Even though she was always one of the most gifted vocalists of all time (even outside of Australia) Tina’s first album from the start of the decade was a huge failure save for its lead single “I need your body” largely due to it being dismissed as a Paula Abdul rip-off album (which I thoroughly disagree with.) Here she took that criticism to heart by releasing an album more in line with RNB which was a huge success for her both locally and internationally.
This was originally released to mere moderate success for Celine Dion despite it spawning her version of the chart topper “The power of love,” however the album gained a second wind a year after its release when Celine embarked on a highly successful world tour as well as the surprise success of “Think twice” over in the UK. This allowed her to join the elite ranks of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston as a top-notch diva of the 90’s.
This had a very slow rise to its success throughout the world, I’m guessing because these guys were on a tiny indie label and as such weren’t able to find much success with their brand of alternative rock on most stations. Fortunately, in Australia, Triple J came to the rescue and heavily promoted this album on the station which resulted in it becoming a massive success for them here.
This was the album that took this Irish band from an indie darling to an overnight sensation in the mainstream, mainly due to the politically charged lead single which not only won over many fans who were disenfranchised from the times but sadly was also the victim of widespread ridicule from those who found it to be overdramatic. At least the band soldiered on as if this had no impact on them.
These guys had made two albums that achieved no success by the time they released their third album which became a huge success in Australia thanks to it catching the attention of Triple J upon its initial release. I’m guessing the initial appeal of the album was people relating to the loser persona the band adopted for this album, perhaps in response to how much of a failure they felt they were in the mainstream.
One of the most quintessential films to come out of the decade was Pulp fiction, and while I can’t say that the film is a masterpiece myself (I never cared for Bruce Willis’s segment) I will say that it is a fantastic film thanks to the performances from John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson. The soundtrack was also a huge success likely due to all of the 60’s classics that appear throughout the film.
Although they had two albums prior which achieved no success even in their native America, this third album from Green day proved to be a massive success due to the surprise success of one of its singles on the Billboard airplay charts. This allowed the album to find an international audience months after its initial release and set the trio up as one of the leading forces of the punk revival of the 90’s.
Although he had already achieved moderate success earlier in the decade with his greatest hits package It had to be you, I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted just how successful this jazz album from the Hollywood actor turned musician would be in Australia and NZ this decade. Unfortunately, this was a mere one off for him as his subsequent albums failed to find much of an audience here.
So, this is a film that seems to divide modern audiences, mainly due to people feeling that it glorifies ableism due to the way the titular character is portrayed by Tom Hanks (it doesn’t, although admittedly he could’ve been handled better in the writing department.) Those who don’t hold that against the film agree that it’s a sentimental classic about how anyone can make it big regardless of who they are in life.
This was another album that sat on shelves ignored for well over a year, it’s a pity because Sheryl Crow was in the same boat as Tracy Chapman and Melissa Etheridge in terms of women who wrote personal ballads for a mass audience. In any case, the album did finally become a major success when the lead single was picked up on the radio, admittedly Sheryl was far from the only victim of this delayed cycle.
This was the second album to come from Boyz II men, an album that had no issues with finding success here now that they had two of the biggest hits of the decade under their belt. While they wouldn’t find any further success with their albums throughout the decade, they didn’t need to as their ballads would continue to become chart toppers for them in their native America throughout the 90’s.
I guess grunge had officially taken over the mainstream this year as this fourth album from Soundgarden proved to be a massive hit upon its initial release, although it’s true appeal came when the video for “Black hole sun” dropped which helped the band stand out from their contemporaries. They’re often considered to be one of the big four for grunge, the other three bands being Nirvana, Pearl jam and Alice in chains.
I’m not sure if it was in good taste to release this live album mere months after the death of Kurt Cobain, then again, it’s not like the other two members of the band ever objected to this albums existence so maybe it was a heartfelt tribute to his legacy. Like the other MTV unplugged albums, I’ve featured so far, its success comes from how honest and raw the performance was on the show from the band in question.
