Titanic becomes a cultural phenomenon throughout the world, and eventually becomes the highest grossing film of all time, grossing over $1.8 billion worldwide. It would hold this record for over a decade until 2010 when director James Cameron had another one of his films take the title, that being Avatar.[16] The films produced by the Walt Disney Animation Studios became popular once more when the studio returned to making traditionally animated musical family classics such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. This era was known as the Disney Renaissance.
Disney Renaissance
An era from the late 1980s to the late 1990s during which Walt Disney Animation Studios returned to making successful animated films mostly based on classic fairy tale stories, restoring public and critical interest in Disney.
Animated fims include: The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998) and Tarzan (1999). Nine of the ten films in the Disney Renaissance were nominated for Academy Awards
Full-length films and independent cinema
The 1990s were notable in both the rise of independent cinema – as well as independent studios such as Miramax, Lions Gate, and New Line – and the advancements in CGI-technology, seen in such films as Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump, Twister, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Titanic.
CGI
Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media. The visual scenes may be either dynamic or static. The term computer animation refers to dynamic CGI rendered as a movie. The term virtual world refers to agent-based, interactive environments.
Television
TV shows, mostly sitcoms, were popular with the American audience. Series such as "Roseanne" and "Seinfeld", both which premiered in the late eighties, and "Frasier", a spin-off of the 1980s hit "Cheers" were viewed throughout the 1990s. These sitcoms, along with "Friends", "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", "Full House", "Married... with Children", "Everybody Loves Raymond", and "Martin", turned TV in new directions and defined the humor of the decade.
Notable broadcasts:
- 1990 - First broadcast of Beverly Hills, 90210, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Law & Order, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Twin Peaks
- 1991 - First broadcast of Home Improvement, Nummer 28, The Julekalender, Æon Flux, Rugrats and Ren and Stimpy
- 1992 - First broadcast of The Larry Sanders Show, Cha Cha Cha, Melrose Place, and Absolutely Fabulous; Cartoon Network launched
- 1993 - First broadcast of the Late Show with David Letterman, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Cracker, The X-Files and Frasier
- 1994 - First broadcast of Friends, The Kingdom and ER
- 1995 - First broadcast of Father Ted, NileCity 105,6 and Neon Genesis Evangelion; O. J. Simpson murder trial televised; The History Channel launched
- 1996 - First broadcast of Jamais deux sans toi...t, Percy tårar, Detective Conan, The Daily Show and Our Friends in the North; first high-definition television broadcasts; Al Jazeera launched; first DVDs and DVD players go on sale
- 1997 - First broadcast of Fóstbræður, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Un gars, une fille, South Park, Alles Kan Beter and I'm Alan Partridge
- 1998 - First broadcast of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Studio Julmahuvi, The Powerpuff Girls, Cowboy Bebop, That '70s Show, Sex and the City and The Royle Family
- 1999 - First broadcast of The Sopranos, SpongeBob SquarePants, Futurama, The West Wing, Big Brother (Netherlands), Yo soy Betty, la fea, Freaks and Geeks, One Piece and Trick; Bhutan is the last country on Earth to begin regular broadcasts; first digital video recorders released by TiVo
Medical dramas started to come into television in the ‘90s. One show stood out as a critical and ratings success for NBC. In 1994, "ER", which starred Anthony Edwards and George Clooney, was a domestic and international success, lasting until 2009 and spawning series such as "Grey's Anatomy" (2005–present). It made NBC the most watched channel in the USA. This show launched the career of George Clooney.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a working class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture, society, television and many aspects of the human condition.
The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a pitch for a series of animated shorts with the producer James L. Brooks. Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and was an early hit for Fox, becoming the network's first series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–1990).
The show has made it beyond 2010 and has become an institution of pop culture. It has spawned the adult-oriented animated sitcom genre, inspiring racier shows such as "Beavis and Butt-head" (1993–1997) along with "South Park" and "Family Guy", the latter two of which began in 1997 and 1999 respectively and continue to air new episodes through the 2000s and into the 2010s.
Other notable topics
- Anime was popular in the 1980s, and expanded to a worldwide audience by the 1990s. TV shows such as "Sailor Moon", "Dragonball Z", and "Pokémon" led people into embracing the Japanese culture around the world.
- Reality television began on MTV; this would grow in importance in the western world into the next decade.
- Nickelodeon's first animated series (Doug, Rugrats, The Ren & Stimpy Show) debuted in 1991.
