who are out to kill plain innocent people and we have to understand -- >> it is a war. >> -- it is a sustained effort. imagine what it was like back when the rolling stones would shock parents everywhere. my, how times have changed. >> i see hustling, killing. that's what i rap about. >> you can take me out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto up out of me, though. >> it's a tough time to grow up in. and nirvana and kurt cobain in particular reflect the angst. >> i learned how to write for myself, and it's pretty ironic that most people related to it. >> boom, there it is, platinum record. >> country music has taken over the air waves and the record charts. >> the honeymoon's over. now we're getting down to real commerce. >> aren't these girls just crazy? >> yeah, they are. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ you may think of it as the channel that rattles your china, occasionally your teeth and hypnotizes your children. but what you may want to know

is that mtv is responsible for a complete revolution in the music business in this country. ♪ >> mtv makes the hits. it's as if there were just one national radio station for new songs. >> ending the '80s in terms of rock music you're getting a lot of hair bands. you've got poison, ratt, warrant. ♪ she's my cherry pie cool drink of water, such a sweet surprise ♪ tastes so good make a grown man sweet cherry pie ♪ >> a lot of hairspray going on. there's a lot of sexually suggestive lyrics. it's not particularly deep music, but mtv pushing it. so that's selling. >> when i would turn on mtv, all the rock bangds looked a certain way. they played a kind of music. they were expected to have a certain facade. >> mtv's ratings are surprisingly small but those who do watch, mostly teenagers and young rah dults, buy a lot of records, tapes and cds. and buy the most of what they

see the most. >> recently, two members of the heavy metal band aerosmith dropped by mtv's offices to screen their new video and brought a big bag much cash as an incentive. >> the record companies would submit videos every monday and then we'd have our meetings and look at all the videos and decide who was going to get put into the rotation. i was a 21-year-old kid who loved punk rock, and i pretty quickly realized that the music that they were playing just wasn't what i was into. when the new nirvana video was delivered to mtv, i was completely blown away. ♪ i said, listen, they really are incredible and we need to give them a shot, and if it doesn't work then you can push me out of the music meeting. >> tonight's world premiere video from the seattle band nirvana. "smells like teen spirit." ♪ >> it was like the musical kennedy assassination of our time. everybody who was alive then can tell you the moment they heard

that song. because nothing like that existed to that point. it was really transcendent. ♪ when the light's out ♪ entertain us ♪ here we are now ♪ entertain us ♪ >> here we are now, entertain us. it sounded like a threat. it sounded like a different generation coming in saying what do you have for us? what are you going to do for us? ♪ got to find a way, a better way ♪ >> the so-called slackers, generation x, they were not being paid attention to, and this pressure was building up in the music industry for something that actually spoke to them. >> this is the first american generation that will make less than their parents will. it's a tough time to grow up in, and i think the band and kurt cobain in particular reflect that angst. ♪ yeah, yeah >> kurt cobain was a great songwriter with an ability to scream almost in tune. it just gave an intensity that

was really unique. ♪ i kill you, i'm not gonna crack ♪ ♪ >> nirvana gave the record industry a wake-up call and said, here is your new audience. so start looking for the people with the clothes with the holes in the knees and you better run to those clubs to buy up the next one. >> i would go to the clubs and see bands like cat butt and bands like screaming trees. it was such a refreshing change from the competitive sort of l.a. hollywood '80s and it was just suddenly so cool to be from seattle. >> one of the biggest music biz stories these days is the so-called rain city renaissance with the emergence of noisy grunge rock. bands like soundgarden, alice in chains, and pearl jam from seattle, washington. ♪ ♪ outshine, outshine

