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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, 1980s hair metal groups like Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses, Mötley Crüe, Poison and Ratt, whose sales and critical viability were beginning to decline for about two years previously and also ended Los Angeles' status as the city for rock music stardom.
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.
Queen frontman Freddie Mercury died at home in London on November 24, 1991 due to AIDS. Rumors had been circulating that Mercury had AIDS, but the death came as a shocker to millions of fans and the music industry. The remaining members of Queen form the Mercury Phoenix Trust and the following year, a tribute concert is staged in Wembley Stadium. A sell-out crowd in attendance witnessed the three surviving members reuniting to play along with performances by the likes of David Bowie, Elton John, Guns N' Roses, Def Leppard, Metallica and George Michael.
1991 was also the year CCM, or contemporary Christian music, reached a new peak. Amy Grant, who had already crossed back and forth between CCM and pop in the mid-80s, achieved her (and CCM's) first #1 hit on the pop charts with the hit single "Baby Baby." Another single, "That's What Love Is For," would also top the charts, this time in the Adult Contemporary field. Meanwhile, Grant's album Heart In Motion reaches #10 on the pop chart and #1 on the Christian chart despite its non-religious objective, and quickly become a best-seller. Another CCM crossover artist in 1991 is Michael W. Smith, who achieves a Top Ten pop hit with his single "Place In This World." The subsequent album, Go West Young Man, is also a hit.
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. Pop Will Eat Itself documented the affair with their song, "Not Now James, We're Busy".
- 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 U.S.-Mexico border. McEntire travels on a separate plane.
- March 20 - Michael Jackson signs a $1 billion contract with Sony.
- March 20 - Eric Clapton's four-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.
- July - Launch of the Australian Festival of Chamber 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 17 - Guns N' Roses release the highly anticipated albums Use Your Illusion I & II which debut at the two highest spots on the Billboard 200, the first such feat for a rock act. The albums went on to sell 7 million copies each and spawned the most expensive music videos ever made and a very controversey-laden multi-year world tour.
- September 24 - Nirvana releases Nevermind, debuting at #144 on the Billboard 200.
- October 25 - Steely Dan spontaneously reunites
- 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
- Shakira's career begins
- Sublime's career begins
- Tool's career begins
- Cradle of Filth forms
- Country music legend Kenny Rogers stars his restaurant chain, "Kenny Rogers Roasters," serving up tasty chicken.
- 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
- Glue Gun forms (under the name Glü Gun)
- Huggy Bear forms in Brighton, England
- Local H forms
- Stabbing Westward forms in Chicago, Illinois
- Unwritten Law forms
- Nas joins Main Source
- The Pharcyde signs to Delicious Vinyl, their first label
- Jermaine Dupri discovers Kris Kross performing at a mall in Atlanta
- Rage Against the Machine forms
- Rancid forms in Berkeley, California
- Vertical Horizon forms
- Leftfield, an electronica duo forms in London, England
- Devo disbands
- Talking Heads disbands
- The original surviving members of Bill Haley and His Comets from the 1950s reunite for a European concert tour, and soon after resume regular touring and recording engagements that continue as of 2005.
large ness in areas
Albums released
Top hits
See also: Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1991
Births
Deaths
- January 8 - Steve Clark, guitarist of Def Leppard
- 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
- April 21 - Willi Boskovsky, conductor
- April 23 - Johnny Thunders, rock guitarist and singer
- May 8 - Jean Langlais, composer
- May 19 - Odia Coates, singer
- May 23 - Wilhelm Kempff, pianist and composer
- May 27 - Leopold Nowak, musicologist
- June 6 - Stan Getz, US saxophonist
- June 9 - Claudio Arrau, pianist
- June 14 - Joy Finzi, founder of the Finzi Trust
- September 4 - Charlie Barnet, US bandleader
- September 8 - Alex North, composer
- September 17 - Zino Francescatti, violinist
- September 28 - Miles Davis, musician
- September 28 - Eugène Bozza, composer
- October 6 - Igor Talkov, Russian singer/songwriter
- October 17 - Tennessee Ernie Ford
- October 31 - Joseph Papp, Broadway producer
- November 2 - Mort Shuman, songwriter
- November 15 - Jacques Morali, disco composer
- November 24 - Freddie Mercury, singer
- November 24 - Eric Carr, drummer
Awards
Charts
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