1991 in music: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

See also: 1990 in music, other events of 1991, 1992 in music, 1990s in music and the list of 'years in music'

Events

1991 was the year that grunge music made its popular breakthrough. Nirvana's Nevermind, led by the surprise hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", became the most popular U.S. album of the year. Followed immediately by other grunge bands like Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, grunge dominated the U.S. charts for the next few years. Its success effectively ended pop-oriented hair metal groups like Guns n' Roses, Poison and Def Leppard, whose sales and critical viability had been declining for years.

A Tribe Called Quest's Low End Theory was released this year; it would go on to be considered one of the best hip hop albums of the 1990s. A Tribe Called Quest, along with De La Soul, Dream Warriors, Gang Starr and the Poor Righteous Teachers, helped define what came to be known as alternative rap with important releases this year.

The massive success of Garth Brooks in this year sets the stage for the mid-1990s influx of pop-oriented country musicians. In addition, several soon-to-be pivotal bands form or release debuts, including future pioneers in riot grrl punk (Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Huggy Bear), jam bands (moe., Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Spin Doctors) and stoner metal (Kyuss, Sleep, Obsessed). Massive Attack's Blue Lines, while unique at the time, invented the sound that would eventually become known as trip hop. Entombed's Clandestine and Dismember's Like an Ever Flowing Stream are early releases from the Scandinavian metal scene. U2 release their seventh album Achtung Baby, considered by many of their fans to be their best album.

• January 18 - Three people are crushed to death during an AC/DC concert in Salt Lake City, Utah when audience members rushed the stage.
• February 27 - James Brown is granted an early parole and released from jail. Brown had been arrested after leading Police on a high speed chase through two states in 1989
• February 28 - Hollywood, California's The Record Plant recording studio closes its doors. Among the albums recorded at the Record Plant were The Eagles' Hotel California, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life
• March 11 - Janet Jackson signs a $30 million (US) contract with Virgin Records.
• March 16 - Seven members of country music singer Reba McEntire's band and her road manager are killed when their private plane crashes in California, near the Mexican border. McEntire travels on a separate plane.
• March 20 - Michael Jackson signs a $1 billion (US) contract with Sony.
• March 20 - Eric Clapton's 4 year old son, Conor, dies after falling 53 stories from a New York City apartment window. (The death of his son would inspire Clapton to write "Tears in Heaven".)
• March 24 - The Black Crowes are dropped as the opening act of ZZ Top's tour for repeatedly insulting the tour's sponsor, Miller Beer.
• March 27 - New Kids on the Block's Donnie Wahlberg is arrested in Louisville, Kentucky for allegedly setting his hotel room on fire.
• March 28 - George Harrison, Phil Collins and others attend funeral services for Eric Clapton's late son, Conor
• April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael Noonan O'Keefe in New York
• May 7 - In Macon, Georgia, a judge dismisses a wrongful death lawsuit against Ozzy Osbourne. The suit was filed by a local couple that believed their son was inspired to attempt suicide by Osbourne's music
• August 27 - Dr. Dre pleads no contest to charges that he beat up a woman at a West Hollywood nightclub. Dr. Dre is sentenced to 24 months probation.
• September 24 - Nirvana releases Nevermind, debuting at #144 on the Billboard 200.
• Whitney Houston sings "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Superbowl. The recording is then released and becomes a hit single.
• Britney Spears appears on Star Search
• Love Battery's career begins
• Sublime's career begins
• Tool's career begins
• Cradle of Filth forms
• Dave Matthews Band forms
• Perry Farrell organizes the first Lollapalooza tour as a farewell for his just-dissolved band, Jane's Addiction
• moe. forms
• Bratmobile forms
• Candlebox forms
• Cracker forms
• Digable Planets forms
• Huggy Bear forms in Brighton, England
• Stabbing Westward forms in Chicago
• Nas joins Main Source
• The Pharcyde signs to Delicious Vinyl, their first label
• Jermaine Dupri discovers Kris Kross performing at a mall in Atlanta
• Rancid forms in Berkeley, California
• Vertical Horizon forms
• Leftfield, an electronica duo forms in London, England
• The Talking Heads disbands

