See also: [edit] Events [edit] Summary The year 1991 is the year that grunge music made its popular breakthrough. Nirvana's Nevermind, led by the surprise hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", becomes the most popular U.S. album of the year. Followed immediately by other grunge bands like Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots, grunge dominates the U.S. charts for the next few years. Its success effectively ends pop-oriented, 1980s glam metal groups like Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Poison and Ratt, whose sales and critical viability were beginning to decline for about two years previously. Even so, the rock band Guns N' Roses's popularity flourishes with the release of their albums Use Your Illusion I &Use Your Illusion II, both reaching selling over 10 million copies each. A Tribe Called Quest's Low End Theory is released this year; it would go on to be considered one of the best hip hop albums of the 1990s. A Tribe Called Quest, along with De La Soul, Dream Warriors, Gang Starr and the Poor Righteous Teachers, help define what comes to be known as alternative rap with important releases this year. Queen frontman Freddie Mercury dies at home in London on November 24, due to AIDS complications. Rumors had been circulating that Mercury had AIDS, but the death comes as a shock to millions of fans and the music industry. The remaining members of Queen form the Mercury Phoenix Trust and the following year, a tribute concert is staged in Wembley Stadium. A sell-out crowd in attendance witness the three surviving members reuniting to play along with performances by the likes of David Bowie, Elton John, Guns N' Roses, Def Leppard, Metallica, Annie Lennox, and George Michael. Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody goes to number one for the second time, which is the only time a single has gone to number one in the same version more than once. It is also the only time a single has gone to number one more than once on the UK Christmas charts. It has now spent a total of 14 weeks on top of the UK charts. 1991 is also the year CCM, or contemporary Christian music, reaches a new peak. Amy Grant, who had already crossed back and forth between CCM and pop in the mid-80s, achieves her (and CCM's) first #1 hit on the pop charts with the hit single "Baby Baby." Another single, "That's What Love Is For," would also top the charts, this time in the Adult Contemporary field. Meanwhile, Grant's album Heart In Motion reaches #11 on the pop chart and #1 on the Christian chart despite its non-religious objective, and quickly becomes a best-seller. Another CCM crossover artist in 1991 is Michael W. Smith, who achieves a Top Ten pop hit with his single "Place In This World." The subsequent album, Go West Young Man, is also a hit. The massive success of Garth Brooks in this year sets the stage for the mid-1990s influx of pop-oriented country musicians. In addition, several soon-to-be pivotal bands form or release debuts, including Dave Matthews Band, Live, Phish, Spin Doctors) and stoner metal (Kyuss, Sleep, The Obsessed). Massive Attack's Blue Lines, while unique at the time, invents the sound that would eventually become known as trip hop. Entombed's Clandestine and Dismember's Like an Ever Flowing Stream are early releases from the Scandinavian metal scene. On the other side of the Atlantic, New York death metal band Suffocation release their debut full-length Effigy of the Forgotten, often considered one of the most influential extreme metal albums ever recorded. Trance music rises to prominence in the underground dance scene of Frankfurt, Germany, pioneered by such producers as Dance 2 Trance and Resistance D. U2 release their seventh album Achtung Baby, considered by many of their fans to be their best album. Metallica also release their most commercially successful self-titled album, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers break through to the mainstream with their critically and commercially acclaimed Blood Sugar Sex Magik. R.E.M. release their massive commercial breakthrough album Out of Time. [edit] Timeline - March 11 - Janet Jackson signs a $30 million (US) contract with Virgin Records, making her the highest paid female recording artist ever.
- March 16 - Seven members of country music singer Reba McEntire's band and her road manager are killed when their private plane crashes in California, near the U.S.-Mexico border. McEntire travels on a separate plane.
- March 20
- Michael Jackson signs a $1 billion contract with Sony.
- Eric Clapton's four-year-old son, Conor, dies after falling 53 stories from a New York City apartment window, which would inspire Clapton to write the hit single "Tears in Heaven").
- March 24 - The Black Crowes are dropped as the opening act of ZZ Top's tour for repeatedly insulting the tour's sponsor, Miller Beer.
- March 27 - New Kids on the Block star Donnie Wahlberg is arrested in Louisville, Kentucky for allegedly setting his hotel room on fire.
- March 28 - George Harrison, Phil Collins and others attend funeral services for Eric Clapton's late son, Conor.
- April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York.
- May 4 - The Eurovision Song Contest 1991 is held in Rome, Italy and, after a highly controversial voting segment, Sweden's Fångad av en stormvind by Carola is declared the winner.
