The 1990s

Abstract

Partly as a reaction to the perceived victory of MTV in the 1980s, bands and audiences in the 1990s found a variety of means through which their authenticity could be proclaimed in performance; either directly (as with Nirvana or Oasis) or ironically (as with U2). However, this return to authenticity was played out against a stage environment which was becoming ever more controllable; film projections (a part of rock performance since the 1970s) had yielded to digital projection and to the large-scale video screen; lighting and sound programmes were now fully computerised; and, more importantly, these technologies could be integrated in performance, rather than existing as separate elements in the show (compare Pink Floyd in the 1970s, who had to use a click track to synchronise the music to the projections, to the Floyd of the 1990s, who were able to rely on digital technology to mesh all the elements of the show). It is rather ironic that a decade which, to an extent, is marked by the recovery of authenticity in performance should also be the decade in which all the theatrical technologies employed in performance are successfully unified.