Following the massive success of her previous album, Celine Dion decided to spice things up with this album by expanding on her subject material which resulted in easily her most successful album in her career. It did receive some backlash due to it winning album of the year at the Grammys over the likes of Smashing pumpkins and the Fugees, however people have since come around for her and realised how talented she is.
With the rise in popularity of Celtic music in the mainstream, it was only a matter of time before artists began incorporating traditional Irish music into their sound. Enter one of the more respectful artists to do so, this family act who saw massive success with their debut album albeit only in Australia initially. I’m guessing because only we Aussies could appreciate their blend of adult contemporary with Celtic music.
This was the debut album to a girl group whose time in the spotlight was much briefer than you would’ve otherwise expected, I blame their theatrical film which tried to showcase the girls as credible actors and didn’t achieve this goal throughout its runtime. At least the music is still well loved and remembered to this day even though it went through a rough patch of being declared some of the worst songs of all time (thanks alternative scene.)
So how long does an album have to sit on the shelves ignored before it finally makes an artist a household name? If you ask Jewel, that answer would be two years as that’s how long it took for her debut album to find an audience worldwide as her label failed to promote it right until “Who will save your soul” became a huge hit on Billboard. It was so dire that she even found herself living in her car during that time.
I wonder how many people were able to predict that this album would be a huge success for Human nature in the lead up to its release, I say this because none of the advanced singles managed to find much of an audience for them and yet it was when they released the album that “Wishes” became a genuine hit for them. I’m guessing this albums success was what led to the Backstreet boys being inescapable here a year after its release.
Although they had a very good run throughout the decade (certainly more so than many of their early peers) Crowded house decided to call it quits by releasing this greatest hits package as well as performing a farewell concert at the Sydney opera house to promote Neil’s ill-fated solo career he would launch soon after. The band did eventually get back together a decade later and have retained a strong cult audience.
This is yet another album that took its sweet time in finding an audience back in the day, I’m guessing because the lead single was originally meant for the cult classic Clueless which must have initially alienated its eventual fans from thinking it was a mere pop album and not a ska revival record. They were eventually won over with the centrepiece of the album “Don’t speak” which is a perfect showcase of Gwen’s stellar vocals.
So, John Farnham was still finding massive success with his albums this far into the 90’s, it shouldn’t really be a surprise considering that he was finding success as recently as the mid 00’s but considering how many of his earlier contemporaries had struggled for mainstream appeal at this point, this albums success is impressive.
This was the sophomore album for Powderfinger, a band who would go on to have massive success in the new millennium as they became one of the most successful Australian bands of their time. Before they conquered our music scene, they were an up-and-coming alternative band who got a massive push from Triple J this year when several of the singles were heavily promoted from the album.
Even though there was a perfectly acceptable reason as to why George Michael hadn’t released a new album since the start of the decade, the fact that he was able to successfully return to the mainstream with this album that was initially proposed as a sequel to that album should tell you how loyal his fanbase was back in the day. Indeed, several of the tracks on here were meant for Listen without prejudice vol 2 but were recontextualised for this album as George no longer cared about his public image.
Spiderbait were rising stars in the Australian alternative scene when they released their third album, said album was what brought them into the big leagues thanks to their more pop friendly sound as well as heavy endorsement from Triple J upon its initial release. It was the success of “Calypso” which helped keep this album around, well more specifically, the music video which features some truly outdated CGI even for the time.
You have no idea how inescapable the Riverdance phenomenon was throughout the decade, I’m sure the Corrs owe all of their success here in Australia and eventually around the world to how popular this show was given how Celtic music had always struggled for mainstream popularity over the years. Leave it to Bill Whelan to create a show that was so adorned by audiences that it became synonymous with the decade.
Their previous two albums were massive flops here in Australia; however, it was this third album which finally won them an audience here thanks to Triple J heavily promoting it as well as the videos from the singles being among the more memorable of the late 90’s despite the songs underperforming on our charts. Their next album wouldn’t be as successful later in the decade, however the one after that would be one of the most successful of the 00’s here.
Given that this was the soundtrack to the theatrical adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Evita and that it starred Madonna in the title role, it was going to be a success regardless of if the film was a critical and commercial success or not. Fortunately, the film was both which got the soundtrack to rebound on the charts when the lead single took home the academy award for best song and its second single became a hit.
It had been five years since Toni had troubled the charts anywhere in the world with her second album House of hope, in fact I’m guessing she only released this greatest hits package to see if anyone truly cared about her music much like how other has been have done over the years. It turns out that we Aussies loved her music (well her first two albums at least) as this was one of the biggest hits of the decade down under.