Music
The decade saw the continuation of teen pop and dance-pop music which had emerged in the 1980s and continued to be popular in the 90s. Additionally, hip hop music, which had grown in popularity in the previous decade, was highly popular in the 90s, as the decade saw the continuation of the golden age of hip hop. Aside from rap, contemporary R&B and urban music in general remained extremely popular throughout the decade; urban music in the late-80s and 90s saw a fusion with styles such as soul, funk and jazz, resulting in fusion genres such as new jack swing and hip hop soul, which were popular in the decade.
Similarly to the 1980s, rock music was also very popular in the 90s, yet, unlike the New Wave and glam metal-dominated scene of the time, grunge, Britpop, industrial rock and other alternative rock music emerged and took over as the most popular of the decade, as well as pop punk, ska punk and nu-metal, amongst others, which reached a high level of success at different points throughout the decade.
Electronic music, which had risen in popularity in the 1980s, grew highly popular in the 90s; 80s genres such as house and techno rose to international success in this decade, as well as new electronic genres such as trance, drum and bass, intelligent dance and trip hop. The decade also featured the rise of contemporary country music as a major genre, which had started in the 1980s
Alternative rock
Some of the top mainstream American alternative rock bands of 1990s included Alice in Chains, Nirvana, The Offspring, Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M., Soundgarden, Live, Counting Crows, Rage Against the Machine, Goo Goo Dolls, Third Eye Blind, Green Day, Bush, The Smashing Pumpkins, Beck, Foo Fighters, Sublime, Hole, Cake, Blind Melon, Stone Temple Pilots, blink-182 and Pearl Jam.
Grunge
A sub-genre of alternative rock, grunge bands picked up popularity for the early 1990s. Grunge music, and the culture marketed around it, was born out of the Pacific Northwest American states of Washington and Oregon in the 1980s. Artists such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam released seminal albums in 1991. The style would come to be strongly associated with the 1990s by the 2000s, and has been considered rock's last epochal era.
During the mid-1990s many grunge bands broke up or became less visible. The death of Kurt Cobain in early 1994, as well as the touring problems for Pearl Jam (which happened due to the band's much-publicized boycott of Ticketmaster), marked the decline of the genre.
Pop
Contemporary R&B and urban pop began throughout the 1990s, but was replaced by more pop music and dance music by a short time in 1999. Between 1997 and 1999 American teen pop singers and groups including Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, 98 Degrees, Hanson, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez and Destiny's Child became popular, targeted younger members of Generation Y.
(The Generation Y first appeared in an August 1993 Ad Age editorial to describe teenagers of the day, which they defined, at that time, as separate from Generation X, and then aged 12 or younger (born after 1981), as well as the teenagers of the upcoming ten years.)
British girl group The Spice Girls manage to break America, becoming the most commercially successful British Group in North America since The Beatles. Their impact brings about a widespread invasion of female teen pop acts. At the end of the decade, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera had huge successes with their hit singles, "...Baby One More Time" and "Genie In A Bottle" in 1999. The two continue to top the charts in the next decade.
Popular Pop music artists include Hanson, Mariah Carey, Backstreet Boys, Salt-n-Pepa, Groove Theory, Bell Biv Devoe, Jodeci, Diana King, Tony! Toni! Tone!, Tara Kemp, 3T, Brownstone, Shanice, Paula Abdul, Usher, SWV, Aaliyah, Keith Sweat, R. Kelly, TLC, Brandy, Monica, Tevin Campbell, Maxi Priest and Shaggy. Madonna's Erotica was released in 1992 and became one of her most controversial albums to date. Cyndi Lauper's, released Hat Full of Stars her first mature album and leaves complete the image of his first two albums, but it is highly praised by critics but did not achieve commercial success.
R&B
In the 1990s, Mariah Carey's career originated in quiet storm, with hit singles such as "Vision of Love" (1990), and "Love Takes Time" (1990) Also in the early 1990s, Whitney Houston's quiet storm hit included "All the Man That I Need" (1990) and "I Will Always Love You" (1992). Richard J. Ripani wrote that Carey and Houston, "both of whom rely heavily on the gospel music vocal tradition, display an emphasis on melisma that increased in R&B generally over the 1980s and 1990s." Carey's "Vision of Love" is considered to be an extreme example of the use of melisma.
Also during the early 1990s, Boyz II Men re-popularized classic soul-inspired vocal harmonies. Michael Jackson incorporated new jack swing into his 1991 album Dangerous, with sales over 32 million. The popularity of the ballad and R&B leads to the development of a genre called Urban adult contemporary. Popular American contemporary R&B artists included Michael Bolton, Kenny G, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, D'Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Whitney Houston, Sade, En Vogue, Toni Braxton, Boyz II Men, Dru Hill, Gloria Estefan, Vanessa L. Williams and LeAnn Rimes.