Even though this came out several months after the tragic suicide of Kurt Cobain, the tragic event didn’t seem to hamper its sales proving that while the two bands were similar to each other, they had very different fanbases at the time. Pearl jam would continue to thrive throughout the decade over Nirvana’s sequel band Foo fighters, even though both bands would evolve in similar ways.
Perhaps the first film to feature a trans character and treat them with any sense of dignity and respect, we have this distinctly Australian film that managed to become a huge success everywhere in the world except for America because anything that isn’t filtered by Hollywood doesn’t tend to do well over there. The soundtrack was a predictable hit worldwide due to the film recontextualising many of the tracks as queer anthems throughout its runtime.
Just like the previous entry, this album sat on shelves ignored for over a year before it finally found success worldwide with its lead single. Another thing this album has in common with Sheryl’s debut is that Joshua was also in his thirties when he recorded it, perhaps this was a sign of agism initially being a barrier to success only for it to be torn down when audiences realise the good music they’d be missing out on.
This was the debut album from a band that would go on to be widely despised when years later when they ruined the Joni Mitchell classic “Big yellow taxi” for the film Two weeks’ notice. Before they were blacklisted in the music community for that, there were a well-respected band who score massive success with their debut album as well as having the first hit single worldwide that was never released as such in their native America.
Bon Jovi were on a roll when they released their greatest hits package which led to them scoring the biggest hit of their career, this led to their next album being more in line with adult contemporary than any of their previous work up until this point. It remains a polarising point in their career to this day, many saying they felt betrayed by this change in direction while others saying they deserved the success.
By far the most successful 2d animated film, the Lion king is often considered to be a masterpiece thanks to its ground-breaking animation and its story about a prince reclaiming his throne after being gaslight into giving it up to his abusive uncle (OK this is essentially the story of Hamlet made for kids.) The soundtrack is also skilfully done by Elton John and composers Tim Rice and Hans Zimmer.
Reality bites seems to be a film you either love or hate, although the consensus on both sides of the argument is unanimous as it’s a film about how being from gen x is hard and it is exploring why people in this generation feels that way. While the film wasn’t a box office success, the soundtrack was highly successful likely due to it launching the careers of several artists who appear on the track listing.
When news broke that hell froze over and thus allowed these guys to bury the hatchet and make a new album, fans were excited so much so that this greatest hits package released to cash in on their reunion went on to be a huge success for them before they even began their Hell freezes over tour. Despite patching things up and putting on a highly successful show, the band wouldn’t release new material for another thirteen years.
These guys saw minor success in their native UK in the late 80’s with their debut album, this success didn’t translate to Australia likely due to us being uninterested in British soul at the time. This attitude obviously changed with their third album as there was plenty of British artists finding success with soul music, although it did take a while for this album to peak here despite finding success with the singles.
While they were never among the likes of Pearl jam or Nirvana when it comes to grunge royalty, Stone temple pilots did achieve massive success this year with their second album due to the heavy endorsement they received on Triple J as well as the radio in general gravitating towards their sound. They would struggle for relevancy as the decade went on largely due to the antics of their lead singer Scott Weiland.
This was the only notable success that Crash test dummies had outside their native Canada, presumably due to the overwhelming success of a song that remains one of their least successful hits in their homeland despite it being their only international hit. Indeed, that song trapped the band in novelty status despite the rest of the album being fairly serious, which explains why the rest of their catalogue didn’t catch on.
Given how inescapable the second advanced single was from their earlier entry was, this second album from the Prodigy managed to finally become a success here in Australia three years after its initial release in order to help hype up their third album. I’m not sure why their first two albums initially flopped here as industrial rock while not the most successful genre of the decade did have its fanbase here.
This was the first of only two albums to come from Chocolate Starfish, an Australian band who were known for their campy onstage antics who nonetheless were able to see massive success thanks to how well their music connected with audiences. I’m not sure why they didn’t find any success with their second album the following year, it unfortunately led to them breaking up later in the decade.
New age was at the peak of its popularity throughout the 90’s thanks to the efforts of Enya and these guys, it’s little wonder this managed to find overwhelming success given how unlike Enya, they were able to find success with their singles from each of their albums. Unfortunately, the tides turned against them when they were sued by the original composers of the lead single which ended their good will with the new age community.