Simply red had a very good run during the first ten years of their time in the spotlight, so naturally they released a greatest hits package that was a huge success for them and promised them at least another decade of worldwide success. Unfortunately, this was the last many would hear from the band despite them releasing new material well into the 21st century.
Tool are one of the most critically acclaimed bands to emerge from this decade, so to see their second album achieve this much success worldwide must have been a welcome surprise for the band and their fanbase given what they were competing with in the mainstream. Their popularity would continue well into the new millennium, although they never again reached the dizzying heights of this album.
Well so much for hip hop having no success here in Australia, here we have the one and only album from this iconic trio largely due to many of the tracks on here relying on nostalgia for older songs in order to appeal the mainstream of the 90’s. Of course, the three rappers more than delivered with their verses to make up for this nostalgia baiting, and indeed we even have the dulcet vocals of Lauryn to differentiate these songs from the originals.
Leann Rimes was only fourteen years old when she recorded this album, not only that but it wasn’t even her first album as she had been active since the start of the decade meaning she was only nine years old when she released her first album. That’s impressive considering this would be a highly critically acclaimed album as well as a huge commercial success despite it being a country album.
It took him a while to follow up his comeback album Waking up the neighbours from earlier in the decade, however once he did, Bryan Adams found little issues with retaining his popularity with this album which proves just how well loved he was back in the day. That said, his popularity would quickly dwindle later in the decade and by the 00’s, he would be yesterday’s news.
Their first album was a flop earlier in the decade, so it must have been a bit of a surprise to see that Everclear managed to score a massive hit with their second album even if they owe that success in Australia to Triple J heavily promoting the album. Indeed, the album didn’t receive much love anywhere else in the world likely due to them being lost in all of the other alternative bands that were coming out around this time.
Well, this is a surprise, I didn’t think that audiences were ready for new material from Neil Diamond this decade, however this album proved me wrong as it was indeed a huge success for the 70’s crooner. I guess the 90’s brought back another trend from the 70’s, aging pop stars from two decades prior having a second wind two decades after their breakthrough.
There might be no signs of there being a Split enz reunion (at least one that isn’t for a one-off concert) however that doesn’t mean there haven’t been any attempts made at expanding their audience over the years as the band’s label commissioned an orchestral reworking of some of their biggest hits to be covered by some of the biggest names in NZ music. The results were an album that was a massive success for everyone involved.
While he was struggling for mainstream relevancy with his albums by this point, at least the success of his greatest hits package was able to reassure him that his fans will always be there for him when it comes to his back catalogue. It had been twelve years since he broke away from Cold chisel, and he was in the process of reuniting with them following the success of a previously unreleased album two years prior.
OK so this album was a bit slow to find success here in Australia, I’m guessing it was due to us Aussies finding the lead single to be more of a novelty as it was her rare sex jam in a catalogue otherwise filled with ballads. It was when the second single was released that this became a huge success here, sort of how “Breathe again” from her previous album made it a household name for her.
I’m guessing this greatest hits package became a success here in Australia due to Stevie Wonder being featured on Babyface’s hit single “How come how long” as a way to remind us Aussies of the back catalogue for one of the greatest musicians to ever make it big in the music industry.
One of the most popular shows of the decade was the X files, a sci fi crime show about two agents solving mysteries centred around aliens and paranormal activities. The show was a massive success, leading to this soundtrack of songs that appeared in each episode by this point which helped launch the sci fi craze of the decade out of nostalgia for the sci fi craze of the 70’s.
I know that following up one of the biggest albums of the decade would’ve been a tall order for these guys, however surely, they could’ve done better than what they’ve achieved on here. That said I guess this was a case of the novelty wearing off for the group but not fast enough for this to be a total failure for them, this was a very common trend throughout the 90’s for alternative bands.
Although the band were way past their prime at this point, it appears that the news of Sammy Hagar’s departure shook up enough of us Aussies this year that their greatest hits package managed to become a huge hit for them.
While this was a huge success for the Cranberries this year, their fans have said that their change in sound did alienate them back in the day which is why this wasn’t as inescapable as their sophomore album from two years prior. That said it was still a notable success for them which is more than I can say for their next album which failed to find any sort of audience due to them further changing their sound.
This was the second live album from Nirvana to be released posthumously, again fans were clearly not ready to say goodbye to Kurt Cobain even though the other two members had moved onto other projects by this stage, proving what an immense talent and tragic loss he was to the music industry.
