Planning-1990s

The 90s was a decade of technology. It was the age of computers and email, one of the most revolutionary aspects of the 20th century. It was also a time of great authors, unforgettable movies, and revolutionary music.

The 1990s were a decade of many diverse scenes in music, however they are perhaps best known for gangster rap, R&B, teen pop, electronic dance music, embracing drug use and violence rather then singing against it. And also for being the decade that new forms of hip pop such as Rap, and electronics music became mainstream.

Dr. Dre's 1992 album The Chronic provided a template for modern gangsta rap. As you can see within the music video, and the lyric the idea of violence towards other is seen as "cool" to the listeners of the time. In contrast with the hip pop rap of the the 80s where everyone was angry and against the violence and drug use within city life where as the 90s artist are embracing the idea.

Due to the success of Death Row Records, West coast rap dominated hip hop during the early 1990s. By the end of the 1990s attention turned back towards the East Coast, and more 2000s styled glam started coming in, along with dirty south and crunk, with artists such as Mannie Fresh, Cam'ron, DMX, Ja Rule andJay-Z.

With the explosive growth of computers music technology and consequent reduction in the cost of equipment in the early 1990s, it became possible for a wider number of musicians to produce electronic music. The popularity of house, techno and rave in the early part of the decade leads to the boom of the more commercial Eurodance genre.

The 1990s also saw the development and refinement of IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), which borrowed from forms such as techno, drum and bass, and acid housemusic and introduced more abstract elements, including heavy use of digital signal processing. Among the most commercially successful products in the 1990s of these scenes were European acts such as The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim.

Charlie Quirke