• Dangerous - Michael Jackson
• Derelicts of Dialect - 3rd Bass
• The Razor's Edge - AC/DC
• Waking Up the Neighbours - Bryan Adams
• Facelift - Alice in Chains
• Attack of the Killer B's - Anthrax
• To Mother - Babes in Toyland
• '80-'85 - Bad Religion (compilation of their older albums)
• Against the Grain - Bad Religion
• The Globe - Big Audio Dynamite II
• Prince of Darkness - Big Daddy Kane
• Midnight Radio - Big Head Todd & the Monsters
• Revolution Girl Style Now - Bikini Kill (debut, independent demo cassette)
• I Need a Haircut - Biz Markie
• Travelers and Thieves - Blues Traveler
• Leisure - Blur (debut)
• Ropin' the Wind - Garth Brooks
• The Space I'm In - The Candyskins (debut)
• Butchered at Birth - Cannibal Corpse
• Whirlpool - Chapterhouse (debut)
• Nothing but a Burning Light - Bruce Cockburn
• Mighty Like a Rose - Elvis Costello
• Ceremony - The Cult
• Cypress Hill - Cypress Hill (debut)
• Blwch Tymer Tymor - Datblygu
• Human - Death
• De La Soul Is Dead - De La Soul
• I Wish My Brother George Was Here - Del Tha Funkee Homosapien
• Green Mind - Dinosaur Jr.
• On Every Street - Dire Straits
• Like an Ever Flowing Stream - Dismember
• Divinyls - Divinyls
• Homebase - DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince
• Vinyl - Dramarama
• Images and Words - Dream Theater
• And Now the Legacy Begins - Dream Warriors
• Schubert Dip - EMF
• Clandestine - Entombed
• Pornograffiti - Extreme
• The Reality of My Surroundings - Fishbone
• Believing in Better - Lennie Gallant
• We Can't Dance - Genesis (first album in 5 years)
• Infrared Roses - The Grateful Dead
• Step in the Arena - Gang Starr
• Hooked - Great White
• 39/Smooth - Green Day
• Use Your Illusion I - Guns N' Roses
• Use Your Illusion II - Guns N' Roses
• Pretty on the Inside - Hole
• O.G. Original Gangster - Ice-T
• X - INXS
• Dangerous - Michael Jackson
• Doubt - Jesus Jones
• Catfish Rising - Jethro Tull
• Face the Nation - Kid 'n Play (final album)
• Funke, Funke Wisdom - Kool Moe Dee
• Wretch - Kyuss (debut)
• Smell the Magic - L7
• The La's - The La's (debut, final album)
• Future Without a Past - Leaders of the New School (debut)
• Biscuits - Living Colour (EP)
• Blue Lines - Massive Attack
• International Pop Overthrow - Material Issue (debut)
• Rust In Peace - Megadeth
• Bullhead - Melvins
• Eggnog - Melvins
• Metallica - Metallica
• Let's Get To It - Kylie Minogue
• Lean Into It - Mr. Big
• Blessed are the Sick - Morbid Angel
• Kill Uncle - Morrissey
• Hoodoo - Alison Moyet
• Loveless - My Bloody Valentine (final album)
• Sexplosion! - My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult
• God Fodder - Ned's Atomic Dustbin (debut)
• Nevermind - Nirvana
• Niggaz4life - N.W.A. (final album)
• Ribbed - NOFX
• Lunar Womb - Obsessed
• Horrorscope - Overkill
• No More Tears - Ozzy Osbourne
• Ten - Pearl Jam
• Pennywise - Pennywise
• A Picture of Nectar - Phish
• Lawn Boy - Phish
• Trompe le Monde - Pixies (final album before disbanding)
• Swallow This Live - Poison
• Pure Poverty - Poor Righteous Teachers
• Sailing the Seas of Cheese - Primus
• Diamonds and Pearls - Prince
• World Outside - The Psychedelic Furs (final album)
• Apocalypse '91...the Enemy Strikes Black - Public Enemy
• Luck of the Draw - Bonnie Raitt
• Innuendo - Queen
• Out of Time - R.E.M.
• Ratt N' Roll 8191 - Ratt
• Blood Sugar Sex Magik - The Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Roll The Bones - Rush
• - Savatage
• Scamboogery - Scatterbrain
• School of Fish - School of Fish (debut)
• Seal - Seal (debut)
• Arise - Sepultura
• Mack Daddy - Sir Mix-A-Lot
• Superstition - Siouxsie & the Banshees
• Slave to the Grind - Skid Row
• Wayward Sons of Mother Earth - Skyclad
• Volume One - Sleep (debut)
• Gish - Smashing Pumpkins (debut)
• Blow Up - The Smithereens
• Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell - Social Distortion
• Badmotorfinger - Soundgarden
• Pocket Full of Kryptonite - Spin Doctors
• Jah Won't Pay the Bills - Sublime (debut, independent demo cassette)
• Girlfriend - Matthew Sweet
• Laughing Stock - Talk Talk (final album)
• Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog (debut, final album)
• Psychotic Supper - Tesla
• Miscellaneous T - They Might Be Giants
• Violent Impression - This Picture (debut)
• The Real Ramona - Throwing Muses
• Tin Machine II - Tin Machine(final album)
• Fear - Toad the Wet Sprocket
• Little Magnets Versus the Bubble of Babble - Transvision Vamp (final album)
• The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest
• Boss of the Bass - Jamaaladeen Tacuma
• Achtung Baby - U2
• Why Do Birds Sing? - Violent Femmes
• Honey Lingers - Voice of the Beehive
• The Pod - Ween
• Widespread Panic - Widespread Panic
• The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life - Frank Zappa (recorded live during the 1988 world tour)
• Mr. Bad Example - Warren Zevon