Hip Hop
Dr. Dre's 1992 album The Chronic provided a template for modern gangsta rap. Due to the success of Death Row Records, West coast rap dominated hip hop during the early 1990s, along with The Notorious B.I.G. on the East Coast. In 1998, Lauryn Hill released her debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. In 1999, The Miseducation was nominated for 10 Grammy's, winning five (which at the time was unheard of for a hip-hop artist) and eventually went on to sell over 19 million copies worldwide.
By the end of the 1990s attention turned back towards dirty south and crunk, with artists such as Outkast, Ludacris, Missy Elliot and Lil Wayne. The mid nineties were marked by the deaths of the West Coast-based rapper 2Pac and the East Coast-based rapper The Notorious B.I.G., which conspiracy theorists claim were killed as a result of the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry.
Electronic
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. Even though initially most of the electronic music was dance music, the genre developed in the 1990s as musicians started producing music which was not necessarily designed for the dance-floor but rather for home listening (later on referred to as "Electronica") and slower paced music which was played throughout chillout rooms—the relaxation sections of the clubs (later on referred to as "downtempo", "chill-out music" and "ambient music").
Billboard artist of the decade
On December 1999, Billboard Magazine named Mariah Carey as the best Artist of the Decade for the 1990s. She joined the list with Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Elton John and Michael Jackson, who have also been awarded with this prestigious honor in their respective decades.
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music 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 phenomenon from the United States.
In the wake of the musical invasion into the United Kingdom of American grunge bands, new British groups such as Suede 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, Pulp, Supergrass, Sleeper and Elastica.
Britpop groups brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the backbone of a larger British cultural movement called Cool Britannia. 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.
Influences
Britpop bands were influenced by British guitar music of the past, particularly movements and genres such as the British Invasion, glam rock, and punk rock. Specific influences varied: Blur and Oasis drew from The Kinks and The Beatles, respectively, while Elastica had a fondness for arty punk rock. Regardless, all Britpop artists projected a sense of reverence for the sounds of the past.
Alternative rock acts from the 1980s and early 1990s indie scene were the direct ancestors of the Britpop movement. The influence of The Smiths was common to the majority of Britpop artists. The Madchester scene, fronted by The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, and Inspiral Carpets (for whom Oasis' Noel Gallagher had worked as a roadie during the Madchester years), was the immediate root of Britpop since its emphasis on good times and catchy songs provided an alternative to shoegazing.
Britpop groups were defined by being focused on bands rather than solo artists; having drums/bass/guitar/vocals (and sometimes keyboards) line-ups; writing original material and playing instruments themselves; singing in regional British accents; references to British places and culture in lyrics and image; and fashion consciousness. Stylistically, Britpop bands relied on catchy hooks and wrote lyrics that were meant to be relevant to British young people of their own generation. Britpop bands conversely denounced grunge as irrelevant and having nothing to say about their lives. Noel Gallagher has since championed Ride. Noel Gallagher stated in a 1996 interview that Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was the only songwriter he had respect for in the last ten years, and that he felt their music was similar enough that Cobain could have written "Wonderwall".
The imagery associated with Britpop was equally British and working class. Music critic Jon Savage asserted that Britpop was "an outer-suburban, middle-class fantasy of central London streetlife, with exclusively metropolitan models." A rise in unabashed maleness, exemplified by Loaded magazine and lad culture in general, would be very much part of the Britpop era. The Union Flag also became a prominent symbol of the movement, and its use as a symbol of pride and nationalism contrasted deeply with the controversy that erupted just a few short years before when former Smiths singer Morrissey performed draped in it. The emphasis on British reference points made it difficult for the genre to achieve success in the US.
Decline
Oasis' third album Be Here Now (1997) was highly anticipated. Despite initially attracting positive reviews and selling strongly, the record was soon subjected to strong criticism from music critics, record-buyers and even Noel Gallagher himself for its overproduced and bloated sound. Music critic Jon Savage pinpointed Be Here Now as the moment where Britpop ended; Savage said that while the album "isn't the great disaster that everybody says," he noted that "it was supposed to be the big, big triumphal record" of the period. At the same time, Damon Albarn sought to distance Blur from Britpop with the band's fifth album, Blur (1997). On the album, Blur moved away from their Parklife-era sound, and their music began to assimilate American lo-fi influences, particularly that of Pavement. Albarn explained to the NME in January 1997 that "We created a movement: as far as the lineage of British bands goes, there'll always be a place for us", but added, "We genuinely started to see that world in a slightly different way."
