubbed 'C86
''C86'' is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine '' NME'' in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from British independent record labels of the time. As a term, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based music g ...
' after the 1986 NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
tape, and also known as "cutie", "shambling bands" and later as "twee pop",[N. Abebe]
"Twee as Fuck: The Story of Indie Pop"
''Pitchfork Media'', 24 Oct 2005, retrieved 28 January 2010. indie pop was characterised by jangling guitars, a love of sixties pop and often fey, innocent lyrics.[ It was inspired by the DIY scene of punk, with a thriving fanzine, label and club and gig circuit, but tended to eschew punk's nihilism and aggression.][ "Indie pop" ''AllMusic'', retrieved 28 January 2010.] Early bands included The Pastels
The Pastels are an indie rock group from Glasgow formed in 1981. They were a key act of the Scottish and British independent music scenes of the 1980s, and are specifically credited for the development of an independent and confident music scen ...
, Talulah Gosh
Talulah Gosh were an English guitar-pop group from Oxford, and one of the leading bands of the indiepop movement, taking their name from the headline of an NME interview with Clare Grogan. They supposedly formed in 1986 when Amelia Fletcher a ...
and Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie. The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simone Butler (bass), and Darrin Mooney (drums) ...
, and among the most commercially successful were Belle and Sebastian
Belle and Sebastian are a Scottish indie pop band formed in Glasgow in 1996. Led by Stuart Murdoch, the band has released eleven albums. They are often compared with acts such as The Smiths and Nick Drake. The name "Belle and Sebastian" come ...
.[
]
Post rock
Post rock originated in the release of Talk Talk
Talk Talk were an English band formed in 1981, led by Mark Hollis (vocals, guitar, piano), Lee Harris (drummer), Lee Harris (drums), and Paul Webb (bass). The group achieved early chart success with the synth-pop singles "Talk Talk (Talk Talk s ...
's album ''Laughing Stock
''Laughing Stock'' is the fifth and final studio album by English band Talk Talk, released in 1991. Following their previous release '' Spirit of Eden'' (1988), bassist Paul Webb left the group, which reduced Talk Talk to the duo of singer/mul ...
'' and US band Slint
Slint was an American rock band from Louisville, Kentucky, formed in 1986. The band consisted of guitarist and vocalist Brian McMahan, guitarist David Pajo, drummer and vocalist Britt Walford, Todd Brashear (bassist on ''Spiderland''), and Etha ...
's ''Spiderland
''Spiderland'' is the second and final studio album by the American rock band Slint. It contains six songs played over 40 minutes, and was released by Touch and Go Records on March 27, 1991. Slint's lineup at the time of recording comprised ...
'', both in 1991, which produced experimental work influenced by sources as varied as electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
, jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
, and minimalist classical music, often abandoning the traditional song format in favour of instrumental and ambient music. The term was first used to describe the band Bark Psychosis
Bark Psychosis are an English post-rock band/musical project from east London formed in 1986. They were one of the bands that Simon Reynolds cited when coining "post-rock" as a musical style in 1994, and are thus considered one of the key ban ...
and their album '' Hex'' (1994), but was soon employed for bands such as Stereolab
Stereolab are an Anglo- French avant-pop band formed in London in 1990. Led by the songwriting team of Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, the group's music combines influences from krautrock, lounge and 1960s pop music, often incorporating a repetit ...
, Laika
Laika (russian: link=no, Лайка; – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecra ...
, Disco Inferno
"Disco Inferno" is a song by American disco band the Trammps from their 1976 fourth studio album of the same name. With two other cuts by the group, it reached No. 1 on the US '' Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart in early 1977, but had li ...
and Pram and other acts in America and Canada.[ Scottish group ]Mogwai
Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogw ...
were among some of the influential post-rock groups to arise at the turn of the 21st century.
Britpop
Britpop emerged from the British indie scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s.[ The movement developed as a reaction against various musical and cultural trends in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly the ]grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
phenomenon from the United States.[ New British groups such as ]Suede
Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was fir ...
and Blur launched the movement by positioning themselves as opposing musical forces, referencing British guitar music of the past and writing about uniquely British topics and concerns. These bands were soon joined by others including Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
, Pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
...
, Supergrass
Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993 in Oxford. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey ( ...
and Elastica
Elastica were an English rock band formed in London in 1992 by ex-Suede members Justine Frischmann and Justin Welch. The band was stylistically influenced by punk rock, post-punk and new wave music. The band's members changed several times, w ...
