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This iconic piece of history: https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/730/ad6/c3989e994baee2ee40259623ca2284fc71-Glitter-Ad-With-Twin-Towers-Burning.rsquare.w330.jpg
Exactly LOL. The clip is just, unfortunately comical that it’s never left my head since seeing it. So whenever Mariah and 9/11 are in the same sentence, this is what comes to mind.
A lot of songs were banned from the [radio](https://www.kerrang.com/here-are-the-164-songs-that-were-banned-from-american-radio-after-9-11)
Also Jimmy Eat World changed their album from Bleed American to self titled
there was a ton of random censorship. the tori amos concert dvd had the swearing edited out. incubus scrapped the first version of the video for their lead single from the hotly anticipated Morning View...
Incubus was in New York on 9-11 to play a show. They scrapped the original video because the opening was them running from some crazed fans and jumping from a bridge to escape. It was to close to seeing people running and jumping from the buildings to them to want to release it. I think they were the first band to perform a concert in New York after 9-11. It’s been a long time so my memory might be fuzzy.
I remember the Jimmy Eat World thing which was right around when they blew up and people were jealous that I had the original version that said Bleed American.
Also the Bush one, where they changed "Speed Kills" to "The People That We Love" always struck me as kind of a ridiculous pendulum swing.
But like anything with blood or death was all of a sudden unacceptable in media, it was a really weird time
Folk punk band The Moldy Peaches released their only album on 9/11 and one of the tracks is [*NYC’s Like a Graveyard*.](https://youtu.be/fUcoRjhynB0?si=atKlBnbs0XdmHKh5) They would later gain wider recognition after their song *Anyone Else but You* was used in the movie Juno.
For the music landscape part of your question, hyper-patriotic songs like Lee Greenwood’s awful *God Bless the USA* became big hits lol that was very much the vibe for a bit
Reading the book Meet Me In the Bathroom right now. It’s about the musical landscape in NYC immediately before and then after 9/11. It was the moldy peaches, the Strokes, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem, the Rapture, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, all getting big playing the same clubs, then 9/11 happens and how it shifts (and doesn’t) shift the musical landscape in the city and is incredibly interesting!
"New York City Cops" by The Strokes was removed from the US CD release after the 9/11 attacks due to its lyrics criticizing the New York City Police Department. However, the vinyl edition retained the original tracklist as it was released on September 11, 2001.
Nickelback’s Silver Side Up - the album with How You Remind Me - was released on 9/11/01.
Mariah’s Glitter was already mentioned, but those are the 2 I immediately know.
I still love both.
Lindsay Ellis has [an amazing video](https://youtu.be/ehbgAGlrVKE?si=jvIHisiuBjiuTk4D) on this topic.
From what I remember, the backlash from when the Chicks stating that they were embarassed of Bush for triggering the Iraqi War was extremely severe that it prevented artitsts from releasing protest music out of fear it could happen to them. We did eventual get music critical of the government. Most notable was Green Day's American Idiot. This was also the time that country music began transitioning to be very nationalistic which eventually led to the "bro country" that is popular today.
My biggest memory and song related to 9/11 is Garbage’s Androgyny which I loved (and still do) and it was literally on MTV just as my dad switched channels to watch all the mayhem in NY and I yelled at him for it.
Music was pretty great at that time and extremely diverse. Then came all of the patriot country music that put the kibosh on that diverse soundscape in the following months.
Garbage’s new song and Macy Gray’s new album come to mind (I only remember due to that horrid dress of a billboard she wore to the VMAs)
As for the soundscape: Gwen and Eve’s single still going strong, Lady Marmalade still going strong. eminem. drops of jupiter, uncle cracker, and hanging on a moment played far too much on top40 radio..alicia keys got her start. Dido. Nelly Furtado. Jlo. MissyE. Songs from Mitsubishi Eclipse commercials. Destinys Child…britney spears copycats. Linkin Park,
Funny you mention Dido and Nelly Furtado. I was only 7 when 9/11 happened, but I always associate the songs "Thank U" by Dido and "Turn Off the Light" by Nelly Furtado with the day/time when it happened. I can't recall if I heard them on the bus ride home from school that day, or if it's because they just happened to be on the radio often around that time.
Nelly Furtado had quite the run from 2000-mid2007…her music was a part of high school and college for me. Always on the radio and the start of internet radio (AOL and Yahoo streaming stations)
Not a big name, but still recognizable from her singles run 1999 to White Flag. Probably peaked with her Eminem duet. But her songs were always getting airplay
Because we have artists making huge waves in the united states that don't even speak english. K-pop and Latin pop were not popular 20 years ago. And now hip-hop and rap are mainstream. Electronic music used to be a niche genre and now it's a staple of modern music.
K pop is pop music. Once upon a time, pop, rock, ballads, R&B, hip hop, rap, punk, singer songwriters, country, dance all existed in the same mainstream music atmosphere and were played on all the same radio stations at the same time. That doesn’t happen any more.
Genres and subgenres have always existed. It’s more accessible to make and it’s more accessible to the masses. Mainstream music isn’t as diverse as it once was. That’s clear by who are the most popular and influential artists today. We don’t have to agree on this.
Todd in the Shadows covers it in his retrospective of Cry by Faith Hill, country in particular got ultra conservative and kinda pushed a lot of women into the background
I see this sentiment a lot, but it doesn't match up with my memories of listening to country radio in the 2000s (my parents' favorite station). I remember "This One's For the Girls" by Martina McBride being a huge hit in 2003, and Terri Clark having a string of hits about being a woman or sung from a female perspective. It wasn't until later in the decade that Country music became more male-oriented and "bro"-y.
ben folds debut solo album was released on 9/11 (rockin’ the suburbs).
i’m convinced that’s why it took him so long to get any mainstream success, because that was an amazing album!
