top 100 artists of the 90s!!!

[FreakyFlyBry]

Eternal's basically a one-hit wonder here (like Take That), but what I know I do like.

[Jason]

The only song I remember from them is "Stay." But I liked that one a whole lot...still do to this day, too. But wow! I never knew about all of the member drama. That makes the Destiny's Child lineup change sound tame.

[jt40]

Who?

[goodie]

#97. Faith No More

Biggest Hit of the 90s: Epic

Biggest Album of the 90s: The Real Thing

Other Singles from the 90s: Easy, Ashes To Ashes, Midlife Crisis, Falling To Pieces, A Small Victory, Digging The Grave & Evidence.

Biography of the 90s: Faith No More a band which was established from the early 80s kicked off the 90s with the album "The Real Thing" (or TRT for short) and was described as "early Brian Eno joins Led Zeppelin and Funkadelic." The lead single off the album "Epic" featured slow motion footage of a fish flopping out of water and received extensive airplay on MTV in the summer of 1990, despite provoking anger from animal rights activists. That same year, Faith No More gave memorable performances at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards and on Saturday Night Live.

Faith No More displayed an even more distinctly experimental bent on their next album, Angel Dust. One critic writes that the album is "one of the more complex and simply confounding records ever released by a major label," and another writes that "'A Small Victory', which seems to run Madame Butterfly through Metallica and Nile Rodgers … reveals a developing facility for combining unlikely elements into startlingly original concoctions." Angel Dust featured the singles "Midlife Crisis" and "A Small Victory", as well as a re-recording of the theme to the film Midnight Cowboy. Later pressings of the album also included their cover of the Commodores classic "Easy", which in some parts of the world became the band's biggest hit. Angel Dust, though not as successful as TRT in the U.S., sold 700,000 copies there, and did manage to outsell TRT in many other world charts. In Germany, for example, the record was certified Gold for sales of more than 270,000 copies. Along with heavy airplay of "Easy" and "Midlife Crisis", the album became a bit of a sleeper hit in the UK, South America, Europe and Australia.

After touring to support Angel Dust in the summer of 1992, longtime guitarist Jim Martin left the band during the early stages of recording their follow-up, King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime (or KFAD/FFAL) in 1995. He was replaced by Mr. Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance, who also left soon after; just before the band was to begin their world tour. Spruance was replaced by Dean Menta, the band's keyboard roadie.

KFAD/FFAL was an equally experimental album, varying in styles and moods from heavy and slow to spasmodic and jazzy. In the U.S. the album failed to get any sort of attraction or following, slipping out of the charts quickly. Sales (about 1.5 million) were below that of Angel Dust. The band accordingly decided to cut their world tour short by 4 months, cancelled the singles "Gentle Art Of Making Enemies" and "Take This Bottle", and released a 7 x 7-inch box set of singles that included the B-sides and some interviews between the songs. KFAD/FFAL did however sell acceptably in the UK and Germany, and even went to #1 on the album charts in Australia.

Album of the Year was released in 1997 and featured yet another new guitarist, Jon Hudson, who was a former roommate of Billy Gould. The album debuted much higher than expected in some countries, for example Germany (#2, later going gold) and Australia (#1 again, going platinum). In an additional 12 countries in Europe, it went either gold or platinum. In the U.S. the reaction was slow for the album; however, just as interest was picking up on their tours and album they called it a day. Singles "Ashes To Ashes" and "Last Cup Of Sorrow" had minimal success. Electro-tinged ballad "Stripsearch" was released as a single in various countries (excluding the U.S. and UK). "She Loves Me Not" was canceled as a single which was a little indicator of their imminent break-up.

In early 1998 the new flaring of break-up rumours on the internet began. Starting with a rumor posted to the Faith No More newsgroup alt.music.faith-no-more claiming Mike Patton had quit the band in favour of side projects, this rumor, although denied at the time, proved to be at least partly true. The band cancelled their planned support tour for Aerosmith and on April 19, 1998 Bill Gould began spreading the following by email and fax:

"After 15 long and fruitful years, Faith No More have decided to put an end to speculation regarding their imminent break up... by breaking up. The decision among the members is mutual, and there will be no pointing of fingers, no naming of names, other than stating, for the record, that "Puffy started it". Furthermore, the split will now enable each member to pursue his individual project(s) unhindered. Lastly, and most importantly, the band would like to thank all of those fans and associates that have stuck with and supported the band throughout its history."

[goodie]

i did like epic but that's pretty much it from this band!!!

[FreakyFlyBry]

goodie said:

i did like epic but that's pretty much it from this band!!!

Same here... that's the only song from them I know, actually.

[qnx100]

The only song I know from Eternal is "Stay", and the only song I know from Faith No More is "Epic".

But I like them both. ;D

[goodie]

#96. Hootie & The Blowfish

Biggest Hit of the 90s: Let Her Cry

Biggest Album of the 90s: Cracked Rear View

Other Singles from the 90s: Only Wanna Be With You, Hold My Hand, Time, Drowning, Old Man & Me, I Go Blind & Tuckers Town

Biography of the 90s: The band formed in the late 80s, and independently released two cassette demo EPs. In 1993, they pressed 50,000 copies of a self-released EP, Kootchypop, which was named after a reference to female genitalia in a stand-up comedy act by What's Happening co-star Shirley Hemphill.[citation needed] Their mainstream debut album was Cracked Rear View (1994) and it was an instant success, ultimately going platinum 16 times in the U.S. and becoming the best-selling album of 1995. The album was propelled by four hits, "Hold My Hand", "Let Her Cry", "Only Wanna Be With You", and "Time". In 1995, Hootie and the Blowfish and Bob Dylan reached an out-of-court settlement for the group's unauthorized use of Dylan's lyrics in their song "Only Wanna Be With You." Miami Dolphins' Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino appeared in the band's video for the song "Only Wanna Be With You", along with several other athletes.