• "American Music" - The Violent Femmes
• "Baby, Baby" - Amy Grant
• "Black Or White" - Michael Jackson
• "Bring The Noise" - Public Enemy and Anthrax
• "Do You Remember" - Phil Collins
• "Enter Sandman" - Metallica
• "Every Heartbeat" - Amy Grant
• "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" - Bryan Adams
• "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" - C&C Music Factory
• "Live And Let Die" - Guns N' Roses
• "Live For Loving You" - Gloria Estefan
• "Losing My Religion" - R.E.M.
• "More Than Words" - Extreme
• "Mysterious Ways" - U2
• "One" - U2
• "Poundcake" - Van Halen
• "Right Here, Right Now" - Jesus Jones
• "Rush Rush" - Paula Abdul
• "Sing Your Life" - Morrissey
• "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana
• "Something To Talk About" - Bonnie Raitt
• "Top Of The World" - Van Halen
• "Unbelievable" - EMF
• "Who Said I Would" - Phil Collins
• "When A Man Loves A Woman" - Michael Bolton
• "Wicked Game" - Chris Isaak

See also: Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1991

• Witold Lutoslawski - Chantefleurs et Chantefables

• John Adams - The Death of Klinghoffer
• John Corigliano - The Ghosts of Versailles

• Miss Saigon (Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil) - Broadway production opened at the Broadway Theatre on April 11 and ran for 4097 performances
• Secret Garden     Broadway production opened at the St. James Theatre on April 25 and ran for 706 performances
• Song of Singapore     off-Broadway production opened at the Irving Place Theatre on May 7 and ran for 459 performances
• Will Rogers Follies     Broadway production opened at the Palace Theatre on May 1 and ran for 983 performances

• Beauty and the Beast     animated feature
• For the Boys

• February 6 - Danny Thomas, singer and actor
• March 2 - Serge Gainsbourg, singer and songwriter
• March 14 - Jerome Doc Pomus (65), songwriter, cancer
• March 14 - Howard Ashman, lyricist
• March 21 - Leo Fender, inventor of the electric guitar
• April 20 - Steve Marriott, the Small Faces
• June 6 - Stan Getz, US saxophonist
• June 9 - Claudio Arrau, pianist
• June 14 - Joy Finzi, founder of the Finzi Trust
• September 28 - Miles Davis, musician
• October 6 – Igor Talkov, Russian singer/songwriter
• November 24 - Freddie Mercury, singer

• The following artists are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: LaVern Baker, The Byrds, John Lee Hooker, The Impressions, Wilson Pickett, Jimmy Reed and Ike and Tina Turner
• Grammy Awards of 1991
• Eurovision Song Contest 1991