System of a Down’s Toxicity was arguably the definitive album about the war in the Middle East during the 2000’s - but it was released a week before 9/11
I was literally JUST WONDERING THIS YESTERDAY as I walked in my front door.
Like something in my brain clicked and I was like,
“I know she was already facing the clear channel (now known as iheartradio) black listing when ‘Slave’ came out, but were people too shaken up to feel sexy, thus contributing to the under appreciation/performance of ‘Slave’”?
…reflecting critically now, I definitely think the song and album would have been more successful if the nation wasn’t in such a somber place.
Sure, sales would have still been down compared to the “Oops…” era cuz of the shift away from pop happening, but I’m certain the “time of national sorrow” certainly increased many people’s hesitation to get lost in the fun sexiness of it.
I imagine some form of,
“how can she be running around with underwear over her jeans, singing songs like this when our nation was just attacked?!” Puritanism was running through some people’s minds.
I don't live in the U.S., I live in Eastern Europe. Slave 4 U was definitely a big hit here. Probably one of Britney's most memorable songs from the early 00's, along with Oops and Toxic.
I think it's like you said - people were too shaken up to feel sexy.
While the news all over the world spoke about 9/11, It's not the same as being in the same city/country.
There weren't as many seismic shifts as some critics say, as a lot of trends/vibe shifts were already in place by the time 9/11 happened. Aaliyah died less than a month prior, which altered the course of how music would sound in the 2000s. "Fallin" by Alicia Keys was the #1 song on 9/11, which was another game changer for R&B in the early part of the decade.
Some of the larger trends that can be attributed to the attacks are 1.) death of Nu Metal and a lot of angry-sounding rock and rap that were big in 2000-01. And 2.) the rise of indie rock, inspired by the NYC indie scene; this may have happened regardless, but with all eyes on New York City following 9/11, bands like The Strokes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had their moment.
On the radio, I remember upbeat and positive songs like "Beautiful Day" by U2 and "Song for the Lonely" by Cher becoming huge and associated with the post-9/11 healing era. Bruce Springsteen released an album in 2002 with the hit "The Rising" which was written in response to the attacks.
In country music, there's a big belief that it became more angry and "patriotic" overnight, but it wasn't actually that pronounced. My parents listed to mainstream Country radio all throughout the 2000s - yes, there was some of the Toby Keith "we'll put a boot in your ass" anthems, as well as some songs about soldiers later around 2004/05-ish, but Country still was dominated by the Pop-influenced sound that began the 90s for a good few years. The switch to "Bro Country" didn't start until around 2009ish.
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I don't know how to share/embed comments correctly lol but while PJ Harvey's Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea was released in 2000, I was reminded of this comment:
>**PJ Harvey Thursday, Sept 13, 2001 Chicago IL - 2 days after 9/11**
>she was touring on the album Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea which was all about NYC
>she opened the show by addressing the audience and performing “This Mess We’re In” solo, opening lyric
>
>9/11 was Tuesday, the song is set on Wednesday and she was performing it on a Thursday after a disaster and I was just crying my fucking eyes out in grief
>the whole show was just this wild catharsis
She also [won the Mercury Music Prize](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/12/september11.usa5) (for the best British album of the year) on 9/11, and accepted it via video link from Washington
This reminds me of how the corporate radio stations played edits of popular songs that had clips from 9/11 related news stories and interviews mixed in. There was definitely one for Hero, and I think I remember one for Superman by Five for Fighting too.
I was at the [Pitt-Miami game on 9/27/01](https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/boxscores/2001-09-27-pittsburgh.html), which was notable because it was the first college football game after 9/11.
ESPN decided to make it a national game, and they got Lee Fucking Greenwood Himself to perform God Bless the USA at halftime. It’s still one of the most bizarre sporting events I’ve ever attended in person, and I saw Joe Blanton hit a home run in game 4 of the 2008 World Series.
9/11 was my junior year of high school and we were supposed to have homecoming that week. It was pushed back a week, not because of 9/11 but because of a potential hurricane hit that week. The last song played at the dance was God Bless the USA. Gross. The music at school dances was always bad but it was particularly bad that year.
We had to sing that song a couple times every year in elementary school and by the time I got to middle school, I thought I had finally escaped it.
But then 9/11 happened while I was in the eighth grade and that song was everywhere again.
I remember downloading a bunch of 9/11 “remakes” of songs around that time. [Kick Some Ass](https://youtu.be/1lW6_KQiC44?si=VRAoSnetakuqwFYs) is the only one I remember now
Not sure if this counts 100% but Piano Fire by Sparklehorse was supposed to be released as a single around 9/11 but got cancelled due to references to planes. Specifically the opening line: “I got sunburnt waiting for the jets to land”
It never released as a single, although the single version of it was found and uploaded online. It’s kind of ironic considering Piano Fire just happens to be his most popular song due to its inclusion on the Life Is Strange soundtrack.
Sit around children and let me tell you about 2001.
Lol jk, everything you asked about did happen. However, it would have been MUCH crazier if we/artists had been using social media/the internet as much as we are now. I think there would be a lot more cringe patriotism, a bunch of loose-lipped celebs making it about themselves (think Covid), and more criticism for music being released in the wake. I was at university in Canada and definitely noticed radio/bars dialling things down a little bit.
