It’s official. 1990s music has reached the status that 1980s Music reached in the 2000s and 2010s, namely “Epic”.
It’s a fact that a lot of good music was released in the 1990s. The decade brought us grunge, more gangsta rap, some epic hip-hop and R&B and pop music that at times made us cringe, but had us singing along to it anyway.
Here are 101 Interesting 1990s Music Facts That You Might Not Know:
1. Dave Grohl wasn’t the first drummer for Nirvana
When Grohl joined the band, he was the 5th person to get behind a drumkit for the band. He auditioned after his previous band (Scream) disbanded.
2. “You Ougtha Know” featured 2 guys from the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Dave Navarro played guitar and Flea played bass on this classic Alanis Morisssette song from the 1990s
3. Taylor Hawkins played drums for Alanis Morissette in the 1990s
Before he joined Foo Fighters in 1997, Hawkins was the Canadian singer’s touring drummer. He also appeared in the music videos for “You Oughta Know” and “All I Really Want”.
4. “Wonderwall” originally had a different title
The now infamous Oasis song’s original title was actually “Wishing Stone”. The song was written by Noel Gallagher who has said that it’s about “an imaginary friend who’s gonna come and save you from yourself”.
5. Peter Buck composed the mandolin parts of “Losing My Religion” by accident
This happened while the REM guitarist was teaching himself to play the instrument. The song reached number in the USA in 1991. REM frontman Michael Stipe has said that this song is about “someone who pines for someone else. It’s unrequited love, what have you.”
6. “Believe” was the first pop song to deliberately distort a singer’s vocals
Yes folks, you read correctly, this Cher song was the first ever pop song to use Auto-Tune. The 1998 song reached number 1 in the USA, UK, France, Germany, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Hungary, Switzerland, Poland and the Netherlands.
Cher holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest female solo artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart in USA thanks to this song.
7. “Whats My Age Again?” was originally titled “Peter Pan Syndrome”
This 1999 Blink-182 song was written by Mark Hoppus (who based it on personal experience). MCA records forced the band to change to song title because they found the song’s reference to an allusion to the pop-psychology concept too obscure.
“What’s My Age Again?” reached number 2 on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart, number 17 in the UK and number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.
8. Massive Attack‘s “Teardrop” almost featured vocals from Madonna
The 1998 track was sent to Madonna by Mushroom (one of Massive Attack‘s members). Even though she was interested, that collaboration never happened and in the end the band kept Elizabeth Fraser’s vocals on the record. She was the lead singer for the Scottish rock band Cocteau Twins.
The song was used as the theme song for television’s House MD (which aired on Fox between 2004 and 2012).
9. Underworld‘s Karl Hyde wrote “Born Slippy” from the point of view of an alcoholic
Hyde did this while he drinking on a night out. He struggled with alcoholism himself and was “horrified” when fans saw the song as a drinking anthem.
10. Chris Cornell’s voice broke microphones when he was recording Soundgarden‘s Superunknown album
According the album’s producer, Cornell had two different vocal ranges. This required several mics to capture them each properly. Chris Cornell literally blew through a bunch of condenser mics. This happened when he was singing high notes very loudly. The album made its debut at #1 on the Billboard chart in 1994.