This was originally released the previous year to deafening silence for the Scottish band, likely because we Aussies didn’t give them that much success back in the day and as such had no reason to check this greatest hits package out. That changed this year when their cover of a Mindbenders track become one of the biggest hits of the decade which incentivised us the check out their back catalogue with this album.
These guys were on a roll this decade as they released this album two years after the success of their previous album Automatic for the people, it’s worth noting that at this point they had become more popular worldwide than in their native America which is why they didn’t see much success on Billboard as the decade went on. Unfortunately, this was their last major album as their popularity would decline after this.
This was Madonna’s foray into RNB, an exercise that would result it being her lowest selling album of the 90’s given how people felt she was following trends on this album rather than setting them. Even so, it was a moderate success for her as it would take something disastrous like American life or anything she would release in the 2010’s for fans to abandon her music.
One of the more popular non-Hollywood films to emerge from this decade was Four wedding and a funeral, a British rom com about a guy is afraid of commitment falling in love with an American woman with chaos ensuing from there. The film was a huge box office and critical success thanks to the charming interactions with the characters, and as such the soundtrack which spawned one of the biggest hits of the decade was also a huge success.
I feel like we need to give these three women a round of applause for finally making it big in their native America given how the rest of the world had little issues with making them a household name with their earlier work. Here the girls continue spitting the rhymes that made them respected in the hip hop game whilst having fun catchy beats to go along with their rhymes that captivated audiences.
This was the soundtrack to a film that was mired in controversy back in the day due to the accidental death of its star, I won’t go into the details here but suffice to say the film has a lot of sentimental value to Brandon Lee’s fans even after all of these years. The film itself remains a classic more than just the circumstances surrounding it as it was a serious take on a comic book series much like the Batman films.
INXS were on a roll when they released this greatest hits package towards the end of the previous year, it had its success roll over to this year due to how inescapable the band still were during the mid 90’s. Unfortunately, this would be the final bit of success they would achieve during Michael Hutchence’s lifetime.
This was the final album that Pink Floyd released this decade, it’s also the first of a few albums I’ll be featuring on these lists that the A.V club declared as one of the least essential albums of the decade despite what a massive success it was. I’m guessing this was due to the album failing to live up to their earlier work as it’s one of the less universally acclaimed albums from their catalogue.
This was the official sequel to the 12th man’s debut album from seven years prior, indeed this became equally as successful as that album proving that his impersonations of sports commentators were still entertaining audiences well into the 90’s.
There was a popular grunge band from around this time that had a very similar band name to this Australian jazz rock band, although confusing these guys for those guys is a bad mistake considering their sound are nothing alike to each other. This was D.I.G’s only notable success here as they were able to win over both the rock and EDM crowds here with this album of theirs and none of their other work.
This was the only notable success that Pantera was able to achieve here in Australia, likely due to heavy metal never being that popular here save for some rare exceptions. Indeed, this was a massive hit here due to the records it broke in their native America, and to be fair they did have minor success with their next album two years later.
There was a ton of hype going into this album for Kulcha, unfortunately the success of their singles didn’t translate that well to the album itself as it only makes it on this list due to being a sleeper hit for them back in the day. It was actually a chore to find where to put this album on my site as though it was a hit, it was caught between two years for them.
This was a bit of a comeback for the Rolling Stones here in Australia, mainly because it managed to spawn a few minor hits here which is proof that even if they were past their prime at this point, they were still able to retain a fanbase this far in their career.
One of the more poignant films of the decade was Philadelphia, it’s a film where Tom Hanks portrays a homosexual man who is sued by his former law firm for reasons that wind up being little more than homophobia as it’s revealed he also has HIV. It deservedly won a bunch of awards due to shining a light on the rampant homophobia of the world, and the soundtrack was also a success due to its theme song.
As with most RNB albums, this initially sat on shelves in Australia likely due to us Aussies not being into RNB that much. Toni’s fortunes changed here when “Breathe again” became a surprise hit which allowed this album to follow suit in becoming a huge hit here months after it already became a success in NZ and her native America. This led to her having no issues with finding success with her second album.