>> why don't you tell me what the biggest misconception about the so-called seattle music scene is? >> everybody's a grunge band. >> all of these bands sound pretty different from each other were being lofted up to the mainstream as this is what grunge is. >> tell me a little bit about the seattle music scene. >> with all the attention, no one's ever asked us that before. >> never heard that question. >> so tell me about the seattle sound, what's going on up there? >> what's in the water? ♪ i've got a little story for you ♪ ♪ where's your daddy >> bands like nirvana, pearl jam, they wanted no part of the music industry machine, and yet there they were, on mtv, on the charts, selling millions of records. ♪ hey ♪ i'm still alive ♪ i, oh, i'm still alive >> it's a little bit overwhelming to see this many people.

we're used to playing small clubs. you know? and we want to go back to playing small clubs. ♪ >> primitive rock tour kicked off in phoenix, arizona thursday night. it's a multiact package called the lollapalooza tour. ♪ ♪ all your crossroads >> 1991, we were the first band on stage at the first ever lollapalooza, which was a tremendous thing for my band and i. >> lollapalooza is cool. ♪ >> the idea you can get these important and popular bands from the underground like jane's addiction, nine inch nails, soundgarden, hole, red hot chili peppers, and you get them all together, it felt like a really new idea. >> by the mid-90s it's already

parodied by "the simpsons." >> it's like woodstock only with advertisements everywhere and tons of security guards. >> it is in the american lexicon. >> the commercial culture has co-opted the counterculture. >> the honeymoon's over. now we're getting down to real commerce and there's a certain kind of disillusionment going on. >> since i got everything i wanted i could put a zero after the number of record sales i've had. i could play 200,000-seat halls instead of 2,000-seat halls and i could go on mtv 1,000 times a week rather than one time a month. and i thought maybe when i reached all these goals i'd find some sort of peace. i didn't. it's like i'm more miserable now than i ever was. ♪

stoet ♪ ♪ welcome to the week in rock. it was week lit up in a large way by the release of "in utero," a much anticipated third album by nirvana. ♪ rape me >> walmart is refusing to sell nirvana's new release including a song called "rape me." the chain says it wants to be sensitive to its customers' moral standards. >> to get into walmart they had to change the title from "rape me" to "waif me." i don't think kurt was happy about that. kurt wanted to maintain punk authenticity but also wanted to be popular. ♪ rape me >> the star-making machine had sucked nirvana up into its evil guts, and now they had to deal

with it. >> we decided to lay low and obviously that was -- you know, someone would say, oh, because kurt's on heroin the whole time. it was just like -- it's been really damaging to us. to tell you the truth. it's really affected my personal life a lot. [ applause ] >> i was in the front row of the unplugged performance, and it was a serious artistic statement. kurt didn't play the hits. those songs were chosen for a particular reason. ♪ my girl, my girl ♪ don't lie to me ♪ tell me where did you sleep last night ♪ >> i remember watching him play a cover of a lead belly song, "where did you sleep last night?" and it was emotional for me because i love nirvana and i felt this connection to kurt cobain and i was always, even when i was young, just so worried about him. ♪ my girl, my girl >> in that era there was always

the speculation kurt's not doing well, kurt has drug problems. and nirvana unplugged was this kind of thing like the clouds parted. you know? and it seemed like everything was going to be okay. ♪ night through [ cheers and applause ] >> from seattle tonight, word of an untimely death. >> the lead singer of nirvana shot and killed himself at his home in seattle, washington today. >> it didn't come as a major surprise, but it was devastating because of the way it happened. >> i pulled over and i was there for like 20 minutes, half an hour just crying right there. >> i just don't understand it. that's all. >> i think he was the closest that his generation came to a john lennon. >> yeah. >> in that he was writing very much from the heart, directly, and he didn't play according to the rules. >> i was 16 when that happened.