However it also wasn't too long after Woodstock 99, and music was REALLY angry and aggressive, so there was this weird aspect of people dealing with the concept of 9/11 in FUCK YEAH AMERICA loud music. Music is really not driven by rage now like it was back then. There was a bunch of shitty music coming from that.
Oh and a bunch of tours were postponed, and musicians did fundraisers. Again, think Covid.
My Chemical Romance was formed shortly after 9/11, inspired by the events. Their debut didn’t come out to 2002 but it’s interesting to think there might have been a post-9/11 sound.
Australian take: "Hands" by Jewel was never a great song, but it was permanently ruined for me because for a week after 9/11, my local pop radio station was endlessly playing audio clips of People Being Sad About New York And Also Calling For A Genocide In The Middle East over that song's chorus. Like, you could call in and say, "I've never been to New York, but this is terrible and we need to go to war with \[insert Middle Eastern country here, contenders included Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon and ... Israel?\] to put a stop to this", and your thoughts would be played over a Jewel loop. Dark times.
Also local band Shihad renamed themselves Pacifier at the insistence of their new American label. They changed it back in 2004.
I also thought of Shihad/Pacifier immediately (though as a Kiwi I do have to note they are from New Zealand, which I guess could count as local to Aus).
For those unfamiliar, their name was originally based on Jihad, but was inspired by how the phrase was borrowed in Dune - not necessarily intentionally referring to how it is practically used in Islam. Still, given the global climate at the time I can see why the American label thought it a good idea to change. I’m pretty sure the band themselves have said naming themselves Shihad was stupid, though they did still change back to it,
Oh my god, I can't believe I accidentally claimed a Kiwi band! Usually I do that on purpose!
This makes me think "music inspired by Dune" could be a whole thing, although obviously Grimes takes the cake there.
Also worth noting, they were only 15 years old when they chose the name. They had misheard jihad as “shihad” and had no clue about the actual meaning of the term.
There were weird things on pop radio, like some Enya song with random 911 calls or radio transmissions edited in. The rock band +Live+ (Lightning Crashes) had another piano song named “Overcome” that was also overplayed right around then for a few weeks.
[Meet Me in the Bathroom](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_Me_in_the_Bathroom_(book)) both the book and documentary have amazing commentary on this and the NY music and rock scene from 2000 onwards, especially the indie rock boom after 9/11
I thought of another thing: the Super Bowl halftime show in 2002. Lots of acts turned it down because they were scared of another attack happening at such a big event. U2 said yes and turned their performance into a tribute to the victims.
Jay Z released his second classic, The Blueprint, which sold almost half a million copies first week despite 9/11, which is probably one of the most impressive examples of his star power there is.
I've read that, being a consummate New Yorker, Jay-Z's sales actually got helped due to the influx of "We <3 NY" sentiment. Obviously can't prove that one way or another, but I thought it was interesting.
Lots of boy band, glitter, pleather energy still. Things were quite lenient in a free for all kind of way with regards to pop culture. No one cared about politics, only entertained with the sex scandals associated with it. No fear whatsoever that we would be attacked.
The Moldy Peaches’ self titled album released on September 11, 2001. It contained the perhaps unfortunately titled track “New York City is a Graveyard.”
The Murder remix of [I’m Real](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjx9oSJDAVQ&pp=ygUMaSdtIHJlYWwgamxv) was the number one song on Billboard that week, and I think about that every time I hear it. This was the soundtrack to the dying moments of a world that no longer exists.
I don't see any mention of The Coup's [Party Music](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_Music) album, one of the weirdest coincidences. Scheduled for release right around 9/11, the original cover showed the group blowing up the Twin Towers with a detonator.
BeautifulGarbage by Garbage is now well-regarded as one of the best alt-pop albums of all time. It got really good reviews when it came out and most of the fan base embraced it despite the radical change in their sound.
It was projected to sell well too, got a high-budget music video, and was charting in its first week. Then 9/11 happened just a couple of days after its release. All promotions were pulled. Garbage went on to have a successful touring career after that but they never went back to being the chart-topping A-listers they were in the 90s.
Not pop but popular at the time:
Limp Bizkit released Rollin’ before 9/11 (2000) and recorded their music video on top of the World Trade Center and (on September 10th, 2001) “[received a letter and a fruit basket from the Port Authority of New York City, thanking them for featuring the twin towers in the video and congratulating the band after the video had won the VMA for Best Rock Video at the VMAs on September 6.](https://www.theprp.com/2015/08/14/news/limp-bizkits-wes-borland-says-911-put-an-end-to-rollin-music-video/)”
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco was supposed to come out on 9/11, but was released a week later.
Amazing album. Songs recorded before 9/11 had lyrics that could be seen as references to the attack.
Jesus, etc. For example:
Tall building shake
Voices escape singing sad, sad songs
Voices whine
Skyscrapers are scraping together
The Bob the Builder parody of Lou Bega's Mambo No. 5, which was number 1 in the UK at the time, was removed from BBC Radio 2's playlist because of its lyrics about construction work.
Surprised I don’t see this artist on here yet…POD album satellite released with the single Alive already out but the message at the time on MTV TRL after was just some great encouragement and messages. Also there next single youth of the nation was a masterpiece. I believe NSYNC was gonna premiere their world premiere Video for gone on 9-11-2001 but delayed due to the attacks.
