The Best of the 90’s Chicks
The 1990s were a great decade. Between the fashion trends - The Rachel, anyone? - and the dope tunes, you could say the 90s were all that and a bag of chips (if you so chose to keep circulating that lingo, that is). And there was one nineties staple that will never get dated - the chicks who took charge of the music. Here are a few chicks who made their name and shook up the scene: The Spice Girls Few acts can boast that they’ve fronted a sold out tour. Even fewer can boast that they sold out not just arenas, but countries across the world. Only one act can proudly state they did so in a baffling 38 seconds - The Spice Girls. Hitting number one in over thirty countries with their debut single, “Wannabe,” the Spice Girls cemented the movement that was girl-power pop in the 1990s, laying the foundation for the Britney Spearses and Christina Aguileras that came years later. Selling 23 million copies of their first album, Spice, the Spice Girls quickly became the best selling band of all time - that is, right after fellow Brits, the Beatles. Arguably the biggest cultural figures of the millennium, Ginger, Baby, Posh, Scary, and Sporty are still the chicks every girl wants to be. TLC One of the most well known musical trios of all time, TLC burst onto the scene in 1991 with their first single, “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg,” a song that soon became an anthem of sexual liberation for chicks everywhere. It was all uphill from there. A well-received debut under their belts, the ladies of TLC - Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas - went on to release CrazySexyCool in 1994, an album that was everything it vaunted and more; the singles “Creep” and “Waterfalls” cemented the sophomore album as one of the best-selling R&B albums of all time and made TLC the first girl group to achieve diamond status (selling over 10 million units). Their following albums, FanMail in 1999 and 3D three years later, were also successes, but the group disbanded after the tragic death of Lopes in 2002. Watkins and Thomas have slowly made a return to the spotlight, though, and announced at a 2009 benefit concert that they were working on new material. Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer We all know the scene. As Freddie Prince Jr.’s Zach waits in anticipation to see Rachel Leigh Cook’s newly beautified Laney, a melodic guitar strumming begins, innocuously enough. But as one red pump takes a nervous step down the staircase, and the sweetly simple lyrics begin to play (”Swing, swing…), suddenly our stomachs start to tighten with excitement. And before we know it, the image of Prinze’s awe at a vampy Cook has us swooning and making googly eyes of our own. The band responsible for this well-known moment, and the subsequent fantasies of sensitive jocks for chicks around the globe, was then-quintet Sixpence None the Richer, fronted by the pixyish Leigh Nash . Released from their self-titled 1997 album, the Grammy-nominated “Kiss Me” topped the charts in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Since then Sixpence, now a quartet, have endured disbandment and solo projects, but are reportedly on track to release a new album in August. Gwen Stefani Nowadays, it’s commonplace to think of Gwen Stefani as the uber-stylish solo artist turned entrepreneur turned successful fashion label owner turned popular celebrity mom. And while Stefani is all of these things, it would be a major fault to think of her as just these things. She did first burst onto the scene, after all, as the sometimes-blue-sometimes-pink-sometimes-platinum-blonde haired lead of the punk rock band No Doubt. A brave chick rocking out just as hard as the boys, Stefani’s appeal was not in her being a woman, but in her being unafraid to sing (and sometimes shout) it out to everyone. Singles like the honest “Just a Girl” and vulnerable “Don’t Speak” catapulted No Doubt’s 1995 Tragic Kingdom to diamond-status, selling more than sixteen million albums worldwide to date. The success of 2001’s reggae-infused Rock Steady followed, along with Stefani’s slew of smash hits from her solo albums Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and The Sweet Escape. It is her place in No Doubt - up front that is - that has perhaps been most influential in paving the way for today’s chicks fronting rock bands, like Hayley Williams of Paramore (whose band was featured in No Doubt’s 2009 summer tour) and Cassadee Pope of Hey Monday. Lauryn Hill Just a year after disbanding with the Fugees, Lauryn Hill, the sole female member of the ‘90s super-trio, released her first solo effort. The result, a timeless show of musical skill and mastery interlaced with social commentary, was The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Fashioned after the autobiography and accompanying 1974 film, The Education of Sonny Carson, both of which delved into the social issues concerning minority youth, Hill’s debut, along with the debut of fellow songstress Erykah Badu just a year earlier, ushered in a new age of conscious music. The five-time Grammy winning album, which has sold 8 million copies to date, featured the single “Doo Wop (That Thing)” and Hill’s easygoing, beautiful rendition of the 1967 Frankie Vallie classic, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You.” Though Hill has not released a new album since the release of The Miseducation, she returned to the stage at California’s Harmony Festival, her first U.S. performance in years, and announced plans for an upcoming album. Check out her live cover of Timbaland and Drake’s “Say Something” here. Lil Kim Good female rappers are a rare commodity nowadays. Though there are a few redeeming the respectable name of the title, the good ole days of the bold, brazen, and gimmick-less lady MCs seem to be long gone. Back in the 90s, though, there was one chick everyone could count on to deliver. Lil Kim, who often went by the Notorious K.I.M., proved that she could go toe-to-toe with the boys…and whoever else wanted to challenge her at the time. With her often raunchy lyrics and bold fashion sense, the pint-size performer shook things up a bit and added some flavor to the mainstream music scene. Singles like “Crush on You” cemented Kim’s 1996 album Hard Core as a hip-hop classic of the time and helped propel her to the status we know her for now. Though petty arguments about respect and homage have shrouded Kim’s talent as of late, it goes without saying that she has opened the door for the Nicki Minajs of the game, who continue to carry on the torch. Tracy Chapman Though her debut was released in the late eighties, Chapman’s 1995 album New Beginnings was an introduction to many of the wondrous talent the Ohio native possessed. Featuring the massive hit “Give Me One Reason,” now ubiquitous with nineties sensations, Chapman effortlessly appealed to listeners who would never have considered themselves fans on folk music. Though the singles that followed didn’t take off quite as well, Chapman has continued to perform, touring Europe as recently as last year. And we can give more than just one reason why she’s one awesome chick. A proud 90s baby, Faithlynn Morris has always felt a strong tie to the decade that molded her. She currently has 122 songs on her iPod’s 90’s Music playlist, but somehow manages to find new gems from the decade almost every day.
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