Vanilla Ice
1991 would be the year a major backlash by suburban audiences against Pop/R&B music would occur. Spearheaded primarily by the runaway success of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” that fall, the ‘90s alternative rock/grunge movement effectively challenged and defeated the dominance of “urban” music on American top 40 radio. Before the backlash however, certain “urban” and “urban-informed” acts managed to enjoy a few more months in the spotlight.
House-inspired dance music really began to take off this year with the introduction of acts like Black Box (“Everybody, Everybody”, “Strike It Up), the KLF (“3AM Eternal”), and Cathy Denis (“Touch Me”). However, the most successful dance act during the New Jack Era was the C&C Music Factory. Produced by Robert Civiles and the late David Cole, the New York-based C&C Music Factory featured the muscular rapper Freedom Williams, and the powerful vocals of Zelma Davis and Martha Wash. The C&C Music Factory topped the charts with three singles: “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)”, “Here We Go (Let’s Rock ‘n’ Roll)”, and “Things That Make You Go…Hmm”.
1991 also saw the rise and fall of America’s first White rap superstar Vanilla Ice. Lifting a sample from the rock group Queen, the “Ice Ice Baby” single became a huge hit in late 1990 and by the start of 1991, Vanilla Ice was MC Hammer’s biggest competition. But in a matter of months, Vanilla Ice suffered a crushing backlash (due to his lack of street credibility), and by the time his “Cool As Ice” feature film hit theatres in the fall of ‘91, his rap career had all but fizzled.
Janet Jackson’s whirlwind ‘Rhythm Nation 1814’ campaign was finally winding down. Released way back in September of 1989, the Rhythm Nation album had amazingly spawned six top ten singles: “Miss You Much”, “Rhythm Nation”, “Escapade”, “Alright”, “Come Back To Me”, and “Black Cat”. Her seventh single, “Love Will Never Do Without You” would go on to become the album’s fifth #1 single, garnering the ‘Rhythm Nation 1814’ campaign an impressively triumphant finale. Janet Jackson still maintains the record of releasing the most top ten singles from any single album.
On the R&B side of things, former New Edition lead singer Ralph Tresvant had just released his self-titled debut album. The first single, “Sensitivity” shot to #4 and #1 on the Pop and R&B charts respectively. Other notable R&B singles included “I Like The Way” by Hi-Five, “Love Makes Things Happen” by Pebbles (featuring Babyface), “It Never Rains (In Southern California) by Tony Toni Tone, and “This House” by Pop/R&B newcomer, Tracie Spencer.
Also this year, Bell Biv Devoe’s Michael Bivins unleashed his latest project, Another Bad Creation (ABC). Featuring five young boys reminiscent of the young New Edition, ABC scored two major hits in 1991: “Iesha”, and “Playground”. Bivins would then also introduce his most successful “discovery”, the Philadelphia-bred quartet Boyz II Men. On the strength of hits like “Motownphilly” and the groundbreaking “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye (To Yesterday)”, Boyz II Men’s debut album would go on to earn a Best R&B album Grammy in 1992.