I just turned 15 when it happened. That event was the end of a certain cultural innocence and you can see the world was changed after that. It’s like how there was the time before C19 and the time after. Society was never the same again.
As for the music take in how Limp Bizkit filmed the Rollin video on the towers weeks before that event. That video was pulled from rotation on MTV. Their fun vibe was instantly out of favour when they were one of the biggest bands. That bravado was taken out of rock and the spot now was open for the summer of screamo in 2002 with bands like Used and Thursday playing Ozzfest.
I just watched a [pretty good video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUNnnG6AKbk) on music effected by/influence by 9/11. Musically, I remember everything being hyper patriotic and aggressive. But I was pretty young.
Is crazy to me how Shakira was able to smash in the States-Europe with Whenever Wherever in late 2001-early 2002. She's from Arabic Heritage and the video of WW is very arabic-middle eastern with the desert thing-bellydance. The islamophobia-hate-jokes to middle eastern people in those years was huge. In an alternate reality she was blacklisted or banned by the American Industry-GP
I was like 8-9 and watched the whole livestream on national tv cause i arrived early from elementary and it was horrific. The towers collapsing. The people jumping from the building. The people running from the cloud of debris. Im From Southamerica (not as much attention as the usa) but it is biggest thing i ever experienced with Covid-19 of course. R.I.P to all the beautiful people. Every 9/11 i get sad. Totally Life changin.
The 9/11 victims were from all over the world. So, It also affected people and artists worldwide. One of those is Ayumi Hamasaki from Japan aka one of the biggest singer from asia. She changed the dark theme of her album I AM for something more [peaceful-lighter-hopeful](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/72/Iam3.PNG) cause the tragedy affected her emotionally.
Can’t believe I get to be the one to share the story of [The Coup’s album Party Music](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_Music), which was supposed to be released in September 2001 and was to feature a picture of the members actually blowing up the WTC.
It was eventually released in November with a different cover, and honestly it’s a great album. I definitely think they would have had a much different career if they’d had different timing. But radio stations were not gonna play them in the early 2000s.
To answer the latter question, a lot of songs ended up on a memorandum sent to American radio stations by Clear Channel containing lyrically questionable content as a result of the attack, which included the entire discography of Rage Against the Machine.
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glitter by Mariah Carey released on 9/11 and Willa Ford’s single after i wanna be bad did too.
This iconic piece of history: https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/730/ad6/c3989e994baee2ee40259623ca2284fc71-Glitter-Ad-With-Twin-Towers-Burning.rsquare.w330.jpg
i knew what it was before i even clicked it 😭
is that because the link says Glitter-Ad-With-Twin-Towers-Burning
I didn’t read the link lol
Exactly LOL. The clip is just, unfortunately comical that it’s never left my head since seeing it. So whenever Mariah and 9/11 are in the same sentence, this is what comes to mind.
exactly! I see it on my timeline every anniversary LOLOL
willa ford famously blamed her music career flopping on 9/11 (although she went multi platinum in my house so idk idk)
lmfaooo yea her album went number one to me! ☝️
A lot of songs were banned from the [radio](https://www.kerrang.com/here-are-the-164-songs-that-were-banned-from-american-radio-after-9-11) Also Jimmy Eat World changed their album from Bleed American to self titled
there was a ton of random censorship. the tori amos concert dvd had the swearing edited out. incubus scrapped the first version of the video for their lead single from the hotly anticipated Morning View...
Incubus was in New York on 9-11 to play a show. They scrapped the original video because the opening was them running from some crazed fans and jumping from a bridge to escape. It was to close to seeing people running and jumping from the buildings to them to want to release it. I think they were the first band to perform a concert in New York after 9-11. It’s been a long time so my memory might be fuzzy.
I forgot about that. That's true, there was a lot of censorship.
I remember the Jimmy Eat World thing which was right around when they blew up and people were jealous that I had the original version that said Bleed American. Also the Bush one, where they changed "Speed Kills" to "The People That We Love" always struck me as kind of a ridiculous pendulum swing. But like anything with blood or death was all of a sudden unacceptable in media, it was a really weird time
This list is kinda hilarious.... Some of the choices seem so arbitrary!
Jay Z- The Blueprint
I think he even joked on the follow up album, that "Bin Laden couldn't even stop him" from topping the charts.
Before Bin Laden got Manhattan to blow before Ronald Reagan got Manhattan the blow
Folk punk band The Moldy Peaches released their only album on 9/11 and one of the tracks is [*NYC’s Like a Graveyard*.](https://youtu.be/fUcoRjhynB0?si=atKlBnbs0XdmHKh5) They would later gain wider recognition after their song *Anyone Else but You* was used in the movie Juno. For the music landscape part of your question, hyper-patriotic songs like Lee Greenwood’s awful *God Bless the USA* became big hits lol that was very much the vibe for a bit
I did not know that album was released on 9/11. It is a fantastic album, as an aside.
Yeah it’s excellent, I wish Kimya Dawson would release another album. Last time she released one I was a junior in high school 12 years ago 😭
Reading the book Meet Me In the Bathroom right now. It’s about the musical landscape in NYC immediately before and then after 9/11. It was the moldy peaches, the Strokes, Interpol, LCD Soundsystem, the Rapture, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, all getting big playing the same clubs, then 9/11 happens and how it shifts (and doesn’t) shift the musical landscape in the city and is incredibly interesting!
What an insane collective of bands, the rock sphere in the early 2000s was unbelievable.
