George Michael - Freedom '90

George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on 25 June 1963) is an English-Cypriot musician, singer-songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! along with his school friend Andrew Ridgeley. His first solo single, "Careless Whisper" was released when he was still in the duo and sold about six million copies worldwide.

As one of the world's best-selling music artists, Michael has sold over 100 million albums worldwide as of 2010.His 1987 debut solo album, Faith, has sold over 25 million copies worldwide and made several records and achievements in the United States. Michael has garnered seven number one singles in the UK, and eight number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked Michael the 40th most successful artist on the "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists".

Michael has won numerous music awards throughout his 30 year career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male twice, four MTV Video Music Awards, four Ivor Novello Awards, three American Music Awards, and two Grammy Awards from eight nominations.

In 2004, Radio Academy named Michael as the most played artist on British radio between the period of 1984–2004. The documentary A Different Story was released in 2005; it covered his personal life and professional career. In 2006, George Michael announced his first tour in 15 years. 25 Live tour was a massive, worldwide undertaking by Michael that spanned three individual tours over the course of three years (2006, 2007, and 2008).

The discography of George Michael contains five studio albums, two compilation albums, one extended play, forty singles, sixteen music videos, four video albums and a number of other appearances with other artists.

"Freedom '90" (also known simply as "Freedom") is a song written and performed by George Michael, and released on Columbia Records in 1990. The "'90" added to the end of the title is to prevent confusion with an international hit by Michael's former band, Wham!, also titled "Freedom".
It was the third single taken from Listen without Prejudice, Vol. 1 ,"Freedom 90" was one of a few uptempo songs on this album, it was also a major hit and hit #8 in the US. It remained in the Billboard Top 40 for twelve weeks in late 1990 and early 1991.The song is referring to George's past success with Wham! but also shows a new side of himself as a new man, who is more cynical about the music business then he had been before.

Michael refused to appear in the video and let a group of supermodels appear instead.Michael does not appear in the music video - which was directed by David Fincher and shot by Jeff Cronenweth - and instead recruited a number of supermodels (including Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Tatjana Patitz, Cindy Crawford, and male models John Pearson, Mario Sorrenti, and Peter Formby) to mouth the words. It also featured the destruction of the three items from "Faith" that had come to symbolize Michael's career at that point: his leather jacket (burned), jukebox (exploded) and guitar (exploded).

Seal - Kiss from a Rose

Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel (born 19 February 1963 in Paddington, London, England), known simply as Seal, is an English soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. A recipient of BRIT, MTV and Grammy Awards, Seal is known for his numerous international hits. He is married to German model Heidi Klum.

"Kiss from a Rose" is a song from Seal's second eponymous album Seal (aka Seal II). The song was first released as a single in July 1994. Re-released in 1995, it was included on the Batman Forever film soundtrack, helping it top the charts in the U.S. and Australia. It took the 1996 Grammy Awards for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Seal also won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

Written by Seal, the single "Kiss from a Rose", the second taken from the Batman Forever film soundtrack, topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for one week in August 1995. It also went to number four on the UK Singles Chart. The single originally made it to #20 in 1994, but upon being re-released after being featured in the film, it reached the top position. It was also nominated for a 1996 MTV Movie Award.

Seal talked about the long, strange journey that the song went through on The Brian McKnight Show season finale that aired Sunday, 12:30 A.M., May 30, 2010. He said the song first arrived on the charts at #60 and then got dropped off the charts. It wasn't until he got a call from Joel Schumacher that he wanted to use the song to play over a love scene between the characters played by Nicole Kidman and Val Kilmer. It wound up being moved to play over the end credits and, as Seal said, many people that saw the movie recalled the song and loved it which he admitted wasn't commercial.
He also pointed out that the song is a waltz done in 3/4 time

The more popular video of the song was directed by Joel Schumacher and has Seal performing the song beside the Bat-Signal, interspersed with clips from the film Batman Forever.

Spin Doctors - Two Princes

Spin Doctors is an American alternative rock band formed in New York City, best known for their early 1990s hits, "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong," which peaked the Billboard Hot 100 charts at #7 & #17 respectively.

The history of the Spin Doctors can be traced back to the late 1980s in New York City, originally as a band called Trucking Company, which included Canadian guitarist Eric Schenkman, John Popper, and later Chris Barron, who was John Popper's Princeton, NJ high school friend. Popper left this side project to focus on his main gig with Blues Traveler full time. With a name change to Spin Doctors, as well as the addition of Aaron Comess and Mark White, the classic line-up was in place by the spring of 1989.

"Their popularity is based on universal rock & roll virtues," said Rolling Stone, which put the band on the cover of its January 7, 1993 issue. "The Doctors aren't trying to blaze new trails. They know we've been down this way with the Stones, Curtis Mayfield, and a few of their other touchstones. But the proof—plenty of it—is in the party."

