Events
The most important event in music in 1991 is, by far, the popular breakthrough of grunge music. Nirvana's Nevermind, led by the surprise hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", became the most popular album of the year. Followed immediately by other grunge bands like Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, grunge dominated the charts for the next few years. Its success effectively ended pop-oriented hair metal groups like Guns 'n Roses, Poison and Def Leppard, whose sales and critical viability had been declining for years.
A Tribe Called Quest's Low End Theory was released this year; it would go on to be considered one of the best hip hop albums of the 1990s. A Tribe Called Quest, along with De La Soul, Dream Warriors, Gang Starr and the Poor Righteous Teachers, helped define what came to be known as alternative rap with important releases this year.
The massive success of Garth Brooks in this year sets the stage for the mid-1990s influx of pop-oriented country musicians. In addition, several soon-to-be pivotal bands form or release debuts, including future pioneers in riot grrl punk (Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Huggy Bear), jam bands (moe, Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Spin Doctors) and stoner metal (Kyuss, Sleep, Obsessed). Massive Attack's Blue Lines, while unique at the time, invented the sound that would eventually become known as trip hop. Entombed's Clandestine and Dismember's Like an Ever Flowing Stream are early releases from the Scandinavian metal scene. U2 release their seventh album Achtung Baby, considered by many of their fans to be their best album.
- January 18 - Three people are crushed to death during an AC/DC concert in Salt Lake City, Utah when audience members rushed the stage.
- February 27 - James Brown is granted an early parole and released from jail. Brown had been arrested after leading Police on a high speed chase through two states in 1989
- February 28 - Hollywood, California's The Record Plant recording studio closes its doors. Among the albums recorded at the Record Plant were The Eagles' Hotel California, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life
- March 11 - Janet Jackson signs a $30 million (US) contract with Virgin Records.
- March 16 - Seven members of country music singer Reba McEntire's band and her road manager are killed when their private plane crashes in California, near the Mexican border. McEntire travels on a separate plane.
- March 20 - Michael Jackson signs a $1 billion (US) contract with Sony.
- March 20 - Eric Clapton's 4 year old son, Conor, dies after falling 53 stories from a New York City apartment window. (The death of his son would inspire Clapton to write "Tears in Heaven".)
- March 24 - The Black Crowes are dropped as the opening act of ZZ Top's tour for repeatedly insulting the tour's sponsor, Miller Beer.
- March 27 - New Kids on the Block's Donnie Wahlberg is arrested in Louisville, Kentucky for allegedly setting his hotel room on fire.
- March 28 - George Harrison, Phil Collins and others attend funeral services for Eric Clapton's late son, Conor
- April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael Noonan O'Keefe in New York
- May 7 - In Macon, Georgia, a judge dismisses a wrongful death lawsuit against Ozzy Osbourne. The suit was filed by a local couple that believed their son was inspired to attempt suicide by Osbourne's music
- Whitney Houston sings "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Superbowl. The recording is then released and becomes a hit single.
- Britney Spears appears on Star Search
- Cradle of Filth forms
- Dave Matthews Band forms
- Perry Farrell organizes the first Lollapalooza tour as a farewell for his just-dissolved band, Jane's Addiction
- .moe forms
- Bratmobile forms
- Digable Planets forms
- Huggy Bear forms in Brighton, England
- Stabbing Westward forms in Chicago
- Nas joins Main Source
- The Pharcyde signs to Delicious Vinyl, their first label
- Jermaine Dupri discovers Kris Kross performing at a mall in Atlanta
- Rancid forms in Berkeley, California
- Vertical Horizon forms
- Leftfield, an electronica duo forms in London, England