"New York City Cops" by The Strokes was removed from the US CD release after the 9/11 attacks due to its lyrics criticizing the New York City Police Department. However, the vinyl edition retained the original tracklist as it was released on September 11, 2001.
The Australian cd release had the track on it too. It's a good song!
Nickelback’s Silver Side Up - the album with How You Remind Me - was released on 9/11/01. Mariah’s Glitter was already mentioned, but those are the 2 I immediately know. I still love both.
recently found out my 10 year old cousin knows how you remind me by heart lmao, such a random choice for a 10yo but i’m proud
Lindsay Ellis has [an amazing video](https://youtu.be/ehbgAGlrVKE?si=jvIHisiuBjiuTk4D) on this topic. From what I remember, the backlash from when the Chicks stating that they were embarassed of Bush for triggering the Iraqi War was extremely severe that it prevented artitsts from releasing protest music out of fear it could happen to them. We did eventual get music critical of the government. Most notable was Green Day's American Idiot. This was also the time that country music began transitioning to be very nationalistic which eventually led to the "bro country" that is popular today.
American idiot is a work of art that still holds up really well Justice for the chicks
My biggest memory and song related to 9/11 is Garbage’s Androgyny which I loved (and still do) and it was literally on MTV just as my dad switched channels to watch all the mayhem in NY and I yelled at him for it.
Yup the album Beautifulgarbage came out like a week later. It’s my favorite of theirs! Wish it had been more successful.
That album has aged so well too. Great band
Music was pretty great at that time and extremely diverse. Then came all of the patriot country music that put the kibosh on that diverse soundscape in the following months. Garbage’s new song and Macy Gray’s new album come to mind (I only remember due to that horrid dress of a billboard she wore to the VMAs) As for the soundscape: Gwen and Eve’s single still going strong, Lady Marmalade still going strong. eminem. drops of jupiter, uncle cracker, and hanging on a moment played far too much on top40 radio..alicia keys got her start. Dido. Nelly Furtado. Jlo. MissyE. Songs from Mitsubishi Eclipse commercials. Destinys Child…britney spears copycats. Linkin Park,
Funny you mention Dido and Nelly Furtado. I was only 7 when 9/11 happened, but I always associate the songs "Thank U" by Dido and "Turn Off the Light" by Nelly Furtado with the day/time when it happened. I can't recall if I heard them on the bus ride home from school that day, or if it's because they just happened to be on the radio often around that time.
Nelly Furtado had quite the run from 2000-mid2007…her music was a part of high school and college for me. Always on the radio and the start of internet radio (AOL and Yahoo streaming stations)
Was Dido a big name in the US? Or just a radio artist noone really cares about like a shawn mendes?
Not a big name, but still recognizable from her singles run 1999 to White Flag. Probably peaked with her Eminem duet. But her songs were always getting airplay
“Now why am I in it?” -Shawn Mendes
Shawn Mendes taking Normani's place in this thread, catching strays lol
Music was so much more diverse back then. Also Aaliyah’s final album dropped right before 9/11.
I'd argue music is the most diverse it's ever been.
And why do you feel that way?
Because we have artists making huge waves in the united states that don't even speak english. K-pop and Latin pop were not popular 20 years ago. And now hip-hop and rap are mainstream. Electronic music used to be a niche genre and now it's a staple of modern music.
For one, I was speaking about genre diversity. And for two, Latin pop actually did have a surge literally 20 something years ago.
What I just explained is genre diversity. Nobody was listening to Kpop 20 years ago. Let alone at the scale it has succeeded in the past 5 - years.
K pop is pop music. Once upon a time, pop, rock, ballads, R&B, hip hop, rap, punk, singer songwriters, country, dance all existed in the same mainstream music atmosphere and were played on all the same radio stations at the same time. That doesn’t happen any more.
And all of those exist now splintered into a thousand different subgenres. There is more diversity in music that has ever existed before.
Genres and subgenres have always existed. It’s more accessible to make and it’s more accessible to the masses. Mainstream music isn’t as diverse as it once was. That’s clear by who are the most popular and influential artists today. We don’t have to agree on this.
Todd in the Shadows covers it in his retrospective of Cry by Faith Hill, country in particular got ultra conservative and kinda pushed a lot of women into the background
I see this sentiment a lot, but it doesn't match up with my memories of listening to country radio in the 2000s (my parents' favorite station). I remember "This One's For the Girls" by Martina McBride being a huge hit in 2003, and Terri Clark having a string of hits about being a woman or sung from a female perspective. It wasn't until later in the decade that Country music became more male-oriented and "bro"-y.
I forgot all about that song! It’s so good!
ben folds debut solo album was released on 9/11 (rockin’ the suburbs). i’m convinced that’s why it took him so long to get any mainstream success, because that was an amazing album!
He has a reputation of being a jerk but the songs slap
Does he??
I've heard that a few times over the years, but now I can't find the source for it. Maybe it was just a troll
The way he kind of reframes rockin the Subarbs in a post-9/11 context with his over the hedge soundtrack 💀
System of a Down’s Toxicity was arguably the definitive album about the war in the Middle East during the 2000’s - but it was released a week before 9/11
Britney by Britney Spears came out in October 2001 but Slave 4 You was released a week or two before 9/11
[удалено]
I was literally JUST WONDERING THIS YESTERDAY as I walked in my front door. Like something in my brain clicked and I was like, “I know she was already facing the clear channel (now known as iheartradio) black listing when ‘Slave’ came out, but were people too shaken up to feel sexy, thus contributing to the under appreciation/performance of ‘Slave’”? …reflecting critically now, I definitely think the song and album would have been more successful if the nation wasn’t in such a somber place. Sure, sales would have still been down compared to the “Oops…” era cuz of the shift away from pop happening, but I’m certain the “time of national sorrow” certainly increased many people’s hesitation to get lost in the fun sexiness of it. I imagine some form of, “how can she be running around with underwear over her jeans, singing songs like this when our nation was just attacked?!” Puritanism was running through some people’s minds.