.[ Britpop groups brought British indie rock into the mainstream and formed the backbone of a larger British cultural movement called ]Cool Britannia
Cool Britannia was a name for the period of increased pride in the culture of the United Kingdom throughout the mid and second half of the 1990s, inspired by Swinging London from 1960s pop culture. This loosely coincided with John Major's conse ...
. Although its more popular bands were able to spread their commercial success overseas, especially to the United States, the movement largely fell apart by the end of the decade.[
]
Post-Britpop
By 1999, as dissatisfaction grew with the concept of Cool Britannia, and Britpop as a movement began to dissolve, emerging bands began to avoid the Britpop label while still producing music derived from it.[J. Harris, ''Britpop!: Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock'' (Da Capo Press, 2004), , pp. 369–70.] Many of these bands tended to mix elements of British traditional rock (or British trad rock), particularly the Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
, Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
and Small Faces
Small Faces were an English rock band from London, founded in 1965. The group originally consisted of Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Jimmy Winston, with Ian McLagan replacing Winston as the band's keyboardist in 1966. The band w ...
,[A. Petridis]
"Roll over Britpop ... it's the rebirth of art rock"
''The Guardian'', 14 February 2004, retrieved 2 January 2010. with American influences, including post-grunge.[ "Travis" ''AllMusic'', retrieved 3 January 2010.] Post-Britpop bands like The Verve
The Verve were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Wigan in 1990 by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones (musician), Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboard player Simo ...
, Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
, Travis, Stereophonics
Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley, Wales. The band consists of Kelly Jones (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Richard Jones (bass guitar, harmonica, backing vocals), Adam Zind ...
and Feeder, achieved much wider international success than most of the Britpop groups that had preceded them, and were some of the most commercially successful acts of the late 1990s.[ "Stereophonics" ''AllMusic'', retrieved 3 January 2010.][ "Coldplay" ''AllMusic'', retrieved 3 December 2010.]
Pop
The success of American boy band New Kids on the Block
New Kids on the Block (also initialized as NKOTB) is an American boy band from Dorchester, Massachusetts. The band consists of brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. New Kids on the Block enjoy ...
from about 1989, led to replica acts in the UK, including Nigel Martin-Smith
Nigel Martin-Smith is a Manchester-based English musical band manager. He helped form the 1990s British boy band Take That.
Biography Early career
Martin-Smith entered the entertainment industry in the early 1980s working as a casting agent fro ...
's Take That
Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singe ...
and East 17
East 17 are an English pop boy band started by Tony Mortimer, Brian Harvey, John Hendy, and Terry Coldwell in 1991. As of 2020, the group consists of Coldwell, Robbie Craig, and Joe Livermore. East 17 have undergone multiple lineup changes, ...
, competing with Irish bands Westlife
Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...
and Boyzone
Boyzone were an Irish boy band, created in 1993 by talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show''. Their most successful line-up was composed of Keith Duffy, Steph ...
. Soon after, girl groups began to reappear, like the R&B act Eternal
Eternal(s) or The Eternal may refer to:
* Eternity, an infinite amount of time, or a timeless state
* Immortality or eternal life
* God, the supreme being, creator deity, and principal object of faith in monotheism
Comics, film and television
* ...
, who achieved a string of international hits from 1993.[D. Sinclair, ''Wannabe: How the Spice Girls Reinvented Pop Fame'' (Omnibus Press, 2004), pp. 71–2.] The most successful and influential act of the genre were the Spice Girls
The Spice Girls are a British girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie Chisholm, or Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and Vict ...
, who added well-aimed publicity and the ideology of girl power
Girl power is a slogan that encourages and celebrates women's empowerment, independence, confidence and strength. The slogan's invention is credited to the US punk band Bikini Kill, who published a zine called ''Bikini Kill #2: Girl Power'' in 1 ...
to their pop careers. They had nine number 1 singles in the UK and US, including "Wannabe
"Wannabe" is the debut single by English girl group the Spice Girls. Written and composed by the group members in collaboration with Matt Rowe and Richard "Biff" Stannard during the group's first professional songwriting session, it was produ ...
", "2 Become 1
"2 Become 1" is a song by the English girl group the Spice Girls. Written by the group members, together with Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard during the group's first professional songwriting session, it was produced by Rowe and Stannard for ...
" and "Spice Up Your Life
"Spice Up Your Life" is a song by English girl group the Spice Girls from their second studio album, '' Spiceworld'' (1997). The song was co-written by the group with Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard, at the same time as the group was shooting ...