and if you turned to music for solace in your life, to then see your hero kill himself, it was devastating. it certainly sucked the air out of alternative rock. you know, the best band fell apart after only making a couple records. you know? what do you do after that? ♪ >> oasis, the verve, blur, the britpop thing, it was like the hangover of grunge. oh, my god, my head's pounding. this has been insane. let's turn on oasis. ♪ and after all ♪ you're my wonderwall >> they were the opposite of nirvana because they wanted fame. no matter how big they were they wanted to be bigger. >> we know we're the best band in the country, and it's as simple as that. and it's that simple. >> the thing about oasis in a way is they've got no kind of --

no false modesty. >> anybody can just sort of go we're brilliant. it's like -- >> anybody who's got the balls to do that is good in my book. ♪ but i'm a creep >> "creep" came out in the early '90s. and that was as much of an alt rock hit as any of the nirvana songs or pearl jam songs, but it was hardly extraordinary. >> inevitably the first song that becomes a hit everybody caricatures the band from that. we just have to wait to see whether we have a chance to prove that we're not just that. >> okay. ♪ >> i remember vividly listening to radiohead's next record, "the bends" nonstop and seriously geek out on every part, the bass line, like percussion, every tiny little nuance. ♪ don't leave me high ♪ don't leave me dry >> this week the bapd released a

new album "ok computer" that has critics chirping with praise too. ♪ >> "ok computer" is like "dark side of the moon" of the '90s. it really showed this is going to be a defining band of the next 25 years. >> you could tell the whole story of the evolution of what came out of grunge through radiohead, and what came out of alternative through beck. ♪ in the time of chimpanzees i was a monkey ♪ ♪ >> i was always interested in hip-hop. sort of non-linear word connections. ♪ i'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me ♪ >> beck is defining what's happening now with that mesh of styles. he's mixing electronic, country, rap, rock and roll, everything. everything. he's throwing the kitchen sink

in. ♪ >> out of the ashes of nirvana dave grohl created the foo fighters. >> this is the first time in my life i've ever fronted a band, had to actually stand up and sing. and seem charismatic or whatever, which i can't do. but i need to just keep playing and making music. ♪ looking to the sky to save me ♪ ♪ looking for a sign of life ♪ looking for something to help me burn out bright ♪ >> in an era when everything was serious and had a heavy tone especially after kurt cobain's death the foo fighters create the "learning to fly" music video. they found this perfect balance between making people laugh with also having the ability to play incredible rock music. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] witness katy perry.

witness katy perry become a legal witness.

witness katy perry and left shark. or a card shark. grandma? witness katy perry work. witness katy perry firework. witness katy perry swish. witness katy perry... aaaaaaw look at that dog! katy perry: with music videos and behind the scenes footage, xfinity lets you witness all things me. the down home music once the preserve of cowboys and rednecks is well on its way to becoming the sound of the '90s. >> one of the things that was overlooked while all this rock and roll explosion was going on was country music. these acts were putting out good music, they were touring constantly around the country, and building up a fan base ♪ blame it all on my roots

♪ i showed up in boots and ruined your black tie affair ♪ >> when they asked people their favorite singer, number one in the nation was garth brooks. are you surprised by that? >> yes, sir. i guess my family knew they would be asking the questions and got there before they did. ♪ i got friends in low places ♪ where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases my blues away ♪ >> living in mississippi, country was a huge part of my life, and it was all because of garth brooks. the first time i ever saw him in concert, i was probably 10 or 11 years old. ♪ to the oasis >> i said that is exactly what i want to do. >> garth brooks is the biggest-selling artist of the decade and the fastest-selling musical artist ever. >> he's been described as a cross between john wayne and mick jagger. he's got the looks of a cowboy and the moves of a rock and roll star. >> it sounded like rock and

roll. guilt guitars and big drums, and everybody's singing along. that's what everybody liked about rock shows. >> as the acts became maybe less twangy in their way, that just expanded their audience. artists like george strait or brooks & dunn, plenty of acts worked their way up and became massive. >> over the last two years country music has taken over the airwaves and the record charts with over $2 billion in sales and climbing. >> as the boom in the music takes hold, western wear dealers can't keep up with the demand. >> you've got kids, you've got a house payment, and these people are more like you are than madonna is. ♪ ♪ is there life out there so much she hasn't done ♪ >> women in country was a huge thing in the '90s. you had reba mcentire, martina mcbride, the dixie chicks, shania twain. ♪ let's go girls >> i remember when shania twain came out i was just obsessed with her.