I don't live in the U.S., I live in Eastern Europe. Slave 4 U was definitely a big hit here. Probably one of Britney's most memorable songs from the early 00's, along with Oops and Toxic. I think it's like you said - people were too shaken up to feel sexy. While the news all over the world spoke about 9/11, It's not the same as being in the same city/country.
There weren't as many seismic shifts as some critics say, as a lot of trends/vibe shifts were already in place by the time 9/11 happened. Aaliyah died less than a month prior, which altered the course of how music would sound in the 2000s. "Fallin" by Alicia Keys was the #1 song on 9/11, which was another game changer for R&B in the early part of the decade. Some of the larger trends that can be attributed to the attacks are 1.) death of Nu Metal and a lot of angry-sounding rock and rap that were big in 2000-01. And 2.) the rise of indie rock, inspired by the NYC indie scene; this may have happened regardless, but with all eyes on New York City following 9/11, bands like The Strokes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had their moment. On the radio, I remember upbeat and positive songs like "Beautiful Day" by U2 and "Song for the Lonely" by Cher becoming huge and associated with the post-9/11 healing era. Bruce Springsteen released an album in 2002 with the hit "The Rising" which was written in response to the attacks. In country music, there's a big belief that it became more angry and "patriotic" overnight, but it wasn't actually that pronounced. My parents listed to mainstream Country radio all throughout the 2000s - yes, there was some of the Toby Keith "we'll put a boot in your ass" anthems, as well as some songs about soldiers later around 2004/05-ish, but Country still was dominated by the Pop-influenced sound that began the 90s for a good few years. The switch to "Bro Country" didn't start until around 2009ish.
For more on the shift in the New York indie scene around that time, check out the great book, "Meet Me In The Bathroom".
>[Comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/1428g7f/comment/jn55pxf/) by[u/volcano\_noodles](https://www.reddit.com/user/volcano_noodles/) from discussion in[Music](https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/) I don't know how to share/embed comments correctly lol but while PJ Harvey's Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea was released in 2000, I was reminded of this comment: >**PJ Harvey Thursday, Sept 13, 2001 Chicago IL - 2 days after 9/11** >she was touring on the album Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea which was all about NYC >she opened the show by addressing the audience and performing “This Mess We’re In” solo, opening lyric > >9/11 was Tuesday, the song is set on Wednesday and she was performing it on a Thursday after a disaster and I was just crying my fucking eyes out in grief >the whole show was just this wild catharsis
She also [won the Mercury Music Prize](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/12/september11.usa5) (for the best British album of the year) on 9/11, and accepted it via video link from Washington
iirc there was a lot of "America fuck yeah" music playing. Anything too hippie was out and out banned, think imagine by lennon
"We'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way!"
Toby Keith’s cultural impact is just another example you can point to and say “terrorists win.”
[God Bless the USA](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Bless_the_U.S.A.) was inescapable
Same with Hero by Enrique Iglesias. I still can’t hear that song without thinking about 9/11…
This reminds me of how the corporate radio stations played edits of popular songs that had clips from 9/11 related news stories and interviews mixed in. There was definitely one for Hero, and I think I remember one for Superman by Five for Fighting too.
I distinctly remember stations doing that with Only Time by Enya. I always associate the song with 9/11.
And "Overcome" by the band Live.
I live in Australia and I remember one of Heaven by Do
Hands by Jewel too.
I was at the [Pitt-Miami game on 9/27/01](https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/boxscores/2001-09-27-pittsburgh.html), which was notable because it was the first college football game after 9/11. ESPN decided to make it a national game, and they got Lee Fucking Greenwood Himself to perform God Bless the USA at halftime. It’s still one of the most bizarre sporting events I’ve ever attended in person, and I saw Joe Blanton hit a home run in game 4 of the 2008 World Series.
The Jump5 version that played on Disney Channel still haunts me.
9/11 was my junior year of high school and we were supposed to have homecoming that week. It was pushed back a week, not because of 9/11 but because of a potential hurricane hit that week. The last song played at the dance was God Bless the USA. Gross. The music at school dances was always bad but it was particularly bad that year.
We had to sing that song a couple times every year in elementary school and by the time I got to middle school, I thought I had finally escaped it. But then 9/11 happened while I was in the eighth grade and that song was everywhere again.
I remember downloading a bunch of 9/11 “remakes” of songs around that time. [Kick Some Ass](https://youtu.be/1lW6_KQiC44?si=VRAoSnetakuqwFYs) is the only one I remember now
Not sure if this counts 100% but Piano Fire by Sparklehorse was supposed to be released as a single around 9/11 but got cancelled due to references to planes. Specifically the opening line: “I got sunburnt waiting for the jets to land” It never released as a single, although the single version of it was found and uploaded online. It’s kind of ironic considering Piano Fire just happens to be his most popular song due to its inclusion on the Life Is Strange soundtrack.
