On November 24, Queen front man Freddie Mercury died at home in London due to AIDS complications. A Tribe Called Quest, along with De La Soul, Dream Warriors, Gang Starr and the Poor Righteous Teachers, help define what comes to be known as alternative rap with important releases this year. A Tribe Called Quest's Low End Theory is released this year it would go on to be considered one of the best hip hop albums of the 1990s. Def Leppard's next album Adrenalize, released in March 1992, would go on to reach multi-platinum status and prove to be the last major commercial success for 1980s hair metal. Also during the year, the rock band Guns N' Roses's popularity flourished with the release of their albums Use Your Illusion I & Use Your Illusion II, both selling over 15 million copies total. Its success eventually ended the reign of the glam metal and other hard rock groups that enjoyed massive success in the 1980s like Mötley Crüe, Poison, Warrant, Cinderella, and Ratt, whose sales were still going strong by 1991. Nirvana's success was eventually followed by other grunge bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Stone Temple Pilots, as grunge climbed the U.S. The most popular album was Metallica's self-titled 'black album'. Therefore, Nirvana's Nevermind, led by the surprise hit single ' Smells Like Teen Spirit', was not the most popular U.S.

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1991.Īlthough the year 1991 is the year that grunge music made its popular breakthrough, heavy metal was still the dominant form of rock music for the year.

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