The current members are Chris Barron (vocals), Eric Schenkman (guitar and vocals), Aaron Comess (drums and percussion), and Mark White (bass guitar).
"Two Princes" is a song by the New York City-based alternative rock band Spin Doctors. As a single, it reached #7 in the United States, #2 in Canada, and #3 in the United Kingdom. It was the band's most popular song. It also ranked at #21 on Blender magazine's list of the "50 Worst Songs
Ever".
It ranked #41 on "VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s".

Natalie Imbruglia - Torn

Natalie Jane Imbruglia (born 4 February 1975) is an Australian singer-songwriter, model and actress.

In the early 1990s, Imbruglia was known to audiences as Beth Brennan in the popular Australian soap Neighbours. Three years after leaving the programme, Imbruglia launched a singing career with the international hit, "Torn". The subsequent debut album Left of the Middle (1997) sold over 6 million copies worldwide. Further releases, White Lilies Island (2001) and Counting Down the Days (2005), have been unable to match the commercial success of her debut, although the latter did become her first UK #1.

Her fourth studio album, Come to Life, was released on 2 October 2009 to little effect. The physical UK release has been delayed so that Imbruglia can commit to her duties as mentor and judge on the Australian version of The X Factor franchise.

She co-starred in the 2003 film Johnny English and made her leading actress debut in the 2009 film Closed for Winter.

"Torn" is a song by the band Ednaswap from their debut album Ednaswap (1995). It was their second single from that album, after "Glow". "Torn" was written by Scott Cutler, Anne Preven, and Phil Thornalley. The lyrics were written by Preven. Thornalley and Cutler produced the session.

In 1997, Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia covered the song for her debut album Left of the Middle. Released as a single, Imbruglia's version became a worldwide hit. At the time of its release, U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart rules did not allow airplay-only songs to chart, so the song was prevented from achieving a high position on that chart despite remaining atop the Hot 100 Airplay chart for eleven weeks.

For the track, Natalie Imbruglia received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, losing to Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On". The music video for "Torn" features British actor Jeremy Sheffield.

The music video features a continuous shot that never changes its angle of vision. Taking place in a residential space that later is revealed to be a filming studio, it has many shots where the crew is "fixing" the scene, as in a making of.

The video of the song was rated the second best video of all time by MTV Italy.

Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born August 9, 1963) is an American R&B/pop singer and actress, most famous for her work as the former. Houston is the most awarded female artist of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 2 Emmy Awards, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010.

Houston is also one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 170 million albums and singles worldwide.

Inspired by several prominent soul singers in her extended family, including mother Cissy Houston and cousins Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick, as well as her godmother, Aretha Franklin, Houston began singing with New Jersey church's junior gospel choir at age 11.After she began performing alongside her mother in night clubs in the New York City area, she was discovered by Arista Records label head Clive Davis. As of 2011, Houston has released seven studio albums and three movie soundtrack albums, all of which have had diamond, multi-platinum, platinum, or gold certification.

Houston's 1985 debut album, Whitney Houston, became the best-selling debut album by a female act at the time of its release. Her second studio album, Whitney (1987), became the first album by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Houston's crossover appeal on the popular music charts as well as her prominence on MTV, starting with her video for "How Will I Know", enabled several African-American female artists to follow in her success.

Houston's first acting role was as the star of the feature film The Bodyguard (1992). The movie's original soundtrack won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Its lead single, "I Will Always Love You", became the best-selling single by a female artist in music history.The album makes her the only female act ranked in the list of the top-10 best-selling albums, at number four.

Houston continued to star in movies and contribute to soundtracks, including with the films Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher's Wife (1996).Three years after the release of her fourth studio album, My Love Is Your Love (1998), she renewed her recording contract with Arista Records.

She released her fifth studio album, Just Whitney, in 2002, and the Christmas-themed One Wish: The Holiday Album in 2003. Amid widespread media coverage of personal and professional turmoil, Houston ended her 14-year marriage to singer Bobby Brown in 2006. In 2009, Houston released her seventh studio album, I Look To You.

"I Will Always Love You" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton in 1973, who first released the song as a single in 1974.
In 1992, singer Whitney Houston recorded the song for the soundtrack to The Bodyguard, her film debut. Houston was originally to record Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" as the lead single from The Bodyguard. However, when it was discovered the song was to be used for Fried Green Tomatoes, Houston requested a different song and her co-star Kevin Costner brought her Linda Ronstadt's 1975 version of "I Will Always Love You" from her album Prisoner in Disguise. Houston and producer David Foster re-arranged the song as a soul ballad. Her record company did not feel a song with an a cappella introduction would be as successful; however, Houston and Costner insisted on retaining the a cappella intro.

The tenor saxophone solo was played by Kirk Whalum. Whitney Houston's recording is not the only version of the song featured in the movie. In a scene where she dances with Kevin Costner, a version by John Doe can be heard playing on a jukebox.

Houston's version was a massive worldwide success, appearing at number sixty-eight on Billboard's "Greatest Songs of All Time."