- May 7 - In Macon, Georgia, a judge dismisses a wrongful death lawsuit against Ozzy Osbourne. The suit was filed by a local couple that believed their son was inspired to attempt suicide by Osbourne's music.
- May 10 - Truth or Dare, a documentary chronicling singer Madonna's 1990 Blond Ambition Tour, is released to theatres.
- May 25 - The Billboard 200 album chart starts incorporating electronically monitored sales data provided by Nielsen SoundScan, thus beginning what chart aficionados tag as the "SoundScan era".
- May 28 - The Smashing Pumpkins release their debut extended play album, Gish.
- June 18 - Van Halen releases their ninth album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, spawing the huge ballad hit Right Now and the Top Billboard 30 hit "Top of the World"
- July - Launch of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music.
- August 13 - Metallica releases their most successful album, "Metallica" (also called "The Black Album"). This album is somewhat of a departure from the thrash metal sound they helped pioneer. It is one of the best selling albums of all time[1]
- August 27
- Pearl Jam releases their debut album, "Ten". While initially slow to sell, it became #2 on the Billboard charts within a year and has since become certified thirteen times Platinum in the United States.[2]
- Dr. Dre pleads no contest to charges that he beat up a woman at a West Hollywood nightclub. Dr. Dre is sentenced to 24 months probation.
- September 17 - Guns N' Roses release the highly anticipated albums Use Your Illusion I & II which debut at the two highest spots on the Billboard 200, the first such feat for a rock act. The albums went on to sell over 7 million copies each in the USA alone and spawned the most expensive music videos ever made and a very controversy-laden multi-year world tour.
- September 24 - Nirvana releases Nevermind, debuting at #144 on the Billboard 200. Red Hot Chili Peppers release their 5th album Blood Sugar Sex Magik and A Tribe Called Quest release their 2nd album The Low End Theory on the same day.
- Tupac Shakur's solo career begins with his first album, 2Pacalypse Now, however it does not do well. 6 year old Qa'id Walker is shot dead by a stray bullet during a confrontation between Tupac's entourage and a rival group.
- October 25 - Steely Dan spontaneously reunites.
- November 19 - U2 release Achtung Baby, considered by many to be one of their best, if not their best, album. It is their 3rd #1 album, with 2 Billboard (magazine) Top 10 singles and 4 Billboard (magazine) Top 40 singles
- November 23 - Lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury, reveals he has AIDS; he dies the following day.
- November 26 - Michael Jackson releases his blockbuster album Dangerous, led by the controversial hit single Black or White.
- November 30 - Following on the steps of the Billboard 200, the Billboard Hot 100 also begins a new era by incorporating and merging electronically measured sales and airplay data from SoundScan and BDS respectively.
[edit] Undated [edit] Bands formed [edit] Bands disbanded [edit] Albums released [edit] January [edit] February [edit] August [edit] September [edit] October [edit] November [edit] December [edit] Release Date Unknown [edit] Biggest hit singles The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the charts of 1991. | # | Artist | Title | Year | Country | Chart Entries | | 1 | Bryan Adams | (Everything I Do) I Do it For You | 1991 |  | UK 1 - Jun 1991, US BB 1 of 1991, US CashBox 1 of 1991, Holland 1 - Jul 1991, Sweden 1 - Aug 1991, Austria 1 - Aug 1991, Switzerland 1 - Jul 1991, Norway 1 - Jul 1991, Poland 1 - Jul 1991, Germany 1 - Jan 1992, Éire 1 - Jul 1991, New Zealand 1 for 8 weeks Aug 1991, Australia 1 for 11 weeks Oct 1991, US BB 3 of 1991, Australia 3 of 1991, POP 3 of 1991, Europe 5 of the 1990s, TOTP 6, Global 7 (10 M sold) - 1991, Italy 9 of 1991, Germany 9 of the 1990s, Scrobulate 