London-based Soul II Soul was one of the most innovative dance/R&B outfits of the late ’80s, creating a seductive, deep R&B that borrowed from Philly…
Browsing: Music – 1990s
Chicago guitarist Kim Thayil formed Soundgarden in Seattle in 1984 with bass player Hiro Yamamoto and Chris Cornell, a local drummer turned singer, whose Robert…
An initially very Buzzcocks-styled pop/punk band from Glasgow, who were an offshoot of The BMX Bandits and named after a creature from the children’s TV…
The Spice Girls were the first major British pop music phenomenon of the mid-90s to not have a debt to independent pop-rock. Instead, the all-female…
One of the most underrated power pop bands of the 1980s, The Spongetones – from Charlotte, North Carolina – released several albums of effortlessly melodic, catchy guitar…
Formed in 1984, this American band is the direct musical and legal successor to the 1970s arena rock band Jefferson Starship, which itself evolved from…
English hip-hop/electronic dance group Stereo MC’s formed in Clapham, London, in 1985. Vocalist/songwriter Rob Birch and DJ/producer Nick Hallam recorded the debut Stereo MCs’ album,…
It is hard to believe in retrospect, but The Stone Roses’ eponymous debut album – now often cited as “the greatest British debut of all…
Initially dismissed by critics as grunge latecomers and Pearl Jam wannabes, California’s Stone Temple Pilots proved adept at twisting the catalogues of their old heroes…
New Zealand’s pop export Straightjacket Fits could trash and thrash things up gloriously with the best of them. Like Kurt Cobain, charismatic leader Shayne Carter -…
Drawing from glam rock and post-punk, Suede was formed in London in 1989 by singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Justine Frischmann, and bassist Mat Osman. By…
This London-based pop-rock quartet formed in 1987 when vocalist Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin – who were also the main songwriting team – met…
Welsh band Super Furry Animals formed in Cardiff in 1993 with the aim of making techno records. Their music was, in fact, an artful mish-mash of…
Singer/guitarist Gaz Coombes and his older school friend, drummer Danny Goffey had been playing together in The Jennifers since their early teens, releasing one single…
As the most popular teen pop sensation in Britain since the 1960s, Take That ruled the UK charts during the first half of the 90s.…
Australian band Tall Tales and True formed as a three-piece in Sydney in 1984, building a loyal audience in the inner city before releasing their…
A band for which the word ‘quirky’ may have been invented, Teenage Fanclub had always possessed an infuriating knack of confounding expectations. They promised so…
Texas was formed in Glasgow, Scotland, by Johnny McElhone, a veteran of the Scottish rock circuit who had been part of two groups, Hipsway and…
This Brooklyn-based duo, comprising John Flansburgh and John Linnell, gave a refreshing new twist to pop music. Their lyrics – which were usually funny and…
Boston’s Throwing Muses introduced a feminine sensibility that made a mockery of banal notions of ‘Women In Rock’. Over abruptly shifting guitar chord patterns, Kristin…