Overview
By the 1990s, country music had become the most popular and bestselling genre of music in the United States. In this lesson, we will consider how and why country music rose to commercial dominance in the late 1980s and 1990s. The so-called “new country” music of the 1980s was actually in many ways a revival of older, traditional styles of country music. By the 1980s, a number of the top country stars such as Dolly Parton had become increasingly pop-oriented in their sounds and musical styles. The 1980s saw a return to the earlier days of country music, including the fashion, instrumentation, and lyric themes.
Objectives
- Recall how and why George Strait and Reba McEntire were important figures in the “new” country of the 1980s
- Recall the significance of Garth Brooks’s musical style and lyric message and how he was similar to and different from other country artists
- Examine the careers of other popular country artists from the 1990s, including LeAnn Rimes and Shania Twain
SoundScan
In 1991, a sales tracking system called SoundScana sales tracking system that became the official method for tracking the sales of music in the U.S. in 1991 became the official method for tracking the sales of music in the United States. Before the development of SoundScan, representatives from Billboard would call music stores and ask them to report their sales for the week. Billboard would then use this data to develop their sales charts. This system was prone to errors and fraud, and it was an incredibly unreliable method to determine sales. With the development of SoundScan, record sales are reported directly from sales. The UPCs of music sold were recorded and then reported directly to Nielsen on a weekly basis, and this procedure relies entirely on the scanning of UPCs that occurs when a customer purchases music. In the late 1990s, SoundScan was expanded to include online retailers and music downloading services as well. Any artist, genre, or record label can register with Nielsen SoundScan, as long as the recording has a UPC. Registration is free, which means that SoundScan should be able to record the sales of all music regardless of its record label, genre, or location.
SoundScan began tracking sales data in March of 1991, and the first Billboard Hot 100 chart that relied entirely on SoundScan data was released on November 30, 1991.
"Reba McEntire came through town when I lived in Texas. She had this amazing theatrical show with, like, 13 different wardrobe changes. I was eight and I was like, Wow, I wanna do that!"