Mariah Carey - My All

Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1970) is an American R&B/pop singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. She made her recording debut in 1990 under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, and became the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Following her marriage to Mottola in 1993, a series of hit records including "Dreamlover," "Hero," "Without You," "Fantasy," "One Sweet Day" and "Always Be My Baby" from the diamond albums Music Box and Daydream and released the holiday standard "All I Want For Christmas Is You" from the best selling Christmas album of all time Merry Christmas, established her position as Columbia Records' top-selling act.

Following her separation from Mottola in 1997, she introduced elements of hip hop into her album work, to much initial success, but when she left Columbia in 2001 her popularity was in decline. She signed an unprecedented $100 million deal with Virgin Records, only to be dropped from the label and bought out of her contract in the following year.

This radical turn of events was due to the highly publicized physical and emotional breakdown, as well as the poor reception that was given to Glitter, her film and soundtrack project. In 2002 Carey signed a $24 million deal with Island Records, and after a relatively unsuccessful period, she returned to the top of pop music in 2005 with her album The Emancipation of Mimi. The album became her best-selling album in the 2000s and its single, "We Belong Together," became her most successful solo single of her music career and was also awarded Song of the Decade by Billboard.

In a career spanning over two decades, Carey has sold more than 200 million albums, singles, and videos worldwide, according to Island Def Jam, which makes her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Carey was cited as the world’s best-selling recording artist of the 1990s at the World Music Awards in 1998, and was named the best-selling female artist of the millennium by the same awards show in 2000.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the third-best-selling female artist, with shipments of 63 million albums in the U.S. In 2006 Carey was listed in 6th place on the Forbes Richest 20 Woman In Entertainment list. In April 2008, "Touch My Body" became Carey's eighteenth number one single on the Hot 100, the most by any solo artist. Carey was included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the world in 2008. Carey starred in the film Precious (2009), which earned her a Breakthrough Performance Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and an NAACP Image Award nomination.

Aside from her commercial accomplishments, she composes all her own material, has earned five Grammy Awards, seventeen World Music Awards, and is known for her five-octave vocal range, power, melismatic style and signature use of the whistle register.

"My All" is a song from her sixth studio album, Butterfly (1997). It was released as the album's fourth and second commercial single on April 21, 1998 by Columbia Records. The song was written and produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff. "My All" is built around Latin guitar chord melodies, and makes subtle use of Latin percussion throughout the first chorus, before taking on a more conventional contemporary R&B-style beat.

Carey was inspired to write the song and use Latin inspired melodies after her trip to Puerto Rico, where she was influenced by the culture. The song's lyrics tell of a lonely woman declaring she would give "her all" to have just one more night with her estranged lover.

The music video for the song was recorded in April 1998. It shows many scenes of Carey laying on a submerged vessel in a large body of water, while lamenting her lost lover. Towards the video's climax, Carey and her love interest climb atop a lighthouse and caress each other under the night's sky.

"My All" was well received by contemporary music critics and charted strongly throughout various music markets. In the United States, the song became Carey's thirteenth chart topper on the Billboard Hot 100, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Shania Twain - Man! I Feel Like a Woman!"

Shania Twain, (born Eilleen Regina Edwards; August 28, 1965) is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the mid 1990s with her album The Woman in Me (1995), and achieved worldwide success with her 1997 album Come On Over, which became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million copies worldwide and is the 9th best-selling album in the U.S. Her 4th album, titled Up! was released late 2002. To date it has sold 20 million copies worldwide.

A five-time Grammy Award winner, Twain has also achieved major success as a songwriter, winning 27 BMI Songwriter awards.Twain is one of the only female musician to have three albums certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America and is also the second best-selling artist in Canada, behind fellow Canadian Céline Dion, with three of her studio albums being certified double diamond by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. Twain has sold over 80 million albums worldwide, and is ranked as the 10th best-selling artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era.

She was also ranked the 72nd Artist of the 2000–10 decade by Billboard.Most recently, Twain will have her own series, Why Not? with Shania Twain, that premiered on the OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network on May 8, 2011. She received a coveted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on June 2, 2011 in recognition of her star-studded career.

"Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" is the seventh single released from Shania Twain's 1997 album Come on Over. It was written by Mutt Lange and Twain. "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!," originally released to North American country radio stations in early 1999, was the opening song on both Twain's Come on Over Tour and the Up! Tour. The song won a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 2000. Twain headlined the Super Bowl XXXVII Halftime show opening her set with "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!". In 2006, the single was certified Gold by the RIAA for 500,000 digital downloads.

Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On

Céline Marie Claudette Dion, (born March 30, 1968), better known as Celine Dion, is a Canadian recording artist and entrepreneur. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec,Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record. In 1990, she released the English-language album Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world.

Dion had first gained international recognition in the 1980s by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest. Following a series of French albums in the early 1980s, she signed on to CBS Records Canada in 1986. During the 1990s, with the help of Angélil, she achieved worldwide fame after signing with Epic Records and releasing several English albums along with additional French albums, becoming one of the most successful artists in pop music history.

However, in 1999 at the height of her success, Dion announced a hiatus from entertainment in order to start a family and spend time with her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer. She returned to the top of pop music in 2002 and signed a three-year (later extended to almost five years) contract to perform nightly in a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.

