1990’s Country Music: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

A look at the best and worst of 1990’s country music, including the artists, the hits, and the misses.

The Good

The 1990’s were a great decade for country music. A lot of good things happened during this time. For example, Garth Brooks became one of the biggest names in country music. He was able to take the genre to new heights with his unique style and sound. Also, many great female artists emerged during this decade such as Shania Twain and Faith Hill. They were able to break through the glass ceiling and show that women can be just as successful as men in country music.

Shania Twain

Shania Twain is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. She is known for her successful musical career in the 1990s and 2000s, which saw her become the only female artist in history to have three consecutive albums certified Diamond by the RIAA.

Born Eileen Regina Edwards in Timmins, Ontario, Canada, she began singing at an early age. When she was eight years old, Twain and her mother received a cassette player as a gift, and Twain began writing songs soon after.

She released her self-titled debut album in 1993. The album was a commercial success, selling more than 20 million copies worldwide. It included the singles “What Made You Say That”, “You’re Still the One”, and “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”, all of which topped the charts in various countries.

Twain’s second album, The Woman in Me (1995), was even more successful, selling more than 40 million copies worldwide. It spawned the singles “Any Man of Mine”, “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?”, and “TheWoman in Me (Needs the Man in You)”.

In 1997, Twain released Come On Over, which became the best-selling album of all time by a female artist, as well as the best-selling country album of all time. It remains the highest-selling album by a female artist in history, and has been certified Diamond in several countries. The album includes the singles “Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You)”, “That Don’t Impress Me Much”, and “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”, all of which topped the charts in various countries.

Twain’s fourth studio album, Up!, was released in 2002. It features a mix of country and pop music, and became her second best-selling album after Come On Over, selling more than 20 million copies worldwide. Up! includes the singles “I’m Gonna Getcha Good!” and “(If You’re Not In It For Love) I’m Outta Here!”.

In 2004, Twain announced she would be taking an extended hiatus from music to spend time with her family. She made her last public appearance at the 2005 Academy of Country Music Awards before going into hiatus. In 2011, she returned to music with the release of her fifth studio album Now.

Garth Brooks

The Good- Brooks was and is the defining sound of country music in the 90’s. His run of hits, both with his powerful voice and sentimental lyrics, produced some of the most memorable songs in country music history. No one could touch him when he was at the top of his game.

The Bad- Brooks’ attempt to crossover into pop music was a commercial flop, and led to him being pigeonholed as a country artist. This caused him to alienate some of his more traditional fans, who felt he was selling out.

The Ugly- Brooks’ marriage to fellow country star Trisha Yearwood was extensively publicized, and led to rumors that he was cheating on her with other women. These rumors were never confirmed, but they tarnished his image nonetheless.

George Strait

During the 1990’s, country music saw a surge in popularity thanks to the “outlaw” country movement that produced artists like Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Cash. One of the most popular country artists of this decade was George Strait. Strait was born in 1952 in Poteet, Texas. He began his musical career in the 1970s, playing clubs and bars around Texas with his band, Ace in the Hole. In 1981, he signed with MCA Records and released his debut album, Strait Country.

Strait’s popularity began to really take off in the early 1990s with the release of his album Pure Country. The album featured the hit single “Heartland”, which helped to cement Strait’s reputation as a traditional country artist. He followed up this album with a series of successful releases, including 1994’s Lead On and 1996’s Carrying Your Love With Me. By the end of the decade, George Strait had become one of the biggest names in country music.

The Bad

There was a lot of bad country music in the 1990s. A lot of it was filled with cliches, and the lyrics were often trite and uninspired. The production values were often low, and the songs often sounded alike. There were, however, a few bright spots.

Billy Ray Cyrus

Cyrus rose to fame with his debut album Some Gave All in 1992. The album became the best selling album of all time in the United States and launched the singles “Achy Breaky Heart” and “Could’ve Been Me”. Thanks to the success of the singles, Some Gave All was certified multi-platinum in the United States and is billy Ray Cyrus’ only album to receive that certification. It is estimated that Some Gave All has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

Brooks & Dunn

Brooks & Dunn is an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both vocalists and songwriters. The duo was founded in 1990 through the suggestion of Tim DuBois. Before the foundation, both members were solo recording artists. Though neither had chart success, they both wrote songs for other artists, with Brooks also serving as a producer.