i thought i was really attracted to her but i came to find out i just wanted to be her best friend. ♪ the best part beening a woman was the prerogative to have a little fun ♪ ♪ oh, oh, oh, totally crazy >> in all fields in our society now women, i wouldn't say dominating. i think that they're just rising to their true place. ♪ i feel like a woman [ cheers ] >> as things wore on it became a great decade to be a girl. ♪ >> after years of singing backup for such stars as michael jackson and rod stewart, she exploded onto the music scene in 1993 with her album "tuesday night music club." ♪ all i wanna do is have some fun ♪ ♪ i've got a feeling i'm not the only one ♪ >> radio has been so long in coming playing female artists. so it's definitely a different sort of environment and attitude now. ♪ if it makes you happy

>> female artists like sheryl crow or liz phair, even though they had success they were still routinely marginalized within every aspect of the industry. there was not a lot of space in pop culture for a young woman's thoughts, feelings, voices, to be respected or taken seriously. ♪ i'm just a girl >> there was such a strange dichotomy to gwen stefani, super girlie but then also kind of tough. and then in front of this band of all guys. ♪ that's all that you'll let me be ♪ >> i'm just a girl in the world and that's all that you'll let me be. you know, it was like the middle finger up to every guy that ever annoyed you. >> look who's here. alanis. >> hi. >> we ran into each other. >> we're shopping today. we thought we'd take you with us. and alanis is here with a brand new album. a brand new look i've noticed. >> yeah. >> i was dropped from mca records after having made records through my teens and my personal promise to myself was i

wouldn't stop until i wrote a record that really exemplified and nailed on the head what was truly going on for me. ♪ another version of me ♪ is she perverted like me ♪ would she go down on you in a theater ♪ >> that was a little pearl clutch moment. what did she say? women could say that? and, yeah, they could. she was singing about a relationship that had obviously gone wrong, but it wasn't this kind of nice like oh, my god, you left me and now i'm sad. this was rage at this man. you didn't hear that a lot from women. ♪ and i'm here to re3450i7mind the mess you made when you went away ♪ ♪ it's not fair >> in america alone, "jagged little pill" sells 15 million albums. it's alanis's moment. ♪ yeah, yeah, yeah, you oughta know ♪ >> over the last four years learned to write for my own reasons and write for myself and

it's pretty ironic the moment i started doing that was the moment most people related to it. ♪ an old man turned 98 >> you know, it was that egocentric tendency on my part and perhaps everyone's part to think you're alone in your pain. i quickly realized that i was not alone and that millions of other people were feeling along with me. people were tired of sublimating, people were tired of being inauthentic about their real experience and conforming. so i think there was this door that busted open, and i was on the crust of the wave. ♪ it's like rain ♪ on your wedding day ♪ it's a free ride ♪ and you've already paid >> "ironic" was really funny because what she was talking about wasn't ironic at all but she became one of the big stars of the mid '90s and out of that you get not only alanis morrisette but there's lots of other women making music too and let's celebrate all of it. >> the latest trend in rock and roll, women.

last night some of the top female artists took the stage to launch lillith fair. it is a series of summer concerts rocking the world and shattering misconceptions. >> a lot of the summer festivals are very male-dominated. and i just thought that it wasn't representational of all the music that was out there. so this is sort of a way to even the scales a little bit. ♪ i went to the doctor i went to the mountains ♪ ♪ i looked to the children ♪ i drank from the fountains ♪ there's more than one answer to these questions ♪ >> lillith fair was incredibly powerful. our brains, our bodies, our creativity, our ambition mattered. it validated a lot. ♪ the closer i am to fine ♪ yeah [ cheers and applause ] hi, i'm mike ditka.

and i'm johnny bench. and we've spent our whole lives around professional sports taking hits and catching our fair share of aches and pains. which is why we use blue-emu's pain relief products. blue-emu products; non-greasy, deep-penetrating formula that works down into your muscles and joints and works its magic. it's comfort that won't leave you smelling like a football gym bag or an old catcher's mitt or a shower mat in the locker room. how about an old pair of socks after an extra inning game. blue-emu, it works fast and you won't stink.