Dion's music has been influenced by genres ranging from rock and R&B to gospel and classical. While her releases have often received mixed critical reception, she is renowned for her technically skilled and powerful vocals.Dion is the best-selling Canadian artist of all time,is the second best-selling female artist in the U.S. during the Nielsen SoundScan era,and is the only female artist to have two singles that have sold more than a million copies in the UK. In addition, her 1995 album D'eux, is the best-selling French-language album of all time. In 2004, after surpassing 150 million in album sales worldwide, she was presented with the Chopard Diamond Award at the World Music Awards for becoming the best-selling female artist of all time. According to Sony Music Entertainment,january 2011 Dion has sold over 170 million albums worldwide.

"My Heart Will Go On" is the theme song of the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic. With music by James Horner, lyrics by Will Jennings, and production by Walter Afanasieff, it was recorded by Céline Dion. Originally released in 1997 on Dion's album Let's Talk About Love, it went to number 1 all over the world, including the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

"My Heart Will Go On" was released in Australia and Germany on December 8, 1997, and in the rest of the world in January and February 1998. It became Dion's biggest hit, and one of the best-selling singles of all time, and was the world's best-selling single of 1998.

Sheryl Crow - All I Wanna Do

Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop. She has won nine Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

She has performed with The Rolling Stones and has sung duets with Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, Luciano Pavarotti, John Mellencamp, Kid Rock, Michelle Branch, and Sting among others. She has performed backing vocals for Tina Turner, Don Henley and Belinda Carlisle, on her 1991 hit Little Black Book.

Crow has released seven studio albums, two compilations, and a live album, and has contributed to film soundtracks. She has sold 16 million albums in the United States and 35 million albums worldwide and her newest album, 100 Miles from Memphis, was released on July 20, 2010.Recently she appeared on NBC's 30 Rock, ABC's Cougar Town, Disney Channel's Hannah Montana Forever and Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.

"All I Wanna Do" is a song performed by Sheryl Crow and written by David Baerwald, Bill Bottrell, Wyn Cooper, Sheryl Crow, and Kevin Gilbert. It was Crow's breakthrough hit from her 1993 debut album Tuesday Night Music Club.

The song was the winner of the 1995 Grammy Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and was nominated for Song of the Year. The song is her biggest US hit, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, number one on the Adult Contemporary chart and also reaching #4 on the UK Singles Chart.

Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way

Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads.

In addition to singing lead and backing vocals, Kravitz often plays all the guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and percussion himself when recording. He is known for his elaborate stage performances and music videos. Kravitz has had multiple number 1 hits on the US Top Singles Charts, though none by himself on the Hot 100, and many more worldwide. He won the Grammy Award for "Best Male Rock Vocal Performance" four years in a row from 1999 to 2002, breaking the record for most wins in that category and most consecutive wins in one category. He has been nominated and won other awards, namely American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, Radio Music Awards, BRIT Awards and Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.

"Are You Gonna Go My Way" is the first single to be released by Lenny Kravitz from the album of the same name. It was released in March 1993. It was written by Lenny Kravitz and Craig Ross. The single has been covered by numerous artists, such as Metallica, in a medley for "MTV Hits" at the 2003 MTV Music Video Awards, Tom Jones and Robbie Williams on Jones' 1999 album Reload and Melanie Brown in her solo section, on the Spice Girls Reunion Tour. Serbian hard rock band Cactus Jack recorded a version on their live cover album DisCover in 2002. It ranked #78 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s.

"Are You Gonna Go My Way" is one of Kravitz's most successful songs, and is also considered one of his signature songs. The song failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, but reached #1 on the Album Rock Tracks and #2 on the Modern Rock Tracks. Besides, it reached the top 5 in the UK, peaking at number four.It is still Kravitz's most successful single in Australia, where it peaked at number-one for six weeks through April and May 1993. "Are You Gonna Go My Way" is the only Diamond certified single in Brazil, with over 500,000 downloads.

The Divinyls - I Touch Myself

The Divinyls were an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980 and featuring vocalist Christina Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee. As the focal point, Amphlett performed on stage wearing a school uniform and fishnet stockings, often using an illuminated neon tube as a prop and displaying aggression towards band members and the audience. The band, originally a five-piece, underwent numerous lineup changes with Amphlett and McEntee as the core members, before breaking up in 1996.

In May 2001 the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), as part of its 75th Anniversary celebrations, named "Science Fiction" as one of the Top 30 Australian songs of all time. The band was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 2006 and in late 2007 Amphlett and McEntee reconvened to record a new single and begin working on a new album.

The band played a short series of live gigs in Australia in late 2007 and early 2008.

Divinyls have released five studio albums, with four of them reaching the Top 10 in Australia and one, "Divinyls", reaching No. 15 in the US. Their biggest-selling single, "I Touch Myself" (1991) achieved No. 1 in Australia, No. 4 in the US and No. 10 in the UK.