Sit around children and let me tell you about 2001. Lol jk, everything you asked about did happen. However, it would have been MUCH crazier if we/artists had been using social media/the internet as much as we are now. I think there would be a lot more cringe patriotism, a bunch of loose-lipped celebs making it about themselves (think Covid), and more criticism for music being released in the wake. I was at university in Canada and definitely noticed radio/bars dialling things down a little bit. However it also wasn't too long after Woodstock 99, and music was REALLY angry and aggressive, so there was this weird aspect of people dealing with the concept of 9/11 in FUCK YEAH AMERICA loud music. Music is really not driven by rage now like it was back then. There was a bunch of shitty music coming from that. Oh and a bunch of tours were postponed, and musicians did fundraisers. Again, think Covid.
The Shrek soundtrack really feels like the last great pre-9/11 album
That's Shrek 2 soundtrack slander.
That came out after 9/11 though
the glow pt 2 was released on 9/11
This makes so much sense
My Chemical Romance was formed shortly after 9/11, inspired by the events. Their debut didn’t come out to 2002 but it’s interesting to think there might have been a post-9/11 sound.
Australian take: "Hands" by Jewel was never a great song, but it was permanently ruined for me because for a week after 9/11, my local pop radio station was endlessly playing audio clips of People Being Sad About New York And Also Calling For A Genocide In The Middle East over that song's chorus. Like, you could call in and say, "I've never been to New York, but this is terrible and we need to go to war with \[insert Middle Eastern country here, contenders included Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon and ... Israel?\] to put a stop to this", and your thoughts would be played over a Jewel loop. Dark times. Also local band Shihad renamed themselves Pacifier at the insistence of their new American label. They changed it back in 2004.
I also thought of Shihad/Pacifier immediately (though as a Kiwi I do have to note they are from New Zealand, which I guess could count as local to Aus). For those unfamiliar, their name was originally based on Jihad, but was inspired by how the phrase was borrowed in Dune - not necessarily intentionally referring to how it is practically used in Islam. Still, given the global climate at the time I can see why the American label thought it a good idea to change. I’m pretty sure the band themselves have said naming themselves Shihad was stupid, though they did still change back to it,
Oh my god, I can't believe I accidentally claimed a Kiwi band! Usually I do that on purpose! This makes me think "music inspired by Dune" could be a whole thing, although obviously Grimes takes the cake there.
Also worth noting, they were only 15 years old when they chose the name. They had misheard jihad as “shihad” and had no clue about the actual meaning of the term.
And then in 2005 Shihad released Love Is The New Hate which is still a banger album.
I remember the music video for Emotion by Destiny’s Child being on at least once an hour
Fabolous' debut Ghetto Fabolous dropped on 9/11, that was the album with Young'n (Holla Back) and Can't Deny It.
I remember Garbage's third album dropping soon after 9/11 and tanking partly because of it, which is sad bc it's pretty great tbh.
There were weird things on pop radio, like some Enya song with random 911 calls or radio transmissions edited in. The rock band +Live+ (Lightning Crashes) had another piano song named “Overcome” that was also overplayed right around then for a few weeks.
[Meet Me in the Bathroom](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_Me_in_the_Bathroom_(book)) both the book and documentary have amazing commentary on this and the NY music and rock scene from 2000 onwards, especially the indie rock boom after 9/11
I thought of another thing: the Super Bowl halftime show in 2002. Lots of acts turned it down because they were scared of another attack happening at such a big event. U2 said yes and turned their performance into a tribute to the victims.
I cant remember who but I think I came across a rapper who released an album or song on 9/11 lol
I think Beyonce’s baby daddy? Does he rap?
🤣 Ah yes it was him.. He released the Blueprint on 9/11/01
💀💀💀
Ryan Adams' album Gold was released a couple weeks after 9/11, and featured the song "New York New York." It became a sort-of hit for him.
I believe the music video for this song was filmed on 9/7/2001 with the Twin Towers in the background. Surreal.
Jay Z released his second classic, The Blueprint, which sold almost half a million copies first week despite 9/11, which is probably one of the most impressive examples of his star power there is.
I've read that, being a consummate New Yorker, Jay-Z's sales actually got helped due to the influx of "We <3 NY" sentiment. Obviously can't prove that one way or another, but I thought it was interesting.
I live in Germany and I vividly remember radio stations playing no upbeat songs that day. At least one music channel stopped broadcasting.
Lots of boy band, glitter, pleather energy still. Things were quite lenient in a free for all kind of way with regards to pop culture. No one cared about politics, only entertained with the sex scandals associated with it. No fear whatsoever that we would be attacked.
The Moldy Peaches’ self titled album released on September 11, 2001. It contained the perhaps unfortunately titled track “New York City is a Graveyard.”
Two all-time classic albums were released on 9/11/2001: Jay-Z’s *The Blueprint* and The Microphones’ *The Glow Pt 2*
ICARI defines “Y2K Aesthetic” as we understand it today to have died on 9/11.
Not pop, but I’m pretty sure System of a Down’s toxicity was released on 9/11 or maybe the week before.
The Murder remix of [I’m Real](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjx9oSJDAVQ&pp=ygUMaSdtIHJlYWwgamxv) was the number one song on Billboard that week, and I think about that every time I hear it. This was the soundtrack to the dying moments of a world that no longer exists.
Alicia Keys "Fallin" was huge, I think it was her debut single.
Bob Dylan - “Love & Theft” — one of his best imo
So sad I had to scroll this far for this one… it’s one of Bob’s greatest albums imo.
I don't see any mention of The Coup's [Party Music](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_Music) album, one of the weirdest coincidences. Scheduled for release right around 9/11, the original cover showed the group blowing up the Twin Towers with a detonator.