In 1991, the duo released its first album, Brand New Man, which peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and Country Albums charts. The album was certified six times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and is the joint-best-selling album in country music history (tied with Garth Brooks’ Double Live). Between 1996 and 2015, 19 of 20 singles released by Brooks & Dunn charted within the Top Ten. These songs included five Number One hits: “My Maria” (1996), “Ain’t Nothing ’bout You” (2001), “Only in America” (2001), “Red Dirt Road” (2003), and “Hillbilly Deluxe” (2005).

The Dixie Chicks

The Dixie Chicks were an American country music band which achieved mainstream success in the late 1990s. The band was composed of three women: Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire, and Emily Robison. The group was founded in 1989 in Dallas, Texas, and released their self-titled debut album in 1990. The album received moderate attention from country radio but failed to gain any mainstream appeal.

The group did not achieve any significant success until their second album, 1996’s Wide Open Spaces. The album’s lead single, “There’s Your Trouble”, was a moderate hit on country radio and helped to propel the album to the top of the country charts. This success was followed by a string of hit singles, including “Better Love”, “Cowboy Take Me Away”, and “Goodbye Earl”.

The Dixie Chicks became one of the most successful country music acts of the 1990s, selling over 16 million copies of Wide Open Spaces and winning five Grammy Awards. However, the group’s popularity began to decline in the early 2000s, culminating in Natalie Maines’ now-infamous comments about then-President George W. Bush at a concert in London in 2003. These comments sparked a massive backlash from country music fans, resulting in death threats and cancellations of the group’s concerts. The Dixie Chicks were effectively blacklisted from country radio and did not release another album until 2006’s Taking the Long Way. This album featured a more pop-oriented sound and dealt with themes of betrayal and redemption. It was widely praised by critics but received mixed reviews from country music fans.

The Dixie Chicks have continued to tour and release music since 2006, though they have not regained the level of commercial success that they enjoyed in the 1990s.

The Ugly

The 1990’s were a decade of great change in country music. The “outlaw” movement led by artists like Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson brought a new sound and attitude to the genre, while artists like Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson helped make country music more mainstream than ever before. But not everything about the 90’s was good. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the worst offenders when it comes to bad country music.

John Michael Montgomery

John Michael Montgomery is an American country music artist. He began his career in the early 1990s with two independent albums, before signing to Atlantic Records Nashville in 1993. He had his first major label hit that year with “I Love the Way You Love Me”, followed by the release of his debut album Life’s a Dance in 1994. Several more hits followed from this album, including “Be My Baby Tonight” and “I Can Love You Like That”, both of which were Number One hits.

Lonestar

Lonestar is an American country music group consisting of Richie McDonald (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboard), Keech Rainwater (drums, percussion, background vocals), Michael Britt (lead guitar, background vocals), and Dean Sams (keyboards, electric guitar, fiddle, background vocals). Since 1995, Lonestar has released ten studio albums (not counting a Greatest Hits album or two live albums), with seven of them receiving gold or higher certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. Their biggest hit is their 1995 single “Amazed”, which topped the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and was also a crossover hit, peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100; it remains the longest-running No. 1 single by a country group in history. The second single from their self-titled debut album and now their signature song, “No News”, spent four weeks at Number One as well.

Keith Urban

Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is a New Zealand-born Australian country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, and record producer. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States the following year. He found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Nashville and charted two singles on the Billboard country charts. Still signed to Capitol, Urban made his solo American debut in 1999 with a second eponymous album. Certified platinum in the US, it produced his first number one on Hot Country Songs with “But for the Grace of God” and his first American number one single on the Hot 100 with “Somebody Like You”, which was also co-written by him.

Eight more number one singles followed between 2004 and 2016 from his multi-platinum second album Golden Road (2002), platinum third album Be Here (2004), platinum fourth album Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing (2006), double platinum fifth album Defying Gravity (2009), platinum sixth album Fuse (2013), and gold seventh album Ripcord (2016). His eighth American studio album Graffiti U was released in 2018 and supported by lead single “Parallel Line”. Aside from those songs, Urban has charted 36 singles on the Hot Country Songs chart, 17 of which went to number one. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he is also known for his roles as a coach on the Australian version of The Voice; as judge for all four seasons of The Voice USA; serving three times as an advisor/mentor for American Idol; making guest appearances on Good Morning America and Live! with Kelly; and cohosting several Academy of Country Music Awards ceremonies.