"I Touch Myself" song was written by Divinyls bandmembers Christina Amphlett and Mark McEntee and professional songwriters Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg for the band's self-titled album. The song has since been covered by numerous artists.

Divinyls recorded "I Touch Myself" for the first single from their fifth album, Divinyls. Christina Amphlett and Mark McEntee wrote the song with the songwriting team of Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg (who have written songs such as "I'll Stand by You," "Like a Virgin," "Eternal Flame," "True Colors" and "So Emotional").

Billy Steinberg had "I Touch Myself" in his notebook; he'd written the first verse and the chorus lyric. Amphlett liked it immediately. The next day, McEntee, Steinberg, Kelly, and Amphlett got together and wrote the rest, an unusual move, as Steinberg and Kelly rarely collaborated with others. The song is featured in the 1997 film Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery.

Guns N' Roses - November Rain

Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band. The band formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California in 1985. Led by frontman and co-founder Axl Rose, the band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album while going through numerous line-up changes and controversies since its formation. Rose is the only consistent and original member of Guns N' Roses.

The band has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, including shipments of 45 million in the United States. The band's 1987 major label debut album, Appetite for Destruction, has sold in excess of 28 million copies worldwide and reached No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 and is also the highest selling debut album of all time both in the US and worldwide. In addition, the album charted three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including "Sweet Child o' Mine" which reached No. 1.

The 1991 albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II debuted on the two highest spots on the Billboard 200 and have sold a combined 14 million copies in the United States alone and 35 million worldwide. After over a decade of work and many lineup changes, the band released their follow-up album, Chinese Democracy, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum in the United States.

The current lineup comprises lead vocalist and pianist Axl Rose, lead guitarists Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and DJ Ashba, rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus, bassist Tommy Stinson, keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman and drummer Frank Ferrer.

Guns N' Roses' mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s years have been described by individuals in the music industry as the period in which "they brought forth a hedonistic rebelliousness and revived the punk attitude-driven hard rock scene, reminiscent of the early Rolling Stones.".This lineup primarily consisted of lead vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler. Keyboardist Dizzy Reed was introduced in 1990, and drummer Matt Sorum and guitarist Gilby Clarke replaced Adler and Stradlin during the Use Your Illusion tour.

"November Rain" is written by lead singer Axl Rose and released as a single in June 1992. The music video for this song was also released in 1992, and won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography. It is the longest song to reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. The song peaked at #3 on the chart, becoming the band's sixth and last Top 10 hit, and eighth top-40 hit.

On the radio, "November Rain" is sometimes played in a shortened version of approximately six minutes, but many classic rock stations continue to play the full version. At around 7 minutes in, the song fades and then builds into a two-minute coda featuring lead guitar by Slash accompanied by vocal chants. This song is listed at number 6 in the The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos list by Guitar World.

The song was placed at #140 on Pitchfork Media's Top 200 Tracks of the 90s.The song's solo is also ranked #6 on Guitar World's "The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos" list in 2008.

The video's popularity continued throughout the rest of the decade. At the end of 1992, MTV placed "November Rain" at #1 on their top 100 videos of that year. Subsequently, it often appeared at #1 or in the top 10 of several future all-time MTV countdowns throughout the '90s.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Where the Wild Roses Grow

Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.

He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and musical styles. Before that, he had fronted the group The Birthday Party in the early 1980s, a band renowned for its highly dark, challenging lyrics and violent sound influenced by free jazz, blues, and post-punk.

In 2006, he formed the garage rock band Grinderman that released its debut the following year. Cave's music is generally characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences, and lyrical obsessions with "religion, death, love, America, and violence."

Upon Cave's induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame, ARIA Awards committee chairman Ed St John said, “Nick Cave has enjoyed—and continues to enjoy—one of the most extraordinary careers in the annals of popular music. He is an Australian artist like Sidney Nolan is an Australian artist—beyond comparison, beyond genre, beyond dispute."

"Where the Wild Roses Grow" is an alternative-rock song written by Nick Cave for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' ninth album Murder Ballads (1996), with guest vocals by Australian pop-singer Kylie Minogue. The song was produced by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Tony Cohen and Victor Van Vugt and received a positive reception from music critics.

The song was released as the album's first single in October 1995 and became the band's most successful single worldwide reaching #3 in Norway, the top five in Australia, and the top twenty in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and New Zealand. It also received a limited promotional release in the United States

The song was certified Gold in Germany in 1996 for 250,000 copies sold, despite never reaching the top ten in that country. It charted again at the bottom of the German Top 100 in 2008 because of digital downloads. "Where the Wild Roses Grow" was also certified Gold in Australia for selling 50,000 copies.

Cave was inspired to write "Where the Wild Roses Grow" after listening to the traditional song, "Down in the Willow Garden", a tale of a man courting a woman and killing her while they are out together. Cave arranged this tale as second of two B-sides, "The Ballad of Robert Moore & Betty Coltrane" / "The Willow Garden", released on the CD-Maxi single version.

