h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The 1990s saw the dominance of the monotone nasal whine as the singing style of choice. Never again would being in the right key or varying the pitch of your voice trouble british rock bands. Perhaps the most influential of the whiners were, of course, Oasis, but other whiners were not far behind. The Seahorses and the Charlatans proved to be amongst the worst offenders, giving a bad name to northern music with their tedious dirges. Thank goodness that's over.

Grunge, the singing style, really close to yelling, at the very least in the states. You can't forget Nirvana.

dude... P.I.L.
greatest hits-n-all.

I think you'll find the Charlatans actually produced a decent variety of music during the 90's and do not deserve your slurs.

Leaving aside the muzbiz, I believe the nasal whine was actually immensely popular around 1967, so the 90s can hardly claim to be original.

B

Yo. Yeah it's not entirely confined to the '90s (Public Image Limited being a good example) but seemed to me to be very characteristic of the Britpop/'90s British pop/rock music.

Sorry for being vitriolic about the Charlatans, I realise it's entirely subjective, but I thoroughly dislike them. There's one song of theirs that got played all the time and was just sickeningly whiney - can't remember the title or anything but it's left a bad impression!

I barely even listen to the singing, all I can hear is the guitar part, and the trouble with the 90's is the breakdown of creativity. I can't stand bands that, no matter how good the singer is, only have guitar parts that someone who knows nothing about playing guitar could come up with.

I barely even listen to the singing, all I can hear is the guitar part, and the trouble with the 90's is the breakdown of creativity. I can't stand bands that, no matter how good the singer is, only have guitar parts that someone who knows nothing about playing guitar could come up with.

That could be a good thing - the widening of music to accept people who weren't taught to read little black dots from age 2. Things like classical/prog rock, where you need to have been playing whatever instrument you choose for 90 years just to attempt it, just bore many people as it seems just inaccessible and self-congratulatory. I thank goodness that punk and hardcore came along and helped pull down rock music's ivory towers.

Some would say that it is a joy to hear a talented musician work his craft. I read an interview with one guy, can't remember who it was, who said that the music business is the only one where experience is considered a bad thing.
Sure, punk allowed music to be accessible to amateurs again. It also made it acceptable to release any old rubbish. A double-bladed sword.

That and the nasal whine seem to be characteristic of Britpop. I too am glad it has gone away.

pulled rock music's "ivory towers" to the lowest depths found in music.

Some would say that it is a joy to hear a talented musician work his craft. I read an interview with one guy, can't remember who it was, who said that the music business is the only one where experience is considered a bad thing.
Sure, punk allowed music to be accessible to amateurs again. It also made it acceptable to release any old rubbish. A double-bladed sword.


I agree with everything you say there. It's definitely a fine line between talented musician and self-indulgent w*nk-monger and between soulful street-musician and talentless rubbish. I don't know where the line is, but you *can* hear when someone steps over it. I guess it's in a different place for everyone.

I, in turn, also concur.

And feel obliged to add: Hooray for w*nk-mongers!

The roots of the nasal whine "singing" style can be traced back to Michael Stipe in the 80`s. I know I`m going to get a lot of flak for this, but (in my opinion) REM suck big time. Believe you me. I`ve tried to give them a chance. I`ve got mates who think they`re the bees knees, but I truly HATE them ! Sorry.

The nasal whine was itself, a natural progression from THAT (can`t think how to accurately describe it) early-mid 80`s vocal style as perfected by (usually Scottish for some reason) vocalists such as him-out-of-Hipsay, him-out-of-Win, him-out-of Love And Money, Edwyn Collins out-of-Orange Juice, and (yes, I KNOW, not-Scottish) Lloyd Cole.

Anyway....sorry... the 90`s eh ?

Master B wrote...
"..the nasal whine was immensely popular in 1967..."

Actually that`s true, so although Michael Stipe uses it ad nauseum, it can be traced back even further than the 80`s.
Think of the IRRITATING Bob Dylan (yes, I`ll get MORE flak for that, no doubt). Jesus wept.

Dunno where the irritating I`m-an-early-to-mid-80`s-Scottish-vocalist warble originates from, then. Perhaps they were cack-handedly immitating Jim Kerr`s mumbling moments from Simple Minds` truly MAJESTIC "New Gold Dream" album.

Sorry, I`m STILL on about the 80`s.
I`ll think of something from the 90`s in a minute.

What REALLY got my goat in the 90`s was the Shoegazing "scene" typified by bands like Ride (although tunes like Drive Blind were good), Slowdive, and the Catherine Wheel.

I also couldn`t stand the bands who were lumped in with the New Wave Of New Wave, and Romo "movements". I think these were largely dreamt up by the Melody Maker, in any case.

The BBC should make "I HATE THE (insert your decade here)". That would be much more entertaining than watching Vernon Kaye or Gina Yoshere going :
"The A-Team - they were BRILLIANT - Mr T`s jewellery - what was THAT all about ?", or...
"The Big Breakfast - that was FANTASTIC - Zig and Zag - what were THEY all about ?".

I`d be on that.
Every week !
Going :
"Roxette - they were DREK - they were like the 80`s in the 90`s - It Must`ve Been Love - what was THAT all about ?" or...
"The Crash Test Dummies - they were PANTS - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm - what was THAT all about ?" - Actually what WAS that all about ? Load a rubbish.

Come to think of it that geezer out of the Crash Test Dummies had a nasal whine that was about four octaves lower than yer standard 90`s vocalist. Didn`t make them any better, though.

I HATE THE BRILLIANT FANTASTIC DREK PANTS.
that would rock....

Let`s see if the BBC will make it for us !