Whatever your age, the 1990s are now a truly nostalgic era. From fashion trends, to films and music - there’s something for everyone to resonate with from this period.
It was a decade that featured the emergence of grunge music, Britpop, and New Labour. A number of bands including Oasis, Blur, Pulp and Radiohead hit the top of the UK charts during the 90s era, which was the last decade when guitar music was dominant in the charts.
The 1990s also saw advances in technology, with the World Wide Web and games consoles such as the first Play Station.
In Birmingham, the city centre roads were taken over by a Superprix to rival the likes of Monaco, we hosted the Eurovision Song Contest and a G8 Summit - with the likes of US President Bill Clinton, President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Tony Blair walking through the streets and Broad Street was transformed with Brindleyplace and the magnificent Symphony Hall and International Convention Centre.
Venues like The Jug Of Ale and The Flapper and Firkin also welcomed an explosion of guitar-based bands, while clubland welcomed a revolution in dance music, and crowds packed out The Que Club.
Here is a look back at some of the best bands to come out of the city during the era.
9. Birdland
As the ’80s stumbled into the ’90s, Birdland were briefly very much a big deal. With their distinctive peroxide blond mop tops, the quartet clocked up a run of independent chart hits, beginning with 1989’s giddy Hollow Heart (on Lazy, also home to Coventry’s The Primitives) | 1
10. The Sandkings
Hailing from the Black Country, The Sandkings looked set to follow the likes of The Wonder Stuff, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin and PWEI, and opened for such acts as The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and Jesus Jones. After a good run of indie singles they signed to London Records. They also reunited in 2022 for a show | YouTube
11. Delicious Monster
Opening for such acts as The Boo Radleys, The Cranberries, Suede and the West Mids’ own Dodgy, Delicious Monster released a solid run of EPs and a fine album, Joie De Vivre, in 1993. DJs John Peel and Mark Radcliffe were fans, and NME hailed Rachel as the ‘Goddess of indie rock.’ However, chart success eluded them, and the band called it a day in ’95 | YouTube
12. Denim
Denim were a Birmingham indie rock band. Denim debuted in 1992 with the album Back in Denim, a record which was both a revival and critique in its satirical lyrics of the 1970s music scene | Tomasz Zajda - stock.adobe.com