Although the song does not feature on a Minogue studio album, it can be found on her compilations Hits+, Greatest Hits 1987-1999 and Ultimate Kylie. Minogue performed a chorus of the song during her Showgirl and Homecoming tours.

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The Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm

The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan (vocals, guitar) and James Iha (guitar, backing vocals), the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin (drums, percussion), D'arcy Wretzky (bass guitar, backing vocals), Melissa Auf der Maur (bass guitar), and currently includes Jeff Schroeder (guitar), Mike Byrne (drums, backing vocals), and Nicole Fiorentino (bass guitar, backing vocals) amongst its membership.

Disavowing the punk rock roots of many of their alt-rock contemporaries, the Pumpkins have a diverse, densely layered and guitar-heavy sound, containing elements of gothic rock, heavy metal, dream pop, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, shoegazer-style production and, in later recordings, electronica.

Frontman Billy Corgan is the group's primary songwriter—his grand musical ambitions and cathartic lyrics have shaped the band's albums and songs, which have been described as "anguished, bruised reports from Billy Corgan's nightmare-land".

The Smashing Pumpkins broke into the musical mainstream with their second album, Siamese Dream (1993). The group built its audience with extensive touring and their follow-up, the double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995), debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart. With 18.75 million albums sold in the United States alone,The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands of the 1990s. However, internal fighting, drug use, and diminishing record sales led to a 2000 break-up.

In 2006, Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin reconvened to record a new Smashing Pumpkins album, Zeitgeist. The band toured with a lineup of between five and nine musicians through much of 2007 and 2008. Chamberlin left the band in 2009 and was replaced by Mike Byrne. Corgan, Byrne, returning guitarist Jeff Schroeder, and newest addition Nicole Fiorentino are currently recording the 44-song Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, which has been released, one song at a time, since 2009.

"Disarm" is the third single and their sixth track from their second album, Siamese Dream. "Disarm" was written by Billy Corgan and is one of the band’s most highly regarded songs. Corgan considers it the most personally important song on Siamese Dream.

The BBC banned the song from appearing on Top of the Pops, because of the lyric "cut that little child", and it received little radio airplay in the United Kingdom. That lyric along with lyrics like "what I choose is my choice" and "the killer in me is the killer in you" has also led to some controversy, as some read it as implying that abortion is murder.

Corgan, however, has clearly asserted that the song is about the shaky relationship he had with his parents while growing up. However, even with the ban and the limited radio time, it still peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart. In the U.S., the song failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number five on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number eight on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.

The music video, directed by Jake Scott, is black and white and shows the members of the band floating over images of a house, an old man walking through an underpass while home movie-esque, color footage shows a young boy (Sean Adams) playing outside. Billy Corgan has said that he didn't want the old man in the video, but Scott insisted.

The video premiered on MTV in late 1993 and was immediately placed into heavy rotation. In 1994, it was nominated for Best Alternative Video and Best Editing at the MTV Video Music Awards, the Pumpkins' first MTV Awards nominations.

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The Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm by EMI_Music

The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored

The Stone Roses were an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's most successful lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire, bassist Gary "Mani" Mounfield, and drummer Alan "Reni" Wren.

The band released their début album, The Stone Roses, in 1989. The album was a breakthrough success for the band. At this time the Stone Roses decided to capitalise on their success by signing to a major label; their current record label Silvertone would not let them out of their contract, which led to a long legal battle that culminated with the band signing with Geffen Records in 1991, and then releasing their second album Second Coming in 1994.

The group soon disbanded after several lineup changes throughout the supporting tour, which began with Reni first departing, followed by Squire.

"I Wanna Be Adored" was released as the third single from the band's debut album The Stone Roses in the UK, US, Germany, Japan and Canada. The US edition was released at the same time as "Fools Gold" in 1989 and charted at number 18 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart in 1990.

"I Wanna Be Adored" was the atmospheric opener to The Stone Roses self-titled debut. The song is propelled by Mani's recognisable bass line, John Squire's droning guitars and Ian Brown's hushed ominous vocals, repeating only a few lines of lyrics throughout the entire song.

In 2006, the music magazine Q voted it 32nd in its list of 100 greatest songs of all time. In May 2007, NME magazine placed "I Wanna Be Adored" at number 17 in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever.

Oasis reference The Stone Roses by quoting the song in "Magic Pie": "They are sleeping while they dream/And they just wanna be adored."

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The Connells - '74-'75

The Connells are an American band from Raleigh, North Carolina. They play a guitar-oriented, melodic, power pop style of rock music with introspective lyrics that reflect the American South. The band continues to play to this day. Quite popular in Europe, the band has produced several hit songs over the years.

Guitarist Mike Connell formed the band in 1984 along with his brother David Connell on bass, Doug MacMillan on vocals, and future filmmaker John Schultz on drums. This initial four-person line-up was quickly supplemented by the addition of George Huntley on second guitar, keyboards, and vocals. Around the same time, former Johnny Quest drummer Peele Wimberley replaced Schultz, finalizing the "classic" line-up of the band.

