Nineties

Background:
The 1990s were a decade that saw marketing became more segmented, as MTV gradually shifted away from music videos beginning in 1992 and radio splintered into narrower formats aimed at different niches. However, they are perhaps best known for grunge, gangsta rap, R&B, teen pop; eurodance, electronic dance music, the renewed popularity of punk rock mainly because of the band Green Day (which would also help create a new genre pop punk) and for being the decade that alternative rock became mainstream. U2 was one of the most popular 1990s bands, their groundbreaking Zoo TV and PopMart tours were the top selling tours of 1992 and 1997. Glam metal dies out through its own accord in the music mainstream by 1991. Grunge becomes popular in 1991 because of the success of Nirvana's Nevermind, Pearl Jam's Ten and Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger. Pop punk also becomes popular with such artists as Green Day, Blink-182, Weezer, Social Distortion, The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX and Rancid. Other successful alternative acts included Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, Gin Blossoms, Oasis, Blur, Soul Asylum, Third Eye Blind, Stone Temple Pilots, Faith No More, The Smashing Pumpkins, Live, Everclear, Bush, Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees.

Dr. Dre's 1992 album The Chronic provided a template for modern gangsta rap. Due to the success of Death Row Records, West Coast gangsta rap commercially dominated hip hop during the early 1990s, along with The Notorious B.I.G. on the East Coast. Hip hop became the best selling music genre by the mid-1990s.

In the United Kingdom, the uniquely British alternative rock Britpop genre emerged as part of the more general Cool Britannia culture, with Blur, Oasis, The Verve, Supergrass, Pulp, Manic Street Preachers, Suede, Elastica, Ride and Shed Seven. The impact of boy band pop sensation Take That brings about a widespread scene of teen pop acts around the world such as Boyzone, Backstreet Boys, Hanson, N Sync, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera who come to prominence into the new millennium. Female pop icons Spice Girls took the world by storm, becoming the most commercially successful British group since The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. 1991 also saw the death of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury from AIDS-related pneumonia.

Contemporary R&B and quiet storm continue in popularity among adult audiences, which began during the 1980s. Popular American contemporary R&B artists included Michael Bolton, Kenny G,Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, D′Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Whitney Houston, Sade, En Vogue, TLC, Destiny's Child, Toni Braxton, Boyz II Men, Dru Hill, Gloria Estefan, Vanessa L. Williams and LeAnn Rimes.

The Tibetan Freedom Concert brings 120,000 people together in the interest of increased human rights and autonomy for Tibet from China. Freddie Mercury, Kurt Cobain, Selena, Tupac Shakur, and The Notorious B.I.G. are the most publicized music-related deaths of the decade, in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 respectively.