" from 1996.[ They were followed by British groups like All Saints, who had five number 1 hits in the UK and two multi-platinum albums.][ By the end of the century the grip of boy bands on the charts was faltering, but proved the basis for solo careers like that of ]Robbie Williams
Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...
, formerly of Take That, who achieved seven Number One singles in the UK between 1998 and 2012.[N. Warwick, T. Brown, J. Kutner, ''The complete book of the British charts: singles & albums'' (Omnibus Press, 3rd edn., 2004), pp. 21–4.]
Electronic music
House music
UK garage
UK garage originated from England, particularly in London in the early 1990s and emerged from styles such as garage house
Garage house (originally known as "garage"; local terms include "New York house" and New Jersey sound) is a dance music style that was developed alongside Chicago house music. The genre was popular in the 1980s in the United States and the 1990s ...
, R&B, jungle
A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century.
Etymology
The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...
, and dance-pop
Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...
, and usually features a distinctive 4/4 percussive rhythm with syncopated hi-hats, cymbals and snares, and sometimes includes irregular kick drum patterns. Garage tracks also commonly feature 'chopped up' and time-stretched or pitch-shifted vocal samples complementing the underlying rhythmic structure at a tempo usually around 130 BPM. UK garage gave rise to subgenres such as speed garage
Speed garage (occasionally known as plus-8) is a genre of electronic dance music, associated with the UK garage scene, of which it is regarded as one of its subgenres.
Characteristics
Speed garage features sped-up NY garage 4-to-the-floor rhyt ...
and 2-step, and was then largely subsumed into other styles of music and production in the mid-2000s, including grime
Grime may refer to:
* Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust
* Grime (music genre), a genre of music
* ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity
* ''Grime'' (video game), a 2021 Metroidvania video game
* "Grime", a 2022 song by Dallas Woo ...
, bassline
Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...
and dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...
. The decline of UK garage during the mid-2000s saw the birth of UK funky
UK funky (sometimes known as UKF or funky) is a genre of electronic dance music born in United Kingdom that is heavily influenced by Soca, soulful house, tribal house, UK garage, broken beat and grime. Typically, UK funky blends beats, bas ...
, which is closely related.
Drum and bass
Drum and bass emerged from the London breakbeat
Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...
hardcore
Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to:
Arts and media Film
* ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film
* ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott
* ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...
and rave
A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...
scene of the late 1980s.[ "Jungle/Drum'n'bass" ''Allmusic'', retrieved 9 May 2010.] Originally known as jungle
A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century.
Etymology
The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...
, it was a pop-created fusion of hardcore, house and techno which was usually instrumental, using extremely fast polyrhythms and breakbeats and incorporating elements from dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...
, electro, funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
, hip hop, house
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
, jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
, heavy metal.[ Pioneered by figures like Club Rage DJs ]Fabio Fabio is a given name descended from Latin '' Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). Its English equivalent is Fabian.
The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usually accented ...
and Grooverider
Raymond Bingham (born 16 April 1967 in Streatham, London, England), better known as Grooverider, is a British drum and bass DJ. He and DJ partner Fabio are regarded as "originators" of the scene. ,[F. W. Hoffmann, ''Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Volume 1'' (New York, NY: CRC Press, 2nd edn., 2004), , p. 334.] in the mid-1990s the genre expanded from an underground and pirate radio scene to form subgenres including the intelligent drum and bass
Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...
pioneered by LTJ Bukem
Daniel Williamson (born 20 September 1967), better known as LTJ Bukem (), is a British drum and bass musician, producer and DJ. He and his record label Good Looking are most associated with the jazzy, atmospheric side of drum and bass music.
...
,[ and the ambient jungle][ of ]Goldie
Clifford Joseph Price MBE (born 19 September 1965), better known as Goldie, is a British music producer and DJ.
Initially gaining exposure for his work as a graffiti artist, Goldie became well known for his pioneering role as a musician in th ...
's crossover debut '' Timeless'' (1995) and the jazzstep
Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...
of Roni Size
Ryan Owen Granville Williams (born 29 October 1969), better known by his stage name Roni Size, is an English DJ and record producer. He came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and frontman of Roni Size & Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. ...
's Mercury Award-winning ''New Forms
''New Forms'' is the debut studio album by British drum and bass group Roni Size & Reprazent. It was originally released on 23 June 1997 through Talkin' Loud, and later re-released by Mercury Records and Universal Music Group. The album was re ...