From the beginning of the group, Mike Connell wrote both the music and the lyrics of the majority of the band’s songs, although he was not the band's primary lead singer. Connell’s influences included the 1960s guitar pop of his childhood, including The Byrds and The Beatles.

"'74–'75" is a 1993 single from the album Ring by the American band The Connells. The song became a big hit in Europe, particularly in Sweden and Norway where it topped the singles charts in 1995.

The accompanying music video was directed by Mark Pellington. It was shot at Needham B. Broughton High School in the band's hometown Raleigh, North Carolina in 1993, and featured members of the Class of 1975, juxtaposing yearbook pictures with footage of the same people as they appeared in 1993.

While not becoming a big hit in the band's native United States, the song became a Top 20 hit throughout Europe in early 1995, eventually spreading to the UK, where it became their first hit, peaking at number 14 in August. A re-release of the single there in March 1996 only managed number 21.

The Cranberries - Ode to My Family

The Cranberries are an Irish rock band formed in Limerick in 1989 under the name The Cranberry Saw Us, later changed by vocalist Dolores O'Riordan.

The band currently consists of O'Riordan, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler. Although widely associated with alternative rock, the band's sound also incorporates indie pop, post-punk, Irish folk and pop rock elements.

The Cranberries rose to international fame in the 1990s with their debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?, which became a commercial success and sold over five million copies in the United States. The group was one of the most successful rock acts of the '90s and sold over 14.5 million albums in the United States alone.

The band has achieved four top 20 albums on the Billboard 200 chart (Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?; No Need to Argue; To the Faithful Departed and Bury the Hatchet) and eight top 20 singles on the Modern Rock Tracks chart ("Linger", "Dreams", "Zombie", "Ode to My Family", "Ridiculous Thoughts", "Salvation", "Free To Decide" and "Promises").

In 2009 The Cranberries reunited and began a North American tour, followed by dates in Latin America and Europe in early 2010.They performed at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Irish Special Olympics games at Thomond Park on 9 June 2010, their first performance in their native city for over 15 years.

"Ode to My Family" is a 1994 song recorded by the Irish band The Cranberries. It was the second single from their second studio album No Need to Argue. It was released in 1994.

The song was a hit in most of the European countries where it was released, peaking at number four in France, its highest position in the various international charts. This ballad was nevertheless less successful than the previous Cranberries' single, "Zombie".

The song is about Dolores's yearning for her simple life as a child after having achieved success, and includes a string arrangement composed by O'Riordan.

The Cardigans - Erase/Rewind

The Cardigans are a Swedish band formed in the town of Jönköping in October 1992.[1]
Their debut album Emmerdale (1994) gave them a solid base in their home country and enjoyed some success abroad, especially in Japan.

It was not until their second album Life (1995) that an international reputation was secured. The band are best known outside of Sweden for their hit singles "Erase/Rewind" and "My Favourite Game" from the album Gran Turismo (1998) and "Lovefool" from the album First Band on the Moon (1996). Its inclusion in the soundtrack of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet by director Baz Luhrmann secured their popularity.

"Erase/Rewind" is written by Peter Svensson and Nina Persson for The Cardigans' 1998 album Gran Turismo. The song is the album's second track, and was released as its second single. It was also featured in The Thirteenth Floor during the ending credits. The music video, which features science-fiction references to Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey, was directed by Swedish director Adam Berg.

The song deals with a person who has changed its opinion about something what was being said to somebody else. The reason for this withdrawal from something which was "fine before" is that the person didn't want to grow, yet found out that a wrong direction was chosen. Therefore, the person has erased from what was being said and rewinded back to its initial point. The song also has a melody which is similar to "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin in the verses.

Björk -Gloomy Monday & Big Time Sensuality

Björk Guðmundsdóttir (born 21 November 1965), known as Björk, is an Icelandic Polar Music Prize-winning singer-songwriter, occasional actress, music composer and music producer, whose influential solo work includes seven solo albums and two original film soundtracks.

Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk. Her voice has been acclaimed for its distinctive qualities.

Björk's 1990s singles "It's Oh So Quiet", "Army of Me" and "Hyperballad" charted in the UK Top 10. Her record label, One Little Indian, reported that by 2003 she had sold more than 15 million albums worldwide. She has acquired a high level of critical acclaim. She has won four BRIT Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, one MOJO Award, three UK Music Video Awards and in particular, she received, in 2010, the Polar Music Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, in recognition for her "deeply personal music and lyrics, her precise arrangements and her unique voice".

Additionally, Björk has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, one Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. For her performance in Dancer in the Dark, Björk won the Best Actress Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.She was ranked #36 on VH1's "The 100 Greatest Women in Rock and Roll" and #8 on MTV's "22 Greatest Voices in Music".

"Gloomy Sunday" is a song composed by Hungarian pianist and composer Rezső Seress in 1933, lyrics written by László Jávor. The original lyrics depicted a war-stricken Hungary and a silent prayer to God. Jávor's lyrics are a mourning to a lost lover and a pledge to commit suicide to meet said lover again in the afterlife.
Though recorded and performed by many singers, "Gloomy Sunday" is closely associated with Billie Holiday, who scored a hit version of the song in 1941.

