VoicesCarry said:

That's good

THe only 2 country artists i can tolerate ar Shania and Faith HIll, and they are often critisized by purists.

jayaredee said:

That's because they're pop artists.

VoicesCarry said:

True, but the still have that country twang to them and they are still played on that country music channel

jayaredee said:

Well Mariah gets played on hard rock stations, so there's no accounting for radio labels, is there ?

jayaredee said:

geezz,...haven't updated that in ages,...let me check...wow, last updated 3 years ago...Let me make some adjustments,...there that's better

kev1n said:

You erased Cher

jayaredee said:

hard to please ey? still love her nontheless

This is a pathetic thread. Some of the choices just make me cringe. Granted, I don't have much to add to it, but there's no way in hell I would choose the likes of Shania, Celine or Britney as an icon of the 90's.

kisscamille said:

Yeah, I would choose no-one

I don't dare to post to this thread. Just look at what happened with the 70s one.

btw, sorry Voices and Dave. Shit like that gets out of hand easily.

Dr Dre

is an obvious candidate both in terms of commercial success and musical appeal (whether you like him or not the guy is basically the musical icom of west coast rap which in turn whether you like will find its place in popular music history)

Trent Reznor (NIN *is* trent reznor, so i consider him kinda solo)

Kurt Cobain (yeah, i know, he was a band member, but as a singer/songwriter i think of his work as that of an individual)

Madonna (even though it could be argued that the 90s began a bit of a decline for her, i can't imagine the 90s without her)

Anxiety said:

This is so lousy. Two of these choices are not solo artists and one of them belongs to the 80s. Surely we had great solo artists in the 90s as well? Didn't we? DIDN'T WE?!? I guess, we didn't then.

Novabreaker said:

well, WHO then? i could name a bunch of people i liked, but most of them were fairly obscure and wouldn't be choices for 'icon' status. the three i listed, in my opinion, made the biggest influence on that decade in my recollection. results may vary.

Garth Brooks
LeAnn Rimes
Whitney Houston

Even if we were to include bands I'd go with The Prodigy over Nine Inch Nails on sheer influence and status. If bands were allowed Nirvana rightfully should be on that list. But we need that obligatory female artist, and I'm afraid it's going to be Mariah Carey.

Anxiety said:

everyone's forgetting about Garth Brooks!

Novabreaker said:

I can think of tons. But I loved the 90's so it's probably different for me than most people posting here.

Bjork
Beck
PJ Harvey
Tricky
Tori Amos
Mary J. Blige
Liz Phair
Aphex Twin
Trent Reznor (NIN is just the name he works under. It's a solo affair other than the tours)
Missy Elliott

There's 10 for ya. All of them top shelf artists and most of them producing solid product throughout the decade. Within their genres, they were all pretty definitive during the 90's, despite most of them being alternative. Like I said, the 90's were pretty polarizing in terms of creative vs. commercial success. Unless you were one of the lucky ones like Nirvana or Alanis, you were either a critic's darling or you were a big blockbuster. And like someone else said, there were countless great bands at the time.

And throw U2 in the Madonna pile. They were just as consistent and interesting as they were in the 80's if not more so.

klhk said:

You beat me to it. In terms of commercial success, and to a lesser extent, critical acclaim, I'd take:

Garth Brooks
Tupac
Janet Jackson

The 1990s wasn't the strongest decade for solo artists.

if i had to take kurt cobain off my list (which i would still argue, since he really WAS the creative heart of nirvana - can you really tell me that foo fighters or sweet 75 have been able to come near the music kurt cobain wrote and sang? purr-leeze. his talent was singular - the other guys were talented but they were musicians and he was the artist), i'd replace him with bjork or missy.

Anxiety said:

I agree with you there. I realize that they were a band. But as much as Dave and Krist's playing were a huge ingredient in Nirvana's sound, it really was Kurt's band. I wouldn't go so far as to say they were just hired help, but it was pretty damn close.

R Kelly

Janet

Garth Brooks

(not that i like garth or kelly but its a list...and come on folks..take a swing at it..ya fuckin bunch of wuses)...

sosgemini said:

hey man...i said i didnt like em...but didnt he sell a crap load of music in the 90's? and he wrote for a lot of people too..wrote a lot of hits..

so yeah, r kelly..

at least im trying...

consider my post a launching point for the real discussion up in this thread..

VoicesCarry said:

2pac DID NOT suck (IMHO)!!! BTW, I think it was Biggie Smalls that was a little overrated, not 2pac.

2pac was one of the Top 10 best rap artists ever (at least on my list as well as the list of most Hip-Hop magazine voting polls).

Celine Dion is a good choice for a 90's icon (if you like too much pop!!). For better or worse, Celine sold a lot of record.

Garth Brooks & Shania Twain are THE most sucessful artists in country music history. And yes, they both sold out on the country music community when they went pop (just like Prince selling out on the funk community for a little while to make more more during the 80's).

Mary J. Blige? Well, I like Mary for most her first 2 albums (What's the 411? & My Life). Yes, she is the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. But she was never a great vocalist on Hip-Hop/R&B or Top 40 radio.

thesexofit said:

Remember: Solo Artists Only!!!

BTW, That's not funny. Besides, *NSYNC was way better!

And New Edition would beat all for their candyasses!!!
[Edited 5/18/05 13:19pm]

jayaredee said:

Remember: Solo Artists Only!!!

BTW, I like Emma Burton (Baby Spice).

DavidEye said:

Thanks David!!!

jayaredee said:

Jay, let me help you with your choices:

2pac
Garth Brooks
Usher
R. Kelly
Sean "Puff Daddy/P. Ditty" Combs
Jay-Z
Trent Renzor (Nine Inch Nails was only his backing band!!!)

If I can think of other options, I'll keep you posted. But maybe you have the right idea that the 90's belong to the girls.

The 90s belongs to a whole load of people, and if you look at sales, it's usually Garth Brooks or Shania Twain killin' it.