Following the success of his greatest hits package from the previous year, Jimi Hendrix’s label issued this previously unreleased album from the music legend which became a huge success here in Australia likely due to it sounding like something Lenny Kravitz would release from around this time.
Given how Nirvana had a live album released mere months after the death of Kurt Cobain from MTV, I guess the BBC wanted to release their own cash in from an album of a popular band who performed on their set from around this time. That came with this album from the fab four from when they were just starting out in their career.
They had an immensely popular concert at the start of the decade, so it figures that the three tenors (Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras) would hold another concert this year which also went over very well given how big the live album from that show was.
Well, here’s the seasonal album that will forever be the album that charts during the Christmas season for the rest of time, however it may surprise you to learn that while it was a success back in the day, it only charted for the first two Christmas seasons of its lifespan before never touching the charts until the 2010’s. This was more due to having an extremely short shelf life as the album would be pulled from shelves once the new year rolled around.
Following the success of his MTV concert from two years prior, Eric Clapton was suddenly able to find massive success in the mainstream which is why this album managed to be a huge success for him in here in Australia. This would lead to him scoring one more hit later in the decade with “Change the world” from the Phenomenon soundtrack.
From what I can gather, Larry Adler was a composer who was related to George Gershwin who was also a legendary composer from the early twentieth century. Here he collaborates with many younger artists who found inspiration from both men’s work with this album that was a decent success here in Australia upon its initial release.
This was released initially to moderate success for Seal, I’m guessing fans were already on board with him moving on from EDM to RNB despite him naming this after himself just like his earlier album. It received a massive boost in popularity when the second single was played over the closing credits of the Batman forever film and thus became a massive worldwide success for him.
This was all set to flop here in Australia due to RNB being unpopular throughout the decade, however thanks to the runaway success of its second single worldwide, it became a moderate success here which temporarily put the quartet on the same level of Boyz II men.
These guys made a massive splash with their debut album the previous year, however it was their sophomore album which made them a household name likely due to us Aussies growing to love Heather Smalls vocals the more we heard them on the radio. While this wasn’t an immediate success like other albums on this list, it was a huge sleeper hit due to it lingering on the charts longer than most albums.
This was a bit of a surprise entry from Julio Iglesias given how he hadn’t had any success here in Australia for exactly ten years, I guess this was more a success out of nostalgia for his first English language album 1100 bel air place than anything else.
Given how immensely popular RHCP were back in the day, it only makes sense they would rerelease their album Blood sugar sex magik and repackage it to include all of their songs they recorded during the making of the album on a bonus disc. Apparently, this was only released here in Australia and NZ, likely suggesting the band appreciated the success we gave them over their fellow Americans.
I guess it was about time I mention the fourth band from the grunge big four on this site, apparently, we Aussies were given a two for one deal from the band which consisted of their E.P’s Jar of flies and Sap which we made a huge success for the band this year.
This will be Tori Amos’s only album to appear on this site given how she didn’t have much success back in the day, in fact she had more success with her singles believe it or not including with this album’s lead single which likely translated to its moderate success back in the day.
This feels like it was an album that belongs in the 80’s rather than the 90’s, in fact were it not for the fact this managed to spawn a huge hit for the band the Poor this year, I doubt it would’ve had any success given how out of place this feels compared to the rest of the entries on this list.
This is the first album from the Beastie boys to find success here in Australia, although it’s worth noting that they did have their signature track “Fight for your right to party” chart upon its initial release in 1987, meaning this wasn’t the first time they had troubled our charts. Their next album is where they finally hit the mainstream given how much of a genuine success it was worldwide.
This was released the previous year to very minimal success, likely because it took us Aussies a hot minute to realise these two women were the backup vocalists for the Black sorrows and thus are a large reason why those albums remain classics to this day. Indeed, the album saw a massive surge in popularity this year likely because of this connection, although it would be the full extent of their success without the band.
This is the last successful album Gloria Estefan released in her career both solo and with her band Miami Sound Machine, it was only a success here in Australia due to the lead single also serving as the theme to the Sylvester Stallone flick the Specialist which helped it become her biggest hit down under. In case you’re wondering, yes, this album title was co-opted for U2’s Batman forever theme.