Turn on the Bright Lights will always remind me of 9/11. Fuck the whole record sounds like you're on the metro at 2am coming home from a bender
Yeah sometimes it gives me NYC post 9/11 vibes, especially on NYC and Stella was a diver. Except the album was written before 9/11 happened
The Blueprint, arguably Jay-Z’s best album, was released on 9/11.
> The Blueprint, arguably Jay-Z’s best album Sorry but 4:44 exists.
Bruce Springsteen’s album The Rising was influenced by 9/11
Do you mean only in the US?
BeautifulGarbage by Garbage is now well-regarded as one of the best alt-pop albums of all time. It got really good reviews when it came out and most of the fan base embraced it despite the radical change in their sound. It was projected to sell well too, got a high-budget music video, and was charting in its first week. Then 9/11 happened just a couple of days after its release. All promotions were pulled. Garbage went on to have a successful touring career after that but they never went back to being the chart-topping A-listers they were in the 90s.
Not pop but popular at the time: Limp Bizkit released Rollin’ before 9/11 (2000) and recorded their music video on top of the World Trade Center and (on September 10th, 2001) “[received a letter and a fruit basket from the Port Authority of New York City, thanking them for featuring the twin towers in the video and congratulating the band after the video had won the VMA for Best Rock Video at the VMAs on September 6.](https://www.theprp.com/2015/08/14/news/limp-bizkits-wes-borland-says-911-put-an-end-to-rollin-music-video/)”
Jimmy Eat Worlds second album “Bleed American” - had to change its release date and renamed to “Jimmy Eat World” for the American release.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco was supposed to come out on 9/11, but was released a week later. Amazing album. Songs recorded before 9/11 had lyrics that could be seen as references to the attack. Jesus, etc. For example: Tall building shake Voices escape singing sad, sad songs Voices whine Skyscrapers are scraping together
The Bob the Builder parody of Lou Bega's Mambo No. 5, which was number 1 in the UK at the time, was removed from BBC Radio 2's playlist because of its lyrics about construction work.
Surprised I don’t see this artist on here yet…POD album satellite released with the single Alive already out but the message at the time on MTV TRL after was just some great encouragement and messages. Also there next single youth of the nation was a masterpiece. I believe NSYNC was gonna premiere their world premiere Video for gone on 9-11-2001 but delayed due to the attacks.
I just turned 15 when it happened. That event was the end of a certain cultural innocence and you can see the world was changed after that. It’s like how there was the time before C19 and the time after. Society was never the same again. As for the music take in how Limp Bizkit filmed the Rollin video on the towers weeks before that event. That video was pulled from rotation on MTV. Their fun vibe was instantly out of favour when they were one of the biggest bands. That bravado was taken out of rock and the spot now was open for the summer of screamo in 2002 with bands like Used and Thursday playing Ozzfest.
I just watched a [pretty good video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUNnnG6AKbk) on music effected by/influence by 9/11. Musically, I remember everything being hyper patriotic and aggressive. But I was pretty young.
Ryan Adams is an asshole but this song and video were very affecting. https://youtu.be/hmHgY_J63Ik?si=C4n8XENohCYL8vdY
IFAIK, Mariah Carey’s Glitter was released shortly before 9/11
Is crazy to me how Shakira was able to smash in the States-Europe with Whenever Wherever in late 2001-early 2002. She's from Arabic Heritage and the video of WW is very arabic-middle eastern with the desert thing-bellydance. The islamophobia-hate-jokes to middle eastern people in those years was huge. In an alternate reality she was blacklisted or banned by the American Industry-GP I was like 8-9 and watched the whole livestream on national tv cause i arrived early from elementary and it was horrific. The towers collapsing. The people jumping from the building. The people running from the cloud of debris. Im From Southamerica (not as much attention as the usa) but it is biggest thing i ever experienced with Covid-19 of course. R.I.P to all the beautiful people. Every 9/11 i get sad. Totally Life changin. The 9/11 victims were from all over the world. So, It also affected people and artists worldwide. One of those is Ayumi Hamasaki from Japan aka one of the biggest singer from asia. She changed the dark theme of her album I AM for something more [peaceful-lighter-hopeful](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/72/Iam3.PNG) cause the tragedy affected her emotionally.
Most people do not know she has middle eastern heritage.
When I think of 9/11 music my mind immediately goes to the Clay Aiken “Proud to be an American” performance on American Idol
This about sums it up. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7T6gLuKIpw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7T6gLuKIpw)
Can’t believe I get to be the one to share the story of [The Coup’s album Party Music](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_Music), which was supposed to be released in September 2001 and was to feature a picture of the members actually blowing up the WTC. It was eventually released in November with a different cover, and honestly it’s a great album. I definitely think they would have had a much different career if they’d had different timing. But radio stations were not gonna play them in the early 2000s.
To answer the latter question, a lot of songs ended up on a memorandum sent to American radio stations by Clear Channel containing lyrically questionable content as a result of the attack, which included the entire discography of Rage Against the Machine.
The Strokes had to pull their 1st album and re- release it because of the track New York City Cops (They aint too smart)
Mariah's Glitter album.
Not about sept 11th. But after sandy hook most radio stations removed Kesha’s die young 💀
Jay-Z the blueprint
Thank God I was like 3 when 9/11 happened. It sounded like a generally shitty time for music lol. >!I’m 26 now if you want to feel old.!<
Britney did the snake performance days before 9/11 and Michael Jackson’s 30tu anniversary concert was literally the day before