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Are the Hot 100 likely to be guitar driven though? Taking a look at the #1 songs from 1991 (chosen because it was just as Nevermind broke), most of the songs b

Are the Hot 100 likely to be guitar driven though? Taking a look at the #1 songs from 1991 (chosen because it was just as Nevermind broke), most of the songs back then were R&B and electronic pop too. There's Bryan Adams, Extreme and Roxette in there, but nothing else leaps out to me as guitar driven (it's Mariah Carey, Michael Bolton, Madonna, Whitney Houston, C+C Music Factory etc): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_1991 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_numb... I remember the guitar bands of the 90s being album bands, so I thought I'd do a quick check of today's Billboard Top 200 albums. But before I even got there, at the top of the search results was a news headline from today: "Metallica On Course for Sixth No. 1 Album on Billboard 200": http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7581705/metallica-sixth-number-1-album-billboard-200 http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7581705...

bhouston 10y ago
"Alternative" (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, I Mother Earth, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, Stone Temple Pilots, Oasis, etc.) was big in the early 1990s. That is exactly why I took up guitar in early high school.
- jawilson2 10y ago
  Right, but that was the "Alternative" to the Top 50 Billboard stuff at the time (and also arguably 80 hair metal). Most pop was not guitar driven, and it wasn't until alt rock became mainstream in the mid 90s that guitars were featured again.
soundwave106 10y ago
From my quick survey of the charts in 1991 versus now, I would say that the guitar bands overall have declined. In 1991, you had bands like harder rock bands like Van Halen, Metallica, Skid Row, and Guns N' Roses on the charts along with some more "alternative" bands (REM, U2) and a little dose of country (Garth Brooks). Now? Alternative bands (now labeled "indie") are increasingly all electronic -- how much guitar is in the Twenty One Pilots album currently on the charts, for instance? Hard rock is still on the charts (Avenged Sevenfold and In Flames among others have albums on the charts) but it's a shade less prominent. Country is probably the one genre in the US which is both very popular and has prominent guitar, but even that is more electronic than it used to be -- just listen to all the synth in certain Keith Urban tracks. The synthesizer is now what rules pop music these days, in my opinion. Even hip hop, which always used electronics as long as I'm aware, reflects some of this change (a lot of hip-hop has abandoned samples in favor of pure synthesizer tracks). This change makes sense to me. As long as you have a computer, you can nowadays download an entire studio for practically pennies, and start creating satisfactory loops fairly quickly. A guitar most likely will cost more and definitely will take a lot more practice to get to that "instant gratification" point.
- SyneRyder 10y ago
  I'd agree with that, and especially the part about downloadable studios & instant gratification. I don't make much music anymore, but when I do play around I'm more likely to fire up some software & run some programmed synth sounds through the AmpliTube Fender effects plugins, than to grab my guitar & StealthPlug & Tube compressor & remember that I'm not actually very good at playing anyway...
- santaclaus 10y ago
  > The synthesizer is now what rules pop music these days Now? It's been like that since the 80s!

bhouston 10y ago

"Alternative" (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, I Mother Earth, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, Stone Temple Pilots, Oasis, etc.) was big in the early 1990s. That is exactly why I took up guitar in early high school.

jawilson2 10y ago
Right, but that was the "Alternative" to the Top 50 Billboard stuff at the time (and also arguably 80 hair metal). Most pop was not guitar driven, and it wasn't until alt rock became mainstream in the mid 90s that guitars were featured again.

soundwave106 10y ago

From my quick survey of the charts in 1991 versus now, I would say that the guitar bands overall have declined. In 1991, you had bands like harder rock bands like Van Halen, Metallica, Skid Row, and Guns N' Roses on the charts along with some more "alternative" bands (REM, U2) and a little dose of country (Garth Brooks). Now? Alternative bands (now labeled "indie") are increasingly all electronic -- how much guitar is in the Twenty One Pilots album currently on the charts, for instance? Hard rock is still on the charts (Avenged Sevenfold and In Flames among others have albums on the charts) but it's a shade less prominent. Country is probably the one genre in the US which is both very popular and has prominent guitar, but even that is more electronic than it used to be -- just listen to all the synth in certain Keith Urban tracks. The synthesizer is now what rules pop music these days, in my opinion. Even hip hop, which always used electronics as long as I'm aware, reflects some of this change (a lot of hip-hop has abandoned samples in favor of pure synthesizer tracks). This change makes sense to me. As long as you have a computer, you can nowadays download an entire studio for practically pennies, and start creating satisfactory loops fairly quickly. A guitar most likely will cost more and definitely will take a lot more practice to get to that "instant gratification" point.

SyneRyder 10y ago
I'd agree with that, and especially the part about downloadable studios & instant gratification. I don't make much music anymore, but when I do play around I'm more likely to fire up some software & run some programmed synth sounds through the AmpliTube Fender effects plugins, than to grab my guitar & StealthPlug & Tube compressor & remember that I'm not actually very good at playing anyway...
santaclaus 10y ago
> The synthesizer is now what rules pop music these days Now? It's been like that since the 80s!