'' (1997).[ Subsequent artists included ]Shy FX
Andre Williams, better known as Shy FX, is a British DJ and producer from London. He specialises in drum and bass and jungle music.
Biography
Shy FX's debut record was "Jungle Love", released in 1992 on the Permission to Dance label. Soon after ...
, Ed Rush
Ed Rush is the stage name used by the drum and bass producer and DJ, Ben Settle (born 1973). Rush has been releasing records since 1992 and primarily with his musical partner Optical (Matt Quinn), since 1997. Along with Optical he is also the co ...
, 4 Hero
4hero are an electronic music group from Dollis Hill, London, comprising producers Mark "Marc Mac" Clair & Denis "Dego" McFarlane. While the band is often cited as ''4 Hero'' or ''4-Hero'', the name is stylised as ''4hero'' on their albums and ...
and DJ Rap
Charissa Saverio (born 7 December 1969), and better known as DJ Rap, is a British drum and bass, house and progressive electronic music producer and DJ.
While the majority of her work is in the jungle style, her more successful work is in ...
, some fusing drum and bass with influences from jazz, film music, ambient and trip-hop.[
]
Trip hop
In the early 1990s, dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...
saw more exposure at rock music festivals like Glastonbury
Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...
and Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
. Rave
A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...
s, many illegal, continued to be organised and the tension caused by police attention, new putative legislation aimed at organisers, and the increase of harder music, led many dance music fans to return to legal night clubs, where rave music had given way to progressive house
Progressive house is a subgenre of house music. The progressive house style emerged in the early 1990s. It initially developed in the United Kingdom as a natural progression of American and European house music of the late 1980s.Gerard, Morgan; ...
. Other clubs emerged to play the ever-splintering genres associated with the house music
House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
and rave scene, including hardcore techno
Hardcore (also known as hardcore techno or hardcore house) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany in the early 1990s. It is distinguished by faster tempos and a distorte ...
, downtempo
Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...
and trance
Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
, drum and bass
Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...
and happy hardcore
Happy hardcore, also known as 4-beat or happycore, is a subgenre of hardcore dance music or "hard dance". It emerged both from the UK breakbeat hardcore rave scene, and Belgian, German and Dutch hardcore techno scenes in the early 1990s.
H ...
. The Bristol scene saw the development of trip hop
Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with "downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop ...
, which mixed house and hip hop producing successful bands such as Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall.
The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was release ...
and Portishead.[D. Helmsmondhalgh and C. Melville, "Urban Breakbeat culture: repercussions of Hip-Hop in the United Kingdom" in A. Mitchell, ed., ''Global noise: rap and hip-hop outside the USA'' (Wesleyan University Press, 2001), pp. 86–110.] The 1990s also saw the development and refinement of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), which borrowed from forms such as techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...
, drum and bass
Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...
, and acid house
Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesiz ...
music and introduced more abstract elements, including heavy use of digital signal processing
Digital signal processing (DSP) is the use of digital processing, such as by computers or more specialized digital signal processors, to perform a wide variety of signal processing operations. The digital signals processed in this manner are ...
. Among the most commercially successful products of these scenes were acts like The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...
, Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat genre ...
and Fat Boy Slim
Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...
.
Metal
Extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...
bands were rarely covered in mainstream media and rarely appeared on television. Part of what separated the British metal music of the 1990s was a sense of a humor and irony that was not as nearly widespread as the European and American metal groups of the era. Even among the more 'serious' British groups such as Carcass
Carcass or Carcase (both pronounced ) may refer to:
*Dressed carcass, the body of a livestock animal ready for butchery, after removal of skin, visceral organs, head, feet etc.
*Carrion, the decaying dead body of an animal or human being
*The str ...
or Gorerotted
Gorerotted were an English deathgrind band formed in 1997 that disbanded in January 2008 and reformed with new members as The Rotted. Gorerotted's lyrics and song titles were largely inspired by horror films and serial killers. The band's song ...
have displayed a tongue-in-cheek attitude.
The British extreme metal scene produced bands of worldside significance and popularity such as Cradle of Filth
Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal genres. Their ly ...
. Other metal oriented media that originated in the United Kingdom included magazines such as ''Terrorizer'' which have a reputation worldwide.