As the movement began to slow down, many acts began to falter and broke up. The popularity of the pop group the Spice Girls has been seen as having "snatched the spirit of the age from those responsible for Britpop." While established acts struggled, attention began to turn to the likes of Radiohead and The Verve, who had been previously overlooked by the British media. These two bands—in particular Radiohead—showed considerably more esoteric influences from the 1960s and 1970s, influences that were uncommon among earlier Britpop acts. In 1997, Radiohead and The Verve released their respective efforts OK Computer and Urban Hymns, both of which were widely acclaimed. Post-Britpop bands like Travis, Stereophonics and Coldplay, influenced by Britpop acts, particularly Oasis, with more introspective lyrics, were some of the most successful rock acts of the late late 1990s and early 2000s.
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music 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 phenomenon from the United States.
In the wake of the musical invasion into the United Kingdom of American grunge bands, new British groups such as Suede 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, Pulp, Supergrass, Sleeper and Elastica.
Britpop groups brought British alternative rock into the mainstream and formed the backbone of a larger British cultural movement called Cool Britannia. 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.
Influences
Britpop bands were influenced by British guitar music of the past, particularly movements and genres such as the British Invasion, glam rock, and punk rock. Specific influences varied: Blur and Oasis drew from The Kinks and The Beatles, respectively, while Elastica had a fondness for arty punk rock. Regardless, all Britpop artists projected a sense of reverence for the sounds of the past.
Alternative rock acts from the 1980s and early 1990s indie scene were the direct ancestors of the Britpop movement. The influence of The Smiths was common to the majority of Britpop artists. The Madchester scene, fronted by The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, and Inspiral Carpets (for whom Oasis' Noel Gallagher had worked as a roadie during the Madchester years), was the immediate root of Britpop since its emphasis on good times and catchy songs provided an alternative to shoegazing.
Britpop groups were defined by being focused on bands rather than solo artists; having drums/bass/guitar/vocals (and sometimes keyboards) line-ups; writing original material and playing instruments themselves; singing in regional British accents; references to British places and culture in lyrics and image; and fashion consciousness. Stylistically, Britpop bands relied on catchy hooks and wrote lyrics that were meant to be relevant to British young people of their own generation. Britpop bands conversely denounced grunge as irrelevant and having nothing to say about their lives. Noel Gallagher has since championed Ride. Noel Gallagher stated in a 1996 interview that Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was the only songwriter he had respect for in the last ten years, and that he felt their music was similar enough that Cobain could have written "Wonderwall".
The imagery associated with Britpop was equally British and working class. Music critic Jon Savage asserted that Britpop was "an outer-suburban, middle-class fantasy of central London streetlife, with exclusively metropolitan models." A rise in unabashed maleness, exemplified by Loaded magazine and lad culture in general, would be very much part of the Britpop era. The Union Flag also became a prominent symbol of the movement, and its use as a symbol of pride and nationalism contrasted deeply with the controversy that erupted just a few short years before when former Smiths singer Morrissey performed draped in it. The emphasis on British reference points made it difficult for the genre to achieve success in the US.
Decline
Oasis' third album Be Here Now (1997) was highly anticipated. Despite initially attracting positive reviews and selling strongly, the record was soon subjected to strong criticism from music critics, record-buyers and even Noel Gallagher himself for its overproduced and bloated sound. Music critic Jon Savage pinpointed Be Here Now as the moment where Britpop ended; Savage said that while the album "isn't the great disaster that everybody says," he noted that "it was supposed to be the big, big triumphal record" of the period. At the same time, Damon Albarn sought to distance Blur from Britpop with the band's fifth album, Blur (1997). On the album, Blur moved away from their Parklife-era sound, and their music began to assimilate American lo-fi influences, particularly that of Pavement. Albarn explained to the NME in January 1997 that "We created a movement: as far as the lineage of British bands goes, there'll always be a place for us", but added, "We genuinely started to see that world in a slightly different way."
As the movement began to slow down, many acts began to falter and broke up. The popularity of the pop group the Spice Girls has been seen as having "snatched the spirit of the age from those responsible for Britpop." While established acts struggled, attention began to turn to the likes of Radiohead and The Verve, who had been previously overlooked by the British media. These two bands—in particular Radiohead—showed considerably more esoteric influences from the 1960s and 1970s, influences that were uncommon among earlier Britpop acts. In 1997, Radiohead and The Verve released their respective efforts OK Computer and Urban Hymns, both of which were widely acclaimed. Post-Britpop bands like Travis, Stereophonics and Coldplay, influenced by Britpop acts, particularly Oasis, with more introspective lyrics, were some of the most successful rock acts of the late late 1990s and early 2000s.
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