Iconic rock albums turning 30 this year – Nirvana's Nevermind to Metallica

It’s 1991. You finish school or work and turn your stereo up to 11, ready to air guitar to some of the world’s biggest rock anthems.

The past 10 years have seen the rise of bands including Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Twisted Sister and Guns ‘n’ Roses, to name a few, while artists like Ozzy Osbourne, Journey, Foreigner and Whitesnake have also released chart topping rock albums.

You dream of the day you get to see them live, singing along at a tour or at Donnington’s Monsters of Rock (now known as Download Festival).

But no one could have prepared you for 1991, when some of rock music’s biggest albums were released within six months of each other.

Here, we take a look at some of the biggest rock albums released 30 years ago, and how these bands changed the rock music landscape forever.

Metallica – Metallica

Metallica’s self-titled album has had heavy metal fans head-banging to anthems including Enter Sandman since 1991.

Since they formed in 1981, the band were known for their thrash metal albums including 1986’s Master of Puppets, and were one of the biggest rock acts in the world by the time the 90s began.

However, their 1991 record immediately cemented itself as one of rocks greatest albums, but signalled a change away from the sound of its predecessors.

Rather than the fast tempo, thrash metal they were known for, their 1991 album incorporated a range of songs including the hauntingly beautiful heavy rock ballad Nothing else matters.

This change in musical direction proved a commercial and world wide hit, selling over 16million copies and reaching the number one spot on the Billboard Top 100.

The success of the album reached its peak, when Metallica won a Grammy award.

Since then, they’ve released albums including 1996’s Load and 2003’s St Anger, continuing to tour the world as one of the biggest heavy metal bands of all time.

Guns ‘n’ Roses – Use your Illusion 1 & 2

On September 28, 1991, fans queued for hours as they eagerly awaited the release of Guns ‘n’ Roses Use your Illusion 1 & 2.

Having burst onto the scene with hard rock anthems Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City from their 1988 album Appetite for Destruction, there was no stopping Guns ‘n’ Roses meteoric rise to the top in the late eighties.

Their status as rock legends was further cemented with the release of Use your Illusion Parts 1 & 2, featuring songs including November Rain, You could be mine and Don’t cry.

The songs were not only huge stadium rock anthems, but also produced cinematic music videos that played non-stop on MTV, with a story running through the videos for November Rain, Don’t Cry and Estranged.

Drummer Matt Sorum told Rolling Stone magazine that it was Axl Rose’s idea to create a double album, but as two separate records, saying: “Axl came in and decided it should be a double record, it was a genius moment for him.”

The ideas was that the album would be in the front of store where listeners could pick it up, rather than being behind the counter, where double albums were usually kept.

Though the sound of rock music was beginning to change, Guns ‘n’ Roses Use your Illusion 1 & 2 moved the band from the sunset strip of the eighties where they began, to a new era of stardom for the band.

Nirvana – Nevermind

However, November would bring what would undoubtedly be one of the biggest game changers on the rock music scene in the 90s.

Nirvana released Nevermind, a landmark grunge rock album that signalled a move away from the stadium rock anthems and hair metal of the 80s.

Their songs like Lithium and Come as you are quickly catapulted the band to stardom, and grunge into the main stream, with the video for Smells like teen spirit playing repeatedly on MTV in the early 90s.

There’s no doubting the influence that Nevermind had on the grunge scene, with bands including Pearl Jam and Soundgarden soon to emerge with hit albums of their own.

Nirvana’s sound changed the rock music of the 90s, with the band releasing a second album In Utero in 1993, before singer Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994.

While their time together may have been short, their influence can still be felt today.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic

Red Hot Chilli Peppers chart-topping album Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic was released on December 10, 1991, and even saw girl band All Saints cover one of its break out tracks, Under the Bridge, later in the decade.

Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic became one of the defining albums of the 90s, combining rap, funk and alternative rock in songs like Give it Away.

The album paved the way for Red Hot Chilli Peppers to become one of the biggest bands in rock with follow ups including the critically acclaimed Californication in 2001, 2006’s Stadium Arcadium and a recently announced UK tour for 2022.

Talking about their career and iconic albums to Rolling Stone Magazine, drummer Chad Smith said: “All of our records are just real good snapshots of where we’re at [at] that time.

“You can’t really go, ‘Oh, gee, I hope it’s as good as…’ Then you’re starting to have preconceived notions about what you want to write.”

Primal Scream – Screamadelica

Primal Scream’s Screamadelica was another game changer in the nineties, combining their sixties psychedelic influences, with the popular house scene of the decade

From house beats, to synthesisers and remixes, their songs including Higher than the sun and I’m coming down brought psychedelic rock into a new era.

Before Primal Scream, singer Bobby Gillespie had been in bands including The Wake, and had worked in the same circles as New Order and Siouxsie and The Banshies, saying to The Guardian in a recent interview: “Just watching them work, it was heaven. We worshipped these people, truly.”

For more of the latest showbiz news from Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk