UNIT 23: THE NINETIES & BEYOND PT.1

SMOOTH SOUNDS, SLICK PACKAGING. (THE PERSISTENCE OF POP)

- 1994--Woodstock's 25th anniversary and the death of Kurt Cobain--the end of rock? - Woodstock 1994--a 3 day festival with 255,000 fans, but it didn't recreate the spirit of the 1969 event - Since 1994--3 main streams for rock & roll: 1. Persistence of pop 2. A new accommodation of strong emotional content into evolving musical styles 3. The rise of musical appropriation, brought into rock by hip hop

HYPENATED ROCK AND EXPLORATIONS OF THE POST MODERN SELF

- After 1994, a second wave of progressive rock took shape - Retained elements like elaborate concept albums, lengthy songs that didn't mesh well with the standard MTV format, and the use of orchestration - Musical virtuosity was less important--no extended instrumental solos on records or during live performances - Improvised jazz and traditional classical arrangements played less of a role in the songwriting of the 1990s - The new wave was called Experimental Rock

EMO

- An abbreviation of the word "emotional" - Bands featured music that was punk at heart but slower and more melodic in practice - Dissonant musical elements provided a fitting backdrop for personal lyrics - Far less macho than its hard-core predecessors

TV ON THE RADIO

- Band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York - Blends elements of soul, guitar rock, funk, and jazz to create a gritty, dense, industrial sound - Used instrumental dissonance with vocal harmonies - Blended progressive music with hip hop

SPICE GIRLS

- Changed the face of the girl-group formula--dance pop music was their vehicle - They infused their music with an independent, feminist stance and a celebration of female friendship and good times--a "girl power" message

WEEZER

- Combined the angular guitar riffs of the Pixies and the polished production style of Nirvana - They created hook-heavy guitar pop - Pinkerton - Included 10 autobiographical songs - Was a blend of power pop and heavy metal with a raw, messy sound

THE FLAMING LIPS

- Drew from sci-fi and Japanimation as influences - Songs can seem goofy or childlike while carrying an underlying poignancy - Songs are melodic, spacious, and full of the fuzzy tones and swirling sounds of psychedelic bands

CHRISTINA AGUILERA

- Followed the same trajectory to stardom as Britney Spears—from being a Mouseketeer to Star Search - Became a pop star after she sang "Reflection" for the Disney movie Mulan - Took on an edgy more "sexy" image beginning in 2004 inspired by Marilyn Monroe

THE DANDY WARHOLS

- Formed in Portland, Oregon in 1994 - Often compared to the druggy psychedelic pop of the Velvet Underground - Merged unabashed pop sensibilities and the psychedelic sound with electronics, aggressive guitar tones, and an uncharacteristically polished production - Brought the neo-psychedelic sound to the mainstream

PHISH

- Guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio, drummer Jon Fishman, and guitarist Jeff Holdsworth formed the band in late 1983 while attending the University of Vermont - Embraced psychedelic jam-band aesthetics - Music incorporated elements of jazz, country, bluegrass, and pop

JIMMY EAT WORLD

- Hit mainstream success with their self-recorded album, Bleed American - The band's influence widened considerably with 1999's Clarity - An album that has since emerged as a landmark of the emo genre - - The single, "The Middle," was a hard-hitting, rock & roll song with aggressive vocals and a memorable guitar riff

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

- Jordan, Jonathan, Joey, Donnie, and Danny - Assembled in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr - After losing his first group New Edition, Starr produced NKOTB to be a white version of them - One of the world's best-selling groups of all time - Disbanded in 1994

*NSYNC

- Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass, and JC Chasez - Band created by Lou Pearlman - Formed in Orlando, Florida in 1995 - Music is dance-pop mixed with harder street beats, electronica flourishes, and gritty ballads

BACKSTREET BOYS

- Kevin, Brian, Howie, AJ and Nick - The first boy band of the 1990s to become hit-generating international superstars - Popular in UK before in the US - A band "engineered" by Lou Pearlman - Successful marketing made them a phenomenon - passed out CDs at cheer camps and in makeup cases

NEO-PSYCHADELIA: LOFI MUSIC EXPERIMENTATION

- Neo-psychedelia covers a diverse array of artists from the end of the punk era to the present day - All of them drew from the equally diverse original sounds of 1960s psychedelia - These groups looked to psychedelia as a wellspring of evocative, unusual sounds, and either updated or unabashedly copied the original artists' approaches

RADIOHEAD

- One of the most experimental and innovative bands in modern rock & roll - Formed in 1987 as TNT by group of boarding school friends; reunited in 1991 as Radiohead - Pink Floyd's spacey atmospheric approach - Musically influenced by the Seattle grunge sound - OK Computer is a definitive statement of postmodern alienation with themes of paranoia, melancholy, and release

BRITINEY SPEARS

- One of the most successful female vocalists of the 21st century - Appealing to young girls and teenage boys - Got her start on the New Mickey Mouse Club at the age of 11 - Has had a micromanaged career, but she was involved in decision- making - Controversial because of her sexuality

SIGUR ROS

- The band is named front man Jónsi Birgisson's sister Sigurrós Elín - A style of songwriting that incorporates dramatic composition with moody atmospherics - Ágaetis Byrjun included lush string arrangements adding horns on some tracks

DESTINY'S CHILD

- The dominant female singing group in the U.S. in the 1990s - Sported elaborate vocal harmonies and athletic choreography - Beyoncé Knowles was compared to Diana Ross

COLDPLAY

- Their music is more poporiented than Radiohead's - Fronted by singer and multi- instrumentalist Chris Martin - A Rush of Blood to the Head solidified their position as the go-to band of melodic guitar- centric rock - Group's style changed slowly from a focus on experimental Britpop to more mainstream concerns

GODSPEED YOUL BLACK EMPEROR

- Took name from 1976 Japanese black-and-white documentary of a biker gang - The Black Emperors - Abandons the standard rock song structure for long, orchestral-inspired songs - Uses the four-instrument rock & roll arrangement plus strings and brass

BOYZ II MEN

- Wayna was the hyperactive one; Nate the serious one; Shawn the mello one; and Mike became known as the Barry White of his generation - According to RIAA, are the most commercially successful R & B group of all time - Signed with Motown - Clean-cut image, smooth harmonies, and synchronized dance and performance movements

BOY BANDS

- marketed to pre-teens - Boy band pop rock was not a major musical force in the 1980s - The plethora of boy bands that emerged in the 1990s was largely due to the work of one man: - promoter Lou Pearlman

GIRL GROUPS

The basic girl band formula--singing about the ups and down of young love

Experimental Rock

also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre.

LOU PEARLMAN

manager of NSYNC and Backstreet Boys