Owing to unsubstantiated urban legends about its inspiring hundreds of suicides, "Gloomy Sunday" was dubbed the "Hungarian suicide song" in the United States. Seress did commit suicide in 1968, likely due to depression and trauma caused by his imprisonment and his mother's death in a Nazi concentration camp during the Second World War rather than a song, but most other rumors of the song being banned from radio, or sparking suicides, are unsubstantiated, and were partly propagated as a deliberate marketing campaign. Possibly due to the context of the Second World War, though, Billie Holiday's version was banned by the BBC until the turn of the century.

The song was covered by Björk at an AT&T promotional convention and at fashion designer Alexander McQueen 's funeral.

"Big Time Sensuality" is a song by Björk, released as the fourth single from her 1993 album Debut. The song helped boost Björk’s popularity worldwide, particularly the U.S., where she charted for the first time.

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Tindersticks - Another Night In

Tindersticks are a rock band from Nottingham, England. Their sound is characterised by orchestral backing, lounge jazz, and soul; the orchestrations of multi-instrumentalist Dickon Hinchliffe (who left the band in 2006) and the baritone of lead vocalist Stuart A. Staples are the band's hallmarks. Tindersticks augment their instrumentation with Rhodes piano, glockenspiel, vibraphone, violin, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, bassoon, Hammond organ, and many more.

The band formed in late 1991, Staples, Boulter, Fraser, Macauley and Hinchliffe having previously been members of Asphalt Ribbons. The final band line-up for the Old Horse mini-LP (1991) was: Stuart Staples (vocals) Dave Boulter (organ and accordion) Neil Fraser (guitar) Dickon Hinchliffe (guitar snd strings) Al Macauley (percussion and drums) John Thompson (bass). Mark Colwill was recruited when Thompson left the Asphalt Ribbons, but it is not known if he played any gigs under the Asphalt Ribbons name. They then changed their name to Tindersticks after Staples discovered a box of German matches on a Greek beach.

Tindersticks started recording demo tapes in 1992, and formed their own label Tippy Toe Records to release their first single, "Patchwork", in the same year.
Their self-titled first and second albums established their signature sound and received widespread critical acclaim. Their live performances, often augmented by large string sections and even, on occasion, a full orchestra, were well received. The live album Bloomsbury Theatre 12.3.95 is a recording of one such concert.

By the time of the third album, Curtains, however, it was clear that a change of direction was called for. The lengthy "Ballad of Tindersticks" was a weary swipe at the pressures of being a touring band.

The fourth album, Simple Pleasure, lived up to its title with a series of snappy, direct songs influenced by soul music. The female backing vocals on several tracks, and the respectful cover of Odyssey's "If You're Looking for a Way Out", signalled the band's wish to move towards lighter, more soulful material. However, the inner sleeve's documentation of the number of takes each track went through was evidence that the band continued to adopt a painstaking approach to recording.

The fifth album, Can Our Love, continued the band's soulful direction, in particular evidence on the tender "Sweet Release" and in the nod to The Chi-Lites in the title of "Chilitetime".

The sixth album, Waiting for the Moon, was more stripped down and introspective in nature, particularly on the harrowing "4.48 Psychosis" (based on the play of the same name by the British playwright Sarah Kane) and "Sometimes It Hurts". Only the bouncy "Just a Dog" lightened the otherwise melancholy mood of the album.

In 2005 Staples embarked on a solo career and there was resultant speculation that the band had split. Staples has so far produced two solo albums, Lucky Dog Recordings 03-04 and Leaving Songs. The title of the second album, and Staples' notes on it, indicated that change was in the air: "These are songs written on the verge of leaving the things I loved and stepping into a new unknown life, both musically and personally. I was always aware that these songs were the end of something, a kind of closing a circle of a way of writing that I started so long ago and I knew I had to move on from."

In September 2006, the band played a one-off concert at London's Barbican Centre, performing their second album in full with a nine-member string section and two brass players, including former collaborator Terry Edwards on trumpet.
Staples later acknowledged that this show, while being a happy triumph, was also "tinged with sadness of the knowledge that the six of us had made all the new music we were going to make together." However, it also rekindled his determination to make a new album.

In 2007, a stripped-down line-up of three of the original band, Staples, Boulter and Fraser, spent time writing and recording in a newly-equipped studio in Limousin, France. They were joined by Thomas Belhom on drums and Dan McKinna on bass, with Ian Caple engineering. The resulting album, The Hungry Saw, was released on Beggars Banquet in April 2008. Tindersticks played a number of other European dates during the summer festival season and also announced a winter 2008 European tour.

In 2010, the eighth album Falling Down a Mountain was released on 4AD / Constellation Records with a changed band line-up, with Earl Harvin replacing Belhom on drums and David Kitt, a solo artist in his own right, joining the band on guitar and vocals.

Another Night In is a song from the album "Curtains" released in 1997.

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