I
Nineties

The nineties are the years of the ‘in memoriam’ in the form of best of albums. Claude Francois, Jacques Brel, Mike Brant (20 years after), Joe Dassin (15 years after) and Dalida, Daniel Balavoine (10 years after) and Serge Gainsbourg (he dies in 1991). All are rereleased, remixed and milked for the best of - of the best of. Jubilees also seem a profitable occasion. With 25 years of artists like Dave, C Jerome and Patrick Juvet. The transition from lp to cd gives this market an economic ejection. The nineties also sees the downfall of the top 50 artists to anonymous house music. Some fade away in drugs, others in a normal life. Some gloriously return at the end of the decennium.

The first interesting French house experiments (which at the time called "disco house" and "neu disco") became notable in the international market between 1997 - 1999. Dimitri from Paris, Air, Daft :Punk, Cassius and Laurent Garnier are (inter)national successful artists of the genre and their videos show their "space disco" roots. French electronic music can also be very mellow and funky (for instance Funky Porcini, Aleem and Kid Loco) or very experimental like RoBERT and Lily Margot.

The nineties are also the time when hiphop breaks to the main public. The first major star of French hip hop was MC Solaar, born Claude M'Barali in Dakar, Senegal. He moved to France in 1970 and lived in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges. His 1991 Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo, was a major hit. Groups like Alliance Ethnik, AIM/Akhenaton and Melenik followed. Big influence to the French hiphop is the local arab community. This community also has its own stars that stay closer to home like Khaled, Sawt el Atlas and Rachid Taha. Through the nineties, the music grew to become one of the most popular genres in France; in 1997, IAM's release "L'école du Micro d'Argent" sold more than 1 million discs.

The Chanson Rock is being kept alive by artists like Niagara, Dominque A, Arthur H (son of Jacques Higelin), Philippe Katerine, Zazie and Pascal Obispo.