30 of ballad, Virgin 60, Party 70 of 2007, RYM 73 of 1991, Poland 96 of all time, OzNet 121, Belgium 150 of all time | | 2 | Michael Jackson | Black Or White | 1991 |  | UK 1 - Nov 1991, US BB 1 of 1991, Sweden 1 - Nov 1991, Switzerland 1 - Nov 1991, Norway 1 - Nov 1991, Poland 1 - Nov 1991, Éire 1 - Nov 1991, New Zealand 1 for 8 weeks Nov 1991, Australia 1 for 8 weeks Feb 1992, Austria 2 - Nov 1991, Germany 2 - Jan 1992, Holland 3 - Nov 1991, Italy 3 of 1991, US BB 19 of 1991, POP 19 of 1991, Australia 24 of 1992, US CashBox 29 of 1992, RYM 96 of 1991, Germany 115 of the 1990s | | 3 | Roxette | Joyride | 1991 |  | US BB 1 of 1991, Holland 1 - Mar 1991, Sweden 1 - Mar 1991, Austria 1 - Mar 1991, Switzerland 1 - Mar 1991, Norway 1 - Mar 1991, Germany 1 - Mar 1991, Australia 1 for 3 weeks Jul 1991, Poland 3 - Apr 1991, UK 4 - Mar 1991, France 7 - Apr 1991, Australia 13 of 1991, Italy 24 of 1991, Germany 24 of the 1990s, US CashBox 33 of 1991, US BB 35 of 1991, POP 37 of 1991 | | 4 | Scorpions | Wind of Change | 1991 |  | Holland 1 - Apr 1991, Sweden 1 - Mar 1991, Austria 1 - Jun 1991, Switzerland 1 - Feb 1991, Norway 1 - Apr 1991, Poland 1 - Mar 1991, Germany 1 of the 1990s, Germany 1 - Apr 1991, UK 2 - Sep 1991, US BB 4 of 1991, Scrobulate 9 of ballad, France 10 - Dec 1990, US BB 24 of 1991, Europe 26 of the 1990s, POP 26 of 1991, RYM 142 of 1990 | | 5 | R.E.M. | Losing My Religion | 1991 | | Holland 1 - Mar 1991, Poland 1 - Apr 1991, Europe 1 of the 1990s, US BB 4 of 1991, Norway 4 - Jun 1991, Sweden 5 - Mar 1991, RYM 5 of 1991, Austria 7 - Aug 1991, Switzerland 11 - Oct 1991, Belgium 12 of all time, UK 19 - Mar 1991, US BB 28 of 1991, Virgin 30, US CashBox 39 of 1991, 39 in 2FM list, Poland 44 of all time, Acclaimed 44, POP 61 of 1991, Scrobulate 69 of rock, Italy 70 of 1991, OzNet 90, WXPN 106, RIAA 143, Rolling Stone 169 | [edit] Top hits See also: Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1991 [edit] Published popular music [edit] Classical music [edit] Musical theater [edit] Musical films [edit] Births [edit] Deaths - January 8 - Steve Clark, 30, guitarist of Def Leppard
- February 6 - Danny Thomas, singer and actor
- February 17 - Gitta Alpár, opera singer
- February 21 - Margot Fonteyn, ballerina
- February 26 - Slim Gaillard, jazz musician
- March 2 - Serge Gainsbourg, 62, singer and songwriter
- March 14
- March 15 - Bud Freeman, jazz musician
- March 18 - Dezider Kardoš, 76, Slovak composer
- March 21 - Leo Fender, inventor of the electric guitar
- March 25 - Eileen Joyce, pianist (b. 1908)
- April 8 - Per Yngve Ohlin, aka 'Dead', 22, vocalist of Mayhem
- April 13 - Wilhelm Lanzky-Otto, horn virtuoso
- April 20 - Steve Marriott, 44, singer, songwriter and guitarist (Small Faces and Humble Pie)
- April 21 - Willi Boskovsky, conductor
- April 23 - Johnny Thunders, 38, rock guitarist and singer
- May 8 - Jean Langlais, composer
- May 9 - Yanka Dyagileva, poet and singer
- May 19 - Odia Coates, 49, singer (breast cancer)
- May 23 - Wilhelm Kempff, pianist and composer
- May 24
- May 27 - Leopold Nowak, musicologist
- June 1 - David Ruffin, 50, singer
- June 4 - MC Trouble, 20, rapper
- June 6 - Stan Getz, US saxophonist
- June 9 - Claudio Arrau, pianist
- June 14 - Joy Finzi, founder of the Finzi Trust
- July 11 - Honorata de la Rama, singer
- August 28 - Vince Taylor, 52, rock and roll singer
- September 4
- September 8 - Alex North, composer
- September 17 - Zino Francescatti, violinist
- September 28
- October 6 - Igor Talkov, Russian singer/songwriter
- October 9 - Roy Black, 48, singer and actor
- October 17 - Tennessee Ernie Ford
- October 27 - Sir Andrzej Panufnik, Polish composer
- October 31 - Joseph Papp, Broadway producer
- November 2 - Mort Shuman, songwriter
- November 8 - Frances Faye, singer
- November 15 - Jacques Morali, 44, disco composer
- November 24
- December 13 - Stuart Challender, conductor
- date unknown
[edit] Awards [edit] References |