♪ original gangsta ♪ o.g. ♪ original gangsta gangsta rap, the angriest kind of rap music. it glorifies brutality and sex. >> gangsta rap takes hold in the early '90s. people are moving away from the political raps of public not mi of the '80s and much more into reality rap and street rap. ♪ the police coming straight from the underground ♪

♪ young nigga got it bad because i'm brown ♪ >> the group nwa is the hottest most in your face of the gangsta-style rappers. one song blasts the police in the most obscene terms. >> they like to rap, right? me and my boy yella get together and hook up a good beat we feel will go good with the rap and there it is. platinum records. >> nwa at that point is the biggest hip-hop band there is. >> first time i heard nwa i was like that ice guy is all right but the rest of this is garbage. that was pretty much the attitude originally of most people who were part of the hip-hop world. ♪ dre ♪ step to the door and get [ bleep ] up ♪ >> the east coast kind of felt like, well, we ip vented hip-hop, you're not going to come in as the new kid and decide this is the thing like the east coast is the home of hip-hop and we're all going to have a say in where hip-hop goes ♪ ♪ mad thinking about stomping ♪ i'm from the south bronx ♪ [ bleep ] compton >> you going to continue making a lot of money off this? >> long as it's violence it's

going to be rap music, gangsta rap music, whatever. >> nwa was always too hot to hold. it had to splinter. and the first person who walks away is ice cube. ♪ tried to kill me >> same reason ice cube left the group is the reason i left. you know, tired of making other people money. it's my turn. ♪ tonight's the night i get in some -- ♪ ♪ deep cover on the incognito tip ♪ >> suge knight, who wasn't a real gangster, got into cahoots with dr. dre and said dre, we should start our own record label, which became death row records. >> knight, 6'3", 330-pound former bodyguard has become one of the most feared men in the music business. >> you go to dre, who probably makes beats better than everybody. this guy delivers a hit. >> dre put out his first solo album "the chronic." not only do you get dre but then you also get snoop dogg. ♪ one, two, three and to the four ♪

♪ snoop doggy dog and dr. dre is at the door ♪ >> ooh, boy. snoop doggy dog and dr. dre at the door. it's crazy. they knocked the door down, baby. ♪ g thing baby ♪ we're crazy >> 70% of rap music including gangsta rap was purchased by whites. >> growing up in st. paul, minnesota, my friends and i thought compton and south central must be the coolest places in the world based on this music. >> other music is more like a fairy tale story. where now we can hear somebody else's history basically and understand where they're coming from. ♪ bow wow wow yippy yi yippy yea ♪ ♪ death row's definitely in the house ♪ >> "the chronic" made hip-hop digestible to everybody. it was a hip-hop tsunami, and we didn't see it coming. >> death row records going to be the next motown, you know what i'm saying? the "chronic" album was the foundation, and we're going to keep rolling on until the house is finished. ♪ it's the bow to the wow and creeping and crawling ♪

