was u2 biggest rock band in early 90s

[phommel]

You are also forgetting PEARL JAM !!!!

offtopic: does anybody know if they're gonna do a tour in Europe? Hope they will someday...

 

[WHYWHY]

Pearl Jam hasn't been on top for a long time now. They were as STING2 said, back in the mid 90s but definitely not anymore.

 

[STING2]

Pearl Jam were on top for a couple of years in the United States only in 1994 and 1995. Pearl Jam was never on top worldwide though. In Europe, none of their albums that have been eligible to recieve a platinum certification for 1 million in sales have recieved any such award. Albums released from 1994 on are eligible. Yes, that means the first two albums may have been qualified if the cut off date was not 1994, but looking at sales of those two albums in the United Kingdom shows that to be unlikely. The first two albums failed to go platinum in the United Kingdom. To check on these things, just go to www.ifpi.org for European sales and www.bpi.co.uk for United Kingdom only sales.

Pearl Jam were a huge act North America in the early 1990s and had a nice but smaller following else where in the world.

 

[WHYWHY]

And I must say a lot of their exposure would have been due to their being the supporting act for U2 on the Zooropa tour. That would've boosted their sales heaps in Europe, so if they couldn't break the 1 million sales a year or two after.. then I'd say they were never ontop in Europe.

 

[Zoocoustic]

In answer to the post question: yes, they were.

There were other big groups in the grunge scene, but U2 were the biggest rock band.

Think of how annoyingly popular Eminem, Britteny, etc. are today. Every kid loves them and blindly buys their albums.

This is how it was with U2 during the early 90's. I mean, people were rushing to buy even Zooropa - which isn't by any means a listener-friendly album for the masses.

 

[phommel]

I agree U2 is the biggest. But at least in the Netherlands Pearl Jam was absolute TOP !!! And they still are. Look at these lists. And in all these lists the listeners could vote. So maybe Pearl Jam didn't sell a hugh amount of CD's (and I doubt it) they are very very popular

Two weeks ago there was the top 90 of the 90's:
First ten:
1 Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
2 Guns N' Roses - November Rain
3 U2 - One
4 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge
5 Pearl Jam - Black
6 Metallica - One
7 Oasis - Wonderwall
8 Live - Lightning Crashes
9 Ac/Dc - Thunderstruck
10 R.E.M. - Losing My Religion


The Rock 100 of all times (2003):
1 METALLICA - ONE (albumversie!)
2 NIRVANA - SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT
3 PEARL JAM - BLACK
4 RAGE AGAINST THE MACHI - KILLING IN THE NAME OF
5 LIVE - LIGHTNING CRASHES
6 AC/DC - WHOLE LOTTA ROSIE
7 GUNS 'N ROSES - NOVEMBER RAIN
8 LED ZEPPELIN - STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
9 COLDPLAY - CLOCKS
10 PEARL JAM - ALIVE
.
.
19 U2 ONE

Heavenly Top 100 (2004; best albums of all time)
1 COLDPLAY - A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD
2 PEARL JAM - TEN
3 U2 - JOSHUA TREE
4 RADIOHEAD - O.K. COMPUTER
5 RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - CALIFORNICATION
6 LIVE - THROWING COPPER
7 NIRVANA - NEVERMIND
8 ILSE DELANGE - WORLD OF HURT
9 METALLICA - METALLICA (BLACK ALBUM)
10 COUNTING CROWS - AUGUST AND EVERYTHING AFTER


Delicious 715 (best singles ever; 2003)

1 Metallica - One
2 Guns 'N Roses - November Rain
3 Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
4 Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
5 Live - Lightning Crashes
6 U2 - One
7 Pearl Jam - Black
8 Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven
9 Van Dik Hout - Stil In Mij
10 Deep Purple - Child In Time

 

[STING2]

I'm sure Pearl Jam has a strong devoted following in the Netherlands and in fact, album sales in the Netherlands may be much stronger for Pearl Jam than in other European Countries. There is one other band that I know for a fact this is true and that is the band "LIVE". But throughout Europe, the band was not able to sell 1 million copies or more on their albums from Vitalogy onwards. The first two albums I'm not sure about because they are not eligible to recieve IFPI awards since they were released before 1994. IFPI may at a later date allow albums prior to 1994 to be certified.

Pearl Jam is able to play arena's anywhere in Europe, which is possible without having an album that sold more than 1 million copies as long as there is an extremely devoted base of around 500,000 people.

Just out of curiosity, have Pearl Jam ever played any Stadiums in the Netherlands that you know of?

 

[Popmartijn]

No, they haven't. They have played at some festivals (even as late as their last tour here, which was in 2000), but never in a stadium.

 

[phommel]

I'm desperate to see them.... Never had that chance. Hope thjey'll come back to Europe some day, but I doubt it. Since that awful 'Roskilde-accident' they have never been touring in Europe...