The Sound of 1991: Grunge, Hip-Hop, and the End of the ’80s
1991 sounded like a correction. For years, popular music had been getting louder, shinier, and more certain of itself. The ’80s promised scale. Bigger hooks. Bigger hair. Bigger statements. By the end of the decade, that confidence had curdled into fatigue. The spectacle was still there, but fewer people believed in it. What arrives in…