1991 in music

The most important event in music in 1991 is, by far, the popular breakthrough of grunge music. Nirvana's Nevermind, led by the surprise hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", became the most popular album of the year. Followed immediately by other grunge bands like Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, grunge dominated the 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.

Events

• 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
• Whitney Houston sings the "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Superbowl. The recording is then released and becomes a hit single.
• Britney Spears appears on Star Search[?]
• 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
• 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

Albums Released

• Derelicts of Dialect[?] - 3rd Bass
• Facelift - Alice in Chains
• Attack of the Killer B's - Anthrax
• To Mother[?] - Babes in Toyland
• 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
• Ropin' the Wind[?] - Garth Brooks
• Nothing but a Burning Light[?] - Bruce Cockburn

• Ceremony[?] - The Cult
• Cypress Hill[?] - Cypress Hill (debut)
• 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
• Homebase[?] - DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince[?]
• And Now the Legacy Begins[?] - Dream Warriors
• Clandestine - Entombed
• Pornograffiti[?] - Extreme
• 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
• Dangerous - Michael Jackson
• 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
• Future Without a Past[?] - Leaders of the New School (debut)
• Blue Lines - Massive Attack
• Rust in Peace[?] - Megadeth
• Bullhead - Melvins
• Eggnog[?] - Melvins
• Metallica - Metallica
• Lean Into It[?] - Mr. Big
• Loveless - My Bloody Valentine (final album)
• Sexplosion![?] - My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult
• Nevermind - Nirvana
• Niggaz4life[?] - N.W.A. (final album)
• Lunar Womb[?] - Obsessed
• 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
• Apocalypse 91 the Enemy Strikes Black[?] - Public Enemy
• Luck of the Draw[?] - Bonnie Raitt
• Scamboogery[?] - Scatterbrain[?]
• Mack Daddy[?] - Sir Mix-A-Lot[?]
• Wayward Sons of Mother Earth[?] - Skyclad
• Volume One[?] - Sleep (debut)
• Gish - Smashing Pumpkins (debut)
• Badmotorfinger - Soundgarden
• Pocket Full of Kryptonite - Spin Doctors
• Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog (debut, final album)
• Psychotic Supper[?] - Tesla
• The Real Ramona[?] - Throwing Muses[?]
• Fear[?] - Toad the Wet Sprocket[?]
• The Low End Theory - A Tribe Called Quest
• Boss of the Bass[?] - Jamaaladeen Tacuma
• Achtung Baby - U2
• The Pod[?] - Ween
• Widespread Panic[?] - Widespread Panic

Top Hits

• "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
• "Junior's Gone Wild" - King's X
• "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
• "Runaround" - Van Halen
• "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana
• "Something To Talk About" - Bonnie Raitt
• "Top Of The World" - Van Halen
• "Who Said I Would" - Phil Collins
• "When A Man Loves A Woman" - Michael Bolton[?]
• "Wicked Game" - Christopher Isaak

Births

Deaths

• March 14 - Jerome Doc Pomus (65), songwriter, cancer
• March 21 - Leo Fender[?], inventor of the electric guitar
• April 20 - Steve Marriot[?], the Small Faces
• September 28 - Miles Davis, musician
• November 24 - Freddie Mercury, singer

Awards

• 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