Hip hop
By the early 1990s the British hip hop seemed to be thriving, with flourishing scenes in London, Bristol and Nottingham. British rap became more assured of its identity, abandoning American accents and developing a more distinctive sound.[ However, the anticipated mainstream success was not achieved, with the British hip hop scene particularly affected by the record industry clamping down on sampling. The result was the development of the ]breakbeat
Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...
culture, searching out obscure recordings[ and the creation of original music, with bands like ]Stereo MCs
Stereo MC's are an English hip hop/ electronic dance group which formed in Nottingham, England, in 1985. They had an international top 20 hit with their single "Connected". After releasing eight albums for Island Records, K7, Graffiti Recording ...
beginning to playing instruments and sampling their own tunes. Arguably this led to a creative renaissance, with British hip hop shifting from the hardcore American template and moving into more melodic territory.
Soul
After Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...
's breakthrough R&B hits " Keep on Movin'" and " Back to Life" in 1989, existing black soul acts, including Omar
ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...
and acid jazz bands Incognito
Incognito is an English adjective meaning "in disguise", "having taken steps to conceal one's identity".
Incognito may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Incognito'' (1937 film), a Danish film
* ''Incognito'' (1997 film), an American crime ...
, Jamiroquai
Jamiroquai () are an English funk and acid jazz band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in the ...
, and Brand New Heavies
The Brand New Heavies is an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985 in Ealing in west London. Centered around songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Simon Bartholomew and Andrew Levy, the core members of the group since its founding, Brand New H ...
, were now able to pursue mainstream recording careers.[G. Wald, "Soul's Revival: White Soul, Nostalgia and the Culturally Constructed Past", M. Guillory and R. C. Green, ''Soul: Black power, politics, and pleasure'' (New York University Press, 1997), pp. 139–58.] Particularly noticeable was the proliferation of British female black singers including Mica Paris
Michelle Antoinette Wallen (born 27 April 1969), known professionally as Mica Paris (), is an English singer, presenter and actress.
Paris was born in Islington in North London, but moved to Brockley, South London, when she was nine. She rel ...
, Caron Wheeler
Caron Melina Wheeler (born 19 January 1963) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and musician. Born and raised in London, she performed in various singing competitions as a teenager and began her recording career as one of the found ...
, Gabrielle and Heather Small
Heather Margarita Small (born 20 January 1965) is a British soul singer and former lead vocalist of the band M People. Her subsequent debut solo studio album, ''Proud'', was released in 2000.
Career
1987–1998: Hot House and M People
Small ...
.[A. Donnell, ed., ''Companion to contemporary Black British culture'' (London: Taylor & Francis, 2002), pp. 285–6.]
Folk resurgence
Traditional folk music, having been in a slow decline from mainstream popularity since the 1970s, began to enjoy a resurgence in the 1990s, benefiting from the more general interest in World music.[D. Else, J. Attwooll, C. Beech, L. Clapton, O. Berry, and F. Davenport, ''Great Britain'' (London, Lonely Planet, 2007), p. 75.] The arrival, and sometimes mainstream success, of acts like Martyn Bennett
Martyn Bennett (17 February 1971 – 30 January 2005) was a Canadian-Scottish musician who was influential in the evolution of modern Celtic fusion, a blending of traditional Celtic and modern music. He was a piper, violinist, composer and pro ...
, Kate Rusby
Kate Anna Rusby (born 4 December 1973) is an English English folk music, folk singer-songwriter from Penistone, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Sometimes called the "Barnsley Nightingale", she has headlined various British folk festivals, an ...
, Nancy Kerr
Nancy Kerr (born 1975) is an English folk musician and songwriter, specialising in the fiddle and singing. She is a Principal Lecturer in Folk Music at Leeds Conservatoire and Newcastle University. She was the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards "Folk ...
, Kathryn Tickell
Kathryn Tickell, OBE, DL (born 8 June 1967) is an English musician, noted for playing the Northumbrian smallpipes and fiddle.
Music career Early life
Kathryn Tickell was born in Walsall, then in Staffordshire, to parents who originated fro ...
, Spiers and Boden
Spiers and Boden are an English folk duo. John Spiers plays melodeon and concertina, while Jon Boden sings and plays fiddle and guitar while stamping the rhythm on a stomp box. Spiers and Boden were founding members of the folk band Bellow ...
, Blazin' Fiddles
Blazin' Fiddles are a contemporary Scottish fiddle band from the Highlands and Islands. They formed in 1998 to showcase Scotland's distinct regional fiddle styles. The band have a number of awards, including; the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards L ...
, Eliza Carthy
Eliza Amy Forbes Carthy, MBE (born 23 August 1975) is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing the fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.