In 1995, Hootie & the Blowfish contributed the song "Hey Hey What Can I Do" to the Encomium tribute album to Led Zeppelin. Also, their cover of Canadian group 54-40's "I Go Blind", originally released on the soundtrack to the TV series Friends in 1995, did not appear on Cracked Rear View or Fairweather Johnson, but nevertheless became a surprise hit at radio in 1997 after three singles from Fairweather Johnson had been released. Both "Hey Hey What Can I Do" and "I Go Blind" were later released on the collection Scattered, Smothered and Covered.

The band won the "Best New Artist" award at the 1996 Grammy Awards. Hootie & the Blowfish appeared on MTV Unplugged on the eve of the release of their second album, 1996's Fairweather Johnson. Though sales began promisingly, the album quickly ran out of steam, having sold four million copies in the U.S. Hootie & the Blowfish has since released three more studio albums, Musical Chairs; Hootie & the Blowfish; and Looking for Lucky. They also released a B-sides and rarities compilation in 2000 entitled Scattered, Smothered and Covered. This album is named in tribute of Waffle House, a popular Southern chain of all-night diners. Specifically, the title refers to an order of hash browns covered with diced onions and melted cheese

[FreakyFlyBry]

Yay for Hootie ;D I would've ranked them top 50 myself, given how huge they were... but it wouldn't be complete without them

[Jason]

I'm actually not too surprised that they're this low. Even though I liked most of their songs overall, they kind of flamed-out after their first CD. "Let Her Cry" is easily my favorite from them. I also liked "Time," Tuckers Town," "I Will Wait," and even though I got sick of it, "Hold My Hand."

For a brief time in the mid-90s, they were THE biggest thing in Pop music. So Bryan's right. The list wouldn't be complete without them!

[qnx100]

Definitely one of the defining pop artists of the 90's. They've had a number of songs I've liked, but I'd have to go with "Time" as my favorite from them. ;D

[goodie]

#95. Bruce Springsteen

Biggest Hit of the 90s: Streets of Philadelphia

Biggest Album of the 90s: Greatest Hits

Other Singles from the 90s: Human Touch, Better Days, 57 Channels (And Nothin' On), Leap of Faith, Roll Of The Dice & Secret Garden

Biography of the 90s: Springsteen a largely successful singer from the 70s & 80s started the 1990s by getting married in 1991; where he & his wife had three children born 1991, 1993 and 1995.

In 1992, after risking charges of "going Hollywood" by moving to Los Angeles (a radical move for someone so linked to the blue-collar life of the Jersey Shore) and working with session musicians, Springsteen released two albums at once. Human Touch and Lucky Town were even more introspective than any of his previous work. Also different about these albums was the confidence he displayed. As opposed to his first two albums, which dreamed of happiness, and his next four, which showed him growing to fear it, at points during the Lucky Town album, Springsteen actually claims happiness for himself.

Some E Street Band fans voiced (and continue to voice) a low opinion of these albums, (especially Human Touch), and did not follow the subsequent "Other Band" Tour. For other fans, however, who had only come to know Springsteen after the 1975 consolidation of the E Street Band, the "Other Band" Tour was an exciting opportunity to see Springsteen develop a working onstage relationship with a different group of musicians, and to see him explore the Asbury Park soul-and-gospel base in some of his classic material.

An electric band appearance on the acoustic MTV Unplugged television program (that was later released as In Concert/MTV Plugged) was poorly received.

Springsteen seemed to realize this dissatisfaction a few years hence when he spoke humorously of his late father during his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acceptance speech:

I've gotta thank him because — what would I conceivably have written about without him? I mean, you can imagine that if everything had gone great between us, we would have had disaster. I would have written just happy songs – and I tried it in the early '90s and it didn't work; the public didn't like it.

A multiple Grammy Award winner, Springsteen also won an Academy Award in 1994 for his song "Streets of Philadelphia", which appeared in the soundtrack to the film Philadelphia. The song, along with the film, was applauded by many for its sympathetic portrayal of a gay man dying of AIDS. The music video for the song shows Springsteen's actual vocal performance, recorded using a hidden microphone, to a prerecorded instrumental track. This was a technique developed on the "Brilliant Disguise" video.

In 1995, after temporarily re-organizing the E Street Band for a few new songs recorded for his first Greatest Hits album (a recording session that was chronicled in the documentary Blood Brothers), he released his second (mostly) solo guitar album, The Ghost of Tom Joad. This was generally less well-received than the similar Nebraska, due to the minimal melody and twangy vocals. The lengthy, worldwide, small-venue solo acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad Tour that followed successfully featured many of his older songs in drastically reshaped acoustic form, although Springsteen had to explicitly remind his audiences to be quiet during the performances.

In 1995 Springsteen sang a duet with Elliott Murphy on "Everything I Do (Leads Me Back To You)" from Murphy's album Selling The Gold.

In 1998, another precursor to the E Street Band's upcoming re-birth appeared in the form of a sprawling, four-disc box set of out-takes, Tracks.

In 1999, Springsteen and the E Street Band officially came together again and went on the extensive Reunion Tour, lasting over a year. Highlights included a record sold-out, 15-show run at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey to kick off the American leg of the tour.

[FreakyFlyBry]

Gotta have The Boss in there... I enjoyed many of his 90's songs, even though he didn't rock as much as he did in the 70's and 80's

[qnx100]

Glad to see Bruce Springsteen on there, but I'd still consider him much more of an 80's artist.

[goodie]

i didn't comment on bruce!!!

i didn't mind some of his 90s work but i much preferred his earlier stuff!!!