There seems to be at least one of these albums on my list for every year in the 90’s, although it’s worth noting that La bouche’s success here likely came from how huge they were over in America more than us preferring them over their predecessors Culture beat and Corona. Just like those two bands, these guys scored three massive hits from the album and then faded into obscurity once the album cycle was done.
Well, if people felt that Metallica’s previous album was a sellout, they hadn’t heard anything yet as this was bordering on mainstream rock which made their previous material seem like something they released in the 80’s. That said, this was a huge success for the band and even well received to this day, proving that it’s only the diehard fans that were crying foul when the band released this.
Roxette was really struggling for mainstream relevancy by this point of their career, although like most popular bands of the 80’s and 90’s they found massive success with a greatest hits package proving that audiences indeed did love their back catalogue and that they just weren’t feeling it with their newer material. This would be the last time they would trouble the charts with anything related to them.
It took them fourteen years to break through to the mainstream worldwide, however the alternative duo Everything but the girl (named after an ad they saw) managed to take the world by storm thanks to a remix of one of their ballads from two years prior. They leaned into the EDM scene with this album which proved to be a massive success for them, however they quickly ran out of steam which costed them their popularity.
Although their popularity was beginning to fade during this phase of their career, Pearl jam was still able to find massive success with their albums as evidence by this being a huge success for them two years after the demise of their main rivals Nirvana. They would release one more album later in the decade that was a massive success before they shifted their sound to a more mainstream market.
One of the grittiest films to come out of the 90’s was Trainspotting, a film which depicted the brutal conditions of living in the Scottish drug scene of the day and is led by a captivating performance from Ewan McGregor who found international success from this film. The soundtrack helps drive home the themes of the film, which is why it was a massive success back in the day worldwide.
While this wasn’t anywhere near as successful as their previous album from two years prior, Soundgarden nonetheless managed to achieve massive success here in Australia with this follow up proving how big grunge was even after the tragic loss of Kurt Cobain in our music scene. Despite how big this was worldwide; the band would call it quits after this to allow Chris Cornell to form Audioslave.
Given how big their previous albums were, it only makes sense that Stone temple pilots would achieve moderate success with their third album this year even if it didn’t quite live up to the standards of their second album. The band considered this such a disappointment that their next album was devoid of Scott Weiland which has largely been described as one of the most pointless albums to ever exist.
We have another wacky Australian band that Triple J fell in love with throughout the 90’s, this time it’s Regurgitator who made it big with their debut album which combined hip hop with rock in a way that was far less serious than the likes of Rage against the machine and Faith no more from earlier in the decade. It was a huge success for them and led to them evolving their sound to include EDM elements on their next album.
This was the final album that R.E.M had any substantial success with worldwide, it was only barely a hit here in Australia likely due to us Aussies feeling that the magic had been lost by this point in their career. This didn’t prevent their label from singing them with an at the time record breaking deal that caused them to lose money.
This was another album from an alternative band this year that didn’t achieve quite as much success as the previous album for the band in question, this time it’s the second album from Rage against the machine which managed to out peak its predecessor due to it having a ton of hype going towards its release but overall didn’t quite live up to said hype due to it not lasting as long on our charts.
Although he wasn’t the most popular artist of the decade here in Australia, Anthony Warlow was able to hang in there with his brand of pop opera which compelled him to release this greatest hits package which collects the best moments of his work both on stage and on his albums which was a modest success for him.
These guys were on a roll with their third album this year which managed to be as successful as their breakthrough from the previous year, although I did notice that the singles on this album proved to be more successful with mainstream audiences even if they didn’t quite reach the dizzying heights of some of the biggest names in alternative rock of the decade.
Given that their final album was a huge success here in Australia, it only makes sense that this greatest hits package managed to be a hit for them just as they were calling it quits due to it being a convenient way for us Aussies to discover their back catalogue that dominated the charts in their native UK.
Although this was released very late here in Australia (for some reason as Shaggy already had a hit earlier in the decade prior to its release over here) it appears the wait for its release was worth it due to the title track quickly becoming one of the biggest hits of the decade here as it was throughout the rest of the world when it came out the previous year.
This is the only notable success for Joan Osbourne throughout her career which she began in his mid-thirties with this album, even then it was mainly a success due to its lead single taking the world by storm with its questions about religious believes that resonated with an increasingly agnostic society that was hostile towards organised religion.
We have one more popular EDM album to come out this year, this time it’s from Swiss DJ Robert Miles who managed to score massive success with his trance tracks on this album thanks to how the lead single became a massive success with the new age crowd. He’s another one album wonder to appear on this list, although this was par for the course for EDM artists by this point in the 90’s.
