What a difference 5 years makes. Not only were none of the top artists from the same week in 1991 in the top 10 of 1996, with the exception of Soundgarden, none of the groups below had even released an album by 1991. (You could exclude Alanis Morissette as well, since she was making manufactured pop in 1991 instead of manufactured Adult Alternative.) A big difference from just 5 years prior, when R.E.M., Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello and the Violent Femmes were already 10+ years into their careers. Young people were important as artists, not just as a demographic with expendable income.
Even more incredible is the fact that, save for R.E.M., none of the chart stars of June of 91 had even released relevant material since that time. While some would argue that the same kind of chart fleetingness is present today, the difference is the cultural "revolution" of the 1990s brought forth more new artists than there had been in years, instead of short attention spans.
The Cranberries were on top with their single "Salvation", a far cry from their first single, "Linger", or their enormous hit off of their second album, No Need to Argue, "Zombie". Where as "Linger" recalled the breezy pop of The Sundays, and "Zombie" the heavy sludge associated with Seattle, "Salvation" had more in common with the new wave and ska sounds of contemporaries Elastica and No Doubt, respectively. That was one thing that was great about The Cranberries - you never felt like you were hearing the same song twice. Unless, of course, you were hearing the same song twice, which was a likely occurrence during the peak of "Zombie"'s popularity.
Despite the more kinetic sound, the song fell flat with its anti-drug message, and was not nearly as effective as the anti-terrorism slant of "Zombie". Which is surprising, given the first lines of the song:
To all those people doing lines, don't do it, don't do it.
If there is a more effective anti-drug message, I have yet to hear it.
Warning: Watching this video will no doubt bring on a heavy wave of nostalgia for the time that there was music on MTV, videos were important and may bring back some certain unhealthy feelings for Dolores O'Riordan.
Something else notable about June of 1996 was the prevalence of female artists and female fronted-bands. Besides The Cranberries, Tracy Bonham and Alanis Morisette made the Top 10, but the aforementioned No Doubt and Elastica were also getting a lot of airplay, as was Garbage, Hole, Magnapop, Sheryl Crow, Jewel, The Goops, Letters to Cleo, Juliana Hatfield, Lush, Fiona Apple, and Veruca Salt. Not to mention the fact that 73% of bands of the time had female bass players.
1. The Cranberries - "Salvation"
2. Tracy Bonham - "Mother Mother"
3. Soundgarden - "Pretty Noose"
4. Dishwalla - "Counting Blue Cars"
5. Bush - "Machinehead"
6. Dave Matthews Band - "Too Much"
7. The Verve Pipe - "Photograph"
8. Oasis - "Champagne Supernova"
9. Goldfinger - "Here In Your Bedroom"
10.Alanis Morissette - "You Learn"
Whatever.
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