>> the handful of gangsta rap superstars are not just singing about being mean and nasty and ambitious. they're accused of living up to their lyrics. ♪ all respect to those ♪ bro break their neck >> tupac shakur, rap star and movie star, was arrested in new york and charged with sodomy and sexual assault. atlanta cops had arrested tupac less than a month earlier for shooting two off-duty police officers. >> tupac was languishing in jail waiting for his appeal when suge knight swooped in and basically offered to pay his bail if he signed a contract. >> death row. you will see your art brought to a bigger platform and you will be paid one of these days. >> you know, he was an east coast guy by birth. he's now rapping on the west coast with the big label out there, death row. ♪ let me serenade the streets of l.a. ♪ ♪ from oakland to sac town the bay area and back down ♪ ♪ cali is where they put their mac down ♪ ♪ california

>> suge was trying to expand death row all over the country but who controlled most of the music in the east at that time? bad boy. >> papi, freddie's here. >> oh, what up? >> what's going on? >> everything. it's all good in the hood. >> sean "puffy" combs founded bad boy and biggie smalls was his marquee artist. they modeled their sound on death row in a lot of ways, kind of a gangster rap for the east coast. ♪ jump in the rover and come over tell your friends in the gsv ♪ ♪ i got the chronic by the ♪ i love it when you call me big papa ♪ ♪ throw your hands in the air if yous a true playa ♪ >> i make music about what i know. know what i'm saying? if i worked in mcdonald's i'd have made rhymes about big macs and fries. brooklyn, i see hustling, i see killing, i see gambling, i see girls, i see cars. that's what i rap about, what's in my environment. >> and the winner is --

notorious big. >> b.i.g.! >> puff daddy in the house. >> i hosted that. mayhem almost broke out in that place that night. >> any of y'all want to be an artist and stay a star and don't want to worry about the producer trying to be all in the videos, all on the record, dancing -- come to death row. >> suge calls puffy out. he never mentions puffy's name, but everybody knows he's talking about puffy. >> the idea of a territorial beef is now being drawn out in front of your eyes in realtime. that was hip-hop's funeral.

rap star tupac shakur died last night after a brief life in a rough business. he was 25. >> shakur has been at the center of a battle between east and west coast rappers. >> for the second time in six months, a star in the often brutal world of gangsta rap has been gunned down. >> music industry sources on the west coast suspect that smalls' death may in some way be payback for the september killing of rap star tupac shakur.

>> when tupac and biggie were assassinated, it was a watershed moment i think in hip-hop culture. kind of the death of a revolution. >> these two men were two of the most successful rap artists in the industry. phenomenally wealthy. why are we seeing this happen? >> well, both biggie smalls and tupac had talked of trying to break out of that violence, but many say they were trapped in the world they created. they were forced to, in a word, as they say, to keep it real, and that's a sad commentary. >> i remember seeing news reports about how violent it was, i remember seeing editorials, how can we let our children listen to this when these artists are being killed at an incredible rate? and i thought rap was going to end. >> at least one radio station here in los angeles which has made a lot of money from gangsta rap music has stopped playing it. >> we lost two of the greatest artists in hip-hop history. that vacuum was there for a while. it was just like, okay, what are we going to do? ♪ seems like yesterday we used to rock the show ♪ ♪ i laced the track you rocked

the floor ♪ ♪ ♪ notorious, they got to know >> "i'll be missing you" was diddy's song about b.i.g. suddenly it's like, oh, damn, puffy's going to be a legitimate solo act and enters the next phase of hip-hop. ♪ every step i take there's sampling and then there's sampling. to take the "every breath you take" police sample and rap over it, puff daddy finds a way to peal dwroung listeners and their parents. ♪ i'm coming >> and everybody wants to party. ain't nothing rock with partying. puff daddy built an empire out of it. ♪ >> the sound shifted and the use of samples exploded. "mo money mo problems" was a diana ross sample that an older crowd could hear and say, well, that sounds familiar to me, so maybe this isn't all bad. ♪ i see myself in the pistol smoke ♪ >> you have songs like coolio's