Life and ca ...
, Runrig
Runrig were a Scottish Celtic rock band formed on the Isle of Skye in 1973. From its inception, the band's line-up included songwriters Rory Macdonald and Calum Macdonald. The line-up during most of the 1980s and 1990s (the band's most succe ...
and Capercaillie
''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Tetrao'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ...
, all largely concerned with acoustic performance of traditional material, marked a radical turn around in the fortunes of British folk music. This was reflected in the adoption creation of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards
The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British ra ...
in 2000 and the profile for folk music was as high as it had been for over thirty years.[
]
Post-Bhangra
After the establishment of thriving south Asian music scenes in the 1980s, the 1990s saw Indian music reach the mainstream, particularly through a series of "post-Bhangra" fusions.[A. Donnell, ''Companion to contemporary Black British culture'' (London: Taylor & Francis, 2002), p. 242.] A mix of Bhangra and reggae beats helped make Apache Indian
Steven Kapur (born 11 May 1967), known by the stage name Apache Indian, is a British singer-songwriter and reggae DJ. He had a series of hits during the 1990s. He is best known in the UK for the song "Boom Shack-A-Lak", which reached the top ...
the first British south Asian pop star, reaching number 5 in the UK singles charts with "Boom Shack-A-Lak
"Boom Shack-A-Lak" is a 1993 song by British musician Apache Indian. It was included on his EP ''Nuff Vibes''. The EP gave him his biggest hit in the United Kingdom, reaching number five on the UK Singles Chart in 1993. The song and EP were al ...
" in 1990 and becoming the first south Asian DJ on a major national station in 1994.[S. Broughton, M. Ellingham, R. Trillo, O. Duane, and V. Dowell, ''World Music: The Rough Guide'' (London: Rough Guides, 1999), pp. 83–8.] The album ''Migration'' (1994) by Nitin Sawhney
Nitin Sawhney , D.Mus (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian a ...
fused flamenco
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...
and other genres with Bhangra. By 1997 Indian music artists such as Talvin Singh
Talvin Singh OBE (born 1970) is an English musician, producer, and composer. A tabla player, he is known for creating an innovative fusion of Indian classical music and drum and bass. Singh is generally considered involved with an electronica ...
had become mainstream stars in the UK. In 1998 Cornershop
Cornershop are a British indie rock band best known for their single "Brimful of Asha", originally released in 1997 and, in a remixed version, topping the UK chart in 1998. The band was formed in 1991 by Wolverhampton-born Tjinder Singh (singe ...
, reached number 1 in the singles charts with a version of "Brimful of Asha
"Brimful of Asha" is a song by British alternative rock band Cornershop (band), Cornershop from their third album, ''When I Was Born for the 7th Time'' (1997). The recording originally reached number 60 on the UK Singles Chart in 1997. After a re ...
" remixed by Fatboy Slim
Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...
.[
]
Declining American popularity and increasing divergence with US styles
By the latter half of the decade, British music was declining in popularity in the United States. Oasis and Blur were not considered phenomenons but one-hit wonder
A one-hit wonder or viral hit is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music p ...
s stateside.[ Various ]Electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
styles were less well received in America than at home while genres that were popular in the United States such as nu metal
Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...
were not picked up by UK artists.[ British "quirkiness" and regional sensibilities that once were considered strengths there were now considered weakness by the increasingly ]oligarchic
Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...
American music industry that was interested in marketing to young teens.[
]
See also
* 1990s in music
Popular music in the 1990s saw the continuation of teen pop and dance-pop trends which had emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. Furthermore, hip hop grew and continued to be highly successful in the decade, with the continuation of the genre' ...
* Music of the United Kingdom (1950s)
Music of the United Kingdom began to develop in the 1950s; from largely insular and derivative forms to become one of the leading centres of popular music in the modern world. By 1950 indigenous forms of British popular music, including folk mu ...
* Music of the United Kingdom (1960s)
Music of the United Kingdom developed in the 1960s into one of the leading forms of popular music in the modern world. By the early 1960s the British had developed a viable national music industry and began to produce adapted forms of American ...
* Music of the United Kingdom (1970s)
* Music of the United Kingdom (1980s)
* Music of the United Kingdom (2000s)
Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 21st century continued to expand and develop new subgenres and fusions. While talent show contestants were one of the major forces in pop music, British soul maintained and even extended its high-prof ...
References
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Music of the United Kingdom (1990s)
British music history
1990s in British music