vinyl tiger: the nineties spotify playlist

In Vinyl Tiger, our hero waves goodbye to the eighties with a divorce album and a greatest hits album which sends him into a panic. Cos you know that once a pop artist releases a greatest hits album, everything that comes afterwards is going to be shite.
Well, not always, but it usually means the best of days are behind them.
Naturally with a comprehensive greatest hits album, you've gotta add a couple of fresh numbers into the mix, and if they're dance friendly even better. Cue the Seal, Haddaway and Snap references.

Not content with conquering the pop world, our hero decides its time to take to an acting career.
For one of the projects which involved a film and a soundtrack, I took inspiration from U2's majestic All I Want Is You video, and the prevailing interest we had in circuses and circus themes back then. Hello Natalie Merchant I'm talking to you.
Throughout the nineties, our hero is not content to rest on his laurels. He wants to be taken more seriously as an artist, so he really pushes the envelope with his career and musical choices.

I may be an obvious eighties lover, but when it comes down to things, I'm really a nineties boy at heart.
Here's a playlist that groups together some of the numerous references and inspiration points in the second part of the Vinyl Tiger series: the 90s and a couple of notes to go alongside them. Enjoy!

• SOUNDTRACKS AND SUPER DEALS
  

The early nineties was all about extracting as much money possible out of artists and fans. After a half a dozen or so artists really proved themselves throughout the eighties: the Jacksons, Prince, Madonna and George Michael among them, record companies came knocking with their cheque books and soundtrack deals.
It wasn't always a comfy arrangement despite the tens of millions of dollars record companies were willing to pay to re-sign artists. And how many times as a fan did you shell out for a soundtrack album by your favourite artist? They were EVERYWHERE in the early nineties. I blame Prince [God rest his soul] for that.

• SEXUAL SHENANIGANS

Along with the big ticket contracts came a wave of censorship and conservatism at the beginning of the nineties. Contracted artists had obligations to shareholders and in the business world that translates to self censorship. Like many of his peers, the Vinyl Tiger, contract in hand, has his own [self-dug] hole to get out of, but, it's so deep that it's not just the stakeholders who have gone off him. It's radio and wider audiences too. If you're a fan of Nine Inch Nails, Madonna's Erotica era, Janet (and worse, Michael) discovering her sexuality, or basically anything Prince related there's a couple of chapters in there for you.

• INDUSTRIAL POP, R&B, NINETIES POP
  

In trying to work out his new musical identity after a pretty straightforward run in the eighties, the Vinyl Tiger never veers far from his dance music background in the nineties. He dabbles with a bit of US R&B [I'm talking to you Mariah and Michael, god rest your soul... and you too Madonna] and always has the occasional pop stomper to fall back on [Hi George!]. Like many of the 80s artists who made the transition to the nineties, he is an artist in flux, unable to shake off his past, but unable to embrace his future until the wind changes in his favour again. And yet, the stakes are still high because, by this stage, he's pop royalty.

• HIDING IN EUROPE
  

Europe has, despite its traditions, generally been more receptive to artistry that thinks beyond the box. Certainly when it comes to nudity and sexuality, it's not exactly a push over, but it's no prude either. In heading off to Europe, the Vinyl Tiger is obviously inspired by what is happening there musically. Britpop is well and truly back, and with Nelle Hooper spearing the charge, artists like Massive Attack and Bjork are redefining the divide between indie and mainstream music. Electronica also takes on a resurgence, and as a result, techno gets a dash of humanity to it: artists like Everything But The Girl have changed the game, and their influence has let a strange R&B/electronica hybrid take over radio where bands like M People and Texas, with their smooth electronic focus, are on everybody's lips again.

• RYUICHI SAKAMOTO
  

If the musical inspiration for the Carnival era was a composer like Goran Bregovitch, then the Vinyl Tiger's more elaborate electronica of the late nineties was inspired by Ryuichi Sakamoto, one of the greats of world music. He's an amazingly versatile composer who has also dabbled in pop, and was the inspiration for the character of Musashi who becomes an important fixture in the Vinyl Tiger's career.

• THE NEW COMPETITION
  

Man what a competitive decade the nineties were. You had to really feel for the members of the eighties guard that didn't want to let go. You had the grunge push in the states and Courtney Love to contend with, you had a whole new generation of studio savvy Brits who were just too cool for school, and, if you were in the pop realm life was cruel: the kids wanted R&B or something outta Seattle. Not your tried and tested pop music. But then, what a brilliant and diverse decade in pop. Really something for everyone [except for Hall & Oates. No one wanted them anymore].