"gangsta paradise" which is a heavier song but the hook is so inviting and warm. ♪ been spending most of their lives living in a gangster's paradise ♪ >> hip-hop hit a point it had become mainstream and starts appearing in other forms of music. there's this kind of rock-rap happening. ♪ sometimes, something kicked >> there's hip-hop that can be found in pop music. ♪ harrison ford getting frantic like sting i'm tant ric like snickers guaranteed to satisfy ♪ >> r&b and rap mixing for new jack swing. ♪ new jack swing around town doesn't give a ♪ >> teddy riley was the big new jack swing producer, and he produced everybody. ♪ all i want to do zoom, zoom and a boom, boom ♪ he had wrecks and effect. he had his own group guy, heavy d and the boys. it all had this kind of rhythm that made you have to dance. ♪ get down, good lord >> new jack swing was someone that could sing with the level

of stevie wonder with the break beat background of a public enemy, and marry those two. ♪ baby i can get you with my ride ♪ ♪ i like the way you work it ♪ no diggity >> "no diggity" is the masterpiece of the new jack swing era. >> hip-hop was a male-dominated music. seriously. like, women were thought, you're not sexy -- ah. get outta here. you're not shaking that ass, get out of here. ♪ i want to take a minute to give respect to the man that made a difference in my world ♪ >> female mcs wasn't a pop cultural phenomenon really until salt and. he salt n pepa, and that blew the doors off it. ♪ what i man, what a man, what a mighty good man ♪ >> opened up the door, well, who else are females rapping? oh. mc light. ♪ can i get a >> who you calling a bitch? >> oh. who's this queen latifah girl?

♪ >> and then later on, oh, who's this missy? ♪ oh, missy try to maintain >> they were respected as artists. they didn't have to shake booty or wear a low-cut blouse. it changed the way we viewed things. ♪ >> to me the best two female mcs to come out of the '90s are missy elliott and lauryn hill. ♪ ♪ never called you again >> you see the role of women in hip-hop, is it changing? like yourself? >> something that's always been there. whether or not they got the, you know, the acknowledgement they should have, they've always been there. and just now maybe they'll truly be acknowledged. ♪ guys are only ♪ that thing, that thing ♪ that thing >> she sings, she raps. there's heartache involved. it's all encompassed in one amazing piece of art.

>> "the miseducation of lauryn hill." >> with her record-breaking fifth grammy win, lauryn hill echoed what many might have been thinking. >> this is crazy, because this is hip-hop music. you know what i mean? >> she's going to be, big -- well, she already is a big star. you get five grammys you are. >> a lot of people think she's going to really redefine the connections among hip-hop, pop, for everybody. ♪ hi, kids. do you like primus ♪ ♪ want to see me stick nine inch nails through each one of my eyelids ♪ >> when em came we sat back like this. what's this white boy doing? and then i really listened -- ♪ but i can't figure out which spice girl i want to impregnate ♪ >> i was like, whoa! >> ♪ slim shady >> and dre's behind it? he's in. he's in! >> he's not trying to be black. he's not pretending he has these great urban stories. he's telling his story, portraying lower middle-class white life. which hip-hop had not done before. i think that's why he was so appealing to so many people. >> the kids in america that

always had a sufficient amount of money and a different pair of clothes to wear to school each day of the week. those type of kids, they admire poor people that have nothing to lose. >> eminem saw the logical conclusion of 20-odd years of hip-hop. and white kids now listening to hip-hop were now deciding we need to create our own thing. ♪ my name is ♪ slim shady

it's hot news for electronica, the multifaceted techno dance genre touted by many tastemakers as the next big musical thing. prodigy's new album "the fat of the land" enters the billboard pop chart at number 1. ♪ ♪ fight the pressure >> up until the end of the '90s, dance music was just a deejay, it was a beat. then all of a sudden there's a face to it. ♪ block rocking beats the chemical brothers come up. >> this is very much the recycling age. is this music recycled? >> everything is secondhand. you take things from different places and create something new with it. ♪ >> all of this stuff was going on at the same time. massive attack, moby, so you're seeing what we called electronica which is edm, which is techno really started to kind of take hold beyond dance clubs. ♪

all these artists end up laying the seeds for what would become a pretty huge revolution of music. ♪ ♪ around the world >> everybody's talking about them and they're headed to america. it started with the beatles and then the stones. well, move over, boys, and roll over beethoven. the spice girls are coming. ♪ if you want to be my lover ♪ you got to get with my friends ♪ >> there's never been a group where every person had their own personality and every fan could choose a different one that they related to. and it was brilliant. ♪ taking this too easy ♪ but that's the way it is >> there needed to be some music to be the sorbet and the palate cleansing for the intensity that was the earlier part of the '90s. >> the recording industry doesn't need to be told that it's a teen/teen world.

>> there were about to be more teenagers than any other time in america's history. teenagers wanted to be entertained. they wanted to have fun. ♪ even in my heart ♪ i see ♪ you're not being true to me >> the backstreet boys made a video for "quit playing games with my heart." them in the rain, getting all wet, being all sexy. and it became a hit. ♪ quit playing games with my heart ♪ ♪ with my heart ♪ with my heart >> this is where it all started, right here, in this house. the guys coming here, doing vocal recording. i had a little karaoke machine that i had. >> their manager lou pearlman said i think i need another one of these. ♪ tearing up my heart when i'm with you ♪ ♪ but when we are apart i feel it too ♪ >> it was a little overwhelming to be, you know, 16 years old and have that many people trying to attack you. it was craziness.

and it felt like a dream. >> one by one the breathless few got their lucky autographs. most were missing school. many had mom as chaperones. >> all these people who would go on to be huge pop stars began on disney. so many people came out of the mickey mouse club. ter kerri russell, justin timberlake, cristina aguilera, j.c. chasez, ryan gosling, britney spears. >> that's like the 1927 yankees in terms of pop. ♪ oh baby baby ♪ how was i supposed to know ♪ that something wasn't right here ♪ >> teenagers are the biggest consumers of music, and britney has become their queen. ♪ i'm not that innocent ♪ oops i did it again >> britney was the madonna whereas christina was like the mariah. ♪ i'm a genie in a bottle

>> christina, you know, very tiny girl, she's under 5 feet. and when she opened her mouth, it was like this burst of like wind came through your hair. you were like, that voice is coming out of that girl? >> the end of the '90s is a really precarious strange time for music because mtv stops playing music videos and starts doing some more kind of reality television programming which everyone's like that's never going to take off. >> music would be as much or more in people's lives than it ever had been, but the economics of it would vanish. ♪ another turning point ♪ a fork stuck in the road ♪ time grabs you by the wrist ♪ directs you where to go >> the '90s represented being who you are. this is the kind of music i'm going to make and i don't care who likes it and who doesn't like it, and i'm not going to

sound like anybody else. this is who i am. >> people were starving for authenticity, they were starving for what the real experience was, the messy, chaotic, fallible experience of being human. and the '90s gave complete green light permission for that to be explored. >> you talk about this band a lot. then you go oh, wait a minute. you can't talk about the '90s without this one and this one and this one, where there's so many monumental bands, one after another. that's the '90s. ♪ take the photographs in still frames in your mind ♪ ♪ hang it on a shelf and get up in good time ♪ ♪ memories ♪ for what it's worth ♪ it was worth all the while ♪ it's something unpredictable ♪ but in the end it's right ♪ i hope you had the time of

your life ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> that's all. more fallout, more protests following the u.s. president's decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. fully liberated. iraq declares victory over isis but the threat of terrorist violence remains. make something progress. firefighters in california work to tame wildfires that are fueled by winds there. these stories all ahead this hour. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. we're coming to you live from atlanta. i'm natalie allen. >> i'm george howell from cnn news headquarters. "cnn newsroom" starts now. 4:00 a.m. on the u.s. east coast. we start in the middle east.